trouble at the lower degrees of love 3. We are so far obliged as in some measure to get ground upon them For a Christian is to grow in grace There are some sins which are not so easily or altogether avoidable by the ordinary assistances of grace vouchsafed as sins of ignorance sudden surreption and daily incursion and there are other sins which may be and are avoided so far by Gods Children so as that they do not frequently easily and constantly lapse into them There are other grievous evils which Christians do not ordinarily fall into unless in some rare cases A Christian may lapse into them as being overborn by the violence of a temptation as Noahs Drunkenness Lots Incest Davids Adultery foul sins but there was no habitual aversation from God but yet a foul fall cuts the strength of a Christian resolution being over-born by some violent Temptations Now against the first of these striving against unavoidable infirmities is conquering The second must be mortifyed and weakned In the other 't is not enough to strive against them or to bewail them but forsake them and grow wiser for the future As to the Second part of the case the confinement Ans. God doth not require that we should love nothing think of nothing but himself The state of this life will not permit that But God must have all the heart so far First That nothing be loved against God A prohibited object is forbidden sin must not be loved as they loved darkness more than light John 3.19 2dly Nothing above God with a superiour love Matth. 10.37 He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me 3dly Not equally with God Other things are excluded from an equal love for then our love to God is but a partial and half love divided between God and the creature no Luke 14.26 We must hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children c. God above all and our neighbour as our self God can endure no Rival this love to man is but the second commandment and must give way to the first 4thly Nothing apart from God But as subordinate to him Psa. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on earth I desire besides thee I must love my Friends in him and my foes for him his people because of his Image all because of his command God in his creatures Christ in his members my self Wife Children natural comforts in God and for God to set up any thing as a divided end from God is a great evil as well as to set up any thing as an opposite end to him it may be a damnable sin to love any Worldly comfort without subordinating it to God Jam. 4.4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity to God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God 1 John 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Apart from God is spiritual adultery 6 Case How shall I do in short to know that I have the love of God in me What is the undoubted evidence by which I may Judge of my state or know that my love to God is sincere Ans. It concerneth us more to act grace than to know that we have it Do you set your selves with all your hearts and with all your Souls to love God and you shall soon know that you love him things will discover themselves when in any good degree of predominancy and love when it 's in any strength cannot well be hidden from the party that hath it as a man burning hot will soon feel himself warm but small things are hardly discerned a weak pulse seemeth to be as none at all Many languish after comforts and spend their time in idle complaints and so continue the mischief they complain of Up and be doing and bestow more time in getting and increasing and acting grace than in anxious doubtings whether you have any comfort cometh sooner by looking to precepts which tell us what we should do than signs which tell us what we are and the acting of love is the best way to have it manifested So Christ telleth us John 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him There is the way to get the manifestation of grace and of Christs owning us Give God his due obedience and you shall not want comfort 't is a purer respect that we shew to God by minding his interest rather than our own and to love him and wait for the time when we shall know that we love him 2. Yet 't is our duty to try seriously the sincerity and soundness of our respects to Christ Partly Because the heart is very deceitful and we must search warily Christ putteth Peter to the Question thrice John 21.15 to 19. Lovest thou me 'T is some conviction to a lyar to make him repeat his tale a deceitful heart will be apt to reply that he is not worthy to live who doth not love Christ but urge it again and again do I indeed love Christ Yea leave not till you can appeal to God himself for the sincerity of your love Lord thou knowest all things and thou knowest that I love thee And Partly also Because there is a great deal of counterfeit love therefore the Apostle saith Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Many profess love whose love when it cometh to be tryed will be found counterfeit and unsincere Our Lord Jesus telleth the Pharisees who were Quarrelling with him for healing a man upon the sabbath day John 5.42 But I know you that you have not the love of God in you They pretended great love and zeal for the Sabbath and therefore opposed the working of that Miracle men may pretend zeal for Gods glory and his ordinances who yet have no true love to God as many pretend great esteem of the memory of Christ yet hate his Servants and slight his ways 3. The great standing evidence of love is obedience or an universal resolution and care to please God in all things I shall prove to you from Scripture first that it is so then from reason 1. From Scripture John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments None truly love Christ but those that make conscience of obedience So verse 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me So verse 23. If a man love me he will keep my words So John 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Friendship consisteth in an harmony of mind will there is such a real friendship between Christ and believers which maketh them cordial cheerful zealous and constant in
hasty I do observe it the rather because the same happeneth when we expect Christ to help us in our particular distresses Because of the impatiency of the flesh and the levity of our minds and the weariness of expectation the time seemeth long There is our time and Christs time Our time is always with us but his time is not come Jer. 14.19 We looked for peace and there is no good for the time of healing and behold trouble In this sense Christ only seemeth to delay his coming We are eager upon enjoyment we would have it now 2. Really He doth tarry and suspends his coming There is a great efflux of time between his Ascension and second Coming and that for wise Reasons 1. That all this while there may be space for the World to repent Mora Sponsi poenitentiae tempus est saith Jerom. Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance There is finis operis operantis Whatever Gods intentions be his dealings his forbearance and long suffering should lead us to repentance God useth great patience to the wicked Rom. 9 22. Endureth with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction So Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent and she repented not God giveth leave to repent visible means to repent and space to repent even there where he giveth not effectual grace Wicked men abuse his patience take encouragement from thence to run into all extravagancy but Gods aim is to leave them without excuse 2. That all the Elect may be gathered 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance God would have the World filled with Man-kind and endure for many Generations till it come to that period which his Providence hath appointed And what is that period 'Till all that belong to the Election of his Grace be brought in to him For all things are for the Elects sake Now when his number is full he will come These were not to be born all at once and it requireth time and pains to work upon each Elect Soul after they are come into the World Therefore he is not slack as men are slack Mens slowness in performing their Promises cometh from their unwillingness or backwardness to do the thing or from impotency and weakness or want of foresight of all possible difficulties or else from their forgetfulness None of these are in God Not forgetfulness for he is mindful of his people Psal. 41.5 He will not stay longer than the appointed time Not backwardness for he waiteth as well as you wait for the fittest time Isa. 30.18 Not from weariness for he can do whatever he will 3. To exercise our Patience to the full Col. 1.24 Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you that fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in the flesh for his bodies sake which is his Church Not as if Christs personal Sufferings for the Redemption of Sinners were imperfect and so to be supplyed by the sufferings of others No 't is meant of Christ mystical So the sufferings are not perfect or filled up till every Member of his Body endure their allotted portion and share This Cup goeth by course and round Christ first we next It goeth from hand to hand while the World continueth Jam. 1.4 Let patience have its perfect work That cannot be but under great and long troubles And as it is for the exercise of our patience so to awaken our desires 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God Hasten it by your Prayers and further the great works that are to be done before God will not bestow Heaven upon us as we lay on gilding and fair colours on wood or stone that have no sense of it nor desire of it but we must first groan Rom. 8.23 Thirdly His coming at Midnight He tarryed somewhat beyond the season to shew that he would come unlooked for Jerom saith It was an ancient Tradition that Christ should come at midnight and therefore in the Vigil or watch before Easter anciently they were not wont to be sent away till midnight But of that day and hour knoweth no man 'T is put for an unexpected time as Zech. 13.9 At evening it shall be light Christ cometh when he is least expected when the World groweth secure and his own people weary with looking His coming is often compared in Scripture to the coming of a Thief in the night 1 Thes. 5.2 For ye your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night by way of surprize The Thief doth not make appointment nor forewarn the good man of the House Luk. 12.46 The Lord of those servants shall come in a day that he looketh not for him Now God hideth this day from us 1. To shew his Sovereignty Prov. 25.2 The glory of God is to conceal a thing There are Arcana Imperii and the time and season of his coming to Judgment is one of Gods secrets 2. That we might alwayes keep ready Rev. 3.3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee And Rev. 16.15 Behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth Caesar would never let his Souldiers know his resolution for Battle onset or the removal of his Camp Vt paratum intentum momentis omnibus quo vellet statim educeret That they might be always in a ready posture So Christ's coming at the last day will be by way of surprizal that he may have us always ready Had it been expedient for us to know he would have told us of it Men will say if they knew just the hour and the day they would be found praying But you should always watch and be ready because you know not the hour Would our preparation be hastened think you No we should say as they Isa. 22.13 And behold joy and gladness slaying of Oxen and killing of Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die And 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Therefore Christ will chuse his own time Fourthly I come to speak of the Cry made The Cry is the means whereby God rouzeth them up out of this slumber Christ sendeth his cry to awaken Souls before his coming This Cry is twofold 1. The more remote Cry which is for the rouzing of particular persons in all Ages And that is the voice of the Ministry of the Word Thus Christ at his first coming had a Cryer went before him to alarm the World
explicitly and formally engaged and contracted to one another Christ to us as Head we to him as Members of his Mystical Body as 't is real so 't is near they twain shall be one flesh we one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit Whole Christ is ours we are or should be altogether his as full of Kindness and Love Eph. 5.25 26 27. Zeph. 3.17 And 't is indissoluble the Marriage knot remaineth inviolable for ever I will betroth thee to me for ever Hos. 2.19 2. This Marriage may be considered in four respects 1. With respect to the ground and foundation of it 2. With respect to our first Entrance into this Relation 3. With respect to the State of it in this world 4. With respect to its perfect Consummation First With respect to the Ground and Foundation that was laid for it in Christs Incarnation or at his first coming Marriage is between parties of the same kind as in the first Marriage Adam called Eve Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh Gen. 2.20 So Christ came to fit himself for that relation of Husband to his Church by taking our nature upon him and therefore the Apostle when he speaketh of the Marriage between Christ and his Church useth the same name which Adam had used Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bone When Christ was in the world he made a way for the Marriage He parted from us 't is true but there was an interchange of tokens he took our Flesh and left with us his Spirit Secondly With respect to our first Entrance into this relation when first converted to God or upon our thankful broken-hearted willing acceptance of Christ for Lord and Husband All Marriage is utered into by a consent Christ giveth his Consent in the Promises and we by Faith which is a broken-hearted willing and thankful acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends for which God offereth him Where note that Faith is an Acceptance of Christ John 1.12 To as many as received him Next for the mode and manner of this Acceptance 't is Broken-hearted because we are undeserving and ill deserving Creatures altogether unworthy to be taken into such a near relation to Christ as Abigail when David sent to her to make her his Wife debased her self 1 Sam. 25.40 41. Let thine hand-maid wash the feet of thy Servants Alas who are we A poor trembling Soul is afraid of being too bold but Gods offer encourageth it And as 't is a broken-hearted so 't is a Willing acceptance of Christ for Christ will not draw us into this Relation by force or bestow the Priviledges of it without or against our consent Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the water of Life freely If the will be to Christ the great difficulty is over Christianity is but an hearty consent to accept of Christ and his Benefits but the Creatures Will is not soon gained Math. 23.37 I would but ye would not he inviteth and clucketh by the renewed messages of his Grace but we will not be gathered Isa. 65.2 I have spread out my hands all the day long to a rebellious People The ungodly careless world knoweth not the worth of Gods greatest Mercies and therefore despise them yea take them for intolerable Injuries and Troubles because they are against their fleshly Appetites but when the will is once thoroughly gained to God the great work of Conversion is drawing to a happy Period the consent of the Will is the closing act When we yield our selves to the Lord resolving to become his and to be disposed ordered and governed by him at his own pleasure I entered into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Ezek. 16.8 And as 't is a willing acceptance so 't is a thankful acceptance of Christ because 't is a great favour and honour done to us considering the infinite distance between the parties to be joyned in the Marriage-covenant God over all blessed for ever and we poor wretched Creatures There may be among us great distance between the persons that enter into the Marriage-covenant but all that distance is but finite for it is but such as can be between Creature and Creature which are equal in their being notwithstanding the inequality of many extrinsical respects but in this distance between Christ and his People the distance is between the Creator and the Creature the Potter and the Clay the thing formed and him that formed it betwixt the most lovely person and the most loathsome between the Heir of all things and the Children of Wrath the King immortal and a poor Vassal to Sin and Sathan And consider also the many benefits we enjoy by it we have the Communion of his Righteousness Spirit and Graces 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him There are two Maxims in the Civil Law Vxor fulget radiis mariti the Wife participateth in the Honour of the Husband so we have the Communion of Christs Righteousness and Vxori lis non intenditur the Husband is answerable for the Wife the Pleas must be brought against him So Jesus Christ hath paid our Debts and representeth the merit of his Sacrifice he is responsible for the Debts we owe to Divine Justice Participation is another Benefit Eph. 5.26 Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of Water Christ upon the Cross had merit enough to purchase and love enough to intend and Wisdom enough to choose the greatest benefit for us and what did he purchase intend and choose but to sanctifie and cleanse us by the washing of water through the Word And lastly we must receive him to the Ends for which God offereth him that is to be Lord and Husband which importeth a forsaking all others and a devoting and giving up our selves to Christ to live in his Love and Obedience 1. Before there can be a Receiving there must be a Renouncing of all other Loves Christ will be entertained alone The Husband cannot endure a Corrival and Competitor And the Marriage consent implyeth an Election and Choice which is a renouncing all others and a preferring him alone So the Marriage Covenant runneth Hos. 3.3 Thou shalt not be for another but shalt be for me So Psal. 45.10 11. Hearken O Daughter and consider incline thine ear Forget also thine own people and thy Fathers House So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him All that do consider what is offered in Christs name and consent to the motion they must forsake all their old wayes their old Corruptions and old Passions and old Affections and seriously think of leaving all their worldly Pleasures and Vanities they must not stick at their choicest Interests most pleasing Lusts and dearest Sins
that even in Reprobates and Cast-aways there may be a desire of entring into the joyes of everlasting Life Thirdly From Christs Reply I shall shew you the dreadful Misery and direful effect of being disowned by Christ at his Coming For the First Since the Foolish Virgins came too late We should all take care to begin with God betimes the sooner the better 1. Because you make a necessary work sure and put it out of doubt and hazard The time of life is the time of Grace Luk. 2.14 2 Cor. 6.2 Now the time of life is uncertain Jam. 4.14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow For what is your life it is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away And a work of necessity should not be left on peradventures Therefore we ought to bestir our selves without delay or foreslowing We know not how soon opportunity will be over It cannot be done too soon it may be done too late and therefore 't is good to be on the surest side Ludovicus Capellus telleth us out of Rabbi Jonah's Book of the Mystery of Repentance that when a Disciple came to his Teacher to know what was the fittest time to repent in he answered One day before his death meaning presently for we have not assurance of another day Prov. 27.1 Thou knowest not what to morrow may bring forth Our greatest works and of most absolute necessity should be done first and have the quickest dispatch lest it be too late before we go about them Oh wo to us if God should call us off before we have minded coming to him and walking with him 2. In point of Obedience God presseth to Now. God doth not only command us to please him but to do it presently Heb. 3.7 8. Now while it is called to day harden not your hearts Pompilius the Roman Ambassador when he made delayes and excuses the Emperour drew a Circle on the ground saying Intra hunc Answer me before thou stirrest from this place God standeth upon his Authority and will have a present answer if he say to day 't is flat disobedience for you to say to morrow Now is the time of Salvation at this instant 2 Cor. 6.2 You are charged in his name as you will answer the contrary You say No I will please the flesh a little longer It may be just with God if you refuse him never to call you more 3. In point of Ingenuity We receive a plenteous recompence for a small service When a man thinketh what God hath provided for them that love him and serve him he should be ashamed that he receives so much and does so little and therefore he should redeem all the time that he can that he may answer his expectations from God Shall we adjourn and put off God to our decrepid time when he hath provided for us eternal happiness Can a man that hath any ingenuity in his breast be content to dishonour God longer grieve his Spirit longer provided that at length he may be saved Those that have any due sense of Gods kindness or their own duty will think God hath too long been kept out of his right and that all the time that remaineth is too little to express our love and thankfulness to him 1 Pet. 4.3 Men that do delay do in effect say Let me despise thy Commands and abuse thy Mercy a little longer but then when my Lusts are satisfied and youthful heats are spent I will see what I can do to be saved What baseness of Spirit is this 4. 'T is our advantage to begin betimes both here and hereafter 1. Here. The sooner you begin to please God the sooner you have an evidence of your interest in his favour more experience of his Love more hopes of living with him in Heaven Oh these things are not slight things When once you come to taste the comfort of them you will be sorry that you had begun no sooner as Paul complaineth that he was born out of due time 1 Cor. 15.8 because he lost the advantage of seeing Christ in the flesh and so of many sweet conferences and many sweet visits of Love and experiences of Grace that otherwise might fail to his share Rom. 16.7 They were in Christ before me An early Acquaintance with Christ bringeth many benefits with it as peace and comfort and joy and hope which others that set forth later want The Consolations of God should not be vile and cheap with us If you were acquainted with them you would leave your husks for bread in your Fathers house 2. The sooner you begin with God the greater will your glory be Hereafter For the more we improve our Talents here the greater will our reward be in Heaven Luk. 19.16 17 18 19. And he said unto him VVell thou good Servant because thou hast been faithful in a little have thou authority over ten Cities And the second came and said Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds And he said likewise to him Be thou also over five Cities And when the Mother of Zebedee's Children came to Christ and desired that her two Sons might sit one at his right hand and the other at his left Mat. 20.23 Christ doth not deny the thing that there are degrees of Glory set forth by sitting on the right hand and on the left but telleth her that it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of his Father As in Hell there is an hotter and cooler judgment Certainly then they that have long pleased God and made it the whole business of their lives shall have larger measures of happiness VSE Is to reprove those that adjourn and put off the work of Religion from time to time till they have lost all time 'T is Sathan's Artifice to cheat men of the present opportunity by promises of a future Obedience Oh consider the work is much and life is short If we did live as many years as days all would be little enough therefore let us begin betimes There are three Arguments to press this If this work must be once done why not Now your Hearts will not be better nor the Terms less 1. Your Hearts are not like to be better For the longer we continue in sin the heart is the more hardened as the High-way by continual treading groweth the harder and the Anvil by continual smiting is hardned the more so long use in sin obdureth the Heart and long resistance grieveth the Spirit and carnal affections grow upon us Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his Spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 'T is hard to transplant an old Tree The Affections are now more settled in a course of sin 2. The Terms of the Gospel will not be more easie and we better able to obey them hereafter than now we are The Laws of Christianity are alwayes the same The pleasures of sin must one day
be opened therefore when we are about to do any thing unworthy say as he Acts 19.40 We are in danger to be called to an Account for this day uproar there being no Cause whereby we may give an Account of this Concourse so should you We that are to give an Account how careful should we be how we use our Time Health Strength Understanding Authority Wealth and other Blessings of God The commonness of these Notions maketh them to lose their Life and Influence Therefore we should especially act Faith in Believing and urging the Soul with this Account Secondly 'T is particularly described and there 1. Of the Servants Allegation 2. The Masters Approbation 1. The Servants Allegation vers 20 and 22. The two first Servants came chearfully to their Account as having discharged their Duty faithfully and with all diligence improved the Talents received Not that in the day of Judgment good men shall make any Narrations of what they have done they need not for Christ shall do it for them they rather wonder that any thing that they have done is taken notice of as in the 37 th verse of this Chapter but all this is spoken after the manner of men and to keep up the Decorum of the Parable if it signifieth any thing it signifieth the Confidence of a good Conscience and what Comfort and boldness it breedeth in the day of our Accounts Doct. That a faithful Discharge of our Duty will give us Comfort and Boldness when our Lord cometh to reckon with us 1. There is a Confidence and Comfort that ariseth from a good Conscience or from Sanctification as well as Justification In the inward Court Conscience is one of the Witnesses as well as the Spirit of God Rom. 8.16 and much Comfort ariseth from its Testimony 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience A Carnal man is ashamed of the Grounds of his rejoycing and what it is that keepeth his Heart merry but a Godly man can own the Causes of his joy which are in the first place the Blood of Christ Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement next the Testimony of his Conscience concerning his sincere walking But if a man can live with these Comforts can he dye with them 2. The Review of a well-spent life is a great Comfort in Death Our Lord Jesus at the end of his days when he was to go out of the World John 17.4 saith I have glorified thee upon Earth and finished the Work thou gavest me to do Hezekiah when that sad Message was brought to him that he must die and not live Isa. 38.4 that comforted him upon his Death-bed Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is good in thy sight So the Apostle Paul when he drew nigh his end 2 Tim. 4.7 8. saith I have fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Oh 't is a blessed thing if we can have this Comfort when Conscience puts off all Disguises and the everlasting Estate is at hand and we are immediately to appear before the Lord to remember then that we have been careful to please and honour God and done his work how sweet is it 3. In the Day of Judgment their works follow them into the other World Rev. 14.13 Their Wealth doth not follow them but the Conscience of having done well abideth with them Conscience is Heaven or Hell to us in Hell it maketh up a part of the Worm that never dyeth so in Heaven it giveth us Confidence 1 John 2.28 and 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness in the day of Judgment Works are not Meritorious and have no causal influence upon our Salvation yet they have the full place of an Evidence and so may wonderfully Comfort and embolden our Hearts VSE Let us labour to get this Evidence The time of Death is a time that will rifle all our false Hopes You are in your Health and Strength now but how soon you may shoot the Gulph you know not we are hastening into the other World apace When you are immediately to appear before God you will have other thoughts of the World to come and the necessity of Preparation for it than you have now that which will comfort you now will not comfort you then you must look that the Devil will then be most busie to tempt and trouble you and as now he prejudiceth you against the Precepts of the Gospel so then against the Promises of it all your worldly Comfort then will fail and have spent their Allowance and become to you as unsavoury as the white of an Egg. Will this Comfort you that you have sported and gamed away your precious time that you have fared of the best and lived in Pomp and Honour Oh no But this will comfort you I have made it my business to glorifie God I have been Faithful in my place have gotten some Evidence of the Love of God It is not Riches or Greatness or any Earthly Advantage will do you good Oh 't is a Cutting Thought to the Careless and Negligent Now I must give an Account of every day and hour I have spent in this World The Improvement of every Opportunity will be called for Then all your Vanities and carnal Pleasures will be smart upon you and vex your Souls with the grievous Remembrance of them Well then can you in any measure look back upon the Discharge of your Duty There are two Extreams First Some are Presumptuous and Confident because they are not gross Sinners but what have they done for God The sluggish and unprofitable Servant was cast into utter Darkness he did not mispend his Talent but yet he did not improve it The Tree that bringeth forth no Fruit is hewen down though it did not bring forth bad Fruit. 'T is not a Negative Religion will comfort thee but a Positive and a Fruitful one You are no Drunkard no Adulterer no Prophane Person but have you been at work for God Secondly Others are Pusillanimous and Diffident because they do not arrive at the Eminency and Perfection of the highest David had other Worthies besides the first three There were two faithfull Servants one brought five Talents the other two Now the middle is of those that can see in themselves more Zeal than Formality more Grace than Corruption that for the main have made it their business to Honour God though conscious to many Weaknesses and Defects yet throughout Grace gets the upper hand according to the degrees of Grace received they are faithful with God 2. The Masters Approbation Well done thou good and faithful Servant The Faithful Servants are well accepted by Christ. First He entertaineth them
Joy will be fulfilled John 16.22 Ye now have Sorrow but I will see you again and your Heart shall rejoyce and your Joy no Man taketh from you If we lose it our selves it is not utterly lost The Sun is always moving but it doth not always shine and display his Rays with a merry Countenance So a Christian meeteth with many Rubs but still he holdeth on his course to Heaven and therefore where Sense faileth Faith should make Supply 6. The Nature of Man is more acquainted with Sorrows than with Pleasures Men naturally are more susceptible of Sorrow than of Joy Partly because of the Presages of a guilty Conscience Heb. 2.14 Through fear of Death they were all their Life-time subject to Bondage Men are more ingenious and inventive to torment themselves than they are to find out Arguments of Joy Partly out of Ingratitude Mal. 1.2 I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say Wherein hast thou loved us We grieve more for a mean Affliction than we rejoyce in many great Blessings As if the Humors of the Body be out of order or one Joint break this is enough to make us sink and ill at ease so one light Affliction sinks us Partly because God hath laid this Burden of Sorrow upon us to make us long for Heaven Few and evil are the Days of the Years of my Life Vse 1. To shew us the Goodness of God who hath made our Wages a great part of our Work and our Reward our Service The Lord doth not require of us to lance and gash our selves his Ways are not sowre Ways he hath made it a part of our Duty and Homage to rejoyce in him O that he should deal so bountifully with us in this Life The World might be a Bochim and it is a Beracha it is indeed a Vale of Tears But yet the Sun shineth sometimes when it raineth O how should this make us in love with the Service of God! They are happy that minister in his presence It is a Request Psal. 90.14 O satisfy us early with thy Mercy that we may rejoyce and be glad all our days Certainly God alloweth us to come with such Requests for he commandeth us to rejoyce 1 Thess. 5.16 Rejoyce evermore We might weep evermore yet he saith Rejoyce evermore Vse 2. To take off the Slander brought on the Ways of God as if they were dark and uncomfortable as if we should abandon and renounce all Delight O that wicked Men would but make experience God doth not require that you should renounce Delight but change the Course of it Joy is not abrogated but preferred Do not think the Practice of Religion is full of sadness and heaviness Will you believe the Spies that have been in the Land of Promise The Righteous are only fit to give Testimony to the Comfort of a converted Estate a Stranger intermeddleth not with their Joys If any of God's Children be uncomfortable it is because they have not tasted deep enough of the Promises the Comforter suffereth some contradiction from their Hearts and Lusts but what is this to your Estate The Souls of wicked Men are still under Bondage in the midst of their greatest Joys their Pleasures are mixed with Fear as Belshazzar was soon put out of his Mirth Vse 3. Let us despise the dreggy Delights of the World We are empty by Nature and worldly Joy filleth not but with Wind. Since Christ hath made such Provision for our Consolation why should we seek it elsewhere God hath forbid no Joy but what is hurtful Outward Mercies bring in some Joy but not a full Joy Godliness doth not unman us and hinder the Course of any true natural Affection But no outward thing should be our chief Joy a light Touch is best 1 Cor. 7.30 They that rejoyce should be as if they rejoyced not First we have an Interest then a comfortable Use of the Creatures Hast thou Wealth Power Greatness Do not bind up thy Heart with these Things they will be gone and then thy Joy will be gone too When they take up too much of our Affections they are Curses and will prove our Sorrow Eccles. 7.6 As the crackling of Thorns under a Pot so is the Laughter of the Fool This also is Vanity a slight superficial thing Vain ãâã are catched with every light Pleasure as a Fire soon taketh in Thorns Thorns ãâã under a Pot make a great Noise and so carnal Mirth maketh much Noise Worldly Men promise themselves a great deal of Pleasure and Contentment but this Fire is soon out so worldly Joy is soon gone Let âs not delight in fleshly Liberty the Pleasures of Sin are short-lived and carnal Pleasures leave bitterness and remorse behind them Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful and the End of that Mirth is Heaviness As Laughter through dilatation of the Spirits makeâh us sad afterwards The Fuel of carnal Pleasures is gross burdensom oppressive to Reason it hindreth the free Contemplation of the Mind and lasteth but for a little while we need to be refreshed with other Pleasures But God in Christ is full and fresh to all Eternity Angels are not weary of him Besides carnal Mirth is but Madness Eccles 2.2 I have said of Laughter it is mad and of Mirth what doth it It is good for no serious Purpose Solomon challengeth the Masters of Mirth what doth it but displace Reason and give way to Vanity and Lightness I know there is a lawful use of inoffensive Mirth but when we take Pleasures they should not take us Eph. 5.4 Neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks Verse 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making Melody in your Hearts to the Lord. There is a Mirth becoming the Gravity of a Christian. Vse 4. Reproof to two Sorts 1. To those that are always sad Christians do not live up to that Care and Provision which Christ hath made for them In Scripture it is Rejoyce evermore 1 Thess. 5.16 And they live as if God had said Weep evermore It is verily a Fault however disguised in some it deserveth Pity in others Chiding and Rebuke In some Pity that are under penal Disturbance when God putteth any into the Stocks of Conscience they cannot come out at pleasure These are irresistible Chains a poor Creature lieth bound till God saith Go forth Those Chains of Darkness in which the Devils are held are their own everlasting Horrors It is God's Prerogative to create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace Isa. 57.19 Joy is his immediate Dispensation We wonder considering the Comforts of the Gospel that there should be any such thing as Trouble of Conscience because we know not what it is to lie under God's mighty hand to be cast into the Prison shall I say or the Hell of our Consciences Alas poor Creatures we cannot break Prison when we will It is easy for
2 Tim. 1.12 For I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day It is an advised Act it is fit the Soul should be in safe Hands We are sensible that as long as this Life lasts we are subject to many Trials and Changes therefore we put our Souls into Christ's Hands in a confidence of his Alsufficiency It is a knowing Trust. Vse 1. To press us to mind this great Privilege Christ in us This should be our chief Care We cannot mortify Sin till we be in Christ He is our Sanctification We can have no security against God's Wrath till then Acts 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Whatever shifts they made against the Flood it would not serve nothing but the Ark could save them Make this the Business of your Lives wait upon the Word and other Ordinances with this Aim improve Providences to this end to draw you the nearer to God by Christ. Let this be the constant breathing of your Souls Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but Dung that I may win Christ. Phil. 3.8 Measure all the Business and Employment of your Lives by this A tender Mother that nurseth her Child she hath other Work to do but still she remembreth her Child when she awaketh she thinketh of her Child when she is abroad when employed in the Affairs of her Family her Mind is on her Child God is pleased to resemble his Love to us by this So a true Christian faith My Work is to get into Christ. When he is about Business of the World he still remembreth that this is his great Care and it must be minded every Day When he riseth when he goeth to sleep this should run in his Mind This is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Work John 6.29 This is the Work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent All other Business is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his by-work that he may get or lose it Make more room for Christ in the Soul Vse 2. Examination 1. Is Christ in you who liveth there and worketh Christ or Satan These two divide the World between them the strong Man and the stronger than he The Heart of Man is not a waste Christ ruleth in the Church and the Devil in the World And yet all that are in the Church are not in Christ. John 15.2 Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away They that are where Christ is in Honour will make a general Profession The Devil hath a great Party in the Church Therefore who is in you Christ or Satan Satan is in all Carnal Men their Hearts are his Forge or Workhouse Ephes. 2.2 According to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience 2 Cor. 4.4 The God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not He blindeth them and hardneth them and leadeth them captive by their own Lusts. Consider there is no Neutrality We are under Christ or the Devil The Devil is a Spirit he possesseth Men when they do not feel him He is called the Prince of the Power of the Air and infected Air is drawn in without pain and we get a Disease before we feel it and die of a Pestilent Air. Were you never changed Conversion is a Dispossession The Devil is in all the Children of Disobedience Did you ever consent to chuse Christ for your Mediator and Lord and King When you refuse Christ offered the Devil is most ready to entertain you and to enter into you and possess you the more securely There is a Tradition upon your Refusal God giveth you then up to Satan to be blinded and hardned Therefore consider this observe your Course Some are Satan's Slaves they that walk in the ways of their own Hearts and according to the Lusts of the World John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do Satan's Mark and Brand is upon them that live in Malice and Envy against God and good Men Satan was a Murderer from the beginning in filthiness and uncleanness he is an unclean Spirit in railing swearing cursing whose Tongues are set on Fire of Hell tempting seducing lying Satan is a Liar and a Tempter enticing to drink and gaming Again Is Christ in you A great deal of Bran will remain if we use too course a Bolter Doth Christ dwell in your Hearts You will know it by the Effects of his Presence 1. Doth Christ fill the Heart So great a Guest is enough the Believer desireth no more to his Peace of Conscience Joy and compleat Blessedness There is a full acquiescency of the Soul in Christ he desireth above all things to enjoy him There is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great Gain There is nothing in Heaven or Earth that can fill the hungry Soul of Man but Jesus Christ. He that hath his Heart full of Christ all things seem base and vile to him a little portion of the World serveth his turn They are cheap things to Jesus Christ after which the World runs a whoring 1 Sam. 19.30 And Mephibosheth said Nay let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his House Mephibosheth is contented to see the King's Face in Peace They have the Pearl of great Price there is little room for other things Christ filleth every corner of the Heart Phil. 4.12 13. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me 2. He ruleth and acteth and swayeth all these He doth not dwell as a Stranger or Guest in another Man's House or as an Inmate but as a Lord in his Possession therefore he still directeth counselleth quickneth destroyeth the Kingdom of Satan reneweth us more and more dwelleth in us as the King of Glory Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty Light Joy Strength Peace 2. What Entertainment do you give him The more Faith is inlarged the more room hath Christ in thy Heart With great chearfulness should you receive him not always frowning he looketh for Reverence not constant Mourning Do not grieve him by Sin by such things by which the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience If an earthly King lie but a Night in a House what care is there taken that nothing be offensive to him but that all things be neat clean and sweet How much more ought
only know and discourse of these things but apply them to our selves The best and the most profitable knowledge is in applying general Truths to a mans own case Likewise reckon ye your selves also to be dead unto sin c. This is a Truth which concerneth us in Mortification I profess Faith in Christ am baptized with Christ I must die unto sin Omnis operatio est per contactum the closer the truth the more effectual the operation Rom. 8.31 What shall we say to these things 5. It is Actus Judicii decernentis we do determine this we must do or be undone 2 Cor. 5.14 15. We thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that be dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 6. It is Actus Voluntatis consentientis this Death and Life is much promoted by the firm purpose and resolution of our minds 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin The summ of the whole is 1. That we should think of it seriously and here many are defective who little think of dying to sin or living to God all their thoughts are how they may please the flesh Rom. 13.14 To make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof or thrive in the world Luke 12.17 18. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said This will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods Or as those Jam. 4.13 To day or to morrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain and so their great work lyeth neglected 2. That by Reason we should so evidence it to our selves to be our Duty that we should make conscience of it A sluggish heart needs to be awakened by plain and evident Conclusions for wherefore was Reason given us to lye asleep No we must argue and conclude for God that we may bring it to this issue that either we are flat Rebels or must do those things he hath given us in charge 3. We must assent to those Principles of Faith from whence this Conclusion is deduced by necessary consequence as namely 1. That Christ is set up as a Pattern to whom all the Heirs of Promise must be conformed 2. That our Conformity is mainly seen in resembling his two Estates his dying to Sin and living to God 3. That our Baptism obligeth us both by way of Dependence and Obedience By way of Dependence waiting for his Grace whereby this Conformity and Likeness may be accomplished By way of Obedience using all those holy means and endeavours that conduce to this end and purpose Faith assenteth Reason concludeth 4. We must resolve upon it as an unquestionable Duty that we may not play fast and loose with God For the Judgment determintaing and the Will consenting make up the strength of Resolution which in this case is very necessary because we are likely to be assaulted with many enemies and seeing we are too often secure and forgetful of our work and welfare therefore we must stand fast in the purpose of our own hearts still to pursue this work till it be finished Those who are regenerated by the Spirit surely will have such reasonings in themselves and are not only in profession but indeed as the word is in the Text dying to sin and living to God And it is ordinary in Scripture to exhort by affirming that is to speak of the Duty of Believers as already done by them thereby to assure them it shall be done and to oblige them the more strongly to the endeavour of it Vse To press us to two things 1. To regard your Duty 2. To owne the Grace of Christ. 1. To regard your Duty of dying to Sin and living to God The Arguments to press it are these 1. From the Work it self which is so noble and excellent that if there were no benefit to ensue it were enough to ingage us It consists in these four Branches and Parts First To have the sensitive Appetite subject to Reason which is nothing else but to have the order of Nature preserved or that Man should carry himself rather like a Man than a Beast nor serve divers lusts and pleasures but be governed by his Reason and Conscience Now it should not be a hard Precept to us to perswade us to walk upon our feet rather than our heads let the head guide the body and the feet obey its direction put Reason in the Throne Secondly To have Reason illuminated and rectified by Faith which discovereth things to us out of the ken and view of Reason Heb. 11.1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen The Heathens had the highest opinion of those who were admitted into secrecy with their Gods and had things revealed to them which other Mortals could never have known This Honour have all his Saints They shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 higher Mysteries than Nature could discover Thirdly That this Faith should make us alive to God or enable and incline us to persevere in our Duty to him Faith is our life as begun Gal. 2.20 The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me As consummated Heb. 10.38 Now the just shall live by faith the Spirit working in us a practical fiducial assent to the saving Truths of the Gospel or affiance on God according to the Promises doth beget life in us or a resolution to obey God whatever it cost us Fourthly That this Faith working by Love doth incline and enable us to live accordingly The property of Faith is to work by love Gal. 5.6 Now see what these two Graces do The property of Love is to incline us to God it is the bent and biass of the Soul and the property of Faith is to enable us by presenting greater encouragements to the holy and heavenly Life than the World and the Flesh can produce to the contrary Now is this a toilsom and tedious life to have Appetite governed by Reason Reason elevated by Faith to the sight of God and the other World and Faith acting by Love and Hope which incline us to God and Heaven and fortifie and strengthen us against all the delights and terrors of sense This is nothing but dying to sin and living to God 2. From the consequent Benefits which are 1. Pardon of all their sins these have an interest in Christ a Pardon sealed by his Blood They that die to Sin and live to Righteousness have passed from death to life
them that do well and evil with them that do evil That every man should reap according to what he hath sown Therefore those whom Christ will receive into Everlasting life must appear faithful and obedient for then God will judge the world in righteousness Acts 17.31 Now in patience towards the wicked now by way of exercise and tryal of his people 2. The certainty of the Event The hour is coming John 5.28 That there is such a time coming he ill deserveth the name of a Christian who maketh any Question of it But because many live as if they shall never be called to an account I shall evidence that certainly we shall appear both by natural Light and Scripture 1. Let the evidence of Reason be heard so far as it will go Reason sheweth that it may be and argueth 1. From the nature of God There is a God That God is just and 't is agreeable to his justice that it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do evil These are principles out of dispute and foundations in the structure and building of the Christian Faith Here the best suffer most and are exercised with poverty disgrace scorn and all manner of persecutions and the wicked live a life of pomp and ease how shall we reconcile these things with the notions which we have of God and his Providence No satisfactory account can be given but this The wicked are reserved to future punishment and the Godly to future reward Here the goodness of God towards the good and the justice of God towards the wicked is not enough manifested therefore there is a day when his Judgment shall be brought to light and his different respect to good and bad made more Conspicuous 2. From the providence of God There are many Judgments which are pledges of the general Judgment that at length God will Judge the whole world for sin As the drowning of the Old World the burning of Sodom the destruction of Jerusalem these are as a warning to all for 't is said Jude 7. these are set forth as a warning to all that should live ungodly God is the same still Gal. 3.20 God is one that is in one mind of punishing the wicked without variation and change he hateth the sins of one as well as of another If he would not put up the iniquities of the Old World he will not put up the iniquities of the New if he punished the iniquities of Sodom he will punish the iniquities of others who sinned in like manner God is not grown more indulgent to sin than he was before though it be not now there will be a time when he will call them to a reckoning In every Age he keepeth a petty Sessions but then will be the general Assizes When man first sinned God did not immediately execute the Sentence of his Law upon him but giveth him time of Repentance till he dieth As he giveth every man time and space so he giveth all the World for he would not have all the World to be born at once and die at once but to live in several successions of Ages from Father to Son throughout divers generations till we come to that Period which his Providence hath fixed Now as he reckoned with every man particularly at his death so with all the World at the end of time Particular Judgments shew that God is not asleep or unmindful of humane Affairs but the general Judgment is deferred till then 3. From the Feelings of Conscience After sin men are troubled though there be none about them in the World to call them to an account or though the fact be done so secretly that it is not liable to an humane Tribunal Nature is sensible that there is an higher Judgment that Divine Justice must have a solemn Triumph Conscience is afraid of it Heathens are sensible of such a thing Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death Foelix trembled at the mention of it which sheweth there is an easie reception of such a Truth Acts 24.25 There is an hidden fear in the Consciences of all men which is soon revived and awakened by the Thoughts of this Truth Every guilty person is more or less held in the Chains of darkness which sheweth how easily this Truth can insinuate it self into a rational mind 2. Faith sheweth that it shall be The light of Faith is more certain and more distinct 'T is more certain for it buildeth upon a Divine Testimony which is more infallible than the ghesses of Reason And 't is more distinct for Nature could never find out the circumstances of that day as by whom this Judgment shall be managed and in what manner that God hath appointed one Man by whom he will judg the World in Righteousness that he shall come in the glory of his Father and all the holy Angels with him Faith concludeth this certainty 1. From that Revelation which God hath made in his Word Matth. 13.49 50. So shall it be at the end of the World the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Joh. 5.28 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Heb. 9.27 And it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the Judgment Rom. 14.12 So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God Matth. 12.36 37. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Rev. 20.12 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works And in many other places for this being a necessary Truth is more plentifully revealed than others of lesser importance This was the great Promise ever kept afoot in the Church Scoffers took notice of it saying Where is the Promise of his coming The Apostle Jude intimateth the Ancient Promise of it Jude v. 14. And Enoch also the seventh Son from Adam prophesied of these things saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints And it hath been revived in all Ages by Moses and David and Daniel and Joel Zechary and Malachi and more clearly by Christ himself and his Apostles every where Now we may reason that hath God been faithful in all things will not fail at last he hath ever stood to his Word when more unlikely things have been
come they might be ready to go in with him others contented themselves with an outward Profession or loose waiting for his coming but did not with that serious diligence prepare themselves for it and so came short of the blessedness expected by them There wanted a deep radication and a constant perseverance without which the blaze of Profession which lasted for a while will soon be extinguisht Doctrine That in the visible Church among those that give up their Names to Christ some will be found foolish when others are wise and come short of the blessedness expected by them Or In the visible Church all are not wise Christians but some are wise and really such as they profess themselves to be others negligent foolish and improvident The State of the visible Church is here represented And Observe 1. This Parable is not spoken of the Corrupted Members of degenerate Churches but speaketh what shall fall out in the Churches not defiled with the Whoredomes of the World There are some Churches that have turned the Government of Christ into a temporal Domination and their Worship into a mass of Paganish or Heathenish Rites and Superstitions and place all their Glory not in excellency of Gifts and Graces but pomp of Living and external splendor and make Christianity look like a Temporal worldly thing calculated only for this Life of those Christ speaketh not here something may be intimated of them in the former Parable but here he speaks of a reformed Chruch not the Church in her pollution and defection but a Church in her right Constitution Papists will be counted Christians who may be rejected by Christ at his coming they have so corrupted his Worship Discipline and Doctrine Nay but Christ speaketh here of those that live under the dispensations of purer Christianity some will be found true Believers others common Professors even among the Members of a reformed Church that make Profession of the Purity of the Gospel all will not be found such as may abide the day of Christs appearing in Judgment In Abrahams Family there was an Ishmael as well as an Isaac in Christ's a Judas and in the Apostles time some were Enemies to the Cross of Christ that yet took the Profession of Christ upon them Phil. 3.18 2. Mark again 'T is not meant the scandalous and faulty Members of a pure Church there are many Christians in name only but indeed deny it Titus 1.16 but 't is not meant of the scandalous that live as if their hopes were altogether in this World that ingulph themselves in all manner of sensuality as if there were no Heaven or Hell nor no future account to be given of their Actions but it is meant of such as profess themselves to be devoted unto Jesus Christ the Bridegroom such as are desirous to be admitted into the Nuptial Feast to have Communion with him in Heaven and possibly may attain to a blameless Conversation and appear Virgin-like all waiting for the coming of the Lord in their own and others estimation Some that Prophesied in Christs name and eat and drank in his presence are yet rejected by Christ as workers of Iniquity 3. 'T is not meant only of those that have a shew or a false and counterfeit Profession that are taught to act over their part in Religion as a Play as in the best and purest Churches there will be Hypocrites No these had some real work though not a saving but a common work as a man may have a light tincture of religion whose heart is not yet sound with God Psa. 119.80 therefore David Prayeth Let my heart be sound in thy Statutes There was not an universal renouncing of all corruptions not that thorough care to please God nor a rooted affection to Christ though they have some good motions hopeful inclinations that way as these Virgins seemed to be well affected to Christ for the present they had their Lamps made some slender preparation they went forth to meet the Bridegroom as others did Therefore it will be necessary to shew that a common work may go far and yet come short of blessedness I shall prove it by three reasons 1. Because a common work may go far 2. Though a common work may go far yet 't is not likely to hold out 3. If it should hold out a constant Profession yet it will not be enough to qualifie us for the Kingdom of Glory or heavenly bliss and happiness 1. A common work will go far I take it for granted that there is a real common work of Grace as well as a real special work if you doubt it I will inform you from Scripture Heb. 6.4 compared with the 9 th verse we read of some that were enlightned some that tasted of the good Word and of the heavenly gift and elsewhere of some That had escaped the pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2.20 All this is real the tasting the good word real the enlightening real the partaking of the heavenly gift real the escaping the pollutions of the World real but the Apostle saith in the 9 th verse We expect better things of you and things that do accompany Salvation or things that have necessarily salvation in them things that whosoever hath them shall certainly be saved The graces of Temporaries are for substance true but slightly rooted there are the purlues of Grace or the borders of the Kingdom of Heaven some flashes of light or dawnings of Grace but the Day-star doth not arise in their hearts many are enlightened taste the good word have some delight in the Promises tasted of the heavenly Gift apprehend it sweet to have Communion with God in Christ and tast the powers of the World to come feel some transports of Soul when they hear of the hopes of eternal Life and may be brought to some partial Reformation but that which is wanting is a deep radication or a more firm inherency of these Graces in the Soul and an habitual predominancy of these motions and affections over all other inclinations for 'till it be so we cannot do any great service for God or endure any tryal for his sake Sometimes true grace is described by its deep radication Jam. 1.21 't is called an ingrafted word 't is not something tyed on but ingrafted the root of the mattter is within and sometimes 't is described by its efficacy Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the Heart the form of Doctrine delivered to you But more especially I shall shew you that a common work may goe far with respect to the three Theological Graces Faith Hope and Charity mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 Now abideth Faith Hope and Love And again 1 Thes. 5 8. But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the Breast-plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the hope of Salvation Now a common work may go very far in all these Graces of Faith Hope and Love as here the Virgins
for their present use without looking further and the Wisdom of the other that their Vessels were furnished as well as their Lamps Grace must flow forth but withall it must have a bottom within As a Fountain or Spring sendeth forth streams to water the ground about it or the heart sendeth forth Life and Spirits to every faculty and member so the Graces of the Spirit in Believers flow forth in their Carriage and Behaviour to make their Tongue drop that which is savoury their Actions orderly and even their Carriage in all relations and affairs grave and serious 'T is well when all this hath a bottom that there is a principle of Life within to diffuse this vertue into every part of their Conversations and to keep them mindful and respective to all the Commands of God Now this is required 1. Partly because this glorious Profession and Practice will not serve the turn for the present For God looks not to outward appearance but regards the frame of the heart 't is internal Holiness that is lovely in his eyes Psa. 51.6 and without which the external is loathsome to him Math. 23.17 A Christian hath more in the Vessel than in the Lampâ Psa. 45.13 The Kings Daughter is all glorious within That which is outwardly professed is inwardly rooted and cherished by them who worship and serve God in Spirit and Truth Knowledge Faith Love Hope Zeal Courage Patience these adorn the Heart as well as the Fruits of them appear in the Life and this maketh us beautiful in the eyes of him that seeth in secret It would help us to discover our mistakes if we did make God our Witness Approver and Judge for the present studying to approve him in the frame of our hearts which is hidden from all others And 2. Partly because the Lamp will not long hold burning unless there be a stock of Oyl to feed it so that if it could suffice for the present yet without Grace in the Heart for the future we shall miscarry when the slender Provision and store is spent A Christian is to provide for the time to come such Grace as my endure and hold out in all tryals and bear weight in the day of Judgment We are often pressed to set our selves in such a state and put our selves into such a frame as will endure the glory of Christs presence and to think of that time and what we shall doe or how we shall be found when he appeareth He only believeth aright in Christ that will not be ashamed at his appearance Luk. 21.36 That ye may stand before the Son of Man And 1 Joh. 4.17 That we may have boldness at the day of Judgment And 1 John 2.29 When he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed of him at his coming 3. A saving work of Grace is an inward Principle of Life and that in such a degree and measure which the unsound though the most glorious Professors of the Gospel do not attain unto Some sleight and insufficient touches upon their hearts many Professors may attain unto that yet never had this rooted Principle of Grace which may properly be called Oyl in the Vessel It differeth in Radication and Efficacy as I shewed before They are inlightened but the day-star doth not arise in their hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 And Eph. 5.8 A flash of light they may have but are not light in the Lord. Are affected with the Truths of the Gospel but not changed or transformed by it 2 Cor. 3.18 Sin may be restrained or benummed but 't is not subdued and mortified Gal. 5.24 we cannot say 't is crucified They are half loosed but are still in bonds make some shew of escape from Sathan but are surprized by him again worse hampered than before Matth. 12.45 urged excited to some good but not enabled and inclined to love God with all the heart and seriously and constantly to set about the things that please him and to avoyd the contrary They have not the Grace the Apostle prayeth for Heb. 13.12 That Grace that may make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Have you this Grace to be alwayes working that which is pleasing in his sight Their Fire is like a straw-sire soon in and soon out so that there is a difference The common Grace that they have is real but not of an abiding and everlasting nature not secured by Gods Covenant and promise there is not that solid rooted Piety Therefore 't is not enough for Christians to see that the Lamp burneth but to look what there is in the Vessel to feed the Flame 'T is not suddain affections on our part nor the transient motions of the Spirit on Gods part that will amount to a constant principle of Life 4. This constant abiding state of Grace or Principle of Life may be known partly by the Terms by which it is set forth in Scripture and partly by the Effects of it First By the Terms by which 't is expressed in Scripture 1. 'T is expressed sometimes with respect to the Original Author Pattern and Fountain of it which is God And so it is called the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 whereby is not meant the Infinite Essence of God which can neither be divided or communicated to any Creature but of those holy and heavenly qualities and dispositions whereby we resemble God The heart of this Christian is so stamped with Gods own Image and Character that he beginneth to look like God for wisdom holiness purity pity So sometimes 't is called the life of God Eph. 4.18 that spiritual Life that is begun in Regeneration is so called not as God is the first original Author of Life natural but the Pattern of it From both these places it appeareth we must first be partakers of such a Nature as God hath before we can live such a Life as God doth 2. 'T is sometimes expressed with respect to the meritorious and procuring Cause or the immediate Head and Fountain of it and so Christ is said to live in us Gal. 2.20 to dwell in us Eph. 3.17 to remain in us as the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 That Christians may live the Life of Grace they must first be united to Christ for he liveth in us as the Head in the Members or the Root in the Branches We must be united to Christ and receive influence from him as Branches from the Root Through Faith Christ is perpetually present in Vertue Grace and Spirit We must first partake of Christ himself being most strictly united to him as Members to the Head from whence they receive sense and motion He taketh up a fixed and unmoveable habitation in our hearts Joh. 14.23 not for a Visit and away but keepeth a perpetual residence in the heart 3. With respect to the immediate Authour and Fountain which is the Spirit given to us to dwell in us by
things at rights for the great Espousals He that wooeth a Virgin if he went away from her in anger she might well suspect he would never see her again As Bridegrooms use to fetch their Brides so will Christ we should never come at him otherwise his Love will not let him rest satisfied 'till we and he meet again to enjoy one anothers Company certainly he who delighted among the Sons of men before the World was Prov. 8.31 who delighted to converse with his people in humane shape before his Incarnation who took pleasure to spend his time busily amongst them and to dwell with them in the days of his flesh Joh. 9.45 In short he that had a mind of returning before he went away certainly he will once more leave Heaven for their sakes When he hath done his work there he will return and bring his people along with him to Glory and the full fruition of the Promises He will stay no longer than our affairs do require Joh. 14.3 3. The Affections of his Saints to him which Christ will satisfie There are many that never saw him and yet believed in him and loved him heartily 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory And John 20.29 Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen me and yet have believed Their Faith is not misplaced they shall find him such a one as was to be believed loved and obeyed Now to gratify their desires Christ will appear and shew himself With these eyes shall I see my Redeemer The Children of God cannot look to Heaven but they remember they have a Saviour to come from thence Phil. 3.20 For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul speaketh in his own name and in the name of all those like himself And Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come The Holy Ghost breedeth the desire and the Church answereth the motion Nature saith not Come but Stay still If it might go by voices whether Christ should come or no would carnal men give their votes this way The voice of corrupt nature is Depart Job 22.14 Carnal men are of the mind of the Devil Art thou come to torment us before our time Mat. 8. But the Spirit in the Bride raiseth these desires Now would Christ disappoint these desires which he hath raised in the Hearts of his Children and set them a longing and a looking and a groaning for that which shall never be It cannot be imagined 4. From the Constitution of the Church He hath dispensed gifts and graces there and left Ordinances there and he will come and require an account of things during his absence how we have improved our Talents Mat. 25.31 how things have been managed in his house 1 Tim. 6.14 Keep my Commandments without rebuke till the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is now removed from us retired within the Curtains of the Heavens but he will come again 1 Cor 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha that is cursed till the Lord come 5. From his Promise We have his Word in pawn 'T is an ancient Promise made long ago Jude 15. Behold the Lord cometh and hath been received in all ages by the Lords Messengers Moses and David and Solomon and Daniel and Job and Zechariah and Malachi and revived by Christ at his departure Joh. 14.3 by the Angel Act. 1.11 And the Apostles every where put us in mind of Christs coming Now we may reason thus Fidelis Deus in omnibus in ultimo non deficiet God hath ever stood to his word many intervenient Providences yet Promises still accomplished not one word of God hath failed Every one that hath had experience of God may make that acknowledgment that Joshua did Jos. 23.14 Behold this day I am going the way of all the Earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you As unlikely things have come to pass that have been foretold in the Word Were the old Believers deceived that expected his coming in the flesh Surely God never meant to deceive us He will come again If it were not so I would have told you Joh. 14.3 Christs-deed and performance never gave his word the lye 6. His Promise is solemnly confirmed 1. By an outward sign and memorial 2 Cor. 11.26 For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew forth the Lords death until he come God knew he had to do with distrustful Creatures therefore left a Monument to keep the promise a-foot in the Church and to revive our hopes Would Christ institute an Ordinance for the solemn remembrance of his appearing if he meant no more to come at us 2. By a Real Pledge his Spirit dwelling in us He is gone to Heaven to prepare Heaven for us and hath left his Spirit with us to prepare us for Heaven He hath left his Spirit in the Church and doth give out frequent Tokens of Love to shew that he doth not forget us Christ and a Believer are not strange There is a constant intercourse between them We are absent from him in the body but there are frequent messages of love We hear from him in the Word Prayer Supper and will he not come again that is so mindful of us at every turn He did not forget us in his exaltation as the Butler forgat Joseph when preferred at Court he did not remember Joseph in Prison Now in his Fathers house he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and will not alwayes leave us liable to sinning and suffering Surely he that quickeneth us by the influences of his Grace and refresheth us with the tasts of his Love he will come again In short What would our Faith be worth if Christ would not come again Here we have but a slender enjoyment of Christ our full Communion is when he taketh us to himself Secondly I shall now speak of the Tarrying of the Bridegroom While the Bridegroom tarryed What! Is Christ more backward than the Church that goeth forth to meet him They are ready with their Lamps but he delayeth his comeing Answ. 1. Some understand it of our opinion not the reality of the thing Though Christ come alwayes with the soonest yet to us he seemeth to tarry Why Because earnest desires crave a present satisfaction and hope deferred maketh the heart sick Prov. 13.12 and Prov. 10.26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes so is the Sluggard to them that send him Expectation is in it self tedious especially when accompanied with difficulties Certainly being accompanyed with present troubles 't is more tedious The flesh groweth impatient after its own ease and in this sense the Bridegroom is not slack but we are
Progress in Religion and stop there they lose what they have Luk. 8.18 From him that hath not shall be taken what he seemeth to have to him that imployeth his stock more shall be given but the other is on the losing hand Secondly As to the Hope and Comfort that followeth this Profession An Inclination to that which is good I suppose without that there can be no true Comfort 'till we should submit to the Conditions of the Gospel-law Matth. 5.28 29 30. There Temporaries are defective all therefore see it and know it when they are serious and considerative and their mistakes and misconceits are blown away by Death and Judgment now the conditions are Believing Repenting and Gospel-walking Now their Faith will not yield Comfort Gal. 5.6 Neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth any thing but Faith that worketh by love Not their Repenting not a little sorrow for sin past 'till carnal Distempers are mortified 2 Cor. 7.10 So for Gospel-walking not a loose owning of Christ Mat. 7.21 'till there be a full Obedience to his Law putting it in practice with an upright Heart which is not consistent with allowed failings A man may profess himself a Christian yet if he do not his Fathers Will he may come short USE Oh then let us take heed we be not of the number of those whose Lamps are gone out The Lamps of the Sanctuary were never to go out but to burn alwayes Exod. 17.20 To this end 1. Apply your selves to Christ in the use of his appointed means for the renewing your Natures That his Spirit may give you a new Understanding and a new Heart God hath made the offer Ezek. 36.26 and it is only made good to those that diligently attend upon the appointed Means 2. Improve what you receive in that way 1 Thess. 5.14 Quench not the Spirit Fire may be quenched by powring on water or withdrawing the Fuel Quench not the Spirit by fleshly delights nor by a careless Conversation 3. They ask the wise Give us of your Oyl First This demand was unseasonable to be getting Oyl when they should use it to have their Oyl to buy when their Lamps should have been burning There is a time of getting if we lose that our opportunity is gone Luke 14.32 Isa. 55.2 John 9.4 While you have the day work for the night cometh in which no man can work Secondly It was extorted by meer necessity In a time of straits and distresses men will call upon the People of God to help them as Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron when Gods Judgements were upon him SERMON VII MATTH XXV v. 9. But the wise answered saying Not so lest there be not enough for us and you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for your selves IN the words we have 1. A Denyal 2. The Reason of the Denyal 3. Their advice and Counsel to the foolish First The Denyal not so 't is not a churlish and envious Denyal but such an Answer as the nature of the thing would bear If they should be so kind they would deprive themselves and not leave sufficient for them both therefore they were better take the usual way of supply Three points are in this Verse 1 Doct. Every one must get Oyl into his own Lamp or get Grace of his own or else in the day of his Accounts the Grace of others will do him no good Secondly From the Reason lest there be not enough for us and you 2 Doct. They that have most grace have none to spare 3 Doct. If we would get Grace we must have recourse to the Ordinances For the first Point That every man must get Grace of his own 1. I do not hereby exclude the Righteousness of Christ or his communicating his Spirit to us There is a great deal of difference between Christ and the Saints in point of Sufficiency Power and Authority First They have not a Sufficiency for themselves and us too Christ hath a fulness out of which you may receive enough John 1.16 Of his fulness we receive grace for grace There is plenitudo Fontis plenitudo Vasis The Fulness of a Fountain and the Fulness of a Vessel The fulness of a Vessel is lessened and abated the more you take out of it the Creature is wasted by giving but a fountain is ever flowing and overflowing it keepeth its fulness still though it affordeth to others God saith to Moses Numb 11.12 I will take of the Spirit that is upon thee and put it upon them The words seem principally to intend as if his own Gifts and Abilities were given to them to help bear a part in the burden of the Government Secondly In point of Power they have no power to transfuse and put over their Righteousness to another As a man cannot divide and part his Life between him and another But Christ who liveth in us and is spiritually united to us he can impart his Grace and Righteousness 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Gal. 2.20 The life that I live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God Thirdly If they could do so they have no Authority and Commission to do it as God hath given to Christ Joh. 3.34 35. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand And Joh. 17.2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Such a difference there is between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Saints He can give us of his Oyl and will do it will not deny those that seek it humbly and seasonably and have enough himself as the precious Oyntment upon Aarons head and beard ran down to the skirts of his Garments Psal. 133.2 so doth Christ the Head communicate his Gifts and Graces to all his Members 2. I do not hereby exclude the Benefit which we have by the Communion of the Saints in the Mystical Body of Christ here in this World The Members are mutually usefull to one another as 't is said Col. 2.19 From which all the Body by joynts and hands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God 'T is from the Head but knit together by Nerves Veins and Arteries The Apostle saith that every joynt supplyeth something Eph. 4.16 we communicate to one another that strength and nourishment which all receive by the Head There is no Member but is of use we have benefit from one anothers Gifts and Graces or else we could not be serviceable in the Body But the Case in the Text is different these foolish Virgins had their former advantages which they should have improved to have supplyed them in the day of their Account Now the wise could not help the
the same Calling wherein he was called God gives every Man his Work Mark 13.34 The Son of Man is like a Man taking a far Journey who left his House and gave Authority to his Servants and to every Man his Work 3. The Work of our Callings must be constantly and diligently attended upon A Rich Man cannot say I have no need therefore I will attend upon my Calling at my Pleasure You must not consider your present Need but your future Account The Baseness of a Man's Calling must not be a Discouragement to a poor Man seeing God counteth himself honoured in the lowest Service as well as in the highest and hath promised the Reward of the Inheritance to Servants as well as Nobles Luk. 3.23 Knowing that ye shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. 4. Every one that feeleth any Tediousness growing upon him in his Work should often rowse up himself by considering 1. The active Nature of Man was never made to be idle and shall we cross the Law of our Creation When the Beasts lie down in their Dens Man goeth forth to his Labour and Work till the Evening Psal. 104.23 2. The Preciousness of Time which is too good to be loytered away upon meer nothing We should buy it at any Price not waste it Ephes. 5.16 Redeem the Time We shall wish we had done so when 't is too late 3. The Eye of God who observeth every Man in his Station how he acquitteth himself with good Fidelity Eye Service with respect to Man maketh us unfaithful Ephes. 6.6 but Eye Service with respect to God is the great ground of Diligence Col. 3.22 23. 4. The near Approach of Death Would we be found eating drinking playing sporting away our precious Time or diligently employing our selves in our Callings at that Day Luk. 12.43 Blessed is that Servant whom when his Lord cometh he shall find so doing 5. Our Accounts which mainly concerneth 1. Our particular Calling and that course of Living wherein we were set to glorifie God The unprofitable Servant will be cast into utter Darkness Matth. 25.30 God will judge all according to what they have done in their Places and then what will become of the Idle and the Sloathfull 2. In our general Calling as Christians Take heed of being naughty and sloathful Servants First Let us enquire who may be characterized with this Brand 1. Who Those who complain for want of Strength yet do not diligently use the Means whereby they may be quickned and strengthned they are idle and lie upon the Bed of Ease and complain that God doth not give Grace Languish for Comfort rather than set about the Work of Obedience Christ telleth his Disciples Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him 2. That content themselves with a loytering Profession when their Hearts swarm with noysom Lusts and are unfurnished of Faith and Love and other necessary Graces and yet think a lazy Profession will serve the turn Matth. 7.22 Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord we have prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess I never knew them Because they pray and hear and Receive Sacraments they think all is well and they have no more to care for Is this Working out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling Phil. 2.12 Serving God instantly Day and Night Act. 26.7 Labouring for the Meat that perisheth not Joh. 6.27 Denying our selves Luk. 14.26 3. That snuff at a little Mock-service as if an intolerable Burden Mal. 1.13 What a weariness is it 4. The Children of God may feel this Temper coming upon them when though they do not cast off Prayer altogether yet they cut off or abate and diminish their Prayers either in Fervour or Frequency or Continuance and Perseverance in Prayer pray without Sense Affection or Life or do not pray so often or do not continue instant in Prayer This cutting short of Duties in time tendeth to a quitting of them altogether Man is ready to cast off what he thinketh to be a Burden So when they are backward to Meditation or to with-draw from the Delights of the Flesh and the Distraction of ordinary Imployments In all such Cases we should rouse up our selves Time is short our Account sure and near we are labouring for Heaven and Salvation Shall we tire and faint Be not weary of well-doing 't is spoken with respect to the Duties of Piety Heb. 12.12 Duties of Mercy Gal. 6.9 Duties of our Calling 2 Thess. 3.13 Oh then let us rouse up our selves SERMON XVI MATTH XXV v. 28 29. Take therefore the Talent from him and give it to him which hath ten Talents For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath WE have seen the Arraignment of the evil Servant now followeth the Sentence which intimateth a double Punishment Privative and Positive Loss and Pain The former is in these two Verses wherein you may observe three things 1. The taking the Talent from the evil Servant 2. The Disposition of the Talent so taken from him 3. The Reason of both Let me explain these Branches and then draw one Point from the whole First The taking the Talent from the evil Servant Take therefore the Talent from him Naughty Servants either lose the Gifts themselves or the Benefit Comfort and Reward of them Here in time they lose their Gifts when Time is no more which is the Case in our Parable they lose their Reward Secondly The Disposition of the Talent so taken from him And give it to him that hath ten Talents that is five by Trust and five more by Gain and Improvement The giving of the Talent to the first Servant was thought unequal by some because he had such Plenty already as appeareth Luk. 19.25 They say unto him Lord he hath ten Pounds But the Lord adhereth to his Sentence For I say unto you Vnto every one that hath shall be given c. He giveth most to those that have done him most diligent and faithful Service and delighteth to enrich them more and more with the Rewards of Grace Object But how can we receive other Mens Talents Shall the Elect receive Benefit from the Reprobate and their Loss be our Gain Answ. 1. 'T is spoken after the manner of Men Nothing more usual among Men than to take that from the Unfaithful which was committed to them and to give it to the Faithful 'T is such another Expression as Apoc. 3.11 Hold fast that thou hast that no Man take thy Crown as if that Crown which we had lost were taken and worn by others So Numb 11.17 25. God took of the Spirit that
of the same Mould To bridle the Excesses of Power the Scripture often telleth us of the Day of Judgment how the great Men of the Earth shall tremble and the Hearts of the Powerful then be appalled Revel 6.15 16 17. They shall then understand the distance between God and the Creature when his Wrath and Terrour is in its Perfection Who can stand when he is angry Psal. 76.7 'T is a wonder Men will live in a way Controversie with him and are so little moved at it No Wrath so considerable as the Wrath of the Lamb When their Mediator is their Enemy none in Heaven or Earth can befriend them Those that in the Thoughts of Men are most secure Ring-leaders to others in Sin that swear and swagger and bear down all before them and persist in their Opposition to Christ with the greatest Confidence will be found the greatest and most desperate Cowards then Now these Gallants ruffle it as if they would bid defiance to Christ and his Wayes Oh! how pusillanimous and fearful then Appear they must though they cannot abide it What Torture do they endure between these two The necessity of Appearing and The impossibility of Enduring Oh! the Great Ones then would gladly change Power with the meanest Saint Then they know what an excellent thing it is to have the Favour of God and of what worth and value Godliness is and how much a good Conscience exceedeth all the Glory of the World and what an Advantage it is to have Peace made with God 6. Not only some of all sorts or of all Nations but every individual Person In one Place the Apostle saith All of us collectivè 2 Cor. 5.10 in another Place distributivè Every one of us Rom. 14.12 Not only all but every one Not all shuffled together in gross but every one severally and apart is to give an Account of his Wayes and Actions to God VSE If these things be so That all Places shall give up their Dead and all those Nations that differ so much one from another in Tongues Rights and Customs of Living and distance of Habitation shall be gathered together into one Place and not left scattered up and down the World there are many wayes to shift Mens Courts and Tribunals they may fly the Country or bribe the Judge but there is no shunning the Bar of Christ Oh then let the Thought of this make us more watchful and serious 1. In this Judgment there is no Exemption For all summoned small and great and whether they will or no they shall be gathered together The Faithful shall willingly come as to Absolution the Wicked shall be violently halled as to Condemnation 2. There is no Appearing by a Proctor or Attorney but every one in his own Person must give an account of himself to God 3. No Denying For the Books shall be opened Revel 20.12 4. No excusing or extenuating For Christ will judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17.31 according to terms of strict Justice 5. No Appealing For this is the last Judgment No suing out of Pardon or no Time of shewing Favour For this is too late the Day of Grace is past Sinners are in termino Their Work is over and now come to receive their Wages Oh then Now let us take care that this day may be comfortable to us God's Children have more cause to look and long for it than to dread it Secondly We now come to the Segregation and there First As to Company He shall separate them one from another as the Shepherd divideth between the Sheep and the Goats In these Words there is 1. A Point intimated and implyed That Christ is represented as a Shepherd and the Godly as Sheep but the Wicked as Goats 2. There is a second Point expressed That though there be a Confusion of the Godly and Wicked now yet at the Day of Judgment there will be a perfect Separation For the First of these That Christ is represented to us under the Notion of a Shepherd So he is called Zech. 13.7 Awake O Sword against my Shepherd I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered And 1 Pet. 2.25 But are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls First A Shepherd among Men is one that is not Lord of the Flock but a Servant to take care of them and charge of them This holdeth good of Christ as Mediator for he is God's Elect Servant the Servant of his Decrees The Flock are his not in point of Dominion Right and original Interest but in point of Trust and Charge So Christ is Lord of the Faithful as God but as Mediator he hath an Office and Service about them and is to give an Account of them to God when he bringeth them home and leadeth them into their Everlasting Fold Joh. 6.37 to 40. with 1 Cor. 15.24 25. Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Jude 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the Presence of his Glory And Col. 1.22 To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight Secondly The Work of the Shepherd is to keep the Flock from straying to choose fit Pasture and good Laire for them yea not only to fodder the Sheep but to drive away the Wolf To defend the Flock is a part of his Office as David fought with the Lyon and the Bear and slew them for the Flock's sake All these concur in Christ as you may see Psal. 23.1 2 3 4. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green Pastures He leadeth me besides the still Waters Thy Rod and thy Staff they comfort me There is guarding and feeding and defending So Joh. 10. there is Leading Vers. 3 4. then there is Feeding them Vers. 9. and Defending them Vers. 12 27 28 29. Thirdly Christ is not an ordinary Shepherd He is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The good Shepherd Joh. 10.11 And Heb. 13.20 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The great Shepherd of the Sheep And 1 Pet. 5.4 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The chief Shepherd When the chief Shepherd shall appear c. 1. He is the good Shepherd Other Shepherds are said to be good when they perform their Office well or quit themselves faithfully in the discharge of their Trust. But besides the resemblance in these Qualities there are certain Singularities in Christ's Office that denominate him the good Shepherd 1. A good Shepherd is known by his Care and Vigilancy If he know the State of his Flock Prov. 27.23 This Resemblance holdeth good in Christ He hath a particular Care and Inspection of every Soul that belongeth to his Flock Calleth his Sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 He hath a particular exact Knowledge of every one of them their Persons their State their Condition their Place their Countrey their Conflicts Temptations and Diseases 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knoweth who are his Joh.
Believers is Holiness Therefore if his Judgment be right by producing this Fruit and Effect it must be justified A Judge is to proceed Secundum regulas Juris allegata probata as to the partyes judged And because in the day of Judgment the Covenant of Grace hath the force of a Law therefore it belongeth to Christ as a Judge to see we have fulfilled the Condition of it which is Faith And that our Faith is true is proved by Works When we are first pressed with Sin because the Promise of Justification or Remission of Sin requireth Faith it must be embraced by Faith and taken hold of by Faith our Faith must pitch upon it draw Comfort from it even before good Works are done by us But because the next Accusation will presently arise as if our Faith were not true we must be justified from this Accusation by good Works Not be contented with one or two good Works but abounding in all that thus we may be justified more and more and approved by our Judge 4. That Faith is implyed in all the Works mentioned is evident 1. From Christ's scope The Manner of judging those in the Visible Church is intended And 2. The Expression sheweth it for 't is Christ they respected in his Members Now it requireth Faith to see Christ in a poor Beggar or Prisoner to love Christ in them above our worldly Goods and Actually to part with them for Christ's sake Self-denyal is the Fruit of Faith 'T is not meerly the Relieving of the Poor but the doing of it as in and to Christ. 3. There is a near link between Faith and Works Faith is not sound and perfect unless it produce these Works and these Works are not acceptable unless they were the VVorks of Faith and done in Faith II. The Second Doubt is Whether the good Works of the Faithful shall be only mentioned and not the Evil I Answer So some would collect from this Scheme and Draught set down by Christ 'T is a Probleme disputed with Probabilities on both sides by good Men. Some reason from the terms by which Pardon is expressed As by the Blotting out of Sin Remembring Transgressions no more Cast into the depths of the Sea 'T is like God will cover them because repented of and forgiven in the World On the other side they urge The exact Reckoning Rev. 20.11 The general Particles 2 Cor. 5.10 and âccles 12.13 And that for every Idle word that men shall speak they shall give an Account thereof in the day of Judgment Matth. 12.36 I would not interpose I cannot say absolutely that their Sins shall not be mentioned at all for Acts 3.19 't is said Repent âe therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Certainly not to their Trouble and Confusion Possibly not particularly These Scriptures are not cogent to prove they shall For it may be meant distributively All the Evil of the Wicked and the Good of the Godly Howevever these Scriptures should breed an Awe in our Hearts III. A Third Doubt is That only Works of Mercy and Charity rather than Piety are mentioned by our Lord and Saviour I Answer 1. 'T is clear that the Special is put for the General and an Act of Self-denying Obeaânce is put for all the rest In other Places a more general Expression is put as Matth. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and thân hâ shall reâard every Man according to his Works And 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad And Rev. 20.12 And I say the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books âere opâned and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life And the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works And therefore Acts of Mercy are not intended to be cryed up alone as separate from all other Acts of Piety and Charity to God and Men yea all Acts of Charity for which we are accountable unto God are not mentioned Comforting the Afflicted Reproving the Faulty Instructing the Weak Counselling the Erring Praying for others Therefore under these Works of Charity all the Fruits of Faith are understood and the real gracious Constitution of the Heart that must produce them 1 Cor. 13.3 And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But Christ doth not express that so plainly because he would shew that this Judgment shall proceed according to what is visible and sensible 2. Christ singled out Works of Mercy for the Evidence because the Jews had been more exact and diligent in the observing the Ceremonies of External Worship but negligent of these things Therefore doth God so often by the Prophets tell them of Mercy above Sacrifices Hosea 6.6 For I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice and the Knowledge of God more than burnt Offerings And Mercy above Fasting Isa. 58 6 7. These are Duties never out of Season and including a real Benefit to Mankind God preferreth them before External Rites of Worship 3. These are most evident and sensible Discoveries and so fitted to be produced as Fruits of Faith There is a Demonstration of the Soundness of it A signis notioribus These are most conspicuous and so fittest to justifie Believers before all the World who reckon Good and Evil most by the Bodily Life Therefore doth Christ instance in Acts of Bodily rather than Spiritual Charity Not in Reproving Converting Counselling but in Feeding and Cloathing 4. These are Acts wherein we do exercise Faith and Self-denyal In imparting Spiritual Gifts to others we lose nothing our selves as our Candle loseth nothing by communicating Light to another Christ would have us venture something on our Heavenly Hopes and not please our selves with a Religion that costs us nothing and puts us to no Charges Alms is an expensive Duty here is something parted with and that upon Reasons of Faith Eccles. 11.1 Cast thy Bread upon the Waters for thou shalt find it after many Dayes Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity upon the Poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he giveth them will he pay it again 5. Christ would hereby represent the Excellency of Charity and commend it to the Covetous niggardly World 'T is the Duty wherein we do very much resemble God and Christ And all his Followers should be like him These are all Works of God To Feed the Hungry Cloath the Naked Visit the Sick we imitate him in this are Instruments of his Providence Mercy is a very lovely thing an imitation of the Divine Nature Our Lord told us Act. 20.35
't is a more blessed thing to give than to receive It cometh nearest the Nature of God So Christ himself went about doing Good and healing all that were oppressed And by Helpfulness to others we do very much resemble Christ. I cannot exclude this since Mercy is mentioned only IV. A Fourth Doubt is this That all cannot express their Love and Self-denyal this way some are so very poor and miserable I Answer 1. All must have that Faith which will work by Love Gal. 5.6 For in Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love And Self-denyal which some way or other must be expressed Matth. 16.24 Then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me By denying the Ease of the Flesh if not the Interests of it to be serviceable in their Place whatsoever it be 2. Though some be so needy themselves that they cannot cloath the Naked or feed the Hungry yet they may visit the Sick resort to such as are in Prison Every one in some kind or other may be the Object of his Neighbours Charity so may every one be either the Instrument or Agent in the doing of it The Rich may stand in need of the Help or Prayers of the Poor and the Poor of the Bounty of the Rich. If we have an Heart to part with all for Christ we have that Faith which will carry away the Price of Gospel-Priviledges All must have such a Value for Christ see such an Excellency in the World to come that they have an Heart and Disposition to part with all rather than quit the Profession of the Gospel or neglect the Duties thereof Matth. 13.44 45. These things premised I come now to observe these Points First That at the General Iudgment all Men shall receive their Doom or Iudgment shall be pronounced according to their Works For Christ produceth Works both in the Sentence of Absolution and Condemnation Secondly That Christ hath so ordered his Providence about his Members that some of them are exposed to Necessities and Wants others in a Capacity to relieve them Thirdly That Works of Charity done out of Faith and Love to Christ are of greater weight and consequence than the World usually taketh them to be Other Points may be raised but to these Three all the rest may be reduced 1. That at the general Iudgment all Men shall receive their Doom or Iudgment shall be pronounced according to their Works Of the Wicked there is no doubt but that they shall receive according to their Works they stand on their own Bottom their Works deserve Punishment their Doom and Sentence is justified by their Works But for the Godly 't is also true that Life Everlasting shall be awarded Secundum opera non propter Opera Not that this Kingdom is by Right due to us for our Works but the Righteousness of the Sentence is manifested by producing our Works This will appear if we consider 1. The Business Scope or End of the Day of Judgment 2. The Respect of Good Works and how far they are considered First The Business of that Day is not only to glorifie God's free Love and Mercy but also his Holiness rewarding Justice and Truth Then God will not only glorifie the Riches of his Glorious Grace in the Electing of his People out of his Love and Favour to them without any thing considered in them Come ye Blessed of my Father The first Cause of our Salvation is made the Blessing of the Father But also his Remunerating Justice Veracity or Truth This maketh for our purpose now 1. His Holiness The Holy God delighteth in Holiness He will now manifest it in the Sun the Estimation he hath of the Holiness of his People The Veil is taken away Now 't is made matter of Sense 'T is a Delight to him Christ mentions their Graces and Services as things which are pleasing and acceptable to him Psal. 5.4 Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in Wickedness But he hath pleasure in the Holiness of his People The Upright are his Delight and as such will he speak of them and commend them and represent them to the World 2. His Remunerating Justice The Justice of God requireth that there should be different Proceeding with them that differ among themselves that it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do evil That every Man should reap according to what he hath sown whether he hath sown according to the Flesh or the Spirit and the Fruit of his Doings be given into his Bosom Therefore those whom Christ will receive into Everlasting Life must appear Faithful and Obedient For then Christ will Judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17.31 3. That he may shew his Veracity and Faithfulness The Faithful God will make good his Promises and reward all the Labours and Patience and Faithfulness of his Servants according to his Promises to them If his Promises take notice of Works his Justice will God is not unfaithful or unrighteous to forget your Work and Labour of Love which you have shewed to his Name Heb. 6.10 Secondly The respect of Good Works and how far they are considered 1. They are Perfectional Accomplishments Those that have done them are lovely Objects in his Sight as being conformed to his Nature and Pattern Can we imagine that God should bid the Saints love one another for their Holiness and count them the Excellent Ones of the Earth Psal. 16.3 how poor and despicable soever they be as to their outward Condition and that he himself should not love them the more We that have but a drop of the Divine Nature hate impure Sinners Lot's righteous Soul was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked 2 Pet. 2.8 And we find a Complacency and Delight in the Good And can we imagine without a manifest Reproach to him that God should be so indifferent to Good and Evil and that the Saints should not be more lovely in his Sight for their Holiness Therefore the more lovely the more endeared Objects to their Redeemer 2. They are Qualifications to make them capable of his Remunerating Justice There is in God a threefold Justice First His strict Justice Secondly His Justice of Bounty or free Beneficânce and Thirdly As Judging according to his Gospel-Law of Promise 1. He may be said to be strictly Just when he rewardeth Man according to his perfect Obedience yet no Obedience though never so perfect can bind him to reward Man or Angel 2. He is Just by way of Bounty when he rewardeth a Man capable of Reward though not in respect of his perfect Righteousness in himself yet because he is some way righteous in respect of others that are unrighteous So 't is said 2 Thess. 1.6 7. 'T is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them that trouble his Saints And to
them that are troubled rest c. This with respect to Christ's Merit and the Qualification of the Parties 3. The Third Righteousness is in Performance of his Promises For though his Promise be free yet if it be once made Justice doth require it and God is not free but bound to perform it Now in these two latter Respects are they capable 3. They are Signs and Tokens of their being approved and accepted with God according to the Gospel-Covenant Christ as God's Steward cometh to distribute the appointed Reward to the Heirs of Glory This is the Evidence he is to proceed by When the destroying Angel was sent to destroy the First-born of the Aegyptians he was to take notice of the Sign of Sprinkling of Blood on the Door-Posts Exod. 12. Not that that Blood deserved but it signified that there dwelt Israelites 4. They are Measures according to the Degrees of Grace and our abounding in the Work of the Lord 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully The Reward is more full or sparing according to what we have done or suffered for God VSE To set us right in the Doctrine of Grace and Works we have to do with three Parties 1. The Pharisaical Legalist 2. The Carnal-Gospeller and 3. The Broken-hearted and serious Christian. 1. The Legalist that trusts in himself that he is Righteous and hopeth to be accepted with God for his Works sake Trusting in Works is very natural and very dangerous 'T is very Natural because of the Law written upon our Hearts We all come into the World with a sense of a Duty-Covenant and because every one would be sufficient to his own Happiness an unhumbled Soul is apt to give more to Duty and Personal Righteousness than to Christ Rom. 10.3 For they being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the Righteousness of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A russet ragged Coat of his own pleaseth a Proud Man better than a silken Coat that is borrowed 'T is dangerous for 't is contrary to all the Declarations of God Eph. 2.9 By Grace ye are saved not of Works lest any man should boast The whole Progress of Salvation from its first Step in Regeneration till its final and last Period in Glorification doth intirely flow from God's Grace and not from our Works The securing the Interest of free Grace in our Salvation is a thing the Spirit of God is very careful of in the Scriptures the Glory of Grace being that which God mainly aimeth at Eph. 1.6 and a thing which we do naturally incline to intrench upon and to rob him of in whole or in part It crosseth the great End which God aimed at in contriving of Man's Salvation which was that all ground of glorying should be taken away from Man as being in the meanest or least respect a Saviour to himself and that all the Glory might be ascribed compleatly to God in Christ 1 Cor. 1.29 30 31. Christ spake a Parable against those that trusted in themselves that they were righteous Luk. 18.9 Two men went up into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publican The one cometh Appealing to Justice The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust c. I fast twice in the Week I give Tythes of all that I possess The other cometh crying out Grace The Publican standing a far off âould not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven but smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful to me a Sinner The Sinner is justified not the Worker In short to prevent all Mistakes First Our Works whatever they are either Works of Love to God or Man and the good use of External Means or Common Grace are not the moving Cause or Inducement to incline God to give us Christ or the Grace of Faith or Work of Conversion before others but this is the meer work of Grace or the Mercy and good Pleasure of God Tit. 3.5 6. Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Secondly Works both before and after Conversion are not that Righteousness nor any part of that Righteousness by which Sin is expiated or the Wrath of God appeased or whereby we are reconciled to God and do originally obtain a Right to Eternal Life This is only ascribed to the Merit of Christ Rom. 3.24 25. Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 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 The Merit is in Christ's Blood Christ's Obedience his Ransom and meritorious Price 3. Our Works or what we do to fulfill the Law of God are not that Instrument by vertue of which we apply the Merits of Christ to our selves or receive that Righteousness by vertue of which we are reconciled to God Our Interest in the Merits of Christ our Right to Pardon of Sin and Grace doth not arise from Works but meerly Faith Rom. 3.22 So that in the Plea of Justification or our Suit for the Pardon of Sin we must renounce all our good Works and wholly rely on the Merits of Christ giving up our selves to do the Will of God ' Bate this and then Works indeed come in as the fruits of Faith as Evidences of Eternal Life and the way to Glory 2. The Carnal-Gospeller is the other person we have to do with And to him we say 1. That no man can maintain his Comfort and faithfully relye upon Christs Merits but he that is faithful in doing his Fathers will No other Faith is allowed by the Scriptures for sound in the Judgment of our Consciences but such a Faith Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love No other Faith will be approved by Christ for sound at the last day Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven 2. That the doing of some good Works cannot excuse men for the Omission of others which be as necessary we must not do one act of Charity only but all Many acts are reckoned up of one kind to imply all the rest not only fed but cloathed not only cloathed but visited Therefore besides the goodness of the work which we are bound to do there must be an Uniformity in them There are good Works of divers kinds many Works of the same kind To Prophesie in Christ's Name is a good
work to cast out Devils would seem to us more excellent than these mentioned as the Workers of Iniquity Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works Ver. 23. Then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity Then there are many works of the same kind we must not only visit but cloath not once but often The same Faith which inclineth our Hearts to works of one kind will incline them to every kind for they all stand by the same Authority and 't is not agreeable with Sincerity to balk any of them 3. These Works must be done so heartily as that it may appear we have denyed all for Christ and love him above all or that it may appear they are fruits of Faith and Love The parting with worldly Goods implyeth our Hearts must be loosened from the love of temporal things And the Visiting of Christ in Prison which may be for Righteousness sake implyeth our Victory over our fear of Danger otherwise it argueth our Faith is weak and our Love is cold and so not sincere not prevailing over us in such a degree as will argue Sincerity There is Faith unfeigned 2 Tim. 1.5 and Loving in deed and truth 1 Joh. 3.18 Faith Vnfeigned as when Temporal things seem nothing to us and are easily parted with and Love in Deed and in Truth is to relieve our Brethren with our Goods yea to give our lives for them if need be as appeareth ver 16 17. But alas Love in most Christians is cold it will neither take pains nor be at charge much less lay down Life for them as Christ did for us do little to maintain comfort or support Christ's Servants in distress 3. The Broken-hearted Serious Christian that thinketh Works can never have enough of his care or too little of his trust that is alwayes hard at work for God and yet seeth God must do all at last He is perswaded that Grace doth not weaken his Duty but enforce it yet when he hath done all counteth himself but an Vnprofitable Servant and is still approving himself unto God more and more and yet the more he doth the more daily need he seeth of Christ No man liveth under a greater dread of the Holiness and Justice of God yet flyeth oftener to his Mercy We must comfort these 1. Consider God observeth all the Good that we do and pondereth every Action of what kind soever it be whether giving Food or Cloathing or Harbour or Entertainment or Visiting or Comforting 't will all be fruit abounding to your account Phil. 4.17 The more you abound in Acts of Communion with God or Relief towards such as are in Misery the greater will your Reward be in the last Day There is Fruit for our Account and Abounding for our Account 2. The least Actions done for Christ's sake shall be rewarded by Him for some of the Actions are more inconsiderable than the other yet if done for Christ's sake a Meals Meat a little Harbour yea a Visit is taken notice of by him He doth not say Ye feasted me ye made me sumptuous Entertainment But Ye gave me food ye cloathed me ye visited c. The least Action done for Christ's sake shall not go unrewarded Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a Cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple Verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his Reward 3. God will pardon all their Failings Here is no mention of the evil but the good they had done An honest upright Heart is dispensed with as to many Weaknesses Mal. 3.17 I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him I come now to the Second Point II. Doct. That Christ ordereth his Dispensations so that some of his People are exposed to necessity others in a capacity to relieve them The Priviledges and Promises of the Gospel do not exempt the one from Distress nor do the Duties and Rules of the Gospel make the possession of Riches to the other unlawful In the one sort of good men Christ is hungry and a-thirst in the other sort of good men he feedeth and cloatheth them Christ is in the Giver and Receiver These want that they may have matter of Patience those abound that they may have matter of Bounty Abraham was Rich Lazarus that slept in his bosom was poor 'T is so 1. That he may shew himself to be the Governour and disposer of all things here in the world and that he giveth Honour and Riches to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.17 If these things were at the Devils disposal Gods friends should never have them 2. To shew that the bare Possession is not unlawful that 't is not the having but the ill use that bringeth so much mischief 3. That the world may know somewhat of his Favour to his People and what Prosperity he can bestow upon all if it were expedient some Diseases require Cordials others sharp and bitter Potions 4. That in the time of our Exercise we may have a Pledge what he will do for us hereafter and give us in Heaven 5. That they may be Instruments of his Providence to supply others that want House and Harbour and all necessaries as the great veins receive blood to convey it to the lesser some are kept under Affliction We sail more safely to the Haven of Salvation with an adverse wind than a prosperous VSE If it fall to your lot to Give rather than to Receive bless God in that behalf and neglect not your Duty God could level all to an Equality but he will not that you may be Instruments of his Providence to cherish them you should be a Fountain not to keep the water to your selves but to overflow for the necessity of others I come now to the Third Point III. Doct. That works of Charity done out of Faith and Love to God are of greater weight and consequence than the world taketh them to be 1. There is a Command of God requireth it Next to the great duties of the Gospel nothing more enforced to relieve the necessities of the poor is not Arbitrary but a duty required of us according to our abilities 't is Charity to them but a due Debt to God and a part of our Righteousness Stewards are to dispense the Estate by the Masters command 2. 'T is the tryal of our Love to Christ He hath made the poor his Proxies and Deputies we would cozen our selves with an empty Faith and a cheap Love if God had not devolved his right upon our Brethren 1 Joh. 3.17 But whoso hath this worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God in him If Christ were sick in a Bed we would visit him
Jam. 4.17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is Sin III. In many Cases Sins of Omission may be more hainous and damning than Sins of Commission They are the ruine of the most part of the Carnal World They are described to be without God Ephes. 2.12 Of the Wicked within the Pale 't is said Psal. 10.3 4. The Wicked through the Pride of his Heart will not seek after God God is not in all his Thoughts Of the careless Professor Jer. 2.32 My People have forgotten me Dayes without number Sins of Omission may be more hainous than Sins of Commission 1. Partly because these harden more Foul Sins scourge the Conscience with Remorse and Shame but these bring on insensibly Sleightness and Hardness of Heart And therefore Christ saith Publicans and Harlots should enter into the Kingdom of God before Pharisees that neglected Faith Love and Judgment Matth. 21.31 2. Partly because Omissions make way for Commissions Psal. 14.4 They that called not upon God did eat up his People as Bread They lie open to gross Sins that do not keep the Heart tender by a daily Attendance upon God If a Man do not that which is Good he will soon do that which is Evil. Oh then let us bewail our Unprofitableness that we do no more Good that we do so much neglect God that we do no more edifie our Neighbour so that God's best Gifts lie idle upon our hands That Child is counted undutiful that doth wrong and beat his Father so also he that giveth him not due Reverence How seldom do we think of God! Every Relation puts new Duties upon us but we little regard them every Gift every Talent II. The Godly by their Fruitfulness in good Works and Acts of Self-denying Obedience They fed they refreshed they harboured they cloathed they visited vers 35 36. The question is not Have you heard prayed preached These are disclaimed Matth. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesyed in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity Luke 13.26 Then shall ye begin to say We have eat and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity Nay nor have you Believed Jam. 2.20 Wilt thou know O vain man that Faith without Works is dead No Christ telleth us of another Tryal Well then a Religion that costs nothing is worth nothing A Notional Religion a Word Religion is not a Christianity of Christs making Surely Heaven is worth something and it will cost us something if we mean to get thither There is more in these Works of costly Charity than we usually think of 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Luke 16.9 1 Joh. 4.19 Hereby we knew that we are of the Truth and shall assure our Hearts before him Hereby by what If we love not in Word and Tongue only but in deed and in truth Refresh the Bowels of the Poor own Brethren though with danger of our Lives Heaven is but a Fancy to them that will venture nothing for the Hopes of it What have you done to shew your thankfulness for so great a Mercy tendred to you A cold Belief and a fruitless Profession will never yield you Comfort Good words are not dear and a little countenance given to Religion costs no great matter and therefore do not think that Religion lyeth only in hearing Sermons or a few cursory Prayers and drowsie Devotions We should mind those things about which we shall be questioned at the day of Judgment Have you visited fed cloathed harboured owned the Servants of God when the World hath frowned on them Comforted them in their distresses Wherein really have you denyed your selves for the Hopes of Glory Fifthly Observe The Notions whereby their different Estate in the other World is expressed Punishment and Life See Serm. last on 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 104 105. Sixthly Observe Eternity is affixed to both Everlasting Punishment and Eternal Life See last Sermon on 2 Cor. 5.10 latter end of Page 105. and beginning of Page 106. Seventhly Observe These are spoken of not only as Threatned but Executed When the Cause hath been sufficiently tryed and cleared and Sentence passed there will be Execution The Execution is certain speedy and unavoidable See last Sermon on 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 107. Eighthly Observe Sentence is Executed on the Wicked first It beginneth with them for 't is said These shall go away into everlasting Punishment and the Righteous into Life Eternal Now this is not meerly because the Order of the Narration did so require it See last Sermon on 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 108. The VSE Is to press us 1. To Believe these things 2. Seriously to consider of them 1. To Believe them Most mens Faith about the Eternal Recompenses is but pretended at best too cold and Speculative An Opinion rather than a sound Belief as appeareth by the little Fruit and Effect that it hath upon us for if we had such a sight of them as we have of other things we should be other manner of Persons than we are in all holy Conversation and Godliness We see how cautious man is in tasting Meat in which he doth suspect Harm that it will breed in him the Pain and torments of the Stone and Gout or Chollick I say though it be but probable the things will do us any Hurt We know certainly that the wages of Sin is Death yet we will be tasting forbidden Fruit. If a man did but suspect an House were falling he would not stay in it an Hour We know for certain that continuance in a carnal Estate will be our eternal ruine yet who doth flee from Wrath to come If we have but a little hope of Gain we will take pains to obtain it We know that our Labour is not in vain in the Lord Why do we not abound in his work 1 Cor. 15.58 Surely we would do more to prevent this Misery to obtain this Happiness when we may do it upon such easie Terms and have so fair an Opportunity in our hands if we were not strangely stupified we would not go to Hell to save our selves a labour There are two things which are very wondrous 1. That any should suspect the Christian Faith so clearly promised in the Predictions of the Prophets before it was set a-foot and confirmed with such a number of Miracles after it was set a-foot Received among the Nations with so universal a consent in the Learned part of the World notwithstanding the meanness of the Instruments first employed in it and perpetuated to us throughout so many Successions of Ages who have had experience of the Truth and Benefit of it That now in the latter end of Time any
Torments of Hell Page 133 A State of Torment as well as a state of Death Page 193 Set forth by Darkness and outer Darkness and why Vid. Darkness Page 133 Indignation of the damned in Hell against God the Saints and themselves Page 136 Sorrow of the damned in Hell Page 136 The wicked go to Hell at Death Page 196 They have not their full Torments till the day of Iudgment Page 197 Punishment of Hell may consist with Gods being merciful Page 193 Fire of Hell vid. Fire Punishment of Hell v. Punishment of Loss and Punishment of Sense Hiding Talents a great sin and why Page 96 He that hides his Talents faulty as well as he that abuses them Page 96 What is the cause of this unfaithfulness in hiding Talents Page 96 Honour the Honour that shall be put on the Saints at the day of Iudgment Page 165 Hope what it is Page 7 Weak and groundless Hope of Heaven Page 9 Cold and careless Hope what Page 24 What kind of Hope may be in Hypocrites Page 7 Hope of wicked men will fail them and when Page 47 48 Hope of Heaven how it sheweth it self Page 172 How this Hope puts us on a diligent pursuit of this Blessedness Page 172 This Hope must moderate our Cares Fears and Sorrowes as to temporal things Page 173 Humility Saints have a humble sense of their own good Works Page 183 184 Hypocrites shall be discovered at the day of Iudgment Page 164 I. IDleness the evil of it Vid. Sloath. Page 96 Impotency why God requires Duty of fallen Creatures that have no power to perform it Page 114 Natural Impotency no Excuse to the sloathful Page 123 Inclination of heart towards good how expressed in Scripture Page 14 Increase Diligence the Means and God's blessing the Cause of all increase Page 127 Our Increase should be of the same Talent that is given us Page 127 This Increase is given by degrees Page 129 And is to be continued till it be full and perfect Page 129 Indignation of the Damned in Hell against God the Saints and themselves Page 136 Infants what to judge of Infants that dye in Infancy Page 157 Inheritance of Heaven the Properties of it Page 169 Joyes of Heaven whence they arise Page 104 Why called the Joy of the Lord. Page 105 Judge we are not to judge of others or our selves by the outward esteem of others Page 185 Judge the Qualifications of a Judge Wisdom Iustice Power Authority Page 142 These Qualifications found in Christ. Page 143 Christ the Judge of the World Page 142 Why Christ Judge of the World rather than Father or Spirit Page 146 In what Nature Christ is Judge Page 147 Why Christ as Mediator is Judge of the World Page 147 Why Christ as Judge called King Page 167 Judgments temporal may be kept off from the wicked by the Society of the godly Page 50 One Judgment makes way for another Page 198 Judgment-day proved Page 33 34 Cavils against it answered Page 154 The Conveniency of such a day Page 34 The business of that day shall be to glorifie Gods Holiness rewarding Iustice and Truth Page 178 All shall come to Judgment Page 156 Infants and Grown Persons Page 156 Dead and living Page 157 Good and Bad. Page 158 Believers and Vnbelievers Page 158 High and low Page 160 At judgment-Judgment-day all shall be judged according to their works Page 177 Why works of Mercy and Charity rather than Piety are then mentioned Page 176 Whether the sins of the righteous shall then be mentioned Page 176 Who shall be judged by the Gospel Page 158 Whether Papists Turks Iews since Christ shall be judged by the Gospel Page 158 By what rule Pagans shall be judgeth Page 159 There shall be a separation of good and bad at the Judgment-day and why Page 164 Hypocrites shall be discovered at the day of Judgment Page 164 The Honour that shall be put on the Saints at the day of Judgment Page 165 The godly shall be first absolved before the wicked are condemned and why Page 166 Judgement-day should be believed feared loved by the Saints and hoped for Page 154 It should make us patient under disgraces Page 154 Thoughts of Judgement should make us serious and why Page 160 Justice and Righteousness of Christ explained Page 144 Justice of God 3 * Page 178 Justification opposed to Accusation Page 175 How we are justified by Faith and how by Works Page 175 K. KIng why Christ as Iudge of the World is called a King Page 167 Kingdom of Heaven what it signifies Page 3 Why Heaven is called a Kingdom Page 169 Knowledge of Christ. How Christ knowes his People Page 66 Christ knowes all his Sheep Page 162 Knowledge of God intuitive and approbative Page 66 L. LAmps going out of Lamps of foolish Virgins what it signifies Page 47 When their Lamps shall go out Page 48 Trimming of Lamps v. Trimming Law and Grace strive for Victory in the hearts of those that have any sense of Religion Page 111 Lawes of God no Tyranny in them Page 113 Left hand why Sinners are set on the left hand at the day of Iudgment Page 169 Loss vide Punishment of Loss Love to God what it is Page 7 Feeble and sleepy Love what Page 24 What a kind of Love is due to Christ. Page 58 Lye difference between a Lye and an Vntruth Page 41 M. MArriage-Union between Christ and Believers the foundation of it layed in Christs Incarnation Page 57 Entred into at Conversion Page 57 The present state of it in this world Page 58 The Consummation of it in another world Page 59 Why the Second Coming of Christ is called a Consummation of this Marriage Page 59 The duties that result from this Marriage-Union Page 58 Motives to be espoused to Christ. Page 60 N. NAme of God what it is Page 112 Poor trembling Souls to study the Name of God Page 112 New-Creature why God expects more honour from them than from the World Page 89 O. ODium Abominationis odium Inimicitiae Page 17 Omissions Sins of Omission and Commission what they are and how distinguished Page 138 211 Omissions Sins as well as Commissions Page 117 They are both in every actual sin Page 138 212 The greatness of Sins of Omission Page 138 212 Some Sins of Omission greater than others Page 139 212 In many cases Sins of Omission are greater than Sins of Commission Page 139 213 The Causes of them Page 139 212 The Effects of them Page 139 212 Omission of holy Duties breeds Security Page 28 Omissions make way for Commissions Page 140 213 Opportunities of doing good may be lost Page 130 Ordinances considered as Dutyes Priviledges Means Talents Page 90 May be lost Page 131 Oyl not only to be had in Lamps but in Vessels Page 11 Oyl in Vessels what it is Page 12 14 To get Oyl in Vessels is our true wisdom Page 22 Directions to get it Page 21 P. PArables why Christ taught by Parables Page
Page 133 Hell a state of Torment as well as a state of Death Page 193 Hell a State of Torment and Place of Torment Page 193 The greatness of the Torments of the damned Page 207 Torments of the Body what they shall be Page 206 Torments of the damned why eternal Page 208 Eternity of Hell Torments consistent with Gods Iustice. Page 194 Few believe the Torments of Hell Page 195 Trimming of Lamps what it signifies in the Wise Virgins Page 40 What it signifies in the Foolish Virgins Page 40 Who do not trim their Lamps Page 41 Trade what it is to trade with our Talents Page 90 In trading for God our Returns must carry proportion to our Receipts Page 94 Reasons of it Page 95 Cautions in judging of our Returns in Trading Page 94 U. UNion of Believers with Christ represented by Marriage-Union Vid. Marriage Page 56 The Benefits of Union with Christ. Page 57 Virgins Visible Professors why so called Page 3 Virgins foolish why many have great confidence of their good Estate that shall be found foolish Virgins at last Page 45 Visible Church the State of it in this World Page 4 W. WAtching spiritual what it is Page 72 Watching as it respects our present state to avoid sin and do good considered Page 74 75 Reasons why we should watch to avoid sin Page 73 Watching unto Prayer in Prayer after Prayer what Page 75 Watching as it respects the future State opened Page 75 Who are to watch Page 78 Reasons why we should watch Page 77 The Causes of it Page 73 How long we are to watch Page 78 The Blessing promised to watching Page 78 The danger of not watching Page 78 Means to help to Watchfulness Page 79 Wisdom of Christ Divine and Humane explained Page 143 Wisdom Spiritual wherein it lyes Page 22 Wonder a great Wonder that any should reject the Christian Faith Page 136 214 And that any should embrace it and live sinfully Page 137 214 Three Causes of it Page 137 The Reward of the Righteous at the day of Iudgment shall be matter of wonder to them Page 183 The Reasons of this wonder Page 183 Work Christ appointed every man his work at his departure Page 84 How good Works must be performed Page 180 The Godly described by their fruitfulness in good Works Page 206 Comfort to sincere Christians from their good Works Page 180 The doing some good Works cannot excuse men for the omission of others Page 180 The respect of good Works to the future sentence Page 178 Works assigned as a Reason of the Sentence of Absolution at the last day Page 174 Works at the last day produced as an Evidence of Faith Page 175 Trusting in Works very natural but very dangerous Page 179 Works are not the moving Cause to incline God to give us Christ. Page 179 Nor the Instrument of applying the Merits of Christ. Page 180 Yet no man can maintain his Comfort without them Page 182 Worm that never dyes what it is Page 206 Wrath of God the greatness of it Page 207 Some Instances of it Page 208 FINIS A TABLE OF SCRIPTURES EXPLAINED In the SERMONS on the 25 th of MATTHEW  Chap. Vers. Pag. EXodus 34 5 6 7. 112 Job 11 20. 47 Psalm 32 31. 13 141 3. 79 Proverbs 3 16. 199 19 15. 28 26 9. 121 Ecclesiastes 10 2. 14 Isaiah 30 33. 192 Jeremiah 17 11. 207 Hosea 2 19 20. 59 Zechariah 11 17. 131 Matthew 6 3. 183 11 23. 130 26 45. 26 28 10. 187 188 Luke 13 7. 206 Acts 20 21. 14 24 10. 7 Romans 2 12. 159 9 11. 200  22. 199 1 Corinthians 3 8. 107 2 Corinth 11 2. 3 Ephesians 2 10. 14 4 18. 12 6 8. 107 Colossians 1 24. 36 2 Thessalon 1 9. 149 2 Timothy 2 12. 66 Titus 1 16. 14 2 12 13. 42 Hebrews 2 11. 187 6 12. 119 8 10. 13 10 22. 22 James 3 16 17. 93 1 Peter 1 3. 172  7. 104 2 Peter 1 4. 12  7. 186 3 11. 40  14. 42 1 John 2 16. 74 Revelations 20 12. 102 21 8. 209 ERRATA in the Sermons on the 25 th Chap. of St. Matthew The Reader is desired to Correct these following Errors with some others less material which have been occasioned by the faultiness and Imperfection of the transcribed Copy PAge a. line 51. for thus read as l. 52. for grew r. drew l. 53. r. so he was ib. for to r. from p. 4. l. 39. r. meant of p. 12. l. 51. dele of p. 18. l. 8. for never r. neither p. 21. l. 31. r. not to waste it l. 49. for Transfiguration r. Presignation p. 22. l. 43. for Wisdom is r. Rectum est p. 47. l. 56. r. hope of p. 48. l. 43. r. profession and l. 44. dele without that l. 45. dele should l. 46. r. Now these Temporaries p. 51. l. 19. for that we might r. but we must l. 36. r. in the names of their little ones avouch God to be their God p. 55. l. 48. dele 3. p. 57. l. 9. for name r. terms p. 59. l. 46. r. he comes p. 63. l. 56. r. would not now die p. 66. l. 13. r. if he were not heard and l. 61. for assigneth r. ascribeth p. 67. l. 25. for beareth r. leaveth l. 26. for thereto r. on them p. 69. l. 8. r. ever be l. 34 35. dele not fully p. 70. l. 16. for indefinitè r. distinctè p. 71. l. 3. for separate r. despise l. 5 6. for promote r. promise p. 76. l. 8. r. they both see things future and things future with clearness and certainty l. 11. r. the light of Faith l. 16. for design r. Decree ib. for they are r. that Decree is p. 79. l. 6. after Judge adde before they are ready to be judged p. 81. l. 50. for commutative r. cumulative p. 82. l. 47. for Duty r. Entity p. 84. l. 33. dele and undertakes p. 92. l. 9. for is r. as p. 94. l. 15. dele mans l. 38. after boldeth adde Crescentibus donis crescunt rationes donorum Gregory p. 97. l. 24. for Ministry r. Minister p. 104. l. 53. for Fruits r. Smells l. 53 54. for Pleasure consists r. And lastly p. 105. l. 17. r. delight to meet them l. 25. for This r. His p. 114. l. 47. dele by their failing p. 117. l. 48. dele no p. 121. l. 61. r. a sleight Eye p. 124. l. 27. for Many r. Man l. 41. dele First l. 42. dele Who p. 127. l. 4. dele or p. 141. l. 35. for of r. at ib. after coming dele l. 40 41. for Soul and Body r. humane Body p. 146. l. 18. for with r. without l. 39. r. bonum p. 155. l. 26. r. You have no cause l. 29. r. The wayes of God are condemned p. 163. l. 28. for lively r. live l. 44. for Comforts r. People p. 172. l. 47. r. of the Inheritance of the Saints p. 179. l. 20. for because r. besides p. 184.
from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you The Spirit cannot leave his dwelling-place It is said John 5.24 He that heareth my Word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life The change is wrought as soon as we begin to be acquainted with God in Christ. 2. Presently after Death there is a further progress made As soon as the Soul is separated from the Body it begins to live gloriously It is with Christ Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ it is in Christ here but not so properly with him And it is in Paradise Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In Abraham 's Bosom Luke 16.25 He seeth Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his Bosom And enjoyeth the Fruit of good Works Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord From henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them There is not only a cessation from Sin and Misery but an enjoyment of Glory and the Body resteth without pain and labour till the Resurrection as in a Bed Isa. 57.2 He shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his uprightness 3. After at the Resurrection of the Body there is a consummation of all Joy That is called the Day of Regeneration Mat. 19.28 Body and Soul shall be renewed perfectly for Immortality and Glory Then we live indeed therefore Christ saith John 11.25 I am the Resurrection and the Life All is consummate and full then Death hath some Power till that day Vse 1. To press us to labour after this Holy Life John 6.27 Labour not for the Meat that perisheth but for that Meat that endureth unto everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give you Grace is the Beginning and Pledg of it It is the Beginning and Seed of Life this is an immortal Spark that shall never be quenched It is the Pledg 1 Tim. 6.19 you may seize Life as your Right and Inheritance Oh labour for it This Life is made bitter that thou mayest desire the other Consider all dependeth on thy State in this World Either thou art a Child of Wrath or an Heir of Life Wicked Men do die rather than live in the other World It is better not to be than to be for ever miserable to lie under the Wrath of God to be shut out of the Presence of God for evermore Vse 2. Bless the Lord Jesus Christ for opening a Door of Life for them that were dead in and by Sin The Tree of Life was fenced by a flaming Sword no Creature could enter till Christ opened the Way 2 Tim. 1.10 By his appearing he hath abolished Death and hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Christ came from Heaven on purpose to overcome Death and take away the Sting of it and he is gone to Heaven on purpose to make way for us Our Life cost Christ his Death John 16.5 Now I go away to him that sent me To as many as thou hast given him Let us see the import of this Phrase 1. How we are said to be given to Christ. 2. Who are they that are given to Christ. 1. How we are said to be given to Christ. 1. By way of Reward There was an eternal Bargain and Compact Isa. 53.10 When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin he shall see his Seed c. We are Members of his Body Children of his Family Subjects of his Kingdom This is a ground of Certainty to the Elect The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2.18 He made no blind Bargain he had leisure enough to cast up his Account from all Eternity 2. By way of Charge to be redeemed justified sanctified glorified John 6. 37 38 39 40. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out For I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me And this is the Father's Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last Day And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last Day When the Elect were made over to Christ it was not by way of Alienation but Oppignoration they were laid to Pledg in his Hands and God will call Christ to an account None given to him by way of Charge can miscarry You trust Christ and God trusted him with all the Souls of the Elect. 2. Who are they that are given to Christ I Answer The Elect are intended in this Scripture as is clear He hath a Power over all flesh but to give eternal Life to as many as are given to him So Vers. 24. I will that all they whom thou hast given me may be with me None but the Elect are saved So Vers. 10. All mine are thine and thine are mine Where Christ's Charge and the Father's Election are made commensurable and of the same extent and latitude They are opposed to the World Vers. 9. I pray for them I pray not for the World but for them whom thou hast given me for they are thine I confess it is sometimes used in a more restrained sence of the Apostles and Believers of that Age as Vers. 6. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy Word And Vers. 12. Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition These were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Elect of the Elect. I confess sometimes the Word is used in a larger sence for Christ's universal Power over all Flesh. Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for thy Possession not by way of Charge but by way of Reward they were given to him or rather a Power over them was given to him There is a peculiar difficulty Vers. 12. concerning the Son of Perdition how he was given to Christ. But I shall handle it when I come to that place Christ having spoken of the Apostles keeping his Word taketh occasion to speak of Judas his Apostacy Note hence 1. That there was from all Eternity a solemn Tradition and Disposition of all that shall be saved into the Hands of Christ. All God's Flock are committed to his keeping This giving Souls to Christ was founded in an eternal Treaty Isa. 53.10 Christ received them by way of Grant and Charge he hath a Book where all their Names are recorded and written Rev. 13.8 All
sent From Christ's suing for Glory upon this Argument I might note That we may plead Promises God saith Put me in remembrance There is difference between a Plea and a Challenge Hypocrites challenge God upon the Merit of their Works Believers humbly urge him with his own Promises Not as if God did need excitement to make good his Word but we need grounds of Hope and Confidence Again Because Christ asketh nothing but what God will give I might observe That when we have done our Work we may expect our portion of Glory But I rather come to the particular discussion of the Words The words may be considered in a Mediatory or in a Moral Sence In a Mediatory sence so they are proper to Christ he prayed to the Father that thy Son may glorify thee Vers. 1. Now he saith I have glorified thee meaning in the days of his Flesh. By a Moral Accommodation they may be applied to every Christian every Christian should say as Christ I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do First And which is most proper Let us consider them in the Mystical and Mediatory sense The first Phrase is I have glorified thee Christ glorified God many ways by his Person as being the express Image of his Father's Glory Heb. 1.3 By his Life and perfect Obedience John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of Sin And Vers. 49. I have not a Devil but I honour my Father By discovering his Mercy John 1.14 We beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth By his Miracles then the sick of the Palsy was cured it is said the multitude glorified God Mat. 9.8 Mark 15.31 at other Miracles they glorified the God of Israel Mark 2.12 So his Passion exceedingly glorified God's Justice In his Doctrine by discovering his glorious Essence and the Purity of his Worship The System of Divinity was much perfected and advanced by the coming of Christ. Doct. That God was much glorified in Christ. God was much glorified in the Creation of the World Psal. 19.1 The Heavens declare the Glory of the Lord and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work The Fabrick of the whole World especially of the Heavens declares his Goodness Wisdom and Power His Goodness in communicating Being to all Creatures Life and Motion to some His Wisdom in making the Creatures so various and so excellent in their general kinds His Power in educing all things out of the Womb of Mother Nothing God was glorified in his Providences especially in the great Deliverances of the Church from Egypt and from the North but mostly in Christ Redemption being the most noble Work with which he was ever acquainted It is notable that the Spirit of God in Scripture often varieth the Expression at first it was Blessed be God that made Heaven and Earth then I am the God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt then it is Jer. 16.14 15. It shall no more be said The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt But the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the Land of the North then it is Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephes. 1.3 In Creation the Wisdom Goodness and Power of God appeared there was no need of other Attributes In Providence the Justice Mercy and Truth of God appears but these in Christ in a more raised degree In Creation the Object was pure Nothing as there was no help so no hindrance but now in Redemption Sin hinders so that here is shown not only Goodness but Mercy In Creation we deserve nothing now we deserve the contrary There was more Wisdom seen in our Redemption The Quarrel taken up between Justice and Mercy Mercy would pity and Justice could not spare In Redemption there is more Power in Creation Man is taken out of the Earth in Redemption out of Hell God's Justice opposed Redemption Christ must be sent to satisfy Justice and the Spirit sent to take away Unbelief God made all with a Word he saved all with a Plot of Grace In Creation Man was made like God in Redemption God is made like Man No Deliverance like this Babylon was nothing to Hell and the Brick-kilns of Egypt to the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone When God delivered his People out of Babylon he had to do with Creatures when he delivered them from the Wrath to come he had to do with Himself Justice put in high Demands against the compassions of Mercy his own Son must die with the Wrath of God and his own Spirit must be grieved in wrestling with the Denials of Men. Instead of our own Obedience we have the Merit of Christ. Oh here are depths of Mystery and Wonder Vse God loseth no honour by Christ. God hath more Glory and we have larger Demesnes of Comfort and Grace to live upon All Parties are satisfied we have a better Portion Adam had Paradise we have Heaven God hath more Glory the Creatures are more acquainted with the infiniteness of Mercy Power and Wisdom Innocence continued had been a great benefit but now it is more gracious and free and it is not the greatness of a Benefit that worketh on Gratitude so much as the graciousness and freeness of it Our Heaven costeth a greater price and it is not given to God's Friends but those that were once his Enemies On Earth This Phrase signifieth that Christ did not increase God's Essential Glory for that is uncapable of any addition his Nature is infinite and cannot be made more glorious and excellent but only that Christ manifested his Glory more fully to the World Observe Christ came down from Heaven to make Men glorify God We had Lesson enough before us in Creation and Providence but Men were stupid Things to which we are accustomed do not work upon us in the Gospel God would set his Praise to a new Tune God needeth us not and our Respects are due and yet at what cost is God to purchase the Praise of the Creature Blind and unthankful Men to dethrone the great God and set up every paltry Creature Therefore God sent his Son to revive the Notions of the Godhead and to give us further manifestations of his Glory That was Christ's Errand to glorify him on the Earth I have finished the Work Christ's Work was to manifest the Gospel and to redeem Sinners and how can he say I have finished the Work seeing the chief Work of Redemption was yet to come the offering up himself to Divine Justice upon the Cross I Answer He had determined to undergo Death and it was now at hand in the consent and full determination of his Will it was done So upon the Cross just before his Death he crieth It was finished John 19.30 It implieth 1. The Submission Faithfulness and Diligence of Christ he never left doing of
of God to the World Thus the Creatures glorify God objectively there is somewhat of the Wisdom Goodness and Power of God stamped upon them somewhat of God to be seen in every thing which he hath made So Man much more There are Vestigia Dei the Footsteps of God in the Creatures but Similitudo Imago Dei the Likeness and Image of God in Man in his natural Excellencies much more in the New Creature ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that we may be to his praise Ephes. 1.12 There is more of God engraven on us when a true Spirit of Wisdom Justice Holiness Truth Love prevaileth upon our Hearts and runneth through all our Operations When we live as such as converse with the great Fountain of Goodness and Holiness A Christian's Life is an Hymn to God his circumspect walking proclaimeth the Wisdom of God his awfulness and watchfulness against Sin proclaimeth the Majesty of God his chearful and ready obedience under the hardest Sufferings proclaimeth the Goodness of God his Purity and Strictness the Holiness of God the impression and Stamp of all the Letters of God's glorious Name is imprinted upon his Heart and Life A Carnal Christian polluteth his Honour and prophaneth his Name Ezek. 36.20 And when they entred unto the Heathen whither they went they prophaned my Holy Name when they said to them These are the People of the Lord and are gone forth out of his Land But how can God be polluted by us As a Man that lusteth after a Woman hath committed Adultery with her in his Heart while she is spotless and undefiled Mat. 5.28 Carnal Christians are a scandal to Religion they are called Christians in opprobrium Christi Men judg by what is visible and sensible and think of God by his Worshippers by those who profess themselves to be a People near and dear to him 4. By that which is an immediate consequence of the former by an exemplary Conversation when we do those things which tend to the Honour of God's Name and to bring him into request in the World 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as of evil doers they may by your good Works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of Visitation Mat. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven Our Holiness must be shewn forth for Edification not for Ostentation not for our Glory but the Glory of our Heavenly Father It is the fruitful Christian bringeth most honour to God John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit. Glorifying God is not a few transient Thoughts of God and his Glory or a few cold Speeches of his Excellencies and Benefits this is not the great end for which we were made and new made but that we might be fruitful in all Holiness and shew forth those Impressions which God hath left upon us In the Impression we are Passive in shewing it forth Active 5. When we are active for his Interest in the World Our Lord took notice of it in his Disciples John 17.7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee If we are Agents for his Kingdom he will be our Advocate in Heaven This is the Method of the Lord's Prayer Hallowed be thy Name and then Thy Kingdom come This is the first Means of promoting the great End Jesus Christ himself telleth us this was the end of his coming into the World John 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth It belonged to him in a more especial way as the great Prophet of the Church he came out of the Bosom of God to reveal the Secrets of God and for the same end we all came into the World Isa. 43.10 Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord and my Servant whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he They that felt the comfortable effects of his Promises and his Truth can best witness for him A Report of a Report is little valued we are all to witness to God by entertaining it in our Hearts and shewing forth the fruit of it in our Lives this is a witness to an unbelieving and careless World John 3.33 He that hath received his Testimony hath set to his seal that God is true Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with Fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by which he condemned the World Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as Lights in the World When you are diligent in Holiness patient and joyful under the Cross full of hope and comfort in great Straits meek self-denying mortified you sanctify God in the Eyes of others You propagate the Faith by an open Profession Mat. 11. 19. Wisdom is justified of her Children When we suffer for it in times of great Danger and seal it with our Blood it is a great Glory to God John 21.19 This said he signifying by what Death he should glorify God It is an honour to God when in the midst of Temptations and Discouragements we are not ashamed of his ways 6. By doing that work which he hath given us to do But what is that work which he hath given us to do 1. The Duty of our Relations 2. The Duty of our Vocations and Callings 1. The Duty of our particular Relations They that are not good in their Relations are no where good This is a Rule that whatsoever we are we must be that to God An Heathen could say Si essem luscinia canerent ut luscinia c. If I were a Lark I would soar as a Lark if a Nightingale I would sing as a Nightingale As a Man I should praise God as such a Man in such a Relation still I should glorify God in the condition in which he hath set me If Poor I glorify God as a poor Man by my Diligence Patience Innocence Contentedness If Rich I glorify God by an humble Mind If Well I glorify God by my Health If Sick by meekness under his Hand If a Magistrate by my Zeal improving all advantages of Service Nehem. 1.11 If a Minister by my Watchfulness If a Tradesman by my Righteousness From the King to the Scullion all are to work for God every Man is sent into the World to act that part in the World which the great Master of the Scenes hath appointed to him Tit. 2. 10. That ye may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things As to Husband and Wife Prov. 18.22 He that findeth a Wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour of the Lord. God expecteth that in the Catalogue
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out And without miscarrying guided to Glory John 10.28 29. I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand That Christ is to give an Account of Bodies and Souls John 6.39 And this is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last Day Which accordingly he doth Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me 2. What Christ undertook The whole Proposal of the Father Psal. 40.8 Lo I come to do thy Will O God! Christ consented to all the Articles of the Eternal Covenant not only to take a Body to die but to take a particular Charge of all the Elect as Judah interposed for Benjamin so doth Christ for the Souls committed to him Gen. 43.9 I will be Surety for him of my Hand shalt thou require him if I bring him not to thee and set him safe in thy presence let me hear the blame for ever So doth Christ say concerning all the Persons that fall under his Charge If I do not see them converted justified sanctified conducted to Glory count me an unfaithful Undertaker and let me bear the blame for ever 3. The Ground of this Charge Why the Father doth not save them by his own Power but committed them to the Son I Answer 1. Partly in Majesty God would not pass our Grace but by a Mediator and therefore when he was resolved that he would not lose the whole Race of Mankind but repair his Image in some of them and had selected whom he pleased out of the Mass yet in Majesty he would not immediately communicate Grace to them but by Christ. There is a difference between Man in Innocency and Man fallen Man in Innocency had immediate Communion with God God was present with his Image But now Man fallen needeth a Mediator our Approaches to God are unhallowed his Presence to us is dreadful 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption The Heathens were sensible of the necessity of Intermediate Powers it is strange you will say or else what shall we make of that 1 Cor. 8.5 6. For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many But unto us there is but one God the Father of whom are all Things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 2. In Justice Though God were resolved to shew Mercy to the fallen Creature yet he would carry on his Act of Grace in such a way that Justice might be satisfied for Sin Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God had 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 To declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Therefore for satisfaction of his Justice he sent his Son into the World that taking our Nature on him he might therein suffer for our Offences and mediate a Peace betweeen God and fallen Man and that not by bare Intreaty but by Satisfaction therefore we are given to Christ. I confess it is hard to say that God by any Necessity of Nature required this Satisfaction the Exercise of his Justice is free and falleth under no Laws but it was most convenient to preserve a due sense and apprehension of the Godhead 3. In Love and Mercy God was resolved that the Heirs of Salvation should infallibly be conducted to Everlasting Life he would not be defeated of his Purpose and therefore would have them quickned by virtue of that Power and Life that was given to Christ. God would now deal with us upon sure Terms and take order sufficient for attaining his End and therefore he would not trust us with any but his own Eternal Son that nothing might be wanting There is not only a Command laid upon us but a Command and a Charge laid upon Christ. Christ is a good Depository of such Care and Faithfulness that he will not neglect his Father's Pledg of such Strength and Ability that nothing is able to wrest it out of his Hands of such Love that no Work can be more willing to him he loveth us far better than we do our selves or else he had never come from Heaven for our sakes of such watchfulness and care that his Eyes do always run to and fro throughout the Earth that he may shew himself strong in the behalf of them that trust in him Providence is full of Eyes as well as strong of Hand Were we our own Keepers we should soon perish but Christ is charged who is a loving faithful able Keeper who is resolved to preserve us safe till he doth at the last day present us to the Father Vse 1. It informeth us of two things 1. Of the Certainty of the Elect's Salvation If the Elect should not be saved Christ should neither do his Work nor receive his Wages How can they miscarry that are Christ's own Charge He hath such Power that none can pluck them out of his Hands John 10.28 He had need of a stronger Arm than Christ that must do it When you can pluck him out of the Throne then he may lose his Flock He hath Grace enough to convert them John 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly and he hath Power enough to keep them John 10.28 I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand Shall we say that the Son though he hath Power wants Will This is Blasphemy he came down from Heaven with this Resolution John 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do my own Will but the Will of him that sent me Now this is the Father's Will that they should come and that they should not be lost and it is Meat to Christ to accomplish it John 4.34 My meat is to do the Will of him that sent me and to finish his Work Now it is a Rule Qui potest vult facit He that can do and will do doth it undoubtedly 2. It informeth us of Christ's distinct and explicite notice of the Elect. 1. Of their Persons he knoweth the definite Number all their Names he lieth in the Father's Bosom knoweth his Secrets he is worthy to open the Book Rev. 5.4 5. and he hath a Register of his own wherein their Names are recorded Rev. 13.8 Whose Names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life Man by Man Name by
Name they are all written there as the High Priest carried their Names in his Breast so doth Christ thy Name is ingraven on his Heart John 10.3 He calleth his own Sheep by Name and leadeth them out Clement also with other my Fellow-Labourers whose Names are in the Book of Life Phil. 4.3 John Anna Thomas Clement they are recorded and Christ takes such special notice of them as if there were none other in the World 2. Their Condition and Necessities How obscure and poor soever they be in the account and reckoning of the World Psal. 34.6 This poor Man cried and the Lord heard him Poor Soul he is liable to such Temptations overwhelmed with such Troubles he crieth to me to help him It was the Theology of the Gentiles Dii magna curant parva negligunt That the Divine Powers did only take care of the great and weighty Concernments of the World but neglected the lesser Isa. 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my Way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Vse 2. It perswadeth us wholly and absolutely to resign up our selves into Christ's Hands The Father is wiser than we he knoweth well enough what he did when he commendeth us to his Son Let us give up Bodies and Souls to Christ all that we have Faith is often expressed by committing our selves to Christ it answereth the Trust the Father reposed in him 1 Pet. 4.19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator The Apostle knew what he did when he trusted Christ with his Soul 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Is thy Soul laid a Pledg in Christ's Hands It is no easy Work That we may know what it is let me open it a little 1. You must chiefly commit your Souls to him Most Men lose their Souls to keep the Body That which a Man chiefly looketh after is his Jewels and precious Things in a dangerous Time to commit them to the Custody of a Friend So a Christian whatever becometh of him in the World he is careful to lay up his Soul in Christ's Hands that it may be kept from Sin and the Consequents of Sin Alas while we have it in our own keeping it will soon miscarry Now concerning this committing the Soul to Christ let me observe 1. That this Act is most sensible in time of deep Troubles and Death when we carry our Lives in our Hands trust Christ with your Souls Psal. 31.5 Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth So Christ Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Can we trust Christ upon the warrant of the Gospel when Troubles are nigh and Fears of Death Lord take my Spirit as Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit We must do it in our Life especially as often as we renew Covenant but then most sensibly when we come to die Jesus Christ is always the Depository of Souls but when we come to die or are in special Troubles then we are chiefly sollicitous about our Souls as when a House is a burning we are not careful about our Lumber but run to fetch our Jewels to put them in a safe Hand 2. Whenever we do it it must be an advised Act. A Man must be sensible of the Danger he is in of the many Temptations to which he is exposed what a sorry keeper he is of his own Heart Satan could fetch a prey out of Paradise Judas out of Christ's Company What Abilities Christ hath 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Presumption is a Child of Darkness it cometh from Ignorance and Incogitancy Faith is deliberate and advised a Christian can verture his Soul upon Christ's Grace notwithstanding Infirmities upon Christ's Power notwithstanding Temptations this precious thing is daily in danger yet I can trust it in Christ's Hands he that made it can best keep it and guide us by his Grace and direct us in this dangerous Passage 3. It must still be accompanied with some Confidence We must be quieted I am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him We should not distrust when we have resigned our selves to the care and tuition of his Spirit Christ's charge will be safe from danger It is our weakness to be full of Doubts and Fears We may be assaulted but we are safe in the Father's Purpose and the Son's Protection Too much confidence in Sanctification and too little in Justification will unsettle us 4. There must be a care of Obedience Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Commit your Souls to him in well-doing 1 Pet. 4.19 Sins will weaken Trust an impure Soul cannot be committed to Christ's Custody Would we commit Dung to a Friend to keep There must be a giving up our selves to him in Love as well as committing our selves to him in Faith John 12.26 If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be 5. It must arise from a chief care of your Souls Most Men are negligent herein they watch over their Goods but neglect their Souls and lose their Souls to keep these Trifles What account can they make to God at the last day These live as if they had no Souls and can they be said to commit their Souls to God 2. We must give up our Bodies to him and the conveniencies of the Body to let him dispose of us according to his Pleasure We shall have a Body at the last day and that Body will have Glory enough that falleth under Christ's charge John 6.39 This is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day He that cannot do the lesser it is impossible he should do the greater He that will not trust God with his earthly Substance Credit Estate how will he trust God with his Soul for eternal Salvation Which is easier to say thy Sins are forgiven thee or to say Arise and walk Mark 2.9 It is more difficult to believe for Salvation but bodily inconveniencies are more pressing and sensible The Welfare of the Body must not be committed to Wealth or Wit but to Christ A Christian is not troubled what shall become of him he leaveth himself to Christ's Disposal which is the way to allay his Cares and Fears III. The Third Argument is what they had done In the next Clause They have kept thy Word Here is another Reason their Obedience He had mentioned what the Father had done now what they had done His Ministry with them was
I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear He is more ready to answer than we to crave So it is said to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first Day that thou didst set thine Heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy Words were heard See God's readiness to accept the Services of his People in the first day of the three Weeks he had set apart Vers. 2. Daniel thought it would be long Work and God heard him the first day Certainly God delighteth in the Graces of his Children when he doth so readily take notice of the first Act and Exercise of them 2. I Observe by comparing that place with this That the Apostles Faith was weak not only imperfect but unconstant and subject to wavering and yet Christ commendeth it to his Father John 16.30 31 32. We are sure thou knowest all things and needest not that any Man should tell thee by this we believe that thou camest forth from God Jesus answered them Do ye now believe Behold the Hour cometh and now is that ye shall be scattered every Man to his own and shall leave me alone Yea and indeed if we look into the History of the Gospel we shall find their Faith was very weak It is true they did receive him for the Messiah and did acknowledg that he was the Son of God his natural and only Son which they knew by his Baptism by his Transfiguration by his Miracles They believed that he was the Lamb taking away the Sins of the World that he was the living Manna that came down from Heaven but all this while their Faith was weak they had but a confused sight of his Godhead of his eternal Generation by the Father they knew little of his Death were leavened with the thoughts of a terrene Kingdom and pompous Messiah understood not his Predictions of his Death and Passion Peter gave him advice to the contrary and at his Death denied him So that though they knew him to be the Redeemer and Saviour of the World yet the manner of his Death and Passion they knew not We trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 Observe how Christ commendeth weak Faith Certainly he loveth to encourage poor Sinners when he praiseth their mean and weak beginnings Mat. 12.20 A bruised Reed shall he not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench until he send forth Judgment unto Victory Christ will not despise weak Beginnings though there be more Smoak than Flame but little Strength Certainly we should not despise the Day of small Things nor discourage Learners and blast the early Blossoms with Reproach and Censure Cant. 2.13 The Fig-Tree putteth forth her green Figs and the Vines with the tender Grape give a good smell Christ taketh notice in his Garden of the Green Figs the green Knots or Buds are acceptable to him tho they want Ripeness and Sweetness as well as the softer Clusters the imperfect Offers of the Spring We should learn hence to do our best in believing Christ will help you against Weakness and pardon Imperfection 3. Observe again From Christ's mentioning their Obedience their Knowledg their Faith The Father knew for whom Christ prayed neither was there need to set forth their Faith and Obedience in so many words but that in the hearing of the Apostles he would draw forth the Grounds of their Thankfulness and the Evidences of their Interest Well then this is the use we should make of our Graces and Duties to praise the Lord and to look upon them as so many Arguments and Evidences of his Love Partly to shew them what kind of Persons God will hear such as know and believe and obey though in a weak measure Thirdly The next thing in the Text is the chief Object of justifying Faith and that is the Authority of Christ's Mediation Observe The sum of Christian Doctrine is to shew that Christ was sent by God to save Sinners This is the ground of all Hope and firm Confidence he came out from the Father to purchase Grace and went back again that we might receive it But let us consider the Parts 1. They have surely known that I came out from thee This may be expounded two ways 1. From thy Essence by Eternal Generation 2. By thy Command as Mediator If you take the former sence it sheweth that the Authority of Christ and of his Father were equal he came out from him If you take the latter it denotes their equal Charity and Love the Father sent him and out of the same Love the Son came out from the Father he assumed Flesh emptied himself and performed the Office of a Mediator committed to him by the Father Which is to be preferred Some say the first ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is a word proper to the natural Generation of the Son Micah 5.2 Whose goings forth have been of old from Everlasting The Spirit 's Procession is expressed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Generation of Son by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is said of none of the Saints that they come out from God But tho this Eternal Generation must not be excluded yet that which is chiefly intended here is that he came out by the command of God as Mediator as is clear by that place John 16.28 I came forth from my Father and am come into the World again I leave the World and go unto the Father It is applied to his appearing as Mediator before God Observe The great Love of Christ in that he came out from God for our sakes 1. Consider from whom he came from the Father from his Bosom from the full Fruition of the Godhead from the Center of Rest the Seat of Blessedness We shall know what place the Bosom of the Father is when we shall come to Heaven and shall be glorified with Christ. 2. How he came not in Pomp or the Equipage of a Prince but in the Form of a Servant He was Lord of all things but he came now as the Servant of God's Decrees John 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me He was God's Servant not upon Terms of Grace his Covenant was a Covenant of Works Isa. 53.11 He shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied by his Knowledg shall my Righteous Servant justify many He was subject to worldly Powers a Servant of Rulers Isa. 49.7 He voluntarily submitted himself to worldly Powers Nay he came to be our Servant Mat. 20.28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many He came to serve in the Ministry of the Gospel to lay aside all the Interests of his Humane Nature Rom. 15.3 Even as Christ pleased not himself 3. For whom he came for wretched Men to seat us in the vacant Places of fallen Angels 2. And they have believed
Blood in the same place where he shed the Blood of Naboth 3. The Place to which the Third Heaven The Tabernacle figured the Church the Temple Heaven In the Temple were three Partitions the Court where was the Altar of Burnt-Offerings the Holy Place where was the Table Candlestick Shew-bread and the Altar of Burnt-Incense then the Holy of Holies where the High Priest came once a Year So in that vast space which the Scriptures call Heaven there are as it were three Stories the Etherial Heaven the Starry Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens into this Christ as our High Priest is entred There was not only a change of his Presence but a translation of his Body into the High and Holy Place 4. The Witnesses the Eleven Apostles these were his choice Witnesses not the whole Company of Believers 5. Another Circumstance was his last Action a little before his Ascension Luke 24.50 He blessed his Disciples nay it is added again to put the greater Emphasis upon it Vers. 51. And while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven It is the fashion of good Men to die blessing Jacob and Moses when they were to take their leaves of the World they blessed the Tribes Christ before he would go would first leave his Blessing nay the last Act with which he would close up his Life was an Act of Blessing to shew that now the Curse was removed and he was going to Heaven to convey the Blessing to all the Heirs of Salvation Acts 3.26 Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities as God blessed Adam and Eve when his Work was done 6. The Manner Acts 1.9 When he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight The Cloud answered to God's appearance in the Tabernacle When we look on the Clouds this was Christ's Chariot he will come again in like manner 7. In his Ascension he went to Heaven as a Conqueror he triumphed over his Enemies and gave Gifts to his Friends Ephes. 4.8 When âe ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men As glorious Conquerors lead their chief Enemies fettered in Iron Chains So Col. 2.15 Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non Sudore Sanguine aliorum ut quondam Imperatores solebant There is some Difficulty about the Exposition of that place those seem too literally to interpret it that think there was some open Pomp and Shew The Papists say he went to the Limbus Patrum and took Abraham Isaac Jacob and other holy Men of the Old Testament along with him in Triumph to Heaven but then he should have taken the Devils Zanchy thinks there was some real visible Triumph visible not to all but to God Angels and Men leading the Devils through the Air. Still it seemeth too gross and to be asserted without Warrant But this must be interpreted suitably to the other Acts of his Office this Triumph must be referred to his Ascension Christ fought for Heaven and struck the last Stroke on the Cross seized on the Spoil at his Resurrection led them in Triumph at his Ascension and by his quiet sitting on the Throne his Subjects enjoy the Benefit 8. Christ's Entertainment by the Angels Some were left to comfort the Apostles Acts 1.10 While they looked stedfastly towards Heaven two Men stood by in white Apparel These two Men were two Angels in the shape of Men. When the Husband is to go a long Journey he writeth to the Wife from the next Stage whilst her Grief is fresh and running and giveth an account of his Welfare Christ dispatcheth two Messengers out of his glorious Train which Message being done they accompany him with other Angels into Heaven Dan. 7.13 I saw one like the Son of Man with the Clouds of Heaven and they brought him near before him They that is the Angels the Son of Man that is Christ as appeareth by the next Verse they wait upon him and guard him into the Presence of God Certainly if the Angels came so chearfully to proclaim his Incarnation when born What Triumph is there by that blessed Company in Heaven at his Ascension Still the Angels are in Christ's Company when he cometh to Judgment the Angels shall come with him Christ coming into the Presence of the Father is royally attended his Entrance into Heaven is glorious with glorious Applauses and Acclamations Psal. 24.11 Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in viz. at the coming of his Humanity so Justin Martyr Basil Euthimius But clearly there is an Allusion to the bringing the Ark into the place prepared by David for it a Figure of Christ's entrance into Heaven They applaud him as mighty in Battel as newly returned from the Spoils of his Enemies The Entrance of a victorious and triumphant Captain is there described and so it is proper to Christ. Once more the blessed Saints have the like Applause Isaiah describes it Isa. 63.1 2 3. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed Garments from Bozrah this that is glorious in his Apparel travelling in the greatness of his Strength I that speak Righteousness mighty to save Wherefore art thou red in thine Apparel and thy Garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat I have troden the Wine-press alone and of the People there was none with me c. There is a Dialogue as before to express the Saint's Acclamations to Christ The Church is brought in there wondring at Christ's glorious Triumph over all his Enemies as returning victorious from some bloody Fight like a great Commander in goodly rich Robes besprinkled with the Blood of his Enemies 9. The last thing is his Welcome from God Psal. 2.8 I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance c. Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my Right-hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool compared with Mat. 22.44 In the day of his Inauguration God will say Welcome Son Sit at my Right-hand all the Kingdoms of the Earth are thine Christ doth not only enter as a Conqueror but as a Favourite Son thy Work is well done sit at my Right-hand that is God's first Word to him and then Ask what thou wilt it is thine It is a fashion among great Princes when they would shew great Affection or extraordinary liking to any they bid them ask what they would as Herod to Herodias's Daughter Mat. 14.6 7. When Herod 's Birth-day was kept the Daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod Whereupon he promised with an Oath to give her whatsoever she would ask And Ahasuerus to Esther Esth. 5.3 What wilt thou Queen Esther and what is thy Request
if they were not accepted in and for Christ. Nothing can be acceptable to infinite Purity but what is pure Habbak 1.13 Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity We should not have one good look from God were it not for Christ. To salve this Attribute was Jesus Christ sent into the World We think that Christ was only sent to satisfy Justice God hateth Sin out of Holiness punisheth it out of Justice and executeth that Punishment by his Majesty and Power so that we dread God for his Wrath Power and Justice but all these are awakened by his Holiness there is the Root of all So that consideration of God's Holiness maketh us to prize Christ. Alas what should vile Creatures do before an Holy God out of Christ 3. It is God's principal Glory Exod. 15.11 Thou art glorious in Holiness God is mighty in Power rich in Grace glorious in Holiness It is good to mark the distinctness of Expression in all the Attributes God that he might shew us how much we should prize Grace would be glorious in nothing so much as in Holiness This is Seraphical Divinity the Angels would teach us no other Divinity and Notions of God but Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Isa. 6.3 this is most pleasing to God profitable to Men. Christ taught us to pray first of all Hallowed by thy Name This should be the chiefest thing that we should think of in our Addresses to God So when the Angel Gabriel came to give notice of Christ Luke 1.35 That Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Priùs sanctum quà m Dei Filium nominavit saith one of the Fathers You cannot call God nor Christ by a better Title it is his darling Attribute So the Saints in Heaven Rev. 4.8 They rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty it is nine times in Plantius's Edition as if they were delighted with the mention of it they take a sweet content in the Work Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit In Heaven they bless and praise God praise him for his Excellencies bless him for his Benefits We praise him for his Holiness we bless him for his Mercy in Christ this will be our Employment in Heaven Psal. 99.5 Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his Footstool for he is Holy God counteth it his chiefest Glory that he might teach the Creature that Moral Perfections are to be preferred before Natural it is better to be Wise than Strong to be Holy than Wise. III. Why especially must we thus look upon him when we deal with him for Grace and Sanctification 1. Because it is a Relief to Faith when we represent God to our selves as the Fountain of Holiness He is the Holy One of Israel and Christ calls him Holy Father Jude 1. To them that are sanctified by God the Father There is enough in God when we come for Pardon he is rich in Mercy when we come for Holiness he is glorious in Holiness he is the God of Grace you may have enough if you be not wanting to your selves Men are willing to spare out of their Fulness the Holy God is as able as willing to sanctify you it is a Work that he delighteth in Joab interceded for Absalom when he perceived the King's Heart was towards Absalom 2 Sam. 14.1 2. It may be a means to enlarge your Spiritual Desires You are to be holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1.15 The Children if they be of the right Stock they should have some Resemblance of their Father Now you ask Holiness of God that you may be as God in some degree of Conformity tho not in exact Equality Assequi non possuâââ saltem nanquam sequi desinamus we cannot overtake God but we should never cease to follow him We have an high Patern that we might not be content with any low measures of Grace When you are asking it is good to be thinking of your Patern that you may inlarge your Spiritual Desires Lord wash me throughly Lord make me holy as thou art holy I forget the things that are behind it is nothing that I have already Vse 1. Information It informeth us 1. How greatly they sin that deride Men for their Holiness which is the express Image of the glorious God God is glorious in Holiness therefore they that despise Holiness they despise God himself Holy Brethren should no more be a Disgrace than Holy Father That is your Scorn which is the Divine Glory one of the chiefest Excellencies in the Godhead You hate God more than you do the Saints Holiness in them shineth with a faint Lustre 2. How much we should prize Holiness It is the Glory of God and the Glory of holy Angels the Devils also excel in Strength and the Glory of the Saints Ephes. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without Blemish This is the Glory of the Church the Church that are are a distinct People from all the World should have a distinct Excellency Other Societies are made glorious by their Policy their Pomp their Trade the Church is a Society for Holiness and therefore it is called The fairest among Women the best of all Societies though it hath little of worldly Pomp and Splendor Psalm 93. ult Holiness becometh thy House O Lord for ever Some Ordinances became God's House for a time Ceremonies and Sprinklings and the Vail and the covering of Badgers Skins c. but Holiness is a standing Ordinance So private Christians are changed from Glory to Glory 2. Cor. 3.18 it is from Grace to Grace for the Apostle speaketh of our being changed into the Likeness of Christ. The World counteth Purity and Strictness a base thing Religio ignobilem facit but the Word is quit with the World and calls a wicked Man a vile Person Psal. 15.4 and the basest of Men Dan. 4.17 Vse 2. It presseth us to draw nigh to God as unto an Holy Father Worship must always be proportioned to the Object of it Conformity maketh way for Communion John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth As he is a God of Peace he will not be worshipped with wrathful Affections 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that Men pray every where lifting up holy Hands without Wrath and Doubting A living God must have a lively Service so a holy God should have a holy Worship this doth make us fit to enjoy God in the way of a sweet and gracious Communion 1. We must be in an holy State If we be accepted by God we must be like him holy as he is holy Partakers of a Divine Nature The Majesty and Glory of God we are not capable of God would not have us to imitate his Power and Majesty but his Holiness We enjoy him
for ever to make intercession for us He is interceding with God that the Merit of his Death may be applied to us and that is Salvation to the uttermost The Heirs of Salvation need not to fear miscarrying Jesus Christ who is the Testator who by Will and Testament made over the Heritage to them he liveth for ever to see his own Will executed tho he died once to make the Testament yet he liveth for ever to see it made good Christ is risen from the Dead and dieth no more and therefore a Believer cannot miscarry 3. On the Spirit 's part there is a continued Influence so as to maintain the Essence and Seed of Grace The Father's Love is continued by the Merit of Christ that he will not depart from us and we are preserved by the Spirit of Christ that we may not depart from him He doth not only put into our Hearts Faith and Fear and other Graces at first but he maintaineth and keepeth them that the Fire may never go out Our Hearts are his Temples and he will not leave his Dwelling-place There is a continued Influence Now this he doth to preserve the Honour of Christ and the Comfort of Believers he glorifieth Christ and is our Comforter It is to preserve the Glory of Christ. Christ hath received a Charge from the Father John 6.39 This is the Father's Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last Day nothing neither Body nor Soul In point of Honour and that he may be true to his Trust he sendeth his Spirit as his Deputy or Executor that his Merit may be fully applied therefore for the honour of Christ where-ever the Work is begun it is continued Christ is called Heb. 12.2 the Author and Finisher of our Faith Where-ever the Spirit is an Author he is also a Finisher when the good Work is begun he will also perfect it and continue his Grace to the end It was said of the foolish Builder He began and was not able to make an end This Dishonour cannot be cast upon Christ because of the Power and Faithfulness of the Spirit he doth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã go through with the Work which he hath begun Phil 1.6 Being confident of this that he that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it unto the day of Christ. The Spirit is to fit Vessels for Glory he doth not use to leave them half carved but finish them for the honour of Christ. The Spirit is faithful to Christ as Christ is to the Father The Father chuseth the Vessels Christ buyeth them and the Spirit carveth and fitteth them that they may be Vessels of Praise and Honour He is our Comforter working Grace he puts us into an expectation of Comfort and Glory and therefore to make it good he carrieth on the Work without failing Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body 2. Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts We have the Taste and the Pledge of it it is good it is sure The first degree of Grace is conferred as a Pledg of eternal Life he giveth it as an Earnest or Pledg assuring us of a more perfect Enjoyment of him It is a Pledg of the whole Crop as an Earnest hereby God assureth us that he will pay the whole Sum. An Earnest is a Pledg whereby we confirm a Bargain it is a Piece of Money whereby we are assured he will pay the whole Grace it is the Livery and Seisin of Glory as soon as a real Change is wrought in us we have a Right that is indefeasible it is engaged by Promise Therefore that the Spirit may be faithful when he hath given us the First-fruits the Earnest shall he not give us the Inheritance Vse 1. It exhorteth us to persevere with the more care John 2.26 27 28. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you But the Anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth and is no Lie and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him And now little Children abide in him that when he shall appear ye may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming Since we have so many Advantages of standing let us not fall from him O how great will your Sin be if you should fall and dishonour God! We pity a Child that falleth when it is not looked after but when a froward Child wresteth and forceth it self out of the Arms of the Nurse we are angry with it You have more ground to stand than others being brought into an unchangeable Estate of Grace being held in the Arms of Christ so that God will be very angry with your Slips and Fallings Mercy holdeth you fast and you seek to wrest your selves out of Mercies Arms. Never any can sin as you do there is much frowardness in your Sins You disparage the Spirit 's Custody the Merit of Christ and the Mercy of the Father Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it Some seem to stand and do not and some seem to fall utterly and do not A Child of God indeed cannot come short but he should not seem nor give any appearance of coming short Our Course in Religion is often interrupted tho it be not broken off this is a seeming to come short of it Hereby you bring a Scandal upon the Love of Christ as if it were changeable upon the Merit of Christ as if it were not a perfect Merit Tho we do not fall so as to break our Necks yet we may fall so as to break our Bones Vse 2. If you fall be not utterly discouraged As the Spinster leaveth a Lock of Wooll to draw on the next Thread There is somewhat left when you are departed from God you have more hold-fast in him than an unregenerate Sinner A Child tho a Prodigal will go to him and say Father Psal. 119.176 I have gone astray like a lost Sheep seek thy Servant for I do not forget thy Commandments Through natural Weakness I have gone astray like a Sheep but I seek thy Commandments there is some Grace left yet Isa. 64.8 But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay and thou art Potter we are all the Work of thine Hand The Church pleadeth thus nay God is angry when we do not plead so Jer. 3.4 Wilt thou not from this time cry My Father thou art the Guide of my Youth You have an Interest in God yet Thus do and your Fall
the Vessel keepeth its course tho they move a contrary way or as in Clocks tho some Wheels move one way and some another yet all tend to make the Clock go 5. Observe In the Church are wicked Men who may finally miscarry nay Men eminent for a while in the Church yet afterwards prove dreadful Apostates There was a Cham in the Ark a Judas among the Apostles The visible Church never wanteth a mixture there is no possibility to eschew it Partly because they may be useful as to external Employment and Service God hath an use for wicked Men as a dead Post to support a living Tree They may have Gifts for the Benefit of the Body Wicked Men may supply the place of an Officer as Judas was an Apostle A wooden Leg may be a Stay to the Body tho it be not a true Member Mat. 7.22 23. Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity Christ will disclaim them as here he doth A Torch giveth never the less Light tho carried by a Blackamore nor is the Gospel less efficacious because managed by carnal Instruments Partly because God hath reserved a perfect Discrimination till the last Day left the Wheat should be pulled up with the Tares He knew Men were envious and censorioâs therefore till Sins be open he doth not allow us to judg Partly to shew us his Patience to the worst of Men. Judas was continued among the Apostles Christ knew him when he was a Thief as well as when he was a Traytor before he discovered the Traytor he bore with the Thief tho a Son of Perdition he doth not deny him the Means Vse 1. Do not rest in outward Privileges Say What am I It is a Privilege to be a Member of the Church David accounted it so to be a Door-keeper in the House of God Psal. 84.10 A Man may be an Apostle of great Authority but there is a more excellent way that is Grace Outward Advantages without special Grace will not serve the turn Judas was under Christ's own Instruction Vse 2. Look to your Grounds and Motives upon which you take up the Profession of the Name of Christ. A sound Beginning will have an happy Ending but if it be only upon carnal Reasons sometime or other you will fall off and all will end in shame and horror Vse 3. When Scandals arise the whole Body is not to be condemned for the Miscarriages of some Members As the Beauty of a Street is not to be reckoned by the Sink and Kennel nor the sound Grapes by the rotten ones We are not to condemn Religion and Religious Persons tho some among them prove scandalous We are not to think the worse of Christ and his Apostles because a Judas was in their Company In the Floor there is Chaff as well as Wheat in the Field there are Tares as well as Corn in the Draw-Net there are bad Fish as well as good Mat. 18.7 Wo unto the World because of Offences for it must needs be that Offences come but wo to that Man by whom the Offence cometh Such is the Enmity of Man to Good that he is glad to have occasion to blemish the Truth Are there not many that are sincere and walk unblameably And doth not thy Heart tell thee thou hast no reason to speak against them Religion it self condemneth such ways Vse 4. Hearken unto this you that commit Sin with Jollity and Security you can eat and drink and rise up to play O take heed lest at length thou criest out O I have sinned I have damned my Soul I have betrayed Christ Judas came at length to this I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent Blood Mat. 27.4 Some are fet up as Beacons to warn others that by their dear Cost we may learn to beware We are whipped on their Backs as some Malefactors their Bodies are not buried but their Quarters are set up upon Gates of Cities and Places of great resort for a Warning to others Vt qui vivi noluerunt prodesse eorum morte Republicae utatur saith Seneca As Lot's Wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt to season after-Ages It is the property of God's Children still to edify themselves by what they see in others be it good or evil The Lord grant both you and I may tremble at this Instance to stir up Watchfulness for our own Safety that we may not fall into like Offences We have to do with a just and an holy God Thin Exhalations turn into great Clouds and Storms Thirdly The next Circumstance is an Appeal to Scripture That the Scriptures might be fulfilled Why doth Christ make this Appeal Partly to avoid the Scandal as if Christ could not discern an Hypocrite Partly to draw their Minds from the Treason of Judas and the Malice of the Jews to the Counsel of God revealed in the Scriptures Partly to shew the certain Accomplishment of whatever is foretold by the Holy-Ghost I shall prosecute these two last Reasons and thence take two Observations 1. Observe In the whole Passion of Christ nothing fell out by chance He was not betrayed by chance it was a Circumstance that fell under the Ordination of God It is notable that the same Word is used of Judas Mat. 26.15 What will ye give me ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and I will deliver him unto you Of the Jews John 18.30 If he were not a Malefactor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we would not have delivered him to thee Of Pilate Mat. 27.26 When he had scourged Jesus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he delivered him up to be crucified And of God Rom. 8.32 Who spared not his own Son ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but gave him up to the Death for us all But there are express places of Scripture Acts 2.24 He being delivered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledg of God We must look not to Instruments but to God's hand The Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may have reference to a Prince giving Royal Gifts he gave us this precious Gift out of his Treasury Or to a Judg who delivereth a Malefactor into the hands of the Executioner Christ died not only as a Martyr but as a Surety here lieth all the hopes of our Salvation So Acts 4.28 For to do whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done God decreed it and God over-ruled it This is in part the meaning 2. Observe To shew the Truth of whatever is foretold in Scripture Scriptures must be fulfilled whatever Inconveniencies fall out See how tender God is of his Word 1. He valueth it above all his Works John 10.35 The Scriptures cannot be broken Luke 21.33 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away God
of Worldliness Christ doth once and again say They are not of the Worldâ 2 Kings â 26 Is it a time to receive Mâny and to receive Garments and Olive-yards and Vine-yards and Sheep and Oxen and Men-servants and Maid-servants Especially in these Times in which so many miscarry by worldly Practices and when God hath declared so much of his displeasure against worldly Greatness To this end 1. Consider your Condition you are Strangers and Pilgrims David was a King yet not at home in the World Psal. 39.12 I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with thee ãâã all my Fathers were We never read that Abraham made any Purchase but of a Gâave Cain built a City We aâe gone hence to morrow and who would hang a Room in an Inn 2. We are called to better Things 1 Thess. 2.11 12. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and chaâged every ãâã of you as a Father doth his Children That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory It is not for Princes to embrace the Dunghil Who would believe that a Man raking in a Dunghil or nasty Ditch were Heir to a Crown You show your selves hereby to be unworthy of Heaven 3. Take the Apostle's Argument 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing with us into the World and it is certain that we can carry nothing out The Mill-wheel turneth round all day but at Night it is in the same place So at Death we are in the same Estate as at our Birth A Man's Wealth doth not follow him but his Works do Your Iniquity will find you out You did not come rich into the World and you were born to die In our Birth we were contented with a little Cradle at Death with a little Grave but here we join House to House as if the whole World would not contain us 4. Consider how hard it is to have Christ and the World to have Heaven and the World Mat. 16.26 What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul You are put to your choice who would lose a Crown to be owner of a Dunghil It is a vain design to think to reconcile Christ and Mammon 5. Thou art as thy Love is If thou lovest this World thou art Worldly if thou lovest God thou art Godly A Man is not as his Opinion is but as his Affection is a bad Man may be of a good Opinion but a bad Man can never have good Affections The Soul is as Wax it receiveth an impression from the Object Take a Glass put it towards Heaven there you shall see the Figure of Heaven put it towards the Earth and you see the Figure of the Earth Trees Meadows Fruits thou receivest a Figure from the Objects to which thou appliest thy Heart Earthly Things or Heavenly But you will say What would you have us do Is it a Fault to enjoy the World No But to have a worldly Spirit 1. Be not of a worldly Spirit when thou wantest the Things of this World Be not over-careful for the Things of this Life use the Means God hath ordained trust God with the Issue and Event of all Carking implies not only distrust but discontent with God's Allowance and both imply Worldliness Distrust and Fear Luke 12.22 Take no thought for your Life what ye shall eat neither for the Body what ye shall put on I am sure Discontent doth Be contented with a mean Condition if these things were good for us God would never deny them to us never have bidden us to conâemn them Saints are never more Illustrious than when they have least of the World the less splendor they have in the World the more bright and glorious are they had the Saints a worldly Glory their Grace would not appear with such advantage 2. Be not of a worldly Spirit when thou hast the World A godly Man may be a rich Man but take heed of Trust immoderate Delight and Pride in them Do not trust in them for they are vain nor delight in them for they are Snares nor be proud of them they do not make us better we do not value an Horse by the Trappings but by his Spirit and Courage We may accept the Allowance of Providence it is not having Wealth but setting the Heart upon it nor the Injoiment but Trust in it that is condemned Psal. 62.11 Trust not in Oppression become not vain in Robbery if Riches increase set not you Heart upon them You will be apt to do it but divert your Heart draw it off into another Country 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this World that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain Riches And Vers. 19. Laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal Life Get a Bank in Heaven make an advantage of it for Religion to confirm your title to Heaven by more Evidences Our Wealth follows us not into another World but our Works do A Man that loveth his Mony is willing to part with it to assure his title to an earthly Inheritance 3. Be not dejected and over-sorrowful when thou losest them thou art but delivered of a Burden a Charge and a Snare Riches are a Clog to thee We are sure to give an Account 2. Take the words as they denote the outward condition of the Disciples They are not of the World that is not respected by it as if they were of their Number and Faction left out of the World's Tale and Count. 1. Observe It is ân hard thing to digest the World's Neglect and Disrespect We had need be urged again and again partly because every one would be some-body in the World and have some Interest here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and when we miss our Aims Sorrow is obstinate Sufferings harsh and irksome to Flesh and Blood because we admire things below and have too good an opinion of them Vse This should be regarded by us in these Times when some grasp the World and use all kind of Means to get it into their Hands others are apt to envy at them when they see others have all and themselves poor Men think themselves wronged 1. Let them alone look after better things Psal. 17.14 From Men of the World who have their Portion in this Life and whose Belly thou fillest with thy good Things If they grow fat upon common Mercies we have no reason to pine and murmur You have not such large Estates costly Furniture fine Cloaths but you have a better Heart it is enough Let the World's Fondlings be dandled on the World's Knees You have a better Portion full Breasts to suck on purer Consolations When a River is troubled the Mud will come on top In Troubles Sin would be uppermost You have no reason to change Conditions 2. Remember by whose Providence it falleth out
good Work it is not of your selves but of God Every Act every Degree of Holiness is from God III. For whom he prayeth the Apostles I. That were already holy John 13.10 Ye are clean and in the Verse immediately preceding They are not of the World yet now Sanctify them let their Hearts be more heavenly and their Lives more pure every day Observe Those that are sanctified need to be sanctified more and more Rev. 22 1â He that is righteous let him be righteous still he that is holy let him be holy still 1. Our inward Sanctification must increase because of the weakness of present Grace and the relicts of Corruption 2 Cor. 4.16 Tho our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed day by day It is not a Work to be done at once 1 Thess. 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is perfect in parts at first the New Creature doth not come out maimed but not in degrees there is need of more Sanctification in Spirit in Soul in Body the Kingdom of Heaven increaseth by degrees 2. Our outward Man must be cleansed day by day because of new defilements John 13.10 He that is washed needeth not but to wash his Feet but is clean every whit It is an Allusion to a Man coming from the Bath his Feet contract Soil in the Passage Your Persons are sanctified by the Spirit but when you are never so holy there are new Defilements Vse 1. Be not satisfied with any present degrees of Grace There is an holy Covetousness I count not my self to have attained Phil. 3.14 Christ is so full that we cannot receive all at once 2. It is a strange Conceit in any to think they may be too good When we begin to be unwilling to grow better we begin to wax worse it is a good degree of Grace to know our Defects 3. Therefore let us use Means to persist in Holiness to increase in Holiness especially Prayer which is the Breath which God hath appointed to keep in the Flame II. For the Persons once more They were to preach the Word as a Preparative he prayeth for Sanctification Observe Holiness is a good Preparative to the Ministry and they are inwardly consecrated by the Spirit sanctifying them 1. That they may have experience of the Truth of the Doctrine upon their own Hearts The Apostles were to preach the Truth to others now saith he Sanctify them through thy Truth I believed and therefore have I spoken Psal. 116.10 We speak best when we speak by experience This is the right way of getting Sermons by Heart We are God's Witnesses now we should have sound Experience 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Ezekiel was first to eat the Roll Ezek. 3. 1 2 3. not only to see it and to hear it but to eat it Ministers must first eat themselves then feed others We are not to speak by hear-say to deliver God's Message as a meer Narration but out of a deep Impression on the Heart What cometh from the Heart and from Experience is quick and lively 2. For the Honour of God Carnal Ministers bring a Reproach upon the Ordinances 1 Sam. 2.17 The Sin of the young Men was very great before the Lord for Men abhorred the Offering of the Lord. Who will take Meat out of a Leprous Hand 3. To answer the Types of the Law Aaron and his Sons were sanctified for the Levitical Priesthood Exod. 29.4 To be washed with Blood and Oil to be washed in the great Laver sprinkled with Blood anointed with Oil which denotes Remission of Sins Regeneration the Gifts of the Spirit 1 John 5.8 There are three that bear Witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood Every Office should have a solemn Consecration Vse 1. Ministers should look to their inward Call They that are designed to serve God in a special manner must look after special Purity It breedeth Atheism when we do not live up to our Doctrine People will say they must say something for their Living 2. Let People look to their choice of Ministers There is a great deal of difference between an Eloquent and an Experienced Pastor Secondly We now come to the Means or Manner how Christ's Request is to be accomplished by thy Truth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it may be rendred in thy Truth or by thy Truth oâ through thy Truth as Vers. 19. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without an Article that they may be sanctified through the Truth or as in the Margeât truly sanctified but we better render it by the Truth there is an Article ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not in Truth but in the Truth and it is presently added thy Word is Truth So that it noteth not the kind of their Sanctification but the Instrument and Means Now these words by thy Truth may be understood either of God's Faithfulness or his revealed Will both which are called his Truth Of God's Faithfulness as Vers. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as keep them by thy Power so sanctify them by or according to thy Truth and Faithfulness But this Exposition tho plausible yet is not so proper because it is presently added thy Word is Truth By Truth then is meant not his Faithfulness but his revealed Will. Now God hath revealed his Will by the Light of Nature or by the Light of his Word That Will of God which is revealed by the Light of Nature is called Truth so the Gentiles are charged Rom. 1.8 With-holding the Truth in Vnrighteousness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that which may be known of God Vers. 19. is called Truth How came the Gentiles by the Truth who are strangers to the Covenant of Promise The Apostle answereth much of God was known to them But this Truth that is here spoken of is the Will of God made known in his Word or the Knowledg of things necessary to Salvation concerning God and his Worship first delivered by the Prophets afterwards explained by Christ himself to the Apostles and by them consigned to the Church Now the Truths delivered in the Word may be referred to two Heads Law and Gospel The distinction in Christ's Time was Law and Prophets In this place Christ chiefly intendeth the Gospel the Truth which they were sent to preach to others Christ would have them to have an experience of it themselves And it is notable that in many places of Scripture the Gospel is called Truth not only in opposition to humane Writings but also with respect to the Law and other parts of Scripture because it is the Truth by way of eminency as we call the Plague
that looketh upon the Gospel in the Light of Parts and External Tradition hath a Model of Truth in his Brain but these find it impressed upon their Hearts there is Light and Fire Wait for this Witness Sixthly By the wonderful preservation of Scriptures even to our Times There is no Doctrine so ancient it describeth the whole History of the World from the very Creation Moses was ancienter than the Gods of the Heathens No Doctrine can produce such Records of the Original of the World The Doctrine of the Gospel is as Old as Paradise where God preached it to Adam Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel The Foundation was laid long since tho it was more explicitly revealed upon the coming of Christ. None so much oppugned We have some ancient Writings of the Heathens tho nothing so ancient as Scripture Other Writings by tract of Time have been much mangled tho they have been cherished by Men as not contrary to their Lusts but the Scripture is still opposed persecuted maligned and yet it continueth Psal. 129.1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my Youth may Israel now say Many a time have they afflicted me from my Youth yet they have not prevailed against me The Church hath been always bred up under Afflictions Enmity against it began betimes yet still it holdeth up its Head Errors are not long-lived 1 Cor. 3.12 13. Now if any Man build upon this Foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble Every Man's Work shall be made manifest For the Day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by Fire and the Fire shall try every Man's Work of what sort it is The World hath had time enough to enquire into the Scripture and to discover the vanity and falshood of it if there were any Nay not only the main Doctrine of the Scripture hath been continued but no part of it is falsified corrupted or destroyed The World wanted not Malice nor Opportunity the Powers of the World were bent against it and corrupt Persons in the Church were always given to other gospelling Gal. 1.6 7. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel Which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. 1 Tim. 6.3 If any Man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsome words c. But still the Scriptures are wonderfully preserved as the three Children in the Furnace not an Hair was singed not a jot or tittle of the Truth is perished or corrupted If it were corrupted it must be before Christ's Time or after it not before then Christ would have noted it not after for then the Parts would not agree but we find no such thing but an exact Harmony Nor is there any lost for here is a sufficient Instruction and Guide to Happiness Christ hath promised not a tittle shall fall to the ground The Word hath been in danger of being lost but the Miracle of Preservation is therefore the greater In Joshua's Time there was but one Copy of the Law In Dioclesian's Time there was an Edict to burn their Bibles and Copies were scarce and chargeable and yet still it hath been kept Seventhly By his Judgments on those who have reviled abused and persecuted this Truth The Records of all Ages witness to this The whole Jewish Nation was destroyed for opposing the Doctrine of the Gospel After the slaughter of the Prophets and murder of Christ God let them alone for forty Years and then Wrath came upon them to the uttermost the People were carried captive contrary to the Roman Custom the Land lost its fertility Look into succeeding Times very few Persecutors went to the Grave by a natural Death Particular Stories are full of the Judgments of God executed on them Julian the Apostate confessed Christ had the best at last Vicisti Galilee and so died blaspheming Lucian that railed against God and his Word as he returned from a Supper his Dogs fell mad and tore him in pieces Eusebius reports of a certain Jew that took upon him to apply a sentence of the Word to a prophane End to make a Jest of Scripture was stricken with blindness till he made confession of his Fault Appion scoffing at Scripture and at Circumcision had an Ulcer growing in the place of Circumcision as Josephus reporteth God is very angry when Men are partial in the Law tho they do many good things Rev. 22.18 19. For I testify unto every Man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book If any Man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any Man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book SERMON XXIX JOHN XVII 17 Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth II. THE Church hath owned the Word You see how God hath owned it he saith it is my Word Let us see how the Church hath owned it Here I shall shew three things 1. What is the Church's Duty to the Word 2. What Credit and Value we ought to put on the Churches Testimony 3. How the Church hath witnessed to the Word in all Ages 1. What is the Churches Duty To keep the Word and to transmit it pure to the next Age that nothing be added nothing diminished that it be published to the present Age and transmitted pure to the next Rom. 3.2 Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God We are Trustees Jude 3. Earnestly contending for the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church of the Living God the Pillar and Ground of the Truth The Church is to hold it forth as a Pillar doth a Proclamation that it may not be lost and extinguished This is the Jewel Christ hath left his Spouse as the Law was kept in the Ark. 2. What respect we ought to bear to the Churches Testimony To hearken to it till we have better Evidence We do not ultimately resolve our Faith into the Churches Authority for the Authority of the Church is not Absolute but Ministerial as a Royal Edict doth not receive Credit by the Officer and Crier he only declareth it Yet the Church's Testimony is not to be neglected for Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.14 It is a preparative Inducement John 4.42 Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World If we would know the Truth of a thing before we have experience go to them that have experience the judgment of others whom we respect and reverence causeth us
approbation to the Gospel Many spake highly of God that never received him for their God Nebuchadnezzar was forced to confess Dan. 2.47 Of a Truth it is that your God is a God of Gods and Lord of Kings Deut. 32.31 Their Rock is not as our Rock even our Enemies themselves being Judges His Enemies speak well of him The Church commendeth God as they have cause Who is like unto the Lord our God in all the World But now they might seem partial and therefore God will extort praise from his Enemies those that are apt to think of Christ as an Impostor and Seducer shall see the Reality of their Religion It was an Honour to Christianity that the People magnified the Apostles tho they had not a Heart to run all Hazards with them Acts 5.13 2. It is for the clearing of his Process at the last Day The Heathens being convinced by God's Works are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without excuse Rom. 1.20 God hath not left himself without a Witness Acts 14.17 So those that live within the found of the Gospel tho they do not come under the Power and Dominion of the Christian Faith yet they have such a Conviction of it as shall tend to their Condemnation at the great Day All those whom the Lord arraigns at the last day they will all be speechless and have nothing to say for themselves Mat. 22.12 At the Day of Judgment our Mouths will be stopt as being condemned in our own Conscience then the Books shall be opened and one of the Books opened is in the Malefactor's keeping the Sinner's Conscience they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God's Providence is justified by the Conviction of their own Hearts It is a Question which is the greatest torment the Terribleness of the Sentence which shall be past upon Wicked Men or the Righteousness of it You know the Apostle tells you When the Lord Jesus shall come in flames of Fire to render Vengeance to the World 2 Thess. 1.7 8. there are two sorts of Persons he shall meet with Them that know not God that is Heathens which did not take up what they might know of God from the course of Nature from the Knowledg of their Eye and Ear and them that obey not the Gospel them that lived within the sound of the Gospel and heard much of it they were convinced they had some kind of Knowledg and Belief of it yet they would not let their Hearts be subject and give up themselves to it It clears the Lord's Process if Men continue ignorant and opposite to the Grace of the Gospel by this means they are left without excuse therefore that he might be clear when he judgeth the World shall be convinced and brought to a temporal perswasion that thou hast sent me the old Conviction that remaineth with them shall justify God Secondly With respect to the Elect for all is for the Elect's sake The World would not stand if it were not for their sakes Time would be at an end but that God hath some more that are not called and the number of the Elect is not fully accomplished When all the Passengers are taken in the Ship lancheth forth into the Main So we should all lanch forth into the Ocean of Eternity if all the Elect were taken in He prays with respect to them that the World may believe How doth this concern them 1. Their Conviction conduceth to others Conversion Many of the Samaritans possibly would not believe if Simon Magus their great Leader had not been convinced Acts 8.10 To him they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying This Man is the great Power of God If the Word can gain such an one but to the Conviction of the Truth tho he be an Enemy to it in his Heart yet it is a mighty Means to further the Conversion of the Elect. The Conviction of the World it is a rational Inducement it is a Door by which the Gospel entreth It is no small advantage that Christianity hath gotten such esteem as to be made the publick Profession of the Nations that Potentates have counted it the fairest Flower in their Crown to be stiled The Defender of the Faith the Catholick King the most Christian King By all kind of Means is this to be promoted to bring Men to a general Confession Tho it be no great benefit to them as to the World to come yet it is a help to the Elect that they are under such a Conviction For if Christianity were still counted a novel Doctrine an hated Doctrine and were publickly hated maligned opposed and persecuted what would become of it 2. For the Safety of the Church Tho God doth not change their Natures yet he breaketh their Fierceness that they may not be such bitter Enemies and so Persecution is restrained and when there is a restraint and he ties their Hands by Conviction we enjoy the more quiet Alas what Wolves and Tigers would we be to one another if the Awe of Conviction and the Restraints of Conscience were taken off We owe very much of our Safety not to visible Force and Power but to the Spiritual Conviction that is on the Hearts of Men by which God bridles in the corrupt and ill-principled World that they cannot find in their Hearts so much to molest it as otherwise their Natures would carry them to but that the Gospel may have a free course and the gathering of the Elect may not be hindred for God's Conviction is the Bridle he hath upon them to keep them from doing hurt tho they be not converted yet they shall be convinced Acts 5. Gamaliel being convinced the Apostles obtained liberty of Preaching Pliny moved by the Piety of Christians obtained a mitigation of the Persecution from Trajan and such Halcyon-days might we expect if Christians would walk more suitable to the Privileges of the Mystical Union they would dart a great deal of Reverence in the Minds of Men and would be more safe than they are For when the Wall of visible Protection is broken down a Christian meerly subsists by the Awe that is upon the Consciences of Men. Wicked carnal Men as they have a slavish fear of God which is accompanied with hatred of God so they have a slavish fear of the Saints only their Hatred is greater than their Fear When you abate of the Majesty of your Conversation and behave not your selves as those that are taken into the Mystical Body of Christ and have the Communion of the Spirit when you do not walk up suitably to your Spiritual Life and Privileges then the Hatred of your Enemies is increased and their Fear lessened whereas otherwise their Fear which ariseth from thence is a mighty restraint How often are we disappointed when we expect to beat down opposite Factions by Strife and Power more good is done by Conviction and the Church hath greater Security and Peace when they subsist by their own Virtue rather than by force
Ones of God whom they malign and against whom their Heart riseth 2. It stirreth them up to come out of their wicked Condition that is out of a state of Nature Psal. 7.11 God is angry with the Wicked every day 3. To put in for a share in this Blessed Estate that they may be some of those whom he loveth as he loved Christ. Vse 1. Caution to the Carnal World do not hate those whom God thus loveth To you they are accursed but God counteth them precious Isa. 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee To you they are the Scurf and Off-scouring 1 Cor. 4.13 We are made as the filth of World and the Off-scouring of all things to this day But to God they are Jewels Mal. 3.17 They shall be mine saith the Lord in the day when I make up my Jewels Vse 2. Advice to the Children of God to promote the Conviction and Conversion of the Carnal 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest amongst the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil Doers they may by your good Works which they shall behold glorify God in the Day of Visitation Herein you imitate your Master and your own Safety lieth in it SERMON XLI JOHN XVII 24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the Foundation of the World WE have hitherto seen Christ's Prayers for the Happiness of his Church in the present World now he prayeth for their Happiness in the World to come His Love looketh beyond the Grave and outlasteth the Life that now is he cannot be contented with any thing on this side a Blessed Eternity Glory as well as Grace is the Fruit of his Purchase and therefore it is the Matter of his Prayers Every Verse is sweet but this should not be read without some ravishment and leaping of Heart One saith he would not for all the World that this Scripture should have been left out of the Bible Certainly we should have wanted a great Evidence and Demonstration of Christ's Affection Every word is emphatical Let us view it a little Here is a Compellation a Request and the Reason of that Request The Compellation Father In the Request there is the Manner how it is made I will The Persons for whom it is made that they whom thou hast given me The Matter of the Request in Presence and Vision be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Or the Matter is Everlasting Happiness which is described by the Place of Enjoiment and our Work when we come thither Now the Reason of all is the Father's eternal Love to Christ and in Christ to us for thou hast loved me before the Foundation of the World First The Compellation Father The Titles of God are usually suited to the Matter in Hand Christ is now suing for a Child's Portion for all his Members and therefore he saith Father God is Christ's Father by Eternal Generation and ours by gracious Adoption whence our Title to Heaven ariseth And therefore it is called an Interitance Col. 3.24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance It is not simply Wages such as a Servant receiveth from his Master but an Inheritance or a Child's Portion such as Children receive from Parents And it is very notable the Apostle there speaketh of Servants who are saved as God's Sons So our waiting for Glory is expressed by waiting for the Adoption Rom. 8.23 because then we have the Fruit of it We hold Heaven not by Merit nor by our Purchase nor by Privilege of Birth but by Adoption The Ground of Expectation is put for the Matter of Expectation waiting for the Adoption And now we wait because now we have jus haereditatis then we have Possession Vse 1. This Notion represents the freeness of Grace in giving us Glory we do not receive it as a Debt but as a Gift Nothing is more free than an Inheritance It was purchased by Christ but it was given to us we receive it by vertue of his Testament and the Father's Promise It is called an Inheritance Ephes. 1.18 What is the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints an Inheritance cometh freely and without Burden and Encumbrance Thus we hold Heaven by all kind of Titles we have it by Purchase and we have it freely Christ maketh the Purchase and we possess the Gift It is a greater Security to our Hopes when we can look for Heaven from a Merciful Father and a Righteous Judg it is Just Christ having paid the Price Therefore it is called the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.20 It is the Father's Gift but for the greater Honour to God and security to us it is Christ's Purchase Vse 2. It sheweth the Necessity of becoming Sons to God if we expect Heaven Children can only look for a Child's Portion The World is a common Inn for Sons and Bastards but Heaven is called our Father's House none but Children are admitted there John 3.3 Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Seeing is often put for enjoying yet the Word is emphatical they shall not have so much as a glimpse of Heaven but are cast into everlasting Darkness A Man should never be quiet till he be one of the Family and can evidence his New Birth As they were put from the Priesthood as polluted that could not find their Genealogy Ezra 2.62 So if you cannot prove your descent from God you are disclaimed and reckoned not to God's but to Satan's Family Vse 3. It teacheth God's Children with Patience and Comfort to wait for this happy Estate Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also who have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies You do not yet know what Adoption meaneth the Day of the Manifestation of the Sons of God is to come 1 John 3.3 Behold now are we the Sons of God but it doth not appear what we shall be It doth not appear therefore wait There is the Spirit of an Heir and the Spirit of a Servant as we read of the Spirit of Adoption A Servant must have something in Hand Pay from Quarter to Quarter they do not use to expect their Master's Possession but an Heir waiteth till it fall You may look upon the Compellation as an Expression of Christ's hearty good-Will When he âueth for our Glorification he improveth all his Interest in God Father I will When he pleadeth for himself he useth the same Compellation Vers. 1. Father glorify thy Son Vers. 5. And now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self Thus here Christ's Heart is much set upon the Happiness of his Members if there be any
the Spouse sought Christ about the City Cant. 3.3 Saw ye him whom my Soul loveth Here we are forâorn Orphans and often without his Society Upon Earth his Converse was so acceptable that the Apostles were loth to hear of his departure Now it is for a few days he is not always abiding with us Then we shall never be glutted God is always fresh and new to the glorified Saints Vse 1. To shew us the Love of Christ his Heart is not satisfied till we be in like condition with himself Luke 22.30 Ye shall eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom The greatest Love that David could shew to his Friend was to admit his Children to his Table 2 Sam. 9.7 Thou shalt eat Bread at my Table continually said David to Mephibosheth and to Barzillai 2 Sam. 19.33 Come over with me and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem And when he would honour Solomon 1 Kings 1.33 35. He put him upon his own Mule and caused him to sit on his Throne So we be at his Table and on his Throne Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne We enjoy the same blessedness which Christ doth Adam was in Paradise we in Heaven Adam with the Beasts of the Earth we with God and Holy Angels Adam might be thrown out we never It is no matter if the World deny us a room to live among them they cast us out many times but Christ will take us to himself Vse 2. If the Presence of Christ be no small part of our Happiness let us more delight in it here We enjoy his presence in Ordinances Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psal. 84.10 A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness This is Heaven begun to be familiar with Christ in Prayer and Hearing c. Let us often give him a visit Oh shame thy self when thou art loth to draw near to God Dost thou look for Heaven Vse 3. Be willing to die Why art thou backward to go to Christ Would Christ pray for an Inconvenience You shun his Company when he desireth yours and he desireth your presence for your own sakes that you may be happy Love brought Christ out of Heaven that he might be with us he thought of it before the World was Prov. 8.31 My delight was with the Sons of Men he longed for the time when will it come We are to go from Earth to Heaven from conversing with Men to converse with Angels why are we so loth to remove What could Christ expect but hard Usage Labour Griefs and Death He came to taste the Vinegar and the Gall We are called to the Feast of Loves to the hidden Manna to Rivers of Pleasures if you love Christ why should you be unwilling to be in the Arms of Christ Let him be unwilling to die that is loth to be there where Christ is Love is an Affection of Union it desireth to be with the Party loved and can you be unwilling to die Death is the Chariot that is to carry you to Christ. Gen. 45.27 When Jacob saw the Wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him the Spirit of Jacob revived What is there in the World to be compared with Heaven Either there must be something in the World to detain us or it is the terribleness of the Passage or else a contempt of what is to come that you are unwilling to die If you have any thing in the World more worthy than Christ Father or Mother or Wife or Friend or Brother or present Delights it is a sign of a Carnal Heart Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth I desire besides thee Can you say so without dissembling quit them all then It is not the company of Angels but Christ it is not Wife Children Relations these must be loved in God and after God nothing within the Circuit of Nature none so worthy as Christ. Now you are put to the trial when sickness cometh and you see Death a coming Christ hath sent his Wagons his Chariots to see if we be real Or is it the terribleness of the Passage doth Nature recoil at our dissolution Where 's your Faith Death is yours 1 Cor. 3.22 Christ hath assured you and will you not trust his Word You love him little when you have no Confidence in his Word Or else contempt of things to come then why was all this cost to prepare a Place for you Why came Christ to lay down his Life to purchase that which we care not for what needeth all this waste Christians hear for the time to come we know not how soon we may be sent for and put to the trial it is good to be resolved that we may say the sooner the better 2. Observe Christ taketh great delight in his People's Company and Fellowship His Heart is much set upon it I. I shall give you some Demonstrations and Evidences of it II. Reasons I. Evidences 1. His longing for the Society of Men before the Creation of the World Prov. 8.31 I rejoiced in the habitable parts of the Earth and my Delights were with the Sons of Men. Tho Christ delighted in all the Creatures as they were the Effects of his Wisdom Power and Goodness yet chiefly with Men that are capable of God's Image and upon whom he should lay out the Riches of his Grace He thought on us before the World was and longed for the time of his Incarnation when will it come 2. In that he delighted to converse in humane shape before the Incarnation Zech. 1.10 The Man among the Myrtle Trees who is also called The Angel of the Lord Vers. 11. 3. He took pleasure to spend time busily among them whilst he was with them in the days of his Flesh. John 9.4 5. I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day the Night cometh when no Man can work As long as I am in the World I am the Light of the World His Affection to the Service made him go up and down doing good to Men he would not leave this Ministration to his Servants but would do it in Person as long as he was in the World John 1.14 The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Christ did not assume our Nature as Angels assumed Bodies for the present turn but lived a good space of time and conversed with Men. 4. When it was necessary he should depart he had a mind of returning before he went away and removed his bodily Presence from us his Heart is upon Meeting and Fellowship again of getting his People up to him as in the Text or his coming down
2. They that begin their Happiness here nââe it their study to know Christ. John 17.3 This is Life Eternal to know thee the only ââue God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent there is the Foundation and the beginning of it Study Christ in his Natures Person Offices this is fit Work for Saints Saith Moses Exod. 33.18 Shew me thy Glory 1. It is an Increasing Light but to the Wicked it is a growing Darkness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã outer Darkness Mat. 25.30 there they are held in Chains of Darkness you love Darkness better than Light and you shall have Darkness enough one Day Now there is a thick Curtain and Vail drawn between you and Christ and hereafter there will be a deep Gulph but our work in Heaven is to behold Christ's Glory Can a Man look for it and not follow on to know the Lord None shall have a fight of Christ hereafter that do not know him now 2. It must be such a Light as carries proportion with the Light of Glory that is an Affective transforming Light 1. An Affective Light Many may study to warm the Brain but not the Heart Rom. 2.20 Which hast ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Form of Knowledg and of the Truth in the Law They may discourse more exactly than a good Christian have a Map and Model of Truth in the Brain they dig in the Mines of Knowledg that Christians may have the Gold Do you see him with any Affection Do you strive above all things to see his Face Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple It is David's Vnicum Moses Ravishment when he saw God's back Parts Exod. 34.9 If now I have found Grace in thy sight O Lord let my Lord I pray thee go amongst us That is one effect of the sight of God a Man would not be without his Company I pray thee go amongst us As Absolom said 2 Sam. 14.32 Come hither that I may send thee to the King to say Wherefore am I come from Geshur It had been good for me to have been there still now therefore let me see the King's Face and if there be any iniquity in me let him kill me as if he should say let him kill me rather than deny me the King's Face Prize this above all the World Psal. 4.6 7. Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put Gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased Psal. 80.3 Cause thy Face to shine and we shall be saved 2. It is Transforming 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Light and Grace do always go together It is such a looking upon Christ as Laban's Sheep looked upon the peeled Rods in the Gutter it maketh us more like Christ. Sight worketh upon the Imagination in Brute Beasts Shall not the Eye of Faith be more strong to change than Natural Imagination A bare empty Contemplation will do you no good those that find themselves to be the Old Man still let them have never so much Knowledg it is no sign of Grace nor of an Interest in Glory Vse 3. Let the foresight of this glorious Estate wean thee from all inordinate Affections to Humane and Earthly Glory There is the Lust of the Eyes 1 John 2.16 By the Eyes we fire our Hearts Doth a stately glorious House allure thee What is this to Heaven the Palace of God and the Mansion of Blessed Spirits Do glorious Garments and Apparel bewitch thee What is this to our Robes of Righteousness and those Garments of Salvation wherewith the Saints shall be cloathed in the Day of the Manifestation of the Sons of God Doth the Face of Earthly Majesty astonish thee What will it be to behold the Lord Jesus in all his Majesty and Glory As the Sun puts out the Candle so should the fore-thought of these Excellencies extinguish in us carnal Desire and dissolve the Inchantment that would otherwise bewitch our Souls and make us impatient under the Cross. Beware of the Vanity of the Eye if it be consecrated to behold Christ's Glory Fifthly The next thing is the Reason of all this the Father's Eternal Love to Christ and in Christ to us For thou hast loved me before the Foundation of the World that is from all Eternity as the Phrase is often used in this sense in Scripture But how was Christ loved from all Eternity I Answer Partly as ãâã Eternal Son of God Prov. 8. from 21 to verse 30. before the Mountains were setled before the Hills were brought forth Partly as Mediator designed from all Eternity and so loved before the Foundation of the World as he was slain before the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 Christ was our Mediator from all Eternââây not only before we were born but before ever he came in the Flesh. To the Eyâ of God all things are present nothing is past nothing is to come But why is this made a Reason I Answer It is a Reason 1. Of the last Clause the Glory given to Christ is a Fruit and Evidence of God's Eternal Love to him as Mediator for so he is considered here for what-ever was given to Christ was given to him as Mediator for to the Divine Nature nothing can be given tho the Father be the Fountain of the Godhead yet he is not so properly said to give Glory to Christ as God because he loved him 2. Of the whole Verse and so you may conceive it either thus that he improved his whole Interest in the Father conjuring him by his Infinite and Eternal Love or rather from Love to himself inferreth Love to us thou hast loved me and them in me for we also are loved before the Foundation of the World Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit a Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundation of the World The Point to be discussed is The Eternity of God's Love to Christ and in Christ to us 1. The Eternity of God's Love to Christ as God as his Son the Love of Parents to Children is but a shadow of it We are Finite so are our Affections As his Image Heb. 1.3 Who is the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Likeness is the Ground of Love God loves Christ not only as like him but as being of the same Essence with himself 1 John 5.7 For there are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. There is no created Instance to answer it all that we love are without us but Christ is of the same Essence with God Then
Curiosity In things not revealed a simple Nescience is better than a bold Inquiry there is enough for Service and Adoration Let not Reason prescribe to Faith He were not God if he were not incomprehensible Should Worms make their own Apprehension the measure of Divine Truth It is not so because I cannot understand it by a Candle in the Night I cannot see it therefore it is not Some things are to be received from Divine Testimony tho we cannot fully conceive of them Let us bless God for the Word and take heed unto it as to a Light shining in a dark Place It is God's Mercy that Christ came from Heaven with a Commission to discover so much to us It is a Ray of the Face of God in Christ. Here is God's Heart discovered to us and our Hearts to our selves Vse 2. When you consult with the Gospel make use of Christ. He is to discover his Father's Name he taught the Gospel not only on Earth but in Heaven I have declared thy Name and will declare it Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine There is no Saving-knowledg of God from our selves Christ is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Interpreter of his Father's Mind It is dangerous to set upon the Knowledg of the Mystery of the Gospel in the strength of our own Gifts and Parts to rest meerly on the study of Books and Humane Helps The Gospel is God's Riddle which none but himself can expound beg the Spirit of Revelation you cannot have a knowledg of it without a Revelation from Christ. We do not improve Christ's Prophetical Office so much as we should we think he must pacify our Consciences subdue our Affections but we do not look after Knowledg but think to get it by our own Industry 3. Point Christ doth not convey all Knowledg or the full notice of God's Name at once The Knowledg that is originally in Christ is not communicated to us but by degrees that it may increase more Like the good Housholder that brought out the best at last John 1.50 Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree believest thou thou shalt see greater things than these Partly to keep up our Dependance and Respect lest a Satiety grow upon us When there is no more use of a thing then we contemn it Man is a Creature that is led by Hope rather than by Memory Still God keepeth the best till last there is a perpetual use of Christ's Prophetical Office that he may declare more Partly to conform us to himself and to the Church Christ increased in Wisdom and Stature c. Luke 2.40 52. his Humane Capacity was inlarged by degrees The Church grew by degrees There was a Non-age then it was the Seed of the Woman afterwards In thy Seed c. To Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Then it was told what Tribe The Scepter shall not depart from Judah Gen. 49.10 afterwards of what Family to David that a Virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel Isa. 7.14 At last Behold the Lamb of God John 1.29 Partly that he might suit his Dispensations to our Capacity God will not violate the Course of Nature Our Life is hidden in Christ. You do not teach University-Learning to a Boy Christ dealeth with us as we are capable according to our receptivity We are made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 Vse 1. Comfort against present Defects Tho you are ignorant of some Mysteries of Religion do not despond Christ doth not give you all at once There is a double Comfort God will accept our weakness and we have an Head in whom is all Fulness As our Life is hidden in Christ so is our Wisdom hidden In the Text you see Christ hath undertaken for our growth we have a Teacher that will carry us on from one degree of knowledg to another Therefore let us not be discouraged tho we know little and our parts be weak and insufficient Vse 2. It presseth us to grow in Knowledg 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is more to be learned Do not say I know as much as they can tell me we never know so much but we may know more there is no stint in Knowledg If there be a measure of Grace beyond which we cannot pass the Apostle would not say Grow in Grace and Knowledg Therefore be conscionable and careful in the use of Means We must not rest in our low and imperfect Measures nor alwayes keep to our A B C. We must grow till we come to Heaven and then there will be no more growing A formal Man is where he was as a Picture doth not increase in Stature The way to keep what we have is to increase our Store Gifts that lie idle and unactive suffer loss and decay an active Nature such as Man's must either grow worse or better It is an ill sign when we are contented with a little Light groweth to the perfection of Glory our Reward is increased in the other World Col. 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all Wisdom It is the worst of Poverty to have a poor Understanding Grace is multiplied through Knowledg 2 Pet. 1.2 Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledg of God and of Jesus our Lord. 4. Point Christ maketh one Mercy to be the Pledg of another I have declared and I will declare He is never weary of well-doing his Love is Infinite and cannot be wearied and his Grace is Infinite and cannot be spent Men waste by giving their drop is soon spent but the oftner we come to God the more welcome we are Our Faith is sooner tired than Godâ Bounty for he doth not waste by giving I AM is God's Name he is where he was at first he is never at a loss what he hath done he can do and will do God's Providence is new and fresh every Morning God is One Gal. 3.21 he is always like himself The Creatures soon spend their Allowance but he is where he was at first But it chiefly holdeth good in Spiritual Mercies the least drop of Saving-Grace is an Immortal Seed it will grow it will increase it is a Spark that cannot be quenched it is the Pledg of meer Grace Therefore where Christ hath begun to work for thee in some sparks of Saving-Grace and Knowledg he will go on in his Work where he is the Alpha he will be the Omega where he is an Author he will be a Finisher Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith The Apostle would have us confident of this Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it until the Day of Christ. God's first Work is an Earnest and God will not lose his Earnest it is the
present or absent we may be accepted of him A new life inferreth new ends and pursuits the new Being obligeth us to be to the praise of his glorious grace Eph. 1.12 Fifthly The Properties of it 1. It is a godly Life as beginning and ending in God and carried on by those who are absolutely devoted and addicted to him 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness It is called the life of God Eph. 4.18 it is from God and for God you live by him and to him in others Self is the Principle Measure and End 2. It is an holy Life measured by the pure Word of God Psal. 119.140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Rom. 7.12 The law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good not by our own natural inclinations or the fashions of the world but Gods direction 1 Pet. 1.15 As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Luk. 1.75 That we should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives The inclinations are planted in us by Gods first work Eph. 4.24 That ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness they are directed by his Word all Moral Duties being comprised in those words Holiness or Dedication to God Righteousness performing our duties to men Acts 24.26 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men 3. It is an heavenly life Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in Heaven Our great work is to prepare for everlasting Life seeking rejoycing in that endless Happiness we shall have with God a living for or upon the unseen everlasting Happiness as purchased for us by Christ and freely given us of God We live for it as we seek after it with our utmost diligence Acts 26.7 Unto which promises the twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come We live upon it as fetching thence all our supports solaces and incouragements 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal II. How strongly we are obliged by Baptism to this kind of life Baptism hath three Offices it representeth sealeth undertaketh it representeth as a signifying Sign sealeth as a confirming Sign undertaketh as a Bond wherewith we bind our selves when we submit to it First What it representeth primarily and principally the Death of Christ and secondarily his Resurrection the one in order to the other 1. The Death of Christ which is the meritorious Cause of all the Grace and good which is communicated to us in this or any other Sacrament or Mystery of the Gospel We are told 1 Pet. 2.14 That he himself bore our own sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin might be alive to righteousness I told you before that Christs Death may be considered as an instance of his Love or as the Price paid for the Blessings of the new Covenant as an instance of his Love it worketh morally as the Price of our blessings meritoriously as it worketh morally and exciteth our gratitude we should not go on in that course which brought these sufferings on Christ but live holily in gratitude to him and kindness to our selves lest we bear our own sins which are so hateful to God This consideration we exclude not but to make this all the sense of the Place no Christian heart can endure therefore we go to the second Consideration as the Price and Ranson of our own Souls and of the Blessings we stand in need of he purchased Grace to mortifie sin and quicken us to the duties of Holiness that the love of sin might be weakened in our hearts and we might be quickened to live to God in the Spirit Now if this be represented in Baptism then surely it strongly obligeth us to improve this Grace for those ends and purposes and that this is represented is evident for in the Apostles interpretation Baptism is a sort of Burial and first it is a Commemoration of the Burial of Christ who when his Soul was separated from his Flesh he was buried his Sacred Body was laid up in the Chambers of the Grave This was necessary not only in compliance with the Types Mat. 12.40 As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Christ was found to be the true Messias by his Resurrection from the Dead as Jonas was authorized to be a true Prophet of the Lord by his miraculous deliverance Prophecies of this you may see Psal. 16.9 My flesh also shall rest in hope Isa. 53.9 He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death But also this was necessary for the confirmation of the reality of his Death past and the verity of his Resurrection suddenly to follow Therefore in Baptism the truth of his Death is represented as the ground of all our hopes 2 The next thing which is represented is the Truth of his Resurrection Christ that purchased this Grace is risen to apply it he is a Saviour merito efficaciâ his Merit immediately depended on his Death and his Power for effectual application though mediately on that too depended immediately on his Resurrection for Christ rose on purpose to turn men from their iniquities Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Christs Resurrection hath a twofold regard 1. It is a Pattern 2. It is a Pledge 1. It is a Pattern of our rising from the death of sin to newness of life If Christ that was dead and buried rose again and cast off the burden of our sins which for our sakes he undertook or cast of the form of a servant we must not only be dead and buried but we must rise also Christs Resurrection is every where made in a Pattern of the new Birth 1 Pet. 1.3 He hath begotten us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead that is the influential Cause and Pattern of it So 1 Pet. 3.21 The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth now also save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anima non lavatione sed responsione sancitur the Soul is dedicated to God to live a new life not by the water but by the answer to the demands of the new Covenant and this is by the Resurrection of Christ. 2. As it is Pledge of his Power by which that great change is wrought in us Eph. 1.19 20. And what
is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead To convert Souls to God there needeth a mighty working of efficacious Power which exceedeth all contrary power which might hinder and impede that work Men by Nature are averse from God the Devil seeketh to detain them from him and his powerful Engine is the World But now if they are to be raised as Christ was raised what can oppose this work So that we have not only the Merit of his Humiliation but the Power of his Exaltation And besides that this Power is likely to be exercised for us we may consider that Christ is said to rise by his own Power Joh. 2.19 Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up Joh. 10.17 I lay down my life that I may take it again and to be raised by the Power of his Father which noteth Authority to rise again and having fully done his work upon which account he is said to be brought again from the dead Heb. 13.20 and the Apostle inferreth from thence vers 21. Being made perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Now if both these be implied in Baptism it doth mightily oblige the Parties baptized to look after the effect of these two Acts of Christ Mediation for Christians should not only believe the Death and Resurrection of Christ but feel it by the Merit of his Death and Efficacy of his Resurrection we obtain this new life and both are the causes of our dying to sin and living to God Secondly What it sealeth or confirmeth The new Covenant wherein God hath promised the gift of the Spirit to renew sanctifie and heal all those that enter into it We have the Grace to destroy sin by virtue of the Death and Burial of Christ but the Promises are in the new Covenant That the new Covenant is sealed in Baptism see Mat. 28.19 20. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall de damned Now the great Promise of the new Covenant is the Spirit to renew and cleanse the Soul Surely this is properly signified in Baptism Joh. 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God And Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost As the body is washed with water without so is the Soul cleansed by the Spirit within As at the Baptism of our Saviour the descending of the Holy Ghost upon him was a visible Pledge of what should be done afterward for at his Baptism the fruit of all Baptisms was visibly represented we are admitted Children of his Family as Christ was declared to be the well beloved Son of God Mat. 3.17 and we have the Spirit of his Son Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father As God promiseth to pour out water on him that is thirsty and floods on the dry ground so to pour out his Spirit on the seed and his blessing upon thy off-spring Isa. 44.3 And the Spirit it self is figured by Water Joh. 4.14 Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life Joh. 7.37 If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Rev. 22.17 Let him that is a-thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Now unless we will receive this Grace in vain we are bound to wait for and obey the Spirits motions either by way of restraint or excitation Rom. 8.13 14. If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God we that pretend to come to God for this Promise of the Spirit as in Baptism we do Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Thirdly It obligeth as there is a kind of undertaking to shew forth the likeness of Christs Death and Resurrection by our submission to it Our receiving Baptism implieth two things 1. A publick and open Profession 2. A solemn Bond wherewith we bind our Souls 1. A publick and open Profession wherein we profess a Communion with Christs Death and Resurrection or to dye and rise with Christ. In the general that Baptism is an open Profession for it is required as a sign of the Faith that is in our hearts Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost As Circumcision was the Badge of the Jewish Profession so is Baptism of the Profession of Christianity Therefore the Jews are called Circumcision and we are called the purified people Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and those that are purged from their sins 2 Pet. 1.9 And more distinctly what we profess is plain and evident in this Ordinance we profess to dye and rise with Christ. 1. Death yea in the Text not only and simply to be dead but to be buried with Christ. If Baptism expresseth an image of Burial and every Burial supposeth Death not only of Christ but us surely we are bound not only to dye unto sin at first but to make our mortification more thorough and constant for as Burial noteth the continuance of Christs Death so should we persevere and increase in the mortification of sin for Burial is a continued dying to sin we should not only renounce and give over all the sins of our former lives but presevere in this resolution and increase in our endeavour against sin daily A Christian living in sin and serving his lusts is like a Spectre and Ghost arisen out of the grave 2. So for Christs Resurrection In this Ordinance we profess to rise again with Christ and therefore should not only put off the old Man or body of sin but have an earnest impulsion within our selves to the duties of Holiness and
with Christ. What that is we have explained already all that I shall now add is That in Scripture it implieth two things First Conformity with Christ in his Sufferings so we have a Saying like that in the Text 2 Tim. 2.11 It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him which presently is explained vers 12. If we suffer we shall also reign with him Secondly It implieth mortification of sin so it is understood here if we have communion and fellowship with his Death for the mortification of sin 2. The Term of Proposal conditionally If we The Particle if hath sometimes the notion of a Caution see that ye be dead with Christ sometimes it is a note of Relation when one priviledge is deduced from another as here if we partake of the effect and likeness of his Death in dying to sin we shall partake of the effect and likeness of his Resurrection in being quickened to live in Holiness and Righteousness all our days Dying to sin and newness of life are inseparable if we have the first we shall have the other also they are branches of the same work of Regeneration and both proceed from the same Cause Union with Christ. 2. The Truth hence inferred We shall also live with him This is meant both of the Life of Grace and of the Life of Glory Regeneration and Resurrection the one is to newness of Life the other is to everlasting Bless and Happiness Regeneration is the Spirits begetting us to the Image and Nature of God our heavenly Father and Resurrection is for the perfecting of that Likeness which is 't is true perfect in part here in the Soul 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Hereafter both in Body and Soul Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body according to the wonderful working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself As to degrees 1 Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is As to kinds both in Holiness and Happiness 1 Cor. 15.49 As we have born the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Now we are conformed to his Image in afflictions Rom. 8.29 He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son we look like him in the form of a Servant then we shall be like him as the Lord from Heaven heavenly Therefore the life of Glory in Heaven must not be excluded 3. The Certainty of the Inference ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is not a matter of Opinion and Conjecture but of Faith we are certainly perswaded of the truth of it We must distinguish of this Truth for it may be considered two ways First As a general Maxim or Proposition so it is absolutely true Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him This is an Article of Faith to be believed fide divinâ Secondly As it is applied to us or as it is a ground of our particular Confidence so it is true Hypothetically or upon Supposition and our Confidence can be no greater than the evidence of our Qualification If we be indeed dead with Christ we in particular shall also live with him It is but a rational Conclusion from two Premisses one of which is of Divine Revelation the other of inward Experience namely that I am dead with Christ therefore I believe that I shall live with him It is an act both of Faith and Reason an act of Faith by participation as it buildeth on a Principle of Faith Doctrine Those that are dead with Christ have no reason to doubt but that they shall also live with him I. I shall speak of the Condition If we be dead with Christ. II. Of the Benefit They shall live spiritually and everlastingly III. Of our certain Apprehension We believe I. Of the presupposed Condition If we be dead with Christ. 1. Who are dead with Christ. 2. How necessary this Order is The one will shew us that it is not an over-strict but a comfortable Condition the other that it is a Condition absolutely necessary to subsequent Grace 1. Who are dead with Christ. 1. Such as owne the Obligation which their Baptism and Profession puts upon them That reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin Rom. 6.11 that make account they are under a Vow and Bond wherewith they have bound their Souls The careless mind it not but the sincere Christians acknowledge that the debt lyeth upon them they being solemnly ingaged to Christ to do it The Apostle saith Rom. 8.12 We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh as the Jew by Circumcision is bound to observe all the Rituals of Moses Gal. 6.3 so Christians by Baptism are bound to crucifie the flesh and obey the Spirit What say you Are you at liberty to do what you lift or under a strict Bond and Obligation to dye unto sin Let your lives answer for you 2. They make Conscience of it and seriously address themselves to perform it Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts they have begun to do it and still go on to do it more and more for this is a continued action not the work of a day but of our whole lives They have not only retrenched the desires of the flesh but seek to mortifie and subdue them and perform their Promise so solemnly made to God 3. They obtain the effect in such a degree that the reign of sin is broken though sin it self be not utterly extinct us They do no longer live in their old slavery and bondage as those do who obey every foolish and hurtful lust that bubleth up in their hearts A mans condition is determined by what is in the Throne habitually and governeth our lives and actions There are two warring Principles in us full of enmity and repugnancy to each other the Flesh and the Spirit but one reigneth which constituteth the difference between the carnal and the renewed in the carnal Flesh reigneth but in the regenerate the Spirit hath the mastery and is superiour and most powerful so that a Christian sheweth himself to be Spirit rather than Flesh otherwise it could not be said That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Joh. 3.6 The acts of sin are disowned acts and he may say with Paul It is not I but sin that dwelleth in me Sin is against the bent and habit of our wills 4. They substract the fuel of their lusts as they wean themselves from earthly things and shew such contempt of the World that the good things which they enjoy by Gods allowance are not a snare to them For the Apostle saith of those that set their affections
of a Reverend Man will hold us in some order if Gehazi had known that the Spirit of Elisha went with him would he have run after Naaman for a reward 2 Kings 5.26 his prophetick Spirit went with him We can no more be removed from the presence of God than from our own Being he is the continual Witness and Judge of our Conversations he seeth us in secret as well as in publick Now when the Soul is habituated to this thought how awful and watchful shall we be Psal. 119.168 I kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee The sense of his Presence is the great ground of watchfulness God is not so shut up within the Curtain of the Heavens but that he doth see and hear all that we do or say yea he knoweth our thoughts afar off Thirdly Love to God maketh us tender of offending him for it is a Grace that studieth to please the Soul is jealous of any thing which looks like an offence to those whom we love Others are not troubled though they sin freely in Thought foully in Word frequently in their daily Practice because an offence to God seemeth as nothing they have no love to God Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil it is a loathsom thing to them to a gracious heart it is argument enough against sin That it is the transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 and he inferreth it out of Love to God ver 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us c. They have such a deep apprehension of Gods Love to them in Christ that it breedeth an awe upon them or a fear to offend Ezra 9.13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Shall we again break thy commandments Joshua 24.31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the Elders that outlived Joshua and which had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel What! offend God who is so blessed a Being who created us out of nothing of whose Mercy we have tasted every moment who preserveth and delivereth us continually from whose Goodness we expect all our Blessedness Is our deliverance by Christ of less value than all our temporal deliverances Will not Love draw the same Inferences and Conclusions from it Caution doth not arise out of a fear of anger but a lothness to offend 2. The Time when this Duty is to be practised always it is never out of season Conscience must still sit Porter at the door and examine what goes in and out If men neglect their watch but for a little while how soon doth sin get an advantage against them Lot that was chast in Sodom miscarried in the Mountains where there was none but his own Family David whose heart was so tender that it smote him for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment falleth into so deep a sleep afterwards that his Conscience was silent when he had defiled it with Blood and Lust. The tears and sorrows of many years may perhaps not repair the mischief which one hour may bring unto you You have need to watch after the sense of your Duty hath been revived upon you Satan loveth to snatch the prey from under Christs own arm He entred into Judas after the sop Joh. 13.27 After solemn Duties how soon do people miscarry Assoon as the Law was given with terrible Thundrings the people do presently miscarry by worshipping the golden Calf Exod. 32. And the Priests in the very day of their Consecration in the beginning and first day of their Ministration offered strange fire to the Lord Lev. 10. After some escape from sin we need to watch that we be not intangled therein again 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning As under the Law a Sore rising as a boil when it was healed might afterward break out again and turn to a Leprosie Lev. 13.18 19 20. So sins after we seem to be healed of them may return and make us worse than before As Christ saith to the man cured Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee In Prosperity we need to watch it is hard to carry a full Cup without spilling and to live at ease and yet to keep up a due and lively sense of our Duty And in our Adversity when the course of Temptation is altered we are strangely surprized every Condition bringeth its own snares with it Ephraim is a cake not turned Hos. 7.8 Those who are most advanced in a state of Grace they need still to watch Mark 13.37 What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. We are never past this care this is the great difference between Christian and Christian one is more watchful than another 3. Against what we must watch 1. Generally against the three grand Enemies of our Salvation the Devil the World and the Flesh. First Against Satan for he hath laid his Ambushes and Enterprises against us continually and by his spiritual Nature hath advantages of being near us when we are little aware of him 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant for your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Satan is ever watching therefore you should watch you give him the greatest advantage by your folly and negligence now the Apostle saith he would not give him any advantage 2 Cor. 2.11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices He is unwearied in his motions lays his designs deep takes all advantages and occasions to destroy us If the Devil were either dead or asleep or had lost his malice and power then we need not stand so much upon our guard Secondly Against the World for we are bidden to deny worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 not only ungodliness must be watched and prevented but our inclination to worldly things See how these two are matched for when we fall off from God we take to the Creature Jer. 2.13 My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that will hold no water And Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Here lye all the baits and snares and dangers pass but safe through these flats and quicksands and we shall soon arrive to the Haven of eternal Glory The great virtue and proper effect of the Cross of Christ is seen in crucifying us to the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
a wonderful mercy before or as when recovered and in health we forget the rediousness of sickness and are not thankful for the comfortable days and nights we enjoy when we go about our business and sleep without pain So we undervalue the present state of Grace by forgetting the unfruitful works of darkness or the evil dispositions and practices of our Unregeneracy and have not such comfortable apprehensions of the mercy which the Spirit of God shewed in our Cure Cannot you remember when it was once much otherwise with you that you are not now the persons you were then 2. Here is a Description of their present state by Grace which deserveth to be weighed by us In it I observe 1. That the Doctrine of the Gospel is in Conversion imprinted on them for it is said That they have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine into which they were delivered Their very heart and Soul was modelled according to the Tenor of the Gospel and the Truths revealed therein 1. I will prove that it is so with all Converts by that Promise of the new Covenant Heb. 8.10 I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts The thing written is the Law of Christ or the new Covenant or the substance of the Doctrine of the Gospel not every lesser Opinion or minute Circumstance of their Duty but those Points which are essential to Christianity smaller matters depend upon a particular gift The Book is the mind and heart of the Believer by the Mind is meant the Understanding by the Heart the Will or rational Appetite in the one is the directive Counsel in the other the imperial and commanding Power of the Soul the one is compared to the Ark in which the Law was put I will put my Laws into their minds the other to the Tables of stone upon which the Law was written God will convince their Understandings of their Duty and incline their Affections to receive and obey it The Writer I God challengeth it as his proper work 2 Cor. 3.3 Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God By this Spirit the mind of man is inlightened the heart is inclined but yet we must do our Duty both to understand the Will of God and set our hearts upon it and do the things required of us To understand we must dig for knowledge and cry for understanding Prov. 2.3 4. and for inclining our hearts Psal. 119.112 I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always even unto the end and for actual Obedience we are solemnly consecrated to God in Baptism that we may take up that course of living that is prescribed of God in the Gospel and therefore it is said 1 Pet. 1.14 Not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts of your ignorance We must not mould our selves to any form but that of this Doctrine cast all our actions into this mould 2. I will shew the fruits of it They are either internal within the man or essential to this work or resulting from it by immediate consequence Such as an abhorrence from sin and a promptitude and readiness to holy actions 1. For the first where the Doctrine of the Gospel is imprinted on our hearts it is an awing Principle which restraineth us from sin Psal. 37.31 The Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide he that knoweth and loveth what is commanded knoweth and hateth what is forbidden therefore his heart giveth back when any thing contrary is offered to him 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is born of God Still something riseth up by way of dislike he looketh upon sin not only as contrary to his Duty but his Nature Gen. 39.9 How can I do this wickedness and sin against God The heart as thus constituted is not easily brought to it By this Temptations are defeated whether from Satan or our own hearts from Satan 1 Joh. 2.14 I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one Or from our own hearts Psal. 119.11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Our hiding the word in our hearts is subordinate to Gods writing it in our hearts we must use the means the Grace is from him 2. A promptitude and readiness to holy actions for all holy and heavenly actions are suited to them and there is a Cognation between the Law within and the Law without so that they are carried after them with more love delight and pleasure Psal. 40.8 Thy Law is within my heart I delight to do thy will O God There is an inclination and propensity to do the Will of God and to please and serve him which maketh our obedience more easie and even 3. The Benefits of being stamped and moulded into the form of this Doctrine 1. It is ready for our use they have Principles laid up to be laid out upon all occasions either of trouble or temptation or business and affairs Prov. 6.21 22. Bind them continually upon thine heart tye them about thy neck When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee So that the Christian is a Bible to himself as the Heathens were said to be a Law unto themselves there was something urging them to Duty restraining them from sin 2. It preventeth vain thoughts what is the reason evil is so ready and present with us because our hearts are not stocked with the knowledge of heavenly Truths Vain thoughts cannot be prevented unless the Word dwell richly in our hearts If a man have many brass Farthings and but a few pieces of Silver he will more readily draw out Farthings than pieces of Silver But a Christian when alone and destitute of outward helps Psal. 16.7 His reins instruct him in the night season when he hath no benefit of the Bible or other literal Instruction 3. It furnisheth and supplieth our Speech for the Tap runneth according to the Liquor with which the Vessel is filled In Prayer the new Nature beareth a great part for its desires and inclinations furnish us with Requests its annoyances and grievances with Complaints its solaces and satisfactions with Thanksgivings and where it is not obstructed there cannot be that leanness and baseness of Soul wherewith we are often surprized Psal. 45.1 My heart is inditing a good matter I will speak of the things that I have made touching the King my tongue is the pen of a ready writer As to ordinary Converse Mat. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things When the Spring is dryed
the contrary Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness the Constitution of their Souls is for Holiness and against sin Therefore we must see what governeth us 3. The two Masters are Sin and Righteousness as vers 18. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Righteousness is the opposite Master to sin before sin was their Master now Righteousness governs them he doth not say Being now made free from sin ye became the Servants of God but Servants of Righteousness All will pretend they are Servants of God but if you be so you will be Servants of Righteousness that is do those things which Right and Reason calleth for at your hands Therefore if you be Servants of God you will not neglect his Precepts What do you for him 4. The difference between the two Services is very great the Service of Sin is a Captivity and Bondage but the Service of Righteousness is true Liberty In the general they agree That both are Service committing sin or living in sin is a servitude Job 8.34 Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin and living to Righteousness is a service also not a slavery but a voluntary service as we oblige our selves to God to live righteously ever after the time we enter into his Peace and Obedience Therefore both are expressed in the Text by terms that imply serving our Emancipation from sin implieth a slavery before and our giving up our selves to God an Obedience for the time to come Therefore we are said to be Servants of Righteousness it is service in regard of the strictness of the Bond but liberty in regard of the sweetness of the Work it is service because we live according to the Will of another but it is liberty because of our inclination and delight to do it In short though we are said to be the servants to Righteousness yet there is no work more pleasant more honourable more profitable 1. More pleasant because it implieth a Rectitude and Harmony in the Soul of man it is a Feast to the Mind to do those things that are good and holy The Heathens saw it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. it breeds serenity surely much of the happiness of a man is to injoy himself which a wicked man cannot do whilst his Soul is in a Mutiny and his Heart disalloweth himself in the things which he doth love and practise and his Convictions check his Affections and Inclinations The fruit of righteousness is peace Isa. 32.17 And all the paths of wisdom are pleasantness Prov. 3.17 In the Body the vigorous motion of the Spirits breedeth chearfulness and Health ariseth when all the humors of the Body keep their due temperament and proportion In the World when all things keep their place and the Confederacies of Nature are not disturbed the Seasons go on comfortably In a Kingdom Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all persons keep their rank and place there is Peace So when all things are rightly governed and ordered in the Soul 2. No work more honourable Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour Many think it to be a low spirited thing to be godly and on the contrary imagine it a sort of Excellency to be free from the restraints of Religion and to live a life of Pomp and Ease without any care of the World to come The sensual World esteemeth little of a good man but alas that carnal Life which maketh shew of ease delight honour and riches is nothing to the Life of Grace for if God be excellent they are excellent they are made partakers of his Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 admitted into the Communion of his Life which all others are deprived of Eph. 4.18 when others live as Beasts they live as God when others live as Beasts their life is imployed about the noblest Objects and Ends and is assisted by the immediate influence of Gods own Spirit Therefore if Honour be derived from the true Fountain of Honour those who are most God-like are the most noble and excellent 3. No work is more profitable for it giveth us the favour and fellowship of God for the present and makes way for an everlasting fruition of him in Glory 1. The Favour and Fellowship of God for the present What an unprofitable drudgery is the life of an unsanctified Worldling in comparison of the work of an holy Man who lives in Communion with God and attendance upon God and hath access to him when he pleaseth with assurance of welcome and audience He hath a surer interest in God than the greatest Favourite in the Love of Princes God never faileth him Psal. 118.8 9. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes A poor Christian that liveth in obscurity in the World is never upbraided with the frequency of his Suits never denied Audience never hath cause to doubt of success The Princes of the Earth have uncertain minds love to day hate to morrow as in the instance of Haman their Being is uncertain Psal. 146.4 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day all his thoughts perish 1 Kings 1.21 Otherwise it shall come to pass when my Lord the King shall sleep with his fathers that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offendors Therefore attendance upon God is surely a noble work to be made Courtiers and Family-servants of the infinite Soveraign their Hearts are imployed in loving him Tongues in praising him Lives in serving him and are constantly maintaining converse with him through the Spirit surely these have the most profitable service Creatures can be imployed in 2. The everlasting Fruition of God in Glory hereafter Psal. 17.15 I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Then we shall be admitted into his immediate Presence to see his Face and shall be changed into and satisfied with his likeness we shall then live with God for ever and be in a larger capacity to know God and love him and then our work shall be our reward we shall be everlastingly loving and praising of God Well then though we are not altogether at liberty when freed from sin but enter into another Service yet this Service is no Bondage but a Blessedness and a beginning of our eternal Happiness and therefore to be preferred before Liberty it self 5. No man can be a Servant of Righteousness but he that is first by the Goodness and Mercy of God freed from the power and slavery of sin for the Apostle saith Being made free from sin ye became the
Law of God Rom. 8.7 Some bewray an obstinate wilfulness as others do a negligent carelesness they beat down whatsoever standeth in the way of their sins neither right nor reason nor shame nor fear can restrain them though a Commandment standeth in their way they break through nothing can stop the course of a Sinners violently pursuing his Lusts as Baalam went madly on against all the rebukes of God either in his Conscience or external Providence 4. Though all the Unregenerate are void of Righteousness yet they are not all alike sinful There is a difference between unrenewed men some are more some less gross in the out-breaking of their sin some are more filthy but all are gone out of the way there is none that doth good no not one Psal. 14.3 they all agree in this That none of them doth or can do any thing at all commanded by God as commanded from righteous Principles and for right Ends. Some may be free from outward Vice as Paul was touching the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3.6 Our Lord saith Mat. 5.20 Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven though there is some external conformity to the Law outward austerity and strictness yet no inward purity and holiness 5. That where men are changed by Grace certain it is they must away with their former sinful life partly because the Gospel-rule requireth it Mat. 9.13 I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and Repentance is a turning of the Soul from sin to God God may be reconciled to our persons never to our sins partly because this is the end of that Grace that hath wrought the change in us Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies should serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives partly because the nature of the thing sheweth it If there be any sound change we have changed Masters and work way and end business and hopes and therefore our Conversation will be quite otherwise than it was before and the course of our Endeavours will be turned into another Chanel Eph 5.18 And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit we have other work to do and other happiness to seek after Phil. 3.19 20. Who mind earthly things but our conversation is in Heaven 6. When men shake off the yoke of Sin for Righteousness they should be as free from Sin as formerly they were from Righteousness Now here I will shew I. How far this should be II. Why this should be I. To state it How far this can or should be For the difficulty lieth here How we can be as free from Sin as formerly from Righteousness since after Conversion there is a mixt Principle in us I answer This is to be considered two ways quoad Conatum quoad Eventum 1. Quoad Conatum as to Endeavour which is to get rid of all sin a sincere Christian doth so give up himself to a holy Life as to watch and pray and strive against all sin this is his endeavour and if it were possible he would root out all this is his aim business and constant care but because he obtaineth not his end he is troubled Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death In the mean time he hath the setled bent of his Will and Conscience to satisfie him Heb. 13.18 Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly His Soul is bent and his Endeavours are accordingly 2. Quoad Eventum he is so far free from sin as carrieth a good proportion with his freedom with Righteousness in his carnal Estate His freedom from Righteousness was consistent from urgings of Conscience which pleaded Gods Right with great earnestness God doth not so far forsake Mankind as to leave them without all convictions of their Duty or some inclinations to it but it is weak and ineffectual So now his freedom from sin is not altogether to be free from the urgings of sin for the carnal Principle is still within him and a warring working Principle it is and doth not lie idle in the Soul But as then men were free from Righteousness by their carelesness of it or averseness from it so now they that have changed Masters and Estates are to be so âar free from sin as not to sin wilfully and by way of opposition to Grace any more nor yet negligently and carelesly to go on with their former course for if there be any known sin which they do not hate but had rather keep than leave it and do not pray and strive and watch against it they are not sanctified For the sanctified hate every false way Psal. 119.104 they pray against it ver 133. Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me they watch and strive against it to some degree of prevalency Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity they cannot bear with sin they have a Nature which beareth an enmity and repugnancy to it as the carnal mind doth to the Law of God so doth this new Nature to sin 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God II. Why this should be so 1. Let us consider the Equity as to matter of Right it should be so 2. The Necessity as to matter of Evidence it must be so 3. The Conveniency as to matter of Benefit 1. The Equity as to matter of Right All Rules of Equity will oblige you to this whether you consider the Master the Work or the Reward First The Master if you consider how great and how good a Master you now serve if you consider him as great you can never do too much for him or as good not so much as he deserveth of you 1. As a great God he cannot be too much loved nor obeyed too exactly nor served too diligently all is short of the Greatness of his Majesty We have mean thoughts of his glorious Excellency if we think that any thing will serve the turn or that such a God will be put off with any thing though we have formerly consumed our strength in the service of sin yet a little slight obedience will be enough for God we need not be so strict and exact this is as bringing the sickly Lamb instead of the Male of the Flock And therefore God pleadeth his Majesty Mal. 3.14 I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts Therefore if you have a greater Master than you had before you should do as much or more work than you did before Col. 1.10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all
his commandments are not grievous And also for this reason because it is their usual practice and that which they are versed in Prov. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Others with much ado bring their hearts to do a little good but the more we walk in Gods ways the more we may one part of godliness helpeth another and the more we obey God the more we are fitted to obey him As in a Watch there are many wheels and the one doth protrude and thrust forward another the motion could not be so constant and orderly if there were fewer wheels in it So there are many Duties implied in Holiness and one maketh another easie and one Duty puts forward another as Hearing fits us for Prayer and Prayer for Practice and frequent and continual Practice maketh the whole work go off the more roundly Or as in the Body labour begets an appetite and when we have an appetite food is more pleasant and that helpeth digestion and that strengthens us to labour again So the more we exercise our selves to godliness one part and degree fits for another whereas Christian Duties are difficult and tedious when men deal superficially with God because the difficulty ever continueth the work is not throughly minded Partly also for this reason because the more Holiness prevaileth the more the rebelling Principle is curbed and maketh least opposition and is more weak and ineffectual to tempt and draw us from God Gal. 5.16 Walk after the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lasts of the flesh If you be sincere and true to Gods interest and cherish the better part and follow the motions and directions of it the flesh will languish and dye away by degrees There is yet a fourth reason Gods blessing goeth along with our sincere resolution to walk in his ways for as he punisheth sin with sin so he delighteth to reward Grace with Grace and to crown his own work Isa. 58.13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thy own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. Psal. 27.14 Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. The way to pray is to pray to delight your selves in God is to delight in him Pluck up your spirits take courage and God will give you courage for every holy action and reward it with a new supply of Grace whereby strength is renewed and the Duty sincerely performed bringeth its Grace and Hope along with it Well a Life spent in Holiness must needs be a pleasant Life because the more we mind it and set about it still the work is more easie it is the partial superficial obedience that is difficult and the hard heart that makes our work hard For when men are biassed with fleshly Lusts and are not easily nor without much ado perswaded to set about Religion in good earnest they are only acquainted with the toil but never with the comfort Conscience is still urging them to do that which they have no heart to do 7. Those that have their Fruit to Holiness all their Mercies and Comforts are more sweet because they have them from Gods Love and they use them for his Glory 1. They have their worldly Blessings from Gods Love a Covenant-Right is surely much sweeter than a bare Providential Right 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All things are yours for you are Christs and Christ is Gods That is a Covenant-Right when we have these things not only by the fair leave and allowance of his Providence but as fruits of his fatherly Love in Christ. We find most sweetness in the Creature when our persons and ways are pleasing to God God accepteth thy works Eccles. 9.7 Alas others who are not reconciled to God have their portion sowred by remorse of Conscience God may give them a liberal share of these outward things but this is all they must look for no more It is said Prov. 10.22 The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it There is a common Blessing which is vouchsafed to the carnal and there is a special Blessing which is vouchsafed to the holy wicked men do not acquire Wealth without Gods common Blessing the Wealth it self and the comfortable use of it they have it from him elsewhere it is called Food and Gladness But these words are much more true of the spiritual Blessing when an Estate is sanctified then we have not only the natural comfort of the Creature but a spiritual use of it a comfortable supply of outward things and a peaceable Conscience which is more than natural refreshing Alas unless we be upon good terms with God all our rejoycings are but as stoln waters and bread eaten in secret 1. As they use them for his Glory when they take more occasions to do good that is the sweetest use of the Creature when we use them with Thankfulness Charity and Purity With Thankfulness to God 1 Tim. 4.4 Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving that is with a due acknowledgment of God whose invisible hand reacheth out these supplies to us We must use them as a glass wherein to see our Creators goodness and glory and surely this religious use of the Creature is more sweet than the natural use With Charity with respect to our Neighbours ministring to others that want necessaries Nehem. 8.10 Go your way eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared Man is not Lord of these things but a Steward for we have not the Right of a Lord but the Right of a Servant and must give an account Luke 16.2 we do not receive these things to satisfie our fleshly mind but to do good with them and the pleasure is not in the possession but the use Luke 16.9 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations It is more God-like Acts 20.35 It is more blessed to give than to receive Sobriety respects our selves our Lord hath given us a caution Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life Now Temperance is much sweeter than Excess as being more healthy and refreshing to Nature whereas Excess oppresseth it Upon the whole the holy mans comforts are sweeter than other mens he hath them from God reconciled and useth them for his glâry And thus I have proved to you that to have our fruit unto Holiness is the greatest pleasure the very doing it is pleasant and God owneth them pardoning their sins and assuring them of his Love and
World than to excel in Grace we discover more of the Spirit of the World than of the Spirit of God 5. That Excellency which is more intrinsick puts a truer honour upon us than that which is extrinsick and foreign as we do not value an Horse by his Trappings but by his Mettle and Vigour A Corps may be laid in State and sumptuously adorned but there is no life within Crowns and Garlands may be put upon an Image the white Bulls destined for Sacrifices to Jupiter were brought to the Gates with Garlands on their Horns Acts 14.13 So men are not to be valued by their external Advantages Wealth and Greatness but their intrinsick Perfections Knowledge Holiness Humility Faith Sobriety Godliness Psal. 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold not the things without a man do commend him but the things within him 6. That is honourable and glorious which will everlastingly be so But we cannot say so of the things of the world All flesh is grass and the glory of man is as the flower of the field 1 Pet. 1.24 The best estate of men considered with all their ornaments wherein they use to glory is frail and perishing Riches Wisdom Strength and Beauty are soon blasted but they that are holy are lovely for ever amiable and acceptable to God for ever 1 Joh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever he abideth when other things fade Vse 1. To exhort you to undertake the Service of God that you may have your fruit to Holiness and the end everlasting Life 1. To serve God is our true Liberty his Servants live the noblest and freest lives in the world Servire Deo regnare est you never reign or command till you learn to serve God His Right is unquestionable Acts 27.23 There stood by me this night an Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve It would help you much often to consider whose you are and whom you ought to serve if you were your own you might live to your selves but since you are Gods you must live to him and serve him 1. His Service will be your Pleasure for then you are in your due posture when you have a power over inferiour things and are subject to God using all things for his glory 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any and vers 19 20. Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods You are out of joynt not in your proper posture till it be so and 2. It will be also your Honour for all his Servants are also his Children and Heirs of eternal Life Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life 3. The Benefit of this Service will be exceeding great the world often inquireth What profit shall we have if we serve him Job 21.15 Ye have said It is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance Mal. 3.14 The whole reward of serving God is not altogether laid up for the world to come God giveth a reward before he giveth the full reward Obedience is a reward to it self for Holiness is the health of the Soul and if we grow more in Grace and Godliness we have enough the Apostle saith You have your fruit to holiness Besides we have many spiritual and temporal Blessings 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come and 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great gain Once more though the great Blessedness of the Saints be in the Life to come yet here we have the foresight and foretaste there our full Portion Now that you may do so I press you 1. To give over the service of sin None can be true Servants of God till there be a change both of the Heart and of the course of the Life till the power of sin be broken we shall neither be fit nor willing to serve God Therefore we must first be freed from sin by an hearty renunciation of this slavery and bondage wherein God will help the striving Soul 2. I would press you to an high esteem of God and Holiness and everlasting Life First Of God for till we have high thoughts of God as an All-sufficient God who is able to protect and do all things needful for them that serve him we shall not intirely trust our selves in his hands Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect The incredulous world looketh on Gods glorious Titles as so many fine words Secondly Of Holiness Purity of Heart and Life a recompence worthy of your labours how dearly soever gotten Heb. 12.10 They verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Thirdly Of eternal Life they are true Servants of God who make it their work and business to serve and please God and their scope to obtain eternal Life Phil. 3.14 I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and vers 20. Our conversation is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. This is their Happiness SERMON XXIII ROM VI. 22 latter part and the end everlasting life Doct. THAT a blessed eternal Life is the final Reward of those that have their Fruit to Holiness I. What this Eternal Life is II. The Reasons why this is our final Reward I. What Eternal Life is Though it be better industriously to seek after it than scrupulously to inquire into the Nature of this excellent Benefit yet because unknown things have not such a power and efficacy to quicken our desires let us know as much of it as we can Indeed future things are but darkly spoken of e're they be accomplished we are told Prophecy is but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 Our knowledge of these things is but imperfect our apprehensions are suitable to the state we are in which is a state of imperfection but yet they are not altogether useless but fitted to our benefit Before the coming of Christ in the Flesh the Mysteries of the Christian Religion were but darkly revealed to what they were afterward but yet they were such as were comfortable and gave them some kind of sight of Christ before his Exhibition to the World enough to ingage them to live in the expectation of the Messiah So here we have apprehensions fitted to the use of Travellers and such as may encourage us in our heavenly course and raise an expectation
in us Briefly I shall shew three things 1. It is Life 2. It is a good and happy Life 3. It is an endless and eternal Life 1. It is Life both in Soul and Body in Soul Psal. 22.26 Your heart shall live for ever and again Psal. 69.32 Your heart shall live that seek God In Body 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ that the life of Jesus also might be manifested in our body that is we are continually ready to be put to death for Christs sake that at length we may receive the effects of his quickening Power in rising from the Dead to the Life of Glory so Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Well this we know then that the party must subsist and live after death otherwise he is incapable to injoy God and the Blessedness of that Estate and he must subsist in Body and Soul otherwise he is not the same person if he were all Spirit and had no Body at all for if his Body were utterly perished and his Soul were changed into the Nature of Angels which were never destinated to be conjoyned to Bodies this were not altogether the same Being for it is not he that is glorified or debased but some other thing Well then he that now serveth God shall then live but in another manner than he now liveth 1. Compare it with Life natural This Life is a fluid thing that runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us but that is eternal Besides here we are exposed to many troubles in an uncertain world Gen. 47.9 Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been there is full rest and peace Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them The supports of this Life are base and low it is called The life of our hands Isa. 57.10 most men labour hard to maintain it but there we are above these necessities Once more the Capacities of this Life are narrow every strong Passion overwhelmeth us the Disciples were not able to bear the glory of Christs Transfiguration Mat. 17.6 When the disciples heard it they fell on their faces and were sore afraid Alas strong winds soon overset weak Vessels if God should give us but a taste or glimpse of that Blessedness which is reserved for us we are ready to cry out Enough Lord we can hold no more but there we are fortified by the Glory we enjoy and the Object strengthens the Faculty 2. Compare it with the Life of Grace which puts us into some degree of Communion with God but this doth not exempt us from miseries rather sometimes exposeth us to them 2 Tim. 3.12 Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution Yea we often provoke God to hide his face from us all tears are not yet wiped from our eyes our sins breed not only doubts of Gods Love but put us under a sense of his Displeasure Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear Though we have obtained the Life of Grace we are not yet got rid of the Body of Death and that is matter of continual groaning Rom. 8.23 And not only so but our selves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption viz. the redemption of our body Here we serve God at a distance in some remote service there we are present with the Lord and immediately before the Throne Rev. 7.15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple Here we enjoy God in the Ordinances at second or third hand there face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 For we see but through a glass darkly then face to face here in part we do not enjoy so much but more is lacking but then we shall be satisfied with his Image Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness That which attaineth its end is perfect and blessed there needeth no more to make us happy for the most perfect Estate excludeth all want and indigency here is still some want but there is none 2. It is a good and happy Estate I prove it 1. From the Nature of it they that live this Life see God and enjoy God There is some last End of mans Life and therefore some chief good There are intermediate Ends therefore there must be a last End we must stop somewhere as suppose I eat for strength my strength must be imployed to some End is it for the service of others or my self or God not for my self for then I eat that I may have strength to labour that I may eat again not for others non nescitur aliis moriturus sibi then for God who is mans chief good Gen. 15.1 Fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Psal. 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Psal. 36.9 For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light There is all good in God and beyond God nothing is to be desired without him the Soul is never satisfied but having him we are perfectly satisfied and our desires acquiesce as in their proper Center of Rest. Well then our injoyment of him is our proper Happiness certainly mans Felicity must agree with the noblest part of a man his Soul that his noblest Faculty may be exercised in the noblest way of operation about its most noble Object every living Creature desireth good but their highest way of perception being sense it is sensible good but Man being endowed with Reason and Understanding must have some spiritual good before his desires can be perfectly satisfied a good it must be for our Souls Now the noblest Object the Soul is capable of is God and the noblest Faculties of our Souls are Understanding and Will the noblest Operations are therefore Knowledge and Love Love is either Desire or Delight Desire noteth a deficiency or some imperfect possession Joy or Delight is the repose of the Soul in what is already obtained So then the noblest Acts are Sight Love and Joy which assisted by the Light of Glory are now most perfect in degree as being assisted by the Light of Grace they were true in their kind Well then put all together a living reasonable Creature is admitted to the Sight and Love of God in the highest way he is capable of 2. The End must be somewhat better than the Means The Means is having our fruit to Holiness the End is everlasting Life this Life
have as the constitution is so is the Gust and Tast Tell a carnal Person of the joys of the Life to come the comforts of the Spirit the Peace of a good Conscienee the sweetness that is in the Word and Ordinances they find no more savour in these things than in the white of an egg or a dry chip but Banquets merry meetings and idle sports they have a complacency for these things and soon find a delight free and stirring at the mention of them their hearts are in the house of mirth Eccles. 7.4 To be well clad and well fed maintained in Pomp and State these are the Things which are most sweet and pleasing to them and which they most desire and seek after for they mind these things and so bestow their care and delight upon them and can spend Days and Hours without weariness in them carnal men relish no sweetness in Religion 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned As they do not perceive them so not receive them these are not the Things which are likely to make an Impression upon their souls But on the contrary the spiritual minding is discovered by this because 't is best pleased with spiritual things spiritual minds find a marvellous sweetness and comfort in the Word of God and the means of Grace and Salvation Psal. 119.103 How sweet are thy words to my tast yea sweeter than honey to my mouth and Psal. 63.5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and Job 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food What gladness doth Communion with God put into their hearts One day with him is better than all those flesh-pleasing Vanities wherewith others are deluded and inticed from God 3. It reacheth also to practise and implieth earnest prosecution and so to be carnally minded is to make the things of the flesh our work and scope to be spiritually minded is to make that our work and trade to seek after the things of the spirit therefore the course of mens actions and the trade of their lives is to be considered Our business sheweth our bent and what we constantly frequently and easily practice discovereth the over-ruling principle Wicked men have their good moods and godly men have their carnal fits the constant practice sheweth the prevailing inclination to mind the things of the flesh or spirit is to seek after them in the first place when men are seriously constantly readily willingly carried to those things which please the flesh without any respect to God and eternal life Effects shew their causes if the drift and bent of our lives be not for God and salvation and our great business in the world be not the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls and this be not chiefly minded and attended more than all the pleasures honours and profits of the World God hath not the precedency but the flesh Walking after the flesh or the spirit is the great discriminating note in this place propounded ver 1. amplified afterwards by minding the things of the flesh and then living after the flesh ver 13. so Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting We must see whether our lives be a sowing to the flesh or the spirit The mind leaveth a stamp upon the actions as a godly man sheweth spirit in all things so a carnal man sheweth flesh in all things Zach. 14.21 On every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts As God sheweth his Divine power in every creature in a Gnat or Pile of grass as well as the Sun so a Christian sheweth grace in all things on the contrary carnal men shew their mind in all things not only in eating and drinking and trading but in preaching praying and coâfârence about holy things The one goeth about his worldly business with an heavenly mind casts all into the mould of Religion the other goeth about his heavenly business with a carnal and worldly mind the flesh doth not only influence his common actions but his duties either to feed or hide a lust to serve his Worldly mind and vain glory or else that he may more plausibly carry it on without blame before men or check of conscience and so maketh one duty excuse another 'T is the flesh maketh him pray preach confer about holy things give alms and seemingly forgive enemies or do that which is outwardly and materially just Thus you see what is the carnal minding only I must tell you that because the Apostle saith it is death or the high way to everlasting destruction we must more acurately state the matter 1. The minding of the flesh must be interpreted not barely of the acts but the state Who is there among Gods children that doth not mind the flesh and too much indulge the flesh but yet he doth not make it his business to please the flesh but rather mortifieth and subdueth it Gal. 5.24 and they that are Christs have crucified the flesh and they are still labouring that they may subdue it more and more 1 Cor. 9.27 but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection 2. This minding of the flesh or spirit must be understood as to the prevalency of each principle that is to say when we mind the flesh so as to exclude the minding of the spirit and the things that belong to the spirit 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world and the things of the world the love of the Father is not in him And so on the other side when we so mind the spirit as that it deadneth our affections to the world and baits of the flesh Gal. 6.14 the conversation in heaven is that which is opposite to minding earthly things Phil. 3.19 20. Therefore if the flesh can do more constantly and ordinarily to draw us to sin than the spirit to keep us from it we are under the power of the fleshly mind 3. This minding of the flesh must be interpreted with respect to continuance not with respect to our former state For alas all of us in time past pleased the flesh and walked according to the course of this World in the lusts of the flesh Tit. 3.3 We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures and if we yet please the flâsh we are not the servants of Christ. But if we break off this servitude and do at length become servants of righteousness God will not judg us according to what we have been but what we are therefore it is our duty to consider what principle liveth in us and groweth and encreaseth whether the interest of the flesh decreaseth or the interest of the spirit if we grow more brutish
when you have done that which the promise requireth then your Title to Heaven is incomparably more sure than any mans Title to his Possessions and the Inheritance to which he was born and you will find the Saints in fixing and raising their hopes do not only look upon what is promised but their own qualification Psal. 119.166 Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments So Psal. 33.18 The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him that hope in his mercy So Psal. 147.13 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him that hope in his mercy They so believe in God as they fear to offend him and the hope of salvation goeth hand in hand with a care of keeping the Commandments we must not look to one side of the covenant only the priviledges and benefits but also to the duties and qualifications of those that shall be saved the penitent Believer the mortified Saint the heavenly-minded self-denying Christian. All this is shewed that 't is not enough to expect eternal life but it must be expected in Gods way 5. The expectation is certain and desirous 'T is certain for it goeth upon the promise of the Eternal God 't is desirous because the thing promised is our chief happiness all the Pomp and Glory of the world is but a May-game to it With respect to these Two Properties different effects are ascribed to hope First 'T is patient and earnest patient 1 Thes. 1.3 Remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope And in the Verse next the Text And if we hope for it then do we with patiente wait for it and earnest v. 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God The Emblem in the resemblance of it is the earnest expectation of the creature and 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Lord. 'T is patient because 't is sure 't is earnest because 't is good When the soul therefore is possessed with the truth and worth of these things which we hope for it looketh and longeth because they are such glorious blessings but tarrieth Gods leisure because his word is sure tho he doth delay our happiness and how smart and heavy soever his hand be upon us for the present 2. There is another pair rejoicing and groaning rejoicing Rom. 5.2 Rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God and groaning 2 Cor. 5.2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven We groan because of present burdens and our desire is delayed but we rejoice that our affection may be somewhat answerable to the greatness of the thing hoped for which is the Vision and Fruition of the ever blessed God When we seriously consider what we shall have and do hereafter how can a Christian chuse but rejoice it must needs possess his mind with a delight 'T is questionless a comfortable thing to him to think that he shall see the glory of God and be filled with his love and be exercised in loving lauding and praising him for evermore Where this is soundly believed and earnestly hoped for it will breed such a joy as supports us under all discouragements fears cares and sorrows and on the other side weigheth down all the pleasures and riches of the world In short sweetneth our lives and maketh Religion our chiefest delight 2. Reasons to prove that hope is a necessary Grace I shall prove 1. For the state of a believer in this world We are not so saved by Christ as presently to be introduced into the heavenly inheritance but are kept a while here upon earth to be exercised and tryed now while we want our blessedness and there is such a distance between us and it in the mean time we encounter with many difficulties there is need of hope Since the Believers Portion is not given him in hand he hath it only in hope things invisible and future cannot else be sought after As our understandings are cleared by faith to see things to come otherwise invisible our wills are warmed by love that we may be earnestly carryed out after the supreme good so our resolutions and inclinations must be fortified by hope that we may seek after it and not be diverted either by the comfortable or troublesome things we meet with in the world This is the difference between the children of God in their warfare and in their triumph in their way and in their home they that are at home are rejoicing in what we expect and are in possession of that supreme good which we hope for they are entred into the joy of their Lord and have neither miseries to fear nor blessings to desire beyond what they do enjoy they see what they love and possess what they see but the time of our advancement to these is not yet come and therefore we can only look and long for it the glorified are distinguished from us by fruition and we are distinguished from all others by hope we are distinguished from Pagans who have no hope Eph. 2.12 Having no hope and without God in the world 1 Thes. 4.13 Sorrow not as others which have no hope We are distinguished from Temporaries Heb. 3.16 If we hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of hope firm to the end The Temporary loseth his tast and comfort and so either casteth off the profession of Godliness or neglecteth the power and practice of it the other is diligent serious patient mortified heavenly holy because he keepeth the rejoicing or his hope the end sweetneth his work 2. From the new nature which is not intire without hope This is one of the constitutive graces which are essential to a Christian 1 Cor. 13.13 And now abideth faith hope and charity these three but the greatest of these is charity He opposeth the abiding things the necessary graces to the arbitrary gifts and among these he reckoneth hope 'T is the immediate fruit of the new birth 1 Pet. 1.3 Begotten to a lively hope The new nature presently discovereth its self by a tendency to its end and rest which is the fruition of God in Heaven now the new creature cannot be maimed and imperfect because it is the immediate production of God 3. From the use for which it serveth 1. It is necessary to quicken our duties Hope sets the whole world a work the Husbandman plougheth in hope and the Soldier fighteth in hope and the Merchant tradeth in hope so doth the Chrstian labour and serve God in hope Acts 26.7 Vnto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come Certainly a man that hopeth for any thing will be engaged in the earnest pursuit of it and follow his work close day and night but where they hope for no great matter they are sluggish and indisposed the principle of obedience is love but the life of it is hope
of a deaf ear nonattentiveness to Gods providence made way for the prevalency of Atheism and Idolatry in the world There are two propositions that if well minded and improved would preserve a lively remembrance of God in the hearts of men That all good cometh from God James 1.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights And all evil from God Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it And that any notable effect in either kind is a sign and witness of an invisible power If men would not look upon all things that befall them as meer chances they could not sleep so securely in their sins but God would have a greater testimony in every mans bosom that he hath a care of human affairs and is a rewarder of such as please him and an avenger of such as do offend him The question about this improper calling is What is the use of it or whether it be sufficient to salvation 1. Though the works of Creation and providence reveal a God yet these natural Apostles Sun Moon and Stars say nothing of Christ and there is salvation in no other Acts 4.12 They did teach the world That there is a God and that this God must be served and will be terrible to those that serve him not And possibly that God was placable or willing to be appeased because of the continuance of the Creation and the manifold mercies we lost or forfeited by our Apostacy and defection from him The Apostle saith 't is an invitation to repentance Rom. 2.4 Yet the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Son of God and of Redemption purchased to lost sinners through him is a mystery which the greatest wits in the world could not understand but by Gods revealing it in his word 2. The use of this call to those that have no other but barely it is to leave men without excuse Rom. 1.20 And that it might prevail to work some restraint of sin and to promote some external reformation in the world for the good of mankind Rom. 2.14 3. Those who have a louder call in the word are the more obliged to regard this call and invitation by the works of Gods creation and providence The call by the word is more perfect and more pressing and suited more to work upon our thoughts the object being more clearly and fully propounded to us yet this latter call is not privative but accumulative it doth not nâll the duty of the former call or make it wholly useless to us but helps us to interpret it the better and we need all helps Faith doth not withdraw it self from natural knowledge and make it useless to us though we are to exercise our selves in the law of God day and night yet we must not overlook the works of Creation and Providence and whilest we study his word neglect Gods works for they are a confimation of our faith and a great occasional help to our love as appeareth by the instructions which the holy men of God gather thence witness David his night-meditation Psal. 8. Thy moon and thy stars And his morning-meditation Psal. 19. The Heavens declare the glory of God The glories of God which we read of in the word are visible in the Creation and though David preferreth the book of Scripture yet he doth not lay aside the book of Nature We must use the world as a glass wherein to see the glory of God he hath not the heart of a man in him who is not stricken with admiration at the sight of these things the glory of the heavenly bodies and the wonderful variety of all creatures and besides there is none so good but he needeth the mercy and direction of God to invite him to a more frequent remembrance of him How happy are they that have such a God for their God How miserable they that make him their Judg and Avenger 2. The proper calling is the voice of God in the word of his grace inviting sinners to Christ. This is called his distinctly calling Eph. 1.18 That ye may know what is the hope of his calling And the high calling of God in Jesus Christ Phil. 3.14 And again That our God would count you worthy of his calling 2 Thes. 1.11 And explained 1 Cor. 1.9 Faithful is he which hath called you into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this is a more close and full discovery of God than is to be found elsewhere God calleth and inviteth some by the creatures only others by his grace in Christ. But this being calling most properly taken Why is it not vouchsafed to all I answer 1. God is not obliged to send the gospel to any 'T is his free dispensation Rom. 11.35 Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced to him again God doth not send the Gospel by necessity of nature or any pre-obligation on the creatures part but meerly of his own grace which worketh most freely and sendeth it where it pleaseth him 2. All have more knowledge of God by nature than they make good use of Rom. 1.21 When they knew God they glorified him not as God And till men improve a lower dispensation why should they be trusted with an higher If a vessel will not hold water you will not trust wine or any more precious liquor in it 2. Gods gracious invitation of lost sinners to Christ which properly is his calling them is either external or internal external by the word internal by his Spirit 1. External by the commands and promises of the word requiring such duties from them and assuring them of such blessings upon obedience Thus Wisdoms Maidens are sent forth to invite guests to her palace Prov. 4.2 And the kings servants to call them to the marriage feast Matth. 22.9 And so far they prevail in their message that many present themselves God would not leave us to a book but hath appointed a living Ministry 2 Cor. 6.10 2. Internal not only by the word but by his Spirit and the checks of their own conscience which is a nearer approach of his grace and power to us By the motions of his Spirit How else could it be said Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man And Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost And also by their consciences sollicâting them to the performance of their duty and challenging them for the neglect of it 'T is natural duty Rom. 2.14 15. The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law to themselves which shew the works of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or excusing one another And for acceptance of the Gospel-Covenant 1 John 3.20 21. If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things If our heart condemn us not
and partly in the means and occasions which God useth to convert us 't is many times dispensed in a contrary way to human expectation Paul when pursuing the people of God some when scoffing and mocking at least when they dreamt of no such matter But of that hereafter 2. In this effectual calling God sheweth forth his love and grace 1. That the rise of all was his elective love None are in time effectually called but those that before all time were chosen to life for it is said here called according to purpose From all eternity he had a purpose to be thus gracious to us those that were in the corrupt mass of mankind are distinguished from others in his eternal purpose before the foundations of the world and were in time called out from others and vocation is but election broken out therefore called election Trace the stream till you find the Well-head and you will discern that you can ascribe your calling to nothing else but even so father because it pleased thee Matth. 11.26 God before time elected us in the fulness of time Christ gave a ransom to provoked justice for us and in due time the effects of Gods eternal love and Christs purchase are applied and so we come to have a right to the blessedness we were chosen unto and was purchased for us Oh admire this grace 2. God needed us not he had an only Son to delight in Prov. 8.31 Millions of Angels to serve him Dan. 7.10 What loss would it be to him if the world of mankind had been destroyed Acts 17.25 God is not worshipped with mens hands as if he needed any thing No to the fulness of his happiness nothing can be added 3. He was highly provoked and offended by us for we had cast off the mercies of our Creation and from his Creatures were become his Rebels and then in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 and upon his death and propitiation is the offer grounded sinners are called to repentance Matth. 9.13 4. Great was our misery we fell into by reason of sin Eph. 2.3 Children of wrath indeed we were sensless of our misery careless of our remedy loath to come out of that wretched estate into which we had plunged our selves John 3.19 And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Oh what mercy was this that God had such pity and compassion upon us when we had none upon our selves how freely then did he love us How powerful did he work upon us calling and conquering ruling and over ruling all matters wherein we were concerned that he might convert us to himself 5. That he should call us who were so inconsiderable when others were left to perish in sins 1 Cor. 1.26 Ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh are called When so many were passed by who are before us in outward respects learned great and wise and God shewed mercy to us we were as deep in the common pollution as they and for many natural abilities and perfections came far short of them surely this is meerly the love and good pleasure of God! 6. This calling bringeth us into such an estate as intituleth us to the peculiar and special protection of God We are his charge that he may guide all things about us for his own glory and our good This is intimated in the text When once you believe Gods offers and yield heârty obedience to them you are a peculiar people Why Because called out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 All his creatures are the work of his hands and under the disposal of his Providence but you have a special propriety and peculiar interest in his love and care whom he will maintain and never forsake 7. By this calling you are interessed in his kingdom and glory to be had hereafter For 't is said 1 Pet. 3.9 You are called to inherit a blessing That is a blessedness which consists in the clear vision and full fruition of God Surely they that were naturally under the curse should be more apprehensive of this great priviledg 3. 'T is an act of Power Rom. 4.1 ãâã Even God who quickneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as tho they were God only can work so great a change by his creating power which spake all things out of nothing Certainly he that can do what he will both in Heaven and in Earth Psal. 135.3 can subdue the heart of man when he peaseth The will of man tho never so deeply engaged in a course of sin and wickedness cannot resist it but yieldeth to it Psal. 110.3 They shall be a willing people in the day of thy power Of graceless they become gracious of unwilling willing and God sheweth more power in this than in other his works for here is a principle of resistance as to break a skittish Horse is more than to role a stone 2. The ends with respect to man 'T is a great mercy this external internal and effectual calling take it all together 1. It giveth us notice of the remedy provided for us by the propitiaton of Christ and the covenant founded thereupon Light is come into the world John 3.19 A sure way to direct us to true happiness without it the world had been a dark dungeon wherein guilty Malefactors are for a while permitted to live 2. This calling bringeth home this grace to us and layeth it at our doors and leaves it upon our choices if we will accept it well and good Acts 13.26 To you is the word of salvation sent What say you to it God hath sent a gracious message to you in particular Will you accept or refuse And Acts 3.20 And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you It doth excite us in particular to look after the remedy of our lapsed estate 3. This calling is our warrant plea and claim which giveth us leave to apply these priviledges if we consent to the duties required as the Apostle saith of an office so 't is true of the dignity of being Christians which is a spiritual Priesthood Heb. 5.4 And no man taketh this honour upon himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron For a man to take or receive to himself honour and priviledg which doth not belong to him is usurpation which will succeed ill with him but by calling we have Gods consent or as those Matth. 20.7 Why stand ye here idle all the day No man hath hired us Before we can with any tolerable satisfaction to conscience assume such great priviledges we must produce our warrant 'T was incouragement to the blind man to come near to Christ Arise the Master calleth thee Mark 10.49 The same hath the trembling sinner The Master calleth thee and wilt thou draw back 4. The internal effectual call giveth us an heart to
curse of the law and absolve us from the guilt and eternal punishment of all our sins and moderate the temporal punishment of them surely the cross may be the better born and then a life begun which shall not be quenched Blessed is that soul who hath these priviledges 6. See the way how we get assurance of Gods love and our own salvation We know the purposes of Gods grace by the effects by which he witnesseth his love to his elect ones by vocation our predestination is manifested by justification we feel the comfort of it so climb up to glory by degrees Those whom God hath predestinated from all eternity and will glorifie in the world to come he doth powerfully call The Scripture promiseth Salvation not to the named but described persons here then is your way of procedure Would you know your election of God Are you called sanctified brought home to God Begin to live in the spirit 2. USE Do not know these things in vain nor reflect upon them meerly to satisfie curiosity or to keep up a barren speculative dispute but to cherish the love of God Holiness Patience and become more serious in the work of salvation What effects have you of this Predestination 1. Love to God From everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal. 90.2 Psal. 103.17 And from everlasting to everlasting his mercy is to them that fear him We see his love in his purposes and performances the one before the world began the other when the world shall have an end and so two eternities meet together eternal glory arising from purposes of eternal Grace so that whether we look backward or forward you see the everlasting love of God Oh then Let God be yours first and last let the everlasting purposes of his Grace be your constant admiration and the everlasting fruition of God in glory be your fixed end which is always in your eye and let the sense of the one and the hope of the other quicken all your duties Gods mercy you see from all eternity it began and to eternity it continueth we adjourn and put off God as if we had not sinned enough and dishonoured his name enough hereafter will be time enough to return to our duty If we begin never so soon God hath been aforehand with us some make early work of Religion as Josiah Samuel Timothy some are called sooner some later but tho all are not called so soon as others they are loved as soon as others for these benefits were designed to us from all eternity 2. Holiness That we might hate sin more and prize holiness more holiness is inferred out of election as a special fruit of this predestination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us to be holy 'T is inferred out of calling for he hath called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 The calling is from misery to happiness from sin to holiness 't is inferred out of Justification Sanctification is the inseparable companion of it God freeth us a malo morali that freeth us a malo naturali impunity followeth uprightness our recovery were not else intire our case is like that of a condemned Malefactor sick of a deadly disease who needs not only the skill of the Physitian to heal him but the pardon of the Judg. And 't is inferred out of glorified none shall enjoy everlasting glory after this life but such as are holy here and if they be not sanctified and renewed by the spirit they shall never enter into the Kingdom of God for we cannot have one part of the covenant while we neglect another 't is not only the way but part of glory 3. Patience under afflictions The same notions are used of afflictions which are used of your priviledges by Christ 1 Thes. 3.3 Ye are appointed thereunto You should look to that in all that befalleth you he that appointed you to the Crown appointed you to the Cross also Called 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called We are called to the fellowship of the Cross we consented to these terms Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not up his cross and followoth after me is not worthy of me Justified the comforts of it are most felt then Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Glorified take it for degrees of holiness holiness is promoted by affliction Heb. 12.10 We are chastned that we might be partakers of his holiness Final blessedness 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy Christs last day is a glad day to you 4. More seriousness in the work of salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 3.14 Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless SERMON XLI ROM VIII 31 What shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us WE are now come to the Application of these blessed truths and the triumph of Believers over sin and the Cross yea over all the enemies of our Salvation 't is begun in the Text What shall we then say The Words contain two Questions 1. One by way of preface and excitation 2. The other by way of explication setting forth the ground of our confidence So that here is a question answered by another question 1. Let us begin with the exciting question What shall we then say to these things Doct. When we hear divine truths 't is good to put questions to our own hearts about things There are three ways by which a truth is received and improved By sound belief serious consideration and close application sound belief 1 Thes. 2.13 For this cause also we thank God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Serious consideration Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts unto all the words I testifie among you this day Luke 9.44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears Close application Job 5.27 Lo this it is we have searched it out know thou it for thy good Now these three acts of the soul have each of them a distinct and proper ground sound belief worketh upon the clearness and certainty of the things asserted serious consideration on the greatness and importance of them close application on their pertinency and suitableness to us see all in one place 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief These are all necessary to make any truth operative we are not affected with what we believe not therefore to awaken diligence the truth of things is pleaded 2 Pet. 1.5 10 16. And besides this
and irresistible you may depend on the good he undertaketh to do though this peace be assaulted yet it will stand Gods manifesting or hiding his face is enough to make a creature happy or miserable 1. USE is Information to shew us 1. The misery of wicked men they are not justified by God and therefore the charge of Gods broken law lyeth heavy upon them and the weight of it will sink them to the nethermost Hell It may be the world may flatter and applaud them and they may absolve and acquit themselves at an easie rate but there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa. 57.20 'T is not our security delighting our selves to sing lullabies to our own souls for we are never upon sure terms till God justifieth us many absolve themselves upon easie terms either because they sit still and cry God mercy or upon the account of their superficial righteousness as the Pharisees justified themselves no we must judge our selves but 't is God must justifie us till we have our discharge from him we are never safe therefore it concerneth us to consider upon what terms we stand Are we troubled in mind or at peace if troubled in mind take Gods remedy if we be at peace whence cometh it Is it warranted by the Covenant of God that granteth no pardon no justification but to those that repent and believe 2. The happiness of the godly 'T is in vain to accuse those whom God acquitteth you need not fear an accuser not because innocent but becuse justified Though the world revileth you the Devil would stir up legal fears revive your old bondage when your hearts condemn you for many defects you must stick to this God justifieth for the reproaches of the world you need not be troubled at them when they accuse you falsly of pride hyprocrisie covetousness you may say as Job Job 16.19 My witness is in Heaven and my record is on high He that is the Judge of all men is a witness and observer of their ways and will acquit those whose hearts are upright with him from the censures of the world God will not ask their vote and sufferage when Satan would revive your bondage by the thoughts of death and the consequence of it consider wherefore did Christ come into the world and die for sinners but to free us from those tormenting fears Heb. 2.14 15. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage But when our hearts condemn us especially for some wounding sin the case is otherwise God by conscience writeth bitter things against you Job 13.26 we must not smother our sin nor deny our guiltiness but appeal from Court to Court Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldest mark our iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared and Psal. 43.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified If it be from the general view of sin or the remembrance of some special sin sue out your pardon in Christ your justification is not nullified you are still under a pardoning Covenant and the actual pardon on repentance is granted to you 2. USE Is to press us to get into this blessed condition that you may say 't is God that justifieth Consider the weight of the case it concerneth damnation or salvation whether you are under the curse or heirs of promise And all this is depending before God To justifie is Gods act but man must fulfil the condition Well then let us suppose a Judiciary Process there will be such at the last day certainly For we must all stand before the Tribunal seat of Christ Rom. 14.10 Our cause lieth before God now and our qualification must be tryed and judged now in order to our reconciliation with God as hereafter in order to our everlasting fruition of him in glory Well then The Judge is God Gen. 18.23 and Psal. 94.2 Lift up thy self O thou Judge of the earth The Judge accepteth the godly while they are in the body 2 Cor. 5.9 That whether we are present or absent we may be accepted with him but he is angry with the wicked every day Psal. 7.11 The Witnesses are Satan and Conscience the Plea in Traverse is about our guiltiness according to a double rule the Law of Works or Grace if according to the law of Works alas none of us can stand in the judgement there we plead not Innocent but Guilty Christ could say John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sin but here 't is otherwise Rom. 3.19 All the world is become guilty before God Here is no denial no extenuation all are become corrupt none doth good no not one Now Christ was made sin and underwent the curse for us To the second the Law of Grace there must be first an hearty acceptance of an offered Saviour and a consent both of subjection and dependance Secondly Sincere obedience Rom. 8.1 They walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit he liveth as one turned from the world and the flesh to God the more sensible we are of our own vileness the more we see the necessity of a Redeemer SERMON XLIV ROM VIII 34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again from the dead who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us IN the former verse Justification is considered as opposite to accusation now as opposite to condemnation There Who shall lay any thing to our charge Here Who is he that condemneth With respect to both we must look upon Christ as our Advocate and God as our Judge Somewhat in this verse concerneth our exemption from the danger of accusation namely all the acts of Christs Mediation here mentioned somewhat in that verse concerneth the question propounded here about condemnation namely the sentence of God as our Judge For the answer given there must be repeated Who is he that condemneth 'T is God that justifieth We need not fear an Accuser because we have an Advocate we need not fear to be cast in the judgment because we have a favourable Judge who will not justifie and condemn too Thence ariseth this part of the triumphant song which the Apostle puts into the mouth of a believer Who is he that condemneth 't is Christ that dyed c. In the words we have 1. A Triumphant challenge Who is he that condemneth 2. The ground of it 'T is Christs Mediation 'T is Christ that dyed c. 1. The challenge Who is he that condemneth 'T is meant with respect to Gods judgment in the world the Saints have been and often are condemned nor only to death James 5.6 Ye have
short He is Clothed also with the graces of the Spirit which are both ornamentum and munimentum Our Ornament and Armour of defence 'T is our Ornament as leaves are a beautiful vesture to the Apples as Cloaths are to the Body Col. 3.12 Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering c. Munimentum Armour Rom. 13.12 The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast of the works of darkness and let us put on the Armour of light Christ doth aray us non ad pompam sed ad pugnam not to set us off with a vain shew but to furnish and secure us for the Spiritual warfare Well then the words agree There are some peculiar difficulties in the 4th verse But we shall handle them in their own place Doct. That none can groan and long for Heaven but those who are not found naked but Clothed with a Gospel Righteousness The Apostle limiteth it to them In this point I shall handle three things 1. What is a Gospel Righteousness 2. That this carryeth the notion of a Garment to cover our nakedness and shame 3. Why none but they can groan and earnestly desire to be Clothed upon with the House which is from Heaven 1. What is a Gospel Righteousness 'T is Christs reconciling and renewing grace with new obedience resulting from both Or Justification Sanctification and New Obedience 1. Justification is requisite to Eternal Life Therefore called Justification unto Life Rom. 5.18 Tit. 3.7 Being Justifyed by his grace we are made Heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life and this is also represented by Cloathing The taking away of sin is the taking away our filthy Garments or the covering of our nakedness And the applying the Righteousness of Christ 't is as the investing of us with change of Raiment Zech. 3.4 Take away the filthy Garments from him and unto him he said I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will clothe thee with change of Raiment Christ taketh away our sin by pardon and withal adorneth the sinner with his Righteousness and with holiness in the sight of God There is no getting the Blessing but in the Garment of our Elder Brother 2dly Sanctification is requisite in order to Glory For without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 And this is the Ornament wherein the inward man of the Heart is decked and adorned that it may be comely in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 As we cover the nakedness of our Bodies from the sight of men so we must cover the nakedness of our Souls in the sight of God Now thought it be hidden from man yet it is not hidden from the Lord We must see that he find us not in our nakedness neither destitute of grace nor of the Righteousness of Christ. Well then it is not enough to look after the Righteousness of Justification but of Sanctification The one is founded on the Blood of Christ the other is wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 6.11 And the application of Christs Blood and the gift of the Spirit are inseparably conjoined both in the dispensation of God and the desire of a poor anxious Soul 1 Joh. 1.9 The one doth away the guilt of sin as it rendreth us obnoxious to Gods just wrath and the other the filthiness and power of sin as it tainteth our faculties and actions and rendreth us unacceptable and unserviceable to God Christ came to restore us to the favour of God and to restore his Image in our Hearts that the plaister might be as broad as the sore If Christ should free us only from the guilt of Sin he would perform but half our cares he would provide for our impunity but not for our holiness and serviceableness to God Our misery lay in our sinfulnes as well as our liableness to wrath Therefore Christ came to change our natures as well as to reconcile our persons to God 3dly New Obedience or Sanctification acted as well as infused is a part of those Garments of Salvation wherewith we are Clothed For the Gospel saith 1 Joh. 3.7 He that doth Righteousness is Righteous That is declareth that he is Righteous in Christs Righteousness and Sanctified by his Spirit And that this Godly and Righteous Life is necessary to the expectation of Glory and Blessedness appeareth by that 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought we to be in all Holy conversation and Godliness Let Conscience speak when it reflecteth upon this how meet it is that we should Glorifie God in the duties of holiness if we would be glorified with him and that we should Glorifie him in all the points of obedience and not in one only For he saith in all Holy Conversation and Godliness in the outward carriage and secret practice in Common affairs and duties of immediate worship in Adversity Prosperity grace exercised and discovered in the lives of Gods people is a part of these Garments wherewith our nakedness is covered Psal. 132.9 Let thy Priests be Clothed with Righteousness 2dly This carryeth the notion of a Garment to cover our nakedness and shame 1. Sin and shame came in together and there is no man born Clothed but stark-naked and hath nothing wherewith to cover his shame before God Adams nakedness was an Emblem of it Gen. 3.11 I was afraid because I was naked and I bid my self We must not only look to the outward nakedness but the inward Adam was naked before and knew that he was so But till they had sinned they were not ashamed Gen. 2.25 our Bodies were Gods own handy work and Apparel in Innocency was but as a Cloud to the Sun Therefore while our first parents were apparelled with the Robe of Innocency they felt no shame all things were honest and comely and Glorious enough without a covering both in the sight of God and themselves no cause of shame either before God or betwixt themselves But when divested and stripped of this Spiritual apparel then Adam was ashamed hid himself from God and till they be Cloathed neither he nor his Posterity can come into his presence with any comfort Another Emblem of this we have in Aaron's stripping the Israelites of their Jewels and Ornaments Exod. 32.25 When Moses saw that the peole were naked for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies It is not meant barely of Aarons stripping them of their Jewels and Ornaments that was but a type of their nakedness and deformity which was uncovered before God what should Moses kill the Israelites because Aaron had taken away their Jewels And what great matter of disgrace was it among the enemies That the Sons and Daughters of Israel should want ear-rings But the meaning is Aaron had cast them out of Gods protection who was offended and provoked by their sin Another suitable expression is Hosea 2 3. I will set
before him Conscience is privy to their constant uniform self denying obedience and this Testimony is of greatest stead to them at the last Isa. 38.3 Remember Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect Heart He dareth appeal in a dying hour for his sincerity and care to please him A good or a bad Conscience is the beginning of Heaven or Hell The checks of an accusing Conscience are the first bitings of the worm that never dyeth And the approbation of a sincere Conscience a preface of the Joy of the Blessed 3dly They know it shall go well with them in that day There are two causes of fear and shame knowing for certain that it shall go ill with us or not knowing it shall go well with us Now they that are under any of these Conditions cannot groan cannot desire a change of state Did you ever know a guilty malefactor long for the Judges appearance and send to him to hasten his coming Indeed those who are confident it shall go well with them they desire the Assizes and are weary of lying in prison and long to be delivered Now those that are absolved from guilt and have sin weakned in their Hearts they know it shall go well with them in the other world Partly by the promise of God who hath assured the Justified and the Sanctified of an Heavenly Inheritance That 's the drift of the whole Gospel For to this end Christ dyed that he might first reconcile them to God and then present them holy and unblameable and irreproveable in his sight Col. 1.21 First sanctifie and cleanse them from the stain and guilt of sin and then present them to himself Clothe them with the fine Linnen which is the Righteousness of the saints Eph. 5.26 27. The Justified and Sanctified may draw near to God in Heavenly Glory Partly by the earnest of the Spirit in their Hearts Eph. 1.13 14. 2 Cor. 1.21 22. Sealing up to them their own Interest to the promise or their right to the Heavenly Inheritance and that in due time they shall possess it Use Is to press us to get ready and to be Clothed that we may with comfort expect and long for the day of our translation The first motive is in the word found 'T is often used with respect to the day of Judgment Found naked And in 2 Pet. 3.14 Matth. 24 46. Blessed is that Servant whom when his Lord cometh he shall find so doing 't is a Blessed thing for a servant to be found at his work So Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having my own Righteousness which alludeth to the day of our general or particular doom Now this word implieth three things 1. That there will be an exact search and scrutiny after every one of us Wrath maketh inquisition for sinners and every man will be found out naked or Clothed There is no hiding in the throng of mankind In a particular Judgement God said he would search Jerusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 Drag sinners out of their lurking holes Much more in the general Judgment we shall be found 2dly The word found intimateth a surprize God may break in upon us sooner than we are aware of as usually he cometh to the greatest part of mankind unthought of unexpected 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night They do not look for such a day or not prepare for it but are found by it 3dly We remain in the state wherein we are found They that are found naked at their Death shall remain naked to all Eternity There is no change of Condition in the other world as Death leaveth us Judgment findeth us Luke 2.14 On earth peace Now you may be reconciled to God you may agree with your Adversary quickly while you are yet in the way But in the other world Men are in Termino in their final Condition Well then gather up this first motive escape the knowledge of God you cannot You will be found to be what you are Naked or Clothed And you may be sought after and found sooner then you are aware And when Christ hath found you in an unprepared Condition what will you do How will your naked trembling Soul dread to depart out of the Body into an unknown world Secondly My next motive shall be from the words Naked and Clothed Other qualifications than Christs renewing and reconciling grace will not serve the turn 'T is sin which rendreth us odious to God 'T is sin that keepeth us out of Heaven 't is sin that makes us uncomfortable in our selves and hinders our own Joy and peace The Condition of one that is yet in his sins is represented by nakedness upon a Twofold Reason Because it rendreth us loathsome to God and ashamed of our selves Well then will you be naked remain in your natural deformity how then can you appear before the bar of your Judge or look God in the face with any confidence Joseph washed himself and changed his garments when he was to appear before Pharaoh And is there not a greater reverence due to God Oh! Therefore since you are blind and miserable and naked get Clothing That is get the spots of sin washed off by the frequent application of the Blood of Christ your polluted natures changed by the Spirit of Christ. This is the Clothing which must render you acceptable to God and will make you comfortable in your selves so that you will not shun his presence but desire it 'T is said of the Spouse Psal. 45.14 15. Her Clothing is of wrought Gold she shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work and then with gladness and rejoicing shall she be brought into the Kings Palace The more we get rid of sin and are beautified with holiness the more amiable and lovely in his Eyes And because of likeness and suitableness the more we delight to come to him yea the more we shall long to be admitted not only to present Communion but to constant habitation with him and when we are brought into the presence of God 't will be a welcome day to us at the death of every particular Saint or at the day of our Lords second coming when we shall have no imperfection spot or wrinckle or want of any thing which may perfect our Glory Then we shall put on immortality and incorruption and this Body of flesh shall be like to Christs Glorious Body and then there will be great rejoicing Oh then see that you be Clothed What must we do That we may not be found naked but Clothed 1. We must humbly seek Reconciliation with God by Christ when the Prodigal came humbled himself to his Father presently Luke 15.22 Bring âorth the best Robe put it on him Then his nakedness is covered with the Robe of Christs Righteousness and the poor penitent believer is received into Gods Family and injoys all the Priviledges thereof and
parentage is from Heaven every thing tendeth to the place of its original Men Love their native soil things bred in the water delight to return thither Inanimate things tend to their centre a stone will fall to the ground though broken in pieces by the fall air imprisoned in the bowels and caverns of the Earth causes terrible Convulsions and Earthquakes till it get up to its own place All things seek to return thither from whence they came Grace that came from Heaven carryeth the Heart thither again Jerusalem from above is the Mother of us all Heaven is our native Country but the World is a strange place And therefore though the man be at home yet the Christian is not he is out of his proper place Contempt of the World is usually made the fruit of our regeneration 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcometh the World There is something in them that intitleth it self to God and worketh towards him and carryeth the Soul thither where God sheweth most of himself so 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of the Divine Nature and escape the corruption which is in the World through lust The World will not satisfy the Divine Nature there is a strong inclination in us which disposeth us to look after another World 1 Pet. 1.3 Assoon as made Children we reckon upon a Childs portion another Nature hath another aim and tendency There is a double reason why the new Creature cannot be satisfied here 1. Here is not enough dispensed to answer Gods Love in the Covenant I will be your God noteth the gift of some better thing than this World can afford unto us Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City That Title is not justified till he give us Eternal rewards For to be a God to any is to be an Infinite Eternal Benefactor Compare Matth. 22.32 with the forementioned place 2dly Here is not enough to satisfy the desire expectation and inclination of the renewed heart The aim of it is carryed after two things Perfect injoyment of God and perfect conformity to God There is their home where they may be with God and where they may be free from sin Their Love to Christ is such that where he is there they must be Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God And there is a final perfect estate to which the new Creature is tending when it shall never dishonour God more but be made like him and compleatly subject to him when never troubled with sin more 2. There lyeth their Treasure and their Inheritance 'T is said Eph. 1.3 that Christ had blessed us with spiritual Blessings in heavenly places He hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in earthly places hath he not Here he hath Adopted Justified and Sanctified us in part but the full accomplishment is reserved for the World to come God would not dispense the fulness of our blessedness in the present World that 's an unquiet place we are not out of Gun-shot and harms way nor in an earthly Paradise There Adam injoyed God among the beasts but we shall injoy him in Heaven among the Angels In the World God would shew his bounty to all his Creatures A Common Inn for Sons and Bastards the place of tryal not of recompense the place where God hath set his Foot-stool not his Throne Isa. 66. 'T is Satans walk the Devils Circuit Whence comest thou From compassing the Earth too and fro Job 2.2 A place defiled with sin and beareth the marks of it given to all mankind in Common Psa. 115.16 The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the Children of men The slaughter House and shambles of the Saints for they are slain upon Earth A receptacle for elect and reprobate 3. There are all our kindred There is our home and Country where our Father is and our Lord Jesus Christ and all the Holy ones of God Vbi pater ibi patria We pray to him Our Father which art in Heaven 'T is Heaven that is our Fathers House and the everlasting mansions of the Blessed There is our Redeemer and Elder Brother Col. 3.1 The Heaven of Heavens doth contain him There are the best of the family Matth. 8.12 There is Abraham Isaac and Jacob. 'T is a misery to be strangers to the common-wealth of Israel to be shut out from the society of Gods people but in Heaven there are other manner of Saints there To be shut out from the company of the Blessed is a dreadful excommunication indeed 4. There we abide longest An Inn cannot be called our home Here we abide but for a night but there for ever with the Lord. The World must be surely left if we had a certain term of years fixed yet 't is very short in comparison of Eternity Therefore since we live longest in the other World there is our home Mic. 2.10 Arise depart hence this is not your rest God speaketh it of the Land of Canaan when they had polluted it with sin 't is true of all the world sin hath brought in Death and there must be a riddance This Life is but a passage to Eternity Israel first dwelt in a wandring Camp before they came to dwell in Cities and walled Towns and the Mysteries of their Religion were first seated in a Tabernacle and then in a Temple So here first in a Mortal Frail Condition and then come to the place of our Eternal rest There is an appointed time for us all to remove Job 7.1 There is an appointed time for man upon Earth his days are as the days of an hireling An hireling when he hath done his work then he receiveth his wages and is gone Actors when they have finished their parts they go within the curtain and are seen no more So when we have served our generation and finished our course our place will know us no more and God will furnish the World with a new Scene both of Acts and Actors 5. The necessary graces that belong to a Christian shew that a Christian is not yet in his proper place as Faith Hope and Love 1. Faith hath another World in prospect and view and our great aim is to come at it Sense sheweth us we have no abiding City upon Earth but Faith points at one to come where Christ is and we shall one day be Now this Faith were but a fancy if we should always abide in this Earthly Tabernacle and there were no other Life to be expected when this is at an end The Salvation of our Souls is called the end of our Faith 1 Pet. 1.9 That is the main Blessing we look for from Christ. So 1 Tim. 1.16 We believe on him to Life everlasting So Heb. 10.39 We are not of them who draw
one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether good or bad PAuls Motives to Faithfulness in his Ministry were three Hope Fear and Love Hope of a Blessed Immortality Fear or an holy reverence wrought in him by the Consideration of the last Judgement Love to Christ verse 14. We just now come to the Second Consideration it fitly falleth in with the close of the former branch as a reason why it must be our chiefest care to approve heart and life to God Not only the hope of the Resurrection breedeth this care to please God but also the Consideration of the general Judgment We are so cold careless and backward because we seldom think of these things but if we did oftner think of them it would make us more aweful and serious we would soon see that though we can approve ourselves to the World yet it will not profit us unless we approve our selves to God for all dependeth upon his doom and sentence For we must all appear c. In the words observe a description of the day of Judgment Wherein 1. The necessity of this Judgment ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We must Judged we must be willing or unwilling 2. The Vniversality of this Judgment Who must be Judged in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All. 3. The person by whom we shall be judged The text speaketh of the Judgment seat of Christ. He is our Rightful Lord to whom this Judgment belongeth And he hath his Judgment seat and Throne of Glory as 't is called Mat. 25.31 Then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory What that is because it is wholly to come and not elsewhere explained in Scripture we know not we must rest in the general expression The Cloud in which he cometh shall possibly be his throne or if you will have it farther Explained you may take that description of the Prophet Daniel Chap. 7.9 10. Of This see more in Sermon on Matth. 25. verse 31. 4thly The manner we must appear before the Judgment seat of Christ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The word signifieth two things 1. To stand forth and make our appearance Rom. 14.10 There 't is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we shall all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ. Or else 2dly To be made manifest And so rendred verse the 11th But we are made manifest before God and I trust are made manifest in your Consciences So here our hearts and ways shall be laid open as well as we Every action of our lives shall be taken into consideration Well then we must appear so as to be made manifest in our thoughts words and deeds we must not only appear in Person but be laid open have our whole life rip'd up and have all our thoughts words and works disclosed before Men and Angels 5. The matter about which we shall be Judged the things done in the Body That is during the bodily life The Body is the Shop of action wherein or whereby every thing is done Mechedius telleth us 't is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Yoakfellow or Colleague of the Soul Now whatever is done by it good or evil is the cause to be tryed 6. The end That every man may be punished or rewarded according to his deserts the end is that there may be sentence given and after sentence execution both as to reward and punishment 1. Mark the emphasis of the Phrase the things done in the Body we are said to receive them when we receive the fruits of them So Eph. 6.8 Whatsoever good thing a man doth the same shall he receive whether bond or free So here things done in the Body is the just reward of those things 2. Observe the several kinds of retribution Good or bad both the godly and the wicked receive a full recompense at that time 3. The proportion According to their several ways only the reward of good is of grace of evil of desert Rom. 6.23 The Wages of sin is death Doct. There will certainly come a day when every person that ever lived shall be judged by Christ according to his works I shall examine this point by the circumstances of the Text. 1. The necessity he might have said we shall appear No but he saith we must appear God hath so appointed Here I shall speak 1. Of the certainty of the thing There must be a Judgment 2. The infallible certainty of the event There shall be a Judgment 1. It must be so For God hath decreed it and Reason enforceth it But why is it necessary I answer not to discover any thing to God 1. But Partly That grace may be glorifyed in and by the righteous 1 Epistle of Pet. Chap. 1. v. 13. Hope unto the end for the grace which is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Then is the largest and fullest manifestation of Gods love to his people We see his grace now in the pardon of sins and that measure of Sanctification which now we attain unto that he is pleased to pass by our offences and take us into his family and give us a tast of his love and a right to his Heavenly kingdom and imploy us in his Service but then it will be another manner of grace and favour indeed when pardon and approbation shall be pronounced and ratifyed by the Judges own mouth Acts 3.19 When he shall not only take us into his family but into his Immediate presence and Palace John 12.26 Where I am there shall my servant be When he giveth us not only right but the possession Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you When we shall not only have some remote Service and ministration but be everlastingly imployed in loving delighting in and praising of God with all those Heavenly creatures who are our eternal companions in the work The grace of God or his favour to his people is never seen in all its glorious graciousness till we be glorifyed 2. That the wicked may be convinced of their sin and defect they come upon a tryal and the fault of all their miscarriage is charged on themselves 'T is hard to determine which is the greater torment to them the righteousness or terribleness of the sentence God leaveth them without excuse Rom. 1.20 Psa. 50.21 I will set all thy sins in order before thee Sins forgotten lost in the crowd by a secure sinner in the day of Gods reckoning shall be brought to remembrance with time place and other circumstances and so presented to conscience as if newly done 3. That Gods Justice may be cleared Psa. 51.4 That thou mayest be clear when thou Judgest When he giveth to men according to their choice and according to the merit of their own works there lyeth no just exception against Gods proceeding The justice of God requireth that there should be differing proceeding with them that differ among themselves that it should be well with
a man may talk well from his convictions or a meer disciplinary knowledge but to do well there needeth a living principle of grace The Scriptures still set forth graces by their operations works or fruits For a dead sleepy habit is worth nothing The working Faith carryeth away the prize of justification Gal. 5.6 Honoureth Christ 2 Thes. 1.11 12. The labouring love is that which God will regard and reward Heb. 6.10 The lively hope is the fruit of regeneration 1 Pet. 1.5 That which sets a doing Acts 24.15 16. And Acts 26.7 8. Grace otherwise cannot appear in the view of Conscience The apples appear when the sap is not seen 't is the operative and lively graces that will discover themselves A man may think well or speak well but that grace which governeth his conversation sheweth its self God knoweth what is in man whether faith be sound in the first planting before any fruit appear But this Judgment is to proceed not only by the knowledge of the Judge but the evidence of our own Consciences the observation of others and what openly appeareth in our lives 2. How these works are considered with respect to our sentence and doom 1. Our actions are considered here with respect to the principle from whence they flow a renewed heart God doth not look to the bare work but to the spring and motives and ends Pro. 16.2 He weigheth the Spirits quo animo not only the matter and bulk of the action but with what Spirit and from what principle it is done Eph. 5.9 For the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness Righteousness and truth Whether we act from a principle of grace in the Heart A violent motion differeth from that which floweth from an inward principle Christ first giveth a disposition to obey before there is an actual sincere obedience And living in the Spirit goeth before walking in the Spirit Gal. 5.25 The principles are infused and then the action follows 'T is said John 3.21 He that doth truth cometh to the light That his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God A Godly man cannot satisfy himself in some external conformity to the Law but he must know that the actions come from God from his Grace and Spirit in us and tend to him that is to his Glory and Honour and are directed according to his will a little outside holiness will not content Christ. 2. With respect to the state in which they are done A justified estate and a state of reconciliation to God for the Sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. Gal. 2.19 I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God And Rom. 7.4 Marryed to Christ that I may bring forth fruit unto God The Children born before marriage are not legitimate 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness We ought to look to the Qualification of our persons that we be reconciled with God through Christ daily renewing our friendship with him by sorrow for sin by suing out our pardon and acceptance in the Mediatour The apostle doth not say how holy ought our conversation to be but what manner of persons ought we to be 3. They are considered with respect to their correspondency No man is judged by one Single act we cannot pass judgment upon our estate before God whether good or evil by a few particulars but by our way or the ordinary strain of our life and conversation and our course Rom. 8.1 Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit A man may occasionally set his foot in a Path which he meaneth not to walk in God in reviewing his work considered every days work apart it was good and considered altogether Gen. 1.31 The whole frame and all very good all the work together was correspondent and all suitable to the rest in a due proportion so should we endeavour to imitate God that all our works every one of them and our whole course considered together may all appear to be good answerable to one another in order and proportion that our whole conversations may be a perfect frame of unblameable holiness There are some amongst men which do some things well to which their order and carriage is not suitable The difference between a godly mans work and an hypocrites lyeth in this an Hypocrites work is best considered apart a good mans works are best and most approved when they are laid together 4. These works are considered with respect to their Aim and Scope Phil. 1.11 12. That we may be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God As it is not the doing one good work or some few which will Qualify a man for the day of Judgment but being filled with the fruits of righteousness So 't is necessary also that our aim be every way as good as our action and Gods glory be propounded as our great scope An action in its self good and Lawful may be reckoned unto the worker as sin or duty as the end is and the scope which he propoundeth unto himself 5. That none of our actions are lost but stand upon record that we may hear of them another day and tend to increase the General sum whether good or evil An Impeniâent man his account riseth Rom. 2.5 He treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath like Jehojadas chest the longer it stood the more Treasure was in it Sins that seem inconsiderable in themselves yet are the acts of one that hath sinned greatly before A cipher put to a Sum that is fixed increaseth it every drop helpeth to fill the Cup. So in the sincere Phil. 4.17 Fruit abounding to your account Every sincere action makes it abound more some actions are more inconsiderable than others yet if done for Christs sake shall be taken notice of though small in themselves Math. 10.42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold Water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward 3. What room and place these works have with respect to punishment and reward There is a plain difference as appeareth Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life The works of the wicked have a proper meritorious influence upon their ruine and destruction wicked men stand upon their own bottom and are lest to themselves we do evil of our own accord and by our own strength but the good we do is neither our own nor is it purely good Besides there is this difference between sin and obedience that the heinousness of sin is always aggravated and heightned by the proportion of its object but the merit and value of obedience is still lessened thereby sin and an offence is aggravated as
for an instance to strike an Officer is more than to strike a private man a King more than an ordinary Officer thence it cometh to pass that a sin committed against God doth deserve an infinite punishment because the Majesty of God is infinite and therefore eternal Death is the Wages of sin But on the other side the greatter God is and the more glorious the greater obligation lyeth upon us to love him and serve him and so that good which we do for his sake is the more due and God is not bound by any right or Justice from the merit of the action its self to reward it for here the greatness of the object lesseneth the action for be the creature what he will he oweth his whole self to God who is placed in such a degree of eminence that we can lay no obligation upon him so that he is not bound by his natural Justice to reward us but only inclined so to do by his own goodness and bound so to do by his free promise and covenant of grace Aristotle said well that Children could not merit of their Parents and all their kindness and duty they performed is but a just recompense to them from whom under God they have received their being for right and merit strictly taken is only between those who in a manner are equals if not between Children and Parents certainly not between God and man Well then though sin deserveth punishment yet our good works deserve not their reward That grace which first accepted us with all our faults doth still Crown us and bestow all that honour and Glory which we expect at Christs coming But what respect then have our works to our reward Answer 1. They render us a more capable object of Gods delight and approbation For surely the holy God delighteth in his Faithful Servants Matth. 25.21 Euge bone serve Conformity to his nature and will suiteth more with his holiness than sin and disobedience 2. They qualify us and make us more capable of the rewards of his Gospel Covenant which requireth that we should accept of our Redeemers mercy and return to our obedience and continue in that obedience that the Righteous Judge may put the Crown upon our heads in that day 2. Tim. 4.7 8. 3. Works are produced as the undoubted evidence of a sound Faith they are a demonstration à signis notioribus as most conspicuous and so fit to justify believers before all the World the sprinkling of the Blood on the door posts signifieth there dwell Isralites So such an uniform course of Holiness shews that Faith is rooted in them 4. They are a measure of the degree of the reward for 2. Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Not only Glory but great Glory with great measure So far we may go safely and less we cannot unless we would infring a care of Holiness VSE Oh then let us take heed what we do in the Body whether we sow to the Flesh or the Spirit Let us be sure that our seed be good if we would expect a good crop Now 't is seed time but then is the harvest works will be enquired after 'T is not our voice but hands like as Isaac the voice is Jacobs but the hands are the hands of Esau. Nothing will evidence our sincerity but a uniform constant course of self denying obedience 1. An uniform course it must be A man may force himself into an act or two Saul in a rapture may be among the Prophets A man is Judged by his course and walk A Child of God may be under a strange appearance for an act or so you can no more Judge of them by that than you can Judge of the Glory of a street by a sink or kennel On the otherside men may take on Religion at set times as men in an Ague have their well days the fit of lust or sin is not always upon them Psa. 106.3 Blessed are they that keep Judgment and he that doth Righteousness at all times When a mans Conversation is all of a piece his course is to please God in all places and in all things not by Starts and in good Moods 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin for he is born of God An act of voluntary sin is as monstrous as an Hen to lay the Egg of a Crow many mens lives speak Contradictions Saul at one time puts all the Witches to Death at another time hath recourse with a Witch himself Jehu sheweth his zeal against Ahabs Idolatry but not against Jeroboams 2. Constant. There is a Strait-Gate and a narrow way we must enter one and walk in the other there is making Covenant and keeping Covenant Psal. 103.18 To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule Peace and Mercy shall be upon them and upon the whole Israel of God Faith and obedience are Conditions of Pardon and constant obedience is a Condition of Salvation 3. Self-denyingly acted Good words are not dear Be warmed be cloathed In 1 John 3.16 the Apostle speaketh of laying down our life for the Brethren of opening our hands and bowels for refreshing the hungry and cloathing the naked So proportionably when we take pains to instruct the ignorant exhort the obstinate confirm the weak comfort the afflicted Do you think that Religion lyeth only in hearing Sermons in singing Psalms reading a Chapter or in a few drowsy Prayers or cursory Devotions there are the means but where is the fruit No it lyeth in self denying obedience These are the Acts about which we shall be questioned at the day of Judgment Math. 25. Have you visited have you clothed do you own the Servants of God when the times frown upon them Do you relieve them and comfort them in their distresses Lip labour and Tongue service is a cheap thing and that Religion is worth nothing which costs nothing 1 Sam. 24.24 When we deny ourselves and apparently value Gods interest above our own then our sincerity is most evidenced and every one of us is to consider what interest God calleth him to deny upon the hopes of Glory and whatever it costeth us to be Faithful with God A cheap course of serving God bringeth you none or little comfort certainly a man cannot be thorough in Religion but he will be put upon many occasions of denying himself his ease profit honour and acting contrary to his natural inclinations or Worldly interests those that regard only the safe cheap and easy part do not set up Christs Religion but their own a Christianity of their own making Matth. 16.24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me SERMON XVII 2 Cor. 5.10 That every
avoid everlasting misery 'T is no ãâã what we suffer in time and endure in time USE 3. Improve it first to seek a reconciliation with God in the way of Faith and Repentance A man that is under the sentence of death and in danger to be executed every moment would not be quiet till he get a pardon All men by nature are Children of wrath as a Son of death as one condemned to die so 't is an Hebraism Now run for refuge to take hold of the hope that is set before you Heb. 6.18 make peace upon earth Luke 2.14 Agree with thine Adversary quickly while he is in the way Luke 12.58 59. Now God calleth to repentance Act. 17.30 31. Oh Labour to be found of him in peace 2 Pet. 3.14 How can a man be at rest till his great work be over 2. Improve it to holiness and watchfulness and to bridle licentiousness and boldness in sinning Eccl. 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou for all these things God will bring thee to judgment As cold Water cast into a boiling pot stops its fury 1 Pet. 1.17 And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons Judgeth every man according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Say as the Town Clark of Ephesus Acts 9.40 We are in danger to be called in Question for this days uproar I must give an account for idle words careless praying and unprofitable mispending of time 3. Improve it to patience under ignominy and reproaches Thy innocency will appear on thy tryal if in an abject Condition the upright shall have dominion in the morning afflictions and persecutions will then end and thou shalt have thy reward 1 Thes. 1.6 7. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost so that ye were ensamples of all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia And 1 Cor. 15.58 Wherefore my beloved be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. SERMON XVIII 2 Cor. 5.11 Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences THe Apostle is giving an account of his sincerity zeal and faithfulness in his Ministry Three things moved him to it hope fear and love Here he asserteth the influence of the second principle In the words take notice of two things 1. The motive and reason of his fidelity in his Ministry knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2. The witnesses to whom he appealeth For the proof of his fidelity and diligence 1. God the searcher of hearts 2. the consciences of his Auditours who had felt the benefit and force of the Word 1. To God as the supream Witness Approver and Judge but we are made manifest unto God he seeth our principles and aims and with what hearts we go about our work 2. To the Corinthians as secondary witnesses and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences He was confident that he had a witness of his sincerity and uprightness in their consciences The greatest approbation that we can have from men is to have an approbation in their consciences Mark the order our first desire should be to approve our selves to God who is our Judge and then to men And in doing that to approve our selves to their consciences which is the faculty which is most apt to take Gods part rather than to their humours that we may gain their respect and applause next to God the testimony of conscience next to our own conscience the consciences of others 1. I begin with the motive and reason of his fidelity knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the vulgar Timorem Domini knowing the fear of the Lord. Erasmus Beza and our translation terrorem domini Grotius according to the former reading knowing the fear of the Lord i. e. The true way of religion we perswade men to Imbrace it Rather the Apostle understandeth the terrour of this Judgment being certain that these things are so and that such a terrible Judgment of Christ will come we perswade men to become Christians or to live as such as shall speed well then when others shall be destroyed he saith plurally ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we perswade as comprizing his Colleagues suppose Timotheus and Sylvanus he and they perswaded men to Imbrace the Faith and to live as those who are to be judged For 't is to be looked upon 1. As an Argument and Motive to perswade himself and his Colleagues to sincerity in their Ministry who were to give an account of their dispensation 2. As an Argument and Motive to the People for their obedience to the Faith Doct. That the certain knowledge of the terrible Iudgment of God should move us to perswade and you that hear to be perswaded to a careful and serious preparation for it In managing which Point 1. I shall consider the object Here is terrour or matter of fear offered in the Judgment mentioned 2. The subject or persons fearing Paul and his Colleagues together with all the parties who are to be judged 3. The means How this fear cometh to be raised in us or to work on us Knowing 4. The effect here is perswasion grounded thereon knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 1. That there is terrour and matter of fear offered in the day of judgment upon several accounts 1. As it is an Impartial Judgment that shall pass upon all heathens Christians Apostles Ministers private Persons This ground is urged 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Those who take the Lord to be their Father and themselves for his Children must consider him also as an Exact and an Impartial Judge of all their actions And therefore with the more care and sollicitude carry on the work of holiness What is respecting or accepting persons in the Judgment 'T is to esteem one person rather than another for outward advantages not regarding the merits of the cause which cometh to discussion and tryal As in mans courts when men are spared for their greatness dignity or worldly preheminence But what person may God be supposed to respect or accept in Judgment Surely none can be so irrational as to think the great or rich can have any pretention to his favour or merciful dealing rather then others no Noble or Ignoble Poor or Rich Prince or begger they all stand upon the same level before God Well then the persons who may be supposed
calumnies the people of God are represented as strange sort of people unto the World 2 Cor. 6.8 As deceivers and yet true They are reputed as a company of hypocrites and dissemblers all their experiences questioned and scoffed at prophane and wanton wits will be spitting out their venom in every age and Gods people will be Judged according to men in the flesh though they live to God in the Spirit 1 Pet. 4.6 God permitteth it reproach is the soil and dung whereby he maketh his heritage fruitful but yet this is an hiding and disguising the Spiritual life Lastly 'T is hidden under manifold weaknesses and infirmities the best have their blemishes and the most of Christians shew forth too much of Adam and too little of Jesus and so the Spiritual life is carryed on darkly and in a riddle Though the old man of corruption doth not bear sway in their hearts to command direct and order all their actions as formerly it did yet sin is not wholly gone they feel a Law warring in their members Rom. 7.33 And 't is not only warring but sometimes prevailing that they themselves can feel little of the holy life There are some question and life of grace others scorn and scoff at it yet believe it for 't is the great truth revealed in the Scriptures and 't is in some measure felt by sense yea the rays of this hidden and rejected life are often discovered to the World For there are some who by their practices condemn the World live in counter-motion to the corrupt sort of men walk as those that have another Spirit than the Spirit of the World 1 Cor. 2.12 and as those that look for an happiness else where Therefore believe that there is such a life 2. Value and esteem it according to its worth and excellency I mean with a practical esteem as Paul doth counting all things but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. What would he know in him Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Or the vertue of raising him out of sin to the life of grace Oh that is an excellent thing indeed 'T is more to be advanced to this life than to the highest honour in the World This is to live in God to God to have miracles of grace wrought in us every day 'T is the divine power that giveth us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Not begun nor carryed on without a daily miracle or a work exceeding the power of nature or the force of the creature life ennobleth all things a living dog is better then a dead Lion to be alive to God when others are dead in sin what a great priviledge is that 3. Deal with Christ about it Come to him he purchased it by his death John 6.51 This is my flesh which I have given for the life of the World To God in sacrifice to us for food Look upon him as one that is possessed of the fulness of the Spirit to work it in all those that come to God by him Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him for he liveth for ever to make intercession for them That is penitent believers for by faith and repentance we come to God by Christ. He is angry that we will not come to him for this benefit John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye may have life If you have a pressing need why should you keep away from him That 's his Quarrel against us that we will not make use of him for this benefit He is best pleased when we have most of it John 10.10 I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly He would have us not only living Christians but lively He hath appointed Ordinances to convey it to us The word Isa. 55.3 Hear and your Souls shall shall live The Sacraments Psa. 22.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever Prayer that we cry earnestly and express our desires of this benefit Psa. 36.9 For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light David often calleth upon God as the God of his life Well when we go to God he remitteth us to Christ Christ to the Spirit and the Spirit to the Ordinances there we should observe his drawings and obey his sanctifying motions when he saith Arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 5.14 When more awakned than at another time 4 When we have this life let us Improve it and act grace in all holy obedience unto God Eph. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us walk in the Spirit If partakers of the new life of grace we must shew it in our conversations for newness of heart is seen in newness of life USE 3. is to put us upon self reflection and self examination Have we a new life communicated to us 1. If it be so then there is a great change wrought in us 'T is said of Christ he was dead and is alive Rev. 1.18 To him we are conformed Luke 15.24 This my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found So Eph. 2.1 You that were sometimes dead in trespasses and sins yet now hath he quickned Surely when a man is translated from death to life that should be a sensible change as if another Soul dwelt in the same body he is another man to God hath holy breathings after him delights frequently to converse with him in prayer Acts 9.11 Arise and go into the street called straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth And Zach. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication He hath a child-like love to God as a Father Gal. 4 6. And because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart crying Abba Father Have a Child-like reverence to him Eph. 5.1 Be ye followers of God as dear Children Illustrate it by that Jer. 35.6 When they set pots of Wine before them to drink we dare not Jonadab our Father commanded us saying ye shall drink no Wine And a Child-like dependance upon him Matth. 6.32 Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things A Child-like hope from him 1 Pet. 1.3 Who hath begotten us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Zeal for him 2 Cor. 5.10 Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men He is another man to his neighbour he carrieth it justly and righteously to all both as to person name and estate and this not by compulsion of conscience but inclination of heart which the Scripture expresseth by loving our neighbour as our selves seeking their good as our own
united to Christ partake of his Divine Spirit who doth sanctify the Souls of his people and doth mortify and master the strongest corruptions and raise them to those inclinations and affections to which nature is an utter stranger Th Impressions left upon the Soul by the Spirit may be seen in the three Theological graces which constitute the new Creature mentioned 1 Cor. 13.13 But now abideth Faith Hope and Charity And 1 Thes. 5.8 Putting on the brest-plate of Faith and love and for an helmet the Hope of Salvation And elsewhere Faith Love and Hope Now the operations of all these graces imply a new and strange nature put into us 1. Faith which convinceth us of things unseen and to live in the delightful fore-thought of a World to come 2 Cor. 4.16.17 18. For this cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory While we look not to the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Now will there not be a manifest difference between a man that is governed by sense and one guided and influenced by Faith Certainly more than there is in a man that delighteth in ordering the affairs of Common-Wealths and a child that delighteth in moulding clay-pies So for Love A Child of God is so affected with the goodness that is in God and the goodness that floweth from God in the wonders of his Love by Christ and the goodness we hope for when all the promises are fulfilled that all their delights desires and endeavours are after God Not to be great in the World but to injoy God Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon earth I desire besides thee And therefore can easily overcome fleshly and Worldly Lusts and such inclinations as the rest of the World are mastered with Well then a Christian ingrafted into Christ loseth all property in himself and is freed from self-love and that carnal vanity to which it is addicted Then for hope the strong and constant hope of a glorious estate in the other World will make us deny the flesh go through all sufferings and difficulties to attain it Acts 26.6 7. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come And so by consequence a man acteth like another kind of Creature then the rest of men are or than he himself was before 2. The state of the Gospel calleth for it For it is a change of every thing from what it was before all things are new in the Kingdom of Christ and therefore we should be new Creatures also In the Gospel there is a new Adam which is Jesus Christ a New Covenant a new Paradise not that where Adam injoyed God among the Beasts but where the Blessed injoy God among the Angels a new Ministry new Ordinances and therefore we also should be new creatures and serve God not in the oldness of the letter but the newness of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 We are both obliged and fitted by this new state since we have a new Lord a new Law all is new there must be also a new creation for as the general state of the Church is renewed by Christ so every particular believer ought to participate of this new estate 3. The third Argument shall be taken from the necessity of the new creation 1. In order to our present Communion with God the new creature is necessary to converse with an holy and invisible God earnestly frequently reverently and delightfully For the effects of the new creature are life and likeness Those that do not live the life of God are estranged from him Eph. 4.18 Adam was alone though compassed about with multitude of Creatures Beasts and Plants there was none to converse with him because they did not live his life Trees cannot converse with Beasts nor Beasts with Men nor Men with God till they have some what of the same nature and life sense fits the Plants reason the Beasts so grace fits Men. So for likeness conformity is the ground of Communion Amos 3.3 How can two walk together except they are agreed Our old course made the breach between God and us Isa. 59.2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear And our new life and likeness qualifieth for Communion with him 1 John 1.6 7. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another An holy creature may sweetly come and converse with an holy God 2. In order to our service and obedience to God Man is unfit for Gods use till he be new moulded and framed again Observe two places Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus created unto good works Every creature hath faculties sutable to those operations which belong to that creature So man must be new created and new formed that he may be prepared fitted and made ready for the Lord. You cannot expect new operations till there be a new life The other place is 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work There is a mass of corruption which remaineth as a clog upon us which maketh us averse and indisposed for the work of God and the Soul must be purged from these lusts and inclinations to the vanities of the World before 't is meet prepared and made ready for the acts of holiness Here must be our first care to get the heart renewed many are troubled about this or that duty or particular branches of the Spiritual life First get life its self for there must be principles before there can be operations and in vain do we expect strengthning grace before we have received renewing grace This is like little Children who attempt to run before they can go Many complain of this and that corruption but they do not groan under the burden of a corrupt nature as suppose wandring thoughts in prayer when at the same time the heart is habitually averse and estranged from God as if a man should complain of an aking tooth when a mortal disease hath seized upon his vitals of a cut finger when at the same time he is wounded at the heart of deadness in duty and want of quickening grace when they want converting grace as if we would have the Spirit blow to a dead coal complain of infirmities and incident
sin was God reconciling In themselves Gods Elect differ nothing from the rest of the World till grace prevent them they were as bad as any in the World of the same race of cursed mankind not only living in the World but after the fashions of the World dead in trespasses and sins and obnoxious to the curse and Wrath of God Fourthly To shew the Amplitude of Gods Grace the greater and worser part of the World the Gentiles as well as the Jews Rom. 11.15 If the casting away of them be the reconciling the World So 1 John 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World Fifthly To awaken all that are concerned to look after this priviledge which is common to all nations the offer is made indifferently to all sorts of persons where the Gospel cometh and this grace is effectually applyed to all the Elect of all Nations and all sorts and conditions and ranks of persons in the World if thou art a member of the World thou shouldest not receive this grace in vain 2. The other party concerned is the Great God to himself To be reconciled to one another when we have smarted sufficiently under the fruits of our differences will be found an especial blessing much more to be reconciled to God this is the comfort here propounded To himself of whom we stand so much in dread 1 Sam. 2.15 If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against God who shall plead for him A fit Umpire and Mediator may be found out in matters of difference and plea between man and man but who shall arbitrate and take up the difference between us and God Here first the greatness of the priviledge That God will reconcile us to himself Doct. There is a reconciliation made in and by Iesus Christ between God and man First I shall premise three things in general 1. That to reconcile is to bring into favour and friendship after some breach made and offence taken as Luke 23.12 The same day Herod and Pilate were made friends for before they were at enmity between themselves So Joseph and his Brethren were made friends and the woman faulty is said to be reconciled to her husband 1 Cor. 7.11 So Matth. 5.23 24. If thou bringest thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee go thy may and be reconciled to thy Brother All which places prove the natural notion of the word and so 't is fitly used for our recovery and returning into grace and favour with God after a breach 2. That the reconciliation is mutual God is reconciled to us and we to God Many will not hear that God is reconciled to us but only that we are reconciled to God But certainly there must be both God was angry with us and we hated God the Alienation was mutual and therefore the reconciliation must be so the Scripture speaketh not only of an enmity and hatred on mans part Rom. 5.10 For when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son but also of wrath on Gods part not only against sin but the sinner Eph. 2.3 Being Children of wrath by nature Certainly God doth not only hate sin but is angry with the wicked because of it Psal. 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day And we must distinguish between the work of Christ in order to God and the work of the Minister and Christ by the ministry in order to men The work of Christ in order to God which is to appease the Wrath of God Therefore 't is said Heb. 2.17 That he is a merciful and faithful High-priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Surely there Gods being reconciled to us is intended by Christs Sacrifice and Intercession For Christ as an High-priest hath to deal with us as Gods Apostle with men Heb. 3.1 We in Christs stead pray you to be reconciled verse 20th Besides our reconciliation is made the fruit of Christs death in contradistinction to his life Rom. 5.10 The death of Christ mainly respected the appeasing of the Wrath of God whereas if it only implyed the changing of our natures it might as well be ascribed to his life in Heaven as his death upon earth Again the Scripture maketh this reconciliation to be a great instance of Gods love to us Now if it did only consist in laying aside our enmity to God it would rather be an instance of our love to God than his love to us Once more the Text is plain that Gods reconciling the World to himself did consist in not imputing our trespasses to us his laying aside his suit and just plea he had against us so that it relateth to him Therefore upon the whole we may pronounce that God is reconciled to us as well as we to God Indeed the Scriptures do more generally insist upon our being reconciled to God than Gods being reconciled to us for two reasons 1. Because we are in a fault 'T is the usual way of speaking amongst men He that offendeth is said to be reconciled because he was the cause of the breach and he needeth to reconcile himself and to appease him whom he hath offended which the innocent party needeth not he needeth only to forgive and to lay aside his just anger We offended God not he us therefore the Scripture usually saith we are reconciled to God 2dly We have the benefit 't is no profit to God that the Creature enters into his peace He is happy within himself without our love or service only we are undone if we are not upon good terms with him If any believe not the Wrath of God abideth upon him John 3.36 And that is enough to make us eternally miserable 3. That reconciliation in Scripture is sometimes ascribed to God the Father sometimes to Christ as Mediator sometimes to Believers themselves 1. To God the Father as in the Text God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and in the verse before the Text who hath reconciled us to himself And Col. 1.20 Having made peace by the Blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself To God the Father as the primary cause of our reconciliation he found out and appointed the means as he decreed from everlasting to restore the Elect faln into sin unto grace and favour and prepared whatever was necessary to compose and take up the difference between him and sinners 2. Christ is said to reconcile Eph. 2.16 That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross. And Col. 1.21 Yet now hath he reconciled Not as the primary but meritorious cause of reconciliation which respects both God and us chiefly God as he was appeased by the merit of his Sacrifice as he procured the Spirit that same Spirit whereby our enmity might be overcome and
quick and the dead to him gave all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And Acts 17.3 He Commandeth all men to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained And Acts 3.19 20 21. Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the Heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things Why doth the Scripture suggest this Meditation Partly because our pardon is not compleat till that day now we have it under his hand in the Word under his seal by the Spirit then from his Mouth And Partly because of the strictness of that day Now to consider that our case must be reviewed that by our works and words we must be justified or condemned Matth. 12.36 37. Surely we should make our peace and be more watchful and serious for the future And partly considering who is Judge 't is a strong Motive to press us to receive his Person embrace his Doctrine and to put our selves under the Conduct of his Spirit and depending upon the merit of his Sacrifice to use the Appointed Means in order to our full recovery and return to God The Third working Consideration is Conscience which anticipateth the Judgment and taketh God's part within us rebuking us for sin A secret Spy that is in our bosoms which handleth us as we handle it Rom. 2.14 15. Before the Action Conscience sheweth us what is to be done in the Act it correcteth after alloweth or disalloweth As a man acts so he is a Party as he censureth the Action so a Judge After the Act the force of Conscience is most usually seen more than before the Fact or in the Fact because before or in the Action the Judgment of Reason is not so clear and strong the Affections raising Mists and Clouds to darken the Mind and trouble iâ and draw it on their side by their pleasing violence but after the Action the violence of these things ceaseth and is by little and it âe allayed Guilt flusheth in the face of Conscience Judas Mat 27.4 said I have siâned in bâtraying Innocent blood Reason hath the greater force doth more affect thâ mind with grief and fear When a man hath sinned against his Conscience when the act is over and the affection satisfied and giveth place to reason that was before conâtemned when it recovereth the Throne it striketh through the heart of man with a sharp reproof for obeying appetite before its self bringeth in rerrour and contest unto the mind and the soul âits uneasie Now then because of this Conscience of sin let us sue out our pardon and discharge Conscience may be choaked and smothered but the flame will break forth again it is not quietly settled but by Reconciliation with Jesus Christ they shun it all that they can but cannot get rid of it John 3.20 For if our hearts condemn us c. There is an hidden fear in the heart of man not always felt but soon awakened usually it speaketh out mens condition to them when their hearts are unfound with God Job 27.6 My heart shall not reproach me all my days The heart hath a reproaching condemning power against a man when he goeth wrong None of us but feel these heart-smitings and checks therefore we should consider of them Now these should be noted partly because to smother and stifle checks of Conscience produceth hardness of heart if not downright Atheism And partly because Conscience if it speaketh not it writeth and where 't is not a Witness 't is a Register And partly because 't is God's Deputy 1 John 3.20 21. And partly because Heaven and Hell is often begun in Conscience Heaven in our Peace and Joy which is unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 and 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience Sometimes Hell in our grief and fears as appeareth in Judas Matth. 27.4 5. I have sinned in betraying Innocent Blood and he went forth and hanged himself A good Conscience is sweet company as a bad is a great wound and burden Well then be settled upon sound terms if you will not have your Consciences upbraid you Thus to the sleepy sinner 2. To the broken hearted I shall speak of God's readiness to pardon and to forgive 'T is his Name Neh. 9.17 But thou art a God ready to pardon 'T is his Glory Exod. 33.18 compared with Exod. 34.7 'T is his Delight Micah 7.18 The case of any sinner is not desperate a Pardon may be had Isa. 55.7 8. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For my thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my ways as your ways saith the Lord. A sensible sinner his condition is hopeful Matth. 9.13 with 28. Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest To a repenting sinner it is conditionally certain 1 John 1.9 If we confess and forsake our sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins To those who seriously address themselves to this work God sometimes vouchsafeth notable Experiences Psal. 32.5 To those who have verified the sincerity of their Faith and Repentance 't is actually certain evident and comfortable Prov. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy If they fulfil their Covenant Consent confess sin so as to hate it and leave it 't is certain to them in Foro Caeli and in Foro Conscientiae and the more they come to God by Christ and acquaint themselves with him it groweth more firm Job 22.1 For I know that my Redeemer liveth And Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God Then their Reconciliation is secured to them by renewed Evidences and Assurances habitual and familiar converse with him as one friend doth with another maketh it grow up into an holy security and peace For the good and advantage of waiting upon God is better discerned when men have persevered in it than when they first begun 3. The excellency of the priviledge let me speak to the actually pardoned to admire the priviledge and get their hearts more affected with it 1. In the general This way of reconciling us by Christ that our trespasses may not be imputed to us was the product of Gods Eternal Wisdom and Goodness As when there was a search for wisdom the depth saith 't is not in me the sea saith it is not with me Job 28.14 So when there is an enquiry for a satisfactory way of reconciling the Creatures to God so
we repent and believe in Christ. Page 218 224 Directions to those that are Reconciled Page 24 250 They that are Reconciled had need beg pardon of sin v. Pardon Page 225 Redeemer The necessity of a Redeemer Page 163 Religion must be our Business and Recreation Page 74 Renovation the Nature of it Page 207 The Object of it Page ib. That it is the work of God's Spirit Page ib. The Effects of it Page 208 Its Connexion with Reconciliation Page ib. v. New Creature Repentance what it includes Page 243 v. Faith and Repentance Respect to Christs Person in the days of his flesh was not all he looked for Page 196 Religiously to respect men for external carnal advantages condemned Page 194 Respect Civil due to carnal men Page ib. Respect of persons not with God Page 110 199 Resurrection of the Body Reasons of it Page 36 Resurrection of Christ the Example Pledge and Cause of the Spiritual Life Page 189 The likeness between Christ's rising from the dead and Christians rising from the death of Sin Page ib. Rewards Sinful respect to the Rewards of Religion how it bewrayeth it self Page 151 Right God hath a Right to us Page 186 Righteousness Why men are prone to establish a Righteousness of their own Page 257 Gospel-Righteousness what it is Page 72 Gospel-Righteousness a Garment to cover our nakedness Page 28 Righteousness as it respects the precept or the sanction of the Law opened Page 252 Why the Righteousness by which we are justified is called the Righteousness of God Page 253 What is that Righteousness by which we are justified Page 253 254 257 Christ is made sin for us and we are made the Righteousness of God in him Page 254 In what this exchange doth agree in what it differs Page ib. The Love of God herein Page 256 This Righteousness of Christ is made ours when we believe in him Page 254 The Priviledges depending on our being made the Righteousness of God in Christ. Page 257 S. SAcrifices were offered by Adam Page 28 Satisfaction of Christ the truth of it Page 170 The Sufficiency of it Page 171 Scope of a Christians Life Page 71 72 v. End Self-Love only cured by the Love of God Page 230 Sight what Sights we shall have in Heaven Page 60 In what manner shall we Behold Christ. Page ib. v. Faith and Sight Sin a wrong to God how to be understood Page 86 Sin and shame always go together Page 28 The greatness of the Burden of Sin Page 257 Why Sin is a Burden Page 33 In what manner Sin is to be checked Page 205 The aggravations of Secret Sins Page 95 Secret Sins to be avoided because of future Iudgment Page 95 In what sense Christ was said to be made Sin Page 252 Sin taken for a Sacrifice for sin and for Punishment of sin Page ib. Christ was made sin but not a Sinner Page ib. Christ was made sin for us and we the Righteousness of God in him Page 254 Christ being made Sin is the cause of our being made the Righteousness of God in him Page 255 Sincerity how evidenced Page 102 Paul's Testimony of his Sincerity Page 118 Soul that it is distinct from the Body proved Page 66 It can live apart from the Body Page 67 The Souls of the Saints at Death immediately go to God Page 67 Spirit How he dwells in us Page 42 Strangers how to carry our selves as Strangers in this World Page 52 Sufferings of Christ what they were Page 256 They show the heinousness of sin Page 174 How we are to be affected when we read the story of Christ's sufferings Page 198 Suitableness between Christ and Believers Page 190 Surety Christ the Surety of Believers Page 171 Christ dyed as a Surety Page 179 T. TAbernacle our frail Condition set forth by a Tent or Tabernacle Page 2 Terror of the Lord is ground of Fear Page 110 How it is so to the godly Page 113 The Terror of the Lord should have an influence on us while in the flesh Page 113 V. VEracity and Faithfulness of God manifested at the Day of Iudgment Page 98 Union to Christ Internal and External explained Page 203 How the New Nature flows from our Union with Christ. Page 203 W. WAlking by Faith those who have Faith must walk by it Page 61 Reasons of it Page ib. Will God will not do any man good against his will Page 235 Nor doth he force man's will but deal by Persuasion Page 236 Wisdom wherein Wisdom lyes Page 128 Wherein the Wisdom of a godly man appears Page 128 Evidences of Spiritual Wisdom Page 129 How Wisdom is to be justified by her Children Page 128 Wisdom of Christ. Page 83 Word of God is an Instrument fitted to gain the consent of man's will Page 236 Work the Work of a Christian. Page 72 74 Why Works are produced at the Day of Iudgment Page 97 What room and place Works have with respect to our final sentence and the Rewards and Punishments that follow it Page 100 101 Works good the Principle of them Page 101 Good Works cannot be performed by men in a state of Nature Page ib. The aim and scope of them Page ib. Good Works Imperfect Page 99 They merit nothing Page ib. What respect Good Works have to our future Reward Page 102 Worship External Pomp in the Worship of God is not that he looks after Page 198 A TABLE OF SCRIPTURES EXPLAINED In the SERMONS on 2 CORINTHIANS 5. Â Chap. Verse Page GEnesis 1 31 216 3 11 28 4 7 252 Â 13 252 Exodus 32 25 28 Deuteronomy 6 5 163 30 6 167 1 Kings 5 26 95 Psalms 1 5 92 27 4 64 31 1 233 33 15 93 51 4 92 115 1 133 130 3 92 Proverbs 16 14 112 29 27 246 Ecclesiastes 3 21 129 5 6 93 12 7 66 Canticles 8 6 146 Isaiah 56 4 76 65 17 200 66 22 200 Jeremiah 23 6 253 Hosea 2 3 28 4 8 252 6 7 96 10 1 183 Â 11 152 Amos 6 3 112 Habakkuk 2 11 96 Malachy 2 15 168 Matthew 3 11 112 Matthew 11 19 128 20 23 40 22 37 163 250 24 12 160 25 31 78 Mark 6 11 94 9 44 105 Luke 2 40 191 10 27 250 12 20 4 16 9 68 Â 22 68 20 37 38 68 23 43 67 John 2 24 25 84 5 45 93 7 â4 63 14 2 4 15 2 203 20 27 197 Acts 16 14 175 20 21 224 Romans 5 14 171 Â 25 223 6 3 4 5 180 Â 6 177 179 Â 13 180 6 19 131 8 2 164 9 3 141 11 36 134 14 7 8 183 15 3 187 1 Corinthians 3 8 40 1 Corinthians 4 4 5 82 11 22 195 15 21 179 Â 45 179 16 32 169 2 Corinthians 1 12 117 4 7 238 Â 16 60 5 21 171 6 11 12 13 145 Galatians 2 20 178 3 1 59 Â 20 80 4 14 â41 5 17 180 Ephesians 1 3 51 4 18 190 Philippians 1 23 67 2 13 209 Colossians 1 20 68 Â 21 217 3 3 5 179 180 191 1 Thessalonians 1 10 112 1 Thessalonians 2 12 39 Â 13 241 1 Timothy 6 12 19 6 2 Timothy 2 21 204 Hebrews 3 1 235 4 13 84 7 22 179 9 28 252 10 31 111 13 4 95 James 4 1 195 1 Peter 1 17 110 2 9 129 157 4 1 178 2 Peter 1 3 39 3 14 29 1 John 2 5 145 3 19 45 Revelations 2 5 162 Â 3 4 38 Â 5 9 76 Â 12 12 93 FINIS Secondly Fourthly Thirdly Secondly Secondly â That which follows being Printed Sermon XXX is the Conclusion of this 29 th Sermon