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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	day_n	holy_a	sabbath_n	14,086	5	10.0894	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10010	The saints qualification: or A treatise I. Of humiliation, in tenne sermons. II. Of sanctification, in nine sermons whereunto is added a treatise of communion with Christ in the sacrament, in three sermons. Preached, by the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Doctor in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670.	1633 (1633)	STC 20262; ESTC S115180	353,805	720

how in this respect thy nature is full of all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse Next we will come to the Memory and you shall finde that out of order likewise that the things God commands us to remember those we are exceeding ready to forget and the things we should forget we are too ready to remember wherein I will be briefe First for the things he commands us he doth command Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth In your youth you shall serve me and yet how apt is youth to forget God And for the Sabbath he bids us Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day How apt are we to neglect it to disobey it it is out of our minds So Psal. 78.11 He would have his wondrous workes and the great Acts he did for the children of Israel Remembred but they remembred not saith hee his wonders in Aegypt And so we may go through any thing else Hebr. 12. You have forgot the Consolations c. Againe wee are ready to remember what God bids us to forget We are apt to remember Injuries yea one Injury will be thought on more than many yeares good service or many good turnes We should not do thus but should remember the benefits from God and man for the encrease of love So Idle tales we are ready to remember but good things though they be accompanied with the motion and quickening of the spirit goe out like sparkes in wet tinder they goe out againe quickly as if they had not beene So for hearing the Word Iam. 1. we are called forgetfull hearers when we are about that duty if a tale be told us in a Sermon that we can remember but what is profitable and wholesome that we forget Our minds are like strainers all the milke passes thorow them that that we should grow by that which is wholesome and necessary for nourishment runs thorow but the drosse remaines Trifles and vaine things we can remember and carry away with us and this is the sinfulnesse of our memories You may call it weaknesse of memory and may thinke that it is not so great a matter No it is not the infirmity of thy memory but the corruption of thy nature if we forget other things as much it were another case but because holy things are spirituall and the frame of the heart is nought our corrupt ill disposition makes us ready to forget them and more than that there is a carelesnesse in our minds we regard not the things of God but every vanity we regard and our minde is instant thereon and that is the reason we remember it but forget the things that concerne God and our Salvation Come we from the Memory to the Conscience The Conscience of a man is that which should have life It should be like Iobs last messengers to bring us word that all the rest is dead There should be a remaining light of Conscience to tell us that all the rest of our faculties are dead disordered and corrupted but looke upon the Conscience you shall see how short it is in that which belongs to it and it is a great matter to have that out of order There be but three Acts of the Conscience and it is disordered in them all The first Act of the Conscience is to be a Remembrancer to be a faithfull Register to set all downe and to present it to us but it is a false Register like the Steward in Luke that when there were hundreds set downe fifties So the Conscience sets downe things by halfes it thinkes not what is done it recals them not if it were as it should be it would recall our sins and their Circumstances in another manner than they doe And so is in that regard corrupt The second Act or office of Conscience is to instigate to good and to restraine from evill but in this you shall finde it exceedingly corrupted In this Act there be three Vertues which should be in the Conscience The first is Clearnesse the Conscience should be so cleare as to see all things that are amisse but in this it sailes exceedingly Tit. 1. It is said Their minde and Conscience are defiled marke that looke as in a Glasse which is in it selfe cleare when it shall be covered with dust it showes nothing it presents not things clearely for it is defiled so the Conscience of man should be cleare as a bright looking-glasse that should present every thing that is amisse in a mans heart or life but it is defiled and you can see nothing by it The second vertue in this Act of Conscience is as to see sins clearely so to feele them to be sensible of them like a fine flesh which is sensible of the least prick or like the eye that is sensible of the least mote Now in this it failes more than in the other there is a brawninesse growne over the Conscience and in some it hath lost all sense and therein you may see the Corruption of it If you looke to the Glasse and there finde swearing to be a sin you are not sensible of it you feele it not But there is a third Vertue wherein it failes more than in these two It should stir us up and give us no rest till it had constrained us to doe the good thing God commands and restrained us from the Evill he forbids it should awaken us but it being dull and sleepie stirres up sometimes good purposes thereby awaking us but it lets us fall asleepe againe we can rest in sin we can sin and our minds be quiet in it and can put off our turning to God This is a great Corruption of the Conscience which should amaze us This is the sinfulnesse of it which should perswade us that our natures are full of all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse Last of all the third office or Act of the Conscience is to accuse aright and excuse and in this we shall see it failes as much as or more than in any of the other But you will say the Conscience is ready enough to accuse it is true but the light it hath by which it is able to see sin and to accuse us for sin it abuses and perverts to a wrong end for this you shall finde in the Conscience when we preach the Law and the Conscience should joyne with us to accuse then it excuses making every thing seeme small and little And againe when we preach the Gospel and the Conscience should excuse then it accuses my sins are so great and many that there is no mercy for me And this perverting of the light this excusing when it should accuse and this accusing when it should excuse causeth us Declinare Ictum to scape the blow of Law and Gospell and we are robbed of the fruit of both because the Conscience doth not his part aright And so you may see how farre off you are from a good Conscience But

to stand on nothing to hold by to sustaine him when a man is nothing is cut off the Tree he grew on before and sees that he must now perish eternally this is true Humiliation You that are to receive the Sacrament what doe we therein but offer Christ to you we preach Christ in the Sacrament he is therein indeed offered more sensibly Now what have you to doe with Christ if you are not humble Consider if this be not wrought in you and remember this that whosoever comes to the Sacrament without this Humiliation that wants this brokennesse of heart receives it unworthily and provokes God to wrath The Passe-over was to be eaten with sowre herbes and the maine businesse therein was to remember the condition they were set at liberty from to remember their bondage in Aegypt and their miseries endured there for by that they saw the greatnesse of Gods mercies So one of the maine businesses you have to doe is to consider your sinnes and be humbled to consider your miserable condition and to think it not a light matter that you may omit it Consider but that one place Levit. 23.29 you shall finde there that in the day of Expiation in the day of Atonement when they came to offer sacrifice he that on that day did not afflict his soule he was to be cut off from his people You have it two or three times repeated It is an ordinance and this is still put in Hee that comes to make an Atonement to be reconciled and offer a Sacrifice remember this ordinance for ever He shall afflict his soule and hee that doth it not shall be cut off from his people Therefore you have occasion to make use of it that are to receive and not you only for the Doctrine is generall Whosoever doth not afflict his soule he shall never bee reconciled but shall bee cut off from his people But you will say I should be willing to doe this but how shall I be able to doe it If God would humble me and set it on and convince me by his Spirit it might be done but how shal I doe it my selfe I answer Thou art to goe about it thy selfe It is not for nothing that those words are used in Ioel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments He sayes rend your hearts And Ier. 6.4 Plow up the fallow grounds of your hearts that is you shall afflict your soules And Iames 4.9 Be afflicted that is suffer your selves to be aff●icted for your selves sorrow and weepe that is the way to cleanse you Therefore a man should goe about the worke himselfe that is take this resolution Well I see I must be humbled else I cannot on good grounds take Christ for I shal not prise him therefore I will not give over labouring of my heart till it be humbled Suffer thy selfe to be afflicted as if he should say Men are not willing to suffer it if they doe hang their heads for a day they are quickly weary outward businesse comes or pleasure commands and the worke growes tedious Therefore is that in Ioel 2. Sanctifie a Fast that yee may rend your hearts that is sequester your selves from all other businesses from all other occasions sanctifie a Fast that ye may have leasure to doe it if one Fast will not doe it take another Let a man goe alone and resolve never to give over till it be done till he hath brought his heart to doe it When I have done this what shal I then do Consider your sinnes looke backe and consider how many oathes you have sworne how oft you have broken the Sabbath whether you have defiled your selves with sinnes of uncleannesse how often you have broken the Commandements looke on your idlenesse your omissions your sinfull silence your neglect of prayer and other duties Goe over all particular sinnes and their multitude will amaze you Remember the sinnes you have committed twenty yeares agoe and take this rule withall that these sinnes are the same now that they were though not in thy apprehension that is the weaknesse of our nature as it is the weaknesse of our eye we cannot discerne a thing that is a great distance from it it is its weaknesse that it cannot see things as they are but that will seeme little or nothing which in it selfe is big So it is with the sinnes that we have committed many yeares agoe we thinke them little and past but know that they are the same in themselves and in Gods esteem as they were before for he sees them as they are Therefore I say consider them lay them together and see the multitude and that will helpe to amaze thee And not that onely but consider them with their circumstances some it may be have been committed against light of conscience and that aggravates sinne it makes a small sinne out of measure sinfull When it is committed against knowledge it is not the same with the sinne against the Holy Ghost but it is neare to it Againe consider the hardnesse of thy heart in sinning the very sinne doth not hurt so much as that when a man slights it hee knowes hee hath sinned yet goes about his businesse and neglects it and this God lookes at When a man is injured the injury is not so much to him as it is to see the other to neglect it he cares not for angering me So you looke backe on your sins in a cold regardlesse and negligent manner Againe consider your relapses and fals into the same sins againe and againe though you have beene often admonished of it yea and have made a covenant and vow to God never to fall into it And know this that relapses and fallings into sin often stand for so many sins as in numbers the second figure is in proportion to the first which is ten times as much as the first and the third an hundred times as much So the addition of sins by falling into them again and againe and that carelesly too that makes the sin a great deale more consider this And if you goe about to excuse our selves It is true if God should marke all that is done amisse who can stand but I hope I shall be pardoned my nature is violently carried I am flesh and bloud and I hope God will pity mee But this should humble you the more that you are readie to fall into sin againe and again if it be thus in your actions it is much more abundant in the heart For put case there be a necessity hast not thou caused it thy selfe Againe you must know actuall sins intend originall corruption and there is no man that is guilty of any prevalent lust but he was the cause of it for if he had not by committing it often carelessely and negligently given so much strength to it it had not so prevailed Addition of sin in every act of sin varnishes over originall sin it makes it more active

the Plague By the late faithfull and worthy Minister of IESUS CHRIST IOHN PRESTON D. in Divinity Chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Lincolns INNE LONDON Printed by R. B. for NICHOLAS BOURNE and are to be sold at his shop at the Royall Exchange 1633. A SERMON PREACHED AT A Generall Fast before the Commmons-house of Parliament Iuly 2. 1625. NUMBERS 25.10 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel while he was zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousie WE are met together you know to sanctifie a Fast to the Lord. I will therefore speake a word or two of that Dutie before I come to the Text which I have read to you But I will doe it briefly the Common place thereof being too large a subject at this time to enter into And first wee will say thus much to you That this duty is a necessary not an arbitrary thing which wee may doe or leave undone at our pleasures You know there be many examples of it many commands for it in Scripture but of them wee will onely repeate two The first is that in Ioel 2.15 a place you wel know Sanctifie to me a Fast call a solemne Assembly When the Lord began to send Iudgement on the Land he straitly enjoyned the performance of this dutie which showes that it may not be left undone at pleasure To which I will adde that in Esay 22.12 13 14. The Lord called in that day to weeping and mourning but because at that time they fell to rejoycing It was revealed by the Lord of hoasts that that sinne should not be purged away till their death When there is a time for Fasting and when there are Iust occasions for mourning and humiliation the Lord doth then so require it that if you doe it not but will doe the contrary the Lord will never forgive it it is a sinne that shall not be purged away till you die You will say then What is a Fast In a word a Fast is nothing else but the sanctifying or setting apart of a day for humiliation reconciliation and reformation I say it is to sanctifie a Day because the day of a Fast must be equall to the Sabbath the very word used in that place of Ioel Sanctifie to me a Fast shewes as much In that day you may doe no servile worke but must keepe it holy to the Lord. That you have to doe in that day is first to humble your selves as in that place of Ioel Turne to me with fasting mourning and weeping Secondly it is for Reconciliation Lev. 23.27 it is called a day of Atonement Lastly it is for Reformation and therefore in the day of fasting the whole people entred into covenant with God as in Nehem the ninth chapter and the beginning of the tenth verse you shall see the Princes and people came altogether and seale a Covenant to the Lord to reforme their sinne of taking strange wives and entered into a curse and an oath to walke in Gods law I will say no more of that but will onely tell you what are the failings which we are most subject to in this businesse for wee may know the disease by the medicine if God takes great care to prevent our falling into a sinne it argues that we are apt to fall into it And first we are very ready to rest in the worke done in opere operato to thinke that the very action will please GOD. Therefore it is carefully added in Ioel 2. Rend not your clothes but your hearts that is when you come to sanctifie a Fast doe not thinke that the very outward performance of the duty moves mee It is the heart that I looke to therefore you must take care that at this time your greatest businesse be with your hearts Lev. 23.29 He who in that day meaning the day of the annuall Fast which was then instituted doth not afflict his soule for so the word is to be translated shall be cut off from his people The outward performance is not the thing that God respects or accepts he doth not regard that for hee is a Spirit and beholds the behaviour of the spirit he considers how we are affected in secret before him A second thing werein we are apt to faile is to thinke that One day is enough and when that is done there is an end of the businesse but it is not so that is but the beginning of it Esay 58.5 Is this a Fast to hang downe your head for a day Is it to bow it downe as a Bulrush Bulrushes you know in a storme hang downe their heads but when faire weather comes they lift them up againe So when affliction is upon us we are apt to humble our soules for a time for a fit but when a little peace or prosperity comes we forget to be longer humbled whereas the end of a Fast is so to begin the worke of Humiliation that we may the better continue it afterwards A third defect is this we are perhaps content to doe the duty and with some affection too but there followes no reformation of life Therefore in the same Chapter see how carefully that is put in Is this an acceptable day to the Lord Will I accept such a Fast as this When you finde pleasure and continue in strife and debate That is the Lord regards not the bare performance of the duty unlesse the end of it be attaynd now the end of it is nothing else but that every man in particular reforme the evils he is subject to yea his particular weaknesses and personall infirmities the mending of which is carefully to bee endeavoured when we sanctifie a Fast to the Lord else we assemble together for Wine and for Oile Hos. 7.14 As if hee should say you have not sought Mee when you howled upon your beds but your Wine and your Oile That is men are affected with the Iudgements of the Lord they desire to have them removed they wish for ease and prosperity and for that they assemble themselves but to Me saith he ye returne not A beast will doe as much when it feeles any evill oppressing it and therefore God cals it howling on their beds an action proper to beasts but the Lord lookes that you seeke him in sincerity and that you labour to make your hearts perfect in him In a word to conclude this remember That there is a double performance of every holy duty one is when we doe the worke as a taske and are glad when it is over when we doe it as servants that doe eye-service to their masters another is when not onely the thing is done but your hearts also are wrought upon for that is the end of the outward performance and

this may make you feare and tremble So you may see there is an end of this doctrine now we will make a little use of it and so end First if it be Christs worke if it be he that must begin it for it is a creature then you see what businesse we have in hand that are Preachers of the Gospell our businesse is to make men other Creatures which is a transcendent worke it is the worke of God and not of man this is the errand we are sent about and the work we are taught to doe every Sabbath and every Sermon which we preach to you to turne Lions into Lambes to transforme the heart of man and to make you New Creatures This I speake of not for our sakes but for yours that you may make use of it you must learne to know when you heare the Word what action you have in hand and whom you have to doe with that is with the Almighty God and not with man for alas my Brethren what are we able to doe Ephes. 2.10 You are Gods workmanship in Iesus Christ created to good workes that you should walke in them It is true we are the Instruments but ye are Gods workmanship Take the best Instrument wherewith we make any artificiall thing an Axe or a Chisell or whatsoever it is you know if there be not an influence from the Artificer it will make no artificiall thing it will strike when you use it but it will not make any artificiall thing if there be not an influence from the Artificer So we are Instruments and the Word is an Instrument but if there be not an influence from God the worke will not be done you will never be made New Creatures Therefore you are Gods workmanship created to good workes he doth it and remember you have to doe with him You have an elegant expression of it in 2 Cor. 3.2 You are Christs Epistle administred by us and written not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God That is the Law of God is written in your hearts You know Regeneration is in many other places of Scripture A writing the Law of God in their hearts then there is a writing and in this sense the Saints are called an Epistle but they are Christs Epistle we are the pen and he is the Writer he handles the pen and what shal the pen do when there is paper and no Inke will there be any Epistle written Now what is that you are Christs Epistle not written with Inke but by the Spirit of God We doe but apply the pen to the paper but if God put not Inke into the pen that is the Spirit of the living God nothing will be written in your hearts Therefore remember what you have to doe and with whom not with us for we are able to doe nothing not Paul or Apollo mighty in Scriptures We are the Ministers by whom you beleeve It is God that doth it we are but those by whom you beleeve Peter if that ever any man was able so to doe it he was that had his tongue set on fire by the Holy Ghost yet he was not able to doe it Galath 2.8 He that was mightie by Peter over the Circumcision God was mighty by Peter but the work was none of his we are the Rams hornes but who throwes downe the walls of Iericho Are we able to doe it No my Brethren no more than Peter was able to open the Iron-gates It is true when Peter came to them they opened and not before but it was the Angell that did it So when we preach the Gospell there be everlasting doores can we open the Iron-gates No more than any man can open Iron-doores Therefore Lidia's heart was opened else Paul might have preached long enough in vaine in Luke the last Chapter He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures If he had not opened their understandings as he was God he had done them no good when he preached to them as man Therefore it is God that doth it But you will say of what use is this to us that God doth it It is of much use therefore when you come to this place every Sabbath day to heare the Word when you see you have to doe with the mighty God we are the Pen it is God that doth it learne to come with reverence and feare learne to say of this place as Iacob did when he saw God when he saw the Ladder and Angels ascending and descending Surely this is a fearefull place and no other than the gate of Heaven and the House of God it may be you thought of it before You come to heare Sermons as Lectures and Declamations to have your understanding bettered but you doe not remember that it is the gate of Heaven and the House of God you see not God standing over us you should over-looke us it is the gate of Heaven that is you shall never come to Heaven ordinarily if you goe not thorow this gate it is the House of God And indeed when you come hither your eye must be upon him more than upon us expect and wait what God will doe on you hearts in such a time if you come and heare and God hath done nothing observe that and say it is because God hath with-holden his hand therefore my heart is not quickned at this Sermon if any thing hath been done know it is a Sparkle kindled from Heaven therefore cherish it looke well to it for it is a sparke kindled from heaven therefore doe as they did in the Law see what David did on the Altar which he built on Mount Moriah when the Altar was built they laid the wood and Sacrifice and looked to God when hee would send fire from heaven So we are the wood looke to God for fire if you can get a Sparke be sure to maintaine it for that was the manner of the Priests when they had a little fire from heaven they alway gave fewell they never let it goe out againe Looke to it diligently if you have got a sparke from heaven let it not goe out againe as it is the case of many thousands to doe there may be sparkes and you may heat your selves by them and it may be but fire from earht When a Sacrifice was kindled by common fire God accepted it not though it burnt as other fire yet it was no sacrifice to God Morall reason and naturall wisdome may kindle a fire that may be very like true fire but it is not from heaven Therefore come with much feare to this place like men that have your eyes on GOD seeke him not for fashion and know it is to no purpose if God send not his Spirit from heaven Againe you will say what use is there of this that it is God that doth it and not man I say therefore give the praise and glory of it to God give it not to us but to him

same reason why they should not be poore in their spirituall estate For to what end serve riches Riches serve but for this purpose to procure things needfull for us if we want bread or wine or houses or any thing riches will procure them and therefore we prize riches And so likewise there are spirituall riches that will procure things needfull for our soules and if we want them we shall want that that is profitable for us we shall want that that is necessary for our salvation For riches doe but set men a worke to doe us service riches can doe no more than men can doe but these spirituall riches set God a worke to doe us good they are beyond the other as much as the help of God goes beyond the helpe of man when you need any thing If you be rich in Christ if you be rich in grace if you be rich in good workes it is but putting up your request and you shall have it at the hand of God if you want them you shall have whatsoever he is able to doe for you Now if you be out of Christ saith the Text you are poore that is you want these spirituall riches you have no ground to goe and to make your suit to goe for any thing Againe riches stand us in stead in the time of need for why doe men lay up treasures that when dearth comes when there comes a time of need the riches that they have laid up may serve their turne they may have those ready for their use when other men want them Are not these riches for the same purpose Will there not come a day of need will there not come a time of spending when there will be no leasure to gather at the day of death Then all the seed sowen to the spirit all the good workes that we have laid up will be as a treasure and at that time will do us good And that is the difference between the death of a godly man and another when a wicked man comes to the time of need he hath nothing to sustaine him he hath no oile left in his lampe he hath nothing to helpe him up but the godly man hath a treasure that he hath gathered all his life was to lay up a treasure And this my Brethren you shall finde to be a great comfort at that time that when you come to die all the faithfull prayers that you have made all the good workes that you have done all the sincerity that you have shewed in denying your selves in passing by the things that worldly men catch at in doing things that it may be hath brought trouble and slander and disgrace and persecution on you you shall then find it a treasure Take two men when they come to that day the one rich in this world another rich in good workes and consider which of these two conditions you would choose and therefore it is not a small matter to be rich Now when you are in Christ you are rich out of him you are poore and have nothing to stand you in stead in the time of need Againe this a man hath by riches that he is independant he needs not to serve others and therefore you know the proverbe is that a rich man he can live by others and without others and that is it they boast of So it is with all the Saints they may say to all the world they can live without it because they have God to be theirs they have all his treasures open to them they have enough in him for he is all-sufficient though they have but him alone for their portion yet he is enough as he saith to Abraham I am all-sufficient and why there are but two things that a man can desire to be free from evill and to enjoy good saith hee I am thy Buckler to keepe thee from evill and thy exceeding great reward to give good to thee that is thou shalt have enough if thou enjoy me Now if you be out of Christ you shall be poore that is you shall want these riches you want the riches of grace and of good workes that should stand you in stead in the time of need which will fetch any thing in for you when you want it which will make you more independant and stand upon your owne bottomes which is that that every man desires Againe if you be out of Christ you are naked Nakednesse is a want of that which should adorne us which should beautifie us and that is the case of every man out of Christ there is no beauty in him It is the Lord only that cloaths us with beauty As it is said of Saul Weepe for Saul yee Daughters of Ierusalem for hee clothed you with Scarlet and did hang ornaments of gold upon your apparell It may be truly said of Christ that he cloaths us with scarlet and hangs ornaments of gold on our apparell that is it is he that makes us Priests to his Father Now the Priests in the old Law were but a type of us we are the true Priests indeed you know they had Iewels and embroidered garments and so all the Saints have the shining graces of the Spirit which adorne and beautifie them when a man becomes so beautified then his sight is comely his voice is pleasant and his prayers are acceptable This benefit we have by being in Christ that it makes us comely in the sight of the Lord we shall be made beautifull Indeed Salomon in all his Royalty was not so beautifull as one of the Saints It is said the Lilies are much better cloathed than he And why Because that was a cloathing of Gods own work this is the clothing of Nature but the cloathing of Grace goes beyond the clothing of Nature If the clothing of Nature be beyond that of Salomon as indeed it is for naturall excellencie surely the cloathing of Grace goes beyond that this you shall have by Christ when you come to him you come to a rich Wardrobe where you may sute your selves from top to tooe that you need want nothing and by the way that use you may make of it when you come to him where there are garments of all sorts where there is change of rayment why should you suffer your soules to be naked in any part I know you reckon it undecent for a man to be unevenly cloathed to have some garments rich and precious and to have some v●le and base and why will you suffer your soules then to goe so unequally clad It may be you have graces in one kind but you want others if you come in to him it is he that cloaths you you are naked without him this benefit you shall have by him you shall be cloathed and be made beautifull you shall have that glorious attire that will make you glorious within which will make you comely in the sight of God if not you shall be naked and therefore you shall be rejected

crosse that is upon us when conscience is troubled I say in these cases to doe it the Lord regards it not This therefore is the Condition that is required to be done out of love it is a rule in the Civill-law Contractus qui fit per minas nullus est The contracts that are gotten by threatnings are no contracts at all but if a Virgin consent when she is free when it is done without compulsion that makes the match So it is betweene Christ and us for us to take him and keepe his Commandements and to doe it out of feare and other respects this Christ regards not it is love that makes the match If we take him out of love if all we doe be done out of love then there is a match betweene us otherwise not And there is good reason for that because feare is of a fleeting nature it soone passes and vanishes away but when it is rooted and grounded in love when that which we doe comes from this principle then we hold out and cleave to Christ without separating againe when that proceeds from feare we doe it not with delight we doe it not with propensenesse with proclivity of minde with an inward willingnesse Now the Lord so loves a chearefull giver a chearefull servant and a chearefull performer that he loves no other And therefore that Condition is required to Delight in the Law in the inward man that we doe not only keepe his Commandements but that they be not grievous to us that what we doe be done out of love and therefore it is required when we doe this that we love the Lord Iesus Christ I will be bold to say a man may pray day and night as earnestly as Hannah did he may keep the Commandements of God without reproofe as Zachary and Elizabeth did for the outward act he may abound in the worke of the Lord but whatsoever he doth if he doe it not out of love God looks upon such workes as upon a dead carkase so they are called Hebr. 9. Dead workes that is workes that are good for substance and for circumstance too but yet they are dead because they come not from love there is no life in them Therefore in 1 Cor. 16.22 Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus saith the Apostle let him be accursed Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus that is whatsoever a man doth besides let him professe what he will and performe what he will if he love not the Lord Iesus he is accursed And that I speake not this without ground looke 1 Cor. 13. Take the most glorious actions that a man can performe if a man give his body to be burnt that is to be a Martyr if he gives his goods to the poore which is an high action for a man to part with all he hath if he doe that which Christ required of the young man to deny himselfe If a man were able to preach the Gospell if he had gifts as an Angell as the Apostle speakes If he were able to speake with the tongue of men and Angels and if it were without love God regards it not Love is a distinguishing Character an Hypocrite may goe very far but love he cannot it is love therefore that sets an high price upon all that we doe And therefore you shall finde from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation the Promise is made still to the Affection and it is the Affection that makes a man a good man he that feares the Lord and he that loves the Lord and he that delights in the Commandements of God c. And therefore it is not enough that we take Christ and that we beleeve in him that we doe the workes that he commands us but that we doe them out of love And this is the Condition that is required on our part So you see now what the Gospell is what the summe of it is that is sealed in the holy Sacrament it is this Covenant on Gods part that he is ready to forgive us wherein you must strengthen your faith when you draw neare to him And againe this condition on your part Faith and obedience out of love as you have heard This is the first use that you are to make I should proceed The end of the First Sermon THE CUPPE OF BLESSING DELIVERED IN THREE Sermons upon 1 Cor. 10.16 The Second SERMON 1 CORINTH 10.16 The Cup of blessing that we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ c. SEEING we have the same occasion for which I tooke this Text being to receive the Sacrament againe the next Sabbath and so along I thought it better to continue it than to divert to another When we handled it the last time we told you there were these three parts in the words First there is a true Communion of the body and bloud of Christ. Secondly the meanes by which it is conveyed to us the bread and wine the outward elements which God hath Sanctified to that purpose The third is the adopting or fitting these elements for such an end and that is by sanctifying them by blessing them by setting them apart The Cup of Blessing which we blesse c. The point we delivered was this ●hat in the Sacrament there is a reall and true Communion of the body and bloud of Christ to every Receiver We told you the difference betweene the Papists and us we both agree that Christ is really in the Sacrament they say it is corporally we say it is only done by faith But to use an expression of Augustine which he hath upon the very Text saith he Iohn Baptist said he was not Elias and yet Christ saith Iohn was Elias Why saith hee how shall wee reconcile these two they are thus reconciled Iohn speakes properly and Christ spake figuratively and therefore they crosse not one another he gives this very instance so saith he when Christ saith This is my body and we say it is not his body but bread they are Augustines owne words saith he the meaning is this It is the body if we take it figuratively and it is not his body if we speake properly so that as it was with the Temple of his body when he spake of it I will destroy this Temple and build it in three dayes they understood it of the materiall Temple and saith the Text They were reckoned as false witnesses against Christ So when Christ speaks thus of his body This is my body when they understood it materially and corporally when it is a thing so frequent and usuall with him to speake Metaphorically I say they shall be found false witnesses against him in applying this to his materiall and corporall body that he understands of his mysticall body which is received by faith I will not stand to repeat more of that I delivered then lest the time prevent us in that which remaines Onely one thing which I then omitted and that is a great objection of