with Perseverance unto the End in conjunction with it Then the Answer of Paul and Silas is the short Summary of the Gospel and they might well promise Salvation to whosoever should accomplish the purpose of it That this indeed is the Importance may appear by the words of our blessed Saviour who having been asked by a Iew as Paul and Silas by a Gentile what Course was to be taken whereby to inherit Eternal Life gave him an Answer which some may censure as too much savouring of the Law but yet it seems not unsuitable to the oeconomy of the Gospel If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Now in as much as Paul and Silas did not teach another Doctrin but the same in other words with their Master Christ they must needs be understood to have given This Answer That if the Jailour should so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as to imitate his Example and yield obedience to his Commands and continue so to do all the days of his life he should not fail in that Case of his being sav'd And though the Rule is very true That nothing is wanting in any Sentence which is of necessity understood which well might justifie Paul and Silas in the conciseness of their expression Yet not contented with this excuse they rather chose not to want it by speaking largely to the Jailour the Word of God After the very same manner § 13. That the People may not wrest the outward Letter of the Scripture to their Damnation we must carefully explain and disentangle it to their Safety If any of Us shall be consulted by either Believers or Unbelievers about the means of their being sav'd we have two ways of Answer and both exact but both are to be taken cum grano salis and with a due Interpretation We may answer with our Saviour They are to keep the Commandments or else with Paul and Silas that they are to believe in the Lord Iesus Christ. But if the former we must add This is the chief of the Commandments that we believe on the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ 1 Joh. 3. 23. And although we must have an inherent righteousness in part yet there is need that That of Christ be imputed to us if but to make up all the wants and the vacuities of our own For our own is no better than filthy Rags if impartially compar'd with our double Rule to wit The Doctrin and Life of Christ. We must negotiate indeed with the Talents of Grace that we may not be cast into outer Darkness yet so as to judge our selves at best to be unprofitable Servants weigh'd with the Greatness of our Redeemer and with the Richness of our Reward Or if we give them the second Answer we must also speak to them the Word of God We must explain what it is to believe in Christ and by the help of some Distinctions duly consider'd and apply'd teach them to see through all the Fallacies and flatten the edge of all objections which are oppos'd to the Necessity of strict obedience and good works When any Iustifying Vertue is given to Faith we must tell them it is meant of Faith unfeigned When we speak of the Sufficiency of Faith unfeigned we must shew them how Love is the Spirit of Faith Whether because in the Active it works by Love or else because in the Passive in which the Syriac and Tertullian translate the word by works of Charity and Obedience Faith is wrought and made perfect When we celebrate the force of a lively Faith we must season it with a Note that Faith is dead being alone When 't is said out of St. Paul that we are justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law 't is fit we add out of St Iames that we are justified by Works and not by Faith only For to shew that St. Iames does not either contradict or confute St. Paul The Works excluded by St. Paul are no other than the Deeds of the Ceremonial Law And those included by St. Iames are no other than the Works of the Moral Law So we are justified by Faith as the Root of Works and we are justified by Works as the Fruit of Faith Not by Faith without Works for then St. Iames would not be Orthodox nor yet by Works without Faith for then we could not defend St. Paul but by such a Faith as worketh and by such Works as are of Faith By Both indeed improperly as being but necessary Conditions But very properly by Christ as being the sole meritorious Cause Again because 't is very natural for Carnal Professors of Christianity so to enhaunce the Price of Faith as to depretiate good Works and make obedience to pass at the cheaper Rate They must be told that when our Saviour ascribes the moving of Mountains and other Miracles to Faith He does not speak of That Faith which is a Sanctifying Grace Gal. 5. 22. but of that Faith alone which is an Edifying Gift 1 Cor. 12. 9. by which a man may do wonders and yet be damn'd Matth â— 22 23. So when he said unto the Ruler who had besought him to heal his bed-rid Daughter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only Believe He only meant it was sufficient for the healing of her â—ody without alluding in any measure unto the saving of her Soul So far he was in that place from giving any ground of hope to a Solifidian And therefore briefly let it suffice me to say once for all That when we find men Believers without good Life we must shew them how many ways a man may be a Believer without true Faith may be justified in the Praemisses yet not sav'd in the Conclusion may get no more by his Knowledge than to be beaten with many stripes and have no more of a Saviour than to be damn'd by We must instruct them to distinguish betwixt the Act and the Habit of their Believing But above all betwixt a Speculative and a Practical Belief A Belief in the Heads and the Hearts of men A Belief which does consist with a drawing back unto Perdition and That by which a man believes unto the saving of the Soul § 14. Stand forth therefore Thou Antinomian or Thou Fiduciary or whosoever else Thou art who art a sturdy Believer without true Faith and ever namest the Name of Christ without departing from Iniquity Try thy self by this Touchstone which lyes before thee and examin whether thy Heart be not as apt to be deceiptful as 't was once said to be by the Prophet Ieremy Let the Tempter that is without make thee as credulous as he can And let the Traytor that is within make thee as confident as he will of thy Faith in Christ yet Thou wilt find when all is done there is exceeding great Truth in the Spanish Proverb That 't is a very hard Thing to believe in God And so very few there are who attain unto it
and Cross of Christ If he be but once brought to an inviolable Belief without all Scruples or Peradventures That every man shall live eternally either in Heaven or in Hell And that 't is clearly for his Interest to do or suffer as Christ commands him because in order to his Escape from all the miseries of the one and in order to his Attainment of all the Beatitudes in the other He will presently break off his Sins by Righteousness as Daniel charged Nebuchadnezzar He will be ready for Restitution to every one whom he hath injur'd as Zachee the Publican when He repented He will bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance as the Jews were admonished by Iohn the Baptist. He will be glad to be thought worthy to suffer shame for Christ's sake as the Apostles at Ierusalem Acts 5. 41. The Consideration of his Interest will give an high Relish to all his suffrings making his Torments and his Tormentors to become his great Instruments and means of pleasure § 22. Thus we see in all cases both Temporal and Spiritual every man is for himself and intends his own Interest in whatsoever it is which he undertakes either the Interest of his Profit or of his Pleasure and Reputation The Interest of his Flesh or of his Spirit his present Interest or his future still 't is one Interest or other which leads him on unto the best or the worst Performances in the World Is any man Covetous and extremely close sisted He thinks it is for his Interest as being the way to be Rich in mony which is the only Grand Project that he is driving Or is he Free and open-handed He thinks it for his Interest because it is the ready way to make him Rich in good Works which is the highest and noblest end at which he ayms in this World Is there any man running headlong into a Customary Contempt of his Saviour's Yoke He thinks it is for his Interest as being the way to live merrily and in Prosperity here on Earth which is the Soveraign Allective of his Desires Or does any man take pleasure in supporting both the Burden and Yoke of Christ He thinks it is for his Interest as being the way to dye safely and to live after Death a life of Bliss and Immortality which is the utmost Atchievement his heart is set on Lastly would ye know the Reason why I have meditated so much upon this kind of Subject why I have struck so many Blows upon this great Anvil made so many long Discourses though on occasion of divers Texts touching the Equity and the Law of our Saviour's Gospel and indispensable Necessity of our obedience unto the end The Reason of it is truly This Because I have thought it most mine own and other men's Interest so to do And till we are able to be so happy as to convince our selves and others that 't is most for our Interest to bear the Yoke of Christ's Law and the Burden of his Cross when 't is laid upon us 'T is very sure that neither of us shall bear the one or the other as is requir'd Whereas 't is as sure on the other side That as we never neglect our Interest in what is Secular or Carnal as touching our Credits or our Estates or our Temporal Preservation so as little shall we indure to start aside from the Burden or Yoke of Christ if indeed we do believe it our greatest Interest to bear them as He requires For can the very same man who is sollicitously careful to get a Trifle be as perfectly careless to gain a Talent or stand in very great Dread of a lesser Punishment But of an infinitely greater in none at all If we are strict in our conforming to the Commandments of men with whom the Penalties are but Temporal and the Recompenses but finite we cannot sure be Non-Conformists to the Commandments of Christ on a Supposal that we believe it as great a Truth as any is That his Punishments and Rewards are both Immortal and Immense Nor can I think of a more rational or a more satisfactory Accompt why the Commandments of men should be so commonly heeded by us with more circumspection than those of Christ but that we fear Them more and believe Him less or value the Interest of our Bodies above the Interest of our Souls or prefer the seeming certainty of what is Present before the Hope and Expectance of what is future And had rather become the owners of Earthly Contentments in Possession than to be dealing for Reversions in Heaven it self § 23. And therefore to the end we may be able even to feel and by consequence to arrive at the Conviction of Experience That the Yoke of Christ's Law is really Easy in it self and the Burden of his Cross is in comparison very light And that they have Both a secret vertue of giving Rest unto the Souls of Them that labour and of Refreshing the heavy laden for so our Saviour tells us expresly in the two next Verses before the Text let us be Conversant incessantly in all the means of attaining to a True Christian Faith That so by cordially believing we may passionately love the Lord Jesus Christ. And that loving him as we ought we may by consequence delight in doing that which he requires and by consequence may attain to that Reward which he hath Promis'd For as our Faith and our Love do what we can will beget obedience if the first is unfeigned and the second without Dissimulation So 't is sure that our obedience will end in bliss Not in bliss whilst we are Passengers but when we shall arrive at our Iourneys end For here we are Dead saith our Apostle and our life is yet hid with Christ in God But when the Lord Iesus Christ who is our life shall appear Then shall We also appear with Him in Glory Which God the Father of his mercy prepare us for through the working of his Spirit and for the worthiness of his Son To whom be Glory for ever and ever THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF Strict Obedience Under the GOSPEL THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF Strict Obedience Under The GOSPEL HEB. XII 28 29. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and godly Fear For our God is a Consuming Fire THere is something Difficult in the Text which will I think be best explain'd by way of Answer to an Objection For why is it said here Let us have Grace It may seem at first hearing a strange expression whether we have it or have it not For if we have it it seems superfluous and if we have it not it seems as vain We need not say Let us have what 't is plain we have already before we say it And we say to no purpose Let us have this or that which whilst we have not it is not in our power to have For Is
without that is utterly destitute of Feet And though I take it to be impossible for any follower of Christ to arrive at Heaven until obedience take up Faith upon her shoulders that the one may traverse the way thither and the other direct it yet because I conceive it less impossible of the two for an Honest blind Heathen to shew me his Faith by his vertuous works than for a knavish and knowing Christian to shew me his works by his naked Faith a thing esteemed by St. Iames the greatest Absurdity in the World were Iacob's option mine I should rather choose Leah with her blere Eyes than Rachel with her barrenness that is obedience without faith rather than faith without obedience And do think it by so much a safer thing to be a very strict Moralist than a very loose Christian by how a likelier thing it is for a Traveller to arrive at his Journey 's End by being a Baiard that can go than a Cripple that can but see They who know not must be instructed and they who know but are wilful must be convinc'd and we who acknowledge as well as know must be for ever put in mind That when we are said in any Scripture to be sav'd or justified by Faith it can be meant of no other Faith than what is the Mother of Obedience and evermore attended with it Which may appear as by other Arguments so particularly by this That as faith and disobedience are set as Terms of opposition I Pet. 2. 7 8. so faith and obedience are set as Terms aequipollent Rev. 14. 12. From whence 't is obvious to infer that our Lord is not an absolute but a conditional Redeemer How else can That God who is a comfortable Light be said to be in This Text a consuming Fire It is the property of Satan to be an Abaddon or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how can an Attribute of Hell be in any sense apply'd to the God of Heaven but that it is spoken by a Metonymie of the effect for the efficient and imply's God Almighty his deportment towards us after the measure of ours to Him A fire to purifie and preserve if we are Gold but a fire to consume if we are stubble A case to be easily illustrated by the waters of Iealousy which if a woman were chast would make her fruitful but if adulterous they made her thigh to rot and her belly to swell Just so said Simeon of the holy Child Iesus that he is set for the fall and for the rising again of many in Israel For the fall of the rebellious and for the rising again of his loyal Subjects for the fall of such Persons as will not serve him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but for the rising again of such as will serve him with Reverence and Godly fear Which proves by a consequence unavoidable That as he is not an absolute but a conditional Saviour so the Condition on which he saves us is our being true Subjects and Servants to him 'T is our repentance from dead works and our bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance It is an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men It is our having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and the keeping of our Selves unspotted from the World Lastly the condition on which he saves us is the Denying of our selves and the taking up of his Cross not to put it out of the way but to follow Him with it whithersoever he shall lead us nor to lay it upon other mens shoulders but meekly to bear it upon our own This is the acceptable Service pointed at in my Text. Less than this is too little because it is less than will be accepted And if we come short of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text will be nothing worth Of this I must labour so much the rather to convince my self and such as hear me because the best of us all is apt to have something of the Fiduciarie and without a continual watch will have a smack of the Antinomian For let us examin our selves throughly and sift our selves unto the Bran and then speak freely as honest men unto our selves Do we not flatter our selves often that we are good enough to serve turn and that we must not be Righteous overmuch that 't is improper for us to live as in the Common-wealth of Plato whilst we are in the Dregs of Romulus and that we need not be better than other men of whose Salvation we suppose it is not Charity for us to doubt Have we not often sinn'd the more if not that Grace may abound yet because it hath already so much abounded and the rather adventur'd to be evil because of our knowledge that God is good Do we not generally conceive like Him in Zosimus that we may sin the more safely for being Christians And have a priviledge to be wicked above the rest of mankind because we are Worshippers of a God who is a God ready to pardon Are we not much the more careless of falling headlong into Sin and much the less careful of getting out because we read that if we sin we have an Advocate with the Father who is the propitiation for all our Sins Compare the lives of most Christians I mean Professors of Christianity with what we read of Unbelievers whether ignorant Gentiles or stubborn Iews And you will say they have need to be all instructed or atleast to be put in mind that Believers being the men with whom the best of God's Talents have been entrusted are by consequence the men too of whom the best Service will be requir'd This I shall briefly make appear from two general Topicks or Heads of Arguing From the principal end or final cause of our Saviour's coming hither and from his Principal business which took him up when he was here First for the end of his coming hither it was rather to redeem us from Sin than Hell Rather to sanctifie our Nature than meerly to justifie our Persons rather to make us truly Righteous than only to reckon or count us Iust. And this may appear as by other Reasons so more especially by These First that Sin is by nature far worse than Hell Because our sins can serve for nothing but to Injure and Incense the Righteous Iudge of all the World whereas Hell is good for something even to satisfie the Iustice which Sin hath Injur'd and to glorifie the Iudge whom it hath Incens'd From whence it follows that 't is much more conformable to the Holiness of God and more advanceth his Glory too To have sent his Son into the world rather to purifie than to forgive it To forgive it indeed by a secondary intention but to purifie it by the first for purity by nature being better than Pardon by a very good sequel was sooner meant To reduce us to our obedience as