they will never be able to reach the Price thereof Besides Christians whatever we do or suffer for God Luke 17.10 it 's no more than what we are obliged unto and surely in doing our duty we can never lay the (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad Rom. Homil. 7. Foundation of Merit for Eternal Glory Nor may we think to make a Purchase of the New Jerusalem by paying an old Score WOULD we ever Merit Heaven and Eternal Glory of God we must present him with some acceptable (d) Debemus enim deo et nos ipsos et nostra omnia Cha. n. Tom. 3. lib 14. cap. 20. pag. 497. Services which we owe him not but how shall we give him any thing wherein he hath not already a full propriety when there is nothing that we are or have there is nothing that we can do or suffer in a way of Obedience but is due unto God from us by every kind of Right Had we any thing of our own wherewith to come before the Lord there might then be some ground of pretence for the Merit of good Works (e) Ex gratia enim datur non solum justificatis vita bona sed etiam glorificatis vita aeterna Fulgent ad Monim l. 1. p. 18. But since all that we have is due to God because it came from him and bears his Image and Superscription upon it we cannot rationally think it possible for us to Merit any thing thereby of God unless we can think it rational that God should be obliged in point of Justice by giving us one Mercy to give us another by giving us Grace to put us at length in Possession of Eternal Glory That whereby Christians you differ from others from the vilest of Sinners from the Damned themselves that are now roaring out in Hell is not of Merit but of Grace not of Debt but a free Donative 't is nothing in your selves but the free distinguishing love of God dropping the Pearl of Grace into your hearts whilst others are left to perish in their Sins that hath made the difference And surely by those graces which you freely receive from God you may not think to Merit Life and Eternity of Glory at the hands of God For certainly whatever grace you have it obligeth you to Duty so that your Graces and your Obligations of Obedience to God they grow up together and the more grace you receive from God the more deeply do you stand engaged to abound in the fruits of Righteousness towards God How then can you once have a thought that that Grace and Holiness which God hath freely wrought in you and whereby he hath laid you under the strongest engagements to all holy and upright walking before him should make God your Debtor obliging him in point of Justice to render you the Reward of eternal Glory Indeed to whomsoever the Lord gives Grace he will also give Glory and whomsoever he now makes Holy he will Crown them at length with Eternal Happiness But this you must know not an act of Justice founded upon Man's Merit but an act of free Grace bottomed upon the Remunerative goodness of God in the Blood of Christ Rom. 6.23 (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 'T is an act of Justice in God to punish Sin which is wholly our own and purely Evil and therefore Death is here called the Wages of Sin But to Reward the good Works of Believers which are neither their own nor purely good is an act of free Grace and therefore we find the Apostle to exclude all opinion of Merit calling Life Eternal in this place the gift of God (g) Non dixit similiter stipendia justitiae quia non est antequam remuneratur in nobis non enim nostro labore quaesita est Jerom. So that we see though it be of Justice that the Wicked are Punished yet it is of Grace that the Righteous are Crowned (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost And if it be of Grace then not of any Merit in our own good Works otherwise grace were no more grace if not every way free and gratuitous Rom. 4.4 For how can we count it a point of grace to give a Man his due Or what need he sue for Mercy who requireth no more than his own at the hands of God Admit but of Merit and you leave no place of entrance for the grace of God (i) Non est quo gratia intret ubi jam meritum occuparit Bernard Cant. 67. So likewise the grace of God in Christ it leaves no place for the Merit of our good Works For Grace and Merit are altogether inconsistent and mutually destructive one of another Rom. 11.6 So that if you pull down the Merit of good Works you set up Grace and if you go about to establish Merit you do utterly destroy the Grace of God and make it of none effect Let us not then Christians look in our Obedience to have that of Debt which God hath decreed to be of Grace nor go about to seek Heaven and Glory by way of Purchase which the Lord hath intended to be a Donative and of free Gift Whilst others trust to the Merit of their own good Works let us wholly rely upon the free Grace of God in Christ Jesus looking for the Recompence of Eternal Life not from the Justice of a Judge but from the Mercy of a Father not from the worth and dignity of our own Performances but from the free Bounty and Remunerative Goodness of the Lord our Redeemer You may do good Works and walk in ways of Obedience with an Eye to the Recompence of the Reward But yet none of these things must be done with respect to the Meriting of Eternal Life by them For though as (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 8. Serm. 15. Chrysostome sweetly saith we had done ten thousand good deeds yet it is of Grace that we must look to be saved and of Loving-kindness not of any desert in ourselves that we must seek to obtain Eternal Glory (l) Totis licet animae et corporis laboribus desudemus totis licet obedientiae viribus exerceamur nihil tamen condignum merito pro coelestibus bonis compensare et offerre valebimus Euseb Emissen homil 3. ad Monarch We stand so infinitely indebted to the God of Heaven that though we should with all the strength of Body and Mind exercise ourselves in Obedience to God all our Life long though with bitterness and anguish of Spirit we should bewail our own Sins mourn in some Wilderness till Doom's-day and dissolve our Souls with weeping into (m) Flaccescant licet membra vigilijs pallescant licet ora jejunijs non erunt tamen condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam Idem Rivers of Tears though we should live like Angels of Light shine like the Sun in it's Noon-day Brightness and exercise ourselves unto Godliness continually with all
plunge the Soul in remediless intolerable Misery 2 Be sure that you quit your own Righteousness giving diligence to see the Insufficiency of it to Life and Salvation Such is the Corruption of our Nature that though the Covenant of Works be violated and the Condition thereof unperformable to Man lapsed Yet still we would Trade for Heaven in a way of working building our Hope for eternaâ— Life upon the sandy Foundation of a Self-opiniative Righteousness If at any time Men are startled by the powerful Impressions of a Soul-searching Ministry and begin to feel the Sting of Sin in their Consciences you may presently see them have recourse not to Christ but to Moses not to the Righteousness which is of God by Faith but to the Righteousness which is of the Law placing their whole Affiance in the supposed Worth and Merit of their own good Works as if these could save them But know you must that those who put Confidence in their own Righteousness will as surely fall short of Heaven and Glory as those who make no Conscience of Righteousness at all Good Works when rested in and made the Matter of our justification before God are as infallibly Damning as evil Works when never Repented of (p) Gal. 3.10 For as many as be of the Works of the Law trusting in and expecting Salvation by them are under the Curse The Law at first was an easie way to Righteousness and from thence to Salvation But now every step thereof sinks as low as Hell It 's written within and without with Curses which way soever a Man stirs he finds nothing but Death before him One Man's way by the Civility of his Education the Ingenuity of his Disposition the Engagement of other ends or Relations may seem more smooth and plausible than anothers but by Nature they all run into Hell as all Rivers though never so different in other Circumstances run into the Sea And the Reason of all this the Apostle hath subjoyned in the following words taken from that everlasting Inability that we lie under to fulfil all Righteousness which the Law in its utmost rigour and latitude doth require at our Hands as pronouncing all those Accursed that continue not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Eremita to do them So then though Sin and Death go together as Work and Wageâ— yet eternal Life must never be expected as the Purchase of our own good Works but as the free Gift of God in Christ Jesus The Ways of Sin (r) Rom. 6.23 is Death saith the Apostle But the Gift of God saith he purposely changing the manner of his Speech is eternal Life Say therefore the Papists what they will of their Merit of Condignity proportionate in worth and excellency to eternal Glory Yet would you not for ever be shut out of Heaven and fall short of Glory you must Renounce all Opinion of your own Merit laying hold on eternal Life as the free Gift of God For can we rationally think that our imperfect Obedience should justly deserve with God the Reward of eternal Glory Do we fail coming short in every Duty and shall we yet look for Heaven and not of Debt and not of Mercy If the (s) Rom. 8.18 Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc Glory that shall be revealed in us what little reason can we have to think by any inferior act of Obedience to merit such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Philip. Homil. 11. The Reward of eternal Life is the gift of God and therefore not to be sought by Works of Righteousness as infinitely exceeding in Worth and Dignity all our performances how glorious soever Misinterpret me not as if I were declaiming against the necessity of inherent Righteousness when indeed the meritoriousness and condignity thereof proportionate to eternal Life is all that we here deny We do not cry down Obedience and good Works as they stand in subordination to â—â—ace and are the genuine Fruits of Sanctification as they of the Romish Faction have maliciously traduced the Reformation But only as they stand in opposition to the free Grace of God in our Justification and are made by Pharisaical self-justitiaries the Foundation whereupon to bottom their hopes for eternal Life We of the Church of England do maintain the necessity of good Works pressing earnestly to the practise of them as antecedaneous to Life Eternal without which no Man can be saved But that wherein we dissent from the Church of Rome is about the causality of good Words with whom we dare not affirm (a) Si propriè appellentur ea quae decimus nostra merita Spei quidem Seminaria sunt charitatis Incentiva occultae praedestinationis Judicia futurae foelicitatis Praesagia Via regni non causa regnandi Bern. lib. de Grat. liber Arbitr but deny them to be meritorious of Eternal Life as if a Man should be saved for them We do allow them with Bernard to be the preservatives of Hope the Incentives of Charity the marks of hidden Predestination the Presages of future Happiness the Way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven but not the meritorious causes of our reigning with Christ there Take heed then that you think not of your own Righteousness above what you ought to think 'T is your duty to fulfil all Righteousness but will certainly be your undoing if you trust in any Beware therefore oh Man of this sugared Poyson within thee let there be no depending upon thy good Heart thy good Life thy good Performances But remember the proud Pharisee who stands upon his own bottom as well as ungodâ—â— Sinners whose lives are notoriously infamous for all manner of abominable impieties will fall short of Heaven Whoever thinks to find Life in his own Righteousness and Glory in his own Graces will be sunk through such carnal Confidence to lose Life and Eternal Glory for ever Oh then let not any Man be found cloathed in his own Righteousness that would ever be cloathed upon with the Garments of Salvation For Men to despair in themselves counting all their Righteousness but loss for the excellency of Heaven This is the best way to obtain the reward of Eternal Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven He that here cries out as a Man lost and undone in himself will hereafter be found in Christ to the saving of his Soul Never did any Man yet get to Heaven by trusting in his own Righteousness Nor shall any Man fall short of Heaven who renouncing his own Righteousness trusteth wholly to the Mercy of God in Christ Jesus 3 GET renewed Natures making sure of a principle of Grace within (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 30. A Wicked Man in his unregeneracy is no more capable of an
never failing to crown the weakest endeavours when sincere with a glorious Reward But remember those that only make conscience to do the Will of God in part and not wholly they have neither part nor lot in his heavenly Kingdom but must wholly end for ever fall short of Glory 9 TAKE heed that you build not your Hopes for Heaven upon a negative Righteousness but give diligence to live in the constant and faithful practice of all positive Duties (l) 2 Tim. 2.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vessel of Honour is distinguished from the Vessel of Dishonour not so much because cleansed from what is Evil as because sanctified and prepared for every good Word and Work There are multitudes in the World that think themselves no small Saints because not the worst and most prodigeously Wicked amongst Sinners And many there be who count themselves in a good preparedness for Heaven because they have not the very Botches and Plague-sores of Hell visibly running upon them (m) Luke 18 11. God I thank thee said that proud Pharisee that I am not as other Men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or even as this Publican As if so be that because he had not his Hands full of Bribes and Oppression and the like Pollutions he must needs go to Heaven and be crowned with Glory Thus many glory because they are no Drunkards no Lyars no Swearers no Sabbath-breakers no unclean Persons embracing the Bosom of a strange Lover and oh that all our People had so much Righteousness as this to glory of But verily Sirs the fair Way of negative Righteousness leads to Hell and eternal Destruction as well as the foul pochy way of notorious Profaness Did you never hear of a Man dying for hunger as well as by eating Poyson Did you never see a Runner lose the Garland as well for leaving off to run as by catching a fall Did you never observe a Lamp going out as well for want of Oyl as by means of an Extinguisher So may you hear of thousands that die Eternally as well for want of doing good which is the Food of the Soul as by feeding upon the Poyson of their own Hearts Lusts So may you see Men daily losing the Garland of Eternal Glory for leaving off to run the Way of God's Commandments as by falling into wicked Practices So may you observe the Lamp of many professing Christians going out in the unsavoury snuff of sulphureous hellish Misery for want of thâ— Oyl of gracious Performances as well as by the fatal Extinguisher of open Ungodliness Do but look into the Process of Judgment which Christ will be sure to keep to in that great Day and you will find upon due observation made that the dreadful damnatory Sentence then to be pronounced against all the Ungodly it runs most upon Negatives commanding Men therefore to depart accursed into Everlasting Fire not so much for the Commission of Sins forbidden as for the neglect and omission of Duty enjoined (n) Matth. 25.42 43. Ye have not cloathed ye have not fed ye have not visited my poor Brethren saith Christ and therefore go ye cursed 'T is not said ye have robbed ye have reviled ye have persecuted them but their neglect of the forementioned Duties is that which now undoeth them this is that which sinks them to Hell and there works their Everlasting Destruction (o) Isa 1.16 17. What then will be the end of all Prayerless Meditationless Faithless and Irreligious Persons who though they â—â—ase to do Evil yet never learn to do well The Question will shortly be not so much whether you have oppressed as whether you have relieved the Poor not so much whether you have profaned as whether you have sanctified God's holy Sabbath not so much whether you have blasphemed as whether you have called upon the name of God with an upright Heart And this know the allowed total omission of any such Duty will as infallibly damn you as to live in the practise of the most gross and scandalous enormities So that to escape the pollutions that are in the World through Lust will at the best but procure you a cooler place in Hell so long as you walk not in the daily practise of those Duties which lead to Heaven Thou then that art a Man standing much upon thy negative Righteousness boasting thyself to be no covetous no unclean no debauched Person where iâ— thy Faith thy Wisdom thy reason still to go on in the careless neglect of Prayer of Self-examination of Repentance of meditating in God's Word and the like holy Exercises without which thou canst never be saved It is good indeed not to do Evil but yet it is withal a Soul-damning Evil not to do good ¶ Judg. 5.23 Wherefore was Meroz so bitterly cursed Was it because making a Confederacy with the Enemy they fought against God's People Oh no but because they came not out to the help of Israel against the Mighty Wherefore was that unprofitable Servant bound and cast into utter Darkness Was it for embezelling his Lords Talent or for wasting it upon Harlots Oh no but because he had not improved it to his Lords advantage Wherefore do we find that rich Man tormented in Hell Was it because he had taken any thing from poor Lazarus or pulled the Meat from his Mouth Oh no But because he did not cloath and feed him He finds Judgment without Mercy because he had neglected to shew Mercy And because he denyed Lazarus a crumb of Bread to satisfie his hunger now Heaven and Earth will not afford him one drop of Water to cool his Tongue So certainly will the neglect of Duty expose to an eternity of Wrath and unpreventable fiery Torments †Matth. 3.10 For not only the corrupt Tree but the barren Tree also is intended for the Fire not only the Tree which bears ill Fruit but also the Tree which bears no good Fruit must be fuel for the Wrath of God to burn upon without quenching for ever Give diligence then would you ever escape Wrath and obtain Glory not only to forbear the doing of that which is evil but also to be working the thing which is good Leave thâ— Duties of that place wherein God hath set you undone and your Souls are undone for ever But if carefully performing them you shall strive to abound with the Fruits of Righteousness 't is not long but you will have a blessed Transplantation from Earth to Heaven from the Wilderness of this World into the Celestial Canaan Only let every profane ungody Person stand aloof as those for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved for ever If a negative Righteousness will carry no Man to Heaven to be sure then those who allow themselves in a course of all unrighteous practices must fall irrecoverably into Hell and eternal Destruction If the slothful Servant were so punished who only hid his Lords Talent in a Napkin restoring it as good
another so that the same Ship which brings in one Comfort into the Harbour of their Souls it carries out another But this eternal Reward it will put them into a permanent fixed way of enjoying all their Comforts together they shall not lose one Comfort by embracing another nor have need to divert their Thoughts from one comfortable Consideration to exercise them upon another Oh then what a Consideration is this to aggravate the blessedness of the Saints eternal Reward in Heaven where they shall have all the Positures of Joy rejoycing within and without above and beneath and on every (d) Gaudebunt supra se de visione Dei intra se de pace conscientiae infra se de evasione inferni circa se de hominum angelorum beata associatione side together They shall have Joy above them for the beatifical Vision of God Joy within them for the Peace of their own Consciences which now they find to be the best Feast Joy beneath them for their Deliverance from the Wrath to come and Joy round about on every side from their blessed Associates the Saints and glorious Angels with whom joyning as in an heavenly Quire they will warble out most melodiously the high Praises of God their Redeemer to all Eternity How these things should thus be I confess I cannot easily satisfy my self knowing what is the Finiteness of Man's Capacity and the Infiniteness of this eternal Reward But surely this must needs add much to our Happiness and make us to rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory when we shall not eat our Reward piece-meal but shall sit down to a full Table nor drink our Cordials one by one but having all the Joys of Heaven and Glory mingled together in one eternal Cup of Consolation shall drink them all at once and together 8 THE Râ—ward whereunto God allows his People a Respect in all their Obedience it 's a Grace-perfecting Reward The Perfection of all our Graces is indeed a thing earnestly to be pursued after whilst here we are working in God's Vineyard but yet never fully to be obtained till he comes to Crown us with our eternal Reward As there is Chaff about every Corn in a Field (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 16. pag. mihi 236. and bitterness in every Branch of Wormwood So by way of Adherency there is much Defilement in the best Works and much Imperfection in the most gracious Graces of the best of God's People The Works of God's Spirit upon us and the Graces of his Spirit within us as they come from him are pure But yet as clean Water passing through an unclean Channel receiveth a Tincture of that Uncleanness so Sinfulness cleaveth to our holiest Actions and as they come through our Hands they admit of much adhering Pollution How many Distractions Rovings Impertinencies and secular Intermixtures do we find mingling themselves with our most serious Performances How much Deadness Formality want of Relish and unspiritualness do we find inseparably cleaving to all our Services How dim-sighted is the Eye of our Faith when most discerning How cold is the Fire of our Love to God and his ways when most warm and flaming How full of trembling is the Hand of our Affiance how sadly bruised are the Shoulders of our Patience how lame are the Feet of our Obedience and how dangerously crack'd is the Anchor of our Hope though cast within the Vail (f) Heb. 6.19 Here our Graces are not without their Defects nor our Duties without their defaults Who sees not much Dross in his purest Gold much Smoke in his brightest Fire many blemishes upon all his Graces many failings in all his Duties and the print of his own unclean Hands to humble him upon every holy Work that he takes in Hand As the best actions of the Wicked through the want of right Principles and right Ends are turned into Sin For the best actions of the godly by reason of fleshly adherencies are always accompanied with Sin And as their evil works are both their own and purely evil So their good works are neither there own nor purely good (*) Phil. 3.7 8. This made that holy and imparadised Apostle St. Paul count all his own Righteousness in point of Justification where nothing but what is absolutely perfect will be accepted no better than loss and dung that he might win Christ Nor can it be said that the Apostle here intendeth no other Actions and Priviledges than what he enjoyed before his Conversion For he speaketh not only in the time past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I counted but likewise in the time present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea doubtless and I do count all things but dung intending hereby the abdication of all his present Priviledges Graces and most glorious Performances as utterly insufficient by reason of adhering defilements to be the matter of his Justification in the sight of God A consciousness of the like defects in all Graces and holy Performances caused that (a) Isa 64.6 Nostra siqua est humilis justitia recta forsitan sed non pura Nisi forte meliores non esse credimus quam patres nostros qui non minus veraciter quam humiliter aiebant omnes justitiae nostrae tanquam pannus menstruatae mulieris Quomodo enim pura justitia ubi adhuc non potest culpa deesse Bern. in locum Evangelical Prophet of old to complain in the Person of the whole Church as both the Context and manner of speech do evince that they were all as an unclean thing and all their Righteousness as filthy Rags Here you see the Prophet acknowledgeth a Worm to be in their best fruit some sinful defects some pollutions and vitiosity in all their Righteousnesses Which resenting with holy shame he so far disgraceth whatever Duties whatever Performances they had as to compare them stain and abhorred defilement for with the unclean garment of a removed Woman For this cause it was that Aaron the high Priest a Type of Christ must bear the iniquity of their holy things that all the People might know there was that imperfection and blemish in their most holy Performances that they could no otherwise find acceptance with God than only through the Worthiness and satisfactory Merits of Christ the promised Messias Though then we do not say as our Adversaries of the Romish Faction faitly calumniate that the good Works of God's People are Sins and ex natura rei culpable Yet we say that their best Works are imperfect their Graces very defective and their most holy Performances attended with some adhering Pollution Their Graces how weak soever are not Sins but it 's their Sin that their Graces are no stronger Their holy Performances are Sins But it 's their Sin that so many distractions sinister respects so much deadness formality and irreverence are mingled with them So that we must still distinguish betwixt sinful Actions and Sin in the Actions The
though possibly it might have proved a Preludium to Royal Dignity intitling him to the Crown and Government of all Egypt so great was his Ambition to be found in the number that he might have a Right to all the Priviledges of God's Children ver 24. WHEREAS he might have lived a Courtier enjoying what Heart could wish faring deliciously every day and glutting himself with all carnal Pleasures that either variety of melodious Sounds and exquisite Harmony or gorgeous Apparel or extremity of Luxury could possibly afford Yet we find him bidding adieu to all these and rather chusing to suffer undeserved Scorn Reproach and Persecution with the People of God than to enjoy those and the like Pleasures of Sin for a season v. 25. WHEREAS in a word the whole Land of Egypt was before him and likely for ought I know to entertain him with the sway of a Royal Scepter with the Government of the whole Kingdom and with an universal Confluence of all the Happiness that either Riches or Honours or the whole Treasury of Egypt could suppeditate Yet in the preceding part of this Verse wherein my Text lyes the Holy Ghost there testifies of him that he preferred the reproach of Christ before all this the very worst and that which is most bitter in Christ before the choicest Treasures before the very best the most sweet and delightful Enjoyments in all the Land of Egypt esteeming it his greatest Honour to be dishonoured in the World for the sake of the Lord Jesus and the reason of all this you have subjoyned in the Words of my Text even because he had a Respect to the Recompence of the Reward THUS I have in short given you the Dependance of the Words and thereby also given you to understand that they are brought in as one grand reason of Moses his Obedience and Self-denyal letting us plainly know why Moses should thus refuse the great dignity of being called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter why he should rather choose to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season Why he should esteem so highly of Reproach for Christ as to count it greater Riches than the choicest Treasures in all the Land of Egypt and the reason of all this was because he had Respect to the Recompence of the Reward which if seriously consider'd of why it will make him take up his Cross chearfully it will make him follow hard after Christ as well in Adversity as in Prosperity it will make him do and suffer and willing to become any thing if by any means he may attain such a transcendently glorious Reward a Reward that is nothing less than the full enjoyment of God over all blessed for ever in whose Presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose Right-hand there are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 BUT waving the Relative Consideration of the Words we purpose to insist upon them as Absolutely Considered and as they are an intire Proposition of themselves and so they will present us with these Two Considerables following I. A Gracious Act exerted by Moses the Man of God and that we have expressed in these Words For he had Respect II. A Glorious Object about which that Act of Moses was exercised and that we have expressed in these Words To the Recompence of the Reward THESE are the parts of the Text the Genuine sense whereof I shall give you in the explication of the Terms labouring now to break the Shell that so you may come to that sweet Kernel of Gospel-truth which is wrapt up and enclosed therein FOR he had respect In this Phrase is implyed that gracious Act of Moses whereby he had respect to stedfastly fixing his eye upon the recompence of the Reward as matter of singular incouragement to deny himself for the Lord's sake in all those Riches Honours and variety of carnal Pleasures which by dissembling Conscience and continuing a Courtier he might probably have enjoyed at least for a Season The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is metaphorical signifying in this place to look from one thing to another not with the eye of the Body by any corporeal sight but with the eye of the Soul by a spiritual sight And so truly it doth most emphatically set forth the power of Moses his Faith enabling him to look from the things that are seen to the things that are not seen from things Teâ—poral to things Eternal by which means he was wonderfully encouraged to let go all worldly Advantages and to suffer Affliction chearfully with the people of God Moses had the whole Land of Egypt together with all the Riches Glory and Pleasures thereof before him which a Carnal heart would think might have made him content to live and die a Courtier But such was the power of Faith within him fixing his heart and mind upon things above upon the Land of Promise the Coelestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem together with the Beatifical Vision of God in Eternal Glory that for these he can chearfully renounce whatever Riches whatever Honours whatever Pleasures the Land of Aegypt could possibly afford him TO the Recompence of the Reward That glorious Object upon which Moses fixing his eye did so chearfully deny himself in all his worldly enjoyments you have here expressed by one word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying such a Reward whereby a Man is Recompenced This Recompense is diversly taken according to the Persons to whom and work for which it is given When to a wicked Person for an evil work it intendeth a fearful Revenge comprizing under it Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish as that which is due to Sinners upon the commission of any the least Transgression But when to a Righteous Person accepted of God through Christ as here in my Text for a work approved by him then indeed it doth not import any merit or desert on Man's part but abundance of Mercy and Grace on God's part who though we are unprofitable Servants and can merit nothing at his hands yet will not suffer us to do or endure any thing for his sake without a most transcendently great and glorious Recompence WHAT that recompence of reward was upon which Moses so stedfastly fixed his eye is not here I confess distinctly set down but yet we may easily collect from the carriage of Moses that it was some higher Honour some better Pleasure some more excollent and durable Treasure than the Land of Aegypt could ever afford him otherwise making choice of these why is it that we find him renouncing those unless we should think him to have changed for the worse when yet we find the Spirit of God in the words of my Text commending his choice 'T WAS not then any Temporal Reward but an Eternal Reward that Moses had in his eye 'T was not Earth but Heaven 't was not the Meat that perisheth but the Meat which will indure to Everlasting Life
Hearts upon that which deceiving your Hopes will expose you to the Misery of Eternal disappointment in the mean time neglecting that Glory which will so far exceed our Hopes as to leave us for ever in a blessed extasy of admiration 5 Consider all Creature-enjoyments they are empty and unsatisfying Your Creature-enjoyments they are not commensurate to the desires of an immortal Soul And are therefore no more able to satisfy you than a Star of the least magnitude is able to make day in the World The Souls appetite is too vast for any creature in the World to fill up the measure of its capacity And to be sure that which cannot fill the Souls appetite will for ever leave it empty and unsatisfied The Soul is a spiritual Being whereas all our worldly â—njoyments are of the Earth earthly And how should such earthly enjoyments be able to satisfy an Heaven born Soul (k) Eccles 5.10 Major pecunia fauces avaritiae non claudit sed extendit non irrigat sed accendit Aug. Instar Hydropici semper patieris sitim nec unquam satiabis appetitum tuum quantumvis affatim bibas ex aquâ honoris vanitatis hujus mundi Stella de contemnendis Mundi vanitatibus lib. 3. cap. 1. Mundana ista sunt instar liquoris acerbi qui non satiat sed incitat appetitum ad sumendum plus tibi Idem ibid. Quanto plus rerum mundanarum hauseris tantò major in te fitis plura habendi excitabitur Idem ibid. Inexplebilis est sola avaritia divitum semper rapit nunquam satiatur quomodo ergo sunt divitiae quibus crescentibus crescit inopia quae amatoribus suis quanto fuerint ampliores non afferunt satietatem sed inflammant cupiditatem Aug. Solomon tells us plainly that he who loveth Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver It may promise to ease us of our cares But it always multiplyes them Like Drink to a dropsical Man such are all our Creature-enjoyments So far from slaking that they enflame the Thirst They will promise to fill the Souls appetite But they only enlarge it They are not so much Food as fuel to our desires They de not allay our appetite as Bread doth when received but they rather encrease our appetite as Oyl doth the flame when cast into it And how is it possible that that desire should ever be satisfied which groweth and receiveth strength by the fruition of the thing desired The whole Confluence of all Creature-enjoyments can reach no further than the outward Services of the body For the desires of the Soul being boundless and capable of more happiness than the World can afford them they must needs remain empty still and be unsatisfied A Man may quickly have enough to load his Body to overcharge his memory and to fill his Barns though enlarged to the same measure of spaciousness with the rich Mans in the (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog 359. 227. Gospel But to answer the cravings of his own Heart to quiet the enlarged appetite of his immortal Soul and to fill up with satisfaction the immense capacity of all his desires he can never have enough though he had the whole World changed into one Paradise for such an end When a thing is out of the place of its own rest it will never leave moving naturally till it come thither Thus since nothing below the Bosom of God himself and fulness of communion with him can be the proper place of rest to an immortal Soul no wonder though amidst all Creature-enjoyments it be still unsatisfied and in perpetual restless motion Men are apt to promise themselves I know what imaginary happiness and satisfaction from their Creature-enjoyments But to be sure Happiness is a real thing and no figment of a minting fancy neither is it indeed for satisfaction to come in at the door of imagination For as the Creature is unable to make us happy and give satisfaction So we are to make up an happiness for our selves out of the Creature or to take satisfaction from it When the whole Creation hath done its best and we have used our utmost skill torturing Nature to extract the most exquisite Spirits and the purest quintessence which the variety of Creatures can afford Yet after all this our Hearts will be filled with nothing but endless rovings and unquiet agitations and still our Souls will be crying like the Horse leeches Daughters Give give as unable to find any thing in the universal aggregation of all sublunary comforts proportionate to its own unlimited and boundless desires For certain it is my Brethren there is nothing that can make us happy but the God who made us (m) Matth. 11.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 45. Nor is there any thing that can give satisfaction to our Souls but Christ who gave satisfaction for them God would not rest from his works of creation till Man was formed Nor can any Man rest from his longing desâ—â—es of want and indigence till God in Christ be enjoyed What though the whole world were an earthly Paradise the Rivers running with Nectar the Fields bringing forth Ambrosia the Trees yielding Fruit like the Tree of life the Clouds showering down precious Pearls and every Creature were an Orpheus or Amphion with Musiques harmonious charm to chase away the evil Spirit of discontent and to entertain us in World with all variety of melodious sounds and carnal delights Yet I can assure you from the Word of life and truth that our Souls would be still restless and would find such an earthly Paradise come as far short of giving satisfaction as the light of a little Star doth come short of the Sun in its noon-day brightness There is no rest nor satisfaction to be had for our Souls till we return to God or God turn his face towards us and cause the light of his Countenance to shine upon us Why then will you spend your Mony for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which cannot satisfy Will you still be seeking the living amongst the dead the Tree of life in an Earthly Paradise and satisfaction from that which is nothing but Vanity and vexation of spirit You may kock at every Creatures door but you will find there is nothing within to entertain you save only the heir-long of emptiness and disappointment Vanity is the very quintessence of the Creature and all that can possibly be extracted out of it is nothing but vexation of spirit And can that which is Vanity think you satisfy or vexation give your Souls contentment Can you think to gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles What a gross mistake is this that you should think to find any filling entertainment for your Souls in that which is all emptiness That you should think to find satisfaction in that which breeds nothing but discontent perplexing the Soul with a thousand cares (a) Vitam beatam quaerunt in regione
dependance upon them but eternal and inconditionate Whether Man were considered of God electing as in the pure Mass is much controverted And many there are both Pious and learned do wholly oppose it making Man in the corrupt Mass to have been the object of Predestination But how to reconcile that opinion either with the unering rule of Scripture or the genuine dictates of right Reason I must ingenuously confess I see not Not with Scripture ¶ Rom. 9.20 23. which makes Predestination in both the branches of to be a pure Act of Gods sovereignity and universal Dominion over all Creatures wherby he may dispose of them to different ends according to what seems good in his own infinite Wisdom assigning no other Reason to mitigate the seeming Rigour of Predestination and to silence all the captious Cavils of carnal Minds against it who think to insnare God by their Subtilties than his Holy and righteous Will Nor can I reconcile it with the Dictates of right Reason which teacheth that every wise and understanding Agent will attempt nothing without the Predestinating of it to some certain end Whereas to make Man lapsed and miserable in Sin the Object of Predestination doth imply that God first decreed to Create Man before ever his Wisdom provided what to do with him and to permit his fall into Sin and Misery before ever he determined any thing certain about his everlasting and final Condition If Man's Wisdom which is but a drop to the vast Ocean compared with God's observe a better Decorum in all Undertakings first determining the end of his Work and then accordingly disposing of his Workmanship it is certainly hardly-conceivable how such Preposterousness should sort with the infinitely wise God whereby he is represented as decreeing the Creation and Fall of Man before ever he came to any Result in his own Thoughts nay before ever he entertain'd so much as one serious Thought about Man's great End and everlasting unchangeable Estate in the World to come However it be in this Controversy yet certain it is that there was nothing foreseen in God's Elect as a Motive or Reason influencing him to ordain them to obtain Salvation or inducing him to prepare for them rather than others the Reward of eternal Life For God's Will is of that supreme Sovereignty and absolute independency that he need not look out of himself at any Qualification in the Creature for the determining of it Nor can there be any thing more absurd than to make something in the Creature the cause of God's Will as if Faith foreseen good Works and final Perseverance in them should either be before it above it or have a casual Influence upon it to determine it when that indeed is the supreme Reason into which the Grace of Election must be wholly resolved Our Saviour therefore will give no other Reason why Gospel Mysteries were hidden from some and revealed to others But sends us wholly in this case to the sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God not at all subscribing the difference to the foresight of our Will receiving or rejecting the Tenders of his Grace Even (a) Mat. 11.26 so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Nor can we indeed assign any thing in Man as a Cause or Reason upon the Prevision whereof God should be moved to elect him Since there is nothing of Grace or Goodness in any Man but what God hath decreed from Eternity to communicate to him and doth graciously in time bestow upon him as the genuine and proper effect of his electing Love That Grace which makes a saving difference betwixt us and others in time is nothing but the Fruit of God's eternal Love wherewith he loved us before all time Hence we may find the holy Ghost asserting Faith to be the Effect not the cause of Election So that to hold Election upon foreseen Faith and good Works is no less absurd than to make the Sun receive its Light from the Day the Tree its Sap from the Fruit growing upon it and the Fountain its fulness from those Streams which by a natural emanation do flow continually from it For saith (b) Acts 13.48 the Apostle telling us what entertainment the Gospel Preached found amongst the Gentiles and as many as were ordained to eternal Life because they believed But therefore they believed because first they were ordained to eternal Life Where the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained is added as a Reason why these believed whilst others rejecting the Gospel continued in their Impenitency and not as denoting any Preparations or Predispositions in them to eternal Life before Faith in Christ For that were much more absurd than if you should affirm a young Bird whilst yet without Wings to be prepared for and disposed to fly Faith being the first Qualification preparing for eternal Life and that spiritual Wing upon which the Soul takes her first flight towards Heaven More might be urged but what our Saviour saith (c) John 15.16 of his own Disciples they had not chosen him but he had chosen them and the Apostle of (d) 1 John 4.19 all Believers that they therefore love God because he loved them first may well satisfie any in this case who are willing to captivate their own Reason to the belief of the Truth as it is in Jesus For if Faith and good Works foreseen were the cause why God chose us then the clean contrary would be true that we chose and loved him before he either chose or loved us which yet we cannot say without Confronting the Spirit of Truth speaking in the Scripture Truth is we do not prevent God with our Love but he prevents us with his Love Our Love is but of yesterday and is the Spirit of his His Love bears date from Eternity and is the Root from whence ours springs We did not first prepare our selves for Glory by having an Eye of Faith to the Recompence of Reward But God first prepared Glory for us by casting a propitious Eye of Love upon us from Eternity that in time he may give us the Reward of Life everlasting Oh then what manner of Love is this that before we had any Being or so much as a thought of a Being in this World God should be plotting our Happiness and providing for our eternal well-being in the World to come Before Christian thou had it either Name or Life thy Name (e) Rev. 21.17 was then written in the Lamb's Book of Life and shall never be blotted out Before ever thou did'st or could'st do one stroak of Work in God's Vineyard he was thinking what glorious Reward to bestow upon thee preparing a Kingdom for thee before so much as the Foundation of the World was laid Before ever thou hast any spiritual Appetite to what is good any Hungerings or Thirstings after Righteousness even from Eternity was God preparing a Feast of fat things for thee a Feast of Love and Life of Glory