good no not one Rom. 3.12 And he speakes of all men in an estate of nature without Christ not one doth any good no not one All the thoughts and imaginations of such mens hearts are evill and only evill and that continually Gen. 6.1 and Christ saith as much of their words Matth. 12.33 34. And so in all our workes A good tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt tree brings forth evill fruit Mat. 7.18 Wherein he shewes you that as we do no good so we can doe no good not a good thought nor a good word nor a good worke comes from such a man all his dayes and all our speeches are rotten and unsavoury not any spirituall life in most seeming best duties we are not able to speake unto any good purpose let if be truly moulded an it is a precious fruit of righteousnesse but if spoke as comes from nature be it never so well spoken it is corrupt either full of pride or selfe-conceit or to please others or the like nor doe we regulate our words by the language of Canaan nor open our mouthes from a spirit of saith 2 Cor. 4.13 This is true in all naturall men we doe not therefore speake because we beleeve we speake not because we beleeve God hath commanded us so to speake as our Saviour said Iohn 14. last Nor therefore worke any thing because God set us aworke or to aime at any service of God or good to his people in it so that as our thoughts be so are our words evill and only and continually evill and much more all the workes of our hands that require greater strength of grace then either our thoughts or our words doe so that without Christ there is no act of spirituall life comes from us we would doe no good if we could If God should at any time assist us and supply us with something more then ordinary yet we will not be made clean that we might doe well Jer. 13. last opened O Ierusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when will it once be Jer. 13. last As if it were a thing never to be looked for God might waite upon a man from one end of the yeare to another and sometimes be asking of him Wilt thou be made clean and he may aske again Man wilt thou be made whole but if he but say Wilt thou be made cleane we have many devices to put off God and we can never finde that day wherein we will say This day we will heare Gods voyce and be made cleane from this day forward I resolve never to think my own thoughts more nor to doe my owne will more but now will give up my selfe to seeke for life and salvation in Christ that day is yet never pitched upon till we have found Christ never since we were borne untill now but now it may be we are convinced that it is good to become a Christian and we wish well to such as are Christians but when it comes to the matter we are but almost Christians as was Agrippa or if we be satisfied that we must become Christians indeed then truly it must not be to day but to morrow and when we thinke to set God a day when indeed it shall be as sometimes at our Marriage or when we come out of our Apprentiships or when we fall sick when left alone upon the Death-bed and if God say Yet when will it once be we cannot yet set him a day only we will say We will consider of it and we would be loath to disappoint God as Creditors will say to their Debtors We would be loath to set you a day because we know not whether we shall hold or no and therefore spare us in that but we will pay you as soone as we can but when will it once be Truly we are not yet perswaded there is yet something or other to be done and therefore you shall finde this to be true that we are so farre from spirituall life in Christ that none of us doe any good there is nothing you doe whereof you may say This have I done because God hath set me a worke and in respect of Gods Command or that God may be sanctified thereby never yet could we say so and as we have not done any good so neither are we able or capable of good And in truth this is a further want of spirituall action that if God should make us able to doe it yet we would not be willing to doe it but if he put us to the question When shall it once be read that Chapter and the next and see if ever they set God a time they will by no meanes set God a time least they over-much ingage themselves indeed sometimes it may be you shall see such men lying under some heavie hand of God and neare to death resolve upon time See our unwillingnesse to come off to God when we are in health we thinke in sicknesse to be made cleane but in sicknesse what will we say then some of you can tell what men are then wont to say What doe we then say Oh if God would but restore me to health you should see I would become a new man why when he was in health he said If sicknesse or danger came that should be the time wherein he would be made cleane but when sicknesse comes then we put God off till health againe As if a Debtor should put off his Creditor from Summer to Winter and from thence to Summer againe the answer will never be given why now it shall be this day say you in sicknesse it shall be when God shall bring me to health but why not to day you put off God from health to sicknesse and from sicknesse to health againe and when they doe not so and come and tell them of it they will say Why it is true God forgive them they thought to have done such a thing and they hoped to have done it But when shall it once be Why not to day before to morrow what if you dye of this sicknesse will you goe to Hell immediately will you take no course for turning the wrath of God from you Are not you now sick why doe you deferre it any longer and though he be not able to turne himselfe in his bed yet he may turne to God It is a vaine thing to put off God to health for in our sicknesse God will sooner visit us and doth expect that in the day of our affliction we should seeke him diligently and early Hos 5. last When will it once be So that take notice of this desperate deadnesse of a mans heart out of Christ he is dead in sinne so as that he neither doth any good nor is able to doe any good nor is willing to doe any good And as there is no spirituall motion in him no act of grace so it is another act of spirituall life for a man to feed upon Christ but doe you
two affections never meet in other things when a man goes about any businesse gladly he is not afraid of it or if he be in feare he goes not about it joyfully the Sun trembles not at his course but rejoyces to run his race the Horse rejoyceth at the Battaile he never trembles at the matter or when any man goes about any worke with joy he never trembles at it but a Christian man when he goes about any spirituall duty though he have much joy and comfort in it and is glad of the occasion yet he is most fearfull as Psal 130.4 the very consideration of the greatnesse of Gods mercies makes a soule fearefull of the presence of God so the more rich God in grace and mercy is to us either pardoning sin or sanctifying the heart or quickning us to any duty the more fearefull is the soule in such a condition And hence is that you read Exod. 15.11 the Lord is said to be fearfull in praises when the heart is most enlarged to praise God with comfort then doth it most feare God so that here is another combination of graces that are not commonly found together in other businesses of ordinary affaires but where the heart is spirituall they meet together in the same thing Thirdly Take you a godly man in affliction Ioy in affliction and when he is most able to bear them and yet when afflictions is most heavy if he find his heart able to grapple under them yet then you shall find much joy and sadnesse of heart mixed together it was a signe of the election of the Thessalonians because they received the word in much affliction and with joy of the Holy ghost When they found much affliction either by the word or in the outward man though much affliction yet inwardly joyous Heb. 12.11 No affliction is joyous for the present yet it brings forth the quiet fruites of righteousnesse By how much the more affliction makes their spirits sad yet so much the more is the heart inlarged with joy and comfort in the Holy ghost Rom. 5.3 We rejoyce in tribulations tribulation is such a kind of affliction as is a threshing us like corne out of the chaffe drives us out of all the comforts of this life and that is not in nature to rejoyce in any measure when the heart is in grief and discouragement it ever wants something to raise it up Fourthly There is this mixture of affection in our carriage towards men which argues the life of holinesse in us Patience without forbearance In our converseing with men you shal have the same heart full of much patience but without all forbearance And those are such as are not found in nature nor in an hypocrite yet in a Christian heart you shall find them together the more patient a man is towards others yet the lesse able is he to bear with evill read Revel 2.2 I know thy workes and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not beare them which are evill A man would think it were a very strange expression A man of known and prooved patience and yet cannot bear For what is patience but bearing and forbearing yet saith God I know thy patience and that thou canst not beare them that are evill implying that such a soule if it were a matter to be put upon himselfe any affliction or tryall put upon himselfe then I know thy patience in bearing of it but if it come to a matter of evill not of punishment but of sinne then I know thou cannest not bear it Take you any patient man that onely hath a moral vertue of patience and if he have so much patience as that he can bear with crosses and afflictions he can as well also beare with evills committed against God but this is the nature of spirituall patience it is mixed with zeale so as that the more patient a man is in regard of injuries done to himselfe the lesse patient he is in respect of injuries done to God Fiftly You shall have gentlenesse and meeknesse sometimes mixed in a man with much austerity and strictnesse which is very much they should meet in one man Meeknes and strictnesse at once at one and the same time The wisdome that is from above is gentle and meek and easie to be intreated It was said of Moses Hee was the meekest man upon earth Numb 12.3 Take Moses in his owne case and his carriage towards men as they had respect to himselfe and then he was a meek man soon perswaded yet the same Moses when hee saw the matter concerned the Cause of God hee is so stiffe and unmoveable as that he wil not yeeld one jot he wil not leave an hoofe behind of all that appertained to the children of Israel Exod. 10.26 He would not onely have men and women and children goe forth to serve the Lord but their cattle and their stuffe He will not yeeld a little here no not for the Kings pleasure sake A man would much wonder that such a man so meek and gentle and so easie to be perswaded in his owne cause that yet when it comes to a matter of importance and concerns God hee will not there yeeld he is now inflexible nothing can perswade him to give way to it this is a combination of graces that are not wont to be found in men thus mixed together but it is found in the people of God that live a sanctified and holy life I know not better what to instance in then in the liquid Aire of all other things the most easiest to be peirced through of it selfe it gives way to every creature not the lest flye or least stone cast into it but it gives way to it of it selfe yet if God say it shall be as a Firmament between the waters above and the waters below it then stands like a wall of brasse and yeelds not it will not suffer the water in the clouds to fal down but if it do fal to water the earth it shall straine through the aire as through a sieve the clouds sometimes are so full that one would thinke they would burst through the aire and fall upon the earth but God having set the aire to be a Firmament or expulson between the waters above and the waters below though of it selfe a very liquid thing yet it stands like to a wall of brasse and truly so is it with a Christian spirit though of himselfe he is as liquid as the aire you may easily passe through him and goe an end with him easily he is easie to be intreated very gentle but take him now in any thing wherein God hath bid him keep his stand in his course and there he stands like a wall of brasse that were never such high and great matters put upon him ready to beare him downe he will not shrinke nor give any way at all this is another mixture of affections which are found in Christian men that
aboundance There are two properties more of life Where there is any life there is some kind of plyablenesse Pliablenes of spirit whereas dead carcasses are cold and stiffe and unsavoury though never so sweet before this is a certain truth the more you keep a dead corps above ground the more it stinkes and is unsavoury It shoots out at length and you may sooner breake him then bend him any way but while he is alive you may bend him which way you will now therefore consider thus much if there be any truth of grace in you you are gentle and easie to be intreated Jam. 3.17 but if not Jam. 3.17 expounded then you are of a stiffe spirit inflexible and implacable for to be gentle and easie is the true nature of life but if not then have you lost your life then either you never had life or else it is a swound and so evapoured that there is no bending or bowing of it but they are fit to be buryed as a dead carcasse Quest What is this plyablenesse and easinesse to be entreated and on the contrary this stiffenesse Answ There is Foure things in easinesse to bee intreated First Easie to be pleased 1 Pet. 3.18 any thing that you doe about them is pleasing to them that is poynt of gentlenesse and a gracious man in whom is the life and power of godlinesse he is easie to be pleased If you go about any thing with any tollerable indeavour to give him content he is not hard to be pleased and if not easie to please there is little grace or dangerous to be none at all if you have much a do to bow or bend them to comply with them that asketh and thing of them there is a dead heart in such a spirit Secondly A man that is easie to be intreated and gentle if he be offended he is easie to be intreated Rom. 1.31 It is a signe a man is of a reprobate sence when hee is implacable and stiffe when life is gone a man is stiffe not easie to be intreated Thirdly If so be that hee have offended another man he is easie to yeeld and to acknowledge that he is in a wrong Eccles 10.4 There is in a living Christian an aptnesse to yeeld when he is in a wrong If a man be in a wrong and will not see his errour will not see the evil hee hath done in Gods sight his stiffenesse is a signe of his dead-heartednesse So much stiffenesse here so much deadnesse in his heart and so much nearnesse to the chambers of death For a living Christian if he have offended he is willing to yeeld and will acknowledge himselfe a failer and promise amendment Fourthly He is willing to deny himselfe of his owne right even upon equall easie termes to prevent an offence that may grow and he stands upon equall termes least an offence should arise he yeelds and denies himselfe 1 Thes 2.6 7. So Abraham yeelded to Lot though he had not offended him yet hee condiscended to his inferiour and if any Lot shal be the chooser Gen. 13.8 This gentlenesse of spirit argues life of Christ in the holy servants of God Abraham was not stiffe but gentle and easie to be pleased when he was offended Now therefore art thou easie to be pleased easily intreated to passe by a wrong And if thou hast offended another thou wilt acknowledge it and art easily willing to deny thy selfe to prevent offence then thou art not stiffe but art living Christian but if men be stiffe in spirit hard to be pleased and froward no man can give him content as Naballs servants said of him And of we have offended hard to be intreated and will by no meanes see it or acknowledge it and by no meanes yeeld but turne our selves to endlesse devices and if we stand upon our owne ends and wee will have our owne to the utmost farthing and why should we bend then truly we are cold and little power and life breathing in us The last property of life is this So much sweetness so much life The body while it is alive is sweet and savoury but so soon as ever it begins to smell it must be buryed it cannot be kept above ground every living Christian is a sweet savour to God a Cor. 2.13 and Col. 4.4 5 6. Let your speech be savoury seasoned as with salt And the Apostle saith let no unsavoury or corrupt communication proceed out of your mouthes How then doe you finde your owne spirits doe you breath savoury and sweet and doth your conference yeeld edification and is it all wel-pleasing to God what ever you doe doth it savour wel in the nostrils of God and your brethren If the dutys you perform be so it is signe you are living in Gods sight But if your speeches be prophane conference unsavoury and carnal so much as we loose our sweetnesse so much we loose our life when a Christian carries himselfe serviceably and amiably then we live and in having life we have Christ SERMON XI 1 JOHN 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life HAving handled an Use of Tryal of life and this depends upon our having of Christ We come now to another Use from this Doctrine Vse 2 It is to teach us the dangerous and uncomfortable estate of every such soule as hath not Christ for the Text saith he that hath not the Sonne hath not life No life in us if there bee no Christ in us Danger of being out of Christ this is that which Apostle speaks often to that we are dead in trespasses and in sins Eph. 2.1 5. This is the of estate of them all so farre as we are without Christ we are without life no Christ no life It is with the sons of men in this kinde that I may so speake as it was with the Souldiers 2 Kings 19.35 they were all dead corps truly that is the case of us all by nature every soule of us as long as we live in the world without Christ so many men so many dead corps so many unsavoury carcasses And indeede all that worke of life which you have heard opened it is no spiritual motion no feeding upon Christ no growing in grace no expelling of noysome lusts no care nor indeavour to beget others to an estate of grace in any men that are dead no motion at all to any spiritual good Heb. 9.14 al our works the best works we doe in an estate of nature they are all of them but dead workes And so are we to any spiritual motion As the Apostle tels you we none of us doe good and which is worse wee can doe no good yea and stil which is worse wee would doe no good if we could this is the estate of us all by nature The Lord looked downe from heaven to see if any of them did good but they are altogether become unprofitable not one doth