Lord Lord by way of appeal yet I professe unto you I never knew you I never approved of you I know the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish Depart from me ye workers of iniquity So that 't is not Profession nor Prayer nor Appeal that will give a man entrance into the Kingdome of Heaven Not every one that saith Lord Lord c. By the Kingdome of Heaven is to be understood that state of blessednesse after this life called elsewhere salvation glory and eternal life Which indeed is begun in this life for * Joh. 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent and therefore the dispensation of grace by Jesus Christ is often called the Kingdom of Heaven Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand but I think the future state to be here principally if not only intended For Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father Matth. 13.43 But I purposing to speak to the latter clause shall wave this first having given you two or three Observations from the text and context 1. From the connexion of this text with the foregoing verse I shall observe That men are better known by what they do then by what they say Even a childe saith Solomon Prov. 20.11 Even a childe is known by his doings whether his work be pure and whether it be right So saith Christ By their fruits ye shall know them Not every one that saith c. Men are better known by their doings then by their sayings If a man speak well and do ill Charity it selfe cannot speak well of that man as to men God indeed judgeth of their words and their works by their hearts * God judgeth the out-side by the in-side but man judgeth the in-side by the out-side but men cannot judge of men but by their works By their fruits ye shall know them Not by their Profession for they may professe like Saints nor by their Prayers for they may pray like Saints nor by their Appeales for they may appeal like Saints they may say Lord Lord but by their fruits ye shall know them 'T is not the words but the works of men that tell us what they are Indeed saith he they come to you in sheepes cloathing but they are ravening wolves They have as one sayes on the place Jacobs smooth tongue but Esaus rough hand Audi nemo meliùs specta nemo pejùs They speak like Angels of light but they act like Angels of darknesse They defie the devil in words but deifie the devil in works they deifie Christ in words but defie him in works God likes not this Court-holy-water of faire Professions and deep Protestations when mens hearts are not with him when there is not the power of Religion and the practice of Godlinesse By their fruits ye shall know them Not every one that faith c. 2. Good words without good works will never turne to a good account holy sayings without holy doings will never admit into the holy place Not every one that saith Lord Lord c. there will little come of that 3. God is a very curious observer of what men say and of what men do in the world Jesus Christ here observes that they say Lord Lord but withal he observes that they do not the Will of his Father but are workers of iniquity Men indeed may but God will not God cannot be put off with complements Shall not he that made the eye see shall not he that made the eare heare shall not he that made the heart know what is therein Surely saith David Psal 139. thou understandest my thoughts and there is not a word in my tongue but lo thou knowest it altogether And as for the works as he saith to the Church of Ephesus I know thy works But I proceed to the second clause He that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Whence I lay down this Conclusion That they and none but they who do the Will of God shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven For the clearing of this there is this Querie to be made as to the termes What are we to understand by the Will and by the doing of the Will of God which being answered we may more safely proceed to prove the truth of the Proposition But before I can do this 't is requisite to premise these two things 1. That the Will of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ are one The Father and he are one and agree in one and indeed 't is in him and by him that we know the Will of God No man saith John chap. 1.18 hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him And as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.16 Who hath known the minde of God but we have the minde of Christ wherein and whereby we have the minde of God The Father saith of the Son as Pharaoh did of Joseph Gen 41.55 Go unto Joseph what he saith unto you do And as his Mother said to the servants at the wedding Iohn 2.5 Whatsoever he saith unto you do it Just so his Father saith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased heare ye him So that whatever Christ saith unto you is his Fathers Will and therefore verse 24. he calleth them his sayings and pronounceth them blessed that hear and do them for they are his Fathers Will. 2. As to the termes I premise this also That these phrases the Will of God the Word of God the Work of God the Commands of God c. are all equivalent and signifie the same thing So then I answer that by the Will of God we are to understand 1. The Credenda Faith 2. The Agenda Holinesse Good works or the * Rom. 16 26. obedience of faith not either but each of them not one or the other but both one and the other the doctrine of faith or things to be believ'd and the doctrine of holinesse or things to be done and practised As faith excludes not doing with respect to salvation so doing excludes not faith for as faith without works is dead so works without faith are dead also as 't is impossible that faith without works can please God so no lesse impossible for works without faith to please God and therefore what God hath joyn'd together man should not put asunder Yea you shall finde that believing is expressely called the Will of God John 6.27 c. Labour not saith Christ for the meat which perisheth but for that which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man giveth you Whence by the way observe that Gods giving and mans labouring are not inconsistent free grace and full duty may joyne hearts and hands But say they ver 28. What shall we do that we may work the works of God Jesus answered v.
29. and said unto them This is the work that is the Will of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Accordingly in the 40. verse This is the Will of him that sent me that every one that believeth on the Son should have everlasting life Now if this be his Will that believing on him we have everlasting life then 't is his Will that we believe on him in relation thereunto so that as well believing on him for everlasting life as everlasting life to believing on him is the Will of God Yea you have it in expresse termes 1 John 3.23 This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ so that you see 't is not barely that which we call good works that is to be understood by the doing of the Will of God but believing in or on the Lord Jesus Christ also this is the Work this is the Will this is the Command of God And beloved I ground it further on this rule which is an undeniable one and for not attending whereunto we have had so many needless groundlesse and unprofitable disputes in the world The rule is this that the Scripture doth often yea very usually put particular duties for all Religion and therefore annexeth salvation to distinct graces Sometime 't is He that believeth shall be saved Elsewhere He that calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Here 't is He that doth the Will of God Now all these and the like are complex comprehensive Propositions and contain more in them then they make shew of for God spcaks much in a little acts and duties of Religion being as Moralists speak of their vertues inter se connexae linked together in a golden chaine Religion is not this or that piece but the whole which is usually expressed in a word or sometime two * The Apostle comprehends the whole counsel of God under repentance and faith Acts 20.20 21 27. versescompared as in that of Solomon Fear God and keap his Commandments for this is the whole of man Eccl. 12.13 So that if you could suppose a man to be a believer and to be a believer alone it would not save him as the Apostle James saith ch 2.14 What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works Can faith save him No no more then saying Be ye warmed will warme any or Be ye filled will fill any for faith without works is dead And what is said of this may be said of the rest so that when the Scripture speaks of salvation as annexed to any one thing it supposeth that to contain the rest The reason is evident for the graces of God as saving are not parted There is no believing to salvation without repentance nor no repentance to salvation without believing there is no calling upon the Name of the Lord will save without departing from iniquity nor can they savingly depart from iniquity that call not on the Name of the Lord. 'T is not any one thing but things that pertain to the Kingdome of God Acts 1.3 'T is not thing but things that accompany or as it may be better read containe salvation Heb. 6.9 and he that takes one for all without all will finde it nothing at all A part is no portion The great fallacy with which Satan deludes many men is that which Logicians call à bene compositis ad malè divisa when he gets them to take Religion into pieces and then takes one piece for Religion One cries up God another cries up Christ another faith another love another good works but what is God without Christ or Christ without faith or faith without love or love without works but now take God in Christ by faith which worketh by love to the keeping of the Commandments of God and this is pure Religion 'T is the whole that is the whole of man Yet again though I have spoken thus much to it let me make it clearer then a demonstration that one is put for all and as containing all by comparing these places of Scripture in 1 Cor. 7.19 you reade that Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the Commandments of God What 's that why that is all in all in Gal. 5.6 'T is neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love that 's that which availeth or is all in all Yet in Gal. 6.15 he saith Neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature that 's all in all and yet for all this as if all this were nothing he tells us in Col. 3.11 that Christ is all and in all cashiering both Circumcision and uncircumcision as formerly Now my beloved if you should take any one of these though each be said to be availing I say if you should take any one and lay the stresse of your salvation upon it you were undone 'T is not keeping the Commandments of God nor faith working by love nor the new creature no nor Christ himself considered alone and apart that availeth any thing but these in conjunction He names one only because whereever one is it is not only one there is more then one whereever one is savingly there are all in their respective places as far as they are to be in relation to salvation Thus you see that faith as well as works and works as well as faith every one in their own order are to be taken in or we shall not be taken into the Kingdome of Heaven And this may suffice for the quid sit as ye call it or the opening of the Point As to the quod sit or proof of the Point that it is so that they and none but they who do the Will of God in the sense explained shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven though I might say Ipse dixit Christ himself hath said it what need we any further witnesse seeing we know and are assured that his witnesse is true yet we shall give you a whole cloud of witnesses the harmony and consent of Scriptures to clear up this point to evince and evidence the truth thereof to be past a contradiction and without controversie To say nothing of the connexion between the two petitions in the Lords Prayer Matth. 6.10 Thy Kingdom come and thy Will be done Nor of that in Heb. 10.36 For ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye might receive the Promise viz. of the Kingdom of Heaven or eternal life for this is the Promise which he hath made 1 John 2.25 and but to mention that in 1 John 2.17 He that doth the Will of God abideth for ever I say not to insist on these I shall proceed to prove the Point 1. From the testimony that God hath given of the persons already gone to Heaven viz. that they were such I shall instance only in two The first is Enoch
strengthening him do all things Phil. 4. â—3 tells us also in 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves and he doubles it as of our selves to think much lesse to do any thing but our sufficiency is of God Oh what need is there then of Christ Jesus to enlighten and enliven to quicken and strengthen us that we be able to do his Will When the Apostle had prayed Col. 1.10 that they might walk worthy of God to all well-pleasing he prayes v. 11. in relation thereunto that they might be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power * We are made willing in the day of his power we cannot pray unlesse the Spirit help our infitmities viz. that whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himselfe and that whereby he raised Christ from the dead as the prayer is Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus make you perfect in every good work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight 'T is a good rule that of Luther We must always observe God commanding us with an eye to Christ Serva mandata scil in Christo Keep the Commands or do my Will viz. in Christ or by Christ for without him we can do nothing 2. We do not only need Christ that we may do but we need Christ also when we have done the Will of God We have need not only of patience but of Christ that after we have done the Will of God we may inherit the Promise for my beloved we are but unprofitable servants when we have done our duty because we have done but our duty but alas how much more then are we unprofitable seeing we have not done our duty and if we sin what think you have we not need of an Advocate with the Father and such an one as yea the very Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins I think and am confident let men talk at what rate they please that when the best in the world come to die they will say with the great Cardinal Tutius est 'T is safer to ground our hopes upon what Christ hath done and suffered then upon what we have done for alas our all is too little our best is too bad our most perfect obedience is too imperfect to relie upon yea I adde that 't is the Will of God we should do so as is evident from 1 John 2.1 2. Yet 5. I infer this without derogation from or contradiction to the former that Christs doing the Will of God doth not exclude our or exempt us from doing the Will of God Though he have done the Will of God yet we also are to do the Will of God though not to the same ends * To all the same ends Farre be it from me to undervalue what Christ hath done and suffered I must live by it if I live for ever but yet beloved I say this God forbid far be it from us let it not it must not by any meanes be that any of us should think that the obedience of Christ doth free us from obedience nay it strongly engageth us thereunto I come to do thy Will saith he and by that Will we are sanctified of which he speaks John 17.19 after this manner For their sakes I sanctifie my selfe that they also may be truly sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanctified in truth or as we reade it by the truth Shall we then live in sin because Christ hath died for sin because Christ hath fulfilled the righteousnesse of the Law and delivered us from by putting an end to righteousnesse by the works of the Law shall we neglect to do righteous works did Christ do his Fathers Will that we might do our own that we might live as we list God forbid be not deceived notwithstanding what Christ hath done we may go to hell if we be found Workers of iniquity Are not we his Workmanship created that is new created unto good works Is not he that is of God made to us righteousnesse made sanctification and redemption from all iniquity Can we think that he will take our sins from us and not take us from our sins Beloved let me tell you Christ died as much to sanctifie as he did to save you yea to sanctifie that he might save you Christ doth not only deliver his people from eternal condemnation but he delivers them also from a sinful conversation and to this end that he may deliver them from eternal condemnation This is the blessing with which he is sent to blesse you to turne you away from your iniquity The same grace that hath appeared bringing salvation doth also teach us Titus 2. to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and live godlily righteously and soberly in this present world and where graces teaching is not learn't graces salvation will not be bestowed Why not why because he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works These things hath the Apostle in the Name of our Lord and Saviour charged me as I will answer it at his appearing to speak exhort and rebuke with all authority and if any man despise it at his peril be it He will one day finde that it did concern him Let me then tell you again that he is become the Author of eternal salvation to them and only to them that obey him Hebr. 5.9 Though he be the Saviour of all yet the special salvation is to them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 And these things saith he command and teach In a word to make short of it Though Christs satisfaction not our sanctification be the ground of our justification yet whereever he is justification he is sanctification also or else there could be no salvation for as I told you before I tell you still Without holinesse no man shall see God I beseech you to consider it 6. A sixth Information is this which I should have put in before if Gods Will must then our will must not be done the doing of Gods Will implies the denying of our own Christ came to do not his own Will but his Fathers i. e. not only his owne but we must not at all do ours but all as Gods Man should not leane to his own understanding but in all his wayes acknowledge him in the things of this life we may not confer with flesh and blood not with our own Wills nor do any thing because 't is our but because 't is the Will of God Whatever you do saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.31 from the highest duty of grace to the lowest of nature whether you hear pray buy sell eat or drink do all not only one or two things or one or two kindes of things but all to the glory of God that is to please God which is when
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Heb. 10. Now its great consolation to us we are not to make a purchase by our doing the Will of God we are not to obey as paying a price for our inheritance that 's done already and by faith we do but receive and by obedience walk worthy of or answerable to the Kingdom and glory whereunto we are called by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel 2. Doing the Will of God here if you take it for works only is not that whereby we are justified but that which doth justifie that we are justified and by which our faith is made perfect as the Apostle saith concerning Abraham James 2.22 'T is not that which doth give us our title to Heaven but doth prove that we have a title given us 3. As to such things as we would do but cannot God will accept the will for the deed provided we be as willing to do as to will the deed Thus Abraham is said to have offered up his Son because he was willing to do it And this is the consolation the Apostle had when to will was present with him but to do he had no power that with his minde he did serve the Law or the Will of God Rom. 7. The Saints cannot do the things that they would because the flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 and in such a case Christ doth excuse his disciples with this The spirit indeed mark that the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26.41 and upon this account 't is that Christ tells his Father John 17.6 that his disciples had kept his Word though they failed very often because their heart was to it 4. By doing the Will of God here is not to be understood such an exactness as will not dispense with any failings that if a man fall short in any thing he should perish and be undone according to that of the Law cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them Deut. 27.26 Or as the Apostle quotes it Gal. 3.10 Cursed be every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them For from this rigour and curse we are free by Christ Jesus he being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 but that which is required of us hereby is a continual care of doing and making it our businesse to do the Will of God as I make appear thus Mat. 7.13 saith Christ Enter in at the strait gate I it s soon said enter in but what is the meaning why Luke as I said before expounds it thus Strive to enter in at the strait gate so that Striving is put for entring because such shall enter and the Apostle Peter with respect to this Kingdome expresseth the duty by giving all diligence 2 Pet. 1.11 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall but an entrance shall be ministred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 5. I adde this that to such God hath promised assistance so that though the work be too hard for us yet through Christ strengthening us we may be able to do all these things and therefore Phil. 2.12 13. when the Apostle had said Work out your salvation with fear and trembling He presently addes by way of encouragement God worketh in you both to will and to do God will not be wanting to us if we be not wanting to our selves God will blesse the diligent hand And this shall suffice for the doctrinal part I come now to the Application and here there are three words or heads that I have to speak to and by the way having spoken of three words let me take off an unjust blame often laid on Ministers for saying they have but a word or a word or two more one word in Scripture-phrase is put for one head The ten Commandments are called but ten words God spake these ten words saying c. they are more then ten words but no more in this sense they are ten heads of things therefore let none shew their folly hereafter in laughing at the Ministers saying but a word more though he speak many These then are the three words or heads which I have to speak unto 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation The first is Information and that of these several truths The first Corollary Inference or Deduction call it what you will from hence is this That very few will go to Heaven This very Doctrine which I have handled was preach't by Christ upon this Querie there was that said unto him Luke 13.23 Are there few that shall be saved and he said by way of answer Strive to enter for many shall seek and shall not be able and it is not every one that saith Lord Lord that shall enter Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father whence I infer what Christ grants that there are but few a very few that will go to Heaven I beseech you beloved look about you and lay it to heart it is no such common thing to be saved as the world thinks for Reade but a few Scriptures and judge you whether many or few will be saved * Only one ground of foure brought forth fruit to salvation And how few of the old world when the floodcame how few of Sodom when hell came from Heaven I mean in comparison of them that will be damned in 1 Cor. 6.9 10. saith he Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God the unrighteous that 's a large word who are they why Be not deceiv'd neither fornicatours and are none of you such nor idolaters nor adulterers and are none of you such nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor thieves nor covetous and are none of you such no nor drunkards saith he and are none of you such nor revilers nor extortioners and are none of you such be not deceived none of these no not a man of these thus living and thus dying shall inherit the Kingdom of God sad Lord what will become of this sinful world If we should go throughout this City and separate the forenamed sinners alas how few would remain to be saved See another place Gal. 5.19 c. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are adulterie fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkennesse revellings and such like Doth not the whole world almost iâ— in some or other of these is not this the fruit it brings forth Well what will become of them The Apostle tells us v. 21. Of the which I tell you as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not no they shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Beloved what do we think