unable to obey the carnall minde is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8. 7. The Reasons hereof are these First Our universall both naturall and personall 〈◊〉 wee are by nature all flesh children of the old Adam Ioh. 3. 6. Children of Gods wrath Eph. 2. 3. and so long it is impossible wee should doe any thing to please God for they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. a man must first be renewed in his mind before he can so much as make proof of what will be acceptable unto God Rom. 12. 2. This naturall Impurity in our persons is the ground of all impurity in our workes for unto the 〈◊〉 every thing is uncleane Tit. 1. 15. and all the fruit of an evill Tree is evill fruit Math. 7. 18. And Saint Paul gives the reason of it Because our fruit should be frâ—…itunto God Rom. 7. 4. and fruit unto holinesse Rom 6. 22. Whereas these works of naturall men doe neither begin in God nor looke towards him nor tend unto him God is neither the principle nor the object nor the end of them Secondly Our naturall 〈◊〉 ie the best performance of wicked men is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift of an enemie and the sacrifice of fooles It proceedeth not from love which is the Bond of perfection that which keepeth all other requisite ingredients of a good worke together Col. 3. 14. which is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 8. and the principle of obedience and all willing service and conformity to God Gal. 5. 6. Ioh. 14. 15. and ever proceedeth from the spirit of Christ Gal. 5. 22. for by nature we are enemies Rom. 5. 10. Thirdly Our naturall infidelity for the state of sinne is an estate of unbeliefe The spirit shall convince the world of sinne because they beleeve not Ioh. 16. 9. Now infidelity doth utterly disable men to please God without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11. 6. There can no good worke be done but in Christ we are sanctified in Christ 1. Cor. 1. 2. we are created in Christ unto good works Eph. 2. 10. we must be one with him before wee can be sanctified Heb. 2. 11. and this is the reason why faith sanctifies and purifies the heart Act. 15. 9. and by consequence the whole man for when the fountaine was clensed all the waters were sweete 2. Reg. 2. 21. because faith is the bond which fastens us unto Christ. Eph. 3. 17. Fourthly Our naturall ignorance and follie For the state of sinne is ever an ignorant estate Evill men understand not judgement Prov. 28. 5. The usuall stile that the Scripture gives sinners even the best of sinners those who keepe themselves Virgins and escape many of the pollutions of the world as Saint Peter speakes 2. Pet. 2. 20. is fooles Math. 25. 2. though they know many things yet they know nothing as they ought to know 1. Cor. 8. 2. Now the roote of our well pleasing is wisedome and spirituall knowledge Col. 1. 9. 10. that is it which makes us walke worthy of the Lord and fruitfull in good works Whereas want of understanding is that which makes us altogether unprofitable that wee doe no good Rom. 3. 11. 12. And now what a cutting consideration should this be to a man to consider God made me for his use that I should be his servant to doe his will and I am utterly unfit for any services save those which dishonour him like the wood of the vine utterly unusefull and unmeete for any worke Ezek. 15. 4. what then should I expect but to be cast out as a vessell in which is no pleasure If I am altogether barrâ—…n and of no use what a wonderfull patience of God is it that suffers mee to cumber the ground and doth not presently cast me into the fire that 〈◊〉 me like a noisome weed to poison the aire and choake the growth of better things If I drinke in the raine and bring forth nothing but thornes how neere must I needs be unto cursing And this conviction should make men labour to have place in Christ because thereby they shall bee enabled to please God and in some measure to bring that glory to him for which they were made For this is a thing which God much delights in when a creature doth glorifie him actively by living unto him He will not loose his glory by any Creature but fetch it out at the last but when the Creature operates out of it selfe to Gods end and carries Gods intention through its owne worke then is hee most honored and delighted Herein saith Christ is my Father glorified that ye beare much fruit Ioh. 15. 8. and herein did Christ glorifie his father in finishing the worke which he gave him to do Ioh. 17 4. What an encouragement should this bee for those who have hitherto liv'd in the lusts of the flesh to come over to Christ and his righteousnesse and for others to goe on with patience through all difficulties because in so doing they worke to that end for which they were made they live to God and bring forth fruit unto him who hath in much patience spared and in infinite love called them to himselfe How should we praise God that hath given us any strength in any way to doe him service that is pleas'd to account himselfe honoured when he is obeyed by us who spoile all the works we do with our owne corruptions And how should we husband all the pretious moments of our life to the advantage of our master whose very acceptation of such unworthy services should alone bee both encouragement and reward enough unto us The more profitably any man lives the more comfortably he shall die Now to consider more particularly this disabilitie which comes along with sinne we may note that it is either totall when a man is all flesh as by nature we are or at best partiall in proportion to the vigor of concupifence and life of sinne in the best of us To touch a little upon both of these First in a wicked man who is totally in the state of sinne there is a Totall and absolute impossibility and impotency to doe any thing that is good Every figment and motion of the heart of man is onely and continually evill Gen. 6. 5. But though his heart be evill may not his actions or his words be good No for that is the fountaine whence all they issue and impossible it is that sweete water should proceed from a bitter and corrupted fountaine Matth. 12. 34. Iam. 3. 11. Looke on the best actions of wicked men If they pray to God their prayer is an abomination Prov. 28. 9. If they sacrifice God will not accept nor smell nor regard any of their offerings he will esteeme them all abominable and uncleane as a dogs head or swines bloud Amos 5. 21. Esai 66. 3. Seeme things never so specious in the sight of men
but after his prayer hee triumphed in the midst of death David full of heavinesse and of gronings in his prayer but after as full of comfort against all his enemies Secondly as Irregular Cares are needlesse and superfluous so they are sinnefull too First In regard of their obiect they are worldly cares the Cares of the men of this world therein wee declare our selves to walke in conformitie to the Gentiles as if wee had no better foundation of quietnesse and contentment then the heathen which know not God And this is Christs argument after all these things do the Gentiles seeke We are taken out of the world wee have not received the spirit of the world and therefore wee must not bee conformable unto the world nor bring forth the fruits of a worldly spirit but walke as men that are set apart as a peculiar people and that have heavenly promises and the Grace of God to establish our hearts Illi terrena sapiant qui promissa coelestia non habent It is seemely for those alone who have no other portion but in this life to fixe their thoughts and cares here Secondly they are sinnefull in regard of their Causes and they are principally two First Inordinate lust or coveting the running of the heart after covetousnesse Secondly Distrust of Gods providence for those desires which spring from lust can never have faith to secure the heart in the expectation of them Lastly they are sinnefull in their Effects First They are murthering cares they worke sadnesse suspicions uncomfortablenes and at last death Secondly They are Choaking cares they take of the heart from the word and thereby make it unfruitfull Thirdly they are Adulterous cares they steale away the heart from God and set a man at enmity against him In all which respects wee ought to arme our selves against them Which that we may the better doe wee will in the last place propose two sorts of directions First How to make the Creature no vexing Creature Secondly How to vse it as a vexing Creature for the former First pray for conveniencie for that which is suteable to thy minde I meane not to the lusts but to the abilities of thy minde Labour ever to sure thy occasions to thy parts and thy supplies to thy occasions If a ship out of greedinesse be overloaden with gold it will be in danger of sinking notwithstanding the capacity of the sides be not a quarter filled on the other side fill it to the brimme with feathers and it will still tosse up and downe for want of due ballasting so is it in the lives of men some have such greedy desires that they thinke they can runne through all sorts of businesse and so never leave loading themselves till their hearts sinke and be swallowed up with worldly sorrow and securitie in sinne others set their affections on such triviall things that though they should have the fill of all their desires their mindes would still be as floating and unsetled as before Resolve therefore to do with thy selfe as men with their ships There may a Tempest arise when thou must be constrained to throw out all thy wares into the Sea such were the times of the Apostles and after bloudy persecutions when men were put to forfake Father Mother Wife Children nay to have the ship it selfe broken to pieces that the Marriner within might escape upon the ruines But besides this in the calmest and securest times of the Church these two things thou must ever looke to if thou tender thine owne tranquillity First fill not thy selfe onely with light things Such are all the things of this world in themselves besides the roome and cumbersomenesse of them as light things take up ever the most roome they still leave the soule floating and unsetled Doe therefore as wise Mariners have strong and substantiall ballasting in the bottome faith in Gods promises love and feare of his name a foundation of good workes and then what ever becomes of thy other loading thy ship it selfe shall bee safe at last thou shalt be sure in the greatest tempest to have thy life for a prey Secondly Consider the burden of thy Vessell All ships are not of an equall capacity and they must be fraighted and mann'd and victualed with proportiō to their burden Al men have not the same abilities some have such a measure of grace as enables them with much wisedome and improvement to manage such an estate as would puffe up another with pride sensualitie superciliousnesse and forgetfulnesse of God Againe some men are fitted to some kinde of employments not to others as some ships are for merchandise others for warre and in these varieties of states every man should pray for that which is most suteable to his disposition and abilities which may expose him to fewest temptations or at least by which he may bee most serviceable in the body of Christ and bring most glory to his Master This was the good prayer of Agur give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me this is that we all pray Give us Our daylie Bread that which is most proportion'd to our condition that which is fittest for us to have and most advantageous to the ends of that Lord whom wee serve Secondly labour ever to get Christ into thy ship hee will check every tempest and calme every vexation that growes upon thee When thou shalt consider that his truth and person and honor is imbarked in the same vessell with thee thou maist safely resolve on one of these either he will be my Pilot in the ship or my planke in the Sea to carry me safe to Land if I suffer in his companie and as his member he suffers with me and then I may triumph to be made any way conformable vnto Christ my head If I have Christ with me there can no estate come which can be cumbersome unto me Have I a load of misery and infirmity inward outward in minde body name or estate this takes away the vexation of all when I consider it all comes from Christ and it all runnes into Christ. It all comes from him as the wise disposer of his owne bodie and it all runnes into him as the compassionate sharer with his owne bodie It all comes from him who is the distributer of his Fathers gifts and it all runns into him who is the partaker of his members sorrows If I am weake in body Christ my head was wounded if weake in minde Christ my head was heavie unto death If I suffer in my estate Christ my head became poore as poore as a servant if in my name Christ my head was esteemed vile as vile as Beelzebub Paul was comforted in the greatest tempest with the presence of an Angel how much more with the Grace of Christ when the Thorne was in his flesh and the buffets of Satan about his soule yet then was his presence a plentifull protection my
quoad Regnum in regard of the dominion and government of it in regard of the vigorous operation which is in it First sinne is condemn'd Rom. 8. 3. and therein destinated and design'd to death It shall fully bee rooted out Secondly in the meane time it is disabled from a plenarie Rule over the conscience though the Christian be molested and pester'd with it yet he doth not henceforth serve it nor become its instrument to bee subject in every motion thereof as the weapon is to the hand that holds it but Christ and his love beare the sway and hold the Sterne in the heart Rom. 6 6. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 14 15. 1. Pet. 4. 1 2. Thirdly the sentence of the Law against sin is already in execution But we are to note that sinne though condemnd to die yet such is the severity of God against it it is adjudg'd to a lingring death a death upon the Crosse and in the faithfull sin is already upon a Crosse fainting struggling dying daily yet so as that it retaines some life still so long as we are here sinne will be as fast to our natures as a nailed man is to the Crosse that beares him Our Thorne will still bee in our flesh our Canaanite in our side our Twinns in our wombe our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus yet we are unlike him per Reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh not to sinne is here onely our Law but in heaven it shal be our Reward All our perfection here is imperfect Sinne hath its deaths blow given it but yet like fierce and implacable beasts it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque in vulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to bee in us Who can say I have made my heart cleane Cleanse thou be saith holy David from my secret sinnes Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified saith the Apostle and the reason is added He that iudgethme is the Lord which Saint Iohn further unfolds God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things Which places though most dangerously perverted by some late Innovators which teach That a man may bee without secret sinnes that he may make his heart cleane from sinne and that Saint Paul was so doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth that the lusts of the flesh will be and worke in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us And this God is pleased to suffer for these and like purposes First to convince and humble us in the experience of our owne vilenesse that wee may be the more to the prayse of the glory of his great grace As once Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria dealt with the Egyptian Idols after the embracement of Christianitie most he destroyed onely one of their Apes and Images he kept entire not as a monument of Idolatry but as a spectacle of sinne and misery that in the sight thereof the people might after learne to abhorre themselves that had liv'd in such abominable Idolatries Secondly to drive us still unto him to cast us alwayes upon the hold and use of our Faith that our prayers may still finde something to aske which hee may give and our repentance something to confesse which he may forgive Thirdly to proportion his mercy to his justice for as the wicked are not presently fully destroyed have not sentence speedily executed against them but are reserv'd unto their Day that they may be destroi'd together as the Psalmist speakes even so the righteous are not here fully saved but are reserv'd unto the great day of Redemption when they also shall be saved together as the Apostle intimates 1. Thess. 4. 17. Fourthly to worke in us a greater hatred of sinne and longing after glory therefore we have yet but the first fruites of the spirit that we should grone and waite for the Adoption and Redemption therfore are we burdened in our earthly tabernacle that we should the more earnestly groane to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven Fiftly to magnifie the power of his Grace in the weakest of his members which notwithstanding that inhabiting Traytor which is ready to let in and entertaine every temptation shall yet make a poore sinfull man stronger in some respect then Adam was himselfe even able to overcome at last the powers of darkenesse and to be sufficient against all Satans buffets Lastly to commend the greatnesse of his mercy and salvation when we shall come to the full fruition of it by comparing it with the review of that sinfull estate in which here we lived when we were at the best without possibility of a totall deliverance Thirdly consider the great Contagion and pestilentiall humour which is in this sinne which doth not onely cleave unseparably to our nature but derives venome upon every action that comes from us For though we doe not say That the good works of the Regenerate are sinnes and so hatefull to God as our adversaries belie and misreport us for that were to reproach the spirit and the grace of Christ by which they are wrought yet this we affirme constantly unto the best worke that is done by the concurrence and contribution of our owne faculties such a vitiousnesse doth adhere such stubble of ours is superinduc'd as that God may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave and for the evill which we mixe with them may turne away his eyes from his owne gifts in us Sinne in the facultie is poison in the fountaine that sheds infection into every thing that proceeds from it Ignorance and difficultie are two evill properties which from the fountaine doe in some measure diffuse themselves upon all our workes Whensoever thou art going about any good this evill will be present with thee to derive a deadnesse a dampe a dulnesse an indisposednesse upon all thy services an iniquitie upon thy holiest things which thou standest in neede of a priest to beare for thee Exod. 28. 38. and to remove from thee In the Law whatsoever an uncleane person touched was uncleane though it were holy flesh to note the evill quality of sinful nature to staine and blemish every good worke which commeth from it This is that which in thy prayers deads thy zeale fervencie humiliation selfe-abhorrencie thy importunitie faith and close attention this like an evill sauour mingleth with thy sacrifice casteth in impertinent thoughts wrong ends makes thee rest in the worke done and never enquire after the truth of thine owne heart or Gods blessing and successe to thy services This is it that in reading and hearing the Word throwes in so much prejudice blindnesse inadvertency security infidelity misapplication misconstruction wresting and shaping the word to our selves This is that which in thy meditations makes thee roving and unsetled
against the Kingdome of Christ in â—…e and I find by daylie experience what foiles he gives me what captivitie he holds me under how unable I am to hold conflict with but some one of his Lusts how unfurnish'd with such generall strength as is requisite to meet so potent an adversary in this case a man will bee very apt to faint and bee wearied in his striving against sinne And therefore to encourage and quicken us unto patience wee must not seeke our selves in our selves nor fix upon the measure and proportion of our former graces but runne to our faith and hold fast our confidence which will make us hope above hope and bee strong when wee are weake Wee must looke unto Iesus and consider first his grace which is sufficient for us Secondly his power which hath already begunne faith and a good worke in us Thirdly his promise which is to finish it for us Fourthly his compassion and assistance he is our second ready to come in in any danger and undertake the quarrell Fifthly his example he passed through alike contradiction of sinners as wee doe of lusts Sixthly his neerenesse he is at the dore it is yet but a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Seventhly his Glory which is in our quarrell engaged and in our weakenesse perfected Eighthly his reward which hee brings with him it is for an eternall weight of glory that wee wrestle Ninthly his faithfulnesse to all that Clowd of witnesses those armies of Saints whome he hath carried through the same way of combates and temptations before us and whose warfare is now accomplished Lastly his performances already First he maketh the combate every day easier then before our Inner man growes day by day the house of David is stronger and stronger and the house of Saul weaker and weaker And Secondly as in all other afflictions so in this especially hee giveth unto us a peaceable fruit of righteousnesse after wee have beene exercised in it But you will say these are good encouragements to him that knowes How to do this worke but how shall I that am Ignorant and impotent know how to suppresse and keepe downe so strong an enemie with any patience or constancy that all this workes in me To this I answere first consider wherein mainely the strength of lust lies and then applie your preventions and oppositions accordingly The strength of lust is in these particulars First it 's wisdome and cunning craftinesse whereby it lies in waite and is upon the catch of every advantage to set forward its owne ends Secondly it's suggestions perswasions titillations treaties flatteries dalliances with the soule which like the smiles of a harlot entice and allure the heart to condescend to some experience and practice with it Thus Evah being deceived fell into the transgression For the suggestion quickly begets delight and delight as easily growes into consent and when the Will like the Master-Fort is taken the inferiour members 〈◊〉 no longer stand out Thirdly its promises and presumptions its threatnings and affrightments for Hopes and fear as are the edges of temptation Lust seldome or never prevailes till it have begotten some expectation of fruit in it till it can propose some wages and pleasures of iniquitie some peace and immunitie against dangers or judgements denounced wherewith men may flatter themselves some unprofitablenesse toyle and inconvenience in a contrary strictnesse Lust deales with the soule as Iael with Sisera first it calls a man in gives him milke and butter coveâ—…s him with a mantle and casts him into a quiet and secure sleepe and then after brings out the naile and hammer to fasten him unto death and yet all this while a man saith not within himselfe What have I done there is no hope after all this my wearinesse in the tent of Iael in the promises of lust but like the Mother of Sisera cherisheth vast expectations and returneth answers of spoyles and purchases to himselfe We will 〈◊〉 Incense to the Queene of Heaven say the people to â—…my we have not onely great and publike examples 〈◊〉 Fathers our Kings our Princes our Cities but great Rewards to encourage us thereunto for then had wee pleâ—…y of victuals and wâ—…re well and saw no evill I will go after my Lovers that give me my bread and my water my wool and my flax mine oyle and my drinke neither did shee ever returne to her first husband till shee found by evident experience that it was then better with her then amongst her idoles So that which made that hypocriticall people weary of the wayes and worship of God was the unprofitablenesse which they conceiv'd to be in his service and the unequalnesse of his wayes whereas indeed the fault was in their owne unsincerity and evill ends For the Word of the Lord doth good to those that walke vprightly as the Prophet speakes Fourthly its Lawes and Edicts whereby it setteth the members aworke and publisheth its owne will and that either under the shew of reason for sinne hath certaine Maximes and principles of corrupted reason which it takes for indubitable and secure wherewith to countenance its tyrannicall commands or else under the shape of Emoluments and Exigences and Inevitablenesse which may serve to warrant those commands that are otherwise destitute even of the colour of reason Like that device of Caiaphas when they knew not how to accuse Christ or charge him with any face of capitall crimes yet hee had found out a way that though there were no personall reasons nor iust grounds to proceede upon yet admitting and confessing the innocencie of the person of Christ the Expedience notwithstanding and Exigencie of state so requiring it fitter it was for one innocent person to perish and thereby the safety of the common wealth which depended upon their homage to the Romanes to be secur'd then by the preservation of one man to have the welfare of the whole people lie at hazard and exposed to the feaâ—…es and jealousies and displeasures of the Romans who by publike fame were very suspicious of an universall prince which was to arise out of Iudea and none so likely to be the man as he who could raise dead men out of their graves and so be never destitute of armies to helpe him so though there was no â—…quum est yet there was an expâ—…dit though no reason or iustice yet there was Exigence and Expediencie why hee ought to die though not as a malefactor to satisfie for his owne offence yet as a sacrifice to expiate and to prevent those evils of state which the fame of his mighty workes might have occasion'd And thus doth sinne deale with men sometimes by the helpe of corrupt reason and counterfeite maxi neâ—… it makes the sinnes which are commanded seeme warrantable and equall sometimes where the things are apparantly evill and cannot bee iustified yet by pretence of
our selves I will take away saith the Lord the stoâ—…ie heart out of their flesh and I will give them an heart of flesh that they may walke in my statutes c. So then God commands us to cleanse our selves when yet it is his owne worke First to teach us that what he doth is not out of dutie or debt but of Grace and Favour for when he doth that which he commands it is manifest that ours was the duty and therefore his the greatâ—…r mercy to give us mony wherewith to pay him the debt we owed Thou workest allour workes for us saith the Prophet The worke as it is a dutie is ours but as it is a performance it is thine Secondly He doth it to shew that though hee be the Author and finisher of our Faith though he who beginneth our good workes doth also performe them untill the day of Christ yet he will not have us abide alwayes under his hand as dead stones but being quickned and healed by his Spirit and having our impotencies remooved we likewise must cooperate and move to the same end with him for he doth not so worke for us but hee withall gives us a will and a deede to concurre with him to the same actions As wee have received Christ so wee must walke in him Thirdly to shew us where wee must fetch our cure to teach us that hee will bee sought unto by us and that wee must rely upon his Power and Promises Therefore Hee commandeth us the things which we cannot doe that we might know of whom to begge them for it is Faith alone which obtaineth by Prayer that which the Law requireth onely but cannot effect by reason of the weaknesse of it In one place the Lord commandeth cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart and a new spirit In another place he promiseth I will sprinkle cleane water upon you and you shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stonie heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh How can these things consist together He commands us to doe that which hee promiseth to doe himselfe but onely to shew that God gives what he requires The things which he bids us doe as if they were to bee the workes of our owne will and being indeede the duties which we owe yet he promiseth to doe in us to shew that they are the workes of his grace and that his promises are the foundation of all our performances For wee by working doe not cause him to fulfill his promises but hee by promising doth enable us to performe our workes So then wee cleanse our selves by the strength of his promises they are the principles of our Purification This the Apostle expresseth in the text Having therefore these promises dearely beloved Let us cleanse our selves This then is the next thing wee must inquire into wherein the strength of this argument lies and how a man ought to make use of the promises to inferre and presse upon his conscience this dutie of clansing himselfe Here then first we must note that promises doe containe the matter of rewards and are for the most part so proposed unto us Abating onely the first promise of caâ—…ing unto the obedience of Faith which I conceive is rather made unto Christ in our behalfe Aske of me and I will give thee the heathâ—…n for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession then unto us formally because the seede of Abraham are the subject of the promises I say excepting onely that I conceive all other promises to beare in them the nature of a reward and so to carry relation to presupposed Services For benefits have usually burdens and engagements with them so that promises being the representation of rewards and rewards the consequents of service and all services being generally comprehended in this of cleansing our selves from all â—…ilthinesse and of finishing holinesse in Gods feare manifest it is that the promises are in this regard fit arguments to induce our dutie The Gospell which is the Word of Promise hath an obedience annexed unto it which the Apostle cals the Obedience of the Gospell And Faith being the hand to receive the promises hath an obedience annexed vnto it likewise which the same Apostle cals the obedience of Faith for it is not only a hand to receive but a hand to worke To live to our selves and yet lay claime to the promisâ—…s is to make God a lyer not to beleeve the record which hee gives of himselfe that he will not cast away pretious things upon swine His promises are free in fierâ—… made onely out of Grace but conditionall in facto esse performed and accomplished with dependance upon duties in us God is Faithfull saith the Apostle who shall stablish you and keep you from evill there is the promise and we are confident that you will doe the things which we command you there is the duty which that promise cales for When we pray Give us our dayly bread by saying Give us we acknowledge that it is from God but when wee call iâ—… ours wee shew how God gives it namely in the use of meanes For Bread is Ours not onely in the right of the promise I will not faile thee nor forsake thee but by service and quiet working in an orderly calling Secondly Promises are apt to purifie not onely as arguments to induce it but likewise as efficiens causes and principles being by Faith apprehended of our Holynesse And so the force of the reason is the fame as if a rich man having given a great estate unto his sonne should adde this exhortation having received such gifts as these and having now where withall to live in qualitie and worth keepe your selfe in fashion like the Sonne of such a father Efficients they are First as tokens and expressions of Gods Love for all Gods promises are grounded in his Love His Iustice Truth ahd Fidelity are the reasons of fulfilling promises because in them hee maketh himselfe our debtor Therefore saith the Apostle There is laid up for mee a Crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Iudge shall give unto meâ—… and againe God is faithfull who will not suffer you to bee tempted and faithfull is hee that hath promised who also will doe it and Saint Iohn If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and lust to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse One would thinke a man should rather feare the revenge then expect the forgivenesse of sinnes by Gods â—…ustice but God is as Iust in performing the mercy which Hee promiseth as in executing the vengeance which he threatneth So then Iustice and Fidelity are the reasons of fulfilling promises
knew that God was able to raise him even froÌ„ the dead from whence he had before in a figure received him namely from a dead and barren wombe Heb. 11. 29. Thâ—…s was Iobs onely comfort upon the dunghill That that God who would after wormes had consumed his flesh raise him up at the last day and make him with those very eyes to see his 〈◊〉 had power enough in his due time to deliver from that wofull 〈◊〉 into which hee had â—…st him and to revive his strength and estate againe Iob. 19. 25. 26. 27. A man haply is haunted and pursued with such or such an uncleane affection is wearied in wrestling with it and cannot prevaile as indeede there is nothing that cleaves more pertinaciously or is more inexpugnable then a strong and importunate lust What must hee now doe sinke under the weight is there no remedy nor way of escape God forbid When his owne strength and wisedome failes him let him looke off from himselfe unto the power and promises of that God who is Al-sufficient to save to the uttermost those that come unto him by Christ. He is a Refiner a Sunne of Righteousnesse that can cure the barrennesse of our hearts by the healing vertue of his wings and purgeaway our drosse and corruptions from us That Promise which God made to Paul in the stirrings and conflicts of his concupiscence is made unto all of his temper My Grace is sufficient for thee and there are two things in that promise Grace to make it and Sufficiencie to fulfill it Lay aside saith the Apostle every weight and the sinne which doth so easily beset you Alas may the Soule answere if it be a weight how shall I moove it If it bee a beâ—…ieging and encompassing sinne that doth so easily occupate and invade all my faculties how shall I repell or drive it of well saith the Apostle if you cannot quit your selves of your clog and burthen yet runne with patience the race which is set before you bee content to draw your chaine and to lugge your lusts after you But how can the soule be patient under such heavie and such close corruptions under the motions importunities and immodest solicitations of so many and so adulterous lusts Looke faith he unto Iesus the Author and finisher of your faith consider him lest yee bee wearied and faint in your mindes He doth not any of his workes by halfes he is a Perfect Saviour He finisheth all the workes which are given him to doe If he have begunne a good worke in you hee is able to perfect it if hee be now the Author he will in due time be the Accomplisher of your Faith Wee must note All the promises are made in Christ being purchased by his merits and they are all perform'd in Christ being administred by his power and office And in Christ wee must note there is first a will that wee should be holy expressed in his prayer to his father sanctifie them by thy truth Ioh 17. 17. Secondly a power to execute that will he is able to save those that come unto God by him and he quickneth whom he will Thirdly both his will and power are back'd and strengthned with authority and an office so to doe for he was sanctified and sealed by his father unto this purpose Fourthly he is furnish'd with Aboundance of wisdome to contrive and of fidelity to employ both his will power and office for fulfilling all Gods promises of grace and mercie In him there were treasures of wisedome and he is a mercifull and faithful high priest Fifthly to all this he is further engag'd by his consanguinitie with us he is our brother by his sympathie and compassion towards us he hath felt the weight of sinne in the punishment therof and the Contradiction of sinners and lastly by his propriety unto us he should defraud himselfe if he should not fulfill all his promises to the church for the church is His owne house All the promises are made to Him in aggregato with his Church To the seed of Abraham that is To Christ namely to the head and members together As when any euill befals the church he is Afflicted so in all the Advancements of the church he is honored and in a sort further filled for the church is His fulnes Though as God as man as mediator he be full by himselfe yet as Head he accounteth himselfe maimed and incomplete without his members So that when Christ pleads and prayes for the Church he is an Advocate and Intercessor in his owne businesse for the Affaires of the Church are His. Thirdly promises are many times subordinate to one another and are perform'd in an order succession and depeudencie Therefore we must not anticipate nor perturbe the order which God hath put in his Promises but waite upon him in his owne way Grace and Glory will he give but first Grace before Glory no man must snatch at this promise till hee have interest in that Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of that to come but wee must note the order which our Saviour puts first seeke the Kingdome and Righteousnesse of Goa and then all these things shall be added unto you The Lord Promiseth to call men unto Christ Nations that knew thee not shall runne unto thee The Apostle telsus whereunto hee calls God hath not called us unto uncleannesse but unto Holynesse Therefore in the next place he promiseth to sanctifie and cleanse his Church I will put my Law in their hearts and in their inward parts The qualification of this Holynesse is that it be whole and constant The very God of Peace Sanctifie you and preserve you blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Is the Apostles prayer for the Thessalonians Therefore in the next place God promiseth Perseverance I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me But this Perseverance is not so certaine but that it admits of fals slippes and miscarriages therefore in that case He promiseth healing and restoring I will heale their backesâ—…idings I will love them freely I will binde up that which is broken and will strengthen that which was sicke And after all this comes the promise of Glory and Salvation Now then wee must waite upon the promises in their owne order When God hath called us to the knowledge of Christ wee must not skip over all the intermediate linkes and looke presently for the accomplishment of Gods promise of Salvation or perseverance by Gods sole Power and in the meane time omit all care of Holynesse in our conversation When we are sanctified wee must not resolue then to sit still as if all our worke were at an end and expect salvation to droppe into our lappes But we must make it our care and esteeme it our owne duty to continue faithfull unto the
matter of which is commanded may yet be made in the doing of them evill when that due respect and conformitie which the Law wherein it is commanded requireth is not observed If a man build a wall with pâ—…etence to keepe out the Sea or an enemy and yet leave a wide gap and entrance open to admit them though hee who sees nothing but firme wall may admire the worke yet he who viewes the whole will but deride it so though a maâ—… doe very much though hee proceede so farre as to offer up the children of his body and bestow mountaines of cattell upon God and his service yet omitting righteousnesse and iustice and humiliation before God though to men it may seeme very specious yet unto God it is both abominable and ridiculous As a piece of silver or gold may be shaped into a vessell of dishonor which shall be destin'd unto â—…ordid and uncleane uses so may a worke be compounded of choyce ingredients the materials of it may be the things which God himselfe requires and yet serving to base purposes and directed to our owne ends it may stinke in the nostrils of God and bee by him reiected as a vessell in which there is no pleasure A cup of cold water to a prophet as a prophet shall bee rewarded when a magnificent almes with a pharises trumpet shall be rejected As a small thing which the righteous hath so a small thing which the righteous giveth is better then great riches of the ungodly Fourthly wee are to note what things are requisite unto the doing of a thing so as that it may bee an Act of obedience and thereupon acceptable unto God First then it must have a new principle the Spirit of Christ and the Law of the Spirit of Life and Faith purifying the Conscience from dead workes Secondly in regard of the manner it must bee done with the affection of a childe not out of bondage but in love 2. Tim. 1. 7. In voluntary service and resignation of all the members unto righteousnesse Rom. 6. 19. In universall respect to all the Commandements Psal. 119. 128. In obedience to God the Law-giver for he never obeyes the Law even when he doth the workes therein contained but when hee doth it with all submissiue and loyall affections towards him that commands it Iam. 2. 10 11. this onely is to live unto God and to bring forth fruite unto him Thirdly it must be directed unto holy ends and those are principally foure to which others are to be subordinate but not repugnant First the glory of God we must bring forth fruit and finish our workes and doe all that we have to doe with respect unto his glory Ioh. 15. 8. Ioh 17. 4. 1. Cor. 10. 31. Secondly the Edification Service comfort of the Church that nothing redound to their offence but to their profit and salvation 1. Cor. 10. 3â—… 33. Col. 1. 24. 2. Tim. 2. 10. 2. Cor. 1. 6. Thirdly the Credit honour and passage of the Gospell that it may be furthered and not evill spoken of 2. Cor. 6. 3 4. 1. Cor. 9. 19. 23. Phil. 1. 12. Fourthly a mans owne salvation that he be not after all his paines a cast-away but that he may save himselfe 1. Cor. 9. 27. 1. Tim. 4. 16. 1. Pet. 1. 9. Fourthly all the meanes unto that end must be regular and sutable Evill must not be done to bring good about Rom. 3. 8. and all the circumstances which accompany the action must be right too For as in the body there is not onely requir'd beauty but order and proportion Let the face be of never so delicate and choice complection yet if any part be mis-plac'd it will cause a notable deformitie and uncomelinesse to it so in duties an excellent worke may be so mis-plac'd or mis-tim'd or attended with such incongruous and unsutable circumstances as that it may prove rather a snare of Satan then a fruit of the Spirit Lastly to make it completely acceptable It must passe through the Incense and Intercession of Christ who as he doth by his Merits take away the Guilt of sinne from our persons so by his Intercession he hideth the pollution and adherencie of sinne that is in our services and so giveth us accesse and maketh all our duties acceptable by him to God Ephes. 2. 18. 1. Pet. 2. 5. He hath made us to be priests unto God and our Prayers and good workes as spirituall sacrifices come up before God But it is not sufficient that there be a Priest and an offering except there be an Altar too upon which to offer it for it is the Altar which sanctifieth the offering Now Christ is the Altar which sanctifieth all our spirituall sacrifices Their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar and they shall come up with acceptance on mine Altar Esai 56. 7. 60. 7. These things being thus premised we conclude first A wicked man cannot doe those things at all which are so essentially and inherently good as that the very opâ—… operatum or doing of them is from the spirit of Christ as to love God to trust him and depend upon him for as there are some things in nature which cannot be counterfeited or resembled the shape of a man may bee pictur'd but the life cannot nor the reason nor any thing that doth immediately pertaine to the Essence of man so there are some things in grace which cannot by hypocrisie be done neither in the thing it selfe nor in the manner of doing it because sincerity spiritualnesse and filiall respects belong to the very substance and matter of the duety Secondly other workes whose Goodnesse doth not cleave necessarily to the doing of them but to the manner of doing them wicked men may performe but then they doe them onely ethically and in conspectu hominum with relation to men and manners not spiritually as unto God nor in obedience or respect to him For first the Spirit of Grace is Christs spirit Rom. 8. 9. Gal. 4. 6. and our flesh is quite contrarie unto it Gal. 5. 17. and none have this spirit but they who have fellowship with the father and the sonne and are united unto him 1. Ioh. 4. 13. none of which dignities belong to wicked men Secondly every thing that is spirituall is vitall for the spirit quickneth the spirit of Holinesse never comes but with a Resurrection Rom. 1. 4. Ro. 8. 10 11. 2. Cor. 3. 6. and therefore he is called the spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. but now as the persons of wicked men so their workes are all dead Heb. 9 14. and therfore not being done spiritually obedientially impossible it is that they should in any sense please God Rom. 8. 8. whos 's pure eyes can endure nothing which beareth not in some though most remote degree proportion to his most holy nature 2. Pet. 1. 4. But it may be objected doth God use to doe good to those that hate him and that even for
inquire who they are unto whose right and possession a man may belong and then examine the Evidences which either can make for himselfe To sinne wee know doth appertaine the primitive right of every naturall and lapsed man for we are by nature the Children of wrath A purchase then there must come betweene before a man can passe over into anothers right this purchase was made by Christ who bought us with his blood And the treatie in this purchase was not between Christ and sinne but betweene him and his Father Thine they were and thou gavest them me for the fall of Man could not nullifie Gods Dominion nor right unto him for when man ceased to be Gods Servant he then began to be his Prisoner and though Sinne and Sathan weâ—… in regard of man Lords yet they were in regard of God but Iaylors to keepe or part from his Prisoners at his pleasure Besides though Christ got man by purchase yet Sinne and Sathan lost him by forfeiture for thâ—… prince of this world seizing upon Christ in whom he had â—…o right for he found nothing of his owne in him did by that meanes forteite his former right which hee had in men of the same nature Wee see then all the claime that can be made is either by Christ or Sinne by that strong man or him that is stronger A man must have evidences for Christ or else hee belongs unto the power of Sinne. The evidences of Christ are his Name his Seale and his Witnesses His Name a new Name a name better then of sonnes and daughters even Christ formed in the heart and his Law ingraven in the inner man As it is fabled of Ignatius that there was found the Name of Iesus written in his heart so must every one of Gods House bee named by him with this new name Of Him are all the Families in Heaven and in Earth named The Seale of Christ is his Spirit witnessing unto and securing our spirits that we belong unto him For hee that hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his and by this we know that he dwelleth in us and we in him because hee hath given us of his Spirit The witnesses of Christ are three The Spirit the Water and Blood The Testimonie of Adoption Sealing the Fatherly care of God to our Soules saying to our Soules that he is our Salvation and Inheritance The Testimonie of Iustification our Faith in the blood and price of Christ and the Testimonie of Sanctification in our being cleansed from dead workes for he came to destroy the workes of the Devill hee came with Refiners fire and with Fullers sope and with healing under his wings that is as I conceive under the preaching of his Gospell which as the beames of the Sunne make manifest the savor of Him in every place and by which he commeth and goeth abroad to those that are a far off and to those that are neere It was the Office of Christ as well to Purifie as to Redeeme as well to Sanctifie as to Iustifie us so that if a man say hee belongs to Christ and yet bringeth not forth fruite unto God but lives still married to his former lusts and is not cleansed from his filthinesse hee makes God a lyer because hee beleeveth not the Record which hee gives of his Sonne for Hee will not have either a barren or an adulterous spouse yea he putteth Christ to shame as if he had undertaken more then he were able to performe Besides Christ being a Light a Starre a Sunne never comes to the heart without selfe-manifestation such evidence as cannot be gainesaid unto him belongs this royall prerogative to be himselfe the witnesse to his owne Grace And when the Papists demaund of us How wee can bee sure that this Testimnoy of Christs Grace and Spirit is not a false witnesse and delusion of Sathan wee demaund of them againe If the flesh can have this advantage to make such Objections against the unvalueable Comforts of Christs Grace and the heart have nothing to reply If Christ witnesse and no man can understand it If the Spirit of Christ be a Comforter and the Divell can comfort every jot as well and counterfeit his comforts to the quicke and so cozen and delude a man what is any man the better for any such assertions of Scripture where the Spirit is called the Spirit of Comfort the strengthner of the inner man and the heart said to be established by Grace Certainely the Comforts of the Spirit must fall to the ground if they bring not along a proper and distinct lustre into the Soule with them And this Ambrosiuâ—… Catharinus himselfe a learned Papist and as great a scholler in the Trent Councell as any other was bold to maintaine against the contrary opinion of Dominicus Soto in a publike declaration unto whom Bellarmine dares not adhere though it bee his custome to boast of their unanimitie in point of Doctrine Besides sinne is of a quarrelling and litigious disposition it will not easily part from that which was once its owne but will bee ever raysing sutes disputing arguing wrangling with the Conscience for its old right Christ came not to send peace but a sword perpetuall and unreconcileable combats and debates with the flesh of man If a man hold peace with his lusts and set not his strength and his heart against them If they bee not in a state of rebellion they are certainely in the throne It is impossible for a King to rebell because hee hath none above him and so as long as lust is a king it is in peace but when Christ subdues it and takes possession of the heart it will presently rise and rebell against his kingdome Heere then is the triall of the Title If a man cannot shew the evidences of a new purchase the Spirit the Blood the Water the Sonneship the Righteousnesse the Holynesse Conversation and Grace of Christ If he be not in armes against the remnants of lust in himselfe but live in peace and good contentment under the vigor and life of them that man belongs yet unto the right of sinne For if a man be Christs there will bee Nova regalia extremely opposite to those of sinne A new heart for the Throne of the Spirit New members to bee the servants of Righteousnesse New Counsellors namely the Lawes of God A new Panoplie The whole armour of God New lawes The law of the minde and of the heart A new Iudicature even the government of the Spirit Thoughts Words Actions Conversations All things new as the Apostle speakes Now let us in the next place consider the power whereby sinne makes its commands to bee obeyed wherein it is more strong and sure then a Tyrant who ruleth against the will of his Subjects The particulars of this strength may be thus digested First sinne hath much strength from it selfe and that
comprehending the head and the members in the unitie of one body So then every Promise carrying us to that Vnitie which we have with Christ by his spirit who is therefore call'd a spirit of Adoption because he vesteth us with the sonneship of Christ and a spirit of holinesse and renovation because he sanctifieth us by the resurrection of Christ doth thereby purifie us from dead workes and conforme the members to the Head building them up in an holy Temple and into an habitation of God through that spirit by whom we are in Christ. In one word Our interest in the Promises is grounded upon our being in Christ and being one with him and our being in him is the ground of our purification Every branch in me that bringeth forth fruite my father purgeth that it may bring forth more fruite And in this respect the promises may be said to purifie as still carrying us to our interest in Christ in whom they are founded Fifthly and lastly the Promises are causes of our purification as Exemplars patterns and seeds of purity unto us For the Promises are in themselves Exceeding great and pretious Every Word of God is pure and tryed like gold seven times in the fire it is right and cleane and true and altogether righteous and therefore very lovely and attractive apt to sanctifie and cleanse the soule Sanctifie them by thy truth saith Christ thy Word is truth and againe Now ye are cleane through the Word which I have spoken unto you For the Word is Seed and seede a similates earth and dirt into its owne pure and cleane nature So by the Word there is a trans-elementation as it were and conforming of our foule and earthie nature to the spiritualnesse of it selfe Therefore the Apostle useth this for an argument why the regenerate cannot siâ— namely in that universall and complete manner as others doe because they have the seed of God abiding in them that is his Word Spirit and Promises abating the strength of lust and swaying them to a contrary point For thus the Word of promise makes a mans heart to argue Hath God of meere Grace made assurance of so pretious things to me who by nature am a filthy and uncleane Creature obnoxious to all the curses and vengeance in his booke Hath he wrought so great deliverance and laid up such unsearchable riches for my soule and should I againe breake his Commandements and joyne in the abominations of other men Would he not be angry till he had consumed me so that there should be no escaping Should I not rather labour to feele the comforts and power of these Promises encouraging mee to walke worthy of so great meroy and so high a calling to walke meete for the participation of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Shall I that am reserv'd to such honour live in the meane time after the lusts of the Gentiles who have no hope Hath God distinguished me by his Spirit and Promises from the world and shall I confound my selfe againe Shall I requite evill for good to the hurt of mine owne soule These and the like are the reasonings of the heart from the beauty and purity of the Promises Thirdly and lastly Promises are Arguments to inferre our Purification because in many of them that is the very Matter of which they consist and so the power and fidelity of God is engag'd for our Purification I will clense them from all their iniquity whereby they haue sinned against me saith the Lord. And againe I will sprinkle cleane water vpon you and you shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your idoles will I clense you c. And againe They shall not defile themselues any more with their idoles nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions but I will save them and I will cleanse them And againe I will heale their backeslidings I will Love them freely The Lord will wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion purge the bloud of Ierusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of Iudgement and by the spirit of burning Which Promises bringing along the fidelity and power of God to our faith doe settle our hearts amidst all the corruptions and impotencies of our nature When the conscience is once throughly acquainted with the sight of its owne foulnesse with the sense of that life and power which is in concupiscence it findes it then a great difficultie to rest in any hope of having lusts either subdued or forgiuen The Psalmist when his sore ranne and ceased not refused to be comforted thought himselfe cast out of Gods fauour as if his mercies were exhausted and his promises come to an end and his compassions were shut up and would shew themselves no more Therefore in this case the Lord carries our Faith to the consideration of his Power Grace and Fidelity which surpasseth not onely the knowledge but the very coniectures and contrivances of the hearts of men The Apostle saith That Christ was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead That Spirit which raised Him from the dead is therefore called a spirit of Holinesse because the sanctifying of a sinner is a resurrection and requires the same power to effect it which raised Christ from the dead When Saint Paul had such a bitter conflict with the thorne in his flesh the vigor and stirrings of concupiscence within him he had no refuge nor comfort but onely in the sufficiencie of Gods grace which was able in due time to worke away and purge out his lusts And the prophet makes this an argument of Gods great power above all other Gods that he subdueth iniquities and blotteth out transgressions Though wee know not how this can be done that such dead bones soules that are even rotten in their sinnes should be cleansed from their filthinesse and live againe yet he knowes and therefore when wee are at a stand and know not what to doe to Cure our lusts then wee may by faith fix our Eyes upon him whose grace power wisedome fidelity is all in these his promises put to gage for our purification Thus wee see how promises in generall doe worke to the Cleansing of us from filthinesse of flesh and spirit The same might at large be shewed in many particulars I will but name those in the words before the Text to which it referres The Lord promiseth to Dwell in us as in spirituall Temples and this proves that wee ought to keepe our selues Cleane that wee may be fit habitations for so Dovelike and pure a spirit Flee forâ—…ication saith the Apostle why know you not that your bodie is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you therefore glorifie God in your bodies and spirits for they are Gods And againe If any man defile the Temple of God
wrath which his sinnes have deserved Therefore it is called the ministery of death and condemnation which pronounceth a most rigorous and unmitigable curse upon the smallest and most imperceptible deviation from Gods Will revealed Thirdly by awakening the Conscience begetting a legall faith and spirit of bondage to see it selfe thus miserable by the Law hedged in with Thornes and shut up under wrath For the spirit first by the Law begetteth bondage and feare prickes the Conscience reduceth a man to impossibilities that hee knowes not what to doe nor which way to turne before it worketh the Spirit of Adoption or make a man thinke with the Prodigall that hee hath a Father to deliver him And by these Gradations the Law leadeth to Faith in Christ so that though in all these respects the works of the law be works of bondage yet the Ends and Purposes of God in them are Ends of Mercie Secondly The Law hath Rationem Fraeni and regulae to cohibite and restraine from sinne and to order the life of a man And in this sense likewise it is added to the Gospell as the Rule is to the hand of the workeman For as the Rule worketh nothing without the hand of the Artificer to guide and moderate it because of it selfe it is dead and the workeman worketh nothing without his Rule So the Law can onely shew what is good but gives no power at all to doe it for that is the worke of the Spirit by the Gospell yet Evangelicall Grace directs a man to no other obedience then that of which the Law is the Rule Now then to make some use of all this which hath beene said This shewes the ignorance and absurdity of those men who cry downe preaching of the Law as a course leading to despaire â—…nd discontentment though we finde by Saint Paul that it leadeth unto Christ. To preach the Law alone by it selfe wee confesse is to pervert the vse of it neither have we any power or commission so to doe for we have our power for edification and not for destruction It was published as an appendant to the Gospell and so must it be preached It was published in the hand of a Mediator and it must be preached in the hand of a Mediator It was published Evangelycally and it must bee so preached But yet wee must preach the Law and that in its owne fearefull shapes for though it were published in Mercy yet it was published with Thunder Fire Tempests and Darkenesse even in the hand of a Mediator for this is the method of the Holy Ghost to convince first of sinne and then to reveale righteousnesse and refuge in Christ. The Law is the forerunner that makes roome and prepares welcome in the Soule for Christ. I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come saith the Lord to note unto us that a man will never desire Christ indeede till he be first shaken As in Elias his vision the still voyce came after the Tempest so doth Christ in his voyce of Mercy follow the shakings and Tempests of the Law First the Spirit of Eliah in the preaching of repentance for sinne and then the Kingdome of God in the approach of Christ and evidences of reconcilement to the Soule And the reason is because men are so wedded to their sinnes that they will not accept of Mercy on faire termes so as to forsake sinne withall as mad men that must bee bouâ—…d before they can be cured so are men in their lusts the Law must hamper and shut them up before the Gospell and the spirit of liberty will bee welcome to them Now this is Gods resolution to humble the soule so low till it can in truth and seriousnesse bid Christ welcome upon any conditions His Mercy and the blood of his Sonne is so pretious and invaluable that hee will not caâ—… it away where no notice shall bee taken of it but hee will make the heart subscribe experimentally to that Truth of his That it is a saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the World to save sinners And we know a man must bee brought to great extremities who can esteeme as welcome as life the presence of such a man who comes with a sword to cut of his members or cut out his eyes and yet this is the manner of Christs comming to bring a Crosse and a Sword with him to hew off our lusts which are our earthly members and to Crucifie us unto the world But what then Mâ—…st nothing be preached but damnation and Hell to men God forbid We have commission to preach nothing but Christ and life in him and therefore we never preach the Law but with reference and manuduction unto him The truth is Intentionally wee preach nothing but Salvation wee come with no other intention but that every man who heares us might beleeve and bee saved wee have our power onely for edification and not for destruction but conditionally we preach Salvation and Damnation He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned that is the summe of our Commission But it is further very observable in that place that preaching of the Gospell is preaching both of Salvation and of Damnation upon the severall conditions So then when we preach the Law we preach Salvation to them that feare it as the Lord shewed mercy to Iosiah because his heart trembled and humbled it selâ—…e at his Law and when we preach the Gospell wee preach Damnation to them that despâ—…se it How shâ—…ll we escape if we neglect so great Salvation The Gospell is Salvation of it selfe but he that neglects Salvation is the mâ—…re certaine to perish and that with a double destruction Death unto Death to that wrath of God which abâ—…deth vpon him before will come a sorer condâ—…mnation by trampling under foote the blood of the Covenant and not obeying the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ. Here then are two rules to be observ'd First by the ministers of the Word that they so preach the Law as that it may still appeare to be an appendant unto the Gospell and â—…ot suffer the ministrie to be evill spoken of by men who watch for advantages We must endeavour so to manage the dispensation of the Law that men may not thereby be exasperated but put in minde of the Sanctuary to which they should flie The heart of man is broken as a flint with a hard and a soft together A Hammer and A Pillow is the best way to breake a flint A Prison and a Pardon A Scourge and a Salve A Curse and a Saviour is the best way to humble and convert a sinner When wee convince the hearers that all the teâ—…rors we pronounce are out of compassion to them that wee have mercy and balme in store to powre into every wound that we make that all the blowes we give are not to kill their Soules
in you which was in Christ that is have the same judgement opinions affections compassions as Christ had As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Secondly in his passive obedience though not in the end or purposes yet in the manner of it Runne with patience saith the Apostle the race which is set before you looking vnto Iesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despised the shame c. If the head be gotten through a strait place all the members will venture after Therefore since Christ hath gone through shame contradiction death to his glory let us not be wearied nor faint or despaire in our mindes The head doth not thinke all its worke ended when it is gotten through it selfe but taketh care and is mindefull of the members that follow Therefore the Apostle cals our sufferings A fulfilling or making up of the sufferings of Christ. The Resolution of all is briefely this We must follow Christ in those things which hee both did and commanded not in those things which he did but not commanded But heere it may be objected Christ was Himselfe voluntarily poore Hee became poore for our sakes and he commanded poverty to the young man goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore Is every man to be herein a follower of Christ To this I answere in generall that poverty was not in Christ any act of Morall Obedience noâ—… to the yong man any command of Morall Obedience First for Christs poverty we may conceive that it was a requisite preparatorie act to the worke of redemption and to the magnifying of his spirituall power in the subduing of his enemies and saving of his people when it appeared that thereunto no externall accessions nor contribution of temporall greatnesse did concurre And secondly for the command to the yong man it was meerely personall and indeede not so much intending obedience to the letter of the precept as triall of the sinceritie of the mans former profession and conviction of him touching those misperswasions and selfe-deceits which made him trust in himselfe for righteousnesse like that of God to Abraham to offer up his Sonne which was not intended for death to Isaake but for tryall to Abraham and for manifestation of his faith It may be further objected How can wee bee Holy as Christ is Holy First the thing is impossible and secondly if we could there would be no neede of Christ if we were bound to bee so Holy righteousnesse would come by a Law of workes To this I answere the Law is not nullyfied nor curtall'd by the mercy of Christ we are as fully bound to the obedience of it as Adam was though not upon such bad termes and evill consequences as he under danger of contracting sinne though not under danger of incurring death So much as any justified person comes short of complete and universall obedience to the Law so much hee sinneth as Adam did though God be pleased to pardon that sinne by the merit of Christ. Christ came to deliver from sinne but not to priviledge any man to commit it though hee came to be a curse for sinne yet Hee came not to be a Cloake for sinne Secondly Christ is needefull in two respects First because we cannot come to full and perfect obedience and so His Grace is requisite to pardon and cover our failings Secondly because that which wee doe attaine unto is not of or from our selves and so his spirit is requisite to strengthen us unto his service Thirdly when the Scripture requires us to be Holy and perfect as Christ and God by as we understand not equalitie in the compasse but qualitie in the Truth of our Holynesse As when the Apostle saith That we must love our neighbour as our selves the meaning is not that our love to our neighbour should be mathematically equall to the love of our selves for the Law doth allow of degrees in Love according to the degrees of relation and neerenesse in the thing loved Doe good unto all men specially to those of the houshold of Faith Love to a friend may safely bee greater then to a stranger and to a wife or childe then to a friend yet in all our love to others must be of the selfe same nature as true reall cordiall sincere solid as that to our selves Wee must love our neighbour as wee doe our selves that is unfainedly and without dissimulation Let vs further consider the Grounds of this point touching the Conformitie which is betweene the nature and spirituall life of Christians and of Christ because it is a Doctrine of principall consequence First this was one of the Ends of Christs comming Two purposes He came for A restitution of us to our interest in Salvation and a restoring our originall qualities of Holynesse unto vs. Hee came to sanctifie and cleanse the Church that it should be Holy and without blemish unblameable and unreproveable in his sight To Redeeme and to purifie his people The one is the worke of his Merit which goeth upward to the Satisfaction of his Father the other the worke of his Spirit and Grace which goeth downeward to the Sanctification of his Church In the one He bestoweth his righteousnesse upon us by imputation in the other He fashioneth his â—…mage in us by renovation That man then hath no claime to the payment Christ hath made nor to the inheritance Hee hath purchased who hath not the Life of Christ fashioned in his nature and conversation But if Christ be not onely a Saviour to Redeeme but a Rule to Sanctifie what use or service is left unto the Law I answere that the Law is still a Rule but not a comfortable effectuall delightfull rule without Christ applying and sweetning it unto us The Law onely comes with commands but Christ with strength love willingnesse and life to obey them The Law alone comes like a Schoolemaster with a scourge a curse along with it but when Christ comes with the Law He comes as a Father with precepts to teach and with compassions to spare The Law is a Lion and Christ our Sampson that slew the Lion as long as the Law is alone so long it is alive and comes with terrour and fury upon every Soule it meetes but when Christ hath slaine the Law taken away that which was the strength of it namely the guilt of sinne then there is honie in the Lion sweetnesse in the duties required by the Law It is then an easie yoke and a Law of libertie the Commandements are not then grievous but the heart delighteth in them and loveth them even as the honie and the honie combe Of it selfe it is the cord of a Iudge which bindeth hand and foote and shackleth unto condemnation but by Christ it is made the cord of a man and the band of Love by which He teacheth us to goâ—…
condemne But it may here further be objected How can I beleeve under the weight of such a finne Or how is Faith able to hold mee up under so heavie a guilt I answere the more the greatnesse of siâ—…ne doth appeare and the heavier the weight thereof is to the Soule there is the Grace of God more aboundant to beget Faith and the strength of Faith is prevalent against any thing which would oppose it To vnderstand this we must note that the strength of Faith doth not arise out of the formall qualitie thereof for Faith in it selfe as a habit and endowment of the Soule is as weake as other graces but onely out of the relation it hath to Christ. Faith denotates a mutuall Act betweene us and Christ and therefore the Faith of the patriarcheâ—… is expressed in the Apostle by saluting or embracing they did not onely claspe Christ but he them againe So that the strength of Faith takes in the strength of Christ because it puts Christ into a man who by his Spirit dwelleth and liveth in us And here it is worth our observing that the reason why the house in the parable did stand firme against all tempests was because it was founded upon a Rocke Why may not a weake superstruction ofrotten and inconsistent materials bee built upon a sound foundation As a strong house fals from a weake foundation may not in like manner a weake house by a tempest fall from a strong foundation Surely in Christs Temple it is not as in ordinary materiall buildings In these though the whole frame stand upon the foundation yet it stands together by the strength of the parts amongst themselves and therefore their mutuall weaknesse and failings do prejudice the stabilitie of the whole But in the Church the strength of Christ the foundation is not an immanent personall fixed thing but a derivative and an effused strength which runnes through the whole building Because the foundation being a vitall foundation is able to shed forth and transfuse its stability into the whole structure What ever the materials are of themselves though never so fraile yet being once incorporated in the building they are presently transformed into the nature and firmenesse of their foundation To whom comming as unto a living stone saith Saint Peter ye also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house to note unto us the transformation and uniformitie of the Saints with Christ both in their spirituall nature and in the firmenesse and stabilitie of the same More particularly the strength of Faith preserues us from all our spirituall enemies From the Divell Hee that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and the wicked one toucheth Him not Above all take the shield of Faith by which you shall be able to quench all the furie darts of the wicked From the World This is the victorie which overcommeth the World even our Faith From our fleshly corruptions The Heart is purified by Faith The Law of the Spirit of Life in Iesus Christ that is the Law of Faith hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne that is the Law of the members or fleshly concupiscence And all this is strengthened by the Power of God not by Faith alone are we kept but yee are kept saith Saint Peter By the power of God through Faith unto Salvation and that not such a Power as that is wherewith he concurreth in the ordinarie and naturall operations of the Creature which proportioneth it selfe and condescendeth unto the exigencie of second causes failing where they faile and accommodating the measure of his agencie to those materials which the second causes have supplyed as we see when a Childe is borne with fewer parts then are due to naturall integrity Gods concurrence hath limited it selfe to the materials which are defective and hath not supplyed nor made up the failings of nature but that power whereby hee preserves men unto Salvation doth prevent bend and carry the heart of man which is the secondary agent unto the effect it selfe doth remove every obstacle which might endanger his purposâ—… in saving the Creature and maketh his people a willing people But you will say Faith is indeede by these meanes stronger then sinne when it worketh but not when it sleepeth and the working of Faith being dependant upon the faculties of the Soule which are essentially mutable and incostant in operation must needes bee uncertaine too that sinne though it bee sarre weaker then Faith may yet when by our security Faith is fallen asleepe surprize and kill it even as Iaâ—…l a weake woman upon the same advantage killed Sisera a strong Captaine But though Faith fleepe yet Hee that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe and we are kept not onely by Faith but by His Power which Power worketh all our workes for us and in us giveth us both the Will and the Deede the Gift of continuing in His Feare and the Will so to continue The heart of the king saith Salomon that is the most soveraigne unconquerable peremptorie and unsubjected will in the World is in the Hand of God even as clay in the hand of the Potter So that though our hearts in regard of themselves bee not onely at large and indeterminate to any Spirituall operations but have an extreme reluctancie to all the motions of Gods Spirit yet considering their subordination to Gods mercifull purposes to the Power of His Grace to His Heavenly Call according unto purpose to the exceeding greatnesse and working of his mighty Power manifest it is that they are vndeclinable mightily by a hidden wonderfull most effectuall power yea by an Omnipotent facilitie and yet most sweetly and connaturally moved unto Grace They are all the frequent words of Holy Austin that Champion of Grace whose unvaluable industry in that behalfe all after ages have admired but hardly paralell'd Now then for the further establishing the heart of a man seriously and searchingly humbled with the sense and consciousnesse of some great relapse for what I shall say can yeeld no comfort to a man in an unrelenting obdurate and persisting apostafie Let him consider the safety and firmenesse of his life in Christ upon these grounds First Gods Eternall Love and free Grace which is towards us the Highest linke of Salvation both in order of time nature and causalitie Whom He predestinated those also He called and whom He called those He Iustified and whom Hee Iustified those also Hee glorified It is not those He will glorifie but hath glorified To note that glorification is linked and folded up with justification and is present with it in regard of their Eternall coexistencie in the predisposition and order of God though not in effectu operis in actuall execution Now this Eternall Love and Grace of God is not founded upon reasons in the Object for He Iustified and by consequence loved the ungodly He
Saving Faith The Pretiousnesse is in the whole scope of the place for the words are a comparative speech where faith is preferd before all legall or morall performances The nature is open'd by the Act of it Knowledge and the Obiect the vertue of Christs Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings Touching the former of these two the scope of the Apostle in this place is to shew that faith is the most pretious and excellent gift of God to a Christian man So it is Expresly called by Saint Peter a pretious faith 2. Pet. 1. 1. For understanding of which point mee must note that faith may be Consider'd in a double respect Either as it is a Qualitie inherent in the Soule or as an Instrument whereby the Soule apprehendeth some other thing Now in the same thing there is much difference betwene it selfe as a Qualitie and as an Instrument Heate as a Qualitie can only produce the like quality againe but as an Instrument of the Sunne it can produce life and sense things of more excellency then the Quality it selfe Faith as a Quality is noe better then other graces of the spirit but as an Instrument so it hath a Quickning quality which noe other Grace hath The iust shall live by Faith Heb. 10. 38. This pretiousnesse of Faith is seene chiefely in two respects First in regard of the Obiects and secondly in regard of the Offices of it First Faith hath the most pretitious and excellent object of any other Christ and his Truth and promises Herein saith the Apostle God commended His Love in that when we were sinners Christ died Rom. 5. 8. This was the soveraigne and most excellent love token and testification of divine favor that ever was sent from Heaven to men God so loved the world so superlatively so beyond all measure or apprehension that He gave His Sonne Ioh. 3 16. There is such a compasse of all dimensions in Gods love manifested through Christ such a heigth and length and breadth and depth as makes it exceede all knowledge Eph. 3. 18 19. It is exceeding unsearchable riches In one word that which faith lookes upon in Christ is the price the purchase and the promises which we have by Him The price which made satisfaction unto God the purchase which procured Salvation for us and the promises which comfort and secure us in the certaintie of both and all these are pretious things The blood of Christ pretious blood 1. Pet. 1. 18. The promises of Christ pretious promises 2. Pet. 1. 4. And the purchase of Christ a very exceeding and aboundant weight of Glorie 2. Cor. 4. 17. But it may be objected Have not other Graces the same object as well as Faith Doe we not love Christ and feare Him and hope in Him and desire Him as well as Beleeve in Him True indeede but heerein is the excellencie of Faith that it is the first grace which lookes towards Christ. Now the Scripture useth to commend things by their order precedencie As the women are commended for comming first to the Sepulcher the messenger which brings the first tidings of good things is ever most welcome the servant who is neerest his masters person is esteemed the best man in that order so Faith being the first grace that brings tidings of Salvation the neerest Grace to Christs Person is therefore the most excellent in regard of the obiect Secondly Faith is the most pretious Grace in regard of the offices of it Though in its inherent and habituall qualification it be no more noble then other graces yer in the offices which it executeth it is farre more excellent then any Two pieces of parchment and waxe are in themselves of little or no difference in value but in their offices which they beare as instruments or patents one may as farre exceede the other as a mans life exceedes his lands for one may bee a pardon of life the other a lease of a Cottage One man in a Citie may in his personall estate be much inferiour to another yet as an Officer in the Citie hee may have a great precedence and distance above him Compare a piece of gold with a seale of silver or brasse and it may have farre more worth in it selfe yet the seale hath an Office or Relative power to ratifie covenants of far more worth then the piece of gold so is it betweene Faith and other Graces Consider Faith in its inherent properties so it is not more noble then the rest but consider it as an instrument by God appointed for the most noble offices so is it the most superlative and excellent grace These offices which are to it peculiar I take it are principally these three The first to unite to Christ and give possession of Him The Apostle prayes for the Ephesians that Christ may dwell in their hearts by Faith Eph 3. 17. Wealth in the Mine doth no good at all till it be sever'd and appropriated to persons and uses Water in the Fountaine is of no service unto me till it be conveyed thence to mine owne Cisterne the light of the Sunne brings no comfort to him who hath no eyes to injoy it So though Christ be a Mine full of excellent and unsearchable riches a Fountaine full of comforts and refreshments a Sunne of righteousnesse a Captaine and Prince of Life and Salvation yet till Hee is made ours till there bee some bond and communion betweene Him and us we remaine as poore and miserable as if this Fountaine had never beene opened noâ—… this Mine discovered Now this Vnion to and Communion with Christ is on our part the worke of Faith which is as it were the spirituall joynt and ligament by which Christ and a Christian are coupled In one place wee are said to live by Christ Because I live saith he you shall live also Ioh. 14. 19. In another by Faith The Iust shall live by Faith Heb. 10. 38. How by both By Christ as the Fountaine By Faith as the pipe conveying water to us from the fountaine By Christ as the Foundation By Faith as the Cement knitting us to the foundation By Christ as the Treasure By Faith as the clue which directs as the Keye which opens and let us in to that Treasure This the Apostle explaines in the former place where he shewes by what meanes Faith makes us liue namely by giving us an enterance and approach to Christ for he opposeth Faith to drawing backe vers 19. 30. Noting that the proper worke of Faith is to carry us unto Christ as our Saviour Himselfe expoundeth beleeving in Him by comming unto Him Ioh. 6. 64. 65. Therefore the Apostle puts both together not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life which I live I live by the Faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2. 20. Faith is compared to eating and drinking Ioh. 6. and we know there is no sense requires such an intimate and secret union to its object as that of
tasting no sense that is the instrument of so neere a union as that So then as the motion of the mouth in eating is not in the nature of a motion any whit more excellent then the motion of the eye or foote or of it selfe in speaking yet in the instrumentall office of life and nourishment it is farre more necessarie So though Faith in the substance of it as it is an inherent qualitie hath no singular excellencie above other graces yet as it is an instrument of conveying Christ our spirituall Bread unto our soules and so of assimilating and incorporating us into Him which no other Grace can doe no more then the motion of the eye or foote can nourish the body so it is the most pretious and usefull of all others It may be objected doe not other graces joyne a man unto Christ as well as Faith Vnion is the proper effect of Love therefore wee are one with Christ as well by loving Him as by beleeving in Him To this I answere that Love makes onely a morall union in affections but Faith makes a mysticall union a more close and intimate fellowship in nature betweene us and Christ. Besides Faith is the immediate tie betweene Christ and a Christian but love a secondary union following upon and grounded on the former By nature we are all enemies to Christ and His Kingdome of the Iewes minde wee will not have this man to raigne over us therefore till by Faith wee are throughly perswaded of Christs Love to us we can never repay Love to Him againe Herein is Love saith the Apostle not that wee loved God but that Hee loved us and sent His Sonne 1. Ioh. 4 10. Now betweene Gods Love and ours comes Faith to make us One with Christ we have knowne and beleeved the Love that God hath to us ver 16. And hence it followes that because by Faith as Hee is so are wee in this world therefore Our love to Him is made perfect and so wee love Him because Hee first loved us vers 19. So that we see the union we have with Christ by Love presupposeth the Vnitie wee have in Him by Faith so Faith still hath the preeminence The second office wherein consists the excellencie of Faith is a consequent of the former namely to justifie a man for there is no man righteous in the sight of God any further then he is taken into the unitie of Christ and into the fellowship of His Merits God is alone well pleased in Christ and till a man be a member of His Bodie a part of His fulnesse hee cannot appeare in Gods presence This was the reason why Christ would have none of His bones broken or taken of from the Communion of His naturall body Ioh. 19. 36. to note the indissoluble union which was to bee betweene Him and His mysticall Members So that now as in a naturall bodie the member is certainely fast to the whole so long as the bones are firme and sound so in the mysticall where the body is there must every member be too because the bones must not be broken asunder If then Christ goe to Heaven if Hee stand unblameable before Gods justice we al shal in him appeare so too because his bones cannot be broken That which thus puts us into the Vnitie of Christ must needs Iustifie our persons and set us right in the presence of God and this is our Faith The Apostle gives two excellent reasons why our Iustification should be of Faith rather then of any other grace The first on Gods part that it might bee of Grace The second on the part of the promise that the promise might be sure to all the seede Rom. 4. 16. First Iustification that is by Faith is of meere Grace and favour no way of worke or merit For the Act whereby Faith Iustifies is an act of humility and selfe-dereliction a holy despaire of any thing in our selves and a going to Christ a receiving a looking towards Him and His Al-sufficiencie so that as Marie said of her selfe so we may say of Faith The Lord hath respect unto the lowlynes of his grace which is so farre from looking inward for matter of Iustification that it selfe as it is a worke of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere doth not justifie but onely as it is an apprehension or taking hold of Christ. For as the hand in the very receiving of a thing must needs first make it selfe emptie If it bee full before it must let all that goe ere it can take hold on any other thing So Faith being a receiving of Christ Ioh. 1. 12. must needes suppose an emptinesse in the soule before Faith hath two properties as a Hand To worke and to receive when Faith purifies the heart supports the droaping spirits worketh by love carries a man through afflictions and the like these are the workes of Faith when Faith Accepts of righteousnesse in Christ and receives Him as the gift of His Fathers Love when it embraceth the promises a farre of Heb. 11. 13. and layes hold on Eternall Life 1. Tim. 6. 12. This is the receiving act of Faith Now Faith justifies not by working lest the effect should not bee wholly of Grace but partly of Grace and partly of worke Ephesians 2. 8 9. but by bare receiving and accepting or yeelding consent to that righteousnesse which in regard of working was the righteousnesse of Christ Rom. 5. 18. and in regard of disposing imputing appropriating unto us was the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3. 21. 1. Cor. 1 30. Phil 3. 9. To make the point of Iustification by the receiving and not the working of Faith plaine let us consider it by a familiar similitude Suppose a Chirurgian should perfectly cure the hand of a poore man from some desperate wound which utterly disabled him for any worke when he hath so done should at one time freely bestow some good almes upon the man to the receiving whereof he was enabled by the former cure and at another time should set the man about some worke unto the which likewise the former cure had enabled him and the worke being done should give him a reward proportionable to his labour I demaund which of these two gifts are arguments of greater grace in the man either the recompensing of that labour which was wrought by the strength hee restored or the free bestowing of an equall gift unto the receiving whereof likewise he himselfe gave abilitie Any man will easily answere that the gift was a worke of more free grace then the reward though unto both way was made by His owne mercifull cure for all the mercy which was shewed in the cure was not able to nullifie the intrinsecall proportion which afterwards did arise betweene the worke and the reward Now this is the plaine difference betweene our doctrine and the doctrine of our adversaries in the point of Iustification They say we are justified by Grace and yet by workes because
grace enables us to worke we say we are justified freely not by the workes of grace but by the grace which bestowes our Iustification and therewith our strength of working unto us For surely Gods free grace is more magnified in giving us undeservedly both righteousnesse and workes then in giving us workes to deserve our righteousnesse Secondly Iustification by Faith doth make the promise sure to all the seede If unto a begger should bee proposed some excellent benefit upon condition to performe some acceptable and perfect service unto the personne that offers it whom yet it would bee impossible to please by working without some exact abilitie for the dutie required the man might easily doubt of the certaintie of the benefit because his performance of the condition requir'd is uncertaine but if the same benefit should bee proposed upon no other act on his part requir'd then onely the acknowledgement of his owne want and the willing acceptance of the thing offered a man could not bee unsure of it So if the Lord should propose righteousnesse oâ—… salvation to a man upon condition of his morall obedience mans corruptions are so many and his abilities so weake his enemies so potent and his heart so treacherous to comply with them that the promise cannot bee made sure to him upon the concurrence of his owne workes But when there is nothing required of a man but to cleave to Christ nothing but to relinquish his owne endeavours and to accept the helpe of a sure Saviour and to rely upon the sure mercies of David this must needes make our righteousnesse and salvation to be as certaine as is the value of the merits or fidelitie of the promise on which we rely If there bee nothing requisite to the firmenesse and consistencie of a house but onely to be put upon the foundation then the house must needs be as sure as the foundation if there bee nothing requisite to the safenesse of a mans money or writings but to put them in a closet or boxe the things must needes be as safe as the place into which they are put so since nothing else is required to make our salvation sure but onely to rest upon Christ who is a safe foundation to his Church Math. 16. 18. and a certaine Treasure Col. 3. 3. Faith which alone puts us into him doth therewithall make our Salvation sure unto us Behold I lay in Sion a chiefe corner stone elect and pretious there is both our foundation and our Treasure now the safety which Faith brings from hence is this He that beleeveth shall not be confounded or put to shame in the Prophet it is shall not make hast 1. Pet. 2. 6. both words expresse safetie For a man to rely upon another for any good thing and at last to faile in his expectation this must needes shame him in the disappointment of his hopes but when the hopes of a man are grounded upon the unsearchable riches and the unfaileable promise and the immutable truth power and goodnesse of God impossible it is that the faith of such a man should shame or deceive him When a man is secure and certaine of any good thing he is contented to waite the season of it David by Gods promise and unction was certaine of the kingdome and therefore he would not take away the life of Saul when it was in his power but waited till the time of his death by God appointed should come 1. Sam. 26. 9 10 11. but when a man is unconsident of a thing hee is ready to snatch at every probabilitie to make use of every occasion that happens to further his desires If I should see two men going towards the Court in competition for some office or preferment and should observe the one to ride night and day in full speede to deny himselfe the comforts of the way and to expresse much impatiencie and indignation at every stoppage that met him the other to take time and leisure to rely upon the former promises of the prince or the prevalencie of some honourable friends and to laugh at the gredinesse of his competitor I should easily conclude that the hopes of that man were greater whose hast as lesse for when a man hath a thing already in promise and that from the hands of a man of whose power and fidelitie he hath infallible assurance he is not over vehement for performance but willingly attends the times and good pleasure of his friend Now this is the businesse of faith to give a being to the things we hope for and though in themselves they bee a farre of and out of sight yet to make them subsistent and at hand in the promise even within the reach and embracement of Faith Heb. 11. 1 13. So that Faith doth therefore keep a man from greedinesse and precipitancie in his pursuite and from confusion and shame in his hopes of good because it sees them as safe certain in the power and promises of Christ as if they were already made good unto him So then to conclude this point Faith being the onely Grace wherein is magnified the fulnesse and freenesse of Gods favour and wherein is secured his promise to all the seede It must needes bee the fittest grace for a mercifull Iustification The third office of Faith is having put us into Christ and Iustified us by him to give us together with Him all other things which is the conviction that the Apostle makes Rom. 8. 32. If Hee have given us Christ how shall He not with Him freely also giue us all things These All Things are of two sorts First All graces Secondly All secular good things Saint Peter puts them together and shewes how they runne from Christ to us through Faith as the pipe His divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertaine to Life and Godlynesse and that through the knowledge that is the Faith of him that hath called us to glorie and vertue 2. Pet. 1. 3. First all Graces Faith is the first Grace in a Christian Soule and the spring of the rest This is the maine businesse of that excellent chapter Heb. 11. to shew how Faith was the master wheele in the lives and actions of those holy men whose renowne is there upon record The Apostle tels us that Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. where by Love we may understand either generally the universall habit of all other operative graces and then the sense is that Faith doth as it were actuate and animate all other habits of grace and apply them to their severall workes Or rather particularly that Love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and then the method and meaning of the place is this First Faith shewes us the great Love of God in Christ The life that I live saith the Apostle I live by the Faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gave Himselfe for me Gal. 2. 20. where we see the
wolvish and wasting lusts and by consequence is not able to settle and secure the heart in the enioyment of them But now by Faith in the promises the godly have their hold altered have their estate setled in a better and surer tenure delivered from those many encumbrances and intanglements vnto the which before they were obnoxious so that now a mans heart is secured beyond all doubts or humane feares A poore man may object I am not wise enough to order my affaires I am disabled by sicknesse and weaknesse to attend my Calling my charge encreaseth vpon mee and my probabilities of providing for them waxe smaller then before But yet Faith is able to answer these and all other the like objections by proposing the promise Dost thou live by thine owne strength Dost thou prosper by thine owne wisedome and industry or by the blessing and truth of God in his promises and is Gods Truth an Accepter of persons Is not his fidelitie as firme towards weake and poore as towards rich beleevers Is there any want or weakenesse any poverty or deficiency in heaven Doe the promises of God stand in need of mans wisedome or strength to bring them to passe Can thy encrease of charge or occasions exhaust the Treasures or drie vp the Fountaines and truth of God If an honourable and wealthy person have occasions to enlarge his retinue and live at a higher pitch then before yet because hee hath abundance he doth not repine at this necessitie All the faithfull are of the houshold and family of God who is no whit the poorer in his state and power by maintaining many or few He gives to all men yet he gives liberally Iam 1. 5. which no rich man in the World is able to do because as he gives to others himself decreaseth But God gives out of a Fountaine as the Sunne gives light which whether it shine to one or to thousands retaines still equall light in it selfe neither can the eyes of men exhaust or draw out the light of the Sunne All the Creatures are mine saith God upon a thousand hills If a thousand hills can beare corne enough or feed Cattel enough for any poore mans reliefe he need not doubt or feare for God hath still thousands of mountaines as it were so many granaries or store-houses in his truth and promises for the faithfull in any straits to have recourse unto And thus faith gives us all things by entituling us to the Promises Against all this which hath been spoken touching the excellency of Faith may be objected that determination of the Apostle Now abideth Faith Hope and Charitie these three but the greatest of these is Charitie 1. Cor. 13. 13. By which comparison this point touching the precedency of faith seemes to be impaired To which I answer That the Apostle speakes of a greatnesse extensivè in regard of duration Charitie being an everlasting Grace but faith pertaining onely to this life as being requisite to the present qualitie and states of the Church for faith and fruition are oppos'd 2. Cor. 5. 7. Faith looketh upon things in their promises fruition in their reall existence but now consider faith as an instrument to lay hold on Christ and the precious promises of life and grace in him and consider it as a Roote a living principle to put the heart in worke to purifie the conscience to enflame the heart to spirituall obedience and a retribution of holy love to God for all his love to us in his Sonne and thus Faith exceeds Charitie as the motion of the mouth in eating which is an act that tends immediately to life doth the motion of the mouth in speaking which tendeth not to an end so important nor absolutely necessary Another objection may be this Other Graces make a man like Christ which Faith cannot do because Christ could not beleeve unto justification or life having the Fountaine of both aboundantly in himselfe whereas the proper and primitive worke of Faith is to carry a man out of himselfe and to make him see all his sufficiency in another To which I answer two wayes First Christ had faith though not to such purposes as wee Faith in the common nature of it as it imports assent to all divine truth and adherence or reliance of the soule to the benefit and goodnesse which the same brings with it for ratio veritatis and ratio commodi are the two objects of a right faith or rather severall qualifications of the same object thus it is a Legall thing comming under the compasse of those duties of the Law unto which Christ made himselfe subject But faith as a Condition an Officer an Instrument of justification so it could not stand with Christ who was not to be righteous by beleeving but to bee himselfe the righteousnesse of those that beleeve But in other respects when the Apostle saith hee was heard in that which he feared when hee saith himselfe My God my God it is manifest that though he had not faith for righteousnesse yet he had it for deliverance that though he were not saved by beleeving yet hee was obedient in beleeving Secondly it is more to be one with Christ then to be like him more to bee a part of him then a picture now faith makes a unitie with Christ other graces onely a resemblance faith makes a man a member others onely a follower of him and so in that respect still Faith hath the prehemiuence Now then from the great necessitie and pretiousnesse of this duty we may first inferre the greatnesse of their sin who neglect it who live with no sense of the want and little sorrow for the weaknesse of it to lie sweare revell cozen to live in the practice of any notorious outrage and morall enormitie many men esteeme hainous and vnworthie But to live in infidelitie without the knowledge or fellowship of Christ in an utter unacquaintance with their owne unworthinesse and unexperience of their everlasting insufficiencies to compasse or contrive their owne saluation are things seldome or never seriouslie thought on by them And yet infidelity is indeed the edge and sting of all other sinnes that which bindes them and their guilt everlastingly upon the soule and locketh them like shackles to the conscience which otherwise by the helpe of Christ might easily shake them of He that beleeveth saith Christ is not condemned he that beleeveth not is condemned already and the wrath of God abideth on him There is a displeasure which is but for a moment a wrath which doth only sing and blow vpon the soule and then away such the faithfull themselues after some bold adventure into the waies of sinne may haue experience of And there is a wrath which is constant permanent intimately and euerlastinglie adherent vnto the Soule which will seize onely vpon vnbeleeuers The spirit shall convince the World of Sinne because they beleeve not saith Christ. Sinne there stands in opposition to righteousnesse and Iudgement
or holinesse so that the meaning is The spirit shall convince men that they are unrighteous and unholie men held under by the guilt condemnation and power of sinne shut vp in fast chaines unto the wrath and iudgement of the great Day unauoidably cast and condemned in the Court of Law because they fled not by faith unto that office of mercie and reconciliation which the Father hath erected in his beloved Sonne All sinnes do of themselues deserve damnation but none doe de facto inferre damnation without infidelitie This was that great provocation in the Wildernesse which kept the people out of the Land of Promise and for which God is said to have beene grieved fortie yeeres together How long will this people provoke mee How long will it bee ere they beleeve in me they despised the holy Land they beleeved not his word they drew backward and turned againe in their hearts into Egypt The Apostle summes vp all their murmurings and provocations for which they were excluded that type of heauen in this one word They entred not in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their vnbeliefe If there bee but one onely medicine against a deadly disease and when that is offered to the sicke person he refuse it and throw it vnder his feete the state of that man is infallibly desperate and remedilesse There is but one name but one sacrifice but one blood by which we can be saved perfected and purged for ever and without which God can have no pleasure in us how can wee then escape if we neglect so great salvation and trample under foote the blood of the Covenant It is a fruitlesse labour and an endlesse folly for men to use any other courses be they in appearance never so specious probable rigorous mortified Pharisaicall nay angelicall for extricating themselues out of the maze of sinne or exonerating their consciences of the guilt or power thereof without faith Though a man could scourge out of his owne bodie rivers of blood and in a neglect of himselfe could outfast Moses or Elias though he could weare out his knees with prayer and had his eyes nail'd vnto heaven though he could build hospitals for all the poore on the earth and exhaust the Mines of India into almes though hee could walke like an Angell of light and with the glittering of an outward holinesse dazle the eyes of all beholders nay if it were possible to be conceiv'd though he should live for a thousand yeeres in a perfect and perpetuall observation of the whole Law of God his originall corruption or any one though the least digression and deviation from that Law alone excepted yet such a man as this could no more appeare before the tribunall of Gods Iustice then stubble before a consuming fire It is onely Christ in the bush that can keepe the fire from burning It is onely Christ in the heart that can keepe sinne from condemning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without mee that is separated from mee yee can doe nothing towards the iustification of your persons or salvation of your soules or sanctification of your lives or natures No burden can a man shake off no obstacle can hee breake through no temptation can hee overcome without faith shake off every thing that presseth downe and the sinne which hangeth so fast on and runne with patience namely through all oppositions and contradictions the race that is set before you saith the Apostle But how shall we do such unfeasible works Hee shewes that in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking of from our selves unto Iesus the Author and finisher of our faith When a man lookes inward upon his owne strength hee may as justly despaire of moving sinne from his soule as of casting downe Mountaines with one of his fingers but he who is able to give vs faith is by that able to make all things possible unto vs. The world tempts with promises wages pleasures of sinne with frownes threats and persecutions for righteousnesse If a man have not faith to see in Christ more pretious promises more sure mercies more full rewards more aboundant and everlasting pleasures to see in the frownes of God more terror in the wrath of God more bitternes in the threats of God more certainty in the Law of God more curses then all the world can load him withall impossible it is that he should stand under such assaults for this is the victory which overcommeth the world even our faith Satan dischargeth his fierie darts upon the soule darts pointed and poysoned with the venome of Serpents which set the heart on fire from one lust unto another if a man have not put on Christ do not make use of the shield of faith to hold up his heart with the promises of victory to hold out the triumph of Christ over the powers of death and darkenesse to see himselfe under the protection of him who hath already throwne downe the Dragon from Heaven who hath Satan in a chaine and the keyes of the bottomlesse Pit in his owne command to say unto him The Lord rebuke thee Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem rebuke thee impossible it is to quench any of his temptations or to stand before the rage and fury of so roaring a Lion Whom resist saith S. Peter stedfast in the faith Our corruptions set upon us with our own strength with high imaginations with strong reasonings with lustfull dalliances with treacherous solicitations with plausible pretences with violent importunities with deceitfull promises with fearefull prejudices with profound unsearchable points and traines on all sides lust stirs workes within us like sparkles in a dried leafe sets every faculty against it self The mind tempts it self unto vanity the understanding tempts it selfe unto error and curiosity the will tempts it selfe unto frowardnesse and contuinacie the heart tempts it selfe unto hardnesse and security If a man have not faith impossible it is either to make any requests to God against himselfe or to denie the requests of sinne which himselfe maketh It is faith alone which must purifie the heart and trust his power and fidelity who is both willing and able to subdue corruptions In vaine it is to strive except a man strive lawfully In prayer it is faith which must make us successefull in the word it is faith which must make us profitable In obedience it is faith which must make us cheerefull in afflictions it is faith which must make vs patient in trials it is faith which must make vs resolute in desertions it is faith which must make us comfortable in life it is faith which must make vs fruitfull and in death it is faith which must make us victorious So that as he said of water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so may I of faith It is of all things the most soveraigne and pretious because it is of universall use in the
life of man Therefore the Apostle calleth men without faith Absurd men because it is an unreasonable and sottish thing for a workman to be without his chiefe instrument and that which is universally requisite to euery one of his works A Husbandman without a plow or a builder without a rule a preacher without a bible a Christian without faith are things equally absurd and unreasonable And yet thus unreasonable are men usually By faith Moses repell'd and fled from the solicitations of his adulterous mistresse and have they then faith that run upon temptations of lust let their hearts wallow in the speculations and their bodies in the beds of uncleanenesse Faith made David looke to God when Shimei reviled him and have they faith that dart out othes stabs and execrations at once against their enemie and against God Faith made Noah when he was warned of God to feare and Iosiah to tremble at his word and have they faith who mocke the messengers and despise the Word and misuse the Prophets and reject the remedies and sleight the times of their peace and visitation which God gives them Faith made Abraham put a sword to the throat of his beloved son the Sonne of blessing and the Sonne of promise and have they then faith who will not sacrifice a stinking lust nor part from a prodigious vanitie when God requires it O what a world of sweetnes closenes is there in sin to our nature when men love a lust a rag a fashion an excrement better then Abraham did his Sonne Isaak Faith made Moses suffer rather the reproaches of Christ then the riches of Egypt and have they faith who had rather be without Christ then their profits and pleasures who subordinate the blood the spirit the will the waies the glory of Christ to their earthlie designes and base resolutions By faith he feared not the wrath of a King and have they faith who feare the breath of fooles and would faine be religious if it did not discredit them and crush their arts of compliance plausibilitie and ambition Thus euery sinne wilfully committed is back'd and strengthened with infidelity If men did by faith see him that is invisible an unapproachable light and a consuming fire see the sword in his left hand to revenge iniquitie and the Crowne in his right hand to reward holinesse looke upon his judgements as present in his power and upon his glorie as present in his promises It could not be that they should goe on in such outrages against him and his Law Know you not saith the Apostle that neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate c. nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor theeves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God Nothing but faith can unbinde and unlocke the sinnes from the soule and by faith not onely their guilt but their power and dominion is removed and subdued A second use and inference from this Doctrine is to enflame the heart to seeke for faith as for a pretious Iewell or a hidden treasure Men are never satisfied with earthly treasures though oftentimes they heape them up for the last day How much more carefull should they be to lay up a good foundation for the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life Great encouragement we may have hereunto upon these considerations First the more faith a man hath the more comfort he may take in all the good things which he doth enjoy He may looke upon them as the witnesses of Gods truth and promises as the tokens of his love as the accessions and supernumerary accruments unto his Kingdome as the supplies and daily provisions of a Father which careth for us Secondly the more faith a man hath the more securitie he hath against all evils he may undergoe them with patience with hope with joy with triumph with profit He may looke upon them as needfull things as pretious things as conformities unto Christ his Head as the seeds of peace righteousnesse and praises As raine though it make the way foule yet it makes the Land fruitfull Thirdly the more faith a man hath the more certaine and victorious will his conquests be against his enemies that which by faith wee relie upon and put on will bee impregnable munition and impenetrable armour to secure us The love the blood the compassions the temptations of Christ these by faith apprehended have pulled downe walles subdued kingdomes stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword and turned to flight the armies of the Aliens Fourthly the more faith a man hath the more insight hee hath into Christ and those mysteries of salvation which the Angels desire to looke into Faith is the eye and mouth and eare of the soule by which wee peepe through the curtaines of mortalitie and take a view and foretaste of heavenly things wherby we have a more secret and intimate communion with God in his Covenants promises precepts in his will guiding vs by counsell and in his face comforting us with his favour Fifthly the more faith a man hath the more tranquillitie and establishment of heart shall he find in the midst of all spirituall desertions distractions and difficulties When a mans wits are non plusd his reason pos'd his contrivances and counsels disappointed his heart clouded with sorrow and feare when he walketh in darknesse and hath no light O then to have a sanctuary an Altar to flie unto to have a God to role himselfe upon to leane upon his wisedome to lay hold upon his Covenant to waite quietly upon the salvation of that God who doth not cast off for ever but though hee cause griefe yet will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies to commit his way to him who is able to bring it to passe and to doe abundantly above the thoughts desires expectations or petitions of men what peace and serenity must this bee to the â—…oule which is otherwise without light and peace Lastly the more faith a man hath the more joy and glory he hath in spirituall the more contentment and quietnesse in earthly things Being iustified by faith wee have peace with God in whom beleeving we reioyce with ioy unspeakeable and full of glory Let your conversation be without covetousnesse and bee content with such things as you have for he hath said I will not faile thee nor forsake thee Earthly-mindednesse and worldly cares grow out of want of faith In these and a world the like respects should we be moov'd to seeke for this grace and that so much the more carefully because the heart is of it selfe barren and therefore very unfit to have a forraigne plant grow in it very apt to over-top it with lusts and vanities We must therefore bee diligent to make our assurance full and certaine diligent in
of holinesse and grace which in Christ wee haue receiued For as sense of sin as a cursed thing which is legall humiliation doth arise from that faith whereby wee beleeve and assent to the truth of God in all his threatnings which is a legall faith so the Abominating of sinne as an uncleane thing and contrary to the image and holinesse of God which is evangelicall repentance doth arise from evangelicall faith whereby we look upon God as most mercifull most holie and therefore most worthie to bee imitated and served Secondly Renovation and that two fold First inward in the constitution of the heart which is by faith purified Secondly outward in the conversation and practice when a man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and as he hath received the Lord Iesus so walketh in him Now in all our obedience wee must observe these three Rules First that binding power which is in the law doth solely depend upon the authority of the Lawgiver who is God Hee that customarilie and without care of obedience or feare of displeasure or antipathy of spirit breaks any one Commandement ventures to violate that authority which by one and the same ordination made the whole law equally binding by consequence is habitually in praeparatione animi a transgressor of the whole Law And therefore Obedience must not bee partiall but vniversall as proceeding from that faith which hath respect equally to all Gods will and lookes upon him as most true and most holy in all his commands Secondly As God so his Law is a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires an inward universality of the subject as well as that other of the Precepts which wee walke by I meane such a spiritual and sincere obedience of the hart as may without any mercenary or reserv'd respects uniformely sway our whole man unto the same way and end Thirdly In every Law all matter Homogeneall and of the same kind with the particular named every sprig seede originall of the Dutie is included as all the branches of a tree belong unto the same stock And by these rules wee are to examine the truth of our obedience Before I draw downe these premises to a particular Assumption and Applycation I must for Caution sake premise that faith may be in the heart either habitually as an actus primus a forme or seede or principle of working or else actually as an actus secundus a particular Operation and that in the former sense it doth but remotely dispose and order the soule to these properties but in the later it doth more visibly and distinctly produce them So then according as the heart is deaded in the exercise of Faith so doe these properties thereof more dimly appeare and more remisly worke Secondly we must note that according as faith hath severall workings so Satan hath severall wayes to assault and weaken it There are two maine workes of Faith Obedience and Comfort to purifie and to pacifie the heart and according unto these so Satan tempts His maine end is to wrong and dishonour God and therefore chiefly hee labours to disable the former vertue of Faith and tempts to sinne against God But when hee cannot proceede so farre hee labours to discomfort and crush the spirits of men when hee prevailes in the former he weakens all the properties of Faith when in the later onely he doth not then weaken all but onely intercept and darken a Christians peace For understanding this point we must note that there are many acts of faith Some direct that looke outward towards Christ others reflexive that looke inward upon themselves The first act of faith is that whereby a man having beene formerly reduced unto extremities and impossibilities within himselfe lookes upon God as Omnipotent and so able to save as mercifull and in Christ reconcileable and so likely to save if he be sought unto Hereupon growes a second act namely a kinde of exclusive resolution to be thinke himselfe of no new wayes to trust no inferiour causes for salvation or righteousnes to sell all to count them all dung not to consult any more with flesh or blood but to prepare the heart to seeke the Lord To resolve as the Lepers in the famine at Samaria not to continue in the state he is in nor yet to returne to the Citie to his wonted haunts and wayes where he shall be sure to perish and from this resolution a man cannot by any discomforts bee removed or made to bethinke himselfe of any other new way but onely that which hee sees is possible and probable and where he knowes if he finde acceptance hee shall have supplyes and life enough and this act may consist with much feare doubt and trembling The Syrians had food and Samaria had none therefore the Lepers resolve to venture abroad Yet this they cannot doe without much doubting and distrust because the Syrians whom they should meete with were their enemies However this resolution over-rul'd them because in their present estate they were sure to perish in the other there was roome for hope and possibilitie of living and that carried them co Esters resolution If we perish we perish such is the Act of Faith in this present case It is well assured that in the case a man is in there is nothing but death to bee expected therefore it makes him resolve to relinquish that It lookes upon God as plenteous in power and mercie and so likely to save and yet it sees him too as arm'd with Iustice against sinne as justly provoked and wearied in his patience and therefore may feare to bee rejected and not saved alive Yet because in the former state there is a certainty to perish in the later a possibility not to perish therefore from hence ariseth a third act a conclusive and positive purpose to trust Christ. I will not onely deny all other wayes but I will resolve to trie this way to set about it to go to him that hath plenty of redemption and Life If I must perish yet He shall reject me I will not reject my selfe I will goe unto Him And this act or resolution of faith is built upon these grounds First because Gods Love and free Grace is the first originall mover in our salvation If God did beginne His worke upon prevision of any thing in and from our selves we should never dare to come vnto Him because wee should never finde any thing in our selves to ground His mercie towards us upon But now the Love of God is so absolute and independant that it doth not only require nothing in us to excite and to cal it out but it is not so much as grounded upon Christ himselfe I speake of His first Love and Grace Christ was not the impulsive cause of Gods first Love to mankinde but was Himselfe the great gift which God sent to men therein to testifie that Hee did freely love them before God so
loved the World that He gave His Son Herein is Love not that we loved Him but that Hee loved us and sent His Son The love must needs go before the gift because the gift is an effect a token a testimonie of the Love Christ first loved the Church before He gave Himselfe for it Now then if the first Love of God to man was not procured merited or excited by Christ Himselfe as Mediator but was altogether absolute much lesse doth the Love of God ground it selfe upon any thing in us The whole series of our Salvation is made up without respect to any thing of ours or from us He Loved us without cause or ground in our selves For we Love Him because He first loved us He elected us of meere grace without cause or ground from our selves There is a remnant saith the Apostle according to the Election of grace and if of grace then is it no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace Hee called us without Intuition of any thing in our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle not according to our owne workes but according to His purpose and grace He called us with an Holy calling He Iustified us without any ground in or from our selves frely by his grace when we were enemies and ungodly persons He saveth us without any ground in and from our selv's By grace ye are sav'd through faith that not of your selvs ' There is nothing in us of which wee may boast in the matter of Salvation and therefore there is nothing in us which should make us despaire or flie from God for all the gradations and progresses of our Salvation are alone from His Grace Secondly because there is an All-sufficiencie in the righteousnesse and merits of Christ To cleanse all sin To consummate all our saluation to subdue all our enemies To answere all our objections to silence all challenges and charges that are laid against us Thirdly because of the manifold experiences which many other grievous sinners have found of the same love and All-sufficiencie When Faith lookes upon a converted Manasse upon a thiefe translated into paradise upon a persecutor turned into an Apostle and when it considers that God hath a residue of spirit still that the blood of Christ is an inexhausted fountaine and that these spectacles of Gods compassion are in the Scriptures exhibited that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope and that God in them did shew forth all long suffering for a patterne to those who should after beleeue in Him It then makes a man reflect inward upon himselfe and resolve to trie that gate at which they have entered before Fourthly because there is a generalitie and unlimitednesse in the Invitation unto Christ. Come unto mee all that are wearie Let every one that will come There is in Christ erected an Office of Salvation a Heavenly Chancerie of equitie and mercie not onely to moderate the rigor but to reverse and revoke the very acts of the Law Christ is set foorth or proposed openly as a Sanctuarie and ensigne for the natious to flie unto and He hath sent His Ambassadors abroad to warne and to invite every man As a Fountaine is open for any man to drinke and a schoole for any man to learne and the Gate of a Citie for any man to enter and a Court of Equitie for any man to relieve himselfe so Christ is publikely and universally set forth as a generall refuge from the wrath to come upon no other condition then such a will as is nor onely desirous to enjoy His mercie but to submit to His Kingdome and glorifie the power of His Spirit and Grace in new obedience Fifthly because God Himselfe workes the worke and the will in us For in the new Covenant God workes first In the first Covenant man was able by his created and naturall strength to worke his owne condition and so to expect Gods performance But in the New as there is difference in the things covenanted then only righteousnesse and Salvation now remission of sinnes and adoption in the meanes or intermediate causes which are now Christ and His righteousnesse and Spirit in the stability that a perishable this an eternall and finall Covenant that can never be changed in the conditions there legall obedience heere only faith and the certaine consequent thereof repentance So likewise is there difference in the manner of performing these conditions for now God Himselfe beginnes first to worke upon us and in us before we move or stirre towards Him Hee doth not onely commaund us and leave us to our created strength to obey the Command but He furnisheth us with His owne Grace and Spirit to fulfill the Commaund and when He bids us come unto Him He doth likewise draw us unto Him In this Covenant the first Treatie is betweene God and Christ. For though the Covenant be betweene God and us yet the negotiation and transaction of it is betweene God and Christ who was a suretie of the Covenant for us For first God in His decree of Love bestowed us upon Christ. Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me we were chosen in Him wee to be members in Him and He to be a Head and Fountaine unto us of all grace and glorie For God had committed unto Him an Office of power to redeeme His Church and He received a Commandement from His Father to finish the worke of mediation Secondly being thus made Christs partly by the gift of Gods eternall Love partly by Christs owne voluntarie susception of that Office whereby He was to be a Head and Captaine of Salvation to His Members God in due time reveales Himselfe His Name Power and Covenant unto us I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest mee and this is the tender of the Covenant and beginning of a Treaty with us And here God beginnes to worke in us for though the Covenant be proposed under a condition yet God gives us as well the condition as the Covenant Our Faith is the operation of God and the work of his Power that which he requires of us He doth bestow upon us and here the first worke of God is spiritual and heavenly teaching The second is the terminus or product of that teaching our learning which I call Gods worke not as if we did nothing when we are said to learne and to come unto Christ but because all that we doe is by the strength and grace which from Him we receive wee come unto Christ as a childe may be said to come unto his mother or nurse who holds him at a distance from her selfe and drawes him neerer and neerer when she cals him Thus as we were made Christs by donation Thou gavest them me so after likewise by incorporation
in the Church of Rome yet I doubt whether they have yet enough to conjure themselves out of that circle which the agitation of these questions doe carry them in But secondly there are sundry lights there is light in the Sunne and there is light in a blazing or falling starre How shall I difference these lights will you say surely I know not otherwise then by the lights themselves undoubtedlie the spirit brings a proper distinctive uncommunicable Majesty and luster into the soule which cannot be by any false spirit counterfeited and this spirit doth open first the eie and then the Word and doth in that discover not as insit as veritatis those markes of truth and certainty there which are as apparant as the light which is without any other medium by it selfe discerned Thus then we see in the general That saving faith is an assent created by the word spirit We must note further that this knowledge is two fold first Generall mentall spâ—…culative and this is simply necessary not as a part of saving faith but as a medium degree passage thereunto For how can men beleeve without a teacher Secondly particular practicall Applicative which carries the soule to Christ and there â—…ixeth it â—…o whom shall wee go thou hast the words of eternall life wee beleeve and are sure that thou art that Christ. I know that my Redeemer liveth That yee being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend and to know the Love of Christ. I live by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many This saving knowledge must bâ—…e commensurate to the object knowne and to the ends for which it is instituted which are Christ to be made ours for righteousnesse and salvation Now Christ is not proposed as an object of bare and naked truth to bee assented unto but as a Soveraigne and saving truth to do good unto men He is proposed as the Desire of all flesh It is the heart which beleeves With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and Christ dwelleth by faith in the heart If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou maist be bapâ—…ized And the hâ—…art doth not onely looke for truth but for goodnesse in the objects which it desireth for an allsufficiencie and adequate ground of full satisfaction to the appetites of the soule such a compasse of goodnesse as upon which the whole man may test and relie and unto the which he may have a personall propriety hold-fast and possession So then in one word faith is a particular assent unto the truth and goodnes of God in Christ his sufferings and resurrection as an allsufficient and open treasurie of righteousnesse and salvation to every one which comes unto them and thereupon a resolution of the heart there to fixe and fasten for those things and to looke no further Now this faith is called knowledge First in regard of the principles of it The word and spirit both which produce faith by a way of conviction and manifestation Secondly in regard of the ground of beleeving which is the knowledge of Gods will revealed for none must dare demand or take any thing from God till hee have revealed his will of giving it He hath said must be the ground of our faith Thirdly in regard of the certainty and undoubtednesse which there is in the assent of faith Abraham was fully perswaded of Gods pow'r and promise now there is a twofold certainty a certainty of the thing beleeved because of the power and promise of him that hath said it and a certainty of the minde beleeving The former is as full and sure to one beleever as to any other as an Almes is as certainly and fully given to one poore man who yet receives it with a shaking and Palsie hand as it is to another that receives it with more strength But the mind of one man may bee more certaine and assured then another or then it selfe at some other time sometimes it may have a certainty of evidence assurance and full perswasion of Gods goodnesse sometimes a certainty onely of Adherence in the midst of the buffets of Satan and some strong temptations whereby it resolveth to cleave unto God in Christ though it walke in darkenesse and have no light Fourthly and lastly in regard of the last Reflexive Act Whereby we know that we know him and beleeve in him And yet both this and all the rest are capable of grow'th as the Apostle here intimates we know heere but in part and therefore our knowledge of Him may still increase The heart may have more plentifull experience of Gods mercie in comfotting guiding defending illightning sanctifying it which the Scripture cals the learning of Christ and thereupon cannot but desire to have more knowledge of Him and Communion with Him especially in those two great benefits His Resurrection and sufferings And the power of His resurrection The Apostles desire in these words is double First that he may finde the workings of that power in his soule which was shewed in the resurrection of Christ from the Dead that is the Power of the Spirit of Holynesse which is the mighty principle of Faith in the heart That Spirit of Holynesse which quickned Christ from the Dead doth by the same glorious power beget Faith and other graces in the Soule It is as great a worke of the Spirit to forme Christ in the heart of a sinner as it was to fashion Him in the wombe of a virgin Secondly that He may feele the resurrection of Christ to have a Power in Him Now Christs resurrection hath a twofold Power upon us or towards us First to apply all His merits unto us to accomplish the worke of His satisfaction to declare his conquest over death and to propose himselfe as an All-sufficient Saviour to the faithfull As the stampe addes no vertue nor matter of reall value to a piece of gould but onely makes that value which before it had actually applyable and currant So the resurrection of Christ though it was no part of the price or satisfaction which Christ made yet it was that which made them all of force to His members Therefore the Apostle saith that Christ was Iustified in Spirit In His Death Hee suffered as a malefactor and did undertake the guilt of our sinnes so farre as it denotes an obligation unto punishment though not a meritoriousnesse of punishment but by that Spirit which raised Him from the Dead Hee was Iustified Himselfe that is He declared to the world that Hee had shaken of all that guilt from Himselfe and as it were left it in His Grave with His Grave clothes For as Christs righteousnesse is compared to a robe of triumph so may our guilt to a garment of Death which Christ in His Resurrection shooke all of to note that Death
had no holdfast at all of Him When Lazarus was raised It is said that Hee came forth bound hand and foote with Grave cloathes to note that Hee came not out as a victor over Death unto which He was to returne againe but when Christ rose Hee left them behinde because death was to have no more power over Him Thus by His resurrection He was declared to have gone through the whole punishment which Hee was to suffer for sinne and being thus justified himselfe that hee was able also to justifie others that beleeved in him This is the reason why the Apostle useth these words to prove the resurrection of Christ I will give you the sure mercies of David for none of Gods mercies had been sure to us if Christ had been held under by death Our faith had been vaine we had been yet in our sinnes But his worke being fully finished the mercy which thereupon depended was made certaine and as the Apostle speakes sure unto all the 〈◊〉 Thus as the Day wherein Redemption is victorious and consummate is cald the day of Redemption so the worke wherein the merits of Christ were declar'd victorious is said to have been for our justification because they were thereby made appliable unto that purpose The second worke of the Power of Christs Resurrection is to overcome all death in vs and restore vs to life againe Therfore he is cald the Lord of the living and the Prince of life to note that his life is operative unto others wee are by his Resurrection secur'd first against the death and Law which wee were held under for euery sinneâ—… is condemn'd already Now when Christ was condemned for sinne hee thereby deliver'd us from the death of the Law which is the curse so that though some of the grave cloathes may not be quite shaken off but that wee may be subject to the workings feares of the Law upon some occasions yet the malediction thereof is for ever removed Secondly we are secured against the death in sinne regenerated quickned renued fashioned by the power of godlinesse which tameth our rebellions subdueth our corruptions and turneth all our affections another way Thirdly against the hold-fast and conquest of death in the grave from whence wee shall bee translated unto glory a specimen and resemblance of this was shewed at the resurrection of Christ when the graves were opened and many dead bodies of the Saints arose and entred into the Citie As a Prince in his inauguration or sosemne state openeth prisons and unlooseth many which there were bound to honour his solemnitie so did Christ do to those Saints at his resurrection and in them gave assurance to all his of their conquest over the last Enemy What a fearefull condition then are all men out of Christ in who shall have no interest in His resurrection Rise indeed they shall but barely by his power as their Iudge not by fellowship with him as the first fruites and first borne of the dead and therefore theirs shall not be properly or at least comfortably a Resurrection no more than a condemn'd persons going from the prison to his execution may be cald an enlargement Pharaohâ—… Butler and Baker went both out of prison but they were not both delivered so the righteous and the wicked shall all appeare before Christ and bee gathered out of their graves but they shall not all bee Children of the Resurrection for that belongs onely to the just The wicked shall be dead everlastingly to all the pleasures and wayes of sin which here they wallowed in As there remaines nothing to a drunkard or adulterer after all his youthfull excesses but crudities rottennesse diseases and the worme of Conscience so the wicked shall carry no worlds nor satisfactions of lust to hell with them their glorie shall not descend after them These things are truths written with a sunne beame in the booke of God First That none out of Christ shall rise unto Glorie Secondly That all who are in him are purged from the Love and power of sinne are made a people willingly obedient unto his scepter and the government of his grace and spirit and have eyes given them to see no beauty but in his kingdome Thirdly Hereupon it is manifest that no uncleane thing shall rise unto glory A prince in the day of his state or any roiall solemnitie wil not admit beggers or base companions into his presence Hee is of purer eyes then to behold much lesse to communicate with uncleane persons None but the pure in heart shal see God Fourthly that every wicked man waxeth worse and worse that hee who is filthy growes more filthy that sinne hardneth the heart and infidelitie hasteneth perdition Whence the conclusion is evident That every impenitent sinner who without any inward hatred purposes of revenge against sinne without godly sorrow forepast and spirituall renovation for after-times allowes himselfe to continue in any course of uncleannesse spends all his time and strength to no other purpose then onely to heape up coales of Iuniper against his owne soule and to gather together a treasure of sins and wrath like an infinite pile of wood to burne himselfe in Again this power of Christs resurrection is a ground of solid and invincible comfort to the faithfull in any pressures or calamities though never so desperate because God hath power and promises to raise them up againe This is a sufficient supportance first Against any either publike or privat afflictions However the Church may seeme to be reduc'd to as low and uncureable an estate as dried bones in a grave or the brands of wood in a fire yet it shall be but like the darknesse of a night after two daies he will revive againe His goings forth in the defence of his Church are prepared as the morning When Iob was upon a dunghill and his reines were consumed within him When Ionah was at the bottome of the Mountaines and the weedes wrapped about his head and the great billowes and waves went over him so that he seemed as cast out of Gods sight When David was in the midst of troubles and Ezekiah in great bitternesse this power of God to raise unto life againe was the onely refuge and comfort they had Secondly against all temptations and discomforts Satans traines and policies come too late after once Christ is risen from the dead for in his resurrection the Church is discharged and set at large Thirdly against Death it selfe because wee shall come out of our graves as gold out of the fire or miners out of their pits laden with gold and glory at the last Lastly wee must from hence learne to seeke those things that are above whither Christ is gone Christs Kingdome is not here and therefore our hearts should not be here Hee is ascended