except the Father draw him That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us ward who 〈…〉 eve according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead c. Here is the exceeding greatness of Gods power and the working of His mighty power which is expressed as much in the conversion of a sinner and in working saving Faith in his heart as it was manifested in raising Christ from the dead O the great power Eph. 2. 4. 56. riches inmercy and greatness of the love of God to poor sinners And to me in especial Where-with He hath loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Furthermore the principal efficient cause of Faith is God the impulsive cause is His free grace by which we are elected and called the instrumental cause whereby Faith is given to us in those of ripeness of age is ordinarily the word of God Faith cometh by hearing and Rom. 10. 17. hearing by the word of God And yet not the preaching of the word alone but as it is joyned with the efficacy of the Holy Spirit For the Lord opened Acts 16. 14. the heart of Lydia that she attended to those things spoken by Paul Thâ—â—â—â—tter of our Faith which is as the obâ—ect largely is the Word of God properly the free promises of the Gospel founded upon Jesus Christ The righteousness of God Rom. 3. 22. verse 25. which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation Rom. 10. 9. through Faith in His blood If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved So then justifying Faith consists in these two things 1. In having a mind to know Christ 2. In having a will to rest upon Him Whosoever sees so much excellency in Christ that thereby he is drawn to embrace Him as the only Rock of Salvation that man truly believes to justification Thus far of the description of Faith the several kinds of Faith and the causes of it that we may know the nature of true justifying saving Faith Such a Faith as our Saviour here requires Oh! this precious Faith of what 2 Pet. 1. 1. absolute necessity is it Necessary to everlasting Salvation We are kept by 1 Pet. 1. â— the power of God through Faith unto salvation Believe on the Lord Jesus Acts 16. 32. Christ and thou shalt be saved Which was the answer the jaylor had of Paul when he asked What he must do to be saved Without Faith it is impossible Heb. 11. 6. verse 2. to please God by Faith the elders obtained a good report Faith causes us to apprehend those deep mysteries of salvation which by the eye of Sense we can never fathom as Trinity in Unity the Incarnation of the Son of God c. The Word is unprofitable to us if it be not mixt with Faith In the Sacrament Heb. 4. 2. we receive no more than we do believe hast thou no Faith thou reapest no fruit or benefit or comfort If thou prayest thou must pray in Faith nothing Jam. 1. 5 7. wavering else do not think to receive any thing of the Lord. Whatsoever Mark 11. 24. things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them So we see that Faith is of absolute necessity in all our spiritual duties Worship and Services Pray we therefore with the disciples Lord increase Lord strengthen our Faith Luk. 17. 5. Acts 15. 9. Rom. 3. 28. Gal. 2. 16. Faith it purifies the heart Aman is justified by Faith We are justified before God only by Faith in Christ i. e. by Christs righteousness imputed to us by God and received and laid hold on by us with a lively Faith As Faith justifies it also quickeneth The righteousness of God Rom. 1. 17. is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith Faith is the means of obtaining and professing a spiritual life From faith to saith that is to say more and more according as Faith increases and grows stronger so it doeth more and more enjoy the benefit of this righteousness of Christ imputed Labour therefore to be strong in faith Abraham being strong in faith gave Rom. 4. 20. glory to God The stronger in Faith the more glory mayest thou bring to God They which be of faith are blessed Gal. 3. 9. with faithful Abraham Our faith must be a working faith Faith worketh by Gal. 5. 6. love It shews it self by the fruits of a new-life which are comprehended under the love of God and our neighbour 1 Thess 1. 3. We read of the work of faith our faith must not be a dead and idle faith but a lively and working faith shewing it self by its fruits and effects Jaâ—m 2. 18. verse 20. Shew me thy faith by thy works faith without works is dead There can be no justifying and saving faith separate from good works for he who truly doth good works hath a lively faith which is the root and spring of them and good works are proper perpetual and inseparable from a true and lively faith So we must reconcile those two places of Scripture which seem contrary to each other in Jam. 2. 24. Ye see then that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely and Rom. 3. 28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law the meaning is thus We are justified before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ but our good works which are the true fruits of saving lively faith declare us to be just before men Let us therefore be fruitful in every good Câ—â—â— 1. 10. Coll. 2. 7. 2 Thess 1. 3. Heb. 10. 22. 2 Pet. 1. 1. Jude 20. Rom. 3. 22. Rev. 14. 12. work and be stablished in the faith let our faith grow exceedingly that we may have that full assurance of faith This faith as it is a precious faith as we said before so it is a most holy faith It is called the faith of God Rom. 3. and the faith of Jesus Christ where the object is put for the subject And in our spiritual armour above all we are Eph. 6. 16. bid to take the shield of faith whereby we shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the Devil Now a shield is an instrument of War made for defence to award and keep off the blows of an enemy such a shield is faith to bear off and beat back the sierce temptations of Satan whom we must resist being sted fast in the faith 1 Pet. 5. 9.
men in Adam as believers are in Christ which is by a foenant or Covenant agreement Q. How can God be said to Covenant or enter into promise with man A. It is of Gods great condescension so to do in regard of His Soveraignty over man And yet to give and to promise to give are acts of His dominion and liberality and so no ways repugnant to the great and glorious Majesty of God But it is to confirm us in our hope and confidence in Him and in our obedience unto Him Q. Why doth God deal with man in a Covenant way rather than in a meer supreme and absolute way A. 1. To sweeten and endear Himself unto us So that Adam could not but have thankful and loving thoughts of God that would thus far condescend unto him 2. To incite and encourage Adam the more to obedience and that to a willing and free obedience When our first Parents had broken this Covenant and were fallen God out of His infinite pity mercy and compassion to mankind made with them another Covenant a Covenant of Grace And because man was an ill-keeper when he had his salvation in his own hands he soon by Sin lost it and himself thereby Therefore our gracious God would not have our Salvation any longer in our own keeping but made this His Covenant with man in the hands of a Mediatour even the Lord Jesus Christ who Mal. 3. 1. is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant who will be sure to preserve and keep us by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. And herein Gods unspeakable mercy to manking appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but â—itus 3. 4 5 6 7. according to His mercy He hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He hath shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by His Grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Yea before God pronounced the Curse or Sentence of Judgment after Adam's fall He graciously shewed a way and a surer way of salvation in and through Christ the Mediator when He said the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head As this Covenant was first Preached by God to Adam the Lord shewed him his Sin and the curse due for Sin and then sets an enmity between him and the serpent they must fight it out whereof the issue will be thus A certain seed of the woman shall utterly overthrow Sathan even breaking the head of that Serpent but the Serpent shall only bruise His heel which signified light and temporary afflictions both in the Head and also in the members of Christ the head By virtue of which promise the Church continued until Abraham's time and then the Covenant is renewed In Gen. 22. 18. thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed The condition required of Abraham was to believe so Abraham believed in Gen. 15. 6. God and He counted it to him for righteousness Not that this was Abraham's righteousness before God but that habit that grace of faith chiefly looking to the Messiah promised that believing disposition whereby he was able to believe that promise this was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness Rom. 4. 2 3. which brings us to speak of the Covenant of Grace The Covenant of Grace is a mutual agreement between God and men whereby God confirms unto men that He will be favourable unto them forgiving them their Sins and giving unto them new righteousness His Holy Spirit and everlasting life by and through His Son our Mediator And men oblige themselves unto God to receive so great benefits by lively faith and to yield to God all true obedience This mutual agreement between God and man is confirmed by outward signs and seals which we call Sacraments Sacraments are holy signs testifying God's good-will toward us and our gratitude and duty towards God This Covenant could not be made without a Mediator for we could never make satisfaction nor return into favour with God by and of our selves Neither could God admit us for His justice sake without sufficient satisfaction which we could never make For we were enemies to God and so there was no way open for us to come unto God but by that new and living way namely the blood of Christ So then this Reconciliation Heb. 10. 20. could never be made but by the satisfaction and death of the Mediator That on which all the promises now initially hang is nothing but believing Who so now believeth in God shall be put within the Covenant And there are these four reasons why all depends upon faith First Because true faith is never alone but draws with it all other Graces he that believes in God hath a good opinion of God and loves God and he that loveth God must needs be full of good works Jam. 2. 17 18. Secondly Only faith makes the promises sure unto us otherwise Christ and the Covenant of Grace had been spared Thirdly The Covenant consists of promises nothing but faith can answer this Covenant which is not a Commandment but a Promise Commandments are answered by obedience but Promises are answered by faith Fourthly It is by faith because God would have it go by free Grace and not of debt God dealeth with us as with Sons and not as with Servants He pays Rom. 3. 27. Rom. 11. us not wages but gives us an inheritance So all boasting is excluded The sum of the Covenant of Grace is this That God will be our God and give us everlasting life in Christ Jesus if we receive Him by faith being freely Joh. 1. 12. Jer. 31. 33. Acts 16. 30 31 by His Father offered unto us where hence will follow new obedience whereby the faithful walk worthy of the Grace received and this is also by the Grace of God This God's eternal love and free Grace towards us is the highest link of our salvation both in order of time nature and causality Whom He predestinated Rom. 8. 29 30. those also He called and whom He called those He justified and whom He justified those also He glorified God loved us when we were Sinners enemies to Him and that by wicked works If our wicked works could not Col. 1. 21. prevent the love of God to us why should we think they can nullify or destroy it if the mass guilt and greatness of Adam's Sin in which all men were equally sharers could not interrupt or frustrate God's counsel of loving us when we were His enemies why should any other Sins over-turn the stability of the same love and counsel when we are become His Sons and have a Spirit given us to bewail and lament our Sins It was God's promise flowing from this everlasting love that caused Him to make an everlasting Covenant with us that He would not turn away from us
I pray thee c. So do thou as Jacob there did wrestle with God in Prayer and give Him not over until He bless thee So David prays to God to have respect Psal 74. 10. to the Covenant Jeremiah likewise prayeth Do not Jer. 14. 21. abhor us for Thy Names sake Oh remember break not Thy Covenant with us So look to the Covenant and the Promises build upon them hold them fast and be assured that in God's good time though perhaps not in thy desired time all shall be fulfilled And God will either give thee the mercy desired or that which is better for thee Now let us consider the misery of all those who are not in Covenant with God They are without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. and have no hope they have no right to one of the promises wicked creatures subject to many wants and need much assistance from God and yet can have no confidence to go unto God Oh that pitiful speech of Saul I am 1 Sam. 28. 1â— sore distressed for the Philistins make war against me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more c. Yea as they have no comfort from God so God is their enemy a devouring fire unto them everlasting burnings quickly and easily consuming them as stubble yea and all the creatures are at enmity with them because they are at enmity with God All Men Beasts and Devils may hurt them there is no prohibition against them for wicked men have no interest in God by Covenant and so are out of His more especial profection God oftentimes le ts loose the creatures against them go and worry them wound them hurt them be an enemy unto them destroy them Afflictions to those that are not in Covenant with God are as a cup of poison and as a sword for their destruction The bread and meat which they eat may choak them Though they have a civil right before men yet they are usurpers before God of all their Lands and Estates and of all the good things of the world which they have and do enjoy On the other side I might largely speak of the comforts blessedness security and happiness of all those who have a Covenant-interest in God and who can truly say to the Lord O Lord thou art my God Read Job 25. 23. to the end As God is faithful in keeping Covenant with us let us be faithful in keeping Covenant with God In Covenants between men there is usually a league offensive and defensive to defend and help each other Let God's enemies be our enemies as David said Do not I hate them O Lord that Psâ—l 139. 21. hate thee and am not I grieved at those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I account them mine enemies Let no iniquity cleave unto us neither allow we our selves in any one known Sin Grieve when God's Name is dishonoured His Laws broken His Sabbath prophaned c. Let every thing that bears the Stamp or Name of God be precious to us as His Ordinances Sabbaths Servants c. Stand up in Gods Num. 25. 7. cause like Phinehas and shrink not back Side not with any ungodly speeches courses or practises As God is not ashamed Heb. 11. 6. to make us His people and to be called our God so let not us be afraid or ashamed to make it good upon all occasions Else if we be ashamed of Christ and His words here of us will He be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father Mark 8. 38. with His holy Angels Especially let us take heed we be not a shame to Christ and our Christian profession by ungodly or unsuitable lives We have great cause of admiration that the great and glorious and most holy God would enter into Covenant with us such vile miserable and sinful creatures and so to oblige Himself unto us to do us good As God is ours so all that is in God is ours and for our good He provides Isai 54. 13. 48. 17. for us for Soul and Body He doth instruct and teach us we are all taught of God who alone teaches to profit He helps us to grow in Grace and to hold out against all oppositions He comforts us with the consolations of God which are very sweet and precious He 2 Cor. 1. 4. encourages us in His ways preserves us therein against all the temptations and power of Devils or wicked men He is Josh 23. 6. Psa 84. â—1 a sun and shield to us to direct and protect us He gives us grace and glory no good thing will He with-hold from us None shall ever pluck us out of His Joh. 10. 28. hands He will guide us with His counsel here and at length will bring us safe Psal 73. 24. to His glory That where our blessed Saviour is there we may also be and Joh. 17. 24. that for ever We have also a right to the creatures and to all God's promises and to Heaven God hath confirmed and ratified His Covenant with us 1. By his promise which is a sure word Therefore it is of faith that it might be of Grace to the end the promise Rom. 4. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 19. might be sure c. 2. By His oath God willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things that is His Word and His Oath in which it was impossible Heb. 6. 17 18. for God to lye we might have strong consolation c. 3. By the death of His Son the blood of Christ For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death Heb. 9. 16. of the Testator By the seals of the Sacraments which is not so much to confirm the promises on God's part but to help our faith to believe them and to rely upon them Q. How may we know if we are in Covenant with God A. 1. By faith Abraham believed God and was reckoned to be in Covenant with God and so he was called Rom. 4. 3. the friend of God But this must be a true lively working faith a faith that shews it self by its good works This Acts 15. 9. faith purifies the heart 2. If we be in Christ and have His Spirit for if any have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His. This holy Spirit makes us like unto God and so testifies with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and also that we are partakers of the Covenant After that we believe in Christ we are sealed with Eph. â— 13 14. that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance c. This is a Divine impression of light and an inexpressible Rev. 2. 17. Joh. 14. 21. assurance that we are the children of God and so in Covenant with Him None knows it but
God He â—ob 38. 41. feedeth the young ravens when they cry unto Him If God feed the beasts and birds surely He will not suffer the soul Prov. 10. 3. Psal 37. 10. Isai 33. 16. of His people to famish In the days of fumine they shall be satisfied Bread shall be given them their waters shall be sure And as for rayment If God cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloath us Mat. 6. 30 31 32. Therefore take we no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithall shall we be cloathed for our heavenly father knoweth we have need of all these things Be we diligent and industrious in our places ever using lawful means that is our part for to do But the care of provision and maintenance is God's part which we must leave to Him Who hath promised to bless our lawful and honest endeavours subservient to His holy will and command 2. As for maintenance and provision so also my Expectation from God is that as I have committed all my ways to Him and trust in Him so He will bring them Psal 37. 5. Josh 5. 9. Rom. 8. 28. all to pass for the best That he will rowl away my reproach and cause all things to work together for my good He will plead my cause and execute judgment for me He will bring me forth Micah 7. 9. to the light and I shall behold His righteousness My Redeemer is strong Jer. 50. 34. the Lord of hosts is his name He shall Isai 51. 22. throughly plead my cause for He hath stiled Himself the God that pleadeth the cause of His people The Lord God of recompences will surely requite Jer. 51. 56. My expectation is higher than these temporal things as heroically and Christianly Luther once said Lord I have sworn and am resolved that I will not be put off with these lower things or to esteem them my portion c. 2dly But my expectation is higher my expectation from God is chiefly for spiritual and everlasting mercies That Acts 26. 18. as He hath opened mine eyes and turned me from darkness to light and from the power of Sathan unto God so that I Ephes 5. 8 1â— may walk as a child of light and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Having respect to all God's Commandments Psal 119. 8. not allowing my sell in any onâ— known sin Denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously Godlily in this present word To grow Tit. 2. 12 2 Pet. 3. 18. Joh. 1. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Eph. 3. 19. in Grace and in the knowledge of my Lord Jesus that of His fulness I may receive and Grace for Grace that so may make my calling and election sure being filled with the fulness of God that he will grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with all might by his Spirit in the inneâ— man that Christ may dwell in my hearâ— by faith c. that as he who hath begun 16. 17. a good work in me will also finish Phill. 1. 6. Heb. 12. 2. it For he is the author and finisher of my faith Who is able to build me up â— Acts 20. 32. and that He will settle strengthen and stablish me in every good word and work to do His will working in mâ— 1 Pet. 5. 10. Heb. 13. 21 that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ That I Phill. 1. 10 11. may approve those things which are excellent being sincere and without offence filled with the fruits of righteousness c. Pressing toward the mark Phill. 3. 11 14. for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead that is to such a measure of Grace and Holiness as I shall have 2 Tim. 3. 17. at the resurrection of the dead that I may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good work And for my outward conversation that it may be as it becometh the Gospel Phill. 1. 27. Tit. 2. 3 10. of Christ as becometh holiness that I may adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour in all things so that the Word of Verse 5. God may not be blasphemed nor the way 2 Pet. 2. 2. Jam. 1. 27. of truth evil spoken of through my default and that I may keep my self unspotted of the world walking so as 1 Joh. 2. 6. Christ walked while He was here upon the earth That after I have served my generation by the will of God and shall fall asleep and be gathered to my fathers Acts 13. 36. 2 Tim. 4. 7. and see corruption after I have fought a good fight here finished my course Heb. 12. 28. and kept the faith I may receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that 1 Pet. 1. 4. jude 1. fadeth not away reserved in heaven for me and to which I am preserved in Christ Jesus This is my hope this is my expectation for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to 2 Tim. 1. 12. keep that which I have committed to Him even the keeping of my soul and the crown of everlasting life against that day The Lord is the portion of my soul I am 3. 24 Prov. 23. 18. therefore will I wait for Him and my expectation shall not be cut off For they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary Isai 40. 31. they shall walk and not saint Now the Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient 2 Thess 3. 5. waiting for Christ Be not weary in well-doing continue Addition 2 Thess 3. 13. to wait upon God Take heed of impatiency of spirit like Joram that wicked King of Israel in that dreadful man-devouring famine of Samaria who 2 King 6. 33. though he acknowledged this evil is from the Lord yet impatiently and wickedly added wherefore should I wait on the Lord any longer He was convinced of the hand of God in His judgments upon Him so rationally he should have concluded therefore will I wait upon Him and seek to Him for relief Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque feret the same hand that wounds the same hand must bring the cure It had been more rationally inferred this evil is from the Lord therefore upon Him will I wait to Him will I address my self for deliverance But he concludes as in the Hebrew it is Mah Ochil â—adonai Quid expectabo Dominum wherefore should I wait on the Lord why should I fast and pray or carry my self patiently as the Chaldee hath
28. 13. Psal 119. 8. and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy Then shall I not be confounded when I have respect to all thy Commandments So we must be broken from our sins Psal 119. 101. 104. and for our sins not only to leave and abhor some sins but every way of wickedness utterly to abhor To hate Rom. 12. 9. Psal 19. 12. Psal 18. 23. every false way and to refrain our feet from every evil way abhor that which is evil even secret sins and beloved sinners to keep our selves from our iniquity That beloved sin which we have long used and is even natural and customary to us and that sin which doeth Heb. 12. 1. so easily beset us which may be as dear to us as the right hand or the right eye yet to pluck out these sins Matt. 5. 29 30. and cut them off and cast them from us And not only to hate sin but to abhor Job 42. 6 Ezek. 6. 9. 20. 43. our selves for it and loath our selves in our own sight for all those evils we have committed This this is true repentance which unless we have and attain unto we shall never be saved Deut. 9. 7. Psal 27. 7. It is not enough to repent once we must remember our former sins the sins of our youth yea our original sin for we were shapen in iniquity and in sin did our mother conceive us Eccles 7. 20. Prov. 24. 16. Daily let us renew our repentance as we sin every day A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again that is many times a certain number for an uncertain Even as a candle newly blowen out and yet smoaking is kindled and revived by a little breath So a Soul is delivered from ordinary dangers and streights by a timely viz. a dayly repentance A member out of joint must be set as soon as may be else a callous substance may grow in the Cavity and hinder the placing of it in again So unless we renew our repentance daily a callous hardness may grow on our hearts and hinder our renewing again by repentance Thus far of the first step of our recovery out of a natural condition into a state of Life and Salvation for God will bring us as by the gates of Hell unto Heaven first He will bring us low before He will raise us up A child is about four weeks in the dark cell of the womb and thence it comes out through difficulties and pains which makes it cry when it comes into the World Even so a child of God is held sometimes in the dark to make him see his misery in a natural lost condition and then with pain and grief through the mortification of sin He comes into newness of life to be born again by the Word and Spirit and so is made the child of God Except a John 3. 5. man be regenerate and thus born again He cannot enter into the kingdom of God Now the second step is And believe the Gospel So we see that repentance and Faith are the ordinary means our blessed Saviour here prescribeth to Salvation The word Faith hath five acceptations in Scripture 1. Faith is taken by a metonymie of the adjunct for the subject for the doctrine of Faith or the Gospel which we do believe Holding Faith and a 1 Tim. 1. 19. good conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made Shipwrack Holding the mysterie of Faith 1 Tim. 3. 9. 1 Tim. 4. 1. Jude 5. Jam. 2. 19. in a pure conscience 2. Faith is taken for historical or dogmatical Faith Thou believest there is one God thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble This Faith which is common both to the reprobate and elect consists in a bare assent 3. There is a temporary Faith which is the knowledg and joyful assent of the mind yielded to Gods promises for a time till afflictions come He that Mat. 13. 20 21. receiveth the seed into stony places is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it yet hath he not root in himself dureth but for a while for when tribulations or persecutions come because of the word by and by he is offended 4. There is a Faith of miracles which is a certain perswasion of some strange effects and works to be done by the power of God If I have Faith so that I could remove mountains If you 1 Cor. 13. 2. Mat. 17. 20. have Faith ye should say to this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossiâ—le to you This Faith was granted but for a certain time and was given to reprobates also as appears by the example of Judas Iâ—oariot to whom the gift of working miracles was given as well as to the rest of the Apostles 5. But there is a saving Faith which we define thus A virtue by which adhering to Gods faithfulness we rest upon Him that we may obtain what He hath promised to us Or it is a firm and constant apprehension of Christ and all His merits as they are promised and offered in the Word and Sacraments Or once more it is the gift of God by which an elect man applies to himself all the free promises of Christ made known in the Gospel and so he most sweetly resteth upon them The just shall live by Faith this is the Rom. 1. 17. Faith of Gods elect which is proper to the elect and which none can have but the elect and chosen of God As Titus 1. 1 2. Acts 13. 48. many as were ordained to eternal life believed The general object of true saving Faith is the whole Truth of Goâ— revealed but the special object of Faith as it justifies is the promise of remission of sins by the Lord Jesus So theâ— God when he gives this Faith 1. Hâ— enlightneth the understanding to see thâ— truth and preciousness of the rich offerâ— of Grace in the Lord Jesus The lighâ— shineth in darkness now we have received John 1. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 11 12. 14. the spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God 2. God enables the will to embrace these rich offers of grace and to stretch out all the desires of the Soul after them and to rest and build everlasting comfort upon them The things of God as they are 1 Cor. 1. 18. 2. 14. foolishness to mans natural judgment so they are enmity to his natural will And therefore when God gives Faith He gives a new light to the understanding and new motions and inclinations to the heart As the Covenant of grace is I will give them a new heart Ezek. 36. 26. It must be a mighty power to turn the heart of man upside down and cause him to pitch all the desires of his Soul on a supernatural object No man John 6. 44. Eph. â— 19 20. can come to me
search wherefore the Lord hath done so unto us For God hath holy ends and purposes in all His dispensations towards us Hath God taken away a near Relation from me as a loving Husband tender Wife or a hopeful Child to instance in these which was the desire of mine eyes and the joy of my heart if God hath taken Ezek. 34. 16. them away with His stroke did not I dote or depend too much upon them did not my heart run out too much after them did I use them so as I should when I did enjoy them ask thy self these and the like questions Commune Psal 4. 4. with thine own heart and be still go to God in Prayer and say wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto me what meaneth the heat of this great anger Deut. 29. 24. But be sure to fall out with thy sins and not with God So search and try thy ways and turn unto the Lord Lam. 3. 40. with thy whole heart for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children ver 33. of men Are they dead death hath passed and will pass upon all men for Rom. 5. 12. that all have sinned It is appointed to Heb. 9. 27. all men once to dye We must needs dye and are all as water spilt upon the ground 2 Sam. 14. 14. which cannot be gathered up again We are strangers and sojourners here as all our fathers were our days on the earth are but as a shadow and here is no abiding If we did not dye we should 1 Chron. 29. 15. always be subject to sin and misery death freeth the Saints from all for Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord yea so saith the Spirit for they Rev. 14. 13. rest from their labours and their works follow them But see if it be not for any particular sin of thine this affliction is befallen thee if upon serious search thou findest it so to be then be humbled for it repent and amend and walk more closely with God for the future That it may not be said of thee as formerly of Ephraim gray hairs are here and there Hos 7. 9. upon him yet he knoweth it not that is he considered not God's Judgments knew not nor was humbled for his sins waxed old in his wickedness yet did not he know it or lay it to heart God doth now empty thee from vessel to vessel Jer. 48. 11 and doth not suffer thee to be at ease to be setled upon thy lees O therefore let not the taste of thine old corruptions remain in thee to rellish of them and like them as formerly and thy scent not to be changed when thou art as worldly and wicked as ever Zeph. 1â— 12. For the Lord will surely search thee as with candles and punish thee and all those that are setled upon their Lees. Whatever was good and commendable in thy Deceased Relations that follow practice and imitate and make good use of This affliction of thine is a tryal Ezek. 21. 13. Isaiah 48. 10. God will try thee now in the Furnace of affliction This may be a sign unto thee that thou belongest unto God who hath his â—ire in Zion and his Furnace Isaiah 31. 9. in Jerusalem Although God may let some run on in outward prosperity and to have even more than heart can Psal 73. 7. Gen. 15. 16. Mat. 23. 32. wish and others to run on in sin till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities God would purifie thee Oh be thou purified and clensed hereby That the tryal of thy faith being 1 Pet. 1. 7 much more precious then of gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be sound unto praise and honour and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ Thus we see that the afflictions of the Godly are for correction and for tryal Blessed are they whom thou chastenest O Psal 94. 12. Lord and teachest them out of thy Law When Instruction and Correction go together that is a happy and a blessed Correction Think also on the Saints of God who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6. 12. Labour to set Faith on Work yea let the tryal of thy Faith work in the patience and let patience have its perfect Jam. 1. 3 4. work that thou mayest be perfect and entire lacking nothing Thou canst not be a through-out and perfect and an accomplished Christian unless thou hast obtained this excellent grace of Patience see that thou abound in this grace also 2 Cor. 8. â— Q. But why are afflictions call'd temptations as blessed is the man that endureth Jam. 1. 12â— Jam. 1. 2. temptations And count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations I answer All temptations are not evil but some are tryals of our Faith and Hope in God if we can live by Faith and rest upon the promises and so they make much for our good And in this regard they are pronounced that fall into divers temptations Therefore ought we not simply to pray and without exception to be delivered from them but only from the evil of them As God led Israel 40 years in the Wilderness to humble them and to prove them to know what was in their Deut. 8. â— 13. 3. heart whether they would keep his Commandments or no. And to prove them whether they would love the Lord their God with all their hearts and with all their souls So afflictions are called temptations because by them God tryeth our Obedience to notisie our faith and patience both to our selves and others whether we will follow him or not And therefore we may be assured that so often as we beat back or overcome the temptations we have so many undoubted testimonies of Gods love unto us So then Patience is from the acknowledging of Gods Wisdom Providence Justice and Goodness to be Obedient unto him in bearing all adversities and crosses or losses which the Lord hath brought upon us and through grief not to murmur or repine at any of his dispensations nor to do any thing against his Commâ—â—â—ements but in the midst of our grief to retain assured hope and confidence of Gods help and to crave aid and deliverance from him and in this confidence and acknowledging of Gods Will to moderate our grief Psal 37. 7 8 34. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Fret not thy self in any wise to do evil So we see that patience is a duty belonging to the First Commandement not only because it 's a part of that inward obedience which we owe to God and he immediately requires it to himself at our hands but also because that from our acknowledging of God our confidence in him and our love and fear of him do follow as necessary effects To this Christian patience impatience is contrary and opposed which impatience is when through ignorance or distrust of
Gods Wisdom Providence Justice and Goodness not to be obedient to God in bearing of adversities which he hath inflicted upon us but through grief to fret against him or do something against his commands not craving deliverance or help from him nor moderating grief by the acknowledging and resting on his Divine Will but to yield to grief so far as to be broken and overcome thereby and so driven to dispair So did Saul and Judas Iscariot To this impatience belongeth that complaining and crying out as if God afflicted us beyond our deserts and we had merited no such thing There is also a Hypocritical Patience as in those who vainly excruciate and torment themselves as those worshippers of Baal who cut and 1 Kings 18. 28 gashed themselves with knives till the bloud gushed out And of the same sort are also the Popish whippings c. There is also a Stoical Apathy or insensibility which we may call stupidity her rejected because a sense of our grief and some complaint or lamentation is not contrary to Patience so that we charge not God foolishly but justify God in his dispensations and utter nothing against him and complain not so much for the affliction as for our sins and acknowledge that he hath punished us less than our Ezra 9. 15. iniquities have deserved Why cryest Jer. 30. 15. thou for thine afflictions thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquities because thy sins were increased God hath done thus unto thee Thus we may glory in tribulation knowing tribulation worketh patience Rom. 5. 3 4 5. and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us That is we rejoyce in our present afflictions which are an assured proof unto us of everlasting 2 Cor. 4. 17. glory These light and momentany afflictions work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Here is a Hyperbole beyond an Hyperbole It is an evident token unto us of Salvation Phil. 1. 28. and that of God The Holy Ghost doth through tribulation fashion and frame us to Patience in which God doth from time to time give us assured proofs of His Grace and Protection whereby we conceive a firm hope in Him grounded upon the love which He bears unto us which He hath given us large cause of feeling and hath lively sealed it to our hearts by His Spirit of Adoption The more Gods servants suffer tribulation and adversity with patience The more they feel in themselves and have experience of His aid and assistance and this makes them more to hope in God as knowing they shall never be ashamed of their faith and hope Rom. 10. 11 and considence in Him Through patience and comfort of the Rom. 15. 4. Luke 8. 15. Scriptures we have hope Let us bring forth fruit with patience such fruits as God by His dispensations calls for and requires of us and that with patience that is persevering to the last in the middest of and notwithstanding all our tryals and afflictions God will render Rom. 2. 7. to them eternal life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality So we have need of patience that after Heb. 10. 36. we have done the will of God we may receive the promise In all things approving our selves to be the servants of God who is stiled the God of patience in much patience in afflictions Rom. 15. 4. in distresses in necessities c. which 2 Cor. â— 4. we endure Being strengthned with all might accerding to His glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness So that the Ministers of Col. 1. 11. Christ may glory in us in the Churches of God for our patience and faith in all 2 Theâ— 1. 4. our persecutions and tribulations which we endure Let us follow after righteousness godliness 1 Tim. 6. 11. faith love patience meekness 2 Cor. 8. 7. And as to grow in grace so also in this of patience Adding to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to 2 Pet. 1. 5. 6 7. knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That God may know and approve our works and our labour and our patience that we have born and have had patience and have not fainted Rev. 2. 2 3. That it may be said of us among others Here is the patience of the Saints here Rev. 14. 12. are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus That Christ may say to us Because ye have kept the Rev. 3. 10. word of my patience I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth It is not anothers patience that will avail us unless for our example and imitation but in our patience we must possess and that our own souls Consider the work of God In the Eccl. 7. 14. day of prosperity rejoyce In the day of adversity consider God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him That is be wise in discerning the various ways of Gods Providence for to second them with thine affections either of joy or sorrow Since Gods Will cannot be altered wisdom should make a man quietly submit unto it for there are variable things in this world to which we must conform our affections both of joy and grief Here we may expect nothing but changes and alterations for in the middest of life we are in death Here is no perpetuity of any condition Adversity is a considering time when God writeth bitter things against Job 13. 2â— us therefore in the day of adveâ—â—â—ty consider Endeavour to have such a feeling as God calleth the unto by His visitation or dispensation for He hath set adversity against prosperity He hath mixed evil with good to direct man by these different means of mildness and severity unto a happy death for after death there are no more vicissitudes nor varieties all things and conditions are then perpetual neither is there any place for repentance or amendment Q. What is the true nature of this vertue of Patience A. I answer This Christian Patience looks on a Three fold Object 1. On God By whose Good-will and pleasure all adversities are appointed and from thence come This Job in his afflictions did see and acknowledge when he said shall we Job 2. 10. receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil In this regard murmuring against God is opposed 1 Cor. 10. 10. to patience Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer This murmuring against God is the ready way to our
while we are here in this life for God knows as we have souls so bodies also which have need of sustentation food and rayment which are needful for us And God hath promised not to deny us things which are needful 6. If we in the first place do seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness all these things shall be added unto us and given in as an advantage for they are but accessive and must come in in the second place 7. Our Saviour iterateth His charge unto us therefore take no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Therefore let us not be troubled through the care and apprehension of future time which is a distrustful a vain unprofitable and sinful care Time present is only ours for the future what shall betide either us or ours is known only to God who hath times events and seasons in His own hand There is a Two-fold care of the things of this life 1. A care of diffidence distrusting Gods providence mercy and goodness which is here condemned 2. A care of diligence to use industry and diligence in our places and callings for the supply of our wants and of those who depend upon us with a moderate care and that in reference to Gods command and resting on His providence promises blessings and goodness This care is good and commendable so it be moderate not to hinder us from or interrupt us in our holy duties We know it is Gods Ordinance in the sweat of our face to eat our bread to Gen 3. 19. use pains diligence and industry And the Apostle commands that if any will 2 Thes 3. 10 12. not work neither should he eat And exhorteth that with quietness we work and eat own bread Not to live like droans devouring the honey which the laborious Bee brings in but to eat our own bread bread and maintainance of our own getting and earning without being burdensom or chargeable to others He becometh poor that dealeth with a Prov. 10. 4. slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich And in the same Chapter the wise-man hath it the blessing of ver 22. the Lord it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it So the meaning is the blessing of the Lord which accompanies our honest diligent endeavours that maketh rich and the Lord will add no sorrow with it or we shall have His blessing with comfort in the enjoyment of it So a little that a righteous Prov. 16. 8. man hath is better than the treasures of many wicked Our blessed Saviour compares the Mat. 13. 22. cares of this world to thornes which as the Apostle speaks pierce or bore a man through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6. 10. 1. These cares they are wonderful thornes and cause vexation of spirit they beget many sorrows and those sorrows at last cause death for worldly 2 Cor. 7. 10. sorrow causes death 2. They are choaking thornes they stifle and keep down all the gracious Seed of the word yea the very natural sproutings of nobleness ingenuity and morality in the dispositions of men 3. They are deceitful thornes they will deceive us at last 4. They are vanishing thornes nothing so apt to catch fire as thornes and so easily quenched They are quenched Psal 118. 12. like a fire of thornes said the Psalmist Irregular cares are both superfluous and also sinful 1. Superfluous for as unto us belongs the industry but the care belongs unto God unto us the labour and use of lawful means but unto God the blessing and success of all God must be trusted with the events of all our pains and industry our cares can never bring to pass our smallest desires the care of events was ever God 's Prerogative and belongs wholly to His providence 2. As irregular cares are superfluous so also sinful too for they are worldly distrusting of Gods providence they Jam. 4. 3. are adulterous cares stealing away the heart from God they take off the heart from the word and make it become unfruitful In all these and other respects they are sinful and we ought to arm our selves against them For as in avenging our selves we sinfully take Gods sword of justice out of His hand to whom vengeance belongeth and I Rom. 12. 19. will recompence saith the Lord. So in carking or caring for our selves we intrench on Gods Prerogative Royal who hath bid us to cast all our care upon Phil. 4. 6. Him for He careth for us Therefore let us be careful for nothing but in Phil. 4. 19. every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let our requests be made known unto God And our God shall supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus Yet let us use the means and be diligent in the works of our calling Now in the labour and works of our calling there is required a double action of faith 1. To do our labour in good manner that is to the glory of God and the good of men with whom we live 2. In our dayly labours to restrain and moderate our care Men commonly take upon them a double care as First to do the works and labours of their callings Secondly to procure a blessing and good success to their labours But faith in God where it reigns it stirs up the hearts of men only to the first care which is the faithful discharge of their labours and duties in their place And it restrains them from the second for a blessing and good success and makes them to leave that wholly to God For when men have done their duty which appertains unto them then Faith makes them without any more ado to wait upon God for a blessing which as we said before is Gods part as the former which is the faithful discharge of our duties in our places is our part Therefore it is said cast thy burden Psal 55. 2â— upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee Now this faith whereby we depend upon God for the success of our labours hath an infallible ground namely that God best knows our wants and He will give us all things which He in His Wisdom knows to be necessary for us So Christ saith your heavenly Father Mat. 6. 32. knows that we have need of these things There is no want to those that fear Him Psal 34. 9 10. The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing If men by faith would build on these promises they need not like drudges of the world toyl and spend themselves and the best part of their days in worldly cares so as they do For they should have a greater blessing from God with less care if they would trust Him and also they should have far more time than they have to care for
be raised up again which have been dead from the beginning of the world and they that remain alive shall suddenly be changed and so all shall be set before the Tribunal Sâ—at of Christ who shall pass Sentence upon All adjudging the Devils and all the wicked to everlasting punishments but shall receive the godly unto Himself that together with Him and the blessed Angels they may enjoy everlasting glory and happiness in Heaven Or more briefly thus It shall be a manifestation of all hearts and a laying open of all things which men have done and a separating of the wicked from the godly passing Sentence upon All and Execution of that Sentence according to the Doctrine of the Law and Gospel Which will be a perfect deliverance and perpetual blessedness to the Godly and a casting of the Wicked and Devils into everlasting Punishment We will prove the several parts hereof out of the Scripture 1. It shall be a laying open of all things For the Books shall be opened that the secrets of all hearts may be made manifest As Rev. 20. 12. Dan. 7. 10. 2. There shall be a separation of the just from the unjust as a Shepherd separateth Mat. 25. 32 33. the Sheep from the Goats setting the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left 3. This separation shall be by Christ the Judge For the Father hath committed Joh. 5. 22. all Judgment to the Son And Acts 17. 31. God hath appointed a day wherein He will judg the world by Christ 4. There shall be a passing of Sentence For Christ shall say to those on His right hand Come ye blessed c. and to those on His left hand Go ye cursed c. 5. There shall be an eternal Execution of this Sentence for the wicked shall go away into everlasting fire but Mat. 25. 46. the just into life eternal 6. Both the godly and the wicked shall be judged according to the Law and Gospel that is they shall be declared just or unjust before the Tribunal of Christ For the absolution of the just shall principally be according to the Gospel and shall be confirm'd by the Law The damnation of the unjust shall be principally by the Law and shall be confirm'd by the Gospel The Sentence on the wicked shall be taken from their merits The Sentence on the godly shall be taken from Christ's merits apply'd to them by Faith the testimony of whose Faith shall be their works Q. When shall this Judgment be A. We know not the time So â—aith our Saviour That day knoweth no man Mark 13. 32. no not the Angels which are in heaven nor the Son that is as man but the Father only Good conceals this day 1. That He may exercise our faith hope and patience that believing in God we may persevere in expectation of the promises and of the glorious deliverance of the Sons of God 2. That our curiosity may be restrain'd 3. That we may be continued in His fear in godliness and careful performance of our duty that we be not secure but always prepar'd because we are uncertain when â—â—â— Lord will come 4. That the wicked may not desser their repentance because they know not the day lest the day take them at Mark 13. 35 36 37. unawares and unprepared Therefore we are bid to watch and to employ our Talents well until Christ Luk. 19. 13. come Let the Saints rejoyce in God for Christ will come who will be a favourable Judg unto us for He is our Brother our Redeemer our merciful High-Priest He will come in Majesty and great Glory He is able to save to Heb. 7. 27 the utmost all that come to God by Him c. And He comes as to reward Vengance to His enemies so to bring us Joh. 17. 24. 12. 26. unto Himself that where He is who is our glorious Head and Husband there we His servants may also be c. Wherefore seeing we look for such things be we diligent that we may be found of Him in peace without spot 1 Pet. 3. 14. and blameless Then shall we have cause to lift up our heads and rejoyce Luk. 21. 28. for our everlasting redemption draweth nigh So we see by Judgment here is meant the pronouncing and executing of that irrevocable Sentence either of absolution or condemnation Judgment is Two fold 1st Particular 2dly General 1. Particular on every man and woman 1 Particular Judgment Heb. 9. 27. at the hour of death As it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death comes judgment After Hâ—â—l 12. 7. death the body returns to the earth from whence it was and the spirit to God that gave it there immediately to receive its Sentence 2. General Judgment of which we 2. General Judgment Acts 17. 31. here speak upon all men at the Second coming of Christ As the death of every one severally goeth before their Particular Judgment So the General Resurrection of all goeth before their Final Judgment which shall be at the last Day wheâ— all men both dead and living shall be summoned by the Voice of Christ and Ministry of His Angels and by the Shout and Trumpet of the Arch-Angel Whereto the Lord joyning His Divine Power shall in a moment both Raise the dead with their own bodies and every part thereof though never so dispersed and change the living so that it shall be with them as if they had been a long time dead and were now raised to life again I say both the Elect and Reprobate shall rise by the same mighty Voice and Power â—â— Christ in the same bodies whereiâ— they formerly lived but so altered â—â— quality as then they shall be able to abide for ever in that estate whereto they shall be adjudged But there shall be a difference between the Resurrection of the Elect and Reprobate for the dead in Christ shall 1 Thes 4. 16 rise first and also the difference shall be 1. The Elect shall be raised as members of the body of Christ by vertue derived from His Resurrection The Reprobate as Malefactours shall bâ— brought forth out of the Prison of the grave by vertue of the Judiciary Power of Christ and of the curse of the Law 2. The Elect shall come forth to everlasting life which is called the Resurrection of life The Reprobate to shame and perpetual contempt which â—s called the Resurrection of condemnation 3. The bodies of the Elect shall be spiritual that is glorious powerful â—ctive or nimble impassible never â—apable to suffer more fashioned like 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44 Phil. 3. 21. â—nto Christ's glorious body But the â—odies of the Reprobates shall be full of â—ncomeliness gastliness and horror agreeable to the guiltiness and terror of their consciences and liable to extremest torments 4. The Elect shall with great joy be Luke 21. 28. 1 Thes 4 17. caught up into the