of Unity and Peace To enforce this he makes use of two sorts of Motives 1st He argues from several things which are one and the same in the Church of God which do all tend to fasten and engage us to one another ver 4 5 6. There is one Body and one Spirit c. 2dly He argues from those things in which there is a diversity viz. The Graces of Believers for their Diversity is also an Argument to Love and Concord This is the Subject of the Text But unto every one c. The manner of proposing this Argument with the Particle But plainly shews that the Apostle here designs to prevent an Objection from God's unequal Distribution of Grace which corrupt Nature is very apt to make an occasion of Division whereas indeed if well considered 't is rather a strong and powerful Bond of Union for seeing every one hath his several Graces from God and no one hath all it follows that we are mutually indigent of each others Assistance and ought to be mutually Useful in affording it if one hath that Grace which another wants and if one wants what another hath they should therefore agree to be helpers of their Brethren in Christ all Grace being dispensed by the same Benefactor proceeding from the same Author and referring to one general End In the Words we have Four Particulars 1st The thing spoken of Grace This is a word which hath various Significations in the Scripture Sometimes 't is put for Grace in God his Mercy and Kindness Favour and good Will in opposition to our own Works or any thing in the Creature so Eph. 2.8 We are saved by Grace c. So we read of the Election of Grace Rom. 11.5 and Justification by Grace chap. 3.24 For this is the Foundation and Principle of all that God doth for us we must still cry Grace Grace to it Sometimes 't is put for the Doctrine of Grace i.e. The Gospel which is truly and strictly so Gal. 5.4 You are fallen from Grace 1 Pet. 5.12 This is the true Grace of God wherein you stand Sometimes 't is put for the Fruits and Effects of the Grace of God in us and they are twofold Common Gifts or special Graces 1. Common Gifts which Salvation may be separated from Thus Paul expresses his Call to the Apostleship often by the Grace given to him Rom. 1.5 Chap. 15.15 1 Cor. 3.10 Gal. 2.9 Ephes 3.7 8. 2. Special Graces such as always accompany Salvation or carry Salvation in them Thus a charitable Disposition to relieve the Needy hath the Title and Character of Grace 2 Cor. 8.6 7. 'T is probable that Grace may include both Senses but I shall chuse to speak chiefly of the latter 2dly The way of Communication Is given 'T is not due or owing to us God is not oblig'd to impart any thing to us but he freely promises and freely bestows it He freely gives us all things Rom. 8.32 1 Cor. 2.12 't is all voluntary that which he might have righteously refused to do Of his own Will he first dispenses the Grace of Conversion and afterwards for our progressive Sanctification His Justice does not bind but his Goodness moves him to it If he had left all Mankind lying in Wickedness as well as those whom he passed by he had been a God without Iniquity There was no reason why he should Restore what we had lost and Repair what we had defac'd but because he would 3dly The Persons that are the Receivers To every one of us i. e. Either 1. To all actual Believers that are or have been since the beginning of the World To every one that now hath Grace or that ever had it it was and is given So some interpret John 1.9 Every Man that cometh into the World and is enlightned is enlightned by him Or 2. To all his chosen Ones even to the end of the World All that are given to Christ shall receive Grace from him Whom he did predestinate he also will call Rom. 8.30 They to whom Grace was given in the Eternal Purpose of God before the World shall be most certainly partakers of it in time 4thly The original Spring or Pattern of it According to the measure of the Gift of Christ. This may be taken either way 1. As denoting the Spring of this Grace i. e. according to the Liberality and Munificence of Christ and in the measure which it pleases him to give This Construction is favoured by the next words which are a Citation of Psal 68.18 He gave Gifts unto Men. 2. As intimating the Pattern of this Grace Christ is not only the Giver but the Exemplar of it There is some Correspondence between the Grace in Christ and in us So some understand that John 1.16 Grace for Grace As there is a Shadow and Reflection in the Glass which answers to the real Face as in a well drawn Copy there is a resemblance of that which 't is drawn from and as the printed paper contains the Stamp and Signature of those Letters which are set in the Press so there is some kind of analogy and likeness betwixt Christ's Grace and ours Observ There is a Grace given by Christ to every one that belongs to him bearing some proportion and similitude to that which was conferr'd upon himself Here I. Shew what Purposes this Grace serves for II. Wherein it appears to be given III. How given by Christ IV. After what Manner given to every one that belongs to Christ V. What Proportion and Similitude does it bear to his Grace VI. Use I. What Purposes does this Grace serve for Ans All is included in these two Things 1. For the fixing of Holy Principles This is what the Apostle calls the establishing of the Heart with Grace Heb. 13.9 There can be no steady walk with God till this is done If we be not transformed by Grace in the renewing of our Minds all other Changes and Alterations signifie nothing and will come to nothing This only infers a real change of the Man for the Man is according as his Principles are and sooner or later they will be Operative and discover themselves A gracious Person is one endowed with gracious Habits and settled in a gracious State It is the Seed abiding in us which denominates us truly alive to God or else we are no better than Carkasses at the best that are cover'd with Flowers or embalm'd with Spices to keep them from being noisome and offensive to others 2. The producing of Holy Actions Where Principles are first fixed these Actions flow as a pure stream from a clear Fountain When the Sinner is turn'd into another Man he naturally steers another Course And when he is under the Dominion of Grace he is not so apt to be drawn aside by contrary Temptations as one that is got no further than the external Rules and Precepts of Morality 'T is only the Grace of God which effectually teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts
positive Discovery of Corruption in the actual Commission of Sin is not Apostacy A Man may halt and slip yea he may stumble and fall and yet not go back He that resolvedly holds on his way may notwithstanding oftentimes through Ignorance or Infirmity turn aside out of it before he finishes his Course A Believer may be led into Captivity to the Law of Sin and yet never properly is brought under the Reigning Power of Sin Rom. 6.14 compar'd with 7.23 To be violently seized by another as an Enemy is a very distinct thing from submitting to another's Dominion as a Lord. A Subject may continue Loyal to his Rightful Prince though the Arms of a wrongful Usurper may for a Time prevail against him A voluntary Transferring of my Allegiance is much more than to be taken Prisoner by force Rebellion is an aggravating Addition to Sin Job 34.37 Now Apostatizing in Scripture is very frequently exprest by Rebelling Josh 22.29 God forbid that we should Rebel against the Lord and turn this Day from following the Lord c. Dan. 9.5 We have done wickedly and rebelled by departing from thy Precepts c. Every Offence against a Law is not an Act of Treason or Renunciation of the Soveraign Authority All Sin is a Transgression but this Sin of backsliding is the great Transgression 3. Apostacy from God includes not only a Deviation in the Life but an Alienation of the Heart Not only a sinful wandering but a loving to wander Jer. 14.10 Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their Feet So long as the Heart is right with God it cannot be said that the Man goes back from him An unwilling Departure is not so much the Act of the regenerate Person as of the Sin that dwelleth in him Rom. 7.17 No outward Performance good or bad does denominate so much as the inward frame and working of the Spirit A great many miscarriages will be graciously overlookt in the visible Walk and Conversation when there is a cleaving to God with full Purpose of Soul The Errors of a Man's way are far more pardonable than erring in Heart The Generation whom God was so much griev'd with were a People that did err in their Hearts Psalm 95.10 Though there be no manifest or gross backsliding in the Life yet if there be a revolting and a rebellious Heart there is the poysonous Root of all Abomination Here is Apostacy in the sight of God though not in the sight of Men as the Israelites in their Hearts turned back again into Egypt when they were marching in the Wilderness Acts 3.39 According as the Mind is estrang'd from God or keeps close to him a Man is clear or guilty in this Case Our Heart is not turned back was the Church's Vindication Psalm 44.18 4. Apostacy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done 'T is a wicked Repentance quite contrary to the Grace of Repentance as that is a Repentance from dead Works so is this a Repentance from Works of a better sort Psalm 36.3 He hath left off to be wise and to do good 'T is a Perversion to Evil after a seeming Conversion from it The first Apostacy wherein all are involved supposes the Creation of Man in a State of Uprightness Every one is gone back Psalm 53.3 Therefore Adams Original Course was a walk with God So here the Apostacy whereof we speak is a miserable change for the worse after a plausible change at least for the better There can be no going back but where a Man hath once run well No looking back but where a Man hath first set his Hand to the Plaugh Luke 9. ult 'T is ending in the Flesh after we have begun in the Spirit when our Faces have been towards Sion and our doings framed to turn to God this is a revoking and disanulling of all and driving towards Hell 'T is a Declaration of War where we have pretended Friendship 't is a saying in Effect the Time past sufficeth us to have wrought the Will of God and therefore now we will Work our own In short 't is no less than our pulling down all that we have built up and a listing of our selves in the Service of Sin and Satan whom we have fought against II. Of what Concernment and Importance it is to Believers to be secur'd against such Apostacy This will appear from two Things their Danger of Apostacy and their Danger by it 1. How much they are in Danger of it viz. If left alone and abandon'd to themselves There are Three Considerations which will sufficiently shew the greatness of this hazard 1. Grace in us is very weak The Apostle does not say be strong in the Grace which is in thy self but in the Grace which is in Christ 2 Tim. 2.1 That fulness of Grace of which Christ is the subject can never be lessen'd but those measures of Grace which are communicated unto us and lodg'd in us might and would be lost if we were separated from him Borrowed Abilities will fail if not continually recruited and supplied All created inhaerent Holiness of it self is a perishable Thing 't is indeed made of God an abiding incorruptible Seed in Believers now but 't is not so in its own Nature If it were how could the Angels in Heaven or Adam in Paradice have ever fallen Grace is a good Treasure in the Heart but it wants Almightiness to guard it as there is no Worldling who thinks that his Bags or Coffers can defend themselves Gracious Habits are the true Riches but they lye open for Thieves to rob us of them except God keep our House after he hath furnisht it Poverty will come upon us like an armed Man 2. Corruption in us is very Active We are very apt and ready to be drawn away by our own Lust James 1.14 There is Folly enough remaining in the wisest and best of Men to pervert and mislead them He was no ordinary Saint who complain'd of his being so foolish and ignorant that he was as a Beast before God Psalm 73.22 There is still too much Brute in him that hath attain'd to be more than a Man None of us are so washed from our silthiness while we are in this World but that the Reliques of a swinish Principle in our Natures would make us return to wallow in the Mire if God did not keep us back If we consider how just Lot linger'd in going out of sinful Sodom we cannot but think that he would have lookt behind him as well as his Wife except those Inclinations had been restrain'd Though our Hearts be Circumcis'd to Love God predominantly there are vile Affections stirring in us still not very easie to be supprest The Law in our Members is not like a dead Letter but a lively Principle which Wars against the Laws of our Minds 3. The Temptations which come against us are very numerous Every Place every Condition every Employment every Relation is full
2 Cor. 12.10 The Spirit of God speaks in very large and comprehensive Terms upon this Subject Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience c. So 2 Cor. 9.8 Here 's a remarkable heap of Expressions as Mr. Trail very well Notes pag. 236. All Grace first in God and that abounding towards us and then as the result of it our having a sufficiency and All-sufficiency and that always and in all Things and thence flows every good Work and our abounding to every good Work 5. You who are Believers and consequently to whom all Things are thus possible study all thankfulness What a Debtor is he to God whose Strength is in him According as his Divine Power hath given Relief to you make suitable returns to him The Man that had been Lame from his Mother's Womb assoon as he receiv'd Strength and stood up he entred with the Apostles into the Temple leaping and praising God Acts 3.7 8. Thus David cries out The Lord is my Strength and my Shield my Heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my Heart greatly rejoyceth and with my Song will I Praise him Psalm 28.7 To Conclude therefore as your help comes from Heaven so let your Praises go up thither Remember every renewed Experience calls for a repeated Acknowledgement and there may be equal Danger of obstructing God's mighty workings by ingratitude and by unbelief both tend to with-hold his Hand and enfeeble ours SERMON XV. December 1. 1696. PSALM LXIX iv last Clause Then I restored that which I took not away THough the Title of this Psalm Points us to the Author a Psalm of David yet much of the Matter makes it plain that he is not the only nor the principal Subject The main Substance of the whole agrees well enough to David and he might have an Eye in it to his own personal Afflictions but yet his Thoughts and Expressions were so directed by the Holy Ghost as to be more fully and properly verified in Christ of whom he was an eminent Type than in himself There are several Remarkable Passages which have a particular Respect to Christ and to put it beyond all Doubt that this was the meaning and design of the Spirit of God in them they are so applied in the New Testament Compare ver 9. with John 2.17 And ver 21. with Mat. 27.34 A Circumstance of Suffering which we never meet with in the History of David's Troubles but punctually Recorded by the Evangelists concerning our Blessed Lord. Again ver 22 23. is applied not to David's Enemies but to the Jews upon their Rejection by God for the Crucifying of Christ Rom. 11.9 10. and so ver 25. is said to be fulfill'd in Judas for betraying him Acts 1.20 But we need to go no further for an Instance of this kind than the beginning of this verse which is Cited by our Lord himself as spoken with Reference to his Case John 15.25 They hated me without a Cause Only what is contracted in the Citation is here deliver'd more at large where we have four Things distinctly set forth concerning the Enemies of Jesus Christ their Iniquity Malignity Number and Power 1. Their Iniquity they were causeless haters of him and his Enemies wrongfully they had no just or real Ground for what they did no Provocation to do it they were his Adversaries for his good Works not for any Evil ones and that which should have rather engag'd their Affection to him was the occasion of their Opposition 2. Their Malignity they that would destroy me they sought no less than his Life they thirsted after his Blood that which was indeed necessary to be shed for the accomplishing of the Holy Ends of God these wicked Instruments would not be Content without so Devilish Rage was over-rul'd to bring about the Divine Purpose 3. Their Number they are more than the Hairs of my Head the whole Multitude of the Jews were for destroying him Mat. 27.20 c. And truly every Man in the World that is without Christ is against him He hath as many Adversaries as there are Men in a natural unconverted State 4. Their Power They are mighty so it was foretold that they would be The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Psalm 2.2 Which Peter cites as spoken with Relation to our Lord Jesus Acts 4.26 Paul says That none of the Frinces of this World knew him 1 Cor. 2.8 And being ignorant of him no wonder that they oppose him Antichrist hath more of the Potentates of the Earth on his side than Christ ever had But that which I intend to insist upon is what the Psalmist adds in the close of the verse Then I restored that which I took not away Then when he was so beset and surrounded with Enemies who were worrying him to Death then when the Waters were come into his Soul when he sunk in the deep mire and the Floods overflow'd him when his Throat was dryed and his Eyes failed ver 1 2 3. Which are all so many various Phrases to denote the Extremity of those Soul-troubles that our Lord Jesus was plung'd into by Reason of the Wrath of God let out against him as well as the Wrath of Man Then he restored that which he took not away he was not forc'd or constrain'd to do it but he did it willingly with his free Consent he was under no Obligation to do it but what he took upon himself the Law binds a Man indeed to make Restitution of that which he hath taken away Lev. 6.4 But the Lord of the Law could not be bound to restore that which he had not taken in order to the making of Peace and Reconciliation between God and the Sinner this was graciously undertaken and perform'd by Christ Obs It was the great and blessed Work of our Lord Jesus here upon the Earth to restore what he took not away In handling this I. Shew what is it which was taken away and from whom II. Wherein it appears that Christ took it not away III. How he restor'd it IV. Why he did so V. Use I. What is it which was taken away and from whom For 't is manifestly implied that there was something unjustly taken or else what need of any Restitution As to God there was Glory taken from him and as to Man there was Righteousness Holiness and Happiness taken from him also 1. There was Glory taken from God Not his essential Glory nor any Perfection of his Being for that cannot be taken away but that Glory which shines forth in the Moral Government of his Creatures and that Glory which we are tied to give to him 1. The Glory of God shining forth in the Holy Government of his reasonable Creatures was taken away by Sin It was preserv'd and maintain'd in the upper World indeed among the standing Angels but among fallen Men in this lower World it
Tit. 2.11 12. This is the prevailing Antidote against practical Atheism and all manner of licentiousness and sensuality Hereby we serve God acceptably Heb. 12.28 And hereby we have our Conversation in the World towards other Men so as to gain the rejoycing Testimony of a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 Such Fruits of Righteousness does the Root of the Righteous always yield II. Wherein does this Grace appear to he given Ans Two ways 1. If we consider the Matter in general it must needs be given because the Creature is in no Capacity to claim it as a debt For 1. The Man that hath no Grace can do nothing to deserve it Nothing that 's done by the strength of Nature can Merit the infusing of a supernatural Power Nature and Grace differ in kind and Grace is of a kind more Superiour to Nature than Heaven is to Earth There is no Affinity or Comparison between Flesh and Spirit and consequently none between that which is born of the Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit John 3.6 What we bring forth in a State of Sin is all after our own likeness and can this qualifie us for being Created again after the likeness of God All antecedent Dispositions and Preparations rise no higher than the carnal Standard they are still but dead Works which fall infinitely short of a Divine quickening If Glory is not to be procur'd by the most vigorous Exercises of Grace much less Grace by the utmost endeavours of Nature 2. We are so far from deserving Grace that naturally we do not desire it Wheresoever Grace is sincerely desir'd the good Work is begun To will is not present with us till God hath wrought it Whoever covets to partake of God's Holiness does in some Degree partake of it already There is an Enmity and Opposition in corrupt Nature to the Work of saving Grace instead of asking and seeking after it we refuse and reject the offers of it and rise up in Arms against it before God hath subdued us to himself How can we suppose that the Old Man should ever crave to be crucifi'd and reigning Sin affect to be depos'd We may as well think that the Devil should wish the Subversion of his own Kingdom as that unrenewed Nature and sinful Flesh should desire the Destruction of it self 3. We are so far from naturally desiring Grace that we are not deeply sensible of our want of it till God hath made us so By a deep Sense I mean a feeling Apprehension both of our being destitute of Grace and being undone without it Now this is imprest by the Spirit of God where-ever it is Graceless Persons either do not know their Condition to be so sinful or not so miserable as it is they think themselves to have what they have not or else they are Content to want it as if there were no need of having it How then can he deserve a Cure who fancies himself so whole that he hath no occasion for a Physician Or who thinks himself bound to bestow an Alms upon one that is too Proud to beg and will not own his Necessity but says he is Rich enough This is our Case with Respect to God 2. If we examine the Matter more particularly there are several express Instances in Scripture which make it out to us As 1. The Spirit of God who is the immediate Operator of all Grace in us and therefore call'd the Spirit of Grace Zech. 12.10 Is said to be given us Rom. 5.5 1 John 3.24 Or else 't is impossible that ever we should receive him Receiving implies a giving A Man can receive nothing unless it be given him from Heaven John 3.27 And therefore the World cannot receive the Spirit because he was never promised nor is he given to the World Chap. 14.17 Jesus Christ is not more the Gift of God to poor Sinners than the Spirit is they are both equally glorious Persons and unspeakable inestimable Gifts The Communication of the Holy Ghost is as great an Act of Bounty in God as the Exhibition of his Son 2. The New Nature which is inclusive of all Grace is represented in Scripture as a Gift Ezek. 36.26 A new Heart will I give you c. I will give you an Heart of Flesh This new Heart and Heart of Flesh does vertually comprehend in it every Grace for all the habits of Grace are infus'd at once not successively one after another they are all really inherent when we are first made new Creatures though not all on a sudden eminently visible Now this new Heart which constitutes a new Creature is absolutely given so the Covenant runs God does not say I will give it you upon such and such Terms if you do thus and thus but I will give you c. If it were a suspended conditional Promise it might never be performed 3. Saving Knowledge which is coupled with Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 And is indeed it self a Grace is given So God says I will give them an Heart to know me Jer. 24.7 And Christ tells his Disciples Vnto you ic is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom c. Mat. 13.11 'T is rich Love and Mercy which makes the difference in this Case between some and others between those who remain blind as they are Born and those whose Eyes are open'd and that have the Veil upon their Hearts taken away They to whom this Knowledge is given and they to whom it is not given are alike unworthy of it and alike uncapable of attaining it themselves He that gives us natural Light for the guidance of our Bodies does as truly give spiritual Light for the Conduct of our Souls 4. Faith is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 As 't is stiled his Work to intimate that his Power is the Cause so 't is call'd his Gift to intimate that his goodness is the Motive Vnto you it is given to believe Phil. 1.29 The Grace of Faith is communicated to us with the same freeness as the Object of it is and if it were not so we should live and dye in our Infidelity Our Lord positively says John 6.65 No Man can come to me except it be given to him of my Father We may as well undertake a perfect fulfilling of the whole Covenant of Works as pretend to an Ability of receiving Christ as tender'd in the Gospel He is set up as the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness and God gives us an Eye to look to him or else we should be nothing the better 5. Repentance is God's Gift also There is no Repentance to Salvation but what is wrought by the God of Salvation We may as well imagine that Light should of it self Spring out of Darkness and sweet Waters issue from a bitter Fountain as that any such Grace should be the natural Product of our Impenitent Hearts There is no hope of an Heart desperately Wicked as the Heart of every Man by Nature is Jer. 17.9 unless God is
he had been instructed Luke 1.4 This Effect the Spirit of God hath by his enlightning Operation beyond all humane Instructions whatsoever we are made to know the certainty of things and more fully persuaded of the great reality of what is spiritual They are no longer doubtful disputable Opinions with us but we come to such a firm Conclusion about them that we can venture our Eternity upon them The Scripture hints this in many Places John 17.8 They have known surely that I came out from thee So the Apostle speaks of the Rich and full Assurance of Vnderstanding in the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God c. Col. 2.2 And again Our Gospel came not unto you in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance so that there is no haesitation or wavering concerning it 1 Thess 1.5 2. That Knowledge which proceeds from such a Cause is more affecting than any other The Heart is influenced to greater Love and Joy and Admiration by what it believes and knows As the mind receives more solid Satisfaction with respect to those Truths so those Truths are more sweet and delightful more ravishing and transporting to the Soul Paul speaks like a Man in an Extasie with more than ordinary Zeal and Fervour Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. His magnifying of the Excellency of this Knowledge sprung from his deep Sense of the Excellency of the Object He saw so much worth in Christ that he would part with ten Thousand Worlds if he had them for his sake The Doctrine of Christ's God-head Incarnation Satisfaction c. when they are only taken into the Head as common Notions are but dry Meat but when they are imprest by the Holy Ghost we can feed upon them with Pleasure The Things of God being so reveal'd that we taste the savour of them 3. That Knowledge which is communicated by the Spirit is always joyn'd with Experience The Apprehensions which other Men have by common reasoning of spiritual Things are like those of a blind Man when he hears a Discourse concerning Light which are very dark and imperfect in Comparison of his that hath Eyes to see the Sun There is a vast difference between a Knowledge of Christ by Report and Hearsay as one calls it and a Knowledge of Acquaintance which is gotten and improv'd by Communion with him As the Queen of Sheba was not told one half in her own Land of the greatness of Solomons Wisdom which she afterwards saw and yet what she was told seem'd incredible to her 2 Chron. 9.6 So Believers find so much in Christ when they come to him as does not only justifie the Report which Ministers gave to be very true but abundantly exceed it We cannot tell you what they feel whom Christ is formed in and who live every Day by the Faith of him Where there is no spiritual Sense the Mind is yet carnal 4. That Knowledge which the Spirit produces does always issue in Obedience The Knowledge which Men attain unto by any other Ways is barren and unprofitable as it does not reach the Heart so it is of no use in the ordering of the Conversation But saving Knowledge governs the Life and regulates the Practice so as clearly to exemplifie that Connection which God hath made between the Truths to be believed and to be performed When Paul prays for his Colossians That they might be filled with the Knowledge of God's Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Vnderstanding he does not stop there but shews whither this tends That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing c. Col. 1.9 10. He that is truly nourisht up in the words of Faith and good Doctrine will evidence it by fruitfulness in good Works 1 John 2.3 Hereby we do know that we know him Jesus Christ if we keep his Commandments They have not learned Christ as they ought that do not live to him for if we be acquainted with his Person we shall submit to his Rule SERMON II. May 7. 1695. MATTHEW XVI xvii And Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona For Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven IV. WHerein lies the Blessedness which is annexed to this kind of Knowledge Some bless themselves without Reason too many against Scripture bless themselves when they hear the Words of God's Curse though yet without Christ who can only redeem them from that Curse thousands of presuming Sinners call themselves happy when they are almost in the very depths of Misery having but a short step the thin Partition of an earthly House betwixt them and Hell they think their Condition to be safe and good and applaud and please themselves in it as such when it is as dangerous and as bad as it can be on this side of Everlasting Destruction But however mistaken and deceived such Men are we know that Christ is true and what says he here Blessed art thou Simon c. for my Father hath revealed this unto thee which Flesh and Blood hath not q. d. Thou art infallibly blessed upon this account this is an undoubted Evidence and means of thy being so Where then is the blessedness which the Text speaks of What does it consist in and how does it appear 1. 'T is a blessed discovery which God makes and a blessed Knowledge which it produces because it is always accompanied with pardoning Grace If there be a blessed Man in the World without Controversie it is the pardoned Sinner Afflictions may remain without injuring our blessedness so long as Sin does not remain which is the only Thing that can separate from the Love of Christ and how can this separate when God hath put it away and removed it from us Who will not say Amen therefore to what David says Psalm 32.1 Blessed is the Man whose Transgression is forgiven c. Sin laies the Foundation of the Creatures Misery consequently in the forgiveness of Sin the Foundation of our Misery is destroyed Now this is always done where Jesus Christ is savingly made known This is plain Heb. 10.16 17. This is the Covenant which I will make with them c. I will put my Laws into their Hearts and in their Minds will I write them and immediately it follows Their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more When there is this promised writing within us we may be sure there is a blotting out of the hand-writing against us Where Sin is uncover'd the Heart is hid from Understanding but where the sealed Book of Gospel-Mystery is open d 't is past all question that the Debt-book is cross'd 2. 'T is always attended with a perfect justifying Righteousness This is absolutely necessary in order to blessedness for there must be a Restitution of our lost Title before there can be a restoring to our forfeited
Inheritance 'T is not possible that any one should reign in Life that does not receive of this Gift by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.17 18 21. On the other hand blessedness is certainly entailed hereupon Chap. 4.6 Even as David describes the blessedness of the Man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works Nothing can be more manifest than that the Justification of a Sinner is by the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ without any respect to Works performed by the Sinner himself and that the Sinner so justified is truly blessed Now 't is as manifest that every one who is Divinely and Spiritually illuminated is thus blessed God never gave the Armour of Light to one Soul but what he also cloathed with this Robe of Righteousness As the same Soul is always both blind and naked so the Eye-salve and the white Raiment which Christ Counsels to buy of him go together Rev. 3.17 18. Indeed we are justified by the Knowledge of Christ instrumentally Isa 53.11 For Faith which applies his Righteousness includes such a Knowledge 3. It hath always the Priviledge of Adoption going along with it All blessedness is enclos'd within the Family of God strangers have nothing of it but Children only Every Man and Woman in the World is a most wretched undone Creature as He and She is a Son and Daughter of Adam there can be no relief for us but by the Contracting of a new Relation they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abrabam Gal. 3.9 How blessed Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus ver 26. Here comes in the recovery of our Blessedness by being made the Children of God adopted into the Houshold of Faith Now to whom does Christ give Power to become the Sons of God but to as many as receive him John 1.12 and who are they that receive Christ but they that are brought by God to know him For the World that receiv'd him not knew him not ver 10 11. The Devil blinds the minds of them that believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 Natural blindness is the Cause of your Unbelief as Judicial blindess is the Consequent Whereever there is the sound Knowledge of Christ there will be holy Trust in him and where this is there is honourable Sonship Every Child of Light is a Child of God if he hath visited you with the Day-spring you may boldly call him Father 4. Divine Purity is chain'd to this blessed discovery The filth of Sin makes the Soul miserable as well as the guilt of it The Remnants of Corruption made Paul cry out of his being a wretched Man Rom. 7.24 They make us wretched in Part as long as we are here though called to be Saints but the Sinner who continues all over polluted is only wretched Darkness and defilement are inseparable while Men are groping in their natural State they wallow in the Mire But Purity of Heart gives a claim to blessedness Mat. 5.8 And where-ever God shines into the Mind he purisies the Heart The Sun of Righteousness hath cleansing as well as healing in his Wings 'T is an amazing Consideration what dirt is carried out of the Soul when Light springs into it Our Lord's Prayer speaks home to this Purpose John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth c. Error as well as Ignorance is a Minister of Sin but every Truth in Jesus tends to sanctifie and is actually serviceable in the Sanctification of those to whom it is revealed Beholding the Glory of the Lord changes us into his spotless Image 2 Cor. 3.18 The Information which is given concerning Christ hath a transforming influence upon those that are Christs 5. Spiritual Liberty follows this blessed discovery How much of the Happiness of humane Life is generally esteem'd to consist in outward Liberty How irksome is Confinement and Restraint to all How is a poor Vassal and Slave lookt upon with a disdainful Eye by the most with a compassionate Eye by the best How do Men hug themselves in the little Immunities and Freedoms of this World But what a blessed Thing is it how much more blessed to be rescued from the servitude of the Devil and deliver'd from the bondage of Corruption The darkness of a sinful State hath its Chains as well as the darkness of Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 When Sampson's Eyes were put out he was bound with Fetters of Brass Judg. 16.21 So it is with every unenlightened Sinner he is under the Arbitrary command of Lust and taken Captive by Satan at his Will the Powers of darkness are his Keepers and he hath no way of escape out of their Hands But Light and Liberty come together by Christ deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the Blind Luke 4.18 When he opens our Eyes he opens our Prisons John 8.32 You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free 6. This kind of Knowledge flowing from the special discoveries which God makes to the Soul is no less than Eternal Life which is the sum the complement the top-stone of a Creatures blessedness We cannot be more blessed than this makes us To lay hold upon Eternal Life is our utmost aim and our highest Attainment Now this is Life Eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 It was said of old by those that had visible Divine Appearances We shall surely dye because we have seen God Judg. 13.22 On the contrary where these inward Manifestations are we may cry out we shall surely Live because we have seen God in the Face of Christ He that eats of this Tree of Knowledge lives for ever the present Fruit of this Tree is the first Fruits of Heaven 't is Eternal Life in the Seed and in the Blossom 't is the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God into the Soul When the Understanding is open'd to take in the Things of Christ 't is a true opening of the Heavens to us Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him c. That you may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints V. Why is blessedness annext to such Knowledge as this Why is it limited to the Father's revealing of those Things which Flesh and Blood cannot and more particularly this Truth of the Godhead which is not discoverable by Reason but by him alone 1. Blessedness is not attainable by the meer Principles of natural Religion however clearly known and firmly believed They that go no further than Nature will carry them must needs come short of the Glory of God The Knowledge of natural Truths is as insufficient as the performance of Moral Duties and supernatural Instruction is as indispensibly needful as Evangelical Obedience The World is as unable to know God to any Purpose by their own Wisdom
own Conceits God will disable those from doing any thing praise-worthy that give not him the Praise 4. The setting up of Duties in the room of Christ This we are exceeding apt to do Disciples need to Learn that Lesson of being Converted and becoming as little Children Mat. 18.3 It was very truly said by Mr. Rutherford that Deadness to good and gracious Works and lively Activity in the Performance of them seldom meet together high Degrees of inherent Holiness and a full devolving of the Soul upon Christ's imputed Righteousness rarely Kiss each other 'T is well where they do but 't is a Provocation to God to abandon us where they do not If we would run in the way of God's Commandments we must remember that it is not of him that runneth if we would be assisted in the Duties of Obedience we must bear it upon our Hearts that we can never be entitled to Heaven by them We forfeit the Spirit of Faith if we imagine that Faith it self the noblest of all Graces does enrich us any otherwise than as a Vessel which holds the Treasure Sicut olla paecuniis referta hominem locupletat Calv. 5. Spiritual Sloth is another Cause in the disuse of Gifts not exercising of Grace and neglect of Duty This is the contrary extream to that Self-Confidence mention'd before as that was a Conceit that we could do all Things in our own Strength this is to sit still and do nothing We must stir up the Gift which is in us if we would preserve it God uses to help the Industrious but he abhors the Sluggard Seneca a sober Heathen calls Idleness the Grave of a Living Man Dr. Arrowsmith an Holy Divine stiles it the Hell of a Living Christian We hazard the taking away of our Talents when we do not employ them To let our Graces lye asleep is not the way to nourish but to starve them Many have almost lost the Spirit of Prayer by the restraining of Prayer Arise and be doing and the Lord will be with thee 1 Chron. 22.16 If we leave God to do all God will leave us to our selves if we fold our Hands together we cannot expect that his should be stretcht out for our Assistance 6. Sleightness and Formality A sincere Believer who is so in the Main and Acts as such for the most Part may yet sometimes imitate the Hypocrite too much i.e. his Heart may be too little engag'd in approaching unto God We too often pour out Words in Prayer without suitable Affections too often attend on God's Word without bending our Minds to it or taking heed how we hear Now by our resting so much in the outward Forms of Religion we lose the Spirit of Power by going in a Road of Duty and performing this or that Act of Worship because we are accustomed to do it we put our selves out of the Way of Divine Influences When we do not serve God with our Spirits we may well expect to be depriv'd of his Spirit when we do not seriously and earnestly pursue Communion with God in Duties how can we expect to enjoy any We put off God with a little bodily Exercise God puts off us with a visible Church-Priviledge we lift up our Hands in the Sanctuary without our Souls he lets us see nothing of his Power and Glory there 7. Worldliness and Carnality The minding of Earthly Things clips the Wings wherewith we should mount up towards Heaven So far as we are joyned to such Idols we may look to be separated from God we open our Bosoms to them and he hides his Face from us Hence it is that that Condition of Life which does most please and gratifie the Flesh does most expose to the withdrawings of the Spirit because when our Portion of good Things in this Life is very large we are very prone to rejoyce inordinately in it and when the World smiles much upon us we commonly grow fond of the World Therefore a low or afflicted State hath been oftner bless't with sweet incomes from Heaven than the height of Prosperity 2 Cor. 1.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ some have enjoy'd so much of God in Prisons as that Martyr in Bonner's Coal-hole that they have been unwilling to receive their Liberty But 't is very usual that according to what Men gain in Temporals they lose in Spirituals 8. Base and sinful Compliances for the avoiding of outward inconveniencie This is as great an Offence to the Spirit of Christ as Peter once was to Christ himself in a like Case The affording of a Man's Presence at false Worship may justly provoke God to deny his wonted Communications to us when we are joyning in the true If a Man partake of the Table of Devils what Divine Fellowship can he look for at the Table of the Lord The woful declinings of many Persons who have been meerly led by Fear to Build up what they formerly destroy'd have been too plain a Testimony to this Truth Sulpitius the Historian who liv'd with St. Martin tells us that after he had joyn'd in Communion with Ithacius the persecuting Bishop through the Threatenings of the Emperor Maximus there was a remarkable Suspension of those Influences and Graces for which he was eminent before Dr. B. Answer to Letter of the Ass Gen. p. 29. The best Way to retain the Spirit is to retain our Integrity whatever we hazard by it 9. Vnbelieving Dejection wilfully indulg'd There is a saying of the Hebrew Doctors mentioned by Drusius Spiritus Sanctus non residet super hominem moestum the Holy Spirit does not delight to dwell with one of a Sorrowful Spirit and 't is in great measure true The Spirit of God is not a Spirit of heaviness 't is no Pleasure to him to see any of his Saints go mourning and bowed down when their Hearts should rather be lifted up in the ways of God Nehemiah was sore afraid when the King took Notice of the sadness of his Countenance Chap. 2.2 And Mordecai would not enter the Court-gates with his Sackcloath on Esth 4.2 An Holy Joyful Frame and Garments of Praise are always comely for Upright ones and most acceptable unto God As David's Musick drove away the Evil Spirit that troubled Saul so Christian Alacrity not vain and foolish Levity is a means of having the good Spirit to abide with us Hardening our selves in Sorrow is giving Way to Unbelief the Sin of which he especially reproves SERMON X. April 7. 1696. JUDGES XVI xx last Clause And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him 10. REjecting the Present Motions of the Spirit which ought to be instantly embrac'd and followed All the Spirits Motions are seasonable and therefore not to be put off for Delay is a kind of denial and savours of such ungrateful Contempt as must needs be very displeasing to him When thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart said unto thee thy Face will I
to commit the very Sins which they had the greatest Aversion to and Abhorrence of Satan and indwelling Sin together do not make up so great a Force but that we may withstand and repel them when we have the Presence of the Spirit of God but when we are bereaved of that Presence we are too weak to grapple with them asunder Therefore the first Rule in the spiritual Warfare is be strong in the Lord Eph. 6.10 'T is not to be believed what an Head Corruption will get and what inrodes the Devil will make when a Saint is left but a little to himself One Temptation is admitted after another with very faint and fruitless Reluctancy like Jerusalem That open'd her Feet to every one c. Ezek. 16.25 4. Impenitency for a Time under the guilt of Sin committed There are several Causes of sinful hardness and among the rest we find it sometimes in Scripture attributed to God which cannot be understood as if he were in any Sense the Author of it or the Agent in it so as to produce it by positive Influence but chiefly by Way of Privation viz. by removing of the Spirit from us whose proper work it is to soften to make our Hearts tender and bring us to Repentance Hence it is that the very Children of God such as can boldly say doubtless thou art our Father do not only err from God's ways but which is more are hasten'd from his Fear Isa 63.16 17. They may not only commit Sin but continue in it a great while when the Case is so with them 'T is astonishing that David should remain without Repentance so many Months as he did we cannot imagine but that he often heard and read the sixth and seventh Commandments in that Time both in his own House and in the Temple and yet Conscience lay asleep still till the Spirit of God by Nathan awaken'd him again His Reproofs of Sin are the only Effectual Ones for while he is silent all other smitings will signifie little to sound Conviction 5. Impatience or Despondency even under light Afflictions Fretting or Fainting in a Day of Adversity are the natural Issues of our own Spirit when they are not calm or comforted by God's 1. We cannot possess our Souls in Patience under Suffering when the Spirit leaves us There is need of strengthening with all might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience c. Col. 1.11 There is a natural Frowardness of Heart which all afflictive Evils tend to Kindle and Provoke which we are no more able of our selves to Conquer than we are to rule the Raging of the Sea The same God that lays his Hand at any Time upon us must also by his own Grace humble us under it and reconcile us to it or else our rebellious Passion will struggle and contend against it Jonahs extravagant Anger for a Gourd and justifying of himself shews how ungovernable we are when forsaken of God Jonah 4.9 2. We cannot rejoyce in Hope under any Suffering when the Spirit is with-drawn We are ready to sink immediately when our Support is taken away our feeble Knees like Belshazzar's are apt to smite one against another and we cannot bare any Burden alone Carnal Fear swallows up the Soul our Hearts fail us and weare as they that have no more Spirit in them when we have lost God's encouraging Presence God's help is as necessary against Despair in Trouble as for Deliverance out of it He that believes to see the goodness of the Lord when he is feeling his Severity must be under the Influence of the Spirit of Faith 6. Shameful Denials of God's Name in perillous Times when we are called to hold it fast and to make an open Profession of it Courage and Resolution Constancy and Stedfastness in appearing for the Cause and Interest of Christ at all Times is an eminent Fruit of the Spirit and therefore Believers were not so frequently nor in such large numbers call'd to suffer for God under the Old Testament as now under the New When there is a more plentiful Effusion of the Spirit than there was before And therefore the Apostles were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem and not to Launch into a Sea of Persecution by going about to Preach the Gospel till the Spirit was given which Christ expresses by their being endued with Power from on high Luke 24.49 What a miserable Coward was Peter before this that had not the Confidence to own his Master when only challeng'd by two of the Maids of the High-Priest Mark 14.66 c. And yet how undaunted after this in his Acknowledgment of him to the Rulers of the People and Elders of Israel Acts 4.10 11. When the Disciples were fill'd with the Holy Ghost they spake the Word of God with boldness ver 31. But how easily will Men's furious Threatenings scare us when our God abandons us 7. Woful Confusion and Disorder in the Exercise of our Thoughts and workings of our Affections 1. In the Exercise of our Thoughts A Man's Thoughts are naturally quick and nimble and therefore the more apt of themselves to be hurried and confounded as we know that the swiftest Motions are perplext the soonest When Cain went out from the Presence of the Lord he became a Fugitive and a Vagabond so the Mind is full of will and loose incohaerent distracted vain Imaginations that serve to no use that will be kept in no Order when 't is not under the actual Conduct of the Spirit of God it roves and wanders from one thing to another and can fix or settle no where as it should There are swarms of bad Thoughts which thrust out the good ones and we can no more meditate to any Purpose upon spiritual Objects without the Spirit than a Man can take the Prospect of a Star through a Glass held with a shaking Hand 2. In the working of our Affections these are as hard to be regulated as our Thought are to be compos'd They will boyl over when they should be kept in and when they ought to flow out then there will be none stirring The best of our Hearts if they be not under better Management than our own will be hot and cold by fits at the contrary Seasons Upon slight occasions we know not how to restrain them and upon great occasions we know not how to excite them This is and will be the Case whenever God suspends his own gracious Acts and stands at a distance from us 8. Vnwilling and sad Expectation of Death and Judgment 'T is impossible for a Child of God chearfully to lay down his Temporal life and lay hold of Eternal unless God be with him Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me c. How dismal must it be to think of going to a departed God Of standing at his Bar when we apprehend our selves cast out of his sight How can we be
though many are hid from us He too often deceieves us by his imitating of God covering himself with light as with a Garment and when he is so covered our Eyes are so dazled that 't is hard to see him as he is 2. 'T is difficult many times to avoid him even when we do discern him because our Duty generally lies betwixt Extreams on both hands and when we run from one Extream he drives us into another and in the hurry of Temptation to keep the middle point is very hard The Church of Corinth were first too remiss in dealing with their incestuous Member and afterwards too severe When we find Satan getting an Advantage against us one way to secure our selves from him we run too far the other way and this answers his end as well and is therefore slily promoted by him Either Sin is so small that it needs no forgiveness or else 't is greater than can be forgiven if Mercy be not presum'd upon then it is despair'd of So in the case of Divine Chastisements the Devil tempts us either to despise them and harden our selves against them or else throw up all and utterly faint under them whereas our Duty lies between both Hebr. 12.5 So in the case of natural Affections to natural Relations where we have not only allowance but a command 't is hard so to govern our selves but that Satan will make us either exceed or fall short either let out our Hearts too much or too little either not love them enough or over-love them either be guilty of Neglect or of Idolatry 4. There is a difficulty in the performing of those Duties which seem to be contrary to each other Indeed the contrariety is but seeming for all Duties are harmonious and very well reconcilable as all Scripture is one part of it to another notwithstanding the appearance of opposition in some places but however in matters of Practice 't is really hard sometimes to know how to obey one Precept without transgressing another As 1. 'T is hard to mourn as we ought for sin and yet to rejoice at the same time in Christ For we are to do both and this godly Sorrow is never to shut out spiritual Joy For we are to rejoice in the Lord alway Phil. 4.4 1 Thes 5.16 Our Tears should never drown our Triumphs nor our Lamentations silence our Songs but as God sometimes causes his Rain to fall even while he causes his Sun to shine so even when we are bewailing the breathes of the Command we should take in the Comforts of the Promise Our Souls should be afflicted and yet revived Sin should be ever before us and a Saviour too 2. 'T is hard to be duly thankful for the lowest degrees of Grace and yet not to be contented with the highest measures of it There is a necessity upon us as to both a little Faith requires high Praises to God and yet the greatest that ever Man had is not to satisfie us We are to forget those things which are behind Phil. 3.13 and yet constantly remember to bless God for the least of them We must look beyond them in order to further attainments and yet never ungratefully or contemptuously overlook them We must neither say of our day of small things This is nothing nor yet must we say It is enough 5. There is a difficulty in the right management of our selves in every Condition whether prosperous or afflicted For there are particular Difficulties proper to both as Agur's Prayer against Riches and Poverty does import 1. In a prosperous Condition it is very hard to get our hearts throughly mortified to the Enjoyments of it The savour and relish of the things of God is often insensibly abated and lost very much in a confluence of this World's delights Men that are possessed of a great deal of outward Wealth are mighty prone to place their Felicity in it and set their Hearts upon it If we compare ver 23 and 24. here in the Context it will teach us That 't is hard to have Riches and not to trust in them hard to depend on God as truly then as if we had them not The Holy Ghost very well knew the need which there is of giving such a charge to them that are rich in this World 1 Tim. 6.17 Solomon who was able to make a Judgment from Experience tells us the rich Man's thoughts His Wealth is his strong City and an high Wall in his own Conceit Prov. 18.11 And though Job could purge himself in this case that he had not made Gold his hope or Confidence Chap. 31.24 yet he was a Man that few could match him according to the Character which God gives of him twice That there was none like him in all the earth Chap. 1.8 1 2.3 2. In a afflicted Condition 't is hard to get up our Hearts to such a chearful Frame and keep them in it as the Word calls for A meek and a quiet Spirit under Sufferings is an Ornament to a Believer but this is not enough The Believers in Scripture that were set forth for our Examples went higher and we find it difficult to reach that which they exceeded We are ready to think our selves good Proficients if we have our Passions so far subdued as to be calm and still not to rage and fret to forbear complaining and repining but how much harder is it to give thanks and bless the Name of the Lord in and for Distresses How much harder to Glory and take Pleasure in Infirmities and to be exceeding joyful in all our tribulation 2 Cor. 7.4 This is so unnatural to be glad of that which is most grievous to the Flesh to glorifie the Lord in the Fires and and bear the heaviest Calamities as valuable Mercies that the performance cannot be easie 6. There is the difficulty of living in the highest Exercise of every Grace with the deepest Humility This is as necessary as any thing that can be named and yet perhaps the hardest of all without Christ the best Duty and the worst Sin as one excellently says are both alike and as the Prosperity of Fools destroys them and their fullest Tables are their greatest Snares so not only our Sins but our Duties may undo us and will if they puff us up and yet how apt are we to swell when we have gone through any service in a tolerable manner How few are there in whom the lively Actings of Grace do not abate the sense of their Vileness almost as much as the workings of Corruption encrease it As there are too many in the World that count this Doctrine absurd so I am perswaded that of all who are in Christ there are none but what find the Practice difficult 'T is hard to walk very exactly with God and yet to walk very humbly to do with all our might and yet entirely to renounce it when we have done and mention nothing of it to be rich in good Works and yet as
alive but not awake they are too drousie and sluggish in their Course of Duty But when fresh help is given in from Eternal Power what lively Acts do gracious Habits produce How nimbly do we move in our walk with God! As the Prophet says Hab. 3.19 The Lord God is my Strength and he will make my Feet like Hinds Feet i. e. swift and unwearied III. Why must the overcoming of the Difficulties of Salvation be thus resolv'd into the Power of God's Grace What Reason is there for the placing of all upon that one Bottom 1. The highest and most perfect Creatures have miscarried when they stood in their own Strength the Strength with which they were endow'd at their first Creation 1. The Angels the highest rank of Creatures and in a most perfect State fell from Heaven Though they excell'd in Strength yet we see it was not enough to bear them up without confirming Grace They that always beheld the Face of God lift up their Heels against him and wickedly revolted from him They that were the Top of the Creation are sunk into an horrible Pit they that were greater in Power and Might than any of the Things which God made besides have betrayed their dangerous weakness by a foul and sinal Apostacy 'T is the harder to explain and give an account of their Fall because they sinn'd without a Temper They had no Instigation to Evil from without themselves and yet we find the mutability of their Natures was enough to expose them because they were not like the Elect Angels their Companions and the rest of their Kind established in Christ 2. Adam who was also made upright after the Holy Image of God without the least Bent or Inclination in his Soul to Evil fell nevertheless That we the Posterity of the first Man whose Natures are already corrupted and strongly byass'd with indwelling Sin should run into all manner of Abominations unless God restrain us is no wonder but it seems strange that our pure and sinless Parents that had such a stock of Righteousness to live upon should so notoriously and so quickly offend How plainly does this shew that a Creature before a Sinner given to change cannot carry sufficient Preservatives from Sin within it self Was the Power of standing so soon lost by innocent Man and do any of his sinful Race expect to regain it and raise up themselves without being behold'n to God 2. The best and eminentest Saints have most manifestly felt and readily own'd their necessary Dependance upon the Power of the Grace of God It may be some young and raw Converts may be too rash and confident at first their Imaginations go a great deal beyond their Strength and they think they can do or suffer any thing for Chirst like foolish Children when they begin to use their Legs that venture further than they can with Safety but grow more wary afterwards So here Babes in Christ being transported by the heat of their first Love forget many Times how feeble and infirm they are till God by leaving them gives them some afflicting Proofs of it But the most solid well grown Christians that are judicious as well as affectionate that have tryed their Strength oftner and consider'd Things better that have really profited more in Religion and attained nearer to the Resurrection of the Dead these are always the most apprehensive of the Truth I am now upon God's eldest Children and that are of all others the fittest for Enjoyment of their glorious Inheritance do still perceive and are apt most freely to confess themselves uncapable of yielding Holy Obedience without Supplies of Power from the Spirit of Christ Paul gives us the Report in an Hour of Temptation though he had been caught up to Heaven above fourteen Years before yet when he came down again was like to be over-born by the buffettings of Satan if God had not held him up That Answer which Christ gave him was all his Support or else that chosen Vessel had been broken in Pieces 2 Cor. 12 9. He said to me My Grace is sufficient for thee my Strength is made perfect in weakness 3. If both the Desire and the Performance in all spiritual Cases be the Effects of God's mighty Operation then all must be resolved into his Power for the Desires and Performances take in all Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to Will and to Do c. If he Works in us these two Things a fixed Inclination to good and actual Execution of it what is it that he does not Work 1. God Works the Will all Holy Desires are by his Operation Psalm 110.3 Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power 'T is he that roots out our sinful Aversions and Reluctancies with his strong Hand The changing and turning and new moulding of the Heart is the sole Work of him that fashioned it at first None can prevail upon the Soul to chuse and affect what it naturally abhors and flies from but only he 2. God Works the Deed all Holy Performances are the proper Fruits of his efficacious Influence also This is undeniable for in whatsoever Case that influence is withdrawn though the Will continues the Deed is wanting Though he hath wrought in us to Will what we should do yet we cannot do what we should and would Is not Paul and every Believer in the World a clear Instance of this Rom. 7.18 To Will is present with me but how to perform c. I find not We desire to do a great deal better than we attain to do David took Pleasure in Duty and yet craves Ability for it as a further additional Gift Psalm 119.35 Make me to go in the Path c. for therein do I delight Though the Way be most delightful we must go in God's Strength 4. The Tenour of the New Covenant puts this Point out of Doubt that the Difficulties of Salvation are to be overcome by the Power of God's Grace only The Law which is our Rule of Duty and to be observ'd as such by those that are in Christ requires Things above our Strength but God in this Covenant of Grace Promises what he requires and undertakes for what he demands The Things which he enjoins us to do he says He will enable us to do which plainly implies that without his powerful help they could never be done for why should God vainly and needlesly engage to interpose in a Matter which might be done as well though he stood afar off and contributed nothing towards it Does God fear as Joab intimated to David concerning Rabbah when he fought against it 2 Sam. 12.28 lest we should take the City and so it should be called after our Name I mean does God-fear lest we should do all our selves and so run away with all the Honour No surely God's Glory may be wickedly snatcht and stolen from him but it can never be justly won or gotten by us and therefore God's gracious
be given Glory cannot be denied for though Glory is not merited by Grace yet always entailed upon it because the same Mercy is the constant never failing Spring of both The Lord will give Grace and Glory Psalm 84.11 These Things are continually coupled like the Creatures which enter'd into Noah's Ark two by two of every Kind Gen. 7.15 as God never gives Glory where he with-holds his Grace so on the other side where Grace is dispensed Glory is never kept back Indeed Glory is but the perfecting of the Gift of Grace the Difference betwixt them is only gradual Grace is Glory in the Bud and Glory is Grace full blown Therefore the Names of Grace and Glory are promiscuously given to one another sometimes Grace is stiled Glory 2 Cor. 3. ult And sometimes Glory called Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 3. If Grace be given to every one that is in Christ then every such one is worthy of our Affection and Esteem Wheresoever the Truth of Grace is it calls for more of our Love and inward Respect than all the Wealth and Power and Greatness in the World The smallest grain of saving Faith is more precious than thousands of Gold and Silver and 't is so precious in all that have it that one should not be set up in Competition with another Every gracious Person is really amiable and valuable and therefore a partial Regard to such or such only is sinful and groundless No one is to be preferr'd so as that another should be undervalued one is not to be had in Admiration and another in Contempt but all are to be lookt upon as Heirs together of the Grace of Life He that sincerely Loves any one for the sake of Holiness without little by Respects will love all Saints on the same account 4. If Grace be given to every one according to a particular measure it must needs be dangerous to attempt more than this measure will extend to 'T is unwarrantable Presumption to undertake what is above our Reach and beyond our Strength Therefore David says That he did not exercise himself in great Matters nor in Things too high for him Psalm 131.1 He that desires the Office of a Gospel-Bishop desires a good work and yet Novices are forbidden it 1 Tim. 3.1 with 6. Our sanctified Abilities are only in Part and design'd of God to fit us for that Place and Calling in which we are Over-bold adventuring where we are uncall'd may expose us to Temptations unassisted Peter's rash Zeal in the Garden was a means of betraying him to sinful Cowardise in the Palace of the High-Priest The Evangelist therefore takes notice of his being question'd by a Kinsman of Malchus whose Ear he had cut off John 18.26 5. If Grace be given from Christ to every one 't is the great concern of every one to know him and the main Work of those whom be sends to make him known If he be all and in all Col. 3.11 If he be the common Publick Treasury out of which every Soul is spiritually enricht and we have nothing but what comes through his Hands first we have nothing if we are ignorant of him And they do little Service to the Churches who only bow at his Name and make no mention of his Righteousness or Grace they that pretend to come from him and are silent concerning him seem like to Messengers that have forgot their Errand and tell a formal Story which hath no Relation to it and signifies nothing to them that hear it Such as expect any share of his saving Benefits should seek to be led into Acquaintance with his Person 6. If there be such a Likeness and Affinity between the Grace which was in Christ and which is in those that belong to him they are no Christians that do not Resemble Christ and that are not Imitators of him This is that which makes all real Christians truly glorious and the Glory of Christ as the Woman is said to be the Glory of the Man 1 Cor. 11.7 She reflects the excellencies of the Man so do they the Excellencies of Jesus Christ As Face answers to Face in the Glass so do they to him They are planted in the similitude of his Death and Resurrection i. e. made conformable to both Rom. 6.5 Phil. 3.10 As they are Created in Christ so they are Created after his Model They are his Brethren and he the first-born among them and as the first in every Kind uses to be a standard and president to the rest so is he Consequently they do not abide in Christ nor are they related to him that do not imitate his walk and follow his steps We shall never have Bodies like unto his glorious Body except we have Souls like his if we do not bear his heavenly Image now we shall not at the last We deceive our selves with vain Hopes and others with a vain Profession 2. For Practise To those that are yet graceless and to them that are truly gracious 1. What should they do that are yet gracless For some of that sort may without breach of Charity be suppos'd in every Assembly we never read but of one so pure as to be without such a mixture and that was when Christ Preacht his Farewel Sermon to his Disciples John 14.15 16. Chapters after Judas was gone out Chap. 13.30 31 c. 1. Labour to be sensible of your wretchedness while entirely under the Power of Sin and the Servants of Coruption If so great and good a Man as Paul cried out of himself as wretched because deliver'd only in part from the Body of Death Rom. 7.24 How much more miserable must you be that are not at all deliver'd from it When the second Temple was building which was greatly Inferiour to the former God puts it to the People Who is left among you that saw this House in her first Glory And how do you see it now Is it not in your Eyes in Comparison thereof as nothing Hag. 2.3 So if any of us had ever seen the Humane Nature cloathed with Original Righteousness before the entrance of Sin which was our House in its Primitive Glory what a woful ruinous heap should we discern it now to be 2. Improve this Conviction to the deepest Humiliation The most prostrate Frame of Soul is always the Foundation which God laies and builds upon He giveth Grace to the lowly and humble Prov. 3.34 James 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 The Spirit of God which descends like a Dove does usually light upon the Ground not upon high and lofty Trees The first step of Paul's Conversion who had been an haughty Supercilious Pharisce before lifting up himself as the rest of that Sect did was his falling to the Earth Acts 9.4 Fountains are not wont to break out in the Tops of Hills but it is the Method of God in Nature to send the Springs into the Valleys Psalm 104.10 And all Waters run into the lowest Places so do the Influences of Grace fall upon
of the Comforts of it assign'd by God and when that Portion is exhausted we are truly full of Days whether we have lived long in the World or a little while No Man can die till then and after that 't is impossible to live It is certain that to this point we shall come and as certain that we shall not go beyond it 4. The place of our Death is limited by the purpose and pleasure of God as well as the of our Habitation while we live He prescribes not only when but where our Spirits shall reutrn to him He calls as it were to every Man out of Heaven though not so audibly as to Moses saying Die thou there upon that spot of Ground thy Carkass shall fall as God said concerning Ahab with reference to Naboth's Field which he had gotten by Murder I wil requite thee in this plat 2 Kings 9.26 One perhaps is struck in a Religious Assembly another in his Closet one in the City another in the Field one at Home another Abroad but all exactly in that place which was allotted by God's eternal Decree Our Lord could not be hurt in Herod's Jurisdiction because his last Stage was to be Jerusalem Luke 13.33 5. The means of our Death are disposed and managed by God whether natural or violent or casual means Whatsoever it be which brings us to the Grave 't is a Messenger of his sending When the Manslayer kills another undesignedly God is said to deliver the other into his hand Exod. 21.13 so when bloody Men seek after our Lives 't is as true that God delivers us into their hands also if we fall into them Him being deliver'd by the council and foreknowledge of God you have taken c. Acts 2.23 There is no Distemper which proves mortal to us amongst the many that we are incident to but what therein executes the Orders of God He who hath appointed such an Event does likewise appoint those things whereby it is brought about Diseases in the Body as well as Storms in the Air fulfil his Word 6. The manner of dying as to Slowness or Suddennes Ease or Pain is directed by the Will of God Some are snatch'd out of the World as Israel went out of Egypt in haste and cut off by a quick surprizing stroke like Sodom's overthrow in a moment Others have a lingring Departure and the Pins of their Tabernacle are loosned and pulled out by degrees God is the Supream Orderer of both for he takes away as he sees good Ezek. 16.50 Some slide out of the World like Rivers of Oil which run smooth and soft without any Bands in their Death and others die with Agony and Torture as if the Soul were rent and torn out of the Body like the casting of the dumb Spirit out of the Child Mark 9.26 And who knoweth not in all these that the Hand of the Lord hath wrought this II. What sort of Obedience we are to yield to the Will of God in this Case Here shew what is consistent with it and what are the proper and due Qualifications of it First What is Consistent with this Obedience which may seem opposite and repugnant to it Answ 1. The use of natural Remedies for the preservation of Life consists very well with our Obedience to God in dying it is the manifest Will of God that we should use them when his secret will is not to prosper them When we know not how he will do with us we know not what he hath requir'd us to do for our selves A diligent Application of Recovering means may be accompanied with our dutiful submitting of the issue to him 'T is no Rebellion against the Laws of God to follow the Rules of the Physician even in our last Sickness before we know whether it will be our last or not The Distemper'd Body ought not to be neglected though the departing Spirit is to be resign'd The Body is such an Hand-maid to the Soul that it must not like that Egyptian Servant be carelesly left when it falls sick 1 Sam. 30.31 2. Conditional Requests to God for sparing Mercy are not inconsistent with this Obedience Absolute Requests indeed are not allowable to ask Life in a peremptory Manner whether it be the Will of God to grant it to no is as sinful as 't is vain but to ask it with a becomeing Subjection to his unknown good Pleasure is what he approves though he denies to answer Our Lord himsself intreated the passing of the Cup from him if it were possible or if his Father were willing Luke 22.42 So long as there is hope there is Room for Prayer yea many Times against Hope Prayer hath prevailed While we are under God's Hand we cannot tell but that he may hear when we find that the unalterable Decree is gone forth we are to cease like those Disciples when Paul would not be persuaded saying The Will of the Lord be done Acts 21.14 3. A zealous pursuit of Holy Designs for the Service and Interest of Christ to the very last is consistent with our Obedience to the Will of God in dying It behoves us to be carrying on Religious Projects as long as we live though we should yield to dye before we have accomplisht them Though David was told that he should not have the Honour of building an House for God yet he continued his vast Preparations for it till the Time that he fell asleep While we have any being we should be aiming at further usefulnes continuing and drawing the Schemes of more good Works whether God will give us Opportunity for the performance or not It will be our Glory to dye with such Work upon our Hands for no Man ever yet but Jesus Christ was able to do all that was in his Heart to do for God Mr. N. Mather 4. The strugglings of Humane Flesh against the bitterness of Death though never altogether Innocent in us as in Christ will consist with our Obedience in dying Nature cannot receive such a Sentence in it self without some Aversion though Grace overcomes and subdues it Nature will look upon Death as an Enemy still though Grace looks upon it as Conquer'd The Mind so far as it is renewed is entirely given up to God but the Sanctification of the Spirit Soul and Body being still imperfect there will be some remaining Reluctancies These tho' not excusable from Sin are nevertheless reconcileable with Sincerity The dying Acts of Believers are not free from guilty weakness and yet are unquestionably done in greatest Uprightness There is something which pulls back but a stronger Principle which draws them forward 2. What are the due and proper Qualifications of this Obedience Ans 1. It includes a quiet expecting and waiting for God's Call Obedience to God in dying must not spring from an impatient Discontent of Living for then it is no Obedience but real unruliness of the Spirit seeking Deliverance before the Time from some burdensome Evils wherewith we are opprest
saved our first Parents from their first Sin which being a leading Act of Rebellion was a very great one He sav'd several of his Murderers and they that shed his Blood were wash'd in it He saves from the Sin of Unbelief which is the worst of Sins and in those that are guilty of it now is really greater than the Sin of the Jews in putting him to death 2. He saves from all that is in Sin from the guilt and filth of it He takes out every spot from the Soul and wipes out every Line from the Score He pays the uttermost Farthing and therefore saves to the uttermost he discharges all and leaves nothing to stand in God's Book against us His whole Church shall be presented Holy and without blemish Ephess 5.27 No Corruption is suffer'd to domineer where he comes to save as Job enters his solemn Protestation That no blot cleaves to his hands chap. 31.7 Blots may be and unavoidably will be contracted while we are in such a polluting World but they with whom Christ hath any thing to do soon shake them off again as Paul did the Viper which fastned on his hand and felt no barm Acts 28.5 Yea at length Christ will save from the in being of Sin too when we quit our earthly Houses Sin shall be quite turn'd out of Doors 3. He saves from all that 's due to Sin and from all the effects of it from Wrath present and to come not meerly from Hell but from all purely Judicial Strokes upon Earth too He does not save from God's loving Rebukes for that would be to our prejudice and therefore it would be no proper desirable Salvation but from God's furious Rebukes he does He hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law c. Gal. 3.13 from the whole Curse and every part of it There is not the least Grain of the Legal Curse in all the afflictions which Christ's saved ones do at any time undergo There are chastened as Children not persecuted as common Malefactors They are sav'd from every thing that would make them truly miserable they are exercis'd with nothing but what shall do them good those very Calamities of which Sin is the occasion shall be the means to advance their Blessedness 2. His being able to save to the uttermost notes duration As 1. The saving Power of Christ stretches it self to the final Accomplishment of his own Work Whatever He puts his hand unto he will give it his last hand the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 Wheresoever he Designs to build it shall not be said that he is not able to finish he will give no occasion for any such Reproach to be cast upon his Eternal Power He is as able to bring forth the Head-Stone as to lay the first Foundation He carries on his Designs of Grace through all Hindrances and Oppositions till he hath conquer'd and surmounted all he never leaves off what he undertakes and is engag'd in before the thoughts of his heart are finally perform'd and all fulfilled which he had contriv'd and purposed to do He is the Omega as well as the Alpha he shuts up as well as opens the great work of a Sinners Salvation and Recovery 2. Christ's saving Power will not be exhausted or diminished to the end of the World He will be as able to save then as he was at the beginning for if he was invested with such a Power before he had actually paid the Price of our Redemption we have no reason to doubt the continuation of that Power afterwards If he had sav'd so many for about Four Thousand Years before he came and offer'd up himself 't is impossible that since this Sacrifice any should be born into the World too late for him to save Every successive Generation yet to come may have the same benefit as all that are past have had So long as the World stands the Elect of God that are in it shall receive as freely from Christ's Fulness as ever any did His Power is the same without any Change or Variation in all Ages Yesterday to day and to Morrow Is my band shortned at all that it cannot redeem Isa 50.2 3. His Power is sufficient for us in our greatest Extremities while we live in this World In our sorest Temptations and longest Desertions when like Peter we are ready to sink he is mighty to save still We cannot be brought so low by Hellish Rage and spiritual Darkness by the Buffetings of Satan and the Hidings of God but that he can lift us up As the Apostle speaks of the Jews who have been broken off by unbelief and abode in that unbelief so many Hundred Years God is able to graft them in again Rom. 11.23 When we are apt to think that there is no way to escape that we must and shall without remedy perish at the last he hath his Almighty Succors at hand and can in a moment rescue and deliver us from all our fears When the Waters are come into the Soul he hath power to save from Drowning or else that Prayer was vain Psalm 69.1 4. His saving Power is our present help when we come to die and stand in Judgment When we have past through the Changes Hazards and Tryals of this Life the chiefest of all is that which puts a period to Life and then Jesus Christ is able to save us in Death tho he do not save us from it able not only to carry us to our hoary hairs but to go with us farther when these hoary hairs are brought down to the grave able to support us when flesh and heart when strength and spirits fail able to receive and defend our Spirits at their Departure out of the Body and give them immediate possession of the place prepared for them able to answer for us before the Bar of God and shield us under the covering of his perfect Righteousness from all the Accusations that can be brought against us in short he is so well able to justifie us that even in that day we may boldly say Who is he that condemneth 5. The Salvation which Christ works and displays his power in endures in its full force and vertue to Eternity it self Isa 45.17 Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation You shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without end Again chap. 57.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoak and the Farth wax old like a garment and they that dwell therein die in like manner but my salvation shall be for ever c. As our Confidence is not in a God who cannot save or who can save only in part so not in a God who can save only for a limited time or restrained season Our God's Salvation lasts as long as himself it runs parallel with his very Being Titus 2.13 The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Those Two Glorious Titles are chained together in Christ and you may as well suppose the
abolishing of the former as the expiring of the latter He is an eternal Saviour as well as Eternal God Thus he saves to the utternmost VSE 1. Let us settle our hearts in the faith of this grand Point against the assaults of Infidelity in general Whatever vile blasphemous and dishonourable Thoughts of Jesus Christ other persons in the World have to them that are saved he is and ought to be esteemed as the power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 There are Children of Belial now as there were in the days of Saul and worse than they who cry How shall this man save us 1 Sam. 10.27 Making little more of him than a common ordinary Son of Man but to us he should be no less than the Mighty God we should respect and honour him as such and thereby do what we can to ballance the contempt which is thrown upon him by a wretched Generation that know him not 2. Let us improve this for the strengthening of our adherence to Christ and dependance on him notwithstanding all that tends to deter and beat us off Never give up this Cause never cast away thy Confidence but hold fast the beginnings of it steady to the end seeing that Jesus Christ can save to the uttermost There can be no Lion in any part of the way between thee and Heaven but what he hath a sufficiency of Power to deliver and rescue thee from Look as far as thou canst says one well take the largest prospect that 's possible of all thy Sins Miseries and Difficulties of Salvation still the Power of Christ does extend infinitely beyond all these We may safely say If Christ be not able to succour and help us we are content to perish if we rest there we are out of danger 3. Let us oppose the saving strength of Christ to all the united force of Hell The Persecutors of our Souls are indeed stronger than we but they are weaker than he We have a Friend in Heaven that can do more for us than all our enemies from beneath can do against us Those Horns are not so able to scatter God's Israel as this Horn of Salvation is to defend them If evil Angels be greater in power than the best of Men left to themselves they are not so great in power as our great High-Priest Jesus the Son of God When they have done their utmost to separate a Believer from the love of God 't is not so much as our blessed Lord hath done to keep us in it Behold I give unto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the power of the enemy c. Luke 10.19 4. Let this comfort us under the sense of our own impotency When we consider how weak and feeble we are it is cause of deep abasement when we consider how powerful Christ is it is on the other hand matter of strong consolation There is a kind of Omnipotency communicated from Christ to those that are in him I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Phil. 4.13 Though we are but as reeds shaken with the wind he can make us Pillars in the Temple of his God Rev. 3.12 All that are built upon this sure Foundation receive stability from it Therefore as Abraham considered not the deadness of his own Body or Sarah's Womb being fully perswaded of God's being able to perform his Promise Rom. 4.19 21. So the belief of Christ's Almightiness should be mixt with the thoughts of our own infirmities 5. Let this relieve and fortifie our spirits against the dejecting fears of our future Apostacy How little Grace soever we yet have we shall have as much as we need if we belong to Christ for he is able to make all Grace abound towards us nd in us How defective soever our Sanctification yet be Christ hath a Stock enough in his own hands to fill up what is behind that there shall be nothing lacking at the last We stagger and reel and stumble so often that we are afraid perhaps we shall never hold on and hold out till we come to our Journeys end But ought not this to bear up our hopes that we are interested in one who is able to keep us from falling Jude 24. able to prevent every Fall or able to recover and raise us up when fallen 6. When we come to the Throne of Grace this Doctrine will furnish us with a good plea to urge to God viz. That the Glory of Christ's Power is embarqu'd with our Salvation It was such a sort of Argument which Moses went to God with when God threatned to destroy Israel he tells him what the Nations would be apt to say Numb 14.16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this People into the Land which he sware unto them therefore he hath slain them in the Wilderness So may we say Lord it will teach the Devil to blaspheme thy Son if we should come short of the Rest which thou hast promised us the Powers of Darkness which have heard his Fame and felt his hand will be ready to vilifie him and cry Because he was not able to save them he hath suffer'd them to perish 7. This may encourage those that are yet without Christ to come to him You are not you cannot be so great Sinners but that he is still a greater Saviour Do not mistake it for your Duty to aggravate your own Sin to the lessening of Christ Objection Though Christ is able to save me he may not be willing and then what am I the better He is certainly able to do many things which he never does and so I may be lost notwithstanding his saving Power Answer 1. It will do well if thou art throughly got over this Block of suspecting and distrusting the Power of Christ We are naturally prone to stick here as the Father of the Child Mark 9.22 If thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us Therefore our Lord was wont to put the Question as to the Blind Man Mat. 9.21 Believe you that I am able to do this 2. There is no more doubt of the willingness of Christ to save than of his power where he makes the Soul willing to accept of Salvation by him When such a consenting Will is wrought in us 't is an infallible evidence of his saving Good Will towards us What was he given of God for what did he give himself for but that whosoever believeth on him should not perish How then canst thou think that Salvation is his strange work or that he is unwilling to it 3. Thou canst not die in thy Sins if thou wilt come to Christ to save thee from them 'T is impossible that any thing should hinder him from doing this mighty Work upon thee if thy unbelief do not nothing will tie his Hands but only that He never is as a mighty Man that cannot save but where his mighty Salvation is call'd in Question Therefore imitate their Faith who were