bring upon themselves eternal judgement Luk. 19.27 Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me 2 Thess 1.6 7 8. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you c. In flamming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Vse 2. For exhortation both to esteem highly of the Gospel and to live a life suitable thereunto esteem highly of it as men do of gold and it is compared to the finest gold tryed in the fire Psal 19.10 because the truth and solid comfort of Gospel-promises is tryed especially in the fire of affliction Psal 119.81.92 Vnless thy law had been my delights I had perished in mine affliction Psal 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Therefore David esteemed more of it than of thousands of gold and silver Psal 119.72 2. It is compared unto a pearl of price Matth. 19.45 46. and men esteem much of precious pearls 3. It is called the doctrine of glad tydings Luk. 2.10 It brings to us the glad tydings of reconciliation of pardon and of true liberty through Jesus Christ such tydings of peace should be very acceptable to rebels and the tydings of true liberty should be much esteemed by us who by nature are bond-slaves to sin and in bondage to the fear of death and damnation therefore we should acquaint our selves more and more with the knowledge of this Gospel and if we esteem highly of it we will delight much in it as men delight much in these studies that are in great estimation with them 4. It is the golden charter of our heavenly inheritance therefore is it called the Gospel of the kingdom and men are very careful to preserve and understand their charters 5. It is called the New Testament 1 Cor. 11.25 and heirs portioners are very careful to understand what is contained in the Testament of their Legator 6. It is called Christs letter to the Church his Spouse and how earnest yea impatient is the dutiful loving wife to read and understand the letter sent from her absent husband 7. The Gospel is the main Subject and Theme of Ministers their preaching for which cause they are called in a special respect Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 They have most of inward peace and comfort in a time of firy trial who have been building the gold of sound doctrine upon such a foundation but there will be no solid comfort from building the chaff of humane inventions or the mud of their own earthly passions and perturbations by the preaching of the Gospel men are called and brought unto Christ and to this end did our Lord appoint a Ministry to endure in his Church unto the end of the World Matth. 28.19 20. Eph. 4.11 12. This was the great business and work of the holy Apostles and of Apostolick men 2 Cor. 11.2 Col. 1.28 Act. 20.20 21. I grant they may and should preach the Law but principally in order to this end that men being convinced by the Law of their own unrighteousness may seek in to Christ for righteousness and life which is brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 Ye are also to be exhorted to walk as becomes the Gospel for this is the special practicâ—l duty of sincere Christians Phil. 1.27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ 1. It is the Gospel of peace and by it we are called to live in peace one with another 1 Cor. 7.15 God hath called us unto peace 2 Cor. 13.11 Be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2. It is the Gospel of grace and thereby we are called to holiness inward in our hearts and affections and to holiness outward in our conversations Eph. 5.3 But fornication and all uncleaness or covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints 1 Thess 4.7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness For the Gospel taketh not away the mandatory power of the Law which is the fixed rule of our thankfulness and obedience also under the Gospel Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Tit 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly-lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Although believers under the Gospel be freed from the condemnatory power of the Law yet are they not freed from the directive and mandatory power of the Law yea the Gospel ties us more strictly to sincere endeavours of new obedience upon a new obligation from our redemption to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life Luk. 1.74 75. and 2 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods 3. The Gospel is called light and therefore our conversation should be in some measure suitable to the opportunity of this heavenly light by walking for men walk in time of light in the wayes of Gods holy Commandments and by working out our own salvation in fear and trembling How unsuitable is it in the day-time for men to come abroad with their night-cloaths How unsuitable are the works of darkness and dishonesty whether secret or open unto the glorious profession of the light of the Gospel Rom. 13.12 13. Eph. 5.8 1 Thes 5.5 6 7 8. Vse 3. For trial if your knowledge of the Gospel be not only literal but also spiritual accompanied with a true and lively faith whose end is the salvation of your souls 1 Pet. 1.9 ye will discern it by these signs 1. Much of literal knowledge fluctuating only in the brain doth oftentimes puff up the mind with a Tympany and windy self-conceit but the spiritual and saving knowledge doth make the heart humble and the spirit sober Paul after he had embraced the Gospel esteemed himself the least of saints and chief of sinners 2. This saving knowledge will conform you to Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 The sincere Convert looks on Christ in the Gospel as his pattern for assimilation and conformity to him as he is set forth in the Gospel-promises and therefrom as your great copy ye would draw and delineat your conversation in holiness and righteousness 1 Pet. 2.21 3. This saving knowledge of Christ in the Gospel will obscure all things worldly and all secular knowledge in comparison of the precious Gospel and the truths revealed therein 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined saith Paul not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Philip. 3.7 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord c. 4. This saving knowledge in
is not enough that an object to be seen in a due distance be set before the eye unless the same be inabled to see it for blind men see not what is set before them so it is not enough that the object of faith be set before us in the Word unless the eye of our understanding be opened to perceive it 2. The Lord makes us by the inward illumination of the Spirit and by the light of his Word to discern and put a difference between temptations and duties as for example when it is born in upon the spirit of an unlettered and unqualified man in these our days to preach the Gospel a spiritual-discerning privat Christian looks upon it as a temptation from the Spirit of errour and not upon it as a duty because he knows and discerns by the Spirit of the Lord from the holy Word 1 Tim. 2. and Tit. 1.9 The Minister of the Gospel should be a man able to teach and to convince the gain-sayers 3. The Spirit of the Lord makes us to discern between sin and duty Abâ—shai through want of this gift of spiritual discerning thought it a duty incumbent on David to kill Saul because God in a providence by appearance had cast his enemy into his hand but holy David by the Spirit of God discerned it to be a sin if he should make such use of that opportunity and he looked upon it rather as an occasion to try his loyalty to King Saul and to stop the mouths of calumniators who spake of him as an enemy to the King 4. He makes us to discern the opportunities of speaking and doing things in due season it was the Lord that put it in the heart of Jacob to seek the blessing in time for soon after he went out from his father Isaac his brother Esau came in Gen. 27.30 It was the Lord who put it in the heart of Abigail both for her own and Davids good to meet David in the way before he came to the house of Nabal 1 Sam. 25.5 He makes us to discern our own spiritual estate that we are under the banner of his love and makes us by a reflex act to know the saving graces of the Spirit bestowed upon us 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 5. He gives us the gift of wisdom and discerning matters civil and moral He gave sagacity unto David to smell out Joabs subtilty and to perceive his hand in suborning the woman of Tekoa 2 Sam. 14.19 He made Solomon in his sagacity to discern between the true and counterfeit mother by the affection of the one and the unnaturalness of the other Thus God put it in the heart of King James of blessed memory to smell out the Powder-plot and horrid treason Anno Dom. 1605. from a word in an unsubscribed Letter by one of the Conspirators to the Lord Mont-eagle desiring him to keep himself out of the Parliament-house on such a day whereon there would be a sudden clap or blast which the King by an act of special discerning given him of God did presage was to be by Powder and so after a narrow search the Plot was discovered and through Gods gracious providence and the Kings sagacity was disappointed 6. God gives the gift of skill unto men both in their publick and privat imployments as the spirit of Government to Rulers whether supreme or subordinat and also to men for their privat imployments Isa 28.26 Vse 1. This should humble us under the sense of our own silliness and want of knowledge of many things that we may and should know in respect of the many means given to instruct us in things that differ and also to humble us when we compare our knowledge with others who know much more than we though we have had the same or greater opportunities for learning Socrates upon a time shewing the universal Mapp of the World to that vocky young man Alcibiades said unto him Look there and see how little your parcel of ground is in like-manner the knowledge of any particular person is very little in comparison of that vast and universal knowledge men would have had if they had continued in that first estate of primitive integrity Vse 2. To convince many in this generation of petulant and luxuriant spirits or the wits as they are called who are of quick understanding in many curious and unnecessar speculations which the Apostle calls the Raveries of a sick and distempered mind 1 Tim. 6.4 and yet how slow and dull are they to discern and take up the necessar and fundamental truths of Religion Of such men we may speak in the words of Eliphaz Job 15.2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind How many are quick and sagacious in their worldly matters and no man is able to over-reach them but they have little or no understanding in the great bargain of Salvation to these I may say as our blessed Lord said to the Pharisees This ye should have done and not left the other undone Vse 3. As thou wouldst have the gift of spiritual discerning 1. Pray to the Father of lights to open the eyes of thine understanding Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law 2. Labour diligently to keep thine heart pure from carnal lusts which as gross vapours many times obscure the judgement that it cannot discern spiritual matters in the right colours but oftentimes the judgement is miscarried to a wrong sentence by a deceived heart The intemperat person discerns not the evil of intemperance nor the incontinent the evil of his unclean ways because these vile lusts do distemper their judgement The worldly-minded man discerns not the excellency of things heavenly because his heart is not purged from the love of the world and his surfeit of worldly cares obstructs the smelling and rellishing of things heavenly to his taste 3. Beware of curiosity in desiring to know things unnecessar or secret which God hath reserved to himself Deut. 29.29 for it is just with God when men misimploy the quickness of their natural understanding many times so to blunt their understanding in order to supernatural truths that they become more dull and incapable even than many others whom they despised as silly ignorants As the sharper the edge of the new polished Knife be if it be used to cut hard Metalls especially at first it becomes so blunt that it cannot cut such things as are soft and more easie to cut even by these who had not such a sharp edge as themselves seemed to have had Observ 2. Our blessed Lord is quick of understanding he has a piercing eye to discern the hearts of all his subjects Heb. 4.13 All things are naked in his eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as blemishes and bruises are
together it groweth up in sanctification and becometh an holy Temple to the Lord wherein he delights to dwell but division and discord in the Church is both unpleasant and unprofitable Contention and division amongst the rowers in the ship and vain presumption in the passengers to take the oars into their own hands greatly hinders the progress of the Ship in her way What is the cause the Gospel was spred so far in the Apostl's time in one age only their sound went through all the world Rom. 10.18 and the Christian Church was wonderfully enlarged The reason is they were then of one mind and heart and the spiritual Guides had nothing so much before their eyes as the glory of God that he might be known in his rich mercy and grace and in the conversion of sinners that they may be saved they sought not themselves nor their own glory and pomp in the world but the glory of Christ their Lord and Master they were of one heart and rowed one to anothers hand they did not strive one against another in a bitter emulation but did strive together one with another in a godly emulation for furthering the Gospel It is true even in the Apostles times there was division in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 1.12 but Paul and Cephas were no ways the the Authors or Abettors of these divisions they did not foment them by their own contentions or by bitter emulation and popular ambition Paul sharply reproved it 1 Cor. 1.13 and condemned it as a course not of spiritual but rather of meer natural and carnal men 1 Cor. 3.4 5. And Peter requires them 1 Pet. 2.1 2. to lay aside all prejudice and to drink-in the sincere milk of the Word like new born babes who look more to the breast than to the face of the Nurse Division and discord in a Church hath many times proven as St. Jerom observed in the Donatists the occasion of errour and pernicious heresie which eats like a canker when the stones are divided one from another in the building then the rain getteth place and though not perceived at first yet in end undermyneth the wall consumeth the timber and in end bringeth ruine a small lake in the ship at first through the joyntours of the boords if not timously and carefully stopped doth drown the ship and also the passengers Division in Churches one from another doth entertain heresie and the Authors thereof What was the cause that great Heretick Marcion whom Tertullian calleth murem ponticum the rat that did rent and consume the Church of Pontus was received and kindly entertained in the Church of Rome after he had been excommunicate by his own father The cause thereof was that division between the Roman and African Church for Rome would have appeales to be made unto them from beyond the Sea this was the cause the Hereticks fleeing from the Eastern Church got shelter in the Western that by so doing they might maintain their pretended priviledge to revise and recognosce all causes Ecelesiastical What was the cause those who fled from the Western Church were countenanced and welcomed in the Eastern Was it not their division from the Western Church and their bitter emulation that thereby they might maintain their emulation of supremacy which ambition both in the Western and Eastern Churches proceeded from the pride of some chief Church Rulers both in the one and other Church In the Eastern Church It is true some godly and learned men have given and sometimes do give connivance to errour and heresie not out of any evil intention but out of their excess of moderation and charitable inclination being deceived by the insinuations of subtile Hereticks and Shismaticks but such connivance proved oft-times very unprofitable yea exceeding harmful unto the Christian Church because those dissembling Hereticks who seemed at first to be officious followers and flatterers of those good men afterward when these godly men that did tolerate them were gathered to their Fathers these deceivers began openly to vent and violently to press upon others their opinions as doctrins and matters of Faith which formerly they had desired to be in charity tolerated as privat opinions therefore we would beware of the beginnings of division Schism and all bitter emulation for if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another Gal. 5.15 Let us remember and consider for our up-stirring to live in peace and concord one with another 1. Our God is called the God of peace our Redeemer the Prince of peace the Holy Ghost the Spirit of peace and of spiritual Communion and the more peaceable we are we become the liker to our heavenly Father to our elder Brother and to the Holy Ghost the Comforter 2. We are all members of one mystical body How unnatural a thing is it for one member of the same body to bear another Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim it is called an eating of their own arm Is 9.20 Such contention and division is like two sandy-stones grateing one upon the other till they be crumbled into nothing this fury and madness is a great grief of heart to the godly and sober-minded and a matter of rejoicing to the common adversaries of the truth thereby they think to spoil us of the truth and they cry out as Moab did against Israel 2 King 3.23 They have smitten one another now therefore Moab to the spoil 3. Consider often and seriously peaceable mindedness is an individual companion of true Religion Jam. 3.17 The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated Let us labour for christian moderation in our Opinions and Disputes and decline extremities Basil the great said truly that divers men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through an immoderat desire of opposing and counterpoising the opinoins and assertions of others are oft-times drawn away from the golden midst and afterward cannot retire although possibly they would for fear to offend their party whose opinion they have once espoused Let us beware of that too simple credulity to tatlers and whisperers who make it their business to separate chief friends but as Solomon saith Prov. 25.23 The north wind driveth away rain so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue And above all let us pray to God for much of the Spirit of Christ for he was of a meek and lowly Spirit that he would build the walls of Jerusalem and that peace may be within her walls and prosperity within her palaces Ps 51.18 Ps 122.6 7. VERSE IX For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea IN these words is set down the instrumental cause and ordinar mean of this great conversion and change in their disposition and conversation to wit the abounding and large knowledge they shall have by the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ whereby life and immortality shall
true Converts is a growing light and knowledge Phil. 3.13 14. I count not my self to have apprehended c. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus And although the child of God possibly doth not grow much in that knowledge of simple apprehension of things that may and should be known yet he groweth in the knowledge of appretiation and estimation of the Lord Jesus Christ and of these unsearchable and durable riches treasured up in Him to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be immortal praise honour and glory for now and ever Amen THE TRUE LIVING WAY TO SALVATION SERMON I. JOHN 14.6 Jesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life IN these words is contained our Lords answer to his Disciple Thomas his question How can we know the way to the Father In which answer we have an excellent and comfortable description of our blessed Lord. I am the way saith he wherein men walk to the Father for reconciliation and peace in this life and for glory in the other life I am so the way that I am the truth and also the guide of all them who walk in me and I am life to them in all their faintings in their way to heaven to sustain and uphold them till they come to the end of their faith even the salvation of their souls Three things are here attributed to our Lord 1. That he is the Way 2. That he is the Truth 3. And that he is the Life 1. Our blessed Lord is called the Way 1. Because as a way leadeth men unto a place of rest so the Lord Jesus Christ by the merit of his death hath prepared and leadeth believers on him to a place of eternal rest in Heaven and giveth us access to the Father by faith in him while we are in the world and after death everlasting rest in and with him in the Kingdom of Heaven Col. 1.20 Joh. 14.2 I go to prepare ae place for you 2. As men must walk in the way and set their feet therein that so they may in end come to the place of their rest so we must fasten our hearts on Jesus Christ that walking in him by faith and after him as our great pattern by imitation we may in end come to the possession of eternal life 3. He is called the Way because he is our forerunner in the way to Heaven Heb. 6.20 Not only he hath made the way clear and passable for us to Heaven in removing the wrath of God which was like the flaming sword that kept man out of Paradise this he hath done by the satisfaction made by his death to Divine Justice for our sins but also by his example he hath shewed us the way of sanctification wherein we should walk and now by his intercession in Heaven he applyeth to us that promise made in the Covenant of free Grace Ezek. 36.26 27. I will cause them to walk in my statutes Christ is called the new and living way Heb. 10.20 He is called the new way not that believers before the Law or under the Law went by any other way than by faith in the Messiah to come unto the Kingdom of Heaven because all of them were saved by vertue of the Covenant of Grace made in him in whom believers of all Nations at all times are saved Acts 15.11 We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Heb. 13.8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Rev. 13.8 he is called The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world But he is called the new way in opposition to the way of the Covenant of Works made with the first Adam which Covenant man through his fall made himself unable to keep and so to be justified thereby and get eternal life Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh It is called the living way because believers in Christ are quickened by his Spirit to walk in him and by him to attain eternal life The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Way because by him only we come to eternal life Acts 4.12 Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved And there is no coming to the Father for reconciliation but by him as the one and alone Mediator Joh. 14.6 No man cometh unto the Father but by me Object Is not Sanctification and good works called also the way to Heaven Ephes 2.10 God hath before ordained that we should walk in good works And afflictions are also called the strait and thorny way through which we must enter into the Kingdom of God Act. 14.22 Ans The Lord Jesus Christ is properly the living way that quickens us and leads us to eternal life Sanctification and good works are comfortable mithes and evidences that we are in Christ the way 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Joh. 15.5 I am the Vine ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit Sanctified afflictions are as hedges to keep us close with Christ the way that we do not debord nor depart from him and the way of his Commandments Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Object But I have wandred long and far in the broad way will I be welcome to him who is the only way to get me accesse to the Father and being reconcilled to bring me to glory Ans If thou forsake thy former evil ways he will receive thee and by his Spirit lead thee in the way to eternal Life 2 Cor. 6.17 Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Thou has his own gracious promise if thou wilt turn from thy former evil wayes and by faith come to him he will accept thee Joh. 6.37 Him that cometh unto me I will in no wayes cast out He accepted of many who had walked in the way of curious and unlawful arts Act. 19.19 He accepted of some vile and abominable unclean Persons among the Corinthians when they by repentance turned from their former unclean wayes 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Doth not our blessed Lord invite all sinners pressed and wearied under the burden of their sins Mat. 11.28 And albeit at thy first coming to him thou has not so much ease and rest in thy conscience as thou wouldest yet thou may have some case and begining of satisfaction from
his promise of rest to the weary soul bless him for the promise rest upon it by faith and in his own good time he will give the some sense of inward peace from the sense of his love shed abroad in thine heart by the Holy Ghost for this seal of the Spirit is given after believing Ephes 1.13 In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise The second thing affirmed by our Lord of himself is I am the truth This is the glorious title of the Supreme God Deut. 32.4 A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And the Son of God who thought it no robbery to be equal with God is called here the Truth 1. He is essentially truth as the justice and mercy of God is no other thing but the just and merciful God So the truth of Christ is no other thing but the true and faithful Lord as it is said 1 Joh. 1.5 God is light and in him is no darkness at all So Christ is truth and in him is no possibility of errour In him is infinite wisdom and he cannot be deceived he is infinitely holy and true and cannot deceive any who trusteth into his word 2. He is the prime and suprem Truth the cause of the truth of beeing and essence in all things Col. 1.18 For by him all things consist And he is the cause and author of all morall truth in the thoughts speeches and actions of men 3. He is the truth because by the word of truth revealed out of the Fathers bosom by him who is called Joh. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he is the essential Word and the express Image of the Father and also he is the great Interpreter and Revealer of the will of the Father Joh. 1.18 and by this revealed will he guideth his own Children in the way to everlasting glory Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory 4. He is to speak so morally true even as he was man 1 Pet. 2.22 Guile was not found in his lips 5. He is the truth answerable to all the Prophesies and Promises made concerning him 2 Cor. 1.20 In him all the promises are yea and amen He is the truth answerable to all the legal types as the body to the shadow Joh. 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ In the Temple during the Levitical service the lights and lamps were shadows of Christ who was called by John the Baptist the true light Joh. 1.9 And is called by himself the light of the world Joh. 8.12 Thou that art ignorant and mourns under the sense of thine ignorance come to him who is the true light and he will give unto thee that eye-salve even the illumination and unction of the Holy Spirit Rev. 3.17 18. He is the beam and resplendor of the Fathers glory although a man through the weakness of his eyes cannot behold the Sun in his brightness without dazling and confounding his sight yet with much contentment and delight he looketh upon the beams of the Sun So it confounds and astonisheth the Spirit of a Believer to look on God and to think upon his greatness and justice provoked to wrath by his many sins this fight affrights him and maketh him say with Manoah Judg. 13.22 I shall surely die because I have have seen God Therefore look thou on God manifested in his Son Jesus Christ who is the brightness of his Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 Look upon his mercy and love manifested in giving his Son to satisfie divine justice for our sins this fight of God in Christ is a comfortable and reviving fight then may a Believer say as the wife of Manoah said Judg. 13.23 If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have accepted of Christs offering and satisfaction for us The Lord Jesus Christ is the truth of all the sacrifices under the Law they were a shadow of good things to come to wit of the sacrifice of Christ who offered up himself by death a sacrifice of sweet smel to the Father he is the true Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world Joh. 1 29 Heb. 10.12 We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all August lib. 20. against Faust cap. 21. The flesh and blood of Christ before his coming was promised by the similitude of Sacrifices in the passion and suffering of Christ it was exhibiâ—t by the Truth its self after the ascension of Christ it is solemnly celebrat by the Sacrament of Commemoration upon the Cross he offered up himself to the Father to take away our sins and now in the Word and Sacraments we call to mind his sacrifice and death till he come again 1 Cor. 11.26 As in the Word Christ is not offered to God by the Minister but to us so in the Sacrament he is not offered to God but to us and with him a communion and share in the fruits of his death â— Cor. 10.16 As the blood of the Paschal-lamb was sprinkled upon the posts of the doors and the destroying Angel came not near the house so the application of the Sacrifice of Christ for Propitiation and Salvation is made by Faith Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ He is the Truth of all the legal washings and purifications he is that true Fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness Zach. 13.1 Therefore confess thine uncleanness with the Lepers believe in him who is the truth of all these purifications 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness He is the true Manna that true bread of life Joh. 6.32 My Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven Our Lord is the true Manna 1. The Manna was given to the people of Israel in the wilderness where bread could not be had from any creature so when no creature was able to save man God gave his Son to the death that by faith poor hungry souls might feed on him and be refreshed Isai 59.16 And he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor therefore his arme brought salvation unto him and his Righteousness it sustained him As the people of Israel cryed out in admiration when they saw the Manna Man-hâ—â— what is this So let us admire and cry out what a love is this in God to give his only Son to be the bread of life to feed and preserve those who by nature were enenemies and children of wrath The Manna was white and pleasant to the eye and also sweet and pleasant to the taste like waffers made of hony so Christ in himself the true Manna is most pleasant without spot and without blame as also he is a most pleasant fight
of the Spirit in us is the foundation of all our spiritual and supernatural actings without this life men are dead in sin and cannot grow in grace without it men are dead and cannot walk in the wayes of Gods commandments without it men are dead and cannot understand nor perceive the things of God in a saving way for the salvation of their souls 1 Cor. 2.14 2. The necessity of the life of grace wrought in us by the Spirit appeareth in this because without it there is no coming to the life of glory Joh 3.5 This life of grace is the infancy of the life of glory and as one cannot grow up to the perfect stature of a man unless he hath been first an infant so a man cannot be a perfect man in glory except first he be an infant in the state of grace as one cannot be put into actual possession of an inheritance till he first be born into the world so no man can be put into the possession of the heavenly inheritance until first he be born over-again by the holy Spirit the author of the life of grace and the preparer and preserver of us for the life of glory This life in or through the Spirit is absolute necessar even for all men who would come to the life of glory for it is said indefinitly Joh. 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Though he were never so nobly descended of earthly progenitors yet if he live not in the Spirit it may be said of him as of Judas It had been good for him he had never been born 3. It is necessar for our comfort to assure us we are united to Christ and that neither life nor death shall separat us from him as life in the branch is an evidence of its ingrafture and union with the Tree So our partaking of the life of the Spirit is a comfortable evidence that Christ is in us by the indwelling of his Spirit and we are in him by faith and love 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 3. This life in the Spirit is an excellent life if simply considered in it self 1. In respect of that true and pure pleasure that attends it the deceitful pleasures of a sinful life are like the sting of an asp casting a man into a deep sleep but when the conscience is awaked the heart through fear is as Pashur Magor-missabib fear round about the conscience of a sinful liver is like a chiding wife in the bosome casting up to the man all the former evil wayes he has walked in in the dayes of his former life But the godly and spiritual liver has much inward pleasure and soul-satisfaction Pro. 14.14 The back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own wayes and a good man shall be satisfied from himself His good conscience from the sense of the life of the Spirit within him is like Abishag to David in his old age it doth cherish the inner-man and warm it with a sense of Gods love shed abroad in the heart by the holy Spirit it sweetens common mercies to the man who lives in the Spirit The primitive believers from the sense and comfort of the life in the Spirit did eat their meat with gladeness and singlness of heart Acts 2.46 Oh that profane and worldly-minded men who speak of a holy and spiritual life as a condition sad and comfortless would become spiritual livers in the Spirit and take a proof of that estate of life I say to these men as Philip said to Nathanael Come and see and after sight and proof ye will say as the Queen of Sheba did it was true that was told me but not the half of that contentment and joy I find by experience to be in a godly and spiritual life was told me The life in the Spirit has great and certain gain accompanying it together with much unspeakabl contentment 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment that is which has contentment alwayes attending it is great gain 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come It has the promise of temporal blessings Psal 34.6 7. Rom. 8.28 and of eternal blessings 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him These who live in the Spirit do live in great honour and reputation with God and the greater and wiser the person is who doth bestow the honour it is the greater but so it is that the great and wise God doth esteem much of men of an holy and spiritual life he calleth them his Treasure Psal 135.4 his inheritance and portion Psal 35.12 his jewels Mal. 3.17 The friends of God 2 Chron. 20.7 The sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 This life in the Spirit is excellent if compared with the natural life the life of the sense is common to us with the brute beasts whereof some do excel men in some outward senses the life of reason is common to us with Pagans and Infidels and many of them in their philosophy hath excelled us yea our living under the outward means of Word and Sacraments is common to us with many hypocrits and castawayes but this life in the Spirit is far more excellent than that of sense and reason as a man by reason doth far excel the most sagacious beast so doth a man living in the spirit excel the greatest Moralists who were or are void of the life of grace by the Spirit natural men partake of the divine gifts but spiritual and godly men are made partakers of the divine nature by way of assimilation 2· Pet. 1 4. And as for men living or rather dieing and stinking above the earth in their vile lusts a godly and spiritual life doth excel that vile and miserable life as far as light doth darkness and Heaven doth Hell Seing we live the life of grace by the Spirit we should be very watchful that we grieve not the Spirit 1. It is the worst sort of unthankfulness to render evil for good and it is also unnatural for children to grieve their parents that under God are the author of their natural life How great a sin then is it to grieve the holy Spirit the author of thy spiritual life 2. Thou art sealed by the Spirit who sealeth thy eternal redemption to thy faith by the promises of the Gospel and more clearly by the administration of the holy Sacraments as the outward common seal and effectually by the graces of the holy Spirit of sanctification as the inward and privy seal of thine heavenly inheritance Ephes 1.13 In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise And how loath are men and