the world almost There are but few Receivers of Jesus Christ Many to whom he is offered but few that give him entertainment by Faith And those that have given him entertainment have not done according to the Law of that duty in receiving him with that kindness which he should have been entertained with I shal put both these sorts together because they are both under one reproof though not both under the same danger First I say this Point discovers many to be under unbelief and so not to be the Sons of God but the wrath of God to abide upon them And that even many of those who do live under the Gospel have beleeved received Christ but not received him with love As the Apostle saith in another case you have not so learned Christ So may I say they have not so received Christ They have received him but not as a friend and not as a guest and not as one that loves him But even as somtimes a poor Child is taken to keeping because they are compelled thereunto by Law and they cannot rid themselves of that charge So men are compelled by their light and conviction to beleeve that there is no way for salvation but by Jesus Christ Their Understanding is forced to receive in this truth because it shines so cleerly As the light that opens the sleeping mans eyes that lies against it but they do not love him In John 3.19 They loved darkness rather than light because their works were evill Loved darkness more than light Jesus Christ is that light and Faith is that sight whereby we see that light and they love darkness that is they love even the most uncomfortable estate that they could be in the world better then they love the way of Jesus Christ darkness in the Scripture is referred to uncomfortableness Whether you refer it to the darkness of the shadow under the Law Or to the darkness of heaviness and grief of Spirit wherein men are put when they apprehend what they have done to the destruction of their Souls Men love any thing darkness rather than Jesus Christ I shall have occasion to open that again and therefore I pass it over shortly Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained praise that thou maiest still the avenger and the enemy Psal 8.2 And who is the Enemy and the Avenger It is only the naturall man For in the Hebrews you shall find that the eighth Psalme is only a Prophecy of Jesus Christ under whose feet God puts all things Jesus Christ was the praise of God the Father because he was as unfit to have undertaken and perfected the work of our salvation in the eyes of the world as a Child is unfit to do the service of a man Or as the language of a Child is insignificant and is not able to express it self Now why will God take such a course That he may still he Enemy and the Avenger That I would have you note That there is in men an enmity and a rage against Jesus Christ and the way of salvation by him If there were any thing he would destroy and if there were any wall he would pluck down and if there were any truth he would deny namely salvation by Jesus Christ He came to his own and his own received him not His own that is those that were separated from the rest of the world As we call that a mans own wherein a man hath a particular interest title and possession If they were Christs own then they had in some measure owned him as wel as he had owned them They had owned him by profession and yet they received him not because they received him not with love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies properly a receiving kindly and respectively and gladly So they received him not The Jews they thought they had received the Messiah when they refused the Messiah They thought that he that should be the Messiah should be such a one and because Christ came not cloathed like unto him therefore they rejected him So Christians are apt to a great mistake about Jesus Christ preached and born in the Gospell as I may say as the Jews were about him when that he came in the Flesh I shall instance only in one They do not love beleeving nor receive Jesus Christ with love who beleeve him not to be such a one as he is who receive him not according to the greatness and glory with which he is invested and which belonges unto him Suppose a Noble man should come unto a mans house and be regarded but as an ordinary man Let his entertainment be otherwise what it wil be he is not used kindly but you do degrade him and level him to an ordinary mans condition when as he is a person of Honor Kind usage of one lyes in the shewing him that respect and esteem which belongs unto him He is an unkind man to his wife who respects her but as his Father and Mother when as he must leave Father and Mother in his affections in comparison of her So now he useth Christ unkindly and he doth not shew his love by beleeving on him who doth not by faith receive him as he is God and Man One in whose hands al power is may do what he pleaseth viz. Give the spirit from the father And one who is holy and harmless and separate from sinners I say unless you beleeve upon him as such a one and receive him as such a one and love him as such a one then you do not beleeve In 1 Rom. 21. They Glorifyed him not as God and therefore God gave them up to vile affections They Glorified God he confesseth But not as God and therefore they were punished Wherein lay that that they glorified him not as God It lay in this God had put forth his power and wisdom in the things that he had made and they set up things which they made in the memorial of that God but they praised him not as a God of infinite power They looked after no more then was in the creation and therefore not giving infinite power to him they Glorified him not as God So I say here They do not love Jesus Christ as Christ who do not acknowledg him to be what indeed he is and to be such a one as he is revealed I shall speak more plainly thus The Jews did stumble at the meaness of Christs out-side because they looked by him to have a temporall kingdome There are as false as erronious apprehensions of Christ in the minds of men now The dealings of Christ with the Souls of men are as contrary and as unanswerable unto mens expectations and presumptions as the mean coming of Jesus Christ into the world was contrary unto the expectation of the Jews Mark it Christs dealings with the Spirits of men are as unanswerable as his coming in the Flesh was unanswerable to what the Jews expected When
and if you wil have things cleare to you that you are a child of God before you beleeve you wil have the matter put to such an issue as God brings a man never into God never gives his love to a man but by beleeving because beleeving is a receiving OBJECT You wil say unto me This is hard quarter and hard termes that we can have nothing but only upon trust and upon beleeving To this I answer the commandment of faith is nothing so hard as the commandements of sin are They that sow to the flesh shal saith the Apostle in Gal. 6.8 of the flesh reape Corruption They shal never have any thing in hand or to receive after this life but tribulation sorrow and anguish Thy faith assures thee Or thou mayest be assured that faith wil give thee a good title somthing while thou livest and be sure to give thee honor and glory and immortality hereafter Thou art saved by faith saith he It is the gift of God This is true indeed It is a hard matter to beleeve But the hardness doth not arise from it self but from us As it is hard for a sick man to get down either meat or medicine But it is not because there is neither a passage open and free or not because the meat is not good but because he is sick So thou shalt find the reason of all this difficulty to be in thy pride Thou advancest thy reason and sence against the commandment and law of the Gospel And therefore it is hard unto thee It is hard but it is but so in the beginning Like meat when it is first eaten doth bring a kind of duliness heaviness but afterwards breeds spirits and strength It is certain my beloved it is the smallest thing that can be required for the receiving any thing at the hand of God for you are passive in it you are made to receive As a bal that is thrown against the ground is made to rebound upwards There cannot be less required then faith to the receiving of any thing For Take it as it is in the understanding The receiving a testimony doth not so much require the use of reason as a good report and esteem of him that speaks I say the receiving a testimony is an artificial argument and requires not so much the knowledg of the things as of the person speaking And Take it as it is in the Wil and it is a leaning and that rather imports weakness then strength rather debility then ability And lastly Whereas thou complainest it is hard to beleeve yet if faith be a hard thing yet it is a receiving Though it be a toyl and a difficulty It is but in taking of things that are precious and good which wil inrich thee What man ever complained of the hardness of telling Gold and receiving Jewels and things of worth which were given him out of the treasure of him that is rich Men take great toyl and run great hazards into far countrys to receive Thy receiving is better and more certaine Thou shalt receive strength by the receiving of Christ to receive more Faith doth not only give a man the things promised But as walking makes a man able to walk so beleeving makes a man more able to beleeve Having once received somthing from the hand of God thou hast thereby security given to thee that thou hast nothing behind but what shal be accomplished As he that hath received but part of a Sum hath an evidence there by that the rest is due And therefore I beseech thee because that faith is a receiving incourage thy self unto beleeving Incourage your selves unto it And that you may do so 1. Lay open and keep before the eye of your Soul the many and glorious things which are to be received Meditate upon the excellencyes of Christ the portion that he brings His portion Both in regard of relation ye shal be the sons of God And his portion in regard of estate or inheritance for al things are yours The presence you know of an object doth stirr up the faculty and the power in it which lay as it were before dead and stirred not Joshua 7.21 I saw said Achan the Babilonish garment and I lusted after it and took it As Sin prevails by its presence So the way for Jesus Christ to prevaile is to stand continually before thee When thou hast therefore looked unto the promises and looked into the story of what is said concerning Jesus Christ and what he wil do for those that are united to him Then come and aske thy own foul whether it wil have none of these Then come and tel it that al these are to be had and it may take of them freely though it can do nothing for them nor returne suitably to them The Apostle to get men unto faith spreads abroad the Gospel and the things of Jesus Christ Thou must preach unto thy self the self same doctrine if ever thou wilt beleeve Thy sins be before thee and death is before thee and hel is before thee And thou seest by experience that that takes up thy thoughts and thou canst do nothing else but only lament and bemone thy condition If thou set'st Jesus Christ before thee also thou wilt be as much taken with him For certainly there is more Taking in his excellencies then there is cause of terrour in the other 2. And again Since faith is a receiving convince thy soul that it cannot live nor be unless it hath these things which faith helps unto Pardon must be had Justice wil not be satisfyed though thou shouldest fulsil al the commandments of God to the utmost and never breakest them in the least Al that is due for the present and there stil remains an old score for the time past that God wil reckon with thee for Thou art not able to make God amends of thy self Live of thy self thou canst not therefore thou must receive Acts 4.12 There is no other name given under heaven whereby a man can be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ And if a man peradventure wil be loth to take of others as long as he hath wherewith in his own hands or his friends hands But when he sees he must either take of alms or starve and go on begging or die Then he wil go That is thy case Thou must receive from Jesus Christ or Starve And thou canst not receive the things of Jesus Christ but by beleeving As a Parent saith to a Child that is peevish and untoward and that will not eat his meat Fast saith he So there is nothing to be looked for from Jesus Christ if thou beleevest not but fiery Indignation And if thy heart would go to take contentment in the things in the World Say to it Now take Jesus Christ or nothing What good will they do thee unless thou takest Jesus Christ For they will not abide in the latter end but then thou wilt have sorrow
Thirdly Consider that nothing is required of you but meerly beleeving I reason thus If Faith receives al then you must not look to have Grace without Faith but to have Grace by Faith In order of nature Faith is before them and your eye must be most upon that and your care of that As the Text saith in Math. 6.33 that if a man seeks the Kingdom of God all other things shall be added together with it So I say if you look after Faith your heart will be humble and stoop to the condition which Faith reveals to you and you will part from all sins which have so great a place and interest in your affections And Lastly Lay the Commandment of God upon thy self This is the Commandment of God that you beleeve 1 John 3.23 This is the charge of God that you take and receive and drink of the Water of life freely Be thou what thou wilt be Thou art under his Commandment If thou art not what needest thou fear his threatnings He wil do nothing unjustly He will punish none but his Subjects If thou art his Subject then thou art bound to obey Object Thou wilt say thou art sinfull and vile above measure Answ But will thy sinfulness exempt thee from Obedience This is his Commandment that you Beleeve 1 John 3.23 Therefore come in the authority of the great God and speak unto thy Conscience and say Conscience I charge thee in the name of the great God whose wrath thou tremblest at I charge thee in his name to go to Jesus Christ and beleeve What wicked hearts have we which needs so much perswasion to receive when we die if we do not receive How much ado is there with our hearts How much are men encouraged by their hopes to receive Saith Christ unto his Disciples and Apostles Go and stay at Jerusalem and you shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 1.4 And yet for them to go to Jerusalem was to go into the Lyons Mouth and into the fire as it were where their greatest Adversaries were But they will go that they may receive That was but the Gift of the Holy Ghost And this is the Grace and fellowship of the Holy Ghost Know when thou art once a Beleever thou art put into the Paradice of God wherein all the Trees of God are full of Fruit and thou maist pluck where thou wilt Faith is a Receiving Know that when thou beleevest God turns thee loose into his Treasury and bids thee take where and what thou wilt Take the Covering or Righteousness of Jesus Christ to cover thee Take his Spirit for guiding and directing thee The Lords Supper runs by way of Commandment Take and Eat As if he should have said If there be any thing in Jesus Christ better than another As a man saith at a Feast If there be any thing you have a mind unto you have leave to take forbear it not So the Lord commands you to take and eat This is your Condition A man encourageth himself in the World with this That though he spends many hours and much time yet he shall get that with which he shall do good at last Many a man is drawn by this That when he hath gotten this then he may attend and do good Let the same argument perswade you to beleeve That if you beleeve you shall receive Object But you will say unto me I have beleeved and yet not received but I am barren and empty Answ 1. Thou saist thou hast not received God saith otherwise Every one that asks receives Matth. 5.42 And Faith will not spare for asking For in the Scripture in one place it is said He that beleeveth shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 And in another place it is said He that calls on the Name of the Lord shall not be confounded Rom. 10.13 Because Faith will be crying and asking As soon as it is in the heart it will cry as a new born Babe in 1 Pet. 2.2 Every one that asks receives saith God and thou wilt be judged by thy own heart and mouth As he said to his Disciples You have been with me so long and have you wanted any thing No say they So let me ask thee this question When didst thou ever beleeve and hadst not hope in him When didst thou ever trust in him for any thing and that he did not make it good Did he ever disappoint thee But Secondly There are divers waies of Receiving A man may receive an Estate by receiving Security of that Estate when he hath good Bond and Persons bound unto him for it Hath not God given thee his Son And hath not God spoken unto thee through a promise and past his word that thy Heart hath been inlightned inlivened and cheered in the Meditations of it A man may receive you know by way of equivalency As for example If a man doth not receive so much in species in money yet he may in worth in Jewels or other things that wil amount there unto Do but look over all thy smal Sums all the many mercies which thou hast received And see if they amount not to what thou hopedst for It may be thou hast asked comfort and God hath given thee Grace This was but a bill of exchange Thou hast asked that God will fill thee with joy and God fills thee with humbleness Here is but an Exchange Thou hast received all this while It may be thou wouldst fain have Gloried in him and it may be God gloried concerning thee As God said concerning Job There is not such a man in the whole Earth God may say of such a one though he hath nothing but Tears to Eat and nothing but Bitterness and Anguish and Sorrows Yet he loves my waies Here is a receiving Know that Faith is such a receiving as a man that receives an infection which he doth not feel for the present but it may be he feels afterwards And the Reason is this Because that Faith principally receives as it is an act of the will And if it did receive principally as it is an act of the understanding then a man could not have any thing but he should know it or be near the knowledg of it But since that receiving is by the will he must have the spirit of God to make known to him the things that are freely given him of God As the Apostle speaks in 1 Cor. 2.12 Now having answered this I beseech you Lay both hands understanding and will upon the Lord Jesus Christ Gather in with both faculties Rest not til your understanding be filled and your will be satisfied What ever it is which you want Christ hath What ever you would have from him you must either have from him upon price or merit And you have none Or you must have it upon gift Either you must receive it as an almes or as a debt A debt it is not to you but only as you beleeve When you do receive
But most plainly in 2 Cor. 4.13 The Apostle speaks to this purpose Having saith he the same Spirit of Faith according as it s written I beleeved therefore have I spoken we also beleeve and therefore speak As the Apostle saith in 1 Pet. 1.11 That whatsoever the Prophets spake the spirit spake in them It was not they that spake but the Spirit of the Father that spake in them So the Apostle gives the Reason why he did deliver that Doctrin to the Corinthians because saith he it was suggested unto me by Faith and if you ask him how he came by that Faith he saith he had it by the Spirit It was not so much the Grace of Faith as it was the spirit of Faith which made him both to beleeve and speak It is indeed we that do beleeve As the Prophets Mouth and Lips and understanding were all used by the Spirit of Prophecy But as what they spake was put into them So what we do when we do beleeve is from the Spirit of Faith Having the same Spirit of Faith We beleeve saith the Apostle and therefore speak Beleeving is our act but it s by his vertue And that I may open this more plainly to you I shal insist upon these three Particulars I. That that Faith whereby we do beleeve is not of or from our selves but we receive it II. That in that act whereunto we are inabled by God we act as little as can be but are acted We are rather Receivers then doers III. That though we do beleeve never so little yet the least degree of Faith will give us Jesus Christ and all his priviledges As many as received him had this dignity saith he to be the Sons of God though they did but receive him For the First of these I. We cannot of our selves beleeve or receive Christ Therefore Faith is said in Ephe. 2.8 To be the Gift of God Not of our selves but through Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of your selves it is the Gift of God He laies no more upon Faith but only this that it was the means of our Salvation God was the cheif and principal and efficient cause ye are saved through Faith but even That you have not of your selves In Colos 2.12 It s called the Faith of the operation of God Even as the Heavens are said to be the work of his Hands and the Firmament in Psal 19.1 That is none could do and frame so glorious a thing besides himself We are not able to add one degree unto our Faith when we have gotten it and therefore we cannot obtain of our selves the least degree before we have it It is far more easie for a man to increase a stock then to get it In Lacke Luke 17 7. to the renth 17.5 The Disciples come and Fray Lord increase our Faith Our Lord tels them by and by a Parable that a Master doth not use to bid a Servant when ho comes from the feild to sit down but to waite upon him til he hath supped and he thinks not that the Servant hath any praise due unto him because he waites for his meat and waites at home as well as abroad And he makes this Conclusion of it when you have done all you can say you are unprofitable Servants This being spoken upon their desire of the Lords increasing of their Faith it holds forth thus much that Let us use al the means that we can for the getting and the increasing of our Graces yet that is a work which we shal never do of our selves We shal not move God to any thing nor do any thing that shal be an addition to what God hath done Now if we cannot add to the least degree of Faith then much less can we get the first degree of Faith I say beloved we cannot receive Jesus Christ For there is no room in our Hearts naturally for him All the faculties and places and capacities of our Souls being taken up with sin and self and with Satan In Rom. 1.29 We are naturally said to be filled with all unrighteousness We are born into the world as ful of sin as we can hold It is true we add to sin but it is because our capacity to sin is made greater by sin but as great as it is it is filled But we are ful of sin and therefore their is no room for Jesus Christ And if their were any room in our souls fit for Jesus Christ it being undefiled yet we have no Heart unto Jesus Christ He came to his own John 1.11 John 5.40 and his own received him not Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Yea We cannot naturally but refuse to let Jesus Christ reigne over us For naturally sin hath our affections and is unto us as our selves A second nature and nature labors to preserve its self and therefore cannot but oppose Jesus Christ For his work is to take away sin Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world There are some material preparations unto faith as they are called whereby divers things that hinder Faith are removed in some measure And these are in the power of Nature A man may be in his Natural condition and have knowledg and yet that knowledg doth remove away ignorance which is a great hindrance unto Faith A man in his Natural state may be troubled for his sin and yet that trouble for sin doth take away pleasure in sin and that pleasure in sin is a hindrance unto Faith A man while he is in his Natural Condition may be in fear of the Judgments of God and thereby have the boldness and confidence of his presumptuous spirit somwhat abated These preparations these preparations I say are in our power But for al these a man may never beleeve upon Jesus Christ he may for ever be a stranger to him These preparations are not unto Faith as degrees of heat are unto fire There is not a necessary connexion between these and beleeving for a man may have them and perish as you know Judas had Much less are they the last disposition which immediately goes before Faith and least of all are they those things which get any thing at the hand of God But that which indeed doth prepare unto Faith properly that comes from the Spirit of Faith alone And so it 's said in Acts 16.14 That the Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto the things which were spoken by Paul He opened her heart that is he opened her understanding to apprehend them he opened the things themselves that she might look into them he took away the prejudices that were in her thoughts against them She had by divers waies her heart shut up against the Apostles Doctrine even as a door in a Castle is barred that it must be broken open but the Lord broke al those bars Such thoughts as these were in her self That if she should receive such Doctrines she
6. In that its joy is full when it comes to know that it hath by Faith received Jesus Christ FOr the further discovery therefore of this joy and Faith wherein this willingness to beleeve and love of Christ appears I shall name these six particulars First Wherever there is true Faith in any measure the Soul doth love to hear the Doctrine of faith of Jesus Christ Of al truths that is most pleasing And most pleasing not only because it 's most profitable but because it 's most self-denying If so be the Soul would make its choice or call for any thing out of the Book of God before another it should be for somthing that laies open Christ and presseth beleeving on him How beautifull are the Feet of them that bring glad tidings Rom. 10.15 How beautifull that is they are as lovely as can be Nay so lovely as no words are able to express How beautifull The Apostle Paul did desire to know nothing among the Corinthians but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 that is he desired to make nothing else known And look what it was in him preaching so in every Beleever In Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the power of his Death and the vertue of his Resurrection These things a man loves and he loves to hear spoken of and discoursed of Evil men therefore do love corrupt words and unsavory language Beleevers they love to hear of Jesus Christ His name is sweet and precious Not only to hear of him as a story but as a person whereof there is need and of whom there is use and absolute necessity unto salvation First I say the heart loves to hear of Jesus Christ Acts 13.42 When the Apostle had preached in the name of Christ all that were good came to him and prayed him to preach that over the next Sabbath day or as it is in some translations between this and the next Sabbath day as the word may well be rendred And he did as you may read there As in John 6. they cryed out ever more give us this bread so the poor Soul desires to hear of that again and again When Lidia heard Paul preach Jesus Christ she attended as one that would not lose a fillable nor a word of what was spoken concerning jesus Christ Acts 16.14 How heautifull as I said before are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace It is good to love the Law of God which teacheth a man his duty like one that is carefull to do his masters will Psal 1.2 He meditates therein day and night But it 's a better sign for a man to love the Gospel of Jesus Christ the glad tidings of him As I shal shew you if I come to it that there is not only as great honor given unto God thereby but thereby a man if more humbled and abased in himself and made nothing than by all that obedience which the Law requires or by all that sense of misery that the Law works in us because we have not done our duty A man hath meaner thoughts of himself when he thinks he must beleeve or he cannot be saved than he hath when he thinks if he be called to an account he must needs perish because he hath transgressed Gods Law The soul loves that law which shews its own face in a glass with al its spots upon it But it loves that glass better in which it beholds the face of God For thereby it is transformed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. last Out of a spirit of indignation and wrath against a mans selfe and sin a man is glad to heare any thing that can be against himself and his sin But out of a love of Christ and out of the love of greater excellencies in Christ then is in a mans self a man is glad to heare rather of Christ then of himself his name is as ointment powred forth Cant. 1.3 There is nothing in the scripture but what is sweet and as hony But the Gospel is as the hony-comb The whole scripture is as a sugared cup But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is as the bottom of that cup. Secondly Where ever there is true faith there is a desire and longing after Faith and Jesus Christ As new borne babes as the Text saith in 1. Pet. 2.3 A desire formally O Lord said the Disciples unto Jesus Christ increase our faith O Lord that we may receive our sight For its faith alone that makes us see the things freely given us of God and to know the treasury of grace and mercy which doth and hath lain hid from eternity And so there is also a vertual desire after Christ in al beleevers They long after the meanes whereby faith is wrought If you have rasted how good the Lord is As new borne babes you wil desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby Though that a Child cannot distinguish rationally between the Milk of the breast and that which is sugared It cannot tel that this is the one and this is the other But it hath a tast by which it can and nothing pleaseth but the mothers breast The Child cannot ask for it nor describe it but you may know it loves it because it is stilled with it and quieted with it So may be the case of many a Christian He may not be able by reason or by discourse or argument to make out the desirableness of Jesus Christ above al other things the excellencies of Jesus Christ above al other waies There may be Rhetorick put upon al other things beyond al that which he can see through or put upon the things of Jesus Christ But you wil find his heart quieted with nothing but Jesus Christ Let him pray with never so much in largedness and affections let him hear with never so much understanding and live with never so much unblameableness in the world yet al this is nothing his heart is unquiet because it is not according to what the law requires And if he sees no fault in it yet there is fault which the pure eyes of God behold when he comes to look it through and through And he hath no peace but when he comes to beleeve in Jesus Christ and receive peace from him What is there in al the meanes of salvation which thou longest after What is it which thou wouldest carry home with thee Is it somthing that may draw Jesus Christ nearer to thee and make him more lovely to thee So much thou mayest conceive of hope of thy state of Salvation The Love of Jesus Chrst is described by this that nothing gives the heart so much quiet and in nothing is the heart so much taken up and contented as it is with this that Jesus Christ is the Mediator and undertaker and is the surety and doth al with the father And that It doth do al with the father by him The heart being pleased and contented argues
the desire to be after him Thirdly Where ever there is faith there is love even a high esteeme of Jesus Christ and God the father in him and a high valuation of him as one that is good and true and able and liberal Not only an acknowledgment of these vertues to be in him but an estimation of him for them And the reason is this There is no one you know can beleeve or trust another whom though he doth know to be able to discharge his promise yet he doth not esteem of No wise man you know wil trust him whom he judges to be vain and careless of his word that wil speak any thing If so be any one makes a promise and be not known to be rich and besides that to be powerful so as none can hinder him from the fulfilling of it If he be not esteemed good and liberal that wil not think much of what he parts withal We wil not trust him In faith therefore there is a love of the Glory of God And so you have it described in Rom. 4.21 That Abraham did beleeve and give Glory unto God While he was meditating on the promise and the difficulty of receiving and it came into his mind yet he said again though that I be weak yet he is able though that I be dead yet he lives for ever though that unto me there belongs no such mercy yet he is liberal Such indeed our faith in God is as our esteem is of God As our esteem is of God such is our love Where we see little of excellency there is little love where we see much there is much love It is a peece of love A duty an act of love which the soul shews unto God that it wil suffer no blame to light upon him that it wil have nothing I say nothing imputed or charged upon his account but he must stand fair and cleer and without blemish and spot in al that ever he saith and doth what ever becomes of the soul Nay saith a beleever in this case The fault is not in God but in me the reason lyes not in any want of love in him but in the folly and carelessness of my own spirit The reason why I want any thing is not because I desire any thing of God which he is not ready prepared to the doing of but it is only because I have a withdrawing heart That is the third thing Fourthly The Soul that doth willingly beleeve doth even suffer it self to be wrought upon by God if he please unto Jesus Christ It leaves it self in the hand of God to be wrought upon even as he pleaseth That whereas before it was wont to murmur and repine and think much and hardly that God would take nothing but satisfaction and be pacified by no means but by the blood of his Son Now it saith Let the Lord do with me even what he pleaseth so he will but unite me to and make me one with Jesus Christ He puts himself like Clay into the hands of him that He may frame and fashion the Spirit according to his own mind You have the expression concerning John Baptist in Math. 3. When Christ came to him to be baptized said John Do you come unto me Suffer it to be so saith Christ for so it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness and then he suffered him So the Soul is brought by God unto this to let or suffer God to confute what reasoning he pleaseth in him to suggest such apprehensions as are contrary to his own sense and imagination In John 6.53 Christ told them that if they did not eat his Flesh and drink his blood they had no share in him and the Text saith that many did murmur at the Doctrine And such is the temper of the heart of man when Christ comes to deal with him about salvation that he is offended at him at the Call he gives and is offended that he will not allow him any confidence or comfort in any thing or for any thing that he hath done Must there be so much supernaturall vertue required to obtain eternall life or it must not be had As a Patient is told by the Physitian somtimes You must so many daies take this course forbear this diet and take these bitter Pils He begins to think he is injuriously dealt withall But the Physitian tels him if you will not take this course you will die Then he lets him do what he will So the Soul saith unto Jesus Christ Lord take any course in the world with me If thou wilt have me to lie down in sorrow If thou wilt have me be without those means and refreshings that I have had heretofore If it be thy pleasure that I shall lie upon thorns in comparison of what I have done before do what thou wilt Only save me in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ As a man saith to a Physitian whom he hath a long time refused to be directed by the Counsel of saith he I do even submit my self to you prescribe what you please use your own method take what course your wisdom thinks good Let the things you give be bitter and let the things you with-hold from me be never so good as Air or food So the Soul leaves it self to Jesus Christ and lets him do with it what he will which was the case of Paul in Acts 9.6 Lord what would'st that I do Lord what wouldst thou that I do do thou have care of me for I have none of my self I give up my self to thee Fifthly The Soul is exceeding glad and refreshed when it can do any thing to take away its confidence and its support that it hath any where but only in Jesus Christ I say the Soul is glad that it hath nothing to help it but Faith and that Faith hath nothing to lean upon but only Jesus Christ When one stone is not left upon another of all that which a man hath built to rest himself in When as the pillows are pluckt from under the head and a man is left as it were dying and from under the elbow that a man hath nothing to support him yet then the Soul takes pleasure contentment There is a pleasure contentment to have all sweet morsels taken from a man that it may feed alone upon the Lord Jesus Christ when it can convince its self that in such a course there wil be no safety nor salvation found it rejoyceth exceedingly We have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3. but rejoyce in Christ Jesus Rejoyce when we have no confidence in the flesh It is said concerning the Saints that they wash their feet in the bloud of the ungodly and when the vengeance overtakes them they say This is the man that made not God his refuge but trusted in his riches As it is in Psal 52.6.7 said of Doeg So doth the Soul Glory and insult over all its vain confidences when
and a good Conscience or Faith especially 1 Tim. 1.19 From this knowledg a man may be so established in the profession of Jesus Christ as that he may be able to instruct others to answer all arguments that shall be brought against this profession and to endure much even as the Heathen Philosophers that would rather die the cruellest death than leave any one principle of their learning and profession which they had received So a man may see so great a reason for the things of Jesus Christ that a man shal not dare to part with the least beam of it for the greatest afflictions in the world or to avoid the greatest misery But yet notwithstanding all this a man may be without saving Faith It may be thus received into a mans mind and judgment and yet not be a faith that wil bring him life and Salvation at the last For I beseech you consider it A man may thus receive Jesus Christ by a common gift of the spirit though he hath no Grace In Rom. 2.20 The Apostle saith of those that were not Jews in the Circumcision of the heart that they had a forme of knowledg and did delight themselves in the Law compared with the last verse And if you look into Rom. 6.17 You shal find that besides the forme of Doctrine unto a mans Salvation there is required his being delivered up unto it But saith he you have obeyed from the heart the forme of Doctrine whereunto you were delivered DELIVERED that is cast in the shape and conformed unto it so as that what you know hath authority and power over you As we say a man is delivered into such a ones hand when he is made sure of so as he cannot escape A man must through obedience come under the power of that which he knows or his knowledg is not saving Yea notwithstanding al this kind of knowledg and this judgment and understanding of Jesus Christ a man may have no affection nor love unto him at al. In John 2.25 It is said that many beleeved upon Christ but yet he saith they were such as he did not dare to trust himself with al. That is they would have betrayed him and for their own advantage would have put him into the hands of his enemies 2 Tim. 3.5 They have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof in their lives That is a man may know much and know it exactly and yet the things known have no power to order their affection or to subdue their corruption Or as some do understand the Power in opposition to the Form They do not value the things as they are in themselves Al their esteem reacheth no further then the order and rank that these things beare in the matters of the world As for example A man in casting up an accompt may value a counter a pound or a thousand pound only because it is so in reckoning So a man may value Jesus Christ at a great reckoning as one that contains al the doctrine that belongs unto Salvation and yet notwithstanding unto a mans self Christ may be but a brass Counter and as one that hath no value in himself That is al I shal leave concerning this point That Jesus Christ is received only into the fancy when a man knows not Christ in himself but his apprehension is formed only into the Metaphors and figurative speeches in the scripture of him And when they know him only as he is the main point of Doctrine in religion but his heart is not taken with himself There are some who go yet further And they are such who take Jesus Christ into their understanding But it is into the reasoning part of them as I may so speak that is so far as they are convinced by demonstrations and evidences and undenyable arguments so far they receive Jesus Christ True faith goes by testimony and that is the argument and cheife ground of it A man may receive the word of God to be true upon the same ground that he may receive any other writing or book which teacheth a man whether it be the knowledg of Countries or of the hevens or any other art whatsoever In the scripture Isay a man shal find the same things to perswade him which he finds in other books A man beleeves other Books to be true because it hath good report because it is antient And the parts agree And they interfere not nor contradict one another They have experience that the things there said comes to pass the like things have been done which they report And so a man upon the antiquity of the scripture and the agreement of the scripture and upon the equity that is in the command of the scripture comes to think that the scriptures are true But now the Spirit of God joyning with these and sitting upon these I say These common arguments withal sciences the spirit of God improving al these may work upon men very much But if so be that men go no further then these there is not faith in Jesus Christ neither For I beseech you mark it Al faith it is an act so far as it is saving it is a willing receiving of Jesus Christ But these demonstrations and arguments they do compel the understanding The understanding cannot but consent unto them and it is irresistibly do what it can bowed to give consent according to the same and that is an argument that it is not saving As a man who yields obedience not because he loves the Governor but because he knows not how to help himself or to do otherwise being conquered So these evidences and strong reasons they leade a man captive and a man consents in his understanding although the heart be against them a man may joyn together with them and yet notwithstanding they be things which his heart doth most of al abhorre therefore they cannot be saving Mistake me not beloved There is nothing so carefull of having a good evidence as Faith is It is the most secure Grace of trusting unto that possibly can be It will take nothing but what is increated for its ground It will either have a testimony from God that cannot err or else it wil not receive But though Faith may look after the cleerest evidence yet it looks not after an evidence arising from the things themselves but from the word of God Not from the Matter but from Gods report If God wil say it let the thing be never so obscure and contrary to sense or reason yet Faith will receive it But that which I now intend in this is That even as the Devils they do beleeve the Text saith in Jam. 2.19 but they do it because they have experience that the things which God hath spoken come to pass as I have shewed heretofore They are convinced by what they have seen and found that what they yet see not accomplished shal be in Gods own time And so there is a Faith also among
and rouling themselves with delight and contentment and yet thou saiest there is none like unto and none can save but the Lord Jesus Christ A man may be affected that hath sins reigning in him that is out of controversie with the things of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.20 They received the word with joy who loved the world better than the word and therefore when tribulation arose they parted with the word and fell unto the world presently I beseech you beloved know thus much That as our Lord Jesus Christ when he was to keep the Passeover Mark 14.15 bid his Disciples go and they should find a man and they should ask for an upper room and there he would eat the Passeover The Upper rooms among the Jews were their Guest-chambers which were far from their lower rooms whereinto ordinary Persons came Ordinary persons were below but they were with their friends in the Upper room Know thus much That when Jesus Christ comes into the soul by Faith he will have an upper room the best of your Understanding and Will He wil not be thrust into a room with Satan and with your lusts and with dirt he will not be corrival with them in one house In a word beloved If there be any Person that you have a respect unto if there be any good thing that you have a respect unto and subject it not unto him If there be any evill that you have respect unto he wil not have respect unto you That is certain That Faith shal go for nothing that can lay hold upon Jesus Christ and yet scrable after the world and this and that lust as if there were good and happiness to be found in it This particular point that I am upon To beleeve upon conviction hath some difficulty in it and I would fain make it plain to you it is not your conviction that is the reason that your Faith is good Mark it But it is a sign your Faith is not good when you wil beleeve nothing but what you have convictions of from the things themselves For the Spirit of God working in an unregenerate man he doth but improve things that are common His nature is not changed and therefore useth but ordinary and humane abilities to the best improvement of them But all that I aim at in all that I have said is only but this That in this great matter of your Faith you would look warily to your selves that you be not deceived Take heed least when you think you have received Christ into your heart you have indeed carried him only into the outward room thereof and not given him the chief place Many men can dispute for Christ and many men they are stout and of courage in the Doctrine of Christ and yet notwithstanding for all this they have not the saving Faith of him Many men there are that that because they think to compound all differences and to make a way easie to their beleeving by proceeding in the matters of Faith by the wisdome of men they lose their own Souls How many men are there that judg themselves that because they cannot so mourn for sin as they mourn for Children and they cannot be so carried after Christ as they are after the things they love here Be it Husband or Wife or the like therefore they think they have no love at all This is only to make the things of the Gospel subject to the Laws and principles of reason It 's true indeed there is greater reason why you should love God more than Children And the least discovery of him more than comfort That is there is a ground why you should do so Yet know that your love is not judged by what you do to these things which are altogether in your power But by what carriage and affection you bear unto God who is contrary unto you by nature but yet brought near by Jesus Christ And it is a greater matter to a poor Soul though it cannot do what it should do to love God a little when it hath so much corruption to plead with him for to get his heart from God than it is for a man to love a Child so affectionately when there is nothing in his heart to draw him from it Esa 55. Saith God My thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my waies as your waies The waies of men are that if they do good they shall receive good But Gods way is to justifie the ungodly and to do good against evill You think saith he that if you buy you must have money or moneys worth But know saith God that my bargains are not driven on as yours are For know If you have no mony you shall buy that is have as good a title as if you had money or monies worth This is a riddle That a man may buy without money or monies worth whereas all kind of bargainings are by one of them But Gods waies are not as your waies It is enough for you that you have the word of God He knows what is best for his own Glory Therefore take his word And do not judg of things according to what thy reason doth suggest and square not thy hopes according to thy sense and as thy wisdome directs for he knows what is the best way to express his mercy by FINIS A Short and Excellent TREATISE OF COVETOUSNESS LUKE 12.15 And he said unto them Take heed and beware of Covetousness CHAP. I. The occasion and scope of the words The Doctrine The words in the Text Take heed and Beware glossed upon Covetousness considered more generally in three Particulars More strictly and specially and so it is a desire of having much arising from an uncontentedness with a mans present condition though he would not by any other then lawful meanes mend or better it IN the 13. verse of this Chapter One that was with Christ desired him to appeare an Arbitrator in a difference between him and his Brother Master speak to my Brother that he divide the Inheritance with me Christ answers him with Indignation at the 14. vers Man who made me a Judg or a divider over you As if he should have said I have no commission It s not my errand or end in coming into the world to take up differences between men and men but between men and God Nor am I to help men to their right and inheritances here but unto an inheritance among the Saints And secondly his advice to them is rather to take care for death and another world Then for an inheritance Take heed and beware of Covetousness For your life that is the end of the life and the comfort of your life consists not in having much And to that end he tells them a parable of a rich man that laid up much and made accompt to live quietly and comfortably upon what he had got but he died suddenly he died like a fool and perished from the presence of the Lord. For in
but speak the word saith he and my servant shall be healed And there are some things that the Scripture saith are hard to God there is more of God required to do them than other things And some things that are but possible unto God As if he should have said It 's all that God can do If there were but a whit of less strength in him he were not able to make a man that is covetous to beleeve Give me leave to speak with reverence according to the expression His strength is matched It 's as much as he can do It is but possible to him to make a rich man that is in love with this present evil world to come to Heaven And as if the Apostle Paul could not say enough to shew the hardness of being cured of this sin you shall find him heaping up words in 1 Tim. 6.9 There are Temptations and there are Snares and there are Sorrows The word properly signifies the pains of a Woman in Travel which can neither be avoided nor prevented and are impossible to be born long And he saith they are drowned in perdition and destruction having reference unto the 18. Chapter of Matthew at the 66. verse It was a kind of death to the Assyrians to tie a Mill Stone about a mans neck and to throw him into a deep water Look how there is no hope of saving such a man so little hope there is of a covetous man Observe it he speaks rather of such a man that was covetous who had made profession of Religion and known the truth rather than any other and he saith of them That they Pierce themselves through The word signifies they do as it s said of Julius Caesar that they came about him so with Bodkins and Swords that his Body was as a Butt or Pin-cushion there was not a whole place in him he was wounded in Back and Belly in Armes and Legs and in every part there was a wound So saith the Apostle You wil be by the Cares of this world you will be run through and through and through with Cares and Sorrows And what hope is there of a man when he lives thus when sin hath such advantage of him how hard a matter is it to be cured I have bin the longer in the explication because it is the sin of the times and the sin of Professors CHAP. IV. Use 1. Follâ—◠〈◊〉 Callings Use 2. Seek the Kingdom of 〈◊〉 and his righteousness and other things shall be added Use 3. Let all your care be for eternal life to be rich in God Use 4. You shall have all the things of this life that are needfull if you wil look after Grace Godly men never want but when they cannot be content to be at God's dispose Use 5. See your life lie in Grace not in Riches USE I. FOllow your Callings For the living in a particular calling is as necessary to pluck down the rankness of a mans spirit and to make him fit to serve God I say it is as necessary in its kind as the word is in its kind There are some sins that arise from the body and diligence in a particular calling mortifies them Follow your Callings Take what providence casts upon you in them but be not sollicitous Beloved Do not care how it may be with you so you may but provide for eternity Be content with a little so you may but have Grace If you have Food and Raiment be quiet As upon a day of fast a man may eat so much as may fit him to the work so my Beloved care for no more all the time of your life than what may keep you from temptations and inable you to the work of your Calling And that work of your calling you may certainly do for God whatever your condition be Turn all your care unto this that you may treasure up riches in Heaven What matter it if you be poor or have or not have as long as you do enjoy Christ This is the great exhortation of our Lord Jesus Christ in this place That time that men spend in forecasting how they should do in ill times that time is all lost and should be spent only in this How they may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a world to come I say it is all lost 〈◊〉 use you are not able to secure those things And it 's worse than lost because it is a sin to care for to morrow Prudently dispose of what God hath given you but be not troubled though you cannot so dispose of things as to save you from evill Be not afraid of any evill that can befall you fear nothing but sin and Gods wrath It is your wisdom to do so A wise man on a Journey cares not if his lodging be hard and diet course because he is upon his way and thinks to have better at home The love of his business makes him not think of these things What is your business but to provide for Heaven What is your home but to dwell with Jesus Christ and to have Communion with him Therefore mind not other things never be troubled what you are in other respects USE II. And let me add this in the second place That the more care you take for spirituall things the more care God will take for your earthly estate Seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shal be added to you in Math. 6.33 For al these things your Heavenly Father cares for that is if you care not In Heb. 13.5 6. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness for he hath said he wil never leave you nor forsâ—ke you God enters into Bond to save that man harmless from all losses and evils in the world that does but mind the things of him He were an unjust master to set us a work and to leave us to our own finding Is it not better a great deal to be at Gods hand than at your own That he should find you than your selves Therefore speak to your hearts after this manner I cannot by my care add one Cubit to my stature and make one business go well and get in one debt and take one penny the more and get one new Customer Let me speak to you in your own language If so be that I do what I can it wil be no advantage to me in these things But if I be careful to make my peace with God to get my pardon Sealed to get my waies Sanctified God wil give me so much of these as I need he hath enough and he wil give me liberally so that I shall have no cause to complain If I have not so much as another yet notwithstanding I shall have a blessing with what I have and that will be more than anothers much If men did put themselves upon this that it is to be their care to look to their Souls and when they have used meanes for their estates and bodies to leave all to God's disposing
the Lap of God and being put into his Bosome as well as having enough of this world Labor not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 but for the meat that endureth to everlasting life And because men should not be discouraged in Christs putting them to labor He tels them they shall have it upon gift which the Son of Man shall give As if he should have said Though I will not give it for labor yet when you have done al you shal see I will give it upon meer gift and not as a recompence of your work USE V. See your life lie in Grace and not in Riches The comfort of your life and eternal being lies in Grace Gal. 2.20 I live saith the Apostle by Faith 1 Tim. 5.6 Men that live in pleasures are dead while they live They do not trust in the living God they have no life from him When you come to die call for all your marks and evidences sum up all your estate and see what they will advantage you It 's reported of a Noble man when he had divided all his Estate he saw a Toad in the room and he cries out Oh that I were as that Toad to eternity Call to this and that Estate and inheritance at death And they will answer it is not in me I am not able to do any thing for you When a man comes to die who hath lived upon God in the world he can speak comfortably thus That he shall change only his place and not his company for he hath parted with these things before When you appear before God you shal not appear as rich but according to what you have done for him and what you have done through Grace Therefore naked came I into the world and must go so out Men do not stand before God as Kings and Knights But those that have done for God shall be honored in that day but that which enters a man into Gods Glory is Grace Consider what a folly it is to strive for shadows to undo your selves to tire your selves in following after Butterflies What a madness it is to give thousands for that which is worth nothing To spend your time impertinently for things in which your life is not Therefore when you have wearied your selves in casting plotting and designing of waies for to get an abundance for your selves ye cover your selves and say Had this day been spent otherwise or had I laid out my selfe as much for God as for these things it had been well All this time is lost If I had been in spirituall duties and services as long as I have been for the body it had been well When you have gotten the world and have not cast up your accompt what you have done when you have cared for the Body and not for the Soul when you have gotten all you have gotten but a common stone and lost the Diamond Therefore when you hear Jesus Christ calling upon you to take heed his meaning is not to deprive you of any good that the world can give you but to make you sure of eternity Therefore turn your thoughts this way He caseth men of taking care of this world that so they may attend to eternity It is not because Jesus Christ would not have the promises of this life fulfilled that he bids them to take heed but because he would have you to have abundance of the things which are indeed true Riches CHAP. V. Use 6. Beleeve there is somthing to be feared more than to be desired in abundance Two Signs to to prove that men do not believe there is such danger in Covetousness 1. Because men come so near the occasions Object May not a man take all opportunities of getting c. Sol. We must not do all we can in the things of this world 2. Because men place their happiness in Riches Two mistakes upon which men ground their desires of abundance supposing 1. If they had more they could do more for God 2. And escape many evils which now they meet with USE VI. BEleeve and set this upon your heart That there is somthing to be feared more than to be desired in abundance That under that Bait there lies a Snare and hook our Lord Jesus Christ would not warn you else Because men will not beleeve this therefore it is that men go on and are undone by lawfull things by Riches Let this word of Christ be continually in your Ears as if you heard him calling from Heaven Take heed and beware of Riches As when a man is going on in a dangerous way Those that know him do cal after him and bid him take heed there are holes and pits and whirlpoles in the water that he is riding throughâ— So Jesus Christ tels men there are snares and pits in Riches yet men wil not be perswaded I shall give you but two signs to prove that men do not believe there is such danger in Covetousness First Men will not come near that wherein they think there is danger When David saw the Angel of the Lord standing over Gideon with the sword in the time of the plague He would not come near that place to offer Sacrifice There was danger there and in that case God would have mercy rather than Sacrifice Hosea 6.6 We will not come near the Persons that have the plague we keep out of the way where Theeves lie though we go further about because there is danger But men come near occasions of Covetousness by taking all opportunities and advantages of getting or imploying themselves by contemplating and meditating of their own wants and of others Riches As David did confess in Psal 73. that he looked upon what he found every day and how the eyes of wicked men that knew not God were ready to start out of their Heads because of their fatness therefore he complains Whereas he saith he should have gone into the Sanctuary and have considered the end of those men how they stand in slippery places The consideration of a mans own wants and the thinking much of other mens abundance is that which gives an occasion unto Covetousness Whenever a man comes to think of the world as men take a Preservative when they go into infectious Air so men should think of the danger and misery of rich and covetous men So David should have done Object It may be said by the way May not a man take all opportunities of getting and enriching himself Is that to play with a Bait of Covetousness Answ I answer yes You may not do all you can or may do in the world In Luke 21.34 Christ bids them that they should as well take heed of Covetousness and the Cares of this life in verse 34. as they should take heed of Surfeiting and Drunkenness Take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with Drunkenness and Surfeiting as wel as the Cares of this life Christ joyns Surfeiting and Drunkenness with Covetousness Therefore
your selves to eternal life by abundance You cannot purchase it Psal 49.7 That is a Purchase that must be let alone No man is able to give the thousand part of the purchase of it if he had all the world to give No you are not able to purchase it Covetousness breeds listlesness of spirit and a senslesness of the things that are eternal As while a man looks upon the Sun he cannot well see other things So while a man is in the Earth and darkness he cannot well bear the light of the Sun so a man whose spirit is accustomed to the care of this cannot well get his heart into converse with God Therefore set this down with your selves that abundance is rather to be feared than desired Riches are rather Pricks than Thrones rather Rocks whereon you dash your selves than any thing that will do you good to help you to the end whereunto you are designed and born withall for by God That shal suffice for this use CHAP. VI. Use 7. Mortifie your desire after Riches and abundance slay it in the first motion towards it Motives of two sorts First Such as are taken out of the Armory of Reason I. Your happiness does not lie in any thing that does belong to this life These things are for you you are their end and your end is God II. You put a greater Glory and excellency upon them than does belong to them III. Riches are not desirable 1. God hath not made them to that end to make men happy 2. Desires after them is the way to hinder the getting of them 3. The way of Gods Riches is rather casuall than as an answer to Praier 4. They will not satisfie 5. There is no pleasure in them when we have them USE VII MOrtifie therefore your desires after Riches and abundance Diet your selves in these things as your would run the Race and have the Crown In Colos 3.5 Mortifie saith the Apostle your members that are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness Adultery evil concupiscence and Covetousness That which I shall desire you to observe is this That the Apostle doth put a great many sins together as those which are to be slain and among them Covetousness is one He joyns it with Uncleanness Because as you are to be afraid of the first tickling to that sin so you ought to be of the first motion unto the love of the world The first motion of discontent with a mans present state should be mortified as well as the first motion to Adultery As a severe and cruell Conqueror follows his Souldiers and bids them kil and slay and not give quarter unto any but especially he names some persons which he would have them be severe against So doth the Apostle bid them to mortifie all sins but especially he names Covetousness Cease not my Beloved therefore to pursue it til you have slain it And know that you have not slain and killed it until you can delight your selves and rejoyce in your present Condition though you have but a smal portion of the things of this life Then I say Covetousness is mortified when as a man doth delight and rejoyce himself though that he hath but a very smal portion of the things of this life In Psal 37.4 saith David Delight thy self in the Lord his meaning is this Be as cheerfully pleasantly contented if you have but God as if you had together with him al the world In the outward portion that God gives you delight in God for in the verses before he had spoken of wicked men as those that flourished like a Tree in the spring and prospered and increased in al things But saith he unto the Godly delight thy self in the Lord that is though you be not so though you prosper not though you be like a Tree that is withered A mans happiness is not in abundance for a man is not one Inch nearer Heaven for al the Mountains of Gold that he hath I shall therefore now unto the putting you upon this Duty give you some motives And when I have done that some tryals The motives are of two sorts they are either such as are taken out of the Armory of Reason such as the Common light which even the Heathen had from God do afford Or else they are such as are taken out of the Scripture from supernaturall and Gracious respects First Be contented with what you have for your happiness doth not lie in abundance nor in any thing that doth belong to this life Were your happiness in riches then your desires ought to be infinite and boundless to be set upon them for themselves But if so be that you have riches you are not the better and if you want them you are not the worse Al the things of this life are for you You are their end your end is God These do not commend you unto him The Poor receive the Gospel With him it 's all one whether you be bond or free so you be in Jesus Christ and but a new Creature Take al the riches in the world together and they are not able to take away the pains and miseries of your bodies A Crown of Gold upon the head wil not keep it from aching A Scepter in the hand wil not cure the Palsie Herods Riches and Glory could not kil a Worm Much less then are they able to satisfie your Consciences or to get you favor with God Nay my Beloved let me add this that if you wil not be contented with that portion God gives you your are further off from Gods favor by them when the Apostle in Colos 3.5 had named Covetousness in verse 6. he saith For such things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Mark it He doth not put Uncleanness or Fornication last that so he might fasten the danger and the eminency of the wrath of God against it but he names Covetousness last and he saith For that the wrath God c. the word properly signifies a vindictive defire A hanging after ones ruine A being unsatisfied until such time as he hath destroyed As far as such a kind of affection can be attributed unto God justly so far you are to apprehend it in him against those that are Covetous And that not sometimes but alwayes for saith he the wrath of God is come or for such things the wrath of God comes He doth not say It shal come but he saith it is come I say the wrath of God is a desire of revenge and he saith not that it shal come but that it is come The sin of Covetousness is a punishment to it self brings punishments every day one on the neck of the other for saith he for this the wrath of God comes So that a mans happiness is not in riches for the desire of riches keeps a man from happiness Secondly Your desire after Riches puts a glory and excellency upon them which is not native or which belongs not to
that the Mother of my Lord should come unto me Much more doth the Soul say What is this that Jesus Christ should come to be in my Cottage in my understanding so poor and mean a one as mine is Prov. 13.12 The accomplishment of the desire is as a Tree of life It was a sign unto it that it should live So the Soul saith Evil shal depart from me the sins that I have been troubled with shall be mortified Weaknesses shall be repaired I shall no more lie down in sorrow My beloved as the man that watcheth for the morning and as the Child that waits for the full age and as the Joy of the Bride and Bridegroom All these the Scripture useth and much more is the joy of the Soul when it sees and feels and finds Jesus Christ But this I say is that which it comes unto The other five particulars are those which more concerns the Point in hand But at this last they all drive and at this they do all arrive but in their season CHAP. XXIV Reasons why the Soul must be willing to receive Jesus Christ 1. By this true Grace is distinguished from that which is not true but only like to it 2. By this the murmuring and corrupt disputing of the Soul is silenced 3. Faith is not saving till it be willing 4. The Soul must rest in Christ so as to seek help no where else NOW consider that this must be for three or four Reasons I say the Soul must be beleeving and willing to receive Jesus Christ First In this true Grace is distinguished from that which is not true but is like unto it It is that which changeth the nature and becomes a kind of nature In 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of the divine nature And that acts of it self and that prompts and puts on to do according to it A Stone when it is out of its center and place hath a naturall instinct to move thitherto The Fire would be upward because it is its nature Look how sin is in a man so Grace is in a Saint for it comes in the stead of that Sin is not the essence of a man It is not his soul yet it is so wrought into his soul that he doth as naturally sin as he doth naturally apprehend or think or do a rational act So now Grace is not the soul of a man but it is so infused and created in it as that the soul doth as willingly the things of God according unto its measure as it doth its rational acts or as it did its sinful acts formerly I say according to its measure For there is more sin at first then grace in any man that is converted Jer. 32.40 The scripture therefore speaks after this manner I wil put my fear into your heart And what then This grace shal have the power of a cause and that shal worke you according to it self Fear shal make you fear and faith shal make you beleeve and to beleeve naturally Common grace is not wrought into the nature nor become a nature and therefore hence it comes that men do loose it and sal unto their natural course As the dog unto his vomit and the sow to the wallowing in the Mire as the scripture speakes Secondly By this willingness to beleeve the murmuring and Corrupt disputing of the soul against Jesus Christ comes to be silenced altogether or in a very great measure 2 Cor. 10.5 The Apostle saith that every thought and imagination shal be captivated to the obedience of faith To the obedience of faith Now it is captivated by the love which a man hath unto faith You al know that we cannot indure to have that reasoned against which we love we are presently put into a passion if any one wil go to vilifie or speake against that which we have a mind unto Now when the soul hath a mind to go unto Jesus Christ and a mind to beleeve the nit stops its eare and doth withdraw its sense and apprehension from what ever can be said against it According as its mind is to beleeve so deafness growes upon it to al the reasonings of the flesh for continuance in any other state without Jesus Christ If a man hath a mind to any meat or to do a thing he wil say speak no more I am resolved to do it I wil venture And so doth the soul in this case And it s the best way of confutation of arguments As the Apostle saith God forbid So confute them with this I wil beleeve and I wil go unto Jesus Christ what ever you say I am resolved on that That is the second reason The murmuring and disputing that are against faith wil not be quiet and cease til they come to have such an affection to beleeve Thirdly Until you wil be in beleeving or til you love to beleeve your faith is not saving For faith is an applying of Jesus Christ to a mans self There is a double application of Jesus Christ to a mans self The one is in discourse when a man can conclude himself to be one of Christs And that is faith of assurance And the other is not by discourse but by aime and intention When a man doth go unto Jesus Christ for good unto himself Now mark what I say Al the credit that you give unto the word Al the sence that you subscribe unto the promises of the Gospel These do not apply Christ to you No more you know then for a man to meditate on the treasures of the King of spain do make his treasure his or do give him an interest in it When a man loves faith and loves Christ then he gives up himself to Christ that he may be his A man looks not from Christ for any thing to himself until he doth by an act of the Wil rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly and Lastly There must be this affection of love in beleeving because the Soul must acquiesce and rest So in Christ as to seek help no where else Now that he must So acquiesce is evident by this because to go to Jesus Christ or to receive Christ and not as the only Savior is to dishonor him A man cannot rest in him as the only Savior unless that he doth approve and like of and take pleasure in that which the Gospel hath revealed concerning him Or more plainly thus That way which a man doth not approve a man wil not stick unto for the salvation of his Soul That a man may therefore stick unto Christ and never depart from him he must have a good will or liking or approbation of him And so much shal now suffice for the Doctrinal part of this Point CHAP. XXV Application Then there are but few Receivers of Jesus Christ This Vse concerns three sorts of Persons 1. Such as do not receive Jesus Christ as he is USE IS Faith such a kind of Receiving then truly it will cast even all