said to Thomas Believe me for the very works sake what works were they why they were such as are almost incredible and to many seem impossible as giving sight to the blind strength to the weak health to the sick life to the dead c. but it would be tedious for me to relate all the miracles he did upon the bodies of men and women he did and doth effect greater things upon the Soul Luk. 4.18 for he enlightens darkned understandings heals broken hearts likewise there are his works for the good of his Church My Father saith Christ worketh hitherto and I work Joh. 5.17 Christ is continually working for the glory and happiness of his beloved ones for he protects them as the apple of his eye and sends his Spirit who conveys celestial treasure into their souls fills them with grace and conducts them over the raging waves of this tumultuous World to the haven of rest Joh. 16.13 14 15. and the land of eternal felicity Christs care is continual towards his Church and therefore he hath and doth and will work wonders for it Thus his divine works prove that he is more than a creature yea that he is the Creator Joh. 20.28 5th Argum. The fifth Argument to prove his Divinity is deduced ex honore Divino from the divine honour given to him God the Father saith I will not give mine honour to another i. e. Is 4.8 Joh. 5.23 any creature yet it is said of Christ Jesus That all men should honour the Son even in the same manner and in the same measure as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him He is not only to be honoured as a person designated to the office of Mediatorship but also as he is the true living God For as Christ said to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father so that one said concerning the Trinity ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. I cannot think of one but presently I am invironed with the glory of three I cannot discern three but immediately I am carryed to adore the glorious Unity The Angels are said to adore and worship him Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth his first begotten into the world he saith let all the Angels of God worship him i. e. give divine honour to him Is 6.3 The Angels did cry holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Now the divine Apostle saith that it was the glory of the Lord Jesus that the Prophet did behold in that glorious Vision Joh. 12.41 When the Angels were thus magnifying and adoring him for they are but ministring Spirits in Rev. 5.12 13. we have the whole regiment of them celebrating his praise Heb. 1.14 as one worthy of divine honour 2ly Saints Militant do pay the tribute of divine honour to him who is their Lord and Saviour As 1 Faith this is accounted part of divine honour as a learned Divine hath defined it Cultus qui tendit in Deum anquam in bonum nostrum Ames Medull Theol. saith he it is a worship which extends to God as our present good Now that Faith is proper to Christ as part of divine worship I need not say much to prove because the scriptures are so clear in it as Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me i. e. believe that I am the second Person in the blessed Trinity therefore am able and faithful to perform what I have said and promised unto you Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Now we know that the Scripture saith it is sin to trust in man Act. 20.21 and a curse to them that rely on him for salvation nay to believe or depend upon Angels because they are but creatures Jer. 17.5 and it would derogate from the honour of God that we should believe for salvation from any but from him who is all-sufficient and all-mighty to save 2ly as Faith so Prayer which is part of divine worship is frequently made unto Christ Prayer as one saith is made up of two species or kinds Orationis species Duae sunt Petitio gratiarum actio Ames Phil. 4.6 scil Petition and giving of Thanks Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God for he alone is the true object of all religious services as Christ told Satan It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve But I suppose Mat. 4.10 this granted by all Oratio est voluntatis nostrae religiosa representatio coram Deo ut illa Deus quasi afficitur Ames Medul Theol. that Prayer is a religious Act. And thus that excellent Author defines it Prayer saith he is a religious representation of our will before God that he may as it were be affected with it My work then is to enquire whether this part of divine honour be given unto Christ Jesus as 1 Petition in the 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen so 2 Thess 3.18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen 2 Tim. 4.22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thee All which prove that petitions are made to Christ and that for the highest mercy scil grace and peace Tim. 1.2 Rom. 16.20 21. 2 Thes 1.2 which comprehend most spiritual blessings and seeing the Apostle prays for these things it proves that he is a divine Person from whom he requests them or else he could never give such mercies for who can give grace but God alone who is the fountain of grace Eph. 2.13 14 16. now grace peace flow from the Lord Jesus to poor sinners for he has made peace by the blood of his Cross it is he that has purchased peace for believers with his Father and grace in an abundant measure Joh. 1.16 I am come that they might have life that they might have it more abundantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratiam super gratiam life is put here for grace other spiritual blessings for it is out of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace There is a fulness of redundancy that dwells in the Lord Jesus and well it may for there dwells in him the fulness of the God-head Bodily Col. 2.9 Rom. 9.5 Therefore the servants and true worshippers of God make their petitions to the Lord Jesus for Grace who is God over all Blessed for ever Secondly The other part which is thanksgiving and praise is by the Apostle Ascribed to him 2 Tim. 4.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me 2 Tim. 4 18. unto his heavenly Kingdom unto whom be glory for ever and ever Amen The context makes it evident that it is applyed to the Lord Jesus Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth his first
though never so Barbarous they Worship and Adore something for a Deity there is such a divine Impress left upon the Conscience of Man that Lactantius lib. 2. Div. Instit Cap. 2. observed when they Swore or Cursed or Prayed or Wished any thing heartily especially when in affliction their manner was to say God Deus non Dii not Gods other Arguments they have as the Finis Vltima and the Summum Bonum the last end and chief felicity of man and also from the consideration of good and evil vice and vertue and the reward in equity due to the one and the Punishment belonging to the other but I must not inlarge for I intend only to declare the Darts Satan hath to shoot at Poor Souls and sometimes he casts them at the elect upon their conversion or some time of weakness or sore afflictions but they are in the end repulsed by the power of Divine grace and are extinguished by the shield of Faith But now he fills others who live in wickedness with some secret conceits that there is no God that will call them to a strict account therefore they persevere in their evil Practices and totally neglect coming to Christ 27. If they step so high as to grant there is a God who is supream and the Author of all things then he is ready to perswade them that he concerns not himself with Democritus Heroclitus Epicurus and Lucretius acknowledged a Numen or Deity but denyed the providence of the same nor observes humane affairs as there have been many that he has deceiv'd by this Argument and so they have thrown off the Yoke of obedience and wholly neglected their Souls so there are many to be found at this day who have such strange conceptions of God therefore they neglect coming to Christ they are ready to say as in Job 22.13 14. How doth God know can he judge through the dark Clouds thick Clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not he walketh in the Circuit of Heaven There are many such who are deceived with this to think that God is bounded within the circuit of Heaven deny unto him all Prescience Omnipresence and Omniscience that Fancy God doth not observe their minute and eye every singular action of theirs therefore they freely live and dayly delight in Sin and hearken not to the calls of Christ by his Ministers inviting them to come unto him this is another obstacle of Satans by which he impedes many I fear of those who go under the notion of Christians for this may be gathered clearly if we do but view their actions O how greedily do they fall upon Sin both Publickly and Privately without any abashedness or remorse which they could never do if they understood and believed that God sees and observes all their ways Job 34 21. For his eyes are upon the ways of Man and he seeth all his goings Moreover that he will render according to each ones deeds as 1 Pet. 1.17 But whoever thou art that dost cast thine eye upon this Book and Satan doth suggest such a thing to thee as that God doth not reguard the actions of Men here below sheild thy self against this Dart by giving credit to the Word of God Job 31.4 Doth not God see my ways and count all my Steps Prov. 5.2 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings And thus considering that God beholds all thy actions and will call thee to account for them and that thou art not able to answer him one of a thousand when he enters into judgment with thee will make thee more diligently seek after Christ Jesus that thou maist be secured from perishing in for thy iniquity 28. If that will not do then Satan perswades the Sinner that he hath no Soul distinct from the Body in Nature and Essence but they are the same substance thus he hath deceived many with a base perswasion that they are no better than the bruits that their Soul is no other thing then their Blood or Breath or some such like thing and is not of a spiritual nature which can exist seperate from the Body therefore there is no necessity of Christ to save it it is not a spirit as many foolishly conjecture then what need any care for the Salvation of it thus the Sadduces of old were deluded by Satan that Father of Lyes and Lying Spirits that there are no Angels or Spirits Acts 23.8 Which made them neglect Christ who came to save the Spirits of all them that believe in him to confute this and remove this obstacle out of the way read Eccle. 12.7 Then shall the dust meaning the Body return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Hear are these things observable in these Words 1. Here is the Nature of the Soul it is a Spirit the Spirit shall return to God 2. The Author and Donator of it scil God who creating it infused it and by infusing it created it the Soul is not communicated by the seminal vertue in the conjunction of both sexes as some vainly immagin but it is a spirit created by God Immediately and infused into and united to the Body which unition makes a compleat man ☜ 3. That it doth exist distinct from the Body after the dissolution of it for it returns to him that gave it even when the Dusty Body the House of Clay is mouldred into Earth which was the Materia prima the first matter of it Now if it were not a distinct Imaterial substance it could never be said to return to God Luk. 12.4 Fear not them that can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul Which words declare that the Soul and the Body are two distinct things although being united they constitute one man Now seeing thy Soul is of a Spiritual nature that can exist seperate from the Body eject and abominate this brutish Argument of Satan who to the end he might bring thy Spirit into the Place of Torment with himself seeks to perswade thee thou art no degree higher than a Beast and so neglect coming to Christ by whom Salvation alone is to be expected 29. If they are convinced that the Soul is of a Spiritual Nature which no serious and rational Man can deny then he Labours to perswade them that it is Mortal and that when the Body dies the Soul is annihilate or at least dies with the Body till the resurrection which is a time most uncertain if any such thing be So he perswades the Sinner to neglect Christ and indulge his Sences for if the Soul is Mortal or must not appear till the general Resurrection it need not be solicitous about a future being for what man will take care to provide a Mansion or Build a stately Fabrick when there is none to inhabit it so who would busy their anxious thoughts about Eternity when
our works in us and for us Isa 26.12 The property of true Repentance is not only to drop a tear for sin or to lament a little whilst the Soul is under some apprehensions of future Judgement and then in a short time to turn again to folly but it immediately buds and brings forth fruit and so continues to the end Now humility grows on the same Tree which before was heavy laden with Pride now there is Love Meekness Charity exerting and puting forth their several fruits where formerly there was nothing but Envy Hatred Impatiency 1 Cor. 7.11 and Uncharitableness Now the Soul doth not only hate fear and forsake sin but it is constant in bringing forth fruit of obedience to all the known Precepts of God and Christ Jesus Psal 34.14 It departs from sin and doeth good and it seeks peace all the ways that tends to peace 3dly This Repentance may be known by the effects of it in the soul it hath various influences upon the heart and conscience 1. It works a deadly hatred and enmity in the Soul to sin both internal and external sin in it self and in the being of it as well as in the practise of it Rom. 7.15 For what I would that do I not but what I hate that I do here the Apostle had a Combat and was sometimes overcome to do that which he would not but yet he hated it with his whole Soul for he had tasted of the bitterness of sin and therefore could have no Love or likeing for it Psal 119.4 saith the holy prophet I hate every false way and vers 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I Love This goodman had sometime been tutored in the School of repentance and had learned the Lesson of the Rod by which he was Lashed for his transgressions he felt the smart of it and Learned the cause which was Sin and Iniquity therefore now he abhors and detests every vain way therefore you may make tryal by this whether your repentance hath been true for as it is in nature we are apt to hate those things we are sensible have prejudiced or pained us so the Soul cannot but hate Sin which it now finds and is sensible that it is wronged by it Pro. 8.26 2ly A timidity and fearfulness of falling into Sin any more or to be insnared by the devices of Satan This effect Godly sorrow and repentance had upon the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.11 For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you what indignation yea what fear The Soul now is so fearful of Sin when grace is active that it is afraid to look upon temptations therefore it crys out with David Turn away mine Eyes from beholding vanity When the Soul hath been scorched with a sence of Gods wrath and displeasure for Sins and Iniquitys perpetrated and committed against him it is made afraid of Sin when before like the silly Child it could play with the fire of Sin till it had burned it self and brought griefs and wounds upon the Soul the Soul is so terrified at the sight of Sin that it flys from the very appearance of Evil 1 Thes 5.2 3ly It works a watchfulness in the Soul against all Sin for the future 2 Cor. 7.11 For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly Sorrow what carefulness it wrought in you The word signifies a careful Studiousness with great intensness of mind O how careful and watchful is the Soul now Magna animi intentio desiderium Phil. Mel. lest it be caught in the Devils Trap again it is very mindful of that duty Christ injoyned his disciples to be found in Mat. 13.33 Take ye heâ—d watch and pray vers 37. what I say unto you I say unto all Watch. The true repentant lays a charge and command upon every faculty of the Soul and every member of the Body to stand upon their particular guard because of the Enemys continual assaults 4ly Fixed resolusions and covenanting with God to keep his Law in violably as far forth as the Soul is assisted by the blessed spirit David saith I have sworn and I will perform it Ezra 9.4 5 6. to 15. that I will keep thy righteous judgments in the 9. Chap. of Ezra Ezra and the People were assembled together and they confessed and bewailed their sins and transgressions in the bitterness of their Souls and in the 10. Chap. They are covenanting with God vers 3. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God They were ready to covenant with God to put away all their abominations and to keep his righteous judgments The like we find in the 9. of Nehem. They had kept a sollemn Fast and the Levites confessed Gods goodness and their wickedness in departing from the Living God vers 38. And because of this we make a sure covenant and write it and our Princes Levites and Priests Seal unto it What effect this true Godly sorrow had upon them in general where it is right it hath the same upon every one in particular the Soul that hath smarted by Sin and sincerely lamented over it and repented for it O what resolves what ingagements what sollemn promises doth it make that it will not live in Sin but will walk in the paths of Gods commandments and keep his precepts to the end This is the resolved purpose I say of every individual person that hath evangelically repented of his transgressions 5ly Another effect is a constant Love to and sincere desires after holyness 2 Cor. 7.11 what vehement desire saith the Apostle hath this Godly sorrow wrought in you a desire after holyness after more grace the Soul pants after it because it loves it there is Sacra fames non auri sed sanctimoniae a greedy and a vehement appetite not after Gold but after Grace and Sanctity 2 Pet. 1.4 Heb. 12.14 Exod. 15.11 now it clearly perceives that holyness is a most excellent thing a beam of the Son of Righteousness a Ray of Glory the Finger-work of the divine Spirit the very Image of the Eternal being the nature and essence of the glorious Jehovah the meet quallification of those who expect a fruition of the beatificial vision Where this hath gotten possession there is peace exhaltation tryumphing in God and Christ therefore the Soul loves it with a permanent and fixed Love shee greatly Loves it and also the means that tend to the obtaining of so great and glorious a good The Soul Loves the Spirit because he is the efficient the word of God which is the instrument Psal 119.9 6thly and Lastly Peace of conscience by the application of the Blood of Jesus Christ now there is a sweet and pleasant calmness in the Soul when before there was nothing but continual preturbations one wave tossing and rolling upon the neck of another scil Trouble and vexation of Spirit Where Lusts domineer and corruptions prevail there
descendit Know thy self descended from Heaven 2. Of his misery for Man is in a most deplorable state and condition being lost and liable to eternal condemnation unless Christ deliver him from it and the greatest part of his misery consists in this that he is for the most part insensible of his sad condition for it is the first step to happiness and felicity to be made sensible of ones misery for this moves the Soul to look out for a remedy 3. He knows not his wants and indigences Man in his Sinful lapsed state is full of wants 1. He wants Pardon for his Sin for if Sin be not forgiven the Soul is undone if the guilt of Sin doth remain upon the Soul when it enters upon an Eternal State the Soul is lost for ever and must lye cursed in intolerable and inextinguishable Flames to all eternity Mat. 25.41 2. Grace and holyness for the Soul Jo. 3.3 Except a man be Born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holyness without which no man shall see the Lord. 3. A Mediator to interceed and procure these and all other Mercys for the Soul which Mediator is only the Lord Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 There is a Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Jo. 2.1 We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous Did the Sinner but understand his wants and necessities he would not much be intreated to come unto Christ That out of his fulness he might receive Grace for Grace Jo. 1.19 4ly The mind being darkened doth not discern the evil of Sin Chrysostom when threatned Exilement by Eudoxia the Empress answered I fear nothing but Sin He saw Sin to be the greatest and worst of Evils The Apostle Paul when he was divinely illuminated exclaimed and cryed out of the exceeding Sinfulness of Sin Rom. 7.13 which made him look upon himself as most miserable therefore he so pathetickly affectionately expresseth and bewaileth his state by reason of sin which remained although not regnant within him v. 24. O Wretched Man that I am not that I was as some vainly would pervert the Text who shall deliver me not the unconverted Sinner from this Body of Death This present state I am in now I have a Body of Death Sin cleaves close to me it is tyed to me as a Dead Corps therefore I am wretched now because of this Body of Death and not when I was a Persecuter a Blasphemer and Injurious Thus doth a person truely inlightened see the evil of Sin and lament over it so the Prophet Isa Chap. 6.5 then said I Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean Lips Here we see two eminent and holy Servants of the Lord bewailing their Sin the one a great Prophet called by Piscator Magnus Propheta the other a great Apostle but why because they perceived the evil that is in Sin and if Sinners did but know the evil of Sin they would cry out so too and thank God with the Apostle that there is a Christ to go unto Rom. 7.25 but because they see not the Evil Jo. 17.15 therefore they imbrace it and refuse Christ 5. Ignorant of the wrath of God revealed against obstinate Sinners this makes them regardless of Christ for did they but know with a sanctified knowledg what God hath threatned against them they would tremble and be astonished at the tremendious and terrible noise of those Thunder claps as the Children of Israel were when God descended upon Mount Sinai to deliver the Law unto them but because of this stupedity Sinners are secure without a Jesus not considering that The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodlyness and unrighteousness of men Ro. 1.18 To them who obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness such are all those who obey not Christ and his Gospel 2 Thes 1.8 Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of man that doth Evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rom. 2.8.9 Now I say did Sinners but rightly conceive of this wrath of God which he hath denounced against them they would soon hasten to tome to Christ Jesus for refuge and safety from it for it is he alone that can do it 1 Thes 1.10 Jesus who delivers from the Wrath to come But whilst they neglect coming unto Christ they are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath treasures of Wrath but who is able to indure the least grain of it may I so express my self in its extremity Rom. 2.5 for such as his power is such is his wrath it is terrible yet without passion infinite yet without mitigation intollerable without cessation and swift to consume the Sinner yet without any motion in God O the ineffable and inconceivable torments that will be the consequence of impenitency and final neglect of the Lord Jesus 6. Ignorant of that glory and blessedness they would partake of if they came unto the Lord Jesus they cannot discern that glory because their Eyes are blinded and their Faces turned away from God There is a vail of Ignorance over their Hearts which is taken away from believers who are come unto Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open Face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Lord. There is a blessedness and glory in this Life believers are partakers of and invested with They are blessed in Life Mat. 5. 2. to the 12. v. Blessed at death Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord. Blessed at the day of Judgment when the wicked are Cursed Mat. 28.34 Come ye blessed of my Father saith Christ Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World And they remain blessed for evermore 1 Thes 4.17 I cannot here number up all the blessedness of the Saints The glory is unconceivable 1 Cor. 2.9 It hath not entred into the Heart of man to conceive the things God hath prepared for them that love him 2 Cor. 14.17 A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Believers shall be glorious for ever Dan. 12.3 They shall shine as the Sun in the firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever Ignoti nulla Cupido And because the darkened Mind apprehends not this Glory blessedness therefore it slights coming unto Christ 7. The Carnal mind is ignorant of Christ as John Baptist said to the Jews There stands one amongst you whom you know not Jo. 1.26 So I may say to many who terme themselves Christians there is one who is dayly Preached among you yet ye know him not and it is evident by this you come not to him 1. They whose minds are darkened know not Christ essentially i. e. that he is very God and very Man as Rom. 9.15 God over all blessed for ever The man Christ Jesus Tim.
them unto Christ vers 37.39 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World so 1 Pet. 1.2 God hath elected and made choice of thee if thou art come to Christ Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee Gods Love was fixed from all Eternity and he manifests it in time unto the Soul in drawing it unto Christ Jo. 6.37 All that the Father hath given him shall come unto him God hath chosen them and given them to his Son therefore he draws them to him Sinners are not able to move hand nor foot Zyon-ward unless God draws them they cannot come unto Christ 2ly If thou art come unto Christ the holy Spirit hath been at work upon thy Soul 1. To illuminate and inlighten thy understanding 2. Convince thy Conscience 3. Incline thy will 4. Sanctify thy affections 5. Work grace in the inward Man 1. The Spirit doth inlighten the understanding By nature Man is darkness Eph. 5.8 Therefore he must be turned from darkness to light Act. 26.18 And this is done by the Spirit of God he opens the Sinners Eyes that he may know himself Know thy self descended from Heaven it is said concerning the Prodigal Luk. 15.17 When he came to himself then he thought of returning home to his Father not before so it must be with every Sinner he must come to himself to know what he is before he will come to Christ if thou art come to the Lord Jesus thou hast been made to see thy miserable and deplorable condition by nature that thou art a Child of wrath Eph. 2.3 subject and obnoctious to the wrath of God deservest nothing but wrath and it were justice in God to execute wrath upon thee even for thy natural pollution and defilement much more for that contracted filth and impurity in thy conversation that thou art lost and shalt perish for ever without a Redeemer a Jesus to save thee that thou art an enemy to God Rom. 5.10 and needest reconciliation with him through the Blood of Christ that thou art unregenerate and without regeneration no seeing the Kingdom of God Jo. 3.3 miserable all over nothing but Wounds and Bruises and Putrifying Sores miserable because in thy flesh Rom. 7.18 dwelleth no good thing Sin Raigning Satan Captivating at his will the World allureing and perswading and thou art without strength or ability to resist and overcome these and many more I might number up are the evils which in Puris naturalibus in thy Natural condition make it deplorable therefore the holy Spirit brings thee first to know thy self before thou comest unto Christ 2ly To know and understand the Scriptures is another effect of the Spirit upon the understanding of those who are come to and have closed with the Lord Jesus As it is said Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Therein all things concerning Christ are revealed Jo. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal Life i. e. the knowledge of eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Now the Spirit doth open the Eye of the understanding that it may in the glass of the Scriptures see those things clearly which are necessary to Salvation to wit repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Act. 20.21 it declares the mind and will of God fully and directs poor Sinners who are stung in the Wilderness to look up to the BrazenSerpent scil the Lord Jesus Jo. 3.14 it declares that there is Salvation in none other I do not here say Act. 4.12 that the Spirit teaches all to read the Scriptures who are adult and grown into a capacity of exercising their Reason for there are many who I am perswaded have closed with Christ Luther Tertullian and others were converted from Papism and Gentilism by being brought to understand the Scriptures that could not read the Scriptures but this I assert that the understanding is inlightened by the Spirit to discern the things of God and Christ when preached or read to them out of the holy Scriptures for without a right understanding of the Scriptures there can be no apprehending the right way of Salvation All the Phylosophers of old with all their profound Learning Arts Sciences did not know Christ so consequently they were ignorant of the way of Salvation because Christ is the only way 3ly Thou art brought to understand and know thy duty in a great measure thy duty towards God thy duty towards thy Neighbour and thy duty towards thy self 1. Towards God that thou oughtest to Love him for himself to Love him as thy Creator and as a bountiful Benefactor to thee to Love him primarily superlatively and above all as the Text saith Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength Deut. 6.5 To love him fervently and permanently if thou art not come to Christ besure there is none of this sincere love in thee for as God loves not the Sinner but as chosen in Christ Eph. 1.4 so the Sinner can never love God as he ought but in and through Christ and as God sees no lovelyness in the Sinner considered out of Christ so the Sinner perceives no amiableneness in God but in the Face of Jesus Christ for God is a consuming fire to Sinners if they be seperate from Christ so that I say Heb. 12. ult thou art taught to love God as an infinite good 2. To fear him not with a Bondage Slavish fear Rom. 8.15 but with a Filial and Holy fear such a fear as becometh Gods Children a reverential fear a fearing to displease him such a fear Christ Jesus had in his humiliation state Heb. 5.7.8 and such a fear have all his members who are come unto him and are implanted in him 3. Taught to serve him before thou wast the Servant of Sin and Satan but now the Servant of the living God Rom. 6. now thou desirest and indeavourest to obey him constantly as to the time fervently faithfully as to the manner and universally as to the Practice of them in all holy dutys as it was said of Zachary and Elizabeth They walked in all the Commandments of God Luk. 1.6 So it is thy care and Study to obey him in all things he requires from thee 4. Thou art taught to glorify God as being the chief end of thy Creation For he hath made all things for himself Psal 16.4 Thou indeavourest to glorify thy Soul and Body which are his according to that command 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorify God in your Bodys and in your Spirits which are Gods Thus Christ Jesus did as he saith Jo. 17.4 I have glorified thee on Earth so he saith of his Disciples Jo 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bare much Fruit so
then come unto Christ as labouring under the intollerable Burthen of sin for sin is a heavy burthen although multitudes in the world count it light as may be seen by their chearful countenances merry hearts jovial lives and running and drawing under this burthen into Eternity being very little concerned for the weight of it Holy David was sensible of the ponderosity of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onus grave when he cried out Psal 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over my head as agrievous they are too heavy for me The pressure of sin lay so hard upon poor David that it made his back bend his heart pant his tongue roar and his groanings to multiply as may be seen in that 38. Psal at large So Psal 40.12 Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine Iniquities have taken hold of me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart forsaketh me He was so bowed down under this burthen that he could not elevate himself nay it made his very heart forsake him when he considered the gravity and innumerable number of them but what did David do in this case why he goes to God through Christ for ease from this great and heavy burthen Psal 25.11 For thy Name sake O Lord pardon mine Iniquity for it is great great both for weight and number therefore for thy Names sake magnify thy grace and what was the Issue see Psal 32.5 I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin He went with this Burthen to the Lord and found Mercy and Pardon from him so must thou do Go to Christ under the sense of the weightiness of your sins and beg him according to his promise to ease thee of thy burthen which otherwise will sink thee down into eternal misery for it weighed Angels out of Glory and now confines them under Chains of darkness therefore come unto Christ for he will not refuse thee because of the greatness of thy burthen but rather imbrace thee for the Exaltation of his free grace 3ly Come labouring under a deep sense of the immense and intollerable weight of the wrath of God for who can endure if he be inraged or what can stand and oppose if God be the Antagonist Job 9.34 by nature we are all under this burthen Eph. 2.3 And were by Nature Children of wrath even as others i. e. by nature we are subject and liable to Divine vengeance because the imputation of the guilt of Adams transgression abides upon us and the corruption of Nature is derived unto us The extream weightiness of this wrath makes damned Angels and wicked Spirits roar lament and gnash their teeth It is more tollerable * Poets Fiction Atlas-like to bear the Heavens upon our shoulders or to lye under Rocks Mountains thousands of years then to abide under this wrath but a day nay an hour nay a minute for it burns yet never utterly consumes it presseth heavy without mitigation now there is no releasement from the obnoxiousness to this wrath but from a deep sense of the grievousness of it by applying our selves speedily to the Lord Jesus for it is he alone that can deliver from the wrath that is to come 1 Thes 1.10 come unto Christ with a sense of it upon thy heart whilst thou art here that thou maist not see the intollerableness of it hereafter 4ly Come to Christ as labouring under and being heavy laden with the curse of the Law and the Empire of death I mean by the Empire of death not only our obnoxiousness to the stroke of death upon our bodys but the sting of death and the eternity of it in regard of our Souls Death has raigned by reason of sin Rom. 5. over the bodys of all two or three excepted and over the Souls of most even from Adam to Moses and from Moses untill Christ and from Christ even to our days Death is a universal Monarch his Empire is from East to West and from North to South There is no escaping his fatal blow Only believers then take their flight from a dead Corps to Christ who is their life from a muddy Tabernacle to a glorious city Rev. 21.22.23 Col. 3.3 Heb. 12.28 Rom. 2.15 from a tottering Cottage to a firm Kingdom from a dark and mortal state to a splendent and immortal glory for although the body dyes yet the life of the Soul is secure as Being hid with Christ in God Col. 3.4 Believers can never dye take it in a Spiritual sence so long as God and Christ live but yet I say the way to be freed from the eternal Bondage of this deadly Monarch is to come unto Christ for Ease from this burthen also Moreover the burden of the curse of the Law must be taken away or else the former Emperor will keep his dominion Gal. 3.10 As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them But seeing we have not continued in all things to do them and therefore are under the curse what must we do now but go unto Christ who was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Now the Judge when he gives forth pardon to the Malefactor expects that he should be sensible of the greatness of his guilt and also of his desert the sentence of Condemnation having passed upon him so Christ expects a sensible owning the Curse and Misery we are under that his grace may be magnified in our relief succour and Salvation 5thly Come unto Christ as labouring under the cruel tyrany of Satan for Satan is the Prince of the Powers of the Air Magnitudo mali in quatuor consistit quae sunt peccati gravita quae Dei immensum intollerabile pondus Mortis imperium Tyrannis Diaboli quae tollere abolere placare vincere nemo potuit nisi Deus Bucan and he rules in and over the children of disobedience and there is none that can deliver from this tyranny but Christ for as one reasoning why it behoved Christ the Redeemer to be God said it was for two causes 1. Ob magnitudinem mali For the greatness of the Evil by which mankind was pressed down 2. Ob magnitudinem Boni For the magnitude of the good which could be restored by no man nor Angel unto mankind but only by him who is God now the greatness of the Evil which Christ underwent and in fine overcame consisted in bareing the weight of Sin the intollerable burden of Gods wrath and in conquering Death and the tiranny of Satan which none could or was able to do but he that was God-man by his own mighty Power so that seeing Christ hath done these things for all those that