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A40520
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Sermons concerning grace and temptations by ... Thomas Froysel.
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Froysell, Thomas, d. ca. 1672.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing F2251; ESTC R1406
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217,249
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284
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is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
making the foolish wise and Jesus Christ saw a great deal of beauty in it when he said I thank thee oh Father that thou hast hid Mar. 11. 25. these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes What Beauty may we read in this work The wondrous skill and power of God appears in it you count him a rare School-master that can make Idiots and Fools Scholars How do you admire his Art in Teaching This sets out the Lords skill and speaks him admirable When the scribes and pharisees saw the boldness of Peter and John and Acts 4. 13. perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marvelled and they took knowledg of them that they had been with Jesus Is it not a rare sight to see a child speak sentences and pose an aged man with Wisdom Thus when Christ was but a child twelve years old and posed the Doctors in the Temple The Text saith They were astonisht at it Vse 10. Oh! awake your selves then feed not your selves with idle dreams of an universal grace as if ye could not miss of Heaven Is it not time to awake when salvation like a Rose grows not in every ones garden When the Beams of grace shine not in at every ones Window when there are so many professors and so few saints When the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven treads not over every mans threshold but only goes into that heart where God sends them There were two Thieves crucified with Christ on the Cross the one is taken the other left Two Sons in Rebeccha's Womb Jacob and Esau the one is taken and the other left There were ten Virgins five of them taken and five left Ah Lord how narrow is thy number Whilst the Minister is Preaching the spirit like an Archer shoots the arrow of Conversion into such an one's heart and hits him and passeth by many an one he shoots his Arrow by so many and hits one or two Oh how should this awake you Lord hit my heart Lord make me thy mark do not miss my soul but hit Lord I am an unclean wretch make my black heart thy white to shoot at Lord I am a drunkard level thine Arrow of grace at my heart shoot stedy Lord take thine aim and shoot thy Darts through my deadly lusts Lord I am an unbeliever I cannot believe the promise take such a word of pardon and dart it into my soul that I may believe Lord I have heard many Sermons and thou hast not hit me yet I have sate under the showres of grace a long time and every drop hath yet fallen besides me thine Arrows have fled about mine ears and not one yet stuck in my sides Content not your selves then in that ye live under the means of grace Object But is not this an hindrance to our conversion a great block in our way in that God gives grace to some not to all In that many are called but few are chosen Answ No none at all nay it is a huge furtherance to grace and conversion in that it is the gift of God I think grace may sooner be had in that it is in Gods hand to give than if it were in our power to get Who would doubt of having grace from such an hand I say from such an hand who hath such a large and bounteous heart And therefore if you ask should we not be more certain if our salvation did depend on none but our selves I answer no For we ought to be much more distrustful of our selves than of God who loves us more than we love our selves And in a doubtful and difficult case 't is better to commit our selves to the mercy and goodness of God than to our own power And therefore I would demand of thee Canst thou ask for grace Who ever went without grace but 't was his own fault he had it not because he would not seek it he went without it because he did not care for it Object But in that grace is the gift of God and not in the dispose of man Is it not enough to take men off from duty and endeavour and make them secure and negligent of their salvation No such matter For seeing on the one side we cannot say Grace shall be denied us and on the other side we are bound to Co-operate with grace and work out our salvation we ought therefore so to act Ac si Gratia semper adesset as if grace were always present and yet so as if the whole business lay in us We should walk between sloth and pride God is to be sought and prayed to as if the whole did depend upon him and we must so act as if the whole did depend upon us We see this in Scripture Work out your salvation with fear and trembling as if the whole lay upon us For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do as if the whole lay upon him God told Joshuah and the Israelites by express Revelation that he would fight for them against the Nations and give them victory and yet they did act themselves and pursue their business as if the whole success were in their power Election is not to be look'd on but in Christ nor Reprobation Mr. Bradford but in Sin seek to be delivered from sin and fear not Reprobation But if thou wilt not thou shalt find no excuse in the last day 2. Thou makes a wrong use of this sort of Doctrine in Scripture Many are called but few are chosen to you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to them it is not given For this is set down in Scripture not to feed thee with infidelity but to terrifie thee from the fame to stir thee up to believe not to hinder but to put thee on to believe to make thee more careful to believe 3. As the command of believing reacheth to you so doth the promise The promise belongs to you all though not the benefit of the promise but only to so many as do believe I say the promise belongs to you all To clear this 1. See Heb. 4. 1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being Heb. 4. 1. left unto us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it through unbelief Mark the words there is a promise left unto us so doubt not but the promise belongs to thee only beware thou come not short of it through unbelief Thou fearest that the promise belongs not to thee but the Apostle bids thee fear lest a promise being left thee or belonging to thee thou come short of it through unbelief 'T is clear That the promise is to those who come short of it 2. So Acts 2. 39 Repent and believe for the promise is to Acts 2. 39. you and to your seed and to all that are afar of even as many as the Lord our God shall call Mark here the promise