thankfull was he how was he affected how would a man be affected in such a case So I say that is our condition we have cause to looke for nothing but death thereupon comes the Gospell that comes and offers life that overcomes with kindnesse as it were the Lord comes and tels us Well notwithstanding all this you shall be received to mercy goe Take this is my body which is given for you I say this would move an ingenious disposition You know Mary Magdalen was moved with this when she was such a sinner and saw that God had received her in that manner that melted her heart so that she watred his feet with her teares So should we be affected if we did seriously consider the greatnesse of CHRISTS love I will give you my body and my bloud this is a great thing if we were able to consider it aright that the Lord should give us his body and his bloud There is no love like this Hee hath loved me saith Paul and hath given himselfe for mee And this is that indeed which should bee the most effectuall motive of all others that there is a pardon that Christ still makes offer of to you indeed there is nothing else brings us into Christ but this other things may prepare us but nothing brings us in but this You know a Pirate as long as a proclamation of rebellion is out against him will not come in but a pardon being promised and advancement annexed to it that if any thing will bring him in The theefe runnes away as long as he is pursued with Hue and Crie but the promise of pardon makes him returne back So I say it is not the Law that brings you in that may prepare you but it is this Gospell for as I told you the Sacrament preacheth the Gospell to the eye as we doe to the eare and when mercy is promised when a pardon is promised a generall pardon without exception of persons or sinnes my thinkes this should affect you and bring you in As it is said Ier. 3. Saith the Lord If one of you have put away his wife will he returne to her againe No but you have played the harlot in many places and many times and yet returne to me saith the Lord And so I may say to every man that hears me though thy sins be never so great like that sin of Idolatry like that sin of playing the Harlot though that were frequently committed though it were done oft many times yet returne saith the Lord if thou wilt come in thou shalt be pardoned and not so only but whosoever receiveth me saith Christ shall be made the sonne of God Consider this be affected with it let it not be in vaine unto you when you heare those patheticall speeches 1 Iohn He came to his owne and his owne received him not And againe Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thee c. I say when you heare these things it may be you thinke with your selves these were rebellious people to use Christ thus you thinke if it had beene the case if you had beene there among them you would not have done it Well I say it is the case of every man that continues in any knowne sin Christ offers himselfe we make offer of him when we preach the Gospell in the Sacrament he is offered he is made like a common dole all may come that will and certainly all that hunger doe come but when thou goest on still in thy sinnes thou art one of them to whom Christ is come and thou wilt not receive him thou art one of them whom he would gather and thou wilt not No but thou wilt goe on thou takest the Grace of GOD in vaine thou tramplest the bloud of CHRIST IESUS under-foot as a common thing thou doest what thou canst that the death of CHRIST should be of no effect thou recompencest to the Lord evill for good doest thou thinke that the LORD will beare this at thy hands No surely he will be revenged on such a man on such a people as this But you will say it is an hard thing to doe this that you exhort us to And therefore that I may not onely shew you what the duty is without affording you some helpe to doe it we will adde some things that may invite you to come in And take Christ thus offered in the Sacrament and which is continually offered by and in the Gospell And what is it that should invite you But two things to goe no furâ—her one is the misery out of Christ the second is the happinesse you shall have by him And that is the businesse we have principally to doe at this time that we might invite you to take the body and bloud of Christ that is to take the Lord himselfe who is offered effectually and freely to you He makes proclamation to all that will come and take of the waters of life freely Now if we consider what should invite the sons of men to come in these two things will doe it their misery out of Christ and their happinesse by him As the Prodigall what did invite him to come home The misery he was in he saw he could not live he could not get huskes to sustaine him On the otherside in his fathers house there was bread enough those two together wrought on him and brought him home So we when we invite men to the marâ—iage of â—he Kings Sonne that is to marry the Sonne himselfe What should we say to invite them We bring them to consider on the one side I cannot live without Christ I am undone I perish if I doe Againe on the otherside by matching with him I shall have all by Grace that he hath by Nature I shall be a son of God a King and heire of all things I shall have all that Christ hath I say these two should invite us to come in and therefore we will doe these two First shew you the misery you are in out of Christ Iohn 3.18 saith the Evangelist there He that beleeves not in Christ is condemned alreadie Marke he needs not a new condemnation but he that beleeves not in Christ is condemned already He that hath not the Sonne hath not life Is not this misery enough to be in a state of condemnation Iohn 5. Hee that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him And what is that wrath of God If the wrath of a King be a messenger of Death what think you of the wrath of God Who knowes the power of his wrath Rom. 9. What if he will to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne suffer with patience the vessels of wrath appointed to destruction that is when the Lord shall come to execute his wrath on evill men he will use all the power he hath to execute the fiercenesse of his wrath on them And therefore it is a terrible thing to be subject to the wrath of God But
the worke is so farre accepted as it hath an operation on our hearts and affections It is so in every duty as in Prayer when you call on God in private doth God regard the words of a prayer No but ' its working on your hearts ' it s humbling of them ' it s bringing of them into frame and making them perfect with God every day by a thorow renewing of your repentance and this is the doing of the thing Amongst your selves if a servant doth onely make a show of doing a thing it is not regarded but hee that brings the thing to passe is accepted of you and that is it which the Lord requires and accepts in our performances Now we shall see that this Text will helpe us to all that is required in a Fast as will appeare in the particulars Phineas the sonne of Eleazar c. In the former part of the Chapter the disease is set downe and that is Sinne which is indeed the onely disease of the soule illustrated from two consequents First from the wrath of God who as the Text saith was very angry with Israel for they had committed whoredome and joyned with Baal-Peor That was the disease the sin for which they had brought on them Gods wrath And secondly from an effect of that wrath the Plague God struck them with pestilence that is the punishment In this verse is set downe the remedy and that is the turning away of Gods wrath For as the Physitian sayes Morbi curantur contrarijs so it is true in Divinity as the wrath of God was the cause of the Plague so the turning away thereof is the remedy This turning away of his wrath is set forth by the cause of its turning away and that was the zeale of Phineas while hee was zealous for my sake and that is made good by two reasons One is in the latter end of my Text therefore have I not consumed them in my jealousie As if hee had said If Phineas had not beene zealous my jealouâ— should have burned more and more and the jealousie of that should have beene utter destruction The second is Gods owne Testimony set downe before my Text. The Lord himselfe said unto Moses that his wrath was turned away I will say no more for opening the words but in them you shall see these five points lye evidently before you First in that the removall of the Plague is attributed to God and to the turning away of his anger this is clearely deduced That it is God only that doth good and evill for you see his anger brought the Plague on them and the turning away of his anger healed them againe Secondly it is sin that causes Gods anger anger in God hath alway relation to sinne for sinne is the cause of it Thirdly the way to turne away the Lords anger is zeale for his sake Fourthly if there be want of this zeale among us his jealousie shall grow hotter and hotter it shall encrease upon us more and more Fifthly and lastly the issue of this jealousie of his will be utter destruction Wee will begin with the first which is That it is God onely that doth good and evill to every Nation to every Church and Kingdome yea to every particular person As you see here it was not the corruption of the Aire that brought the Plague nor the clearing of it with fâ—ost and wind that turned it away but the cloud of the Lords wrath shed this storme on them and when he was appeased with them there followed health and peace The Lord wounds and the Lord heales For what is the Plague but a sword in the hand of an Angell who drawes it out and puts it into its sheath againe at his Masters appointment And is not there the same reason of all other evils Warre you know is a terrible thing when Enemies come as Bees on a Land but doth not the Lord hisse for them And againe they are driven away as with a breath at his appointment Famine is a leane devouring evill which causes the Land to eate up the inhabitants thereof but is not the Lord the onely cause of it Doth not he make the Heaven as Brasse and the Earth as Iron Doth not he when he will open the windowes of Heaven and unstop the bottels of the clouds and powre outraine unseasonably And is not hee the cause of death which is the journeys end of both the former To which every one of us is subject yet wee consider it not Though we see men fall from the Tree of Life every moment yet wee regard it not This the Lord takes onely to himselfe Psal. 68.20 To the Lord belong the issues from death and therefore let us give to the Lord this great Prerogative of his That he onely doth good and evill and let no man question it You will say who doth question it It is very true we doe not question it in words but if we question it in our deeds it is an argument that our hearts make a doubt of it though our tongues doe not question it Therefore let us examine the matter If wee thinke the Lord onely doth good and evill why then will not we obey him and serve him and please him in all things But provoke him to anger by our words and by our workes as the Prophet speakes Perhaps you will say to me as Saul answered Samuel when he came from the warre of the Amalekites Oh thou blessed of the Lord I have fully kept the Commandement of the Lord but saith Samuel If thou hast done so What meanes the bleating of the Sheepe and the lowing of the Oxen So I say to you if you obey the Lord what meanes so many sinnes amongst us What meanes Fornication and Whoredome which is so frequent What meane those Oathes amongst us for which the Land mournes Not onely greater oathes but smaller oathes which exceed the greater for frequency though the greater exceed them in that they take the Name of God in vaine Againe what meanes the breaches of the Sabbath Of which I will speake a word by the way and that you may know that I doe not blame you for that as a sinne which is no sinne I will make this digression Doe you not think that Sabbaths are to be kept and to be kept holy I will name but two reasons to make it good you shall finde them in Esay 57.30 It is My Holy Day First it is a Holy Day and if it be holy you may doe nothing thereon that is common A Vessell that is sanctified and made holy may not bee imployed to take up common water or used in common services for it is holy So the time of the Sabbath is holy therefore you must not spend it about common actions for if you doe you prophane that which is holy Seeondly it is My Day and if it be My Day rob mee
not of it every houre of that day that you spend in common speeches and actions you rob the Lord of that houre for all the day is his And doe not thinke that men were tied to this observance onely under the Old Testament but know that it continues still for doe but consider with your selves if the Lord should have left it meerely in the power of the Church to appoint a Sabbath day it might have been brought from a week to a moneth and from a moneth to a yeare and so if of meeting together had bin no necessity put upon us by God himseâ—fe where would religion have bin And do you think God would not have provided for his Church better than so Besides why should it be questioned when it is transmitted to us from the most ancient times Iustin Martyr sayes that on the day which we call Sunday the Christians met together to worship God and the people came out of the Countrey for that end and it was a Solemne day Tertullian in his Apologie saith as much and therefore because they spent that day in worshiping God all the Heathen called it Sunday And in all ancient times it was never controverted never called into question Againe doe we not need such a day Therefore the Lord saith Sabbath was made for man as if hee had said I could have spared the Sabbath It is not for my owne sake and for my worship sake but for mans sake that is lest he should forget God and bee a stranger to him which would redound to our own hurt And therefore shall not wee be willing to keepe it when it was for our owne sakes that the Lord appointed it What gainers might wee be in grace and holinesse if wee would sanctifie every Sabbath as we should Should we be losers by it but this is a digression and I speake it by the way But marke it I say if you keepe the Commandements of God What meanes this bleating of the sheepe These acts of disobedience on his owne Day We will goe on in the examination If indeed we thinke that it is the Lord that doth good and evill why are we so inobservant and negligent of him why do we reckon it a wearinesse to serve him why turne wee Religion into formalitie posting over holy duties in a carelesse and negligent maner when we should be carefull and fervent in the same Why is there so little growth in religion so much barrennesse in good workes the price whereof is more than gold and silver In a word Why doe we turne the maine into the by and the by into the maine That is why goe we about all other businesse as our maine and chiefe scope and take in holy duties by the way more to stop the mouth of naturall Conscience as carnall men may doe than for any delight weâ— have in them If we thinke God to be the Author of good and evill why are these things so Every man is ready to professe his faith in the Truth hereof but if wee did beleeve it wee should be more carefull to please the LORD in all things Againe if we thinke that God only doth good and evill why have not wee our eyes on him altogether why doe wee not feare him and nothing els trust in him and in nothing besides depend on him and upon no other In all our calamities and dangers why doe not wee seeke to him as to one that onely can helpe us and heale us You will say we doe depend on God wee trust in God and none but him It is very well if you doe but consider that to trust in God is to part with all for his sake and to have an eye only unto the recompence of reward to be willing to deny our selves in our profits and credits and pleasures to be content to have him alone Thus Saint Paul expresses it 2 Tim. 1.13 Therefore saith he have we suffered these things for we know whom wee have trusted As if he had said we have parted with all we are content to be led from prison to prison we are content with God alone for wee know the power and faithfulnesse of him whom we have trusted Againe to trust in God is then to rest on him when the case is such marke it that if we faile we are undone then to build on him as a sure rocke that is the nature of true holinesse and exact walking when God puts us into an exigent removes from us friends takes away worldly helpes yet in this case to trust him Thus Hester trusted God when she undertooke that dangerous enterprize If I perish I perish when if the Lord had failed her shee had lost her life So Daniel trusted God when he would put himselfe upon him being in such danger for the open profession of his Religion which by death they would have forced him to deny Thus Asa trusted God when hee went with a small number against a great multitude the Text saith of him That he trusted in God Now doe we thus trust him Surely we doe not but when faith and sense come into competition when they meet together on a narrow bridge we are readie to byas our conscience the wrong way to goe aside and decline the blow that is we are ready in such a case though with breach of a good conscience so to trust in God that withall we will keepe a sure foot on some outward probable sensible meanes that if God failes us yet wee may know what to trust to The truth is we doe not leane to the Lord. For what â—â— it to leane to him You know a man is then â—â—id to leane when hee stands not on his ownâ—â—eet but so rests the buâ—ke of his body on a raâ—â—e or staffe or the like that if it faile him he fals downe To rest on God in this manner is to leane to him and did wee thinke that hee had all power to doe good and hurt to the Creature we should thus trust in him but in that we doe it so little and so seldome it it an argument that whatsoever wee professe we doe not indeed beleeve it Last of all to make an end of this examination if we think indeed that the Lord only is able to doe good and evill why do we not that which is a necessary consequent thâ—râ—of which you shall finde in Gen. 17.1 it is Gods speech to Abraham I am God all-sufficient therefore walke before mee and bee perfect Marke that when any man thinkes God to be Al-sufficient that he hath all power in his hands that he is Almighty for so the word signifies that which will necessarily follow on this beliefe is this he will be perfect with the Lord. You will say I hope we are perfect with God But if we be why are our actions so dissonant why doe wee serve God so by halfes and by fits why are we
because that moves not so much being generall you will aske wherein this wrath of GOD is seene and wherein more particularly is this misery in being out of Christ I will name but these three particulars First you shall be subject to Death subject to Him that hath the power of Death You will say this is no such misery for are not holy men subject to death as well as evil men I but there is great difference the evill shall be subject to death as an enemie the last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death which shewes that Death is an enemie I say they are subject to Death as an enemie Death may come to two men and be a friend to the one and an enemie to the other that which he saith Death is the rich mans enemie and the poore mans friend we may better apply it to the godly man and to the evill man And surely it is true Death is the Godly mans friend and the wicked mans enemy the same Death as you know the same messenger comes to call Pharaohs Butler and his Baker he came as an enemie to the one and as a friend to the other he came to call the one to promotion and the other to execution so doth Death Now Death when that comes as an enemie is terrible when that comes with a sting Death indeed without a sting is nothing but Death when it comes with a sting and the sting of Death is sinne this we consider not that Death hath a sting it is a Serpent that often stings without hissing without warning it comes suddenly it comes certainly we see continually how men fall from the tree of life as leaves in Autumne we consider not this but this is among the miseries that we are subject to death and this is a great misery Those that can looke upon other miseries and dangers and out-face them without being daunted when Death comes that appales them that looses the joints that makes them tremble that makes their knees knocke together You know it is said of Saul David professeth that he was valiant as a Lion in his Songs of him when the newes of Death comes he fals to the ground there was no strength in him All are petty miseries to this this is the great Giant that makes the stoutest heart to tremble at his approach But is this all that we are subject to death when we are out of Christ No we are subject to the feare of death likewise which is an hundred times worse that death it selfe Heb. 2.14 He hath delivered us from him that had the power of death he hath delivered us that for feare of death were all our lives subject to bondage I say the feare of death is worse than death it selfe because death continues but a moment it is soone gone but the feare of death continues alwayes a long time like the hand-writing which kept Belshazzer in feare so this feare of death keepes us in a continuall trembling this is that that imbitters all our comforts that sowres all our joy this feare of death they were all their life-time subject to bondage through the feare of death Therefore it is not said that death is bitter to him that lives in pleasure but the remembrance of death all the joyes and comforts that we have in this life what are they when they are accompanied with this I say ther is nothing terrible but so farre as it is mingled with this feare All evill and dangers are so farre terrible as they are harbengers of death as they are crackes to give warning of the fall of the whole house that shall never be repaired againe Whatsoever pleasure we enjoy this is the gall that takes away the sweetnesse of all though the pottage were otherwise good when the Colloquintida was in them there is death in the pot so I may say when death is joyned what sweetnesse is in them That is the condition of every man living out of Christ he is not only subject to death but to the feare of death continually But is this all No there is yet more there is Hell Death hath a Page that comes behinde him that is ten times worse than himselfe Rev. 6.7 8. I looked saw a pale horse and the name of him that rode on him was Death and behinde him followed Hell That is Hell is the hooke that is hid in Death when we are once taken with that hooke we are kept there for ever If Death should come without Hell it were another matter Death is but the lightning it is Hell that is the crack of thunder and shall we like children be afraid of the lightning and not be afraid of the bolt It is hell that is the gate that keeps us for ever Death is but the arrest that carries us thither Therefore consider what it is to be subject to Hell as our Saviour saith What will that availe a man to win the whole world and lose his soule Consider well of that speech What will that availe you to save all things else if you lose your soules as if a man should save the paring of his nailes and lose his finger as if he should save his shooe and lose his foot as if he should save the ship and lose the fraught as if he should save the house and destroy the man that dwels in it so it is to save other things and to lose the soule No it is the terrible thing Hell that followes Death In all other miseries yet this is our comfort that Death will come in the end and put a full point and period to them but this second death Hell is such a death as hath no other death to end it Therefore as wee say But for hope the heart would breake surely there is no hope and therefore there is a breaking of the soule aswell as torment of the body Therefore consider what Hell is what eternity is this is the misery we are in out of Christ you are subject to the feare of death you are subject to Death and to Hell too Death is but the Stalking-horse it is Hell that is the Fowler that hath the peece and the shot to destroy us utterly And therefore consider what case you are in out of Christ what misery you are in out of him that when Hell and Death come as she said Vp Sampson for the Philistims are on thee so when we shall say Hell and Death is on you and your haires are cut off that is Christ is gone from you for the cutting off his lockes was but an embleme that God was departed from him I say when they are on us If Christ be away what a case are we in Shall they not take us and carry us to that prison there to lye for ever Therefore consider this it is certaine the destroying Angell will come and commonly he comes in the night Death commeth when thou least lookest for him as a theefe I say the destroying Angell
condition he is in so when the Law comes it humbles a man making him to draw in his Thoughts and to see his misery and when he is wounded with the sense of his sins and with the wrath of God then and not till then the feet of them that bring glad Tidings of salvation are beautifull Likewise Humiliation is necessary for this cause because except men be throughly humbled they will never take the Kingdome of heaven by violence and they must take it so else they shall never have it now by the Kingdom of heaven is meant the Gospell you know it is called the Gospell of the Kingdome that is righteousnesse and grace therein revealed and offered In Matth. 11. and Luke 16.16 you shall find that from the time of Iohn the Baptist The kingdome of heaven suffered violence and the violence take it by force The meaning is this saith Christ to them we preach the Gospell so did Iohn with him it began to be preached but deceive not your selves many thinke they take the kingdome of heaven but you must know there be two kinds of taking some are content to be saved and to doe many things as Herod did and as the second and third ground did but this is a false taking and deceive not your selves thereby There is another kinde of taking when a man takes this kingdome violently and indeed none shall have it but after this manner Now what is it to take it violently When a man takes a thing violently he doth it with all his might he puts all his strength to it he doth it not coldly and slightly and overly but with all his might So the meaning is this The kingdom of heaven is as if one were to come within a narrow doore which cannot be without difficulty when hee puts to all his violence and strength to doe it According to the phrase in Luke Since the time of Iohn the Baptist they presse into the kingdome of heaven that is with violence as if God seemes to hold the kingdome of heaven in his hand that unlesse you pull it and extort it from him as it were you shall never have it Now will any man doe thus till he be humbled It is impossible he should When a man is brought into feare of his life and is like to die the feare of losse of naturall life wil make him worke any thing with violence much more then when a man sees eternall death that he shal die for ever will he take the kingdome of heaven with violence that is he will not performe duties in a slight manner as if God were beholden to him not with that laxity in his judgement of the truth as he conceives nor with that coldnesse in the duty Those that will be saved must take Salvation by force which a man will never doe till he be humbled There is much profession and many kinds of taking Christ in the world but the right taking is when a man wil be at this cost to part with all to deny himselfe perfectly and every way and take up his crosse and every crosse when his lusts are throughly mortified and this cannot be till hee be humbled For marke nothing mortifies but joy and love that doth properly and immediately mortifie for no man will part with his lusts till he finde Christ sweeter than they till then he will never part with them in good earnest now Christ will never be sweet till we have found the bitternesse of sin till God hath so prest it on their consciences that they feele the weight and burden of it And so much for the reasons of it Now the vse of this is double First is this so necessary Then labour to see your selfe humbled if ever you looke to be saved and justified for though God offers Salvation to all as it is true none is excepted yet he lookes to none with a gracious eye to save him indeed but him that is poore and contrite in heart and trembles at his Word And good reason for none else will looke after him the poore receive the Gospell and none else When we preach the Gospell it is like Cyrus his Proclamation it was a generall proclamation that all that would might go out of captivity and build the Temple but saith the Text onely they went whose heart the Lord stirred up to goe other would noâ— goe So when we preach we offer Salvation to all men that is our Commission Marke 16. Goe and preach to all Nations that is offer Grace and Salvation to all men but when it comes to the point that men must goe out of their captivitie and build a Temple to God they will not doe it they will rather live in captivity still because they be not humble To goe out of their sins wherein they have been captivated a great while and to build a Temple to Christ that is to make their hearts fit Temples for Christ to purge themselves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit to labour to walke in his feare to leave all even the beloved sinnes and to delight in the Lord in the Inner man they will not what is the reason they are not yet humbled and therefore they cannot be saved The Iubile among the Iewes may be a very fit resemblance hereof and for ought I know may be so intended to resemble the glorious Liberty in the times of the Gospell Now the Iubile was this All servants should then goe free but if any would not as of them there were many then he was to be bored in the eare and to be a perpetuall servant So when we preach the Gospell this is the great Iubile every man may be free the Son comes to that end and it is the end of the Truth to make men free The Son comes to deliver every man out of the Gaole if he will but men will not be at liberty they will be servants still because they were never humbled they never felt the heavinesse of Satans yoke they were never wearied with sinne for if they were so this would be acceptable newes but it is not so Now marke this by the way if a servant would not go free he should not afterwards be at libertie to goe and stay when hee list but his eare shall be bored and he should be a perpetual servant So if you deferre this when you heare the Gospell preached and thinke I will not alway live in this condition I will repent and come out of it know that is not enough God will not wait thy leasure if thou wilt not come out take heed lest God bore thee in the eare that is never give thee an heart to come out Doe not say If it be so necessary I will doe it hereafter take heed that thy opportunities be not wholly taken from thee and know that Christ came into the world not only to take away sinne for that was but a part of it But what was his businesse he came like
than stockes and stones Now the scope of all this being to bring us to Christ. I will run over a few things which may from hence be observed I say There is a revelation of wrath from heaven against all unrighteousnesse Wherein marke two things First the certainety of this wrath It shall come on all that are unrighteous And secondly what this wrath is I will but briefly name the heads and dispatch the point First I say there is a certainty in it for God hath revealed it from heaven Rom. 2.15 They had Thoughts accusing and excusing them the light of Nature told them that they deserved wrath Iudgement strucke them with feare Secondly It appears by experience there bee many steppes many prints and Vestigia of the wrath of GOD in the world continually Lastly by the Scriptures Cursed bee every one that continues not in the whole Law to doe it And as the Law so the Gospell reveales it CHRIST shall come to judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospell Nay it is an old Truth delivered before the Scriptures As in Iudes Epistle Enoch preached Behold the Lord shall come with ten thousands of Angels c. And if this will not perswade wee will reason with you a little for it is not needlesse to strengthen these common truths with reason because we are not convinced of them enough which is the cause men live without God in the world Therefore consider if there be a God he is not a negligent an idle or unactive God for should hee be such a God hee must either be dead or asleepe But God is a living God and if so then the administration of the things of this world is in his hands now in that the maine businesse is to punish and restraine them that bee evill and to reward them that bee good Againe if there be a God he will be feared and worshipped by men but if hee would not punish men for sinne if his wrath could not bee kindled against them for their provocations of him he should doe neither good nor hurt and it is naturall to men to condemne that that can neither hurt nor profit them and so hee should not be feared Againe if there be any God hee must needs be delighted in goodnesse he must needs have a certaine inclination to that which is holy and right and if so then he must needs hate that that is evill If he love light he must needs hate darknesse if he loves life he must needs hate death and indeed love of goodnesse proceeds from hatred of evill and hatred of evill arises from love of goodnesse and if it be so why should not hatred be active as well as love Therefore it is certaine there shall wrath come against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men Secondly what kinde of wrath is this In this Wrath you shall observe three things First there is a treasure of this Wrath Rom. 2.5 Thou according to the hardnesse of thy heart that cannot repent treasurest up wrath Now in a Treasure you shall finde three things First it is an heape and there is still an addition thereto a man growes richer and richer saving shillings and pence and they still adde to the heape So GOD addes to the heape of his wrath as men adde sins he addes drops to his Violl and when the measure of our sins is full then the Violl of his wrath is full it is still increasing Let not a man thinke that when he is over the shooes he can goe no further for wrath receives addition Secondly Treasures are close and covered there being no use of them for the present It is therefore said Wrath is â—owne for the wicked as joy is sowen for the righteous it lyes under the ground for a time Therefore doe not say God is slacke because you finde not his wrath presently powred forth It is not slacknesse but patience And if you doe of negligence sin and God markes it not but is patient towards you and suffers you know that hee will not suffer that patience of his to be abused but for every houre that you spend after the commission of a sin without returning to God you shall fare the worse Revel 2.20 I gave her space to repent and shee did not What then Therefore I will cast her into great Tribulation So that as God is angry and as his wrath encreases so it lyes hid for a time Thirdly there is an expence of Treasures in time of need they bring them forth and use them so doth God partly in this life when he shall smite a man with destruction that shall quite sweepe him away as he did Saul and Iudas partly and specially in the life to come which is called the declaration of the just judgement of God that shall then be declared which is now for a time hid Secondly as there is a Treasure of his wrath so there is a power of his wrath Psal. 90.11 Who knowes the power of thine anger That is it is not a wrath like the wrath of men but a wrath that hath much power it it so that looke how much God is stronger than man so much doth his wrath exceed the wrath of men God shewes all his power in executing his Iustice on the wicked Therefore it is said Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction That is he will shew his mighty power in punishing them as he shewes the great riches of the glory of his mercy on the Saints God is knowne by executing Iudgement and the greatnesse of God is knowne by the greatnesse of the punishment inflicted and you shall know him to be an Almighty God aswell in punishment as in mercy there is a transcendent power exercised in one aswell as in the other Therefore it is said Who knowes the power of his wrath You know the wrath of a King is great because hee is powerfull and how much the power of God exceeds the power of a King so much his wrath exceeds the wrath of a King It is therefore compared to a consuming fire that devoures all to the wind that breakes the rock in sunder and to an over-flowing River that carries all away with it Consider God therefore in the greatnesse of his power for such is hee in his wrath Thirdly consider the suddennesse of it it comes suddenly on men and that makes it the more fearefull If God gave warning it were another case but he surprizes men before they be aware It is true that Damnation sleepes not but travels as fast as thy selfe and will meet with thee at thy journeyes end but men know it not Therefore when you see this to be your case What makes you secure you feele it not you have no sense of evill you live by sense and not by faith But consider wrath comes
of his sins and that he in recompence of this kindnesse should serve his lusts Therefore he reasons as Ioseph did with his Mistresse Shall I doe this and so sinne against God and my Master he hath committed all to me hee hath done thus much for me and shall I thus requite him And as Nathan taught David to reason Hath the Lord made thee King over Israel and done thus and thus for thee and wilt thou serve him thus So that I say there is an holy Ingenuity bred in us whereby out of thankfulnesse wee will shun whatsoever may offend him Besides this we are taught that we sustaine another person and every man desires to maintaine the dignity of the person hee sustaines When a man is once in Christ he thinkes not the courses he lived in before to be sutable to the condition he is now in Therefore the Apostle reasons 1 Pet. 1.14 Fashion your selves no longer after the lusts of your former Ignorance but be holy as he is holy that is if you take your selves to be in Christ and that you be come unto God admit not any more those lusts which though they suted with your former yet not with this condition he reasons as Nehemiah did Shall such a man as I doe this Lastly which is the chiefest reason of all As soone as a man hath taken Christ and is justified there is a strong impression made upon his Soule by which he is caused to cleave unto him and to long after him as the Iron doth after the Load-stone that cannot bee at rest untill it hath attained it A man shall set himselfe in the wayes of God though it were but to give satisfaction to the desires of his Soule And indeed were it not for this wee should not serve the Lord this makes us New Creatures I say there is a strong inclination in every man that is justified that he can doe no lesse than serve the LORD even to satisfie that For example when Eliah had called Elishah hee could not choose but follow him all the reasons in the world could not keep him back At the time when he cast his mantle on him there was an impression made on him as when Christ said to Levi and Peter and Andrew and the rest follow me their profits and nets and fathers were nothing they needed no more perswasion for there was a secret impression made upon their hearts together with Christs Word and to satisfie that they must needs follow him Such an impression as this was made on the heart of Ruth to follow Naomi you know how she put her to it but Ruth would not goe backe for she loved her and therefore nothing but death should separate them And the same was in Iacob to Rachel seven yeeres and seven yeeres service the length of time and hardnesse of labour could not keep him from his Vncles house nor drive him off such a strong desire was planted in his heart towards her and such a desire is planted in the heart of every Christian that is justified a strong Instinct as I may call it a strong affection after Iesus Christ and he must needs goe on in the wayes of Sanctification seeing there is no other way to satisfie himselfe So that putting all this together when a man shall see such reason for holinesse when he shall have affections of delight therein of love thereto when he shall see it best for him and that it is impossible hee should have the Lord Iesus Christ whom he so much desires if he serve him not in the duties of Sanctification he must needs come to a fixed resolution I will be another man and runne another course I will change my life altogether I will serve him in holinesse and in the duties of new obedience And after this manner doth Sanctification arise from Iustification first from a worke of the Spirit and then by all these passages that goe thorow the minde of a man which though they be not marked distinctly yet are truely in the heart And so much for the first point Now we will come to the second which is That Iustification and Sanctification are inseparable they cannot bee disjoyned But you will say this is a point that needs no proving I would my Brethren it did not I would that men were perswaded of the truth of it but we may see by the lives of men that they are not perswaded of it for their lives be loose and they thinke that if they can call on Christ in the day of death and cry for pardon it will be enough and that without such strictnesse a man may be saved Therefore to make it cleare to you you must remember this as a ground No man can be saved by the second Adam except hee bee borne of the second Adam As no man could be condemned by the first Adam that was not borne of the first Adam for the reason why all mens natures are corrupted is because all are borne of him If a man were created and did not descend by generation from him he should be free from Sinne and so could not be condemned but comming out of his loynes puts us into a condition of condemnation And so on the other side except you be borne of the second Adam you shall not be saved What is that You must be made New Creatures Ioh. 1.12 As many as received him he made the sonnes of God What is that a meere title No verse the thirteenth They are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God that is they are borne of the second Adam and Ioh. 3.5 Whosoever is not borne of the Spirit shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Now as our nature was corrupted in the first Adam there being a compact and covenant betweene God and him that if Adam stood all his seed should stand with him but if he fell then that all that were borne of him should by vertue of that covenant compact or agreement have his sinne imputed to them and so should be corrupted as hee was and die the death So there was a second covenant betweene us and the second Adam which is the new Testament spoken of in Ier 31 and in Heb. 8. I will make a new Covenant saith God And what is that I will put may Law in your minde and write it in your inward parts that is by vertue of the compact and agreement which is the new Testament following upon the former all that shall be saved by Christ shall be borne of him they must be new men whosoever shall be justified by him must be a new Creature Secondly because it is the will of God It is true God might have saved us without it if it had beene his pleasure it had beene no more but calling men at the houre of death but is otherwise 1 Thess. 4.3 This is the will of God even
your Sanctification And if there were no other reason but Gods will that those that be justified shall be sanctified it is enough God hath called you to holinesse he hath appointed it hee wills it and his will is sufficient to enforce it Againe consider when we are ingrafted into Christ it it not simply an ingrafting but wee are ingrafted into the similitude of his death and resurrection Rom. 8. that is no man is ingrafted into Christ but sinne is crucified in him hee is dead thereto that is he is a dead man in regard of the life of sin and is alive to God as Christ rose from the dead so he is raised to newnesse of life If it had beene simple ingrafting into Christ there had needed no further Relation but we are ingrafted into the similitude of his Death and Resurrection Again it was the end of the Lords comming If hee had come only to save men there had beene no need of being New Creatures but he came also to purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes and to destroy out of man the workes of the Devill and to purchase to himselfe an holy Generation and Royall Priest hood Now whatsoever the Lords end is he never failes of Againe you must consider that to whomsoever Christ is a Priest hee is also to them a Prophet and a King he is annointed to all these Offices And therefore if you will be saved by him by the vertue of his Priest-hood you must take him as a Prophet that is you must take his counsell in all things and not only so but he must also be your King you must not only learne his way but you must also be perfectly subject and obedient to him to walke therein Indeed as a Priest he reconciles God unto us but not us to God except hee come with his other two Offices for man stands out and will not know the way and therefore as a Prophet Hee is to guide our feet into the way of peace and that is not all therefore because our hearts are stubborne and will not come in he exercises his Kingly Office And brings into subjection every thought to the obedience of his will Againe looke to all the meanes as first to Faith the same Faith that justifieth doth also purifie the heart Having their hearts purified by faith Act. 15. And as many as are sanctified by faith that is in me Act. 26.28 And likewise the bloud of Christ not only covers but also heales Hebr. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through his eternall Spirit offered himselfe to purge your Consciences from dead workes c. It hath not onely vertue to take away the guilt of Sin but it is effectuall also to purge the conscience from the power of sinne Againe the Gospell wee preach doth not only offer Christ but likewise cleanseth You are cleane through my Word Ioh. 15. And in the hundred and nineteenth Psalme and the ninth verse Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word The Spirit as it is a Spirit of Adoption so is it of Sanctification making clean the roome where it dwelleth and making it a fit Temple for the Lord. Consider the Sacraments Baptisme doth not only wash from the guilt of sin but from the filth of sin also from the blot and deformity of sinne And so I have done with these two points how Sanctification rises from Iustification and that they cannot be separated Before we proceed to other Observations we will by way of Vse from the inseparability of Iustification and Sanctification draw this consequent that if they be inseparable we should goe to God and beseech him that having given us the first that he would grant us the second also If you have any assurance that your sins are forgiven you let him not deny you this to make you new Creatures they be inseparable and therefore you have just cause to pray him not to separate them therefore you may claime them both as your due seeing you have his promise for both and you must urge him on his promise we desire Iustificatioâ—â—or our owne sake but Sanctification that we may glorifie God and therefore when you come to God with this request Lord make mee a new Creature that I may bring glory to thy Name that I may serve thee and do good in the place wherein I live he will not deny thee Consider but this very Sacrament which we are now going to receive you must know that the Sacrament seales the whole Covenant of God as 1 Cor. 11. This is the New Testament in my bloud that is this Cup is a signe and seale of the new Covenant which I have made with man and which is confirmed with my bloud Now what is that Covenant You shall see it it Ezek 36.26 and it containes three parts all which are sealed by this Sacrament First hee promiseth to wash them from their filthinesse that is from the guilt of their sins which is the first part Secondly A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit I will put into you that is I will make you new Creatures which is the second part of the Covenant Thirdly I will call for the Corne and will encrease it and will lay no famine upon you c. that is hee will give all outward comforts you shall inherit he Earth and be heires of the world and of â—ll in the world for the world is yours 1 Cor. 3. All and all in it is yours This is the whole Covenant of God and this hee seales to every one of you when you come to receive the Sacrament If you receive it worthily for it is the New Testament in his bloud And therefore seeing hee seales it to you that he will give you a new heart and a new Spirit and make you new Creatures you should go to him and claime it of him for you may sue him of his own bond written and sealed and he cannot deny it therefore begge it and you cannot misse of it This is a very comfortable doctrine if it be well considered For what is that that keepes a man from comming to Christ but his discouragements He thinkes it so hard a thing to be a new Creature that he cannot attaine it that he cannot leave such a course of life and therefore he stands off and though he will come in yet he will not as yet because it is a bondage intollerable But you do not consider what it is to have a new Nature If it were to have a new life and an old heart it were otherwise but the Lord will give a new heart and if he will not deny you but make you new Creatures you may be encouraged to goe to him If there be any Rebellion in your heart any untowardnesse in your nature if you goe to him for the removall of it it is
in sinne and in iniquity hath my mother brought me forth I say these particular sinnes should lead us to know our Nature So did Iob when hee saw what his failings had beene hee lookes to himselfe and abhorres himselfe It may be this hath beene taught you you are to be humbled for your sinnes and for the evill actions that you have done and this you ought to doe but we must lead you further you must be humbled for your Nature and indeed this humbles a man a man is never humble till then for a man may thinke his actions bad and confesse them yet he may thinke his Nature is not bad but when he sees that his Nature is bad he abhors himselfe now humiliation is like that when a man comes to abhorre himselfe it is a greater degree than for a man to abhorre his actions as it is said of Iob hee abhorred himselfe so thou must learne to abhorre thy selfe to abhorre that nature that is in thee We are very backward in this every man is ready to excuse himselfe though I did this and that it is my nature but thou must know that the corruption within is more than the sinne without Now this humiliation must not rest meerely in this to abhorre thy selfe but it must lead thee further to have it renued as thou wilt never seek to have another Nature till thou bee humble when thou commest to abhorre thy selfe thou wilt labour for another selfe and not before thou wilt then be content yea desirous that that old heart of thine may be broken in peeces and that thou be made new But you will say What shall I doe to have this old Nature made new Goe to Christ the same actions hee used when hee raised Lazarus the same actions hee doth when he raiseth any to life therefore the same course must bee taken that was taken to raise Lazarus from the dead What was that To beleeve in him You have in Iohn 11. it is said This is befallen him that the glory of the Son of man may be seene that is that Christ may be glorified So the blinde man was said to bee blinde for the glory of God So it may be said of the old Nature in man of the death that hath gone over all mankind therefore it is that God may be glorified that is may shew his power in renuing it Therefore as Christ said to Mary Did not I say to thee beleeve Beleeve only and thou shalt see the power and glory of God So say I to every one of you only beleeve that is goe to God beseech him and give not over and beleeve that he is able and willing to doe it and he will not deny thee hee will raise thee from the dead hâ—e will change that old nature of thine and know it is no small matter to beleeve he can doe it Lord saith he If thou wilt thou canst make mee cleane It was a great matter to say so Examine thy selfe and see if it be so with thee canst thou say to Christ Lord if thou wilt thou canst heale this nature and disposition of mine Men are discouraged when they see sinne hath got ground of them they have had a long combâ—te with it and cannot overcome it It is an hard thing to goe to Christ and say Lord thou caâ—st make me whole but thou must beleeve for he can doe it and doth it daily therefore goe to him beg earnestly of him and he will change this nature of thine and make thee a New Creature Againe fifthly if we have another nature then doe not feare falling away for when a man is made a New Creature once he hath another nature if Grace were nothing but a thing infused an adventitious qualitie that did onely adhere to us wee might lose it againe but having another nature never feare that thou canst be changed to the contrary for thou hast another Nature Indeed you may goe thus farre you may lose Florem as we say but not Radicemâ— actum but not Potentiam you may lose the Flower the Branches may be cut downe but life remaines in the Root you may lose the Act but not the power you may lose the degrees you may lose it Gradualiter not Totaliter And lastly you may lose the sense you may have Gratiam sine sensu gratiae you may lose the sense of it but not the thing you may lose the use the Rooâ— and sâ—bstance you cannot you may lose the degree not the whole that is when you are once a member of Christ there may be a benumming that may hinder the influence of bloud and spirits but so as it shall never be gangred it shall never die againe there may be a cloud on you but the Sunne shall never set on you But you will object Grace of it selfe is of a mutable nature for that which is subject to decay in part is subject to decay in the whole Againe it is a Creature and every Creature is subject to perish Againe we see that the Angels and Adam in Paradise had grace as true as we yet they fell from it I answer It is true Grace of it selfe may perish it is possible it may die for it is a Creature and may perish as well as any other considered in it selfe but if we consider it as united and joyned to CHRIST IESVS so it cannot faile you for you must know Grace in every mans heart is like light in the aire and like water in the Cisterne Now it is true if the Sun set the light will vanish and if the Spring should drie up the water the River would drie up too but seeing the Sunne never sets that is Christ never departs from you when hee hath taken you to himselfe and seeing the Spring never dries up though Grace of it selfe be of a mutable nature yet by reason of that conjunction with him it can never be altered and thence it is that you cannot fall off It is true if we were cut off from Christ Grace should wither as the Branch being cut off from the Root but being knit to him the Sap must be in the Branches because it is in the Root and life will be in the members because it is in the Head therefore we say no man can fall from Grace because he cannot be cut off once on and never off once his and never separated againe as Rom. 8. The Apostle goes through variety of things that may seeme to bee able to separate us but nothing can and seeing nothing can separate you you shall have alway Sap that is Grace it shall never be taken from you when once you have it So that if a member may be cut off from Christs body it might perish and die but as Christ dies no more so every one in Christ dies no more Rom. 6.9 Christ dies no more so every one in him dies no more that is he lives as Christ lives Therefore if there can
in their lives and when that causes others to goe away and that for that they will beleeve on Christ they will doe as they did with Lazarus they will have him put to death that is they will have him removed out of the way they will have him taken ex rerum natura Take heed of this But you will say If we knew they were New Creatures we would not doe so It is very true but doe you thinke when they would have killed Iesus and Lazarus they knew them to be so They did not know Christ to be the Lord of life the Scripture saith so Againe they thought Lazarus to be an Impostor it is likely they did but it is taken for a persecution of Christ. The Iewes that killed the Prophets doe you thinke they thought them to be Prophets when they slew them Take heed of that you know the danger of it when IESUS CHRIST wrought miracles by the power of the Holy Ghost No say they he doth it by Belzebub Christ tells them in this they blasphemed the Holy Ghost When thou shalt see a man made a New Creature when thou shalt see a man Regenerate take heed of saying this is guile and cunning and imposture for it is done by the Spirit take heed of blaspheming the Holy Ghost It is a dangerous case I say when such things be done wee should praise God and glorifie GOD for it labouring to come in our selves and not looke on it with an eye of envie and hatred and distate The different effects Christs miracles had such hath this Our scope is that you may glorifie God and give him the praise of it that when he hath done such a worke you may say this is the power of Grace and the vertue of the Spirit So much for this point that you must be New Creatures and so we have gone thorow three things which were observed out of the words First the inseparability betweene Iustification and Sanctification Secondly the having of another Nature Thirdly it must be New Now the fourth is it is a Creature wrought by God for that Word is not in vaine Whosoever is in Christ let him be a New Creature The meaning is this we are New Creatures that is it is God that worketh it in us for Creation is proper to him no Angell nor Creature under the Sunne can knit those things together which have an infinite distance as something and nothing therefore it is proper to him it is he that maketh us New Creatures not that himselfe is the beginner and something else perfects it as some say but Deus est causa totius entis He is the beginner and ender he makes us New And there is much reason for it cannot be otherwise for if it were in our power of our selves to come in First it will follow that the Saints in heaven should be no more beholding to God than those that are condemned in hell For if God did give every man sufficient meanes of salvation and I have taken it and another refused it whom may I thanke when I am in heaven and another in hell not God for he gave the means equally but my selfe I tooke it and another did not and so the love God shewes it should be as much to the damned as to the Saints if he hath done on his part equally to both Againe it should not be God that makes the difference but man and so you may stand up and contradict what Paul saith Who art thou that boastest who hath put the difference If man hath free will to take Grace or refuse it and if God hath given to all sufficient meanes then thou hast made the difference God hath not Againe if this were so we must take away all Election and Reprobation for what is Election Election is nothing else but this God hath taken some to life and makes them holy as godlinesse is an effect of his Election and the wickednesse of men is a fruit of their rejection But now here would bee no Election but a meere prejudication of a reward to the thing done only but therefore God is said to have chosen us because he makes us good now by this you take that quite away But you will object Why should there be those different kinds of working We see in all other things if there be an end propounded and sufficient motives it is enough and why should God give different objects therefore they say it is but as propounding of the bough to the sheepe and the sheepe will follow If God propounds congruous objects to the faculties of the soule of man he will come in But I answer it briefly if he will come in for this congruity of objects because a bough is propounded to him First he must be a sheepe before he will follow the bough Now thou art a Wolfe by nature first therefore he must turne thy nature God must turne thy voluntatem Lupinam into Agninam therefore thou must have another nature before thou canst follow the bough Againe thou must have an eye to see that bough but we are blind by nature and till God opens our eyes and inlightens us we cannot see the excellencies of the waies of God and therefore we shall not follow it Againe there must be strength to follow but except God give thee strength though thou shouldest see it and see beauty in it too thou wilt never follow it to purpose thou will never follow it to the end Saul looked on it for a time but not to the end there must be a power of God to carry a man through all objects all impediments to the end therefore No man can come to me saith Christ except my Father draw him Not some men but no man though he have great meanes he doth not say will come but can come he doth not say except my Father allure him with congruous objects but except my Father change his Nature for drawing signifies a reluctance and backwardnesse in us Goe to experience you shall find it so when we speake to men it is true we say they be dead in sins and trespasses Doe not men heare us as dead men No man stirres up himselfe they goe away as they came and till God put life into them they will not hearken to us Againe how perverse are judgements of men they see no excellencies in the wayes of God therefore are apt to quarell and speake against them Againe doe we not find our desires so pitched on present things and our lusts so set upon them that without an Almighty Power they cannot be loosed Therefore Christ saith It is impossible for a rich man that is one that sets his heart on riches to enter into the kingdome of heaven That place is as strong as any place in all the Booke of God to shew that there is no freedome of will It is impossible for a rich man for a man that hath
this is not a light notion but of great moment for it will make thee love the Lord Iesus Saint Paul puts this among the greatest mercies He hath beene mercifull to mee with faith and love that amazed him that he could never be thankfull enough for it that is he hath wrought in me faith and love therefore gives him the praise It is God that doth it wee are but the instruments we praise not the Trumpet but the Trumpetter we praise not the Pensill but the Painter It is God that doth the worke give him therefore the whole praise of it this is a matter of much use to you For when there is a Minister of God that hath beene an instrument of bringing you to heaven you will love this man prize him and magnifie him in your thoughts and you doe well but remember that you take nothing from Christ alas what is the Pen to him that writes the Epistle What are we my Brethren give not to us what belongs unto him nothing unto us saith Paul we have done thus and thus but it is nothing it is Christ that hath done all and let him have all as the servants of Christ we must be wary that we rob not our Master of mens affections for we are but spokes-men to present you to Christ therefore be exceeding wary give your affections to the Lord to whom they belong If ever you receive any good by any Sermon if you be ever quickned if ever a little enlivened by the powerfull preaching of the Word give glory to Christ and say he hath done it let him have the praise of it love him so much the more for of all graces nothing is like that to worke grace in your hearts Againe if you will say what use is there of it That it is not the Minister but GOD that doth it Then doe not expect from us that we should come with excellency of wisdome or of words that we should come with wit and eloquence and learning Will this make a New Creature No it will not doe it for it is God that makes men New Creatures and if it be so he will doe it by his owne Instruments that is by his owne Word Thus Paul reasons 1 Cor. 2. Wee preach the Gospell not with excellencie of words for then the death of Christ would be of no effect that is no man will be a New Creature and Christ would die in vaine therefore we preach the Gospel in the evidence of the Spirit and Power these go together evidence of Spirit and power What then is this preaching in evidence of the Spirit Certainely it is never evident that the Spirit speakes but when you know the Word speake therefore when any man knowes that this is the Word we preach there is an evidence it is a speech of the Spirit and when the Spiriâ— speakes to the heart there is Power and that was the reason that Christ did so much good He taught with authority and not as the Scribes What is that to come with authority As when a Constable comes in the name of the King he shewes his evidence he hath that which makes evident to him with whom he hath to deale that he comes from the King We preach with authority then onely when wee speake from God to the consciences of men this consisteth not in excellencie of words but so much as there is of God so much authority Therefore come not with affectation of excellencie of words and wisdome If we had al the wit in the world to set Word of God in it it is better than that in which it is set as the Diamond is better than the Gold in which it is set If you were to chuse a Minister chuse not such an one desire it not expect it not the foolishnesse of preaching is wiser than men it will doe more than all the wisdome of man though it is but foolishnesse to some We speake wisdome to them that are perfect saith Paul they that be perfect will recount it wisdome it is foolishnesse to them that are children and unable to discerne Againe though it be but foolishnesse on the out-side yet there be treasures within and God hath hid these treasures under base out-sides that men may stumble at them as men that hide treasure under straw the foolishnesse of preaching saves the soules of men therefore seeing it is God that doth it he will use his own Instruments God workes by it Can words can all morall wit make a New Creature No it is God then why doe we make a question The more the Word is discovered and brought home the better it is because indeed when we preach any thing else you doe but see a Creature and you thinke you have to doe with a Creature for you can answer wit with wit and learning with learning and when you see you have to doe with men though never so excellent yet they are men But when Christ speakes to the conscience now the heart is brought downe when it seeth it hath to doe with God that only hath to doe with the consciences of men therefore expect not the contrary and remember that God is the doer of it it is he that writes the Epistle though we be the Ministers It is therefore not without use that we preach this doctrine to you And to all that I have said adde this one more Therefore if you find there hath not been a mighty work of God wrought in your hearts at any time when you have heard the Word know you have heard in vaine for the labour is lost if there be no more than the worke of a man Therefore you must know there be two Preachers at the same time one that speakes to the heart powerfully that makes you New Creatures that baptizeth you with the Holy Ghost and with fire and then there is a preaching to the eares And there are two hearings one is when you can repeat and recall the Word to memory but there is another saving hearing that is when is it ingrafted And when it is ingrafted even then when it maketh you New Creatures as a graft is then grafted when it changes all the Stocke Therefore consider whether you doe so heare or no that it hath bred such a change in you and know otherwise you have heard it in vaine For what doe we do when we preach the Word we doe as Gehezi did hee came running with Elisha's staffe to raise the childe but he could not doe it for though he had Elisha's staffe he had not Elisha's spirit So we come with the staffe but not with the Spirit therefore thou art not raised to life for there is the staffe without the Spirit therefore doe not thinke thou hast heard to any purpose if the Stocke be not turned if thou findest not the Spirit there What doe we when we dresse up a Sermon never so well it is but the rigging of the sailes and what will all
in those two things doth the Kingdome of God consist it is the ground of all the priviledges we have we have them therefore because we be in Christ It is the ground of all the graces we have because we are in Christ therefore wee are New Creatures therefore wee have the Image of God repaired in us which is nothing but the bundle of all graces as the old man is the bundle and heape of all corruption and sinne Now we will shew what it is to be in Christ and of what moment it is then we will make use of it The two first are so neere conjoyned that we will handle them together what it is to be in Christ and of what moment it is to be in Christ that is to be united to Christ. A man then is said to be united to him when he may truly say that which is in the Canticles My Beloved is mine and I am his When a man can say Christ is mine and I am Christs then we are in Christ for then we are his Now that this may be done there must be a mutuall act of giving and receiving that is it is God that gives his Sonne and Christ that gives himselfe as the Apostle speakes He loved me and gave himselfe for me When this is done on Gods part and we have taken him that makes Christ ours So there must be a giving and taking to unite us unto Christ there must be a giving that is the Father must give Christ now giving is nothing else but Quod meum est efficere tuum nullo jure cogente This definition the Civill Lawyers give of it and it is a true one So the Lord gives Christ to us he makes him ours nothing compels him to it for if it were by law it were not by gift but by debt I say he gives Christ and freely and to give him is nothing else but to make him ours But to give him is nothing it is not enough except we take him likewise for giving and taking are Relatives remove one and the other is taken away Though God give his Sonne freely yet except we take him that gift is no gift therefore there must be a taking on our part and when these two are done when God hath given Christ and we have taken him then we are united to Christ and we are in Christ and he in us as in marriage the husband gives himselfe to the wife and she takes him againe the wife gives her selfe to the husband and he takes her and when this is once done and done really they are united together And such a match is made betweene Christ and us there is a mutuall giving and taking on both sides and when this match is made Christ is said properly to be in us and we in him Yea to goe a little further Marriage is a neere union yet but a Relative union but there is something more in this Christ hath taken our Nature He is bone of our bone and flesh of our fâ—esh And againe he hath given us his Spirit that the very same Spirit dwels in us as doth in him that we may be said to be spirit of his Spirit This is more than is in marriage this is a neerer union therefore the Scripture useth a neerer expression we are as members of the same Body he the Head we the members we have the same Spirit that he hath we are flesh of the same flesh and bone of the same bone so neere an union there is betweene us So then there is more than a Relation in our being in Christ he indeed comes in to us as the Sun is said to come into the house You know the Sunne is in the heaven but when the light comes in we say the Sun comes into the house for there comes a reall light which is an effect of the Sunne So the Sonne of God IESUS CHRIST though he be in heaven yet he comes into the heart by his Spirit as the Sunne doth by the light which revives us and quickens us and workes a change in us Againe we grow into Christ as the branches grow into the Vine into the Root into the Stocke so that we are one in another and we grow one in another as the branches grow in the Vine and the Vine groweth in the branches Such a mutual union there is between us And thence comes all the benefits which is the second thing I will shew you that is of what moment it is I say hence come all the benefits we have by him in that we are united to him after this manner that we are in him as the branches in the Vine thence it is that we are made New Creatures that is there is a new Sap shed into the branches which weares out the old Sap the old man originall sinne which was there before and changeth it by the ingredience of the new Sap. So doth Christ Therefore we are said to be ingrafted into the similitude of his Death and Resurrection that is the old nature in us is worne out by the comming in of the new now as Christ did die but revived againe so we put on another nature so we have this benefit by this union we are made New Creatures Besides this we have an hundred others when we are in Christ we are under covert he hath interest in all our debts and we have interest in all his riches as the husband is bound to pay all the debts of the wife when he hath married her she is under covert she hath interest in all her husbands riches So we have interest in all the wealth of Christ and that is a very large wealth as you have it expressed in 1 Cor. the last Chapter Paul and Apollo c. and the world is yours it is a wealth beyond all that men can give you The world is yours no man in the world can goe so farre Princes may reach thorow their owne Kingdomes but the World is yours that is Christ who hath the command of it causeth every thing there to serve your turne even every Creature that man cannot command the wind and the seas obey him for your good for you have interest in all his riches there is nothing in the world but is yours Things present and things to come are ours If men can helpe you to things present yet things to come are beyond their reach If the things of this life be theirs yet death is not theirs but herein Christ likewise furnisheth you In a word you have interest in all his wealth looke how farre he can goe beyond a man so farre are you advantaged by him and have interest in all his riches he hath interest in all your debts you are under covert and nothing can hurt you the gates of Hell Men Devils Sinne and all the Creatures in heaven and earth are not able to hurt you because you are in him you are as Coneyes in their Burrowes he covers you
he keepes you safe If our eyes were opened to see this as the Apostle Pauls were we should magnifie it and stand amazed at it when he comes to expresse what we have by Christ he knowes not how to expresse it In him are all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge and they are ours he hath a Kingdome that is ours He is a Sonne so are we he is an Heire so are we nothing can hurt us but it hurts him Therefore make use of this when any thing is objected that is terrible and grievous answer it with this I am in Christ When thou wantest any thing know thou canst not be denied for thou art in CHRIST Set all your thoughâ—s on worke to looke to all the things mans nature is capable of that you desire to make you happy we have them all in him O the length and height and depth of his mercy Indeed it is such a depth that we cannot fadome and a height we cannot reach and a length we cannot measure all this we have by Christ If we had but Pauls spirit to apprehend it and a little crevise of light opened to us as there was to him that we might see into this unsearchable riches of Christ we would stand amazed I cannot stand to inlarge it any further you see what it is to be united to Christ and of what moment Now we will come to make some use of it If it be so glorious a condition to be united to Christ it should inflame us then with a desire to be in him with a desire to be in this condition for if you have the Sonne you have life 1 Iohn 5.12 He that hath the Sonne hath life and all things else pertaining to life godlinesse and happinesse He that hath not the Sonne hath not life that is he is yet in death and condemnation have Christ and have all things therefore it is an happy and glorious condition Therefore let those that have it desire to inlarge it more and more and those that want it let them seeke to get it First I say those that have it let them labour to inlarge it You will say If a man be in Christ how can he be more If he be united if he be married to him how can he be more Iustification admits of no degrees Therefore this is a point worth your consideration That you may bee more in Christ. It is true Iustification in this sense admits of no degrees but it is indivisible either you are married or not married either you are in him or not in him so farre indeed it admits of no degrees But now when a Spouse takes an Husband shee hath so much will as to resolve to make such an one her husband yet there may be degrees of willingnesse she may will it more there may be more desire of it there may be a greater approbation of it so though it be true that every man that is justified in Christ is within the Covenant within the doore yet he may goe in further or lesse farre when he is within So I say you may be within the Covenant but this taking of Christ this being in Christ this receiving of him admits of degrees because though one be married to an husband that there is so much will as to resolve to take him rather than refuse him yet this very wil of taking may be stronger as her affections to him are more the reasons are stronger and larger that invite her to take him So the union with Christ may be neerer yet the knot may be yet straiter and as that increaseth so all the effects and consequences of it increase Therefore the thing we would exhort you to is to be more in Christ to get yet neerer to him You will say How shall that be done Consider what it was that drawed you to him and to labour to intend all that that when you have taken him you may yet make the union neerer and better than it was And these five things will doe it First consider your misery without him you did consider it before which caused you to take him for your Husband when you saw you could not live without him but when you finde that misery to be yet more your resolutions wil be stronger you will more approve your action of taking him you will prize him more Therefore if you will be yet neerer Christ reflect often on your selves on your owne condition and see what you are without him Consider what your sinnes are how you should have perished if you had not taken him how miserable you are still how unable to helpe your selves and the more humble you are the poorer in spirit and the more greedily you will receive him the more degrees will be added to the taking of the Lord Iesus For that is one great meanes to teach us to prize Christ even to know our misery The Prodigall sonne was taught to prize his being in his fathers house by the extremity of want he was in the more he felt the want of it the more he prized it Labour therefore to know what you are out of Christ to feele the want of it to know that you cannot subsist you cannot be without him Againe secondly labour more to know the vertues and the excellencies of your husband for as they are more explicated and discovered to you so you will love him more As one that is married the more she sees in her husband the more she desires him the more glad she is that the match is made there is the greater degree of will to take her husband Labour to see this beauty in Christ to see what he hath done for you Was he not crucified for you Hee loved me saith Paul and gave himselfe for me he died for me Consider all that he hath done consider the great dowry the riches he brings with him all the benefits and priviledges he brings with him and you have by him looke well upon him consider the number of them and the waight of them thinke of all the advantages you get by him the more you see this the more those vertues and excellencies of Christ are explicated and unfolded and made manifest unto you the more you will love him and the nearer is the union betweene you Thirdly be perswaded of his love to you the more you are perswaded of your husbands love the nearer your hearts grow to him Think what it was that made Paul love the Lord Iesus so much it was the strength of his faith he knew the Lord loved him and that Christ had received him If wee could but once get into Pauls condition that we could see the unsearchable riches of Christ the beauties of our husband the advantages we have by him if we had Pauls faith to beleeve his love we should be able to doe as he did to reckon all as drosse and dung wee should prize nothing but CHRIST and
white and so we say a thing is healed though it be but begun and be not perfectly healed Even so in this case every man that comes to Christ his thirst is healed he thirsts no more because his soule is put into health As if you should say to a dropsie man for when his thirst is healed his disease is cured you shall have the thirst of an healthfull man but this diseased thirst you shall have no more So if you will come in to Christ this may invite you you shall thirst no more you shall be put into that happy condition that your strong lusts that were your thirst before shall be healed in you And besides another thing is you shall not die It is water of life that Christ gives as if he had said you may drinke this Well-water and thirst againe and drinke againe and thirst again and then you die this water will not give life therefore he addes that word Water of life This water that I give you shall make you live for ever it shall give you eternall life I am the living Bread that came downe from heaven he that eats of me shall not hunger and he that beleeves in me shall not thirst but shall live for ever But this I prest in the other and therefore I will not stand longer on it We will name a fourth Motive that you find ordinarily in Scripture If you come not in to Christ all things shall worke together for your hurt and if you take him All shall worke together for your good I say if you doe not all things shall worke together for your hurt This is the misery of every man out of Christ let him be in what condition he will every thing owes him an ill turne and will doe it one time or other Prosperity is bad for him that stayes him and his afflictions come for hurt to him they are like the lopping of a tree out of season which tends to the destruction of the tree but it is quite otherwise with the godly they have afflictions but they are in season which makes the Tree grow better Take the best things in the world the very Word that is preached the enlightnings and good motions they have from the Spirit they all tend to the hurt of the wicked for they encrease their comdemnation every thing works together for their hurt whatsoever they enjoy On the other side if you wil come in all things shal work together for your good that is they shall joyne together for your advantage one thing shall be ready to helpe another and nothing shall befall you but it shall worke for your good because when all is summed up as whatsoever befals the wicked puts them further from God Againe whatsoever befals a good man it drives him nearer to God and that is a sure rule nothing doth good but that which drawes us nearer to the fountaine of all good and nothing doth hurt but that which drives us from God Now whatsoever befals a good man it drawes him nearer to God Sin which of all other seemeth to doe him most hurt yet it drives him nearer to God because it makes him to empty himselfe of himselfe more it makes him see his owne misery more and to prize IESUS CHRIST more though they be in themselves poison yet God turnes them into medicines every thing workes for his good that is the meaning of that All things are yours Paul and Cephas that is every thing in the world doe but serve God life and death are for your advantage that is whatsoever is in life life and all that belongs to it is for your advantage that you may grow rich in good workes the longer you live the better Againe when death comes with all the harbingers of it it is for your good Sicknesses which are degrees thereof they being but the staires by which we descend downe to the chambers of death death and all the precedents of death even all these petty deaths are for your advantage yea whatsoever is in the world is for your good Things present and things to come are yours Even as in the field we say every thing is for the Wheat the stalke the eare the chaffe the sowing the plowing the threshing the winnowing the barne and granary every thing is for the wheat So the Wheat that growes in this great field of the World are only the Saints and every thing in the World is for their advantage Summer and Winter Frost and Snow wet and drie that is weale and woe good and evill affliction and prosperity all is for the advantage of the Saints their winnowings and temptations all their threshings worke together for their good And this you shall have by Christ if you will come in to him every thing shall owe you a good turne you shall looke on nothing but it is for you All men yea the best of them Paul and Apollo and Cephas are for your service whatsoever gifts they have they are all given for your use Let this move you to come in if you will not how ever you may live in this world and enjoy some sweetnesse with them that have their Portion in this life yet they shall doe you hurt and in the latter end so you shall find it The end of the Eighth Sermon THE NINTH SERMON VPON THE NEW CREATVRE 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature THere is one motive that remaines and that is this which you shall finde Revel 3.17 For thou sayest I am rich and encreased in goods and hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked Because we are moved much with sensible things it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to expresse our spiritual misery by that misery which we are sensible of which is outward If you be out of Christ you are poore and naked and miserable If you come in to him you shall have the contrary we will pitch therefore upon these three particulars First if you be out of Christ you are poore What is that poverty It is the want of whatsoever may make the soule rich for you know there is a double riches Charge those that are rich in this world where there is an intimation that there are men that are rich in another world And so Luke 12. So is he that is rich in this world and is not rich towards God And Revel 2. I know thy poverty but thou art rich that is thou art rich in grace and in good works though thou art poore otherwise and therefore there is a poverty that concernes the soule a spirituall poverty which is found in every man out of Christ. Poverty you know it is a thing that every man shuns he would not be poore and you shall find that looke what reasons there are why a man should not be poore in his outward estate here is the
shall live for ever it is water that shall keep life in him for all eternity when she heard this she harkens to heare of water that could keepe life for ever When you reade the story in Genesis that the Angell was set with a sword shaken to keepe man from comming to taste of the tree of life you should thinke with your selves if the Angels were removed now or there were a man so happy that the Angell would give way to him that he might come and eat of the tree and when hee had eaten to live for ever you thinke that man in an happy condition Now the Lord doth say Revel 2. He that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree in the middest of the Paradice of God That is he shall eat of me and live for ever this is the great happinesse we have When Christ would use a compelling argument to move Revel 2.11 Hee that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death Why is it so great a matter Oh that is all not to be hurt of the second death The first death is nothing the first death is but the doore it is but the gate that leads to the passing thorow the first death is but a going over the threshold the breadth of it is but a step and the length of it is but a moment of time or two But the second death there are the chambers of death as Solomon speakes where you shall be led from one misery to another and where you shall dwell for ever And therefore consider this if you take Christ you shall not be hurt of the second death I beseech you consider seriosuly reckon nothing so sweet if this life be sweet that is but a spanne long is not abundance of life much sweeter It is naturall to every man to desire immortility if you could but have this life continued let every man aske his owne brest what he would give that his life might be continued that he might be immortall If there were such a thing as the Alchymists speake of I could draw out the threed of this life to keepe it firme and even as they dreame of what would you give to obtaine And will you not regard this that will doe that indeed Will you not take Christ which is life indeed which will give you another life of immortality for you must know that it is not immortality simply that man desires The Naturalists were deceived in that for a man had rather not to be than to be in misery And the soule in hell are immortall and therefore it is not immortalitie that we desire simply for death is not the extinguishing of life but the misery of life And therefore where the Scripture speakes of the losse of the soule it is to be meant thus a mans finger or his joynt is lost when it is seized on by any incurable sore So when eternal misery is on the soule then the soule is lost and yet you have the joynt still you have the soule stil you have life still and therefore it is not immortality simply that we desire if we consider what it is but it is happinesse it is such a life as is not only immortall but happy withall this life Christ hath promise we shall live and an happy life such as S. Paul expresseth 2 Cor. 5. saith he We desire not to be unclothed but to be clothed upon that immortality might be swallowed up of life As if he should say consider with your selves you that love this life so well that you neglect that which is to come saith he we love our lives as well as you we are not weary of them no more than you are we desire not to be unclothed no but we desire that immortality may be swallowed up of life how swallowed up as we see a rude draught in a picture swallowed up with the picture when it is perfected as child-hood is swallowed up of manhood as the glimmering light is swallowed up of the perfect light so their immortality is swallowed up of life that is if there be a small poore glimpse of comfort here saith Paul we would not be rid of these we would be content to have these as well as you onely wee would have them swallowed up of perfect life we would have imperfection swallowed up of perfection And therefore Iob saith I will wait till my change shall come he saith not till my destruction come till my perishing come or till my death come but I will wait till my change come and he that changeth doth it for the better If you will take Christ you shall have this immortality and life perhaps you will say but I could be content to have this temporall life continued And haply my brethren if the Lord would make that promise that he would proclaime to men that they should have immortall life here it may be he shall have more followes than now he hath when hee promiseth immortall life in heaven but to take away that in a word I say it is a foolish choice if you might have it For what have you heere Here the body is tormented with diseases the spirit is wearied with vexation and the state is assualted with losses and crosses evill things wound us with sorrow and the good things we here doe but infect our affections and weary us still and yet they whet our tired appetites with a new edge In a word every condition here is pestred and troubled with businesse one invites and drawes on another we are hampred with succeeding fetters and makes this short life more short than it would be with carefull griefe with bitter feares and with corrupt joyes and at last all cut off and end as many men many times spread their branches and flourish their estate over-swallowes their wishes their suceesse excceds their desires now on a sudden this pompe is no where to bee found their desires vanish the floud of their wealth is dried up the owners and their goods perish together they will not see this by experience What is it in this life you would have if there were immortality But I say it cannot be so that is not so you cannot have immortality in this life but as evidently as you see the heavens roll about evey day so plainly we may see if wee will take it into consideration mankinde hurried along with an unwearied motion to the West of his dayes their posterity posting after them by an unrepealeable law of succession our fathers you know are gone before and we are passing and our children shall follow us at our heeles that as you see the billowes of the Sea one tumbe on the neck of another and in the end all are dashed upon the shoare so all generations and ages in the end are split on bankes of death and this is the condition of every man Is it not our wisdome then to provide for another life Certainly if there bee any wisdome in the world it
is wisdome to remember our latter end The wisest among the Heathen were wont to say There should bee nothing but a meditation of death that is a wise man though the course of his life should be still fitting and preparing himselfe for death and shall Christians â—me behinde them It was a wise speech of Peter to our Saviour Lord whether shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life as if hee should say there is no motive to that surely we will not leave thee therefore I say consider here we are but Tennants at will wee may be turned out of doores to morrow therefore let this be a motive to win to Christ you shall have life But you will say I hope death is farre off yet I have time enough well take heed thou be not deceived in that for ther is a collusion there as the Painter by collusion of colours makes a thing seeme farre off when it is neere at hand so wee by our folly and vanity our fansie mis-apprehending of things we looke on death as farre off when it may be it is at our heeles at the next doore thou knowest not how soone thou maist meet with it therefore say not it is farre off but thinke with thy selfe goe sit alone but a little time together and then think with thy selfe I must die it is appointed to mee as to all men once to dye Consider if a man might dye twice or thrice perhaps he would be ready he would be prepared but consider thou must dye but once if thou be not prepared there is not a second oportunity and then consider thy soule is immortall in another place it must live for ever And then remember Christ saith thou shalt have life if thou take him thou shalt live for ever then thou wilt finde it an exceeding blessing worth the having it is that that may wooe you and win you to come in and take Christ to love him and to serve him and to obey him certainly if you will not now be moved with it yet when death shall come then you shall finde that beyond all the treasure to have that white-stone with a new name in it that stone was a signe of absolution that a man was quitted that his sins are forgiven that he hath interest in Christ and eternity that eternall life is for him in heaven this is the first motive to win you to Christ. Secondly if you will come into him you shall have all your debts payd you shall bee under cover that is you shall have all your sins forgiven that when the creditors come with an arrest with a judgement and execution you may be able to say no they are none of my debts goe to my husband hee must pay them and not I I say when you have Christ when Satan shall come and when sin shall come you may put them over to Christ for now you are his and he is yours he hath taken our debts on him is this a small thing Psal. 32.1 saith David Blessed is the man whose sinnes are forgiven and whose iniquities are covered marke Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven Perhaps if one of us should seeke a happy man we would say that he is a happy man that lives in health and in wealth in credit and abundance of all things he that hath the favour of Princes hee that hath some notable excellencie to make him famous among men some such thing wee take for happinesse But when David comes to looke through the world and all the felicity in it oh saith David Hee is a happy man that his sinnes are forgiven And there is good reason for it because when our sin is forgiven wee are reconciled to God and God onely can make man happy For wherein doth happinesse consist but in a freedome from all evill and in enjoying of all good you know this is happinesse Now sin is it not the first linke in the chaine of ills As the under-wheeles in a Clocke or Watch depends upon the first so all miseries depend upon sin as the Master-ill of all take away that and all the wheeles stand still they move not a jot to doe us the least hurt take away sin take away all this ill in sin is a bar and stops from us all good things take away sin and you shall enjoy all that in abundance that your hearts can desire If you have not your sinnes forgiven what will it availe If you come to a Prisoner and tell him you shall have the best Lodging you shall have a Pallace you shall have Orchards and Gardens to walke in you shall have Gold and Silver as much as you will desire you shall have honour put upon you would not he answer Alas what would all this availe without a pardon So I say to men that magnifie the things of this world so much and remission of sins they thinke not of I say what is all this will it availe without a pardon No therefore this is a great motive to bring us into Christ that our sins may be forgiven Therefore that great promise went of the Messiah that when he should come into the world he should save his people from their sins and this is a mercy which though you may slight now in health and strength yet when the times come that God shall charge sinne upon your consciences that they feele the weight and burthen of it you shall finde no mercy like to this that you may come to have your sinnes forgiven then he that bringeth the glad tydings of peace his feet will be beautifull the thing is the same if wee had hearts to consider of it if we were poore in spirit if we knew what sinne were if wee had ever felt the bitternesse of Satans yoke that wee were weary of it wee would come in and reckon it a great matter to have our sins forgiven this is the second I shall prosecute the rest at some other time The end of the Second Sermon THE CUPPE OF BLESSING DELIVERED IN THREE Sermons upon 1 Cor. 10.6 The Third SERMON 1 CORINTH 10.16 The Cup of blessing that we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The bread that we breake is it not the Communion of the body of Christ THE point you know we have delivered out of these words is this That in the Sacrament there is a true reall Communication or giving or offering of Iesus Chriâ—t of his body and of his bloud to all worthy receivers Wee have shewed you the difference betweene the Papists and us in this point They will have here a reall corporall presence of Christ. We say it is true but it is Spirituall but it is Mysticall but it is Sacramentall We have shewed you the reasons by which wee refelde that opinion of theirs That there is no necessity neither in regard of the thing nor in regard of the words and if there be no necessity we may not grant it other
successe in doubtfull businesse if you need health when you are sicke these riches will fetch them in for you as they did to Hezekias when he was sicke Lord thou knowest that I have served thee with a perfect heart And what then Therefore give me health and hee prevailed it will bring you friendship when you need it from your enemies that can hurt you and are ready to doe you hurt as Iacob you know what a feare he was in of Esau but when hee went to God hee prevailed with him When you are in the jawes of death and would have life this will procure it at Gods hands as it oft did to David Psal. 116. When the snares of death had compassed me about I sought unto thee and thou deliveredst me I say this you shall have by these riches whatsoever you want it will fetch in to you For as it is said sin lyes at the doore to doe you hurt at one time or another So you may say of grace of the good workes you have done they will doe you good one time or another for as it was with Cornelius his prayer and his good workes came into remembrance before the Lord when it may be himselfe had forgotten them So I say God will remember all these and as ye therefore reckon riches precious because they will set men a worke to doe you service to doe you kindnesses and Riches can doe no more than men can doe and they are precious because they set men a worke these set God a worke and they will do as much for you as God can doe Now these are riches indeed as farre exceeding the others as the helpe and power of God doth exceed the helpe and power of man because they set God a worke they will fetch from the Lord whatsoever you have need of But besides this I say they can doe much for you every manner of way Another property of riches is to make a man undependant to make him stand on his bottome as rich men say I can live by you and without you So those that are rich in grace and good workes they may say to the world and to the shop of vanity in it as Paul saith They are drosse I have better things provided I can live by you and without you this you shall have by Christ and there is no way to have independance but this but besides this is our comfort beyond all that these riches will stand you instead in the day of dearth For why doe men gather treasure but for a day of dearth for a time of poverty for a time of necessity for hee saith then my treasure will stand me in stead I say such treasure is this that you have by Christ when death comes which is a time of spending and not of gathering then this treasure shall stand by you to sustaine you to comfort you to uphold you all this you shall have by these riches that Christ gives you and this is a small thing Take two men when death comes when the time of need comes take one that is rich to the world and another that is rich to God and rich in good workes now by good workes by the way know that I meane not almes-deeds onely for that is the errour of Papists but by good workes I meane also the laying up of many faithfull prayers the keeping of simplicity and sincerity in all our conversation the keeping of a cleare conscience to God and men the serving of God with a perfect heart these are the riches I say Take two men the one rich in these kinde of riches another that is rich to the world when these two die which of the two riches would you chuse I say this is a thing that may win you to come in to Christ he will make you rich you shall have treasures layd up you shall bee rich in grace and in all good workes But is this all No you shall be rich in all kinds of blessings in all kinds of comforts in all kinds of priviledges it may bee this will winne you more In 1 Cor. 3.23 Paul is yours and Apollos is yours the world life death things present and things to come they are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Marke there is nothing but a Catalogue an Inventory of a Christians riches saith hee Paul and Apollos What are these all the gifts and learning that they have it is for your sakes they are your servants they are but men that watch over you for your salvation all the excellent gifts that God hath given to the sonnes of men they are but your riches But is this all No the world is yours and all in it You will say we finde not this for who hath the world at will Who amongst the Saints Though you have not yet the misery that you finde in the world the want of wealth as well as the enjoying of it is yours that is it tends to your advantage all is but for you As in the field of wheat we may sow all is for the wheates sake the soyle is for the wheate the Husbandman is for the wheate the stalk the eare the dew the barne the threshing all is to serve the wheate so wee may say of a Christian in this world The world it selfe that is the field is but for the wheate for Christians the Husband-men Paul and Apollos and Cephas are but for you And if you object but alas wee have many bitter â—â—ormes and afflictions for all you make these promises unto us It is very true but all these are for the wheate as you know the wheate must have a summer and a winter it must have frost and snow it must have wet and drie or else it will not ripen no more will you you must have weale and woe you must have affliction as well as prosperity but this is for your comfort all is for you the world is yours Is this all No life is yours death is yours that is this life is nothing but a fitting a preparing a squaring of you for a better life for eternity Why But death is terrible No it is your advantage for you shall dye just then when it is best for you death shall serve but as a servant for your advantage That as a man would have a tree that should grow he lops it just in the time and season but trees that hee would have destroyed he cuts them at any time All the Saints have this comfort that death comes for their advantage God cuts them not downe he lops them not he puts not in the sickle till they be just ripe for death is theirs and lest this should not be enough he saith things present and things to come are yours Men will say you promise for eternity indeed but what doe ye for the present Why godlinesse hath the promise of the present life Yea but if it be well
with us for the present yet we know not what may befall us Things present therefore and things to come saith he all this is yours and if all this will not content you I will adde one thing more the Lord himselfe is yours so that take God and looke on him in his greatnesse in his mighty power God that is Lord of Heaven and Earth I say he is yours all that he hath is yours all that hee can doe is yours And therefore when hee speakes to Abraham Abraham saith he I will bee thine if thou wilt be mine I will be to thee an exceeding great reward you shall have God himselfe for your portion You will say how can God be your portion Yes he himselfe is yours for you must know that finding Mee are the best riches Loving favour Prov. 22. is better than life he that is rich in friends is better than he that is rich in money and among friends who is like to God It was the speech of the heathen when he was asked where his treasure was saith hee Where Cyrus my friend is that is I reckon my friend my chiefe treasure I say God is your friend as hee was the friend of Abraham so hee is the friend of all the Saints you have him and all that he can doe for that we may truly say there is no end of a Christians riches Paul when hee considered this Eph. 3. saith This is a glorious priviledge that I should preach among the Gentiles The unsercheable riches of Christ the unsercheable riches of Christ hee could finde no bottome hee knew not the measure the length the breadth the height of these riches and unsercheable riches of Christ. Wee give you but a little glimpse if God open a crevise of light to you to see these riches you will be content to doe as the Merchant to fell all for the pearle for it is worth all that you can sell for it I say if you could see what it were if you could discerne and judge of it with righteous judgement you would regard nothing in thâ— world besides but you would then say I will goe and take Christ for there is riches indeed and hee is a happy man of whom God saith as he saith of that Church I know thy poverty but thou art rich So you see you shall have a kingdome by Christ and you shall have riches But is this all No for I tell you the Scriptures present them to us under sensible things things that wee can feele because that we are lead with senses in this life he saith if you will come into Christ he will make you a feast Esay saith 25.16 In the Mount of the Lord he will provide a Feast of fined Wines of fat Wines fined and purified of fatlings full of marrow and frequently it is repeated in Scripture that Christ wil make you a feast They were sent to come unto the feast of the King Mat. 22 His Wine was drawne his Fatlings was prepared that is any thing you shall have by Christ you shall have a Feast What is this Looke what meat doth meat is called a feast because it maintaines life and so doth this it breeds and maintaines life yea immortall life as the food is of an immortall nature it is the bread of life Againe meat breeds strength so this strengthens you in the inward man to doe holy and spirituall duties as the corporal meat strengthens the outward man to labour and exercise Againe a Feast breeds joy and cheerefulnesse So doth this As the corporall feast cheeres the heart and refreshes the spirit so if you would know what this feast is it is that which breeds and maintaines spirituall life and strength and cheerfulnesse You will say what is that By induction of particulars what it is not you shall finde what it is First it is not that which continues you in a being for that stones have and yet are farre from having this life Againe it is not that which gives you vegetation and motion and sense for that Beasts have and that have not this life Againe it is not the exercise of reason and understanding for that reprobates and divels may have yet dye the second death What is it then It is that which breeds and maintaines that holy and regenerate men live heare and with the Angels live in Heaven for all eternity that which breeds that life for you must know that the soule that is within us hath its food to feed on as well as the body The soule hath its food that is whersoever there is the hidden man where there is the new man the hidden man of the heart as Peter cals it it must be fed as well as the outward man it must have dinners and suppers and break-fasts if there be life there it must have all this otherwise what is Christs saying when he said Ioh. 4. I have other meat that you know not of and what is Davids meaning when he saith Thy word is sweeter to mee than the honey or the honey combe If it bee not that the soule the regenerate man within is fed with a kinde of foode And what is Iobs meaning when he said Hee found it better than his appointed meales that is he would let his body starve it should want at least rather than his soule should be deprived of the ordinary meat it should have In this sense Manna is said to bee the food of Angels why could Manna bee the food of Angels If these materiall and substantiall soules and the Angels had not somewhat else to feed on Manna was Angels foode Angels have not mouthes to eate Manna therefore it is not the corporall Manna that is said to be Angels foode What then It was Christ that was typified by Manna as he saith Iohn 6. I am the true Manna the true bread that came downe from heaven The Fatheâ—s eate the same spirituall meate so it was then the spirituatll Manna that was Angels foode and if Angels foode then the foode of our soules for our soules and Angels feede alike You will say yet cleare unto us further what this is If wee come to eate Angels foode you shall finde in Iohn 6. Seek not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endures for ever saith Christ which the sonne of man shall give you for him hath God the Father sealed Marke Seeke the meat that endures for ever so then there is another feast another meate and if you would know what it is this is one property it is meat that endures for ever That is other men when they eate the sweetnesse is gone as soone as they have eaten but the sweetnesse of this continues that is what profit you have had from hearinâ— the word what comfort you have had from praying to God from serving God with a perfect heart these comforts continue for ever As twenty yeares after a man may feele the