really intended which may be reconciled in these propositions 1. We are here to carry in mind the fore-mentioned destinction viz. that the conditions propounded in the Gospell are not Antecedent and Meritorious or so propounded as to be the procuring cause of God's Love and Favour or of the reward propounded in the Covenant such as were the conditions of the Covenant of Works and these propounded to Christ in the Covenant of Redemption for whatsoever respected to price and purchase we must referr it to Christ alone But they are connex and consequent only pointing out unto us the way in which the free blessing of Grace is to be obtained by Mankind Hence we are utterly to disclaim and oppugne all such Popish Doctrines as any wayes tend to render good Works to be meritorious of the promised good This is certain that the different way of proponnding one and the same thing may greatly alter the quality and consideration of it If Salvation should be of Works as the Cause it would shut out Grace but that good Works may be of the things that accompany Salvation and that necessarily as concomitants is very well consistent with the free Grace of God appearing in our Salvation 2. That which makes a Command in a Covenant become a Condition is when it is tyed especially when it is both Negatively and Affirmatively tyed to a conditionall Promise It is true that a command positively given in way of meer soveraignty is no condition but when there is a command given and he that gives it so obligeth himself with it to him to whom it is given as to engage that if he truly and faithfully perform it he shall be thus and so benefited by it and also to threaten that if he fall short he shall thus suffer the command is now so qualified as properly to bear the notion of a condition because the Promise and threatning are positively related to it and must accordingly take place 3. God having pleased to deal with Man in the Gospell in a way of Grace Hence though He do command him as a Soveraign yet he mixeth Grace in all His Commands so that there is no command which is enjoyned us in the Gospell which brings not its benefit along with it Or there is no command in the Gospell which comes to us under the Title of meer Soveraignty but also carryes with it the sweetness of a Promise as well as the rigour of a threatning We may observe that the quality of a condition is not only put upon Faith as Mark 16. 16. but upon Obedience too Heb. 12. 24. Rom. 8. 13. That command in the Gospell which if a Man do perform he hath assurance of Life in his performance but if he do not perform he is certified of Death and Damnation by the neglect of it and all this according to the proposition of the Gospell-Covenant that must carry the respect of a condition but such is Gospel-Obedience as the Scriptures forecited and many more do evidence or we may take it thus All that which God propounds in the Gospel as needfull to be performed by us yea so needfull as eternall Life and Death are infallibly consequent thereupon yea and are referrible thereto is of the condition of the Gospel-Covenant and that is Faith and Obedience separate Obedience and you have a Faith which is vain Jam. 2. 14. and which may be found in Devils vers 19. 4. Whereas Faith is sometimes asserted to be the only Condition required of us in the New-Covenant it is thus to be understood viz. Either 1. That Faith is the only Condition of our Justification but not so of our Salvation It is a Condition of our Salvation too but not only the Right and Title to Salvation is conferred in Believing but there is Obedience also requisite in the way to Salvation Tit. 3. 8. 2. That Faith is the only Condition by which we come to have an interest in Christ's suretiship but not of what is in this suretiship engaged by Christ for us that we shall do By believing in him Christ comes to be our acknowledged and actual Surety in the Covenant of Reconciliation who was our designed and indented Surety in the Covenant of Redemption but still there is something he stands Surety for us in which is formally to be done by us though vertually by the influence and efficacy of His Grace God expects and Christ promiseth that we should fear Him and obey Him and for this He stands bound in the behalf of every Beleever yet the visible Covenant being proposed to us as well as to Him Hence we also stand obliged to the performance of it God in it tells us what it is that He expects of us if we hope to enjoy Him which though it must be wrought efficiently by His Spirit yet it must be formally performed by us Tit. 2. 11 12. 3. Faith may be said to be the only Condition as it is a comprehensive Grace Both 1 As it is that whereby we lay hold upon Christ and close with the Promise in Him and so come to be actually subjects of it according to rhe tenor of it in the Covenant 2. As it is the Spring and Life of New-Obedience i. e. such a Faith whose Nature is to work by Love and hence we find that the whole Spiritual Life of a Christian is called the Life of Faith Heb. 10. 38. Gal. 2. 20. It is not an idle or dead but a lively and working Faith for indeed it is the Faith that mixeth with the duty of a Christian that only puts a worth upon it in Gods account the want of which ingredient renders the most specious duties of Men of no value Heb. 11. 6. Quest But it may then be enquired whither Obedience be not rather a Promise made to Faith than a Condition required of us in the New-Covenant Since Christ hath Promised in the Gospell that he that believes shall be saved and if so then by necessary consequence he that Promiseth the end Promiseth also the means i. e. All that which is requisite to bring us to Salvation and there Obedience may properly take its place Ans In satisfaction to this inquiry these things are well to be weighed 1. We must distinguish between a Promise made by God as one Party in the Covenant and one made by Christ standing in the place of a Mediator interposing between both Parties t Jesus Christ Mr. Stone 's Catechis Manuscript stands as a Mediating Surety on both sides He makes Promises to His Father that all that He requires of us shall be done And He makes Promises likewise unto us that all our Works shall be wrought in us and for us He is a Surety for both Conditions and consequents of the Covenant now the Surety represents the Person for whom He is such and therefore the Person is in Him engaged for in that respect He stands on that Party there being but two in a Covenant If then
forsaken me How shall I pardon thee for this God hath taken such as these very near to Him He hath given them such priviledges and so many advantages Hence for a child of the Covenant to live like the Children of heathen and those whom God hath not known this is a Sin of a deep Dye yea far deeper than theirs who only abuse the light of nature and common goodness of God If you read Ezek. 16. per totum You shall there see what a course God takes to make Jerusalems Sin to appear unparrellel'd viz. By declaring what Covenant priviledges and favours they had enjoyed and prophanely abused Verily God can endure to see that in Sodom which He cannot bear to see in Zion 4. Hence to perish from under the Covenant will be a most astonishing perdition If Judah provoke God to destroy her She comes down wonderfully even to the astonishment of all her Neighbours Let me tell you there are none that leave the World with such amazing Fears and Terrors that close their Lives with such dreadfull agonies and horrours as such do who have been related to the Covenant and enjoyed the priviledges of it and slighted them The remembrance of their Church state their Baptisme the Ordinances they have sat under the Threatnings Warnings Counsels and Encouragements of the Covenant which they have despised will fill their Consciences with most dreadfull regrets and reflections and if any have been so seared as to stifle and suppress all these remorces and to depart this Life under a sullen and desperate hardness or a self-cheating hope yet in the great Day when the Righteous Judge shall give to every one according to their deeds then woe and ten thousand woes to those Children of the Church that shall have despised their priviledges and slighted the Grace profered in the Covenant that have sold themselves to profaneness or liv'd in desperate hypocrisie that have forgotten their Covenant-engagements to God and brought themselves under the Curses of that Covenant Thus you see the relation of Children to the Covenant what are their Priviledges and what are their Dangers God of His mercy grant both to Parents and Children Grace and Wisdom to make a right improvement of these solemne Considerations VSE II. For Exhortation to all such as stand related to God in the Covenant to be very carefull and watchfull to your selves that you keep it You are not so much to boast of or confide in your Covenant Relation as to see to your own part and duty in which you are nextly concerned Take these things for Motive 1. It is no little or light matter to keep Covenant with God It is true Evangelical duty is easie if it be compared with those rigid and strict yea impossible to be performed demands of the Covenant of Works Impossible I mean by the Children of fallen Adam God gives acceptance to such weak Duties and withall gives strength to do them But still if we consider what it is that is required in the Covenant of Grace we shall find that it is for Matter very large and for difficulty exceeding all our own power in our selves and cannot be performed without special Grace from Jesus Christ There is a great deale comprehended in those two short Words Believe and Obey Perseverance in the Faith maintaining it against all the shocks of Temptation which assaults it And constancy in Obedience continuing faithfull unto Death waiting till afterwards for our reward these are great Works To do all we do for God as being His Servants to devote all our time to Jesus Christ as those who are Bought with a Price requires Care Diligence Vigilance Agen there are a great many Duties laid upon us in the Covenant the Precept is of great latitude Psal 119 96. Every Command is full There are Duties to be done Sins to be avoided there are Afflictions Tryals to be undergone God is to be believed in and worshipped Our Neighbours are to be honoured and loved There are a great many relations which a Christian stands in and every one hath its particular respective Duties Moreover the whole Man and all in it stands engaged in these Covenant Duties Every faculty and member owes Obedience to the Will of God We have our hearts to look after and keep with diligence for God and His Glory Prov. 4. 23. Our tongue to order and keep within bounds which must be well looked after Psal 39. 1. And all our bodily actions must be conformed to Divine prescripts All our Natural Civil and Religious actions must be squared by the right Rule and directed to their proper End 1 Cor. 10. 31. Finally that which makes it so great a Work to keep Covenant is the weakness of our Grace and strength of our Corruption and force of the Temptation we are exposed to We have every one of us a Traitor in our Bosome besides a sollicitous and diligent Enemy waiting all opportunities to tempt and draw us aside And there must be great vigilancy and resolution to resist a subtile Devil holding correspondence with a treacherous heart Put all these things together and they will speak thus much that it is a very great Work for a Christian to keep Covenant with God 2. It is not a thing indifferent whither you keep Covenant or no. If you would enjoy the comfort of the Promise you must have the witness of your own consciences unto this It is one thing to be in visible Covenant and another to have the promise of the Covenant positively engaged to you Men deceive themselves greatly with this opinion that they think if they are in Covenant they have Christ for their Surety and Vndertaker And hence can maintain strong confidence in the midst of their own careless and carnal neglects abusing and perverting many Scriptures and particularly that 1 Joh. 2. 1. If we sin we have an Advocate They promise themselves that Christ shall answer for all their breaches of Covenant and hereupon it is no great matter with them to neglect Duty and live carelesly and irregularly but we must beware of deceiving our selves for God will not be mocked 1 Thes 4. 7 Consider then 1. We may be in visible Covenant and yet not have Christ for our engaged Vndertaker it is only Beleevers that have truly placed their souls trust in Him that He stands engaged to and for to others He is only propounded All in the visible Church have not saving Faith wrought in them they have not cordially closed with Christ as their Prophet Priest and King though they have outwardly and verbally promised so to do and His Mediation and Redemption will not be profitable to such These have Pardon Peace and Salvation promised to them only with this proviso if they believe and that with such a caveat annexed to it too that if they believe not they shall be damned God indeed bestowes upon them all visible means and helps to believing but if they improve them not unto the
love Him we cannot but be in love with them They are the product of infinite Wisdom suted properly to the condition of Man and therefore most desirable They are the great things of the Law and hence deserve greatest esteem Every Rule of Duty is a Rule of Life and therefore ought to be as dear un-unto us as our own lives It is not at all to be questioned but that the cause of the great neglect of duty among Professors and their remisseness in doing what the Covenant requires and the hard coming off of many duties which cross flesh and blood ariseth from the want of such a measure of love as ought to be 4. Carefully avoid the throwing of your selves upon unnecessary Temptations to break Covenant with God There are enough will come unsent for and ever when the People of God do go about to set themselves in a most solemn manner to engage in the service of God Satan is then watching for an opportunity to give them a furious assault God no sooner gives Adam the Covenant but the Serpent forthwith assaults him We had need to keep as much as possibly we can out of the way Vnnecessary compliance with wicked men carries great temptation in it Can one touch Pitch and not he defiled Solomon was drawn away by his strange wives his wisdome though uncomparable was befooled and the great familiarity which God held with him who had appeared twice to him was forgotten Jehoshaphat laid a snare for himself and for his Kingdome by making affinity and entering into a league offensive and defensive with the house of Ahab and it proved pernicious in the event If Men will stand in the way of sinners it may be in a little while we shall find them sitting in the seat of the scornefull The People of God should be acquainted with their own infectious hearts and know how apt and ready they are to be born down by the body of death it self much more when weights of temptation are hung upon it else they are not like to be true to God or faithfull in His Covenant They that unnecessarily frequent publick houses will in time learn to to be drunkards They that make a trade of keeping vain Company will grow themselves vain persons They that frequently converse with Hereticks and like society with them will at least become favourers of their Heresies The counsel of the Apostle was very seasonable and needfull for a People in Covenant with God to follow if ever they intend to be true to it 2 Cor. 6. 14. c. Be not unequally yoaked together with unbeleevers c. Nor let us promise our selves that God will keep us if we watch not over our selves He that walks circumspectly only walks safely Men may think their hearts Temptation-proof but if they will run the hazard in this confidence they are like to come off as Peter did in the High-Priest's Hall As then you would have God hear when you pray Lead us not into Temptation do not throw your selves into it 5. Maintain and daily keep in exercise the work of Repentance Though I know it is dangerous and presumptuous for Men to adventure to Sin upon hope to make all good agen by Repentance as though a Man should boldly and frequently take poyson because he hath a precious Antidote by him and indeed such a frame of spirit cannot reign and rule in a Beleever to whom Sin it self is in its own nature abominable yet such is the state of fallen Man though converted that except they keep the grace of Repentance in continual exercise they cannot keep Covenant with God There is no living a life of Gospel obedience without it The state of Beleevers in this life is a very imperfect state in regard of Sanctification it being but in part or degree not perfect there is in a Child of God a great deal of foolishness by reason of which he often misseth his way and wandreth from the precept much weakness which makes him to fall seven times he stumbles at a small thing that lyes in his way Every difficulty is ready to be an obstacle unto him Much also of rebellion is in his heart by reason of that Law which is in his members which frequently leads him Captive Hence the wise Man makes that peremptory demand Who can say I have made my heart clean Pro. 20. 9. His errours and wandrings are so many that alas he cannot know them Psal 19. 12. Hence hath God in much mercy accommodated the Covenant of Grace to this imperfect state of His own People so that a principal part of our keeping Covenant with God lyes in our upholding of the constant exercise of true Repentance And God in His gracious condescendency is pleased to acknowledge the penitent though imperfect Beleever to be a Covenant keeper and though we ought not thereupon to be bold to sin yet if at any time through our own frailty and the subtilty of our own deceitful hearts we are overtaken He hath provided Christ to be an Advocate for us 1 Joh. 2. 1. Hence we find the Gospel-precepts are summarily comprehended in those two words Repent and Believe Mark 1. 15. And God hath abundantly promised in His word that if His People do at any time repent of and heartily acknowledge and turn from their sinful faults He will Hear in Heaven and Pardon and their Sins shall be in His account as if they had never been committed Now to the end that you may order your Repentance aright take these few Rules 1. Labour to uphold and strengthen in your hearts a true and genuine hatred of all Sin This is the great Principle on which true Repentance acts Our commission of Sin ariseth from our Love and liking of it on our corrupt part Now Repentance acts in a direct contrariety unto this and hence it proceeds from hatred of Sin Repentance is properly a change of the minde and affection All Self-Justification ariseth from the Complacency which Men have in their sinful wayes hence arise excuses and diminutive extenuations And we are not so much afraid of Sin as of the wrath and punishment which attends it Whereas if Sin were in it self hatefull to us we should both avoid it with all care as a Man would the biting of a Serpent and also when at any time we are overtaken we would loath our selves for it Let Sin then be exceeding sinful in your esteem grow more and more out of love with get therefore more acquainted with the odious nature of it See how contrary to God's holiness it is how impure and what defilement it pollutes the Soul withal 2. Dwell much and frequently upon the Work of Self-examination We are very apt to be curious Criticks upon other Mens actions but very superficial in calling our selves to a through accouut Hence so little practical Repentance because we know so little that we have to repent of and the reason is because we are such strangers at home
it no great matter to despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Jude 7. In particular how are God's Ambassadors trampled upon It is no new observation but of a considerable standing Many there are now at rest in Glory who living were openly and plainly branded for the troublers of our Israel and the culpaple cause of many awfull Judgements But they shall trouble us no more and if still it must be so that all the Apostasy or declension or corruption that growes upon us must be laid to their charge and they must be accounted the Porters that open the door to let in calamity upon us they must for the present bear it but God knows if these things are so though they be silent He will speak for them This also is a Sin the times greatly labour of and a notorious breach of Covenant it is and ought to be laboured against 5. Great Sensuality It is a most prevailing iniquity and contradicts that sobriety which the Gospel-Covenant obligeth us unto What abundance of drunkenness It is an Epidemical and infectious disease Excess in meats growing up almost into riot Excess in ordinary entertainments excess in apparrel c. I know it is no easie matter to set bounds and prescribe certain and determinate Rules in these things and there ought to be a latitude of charity extended by Christians one to another but doubtless there is great excess and that it should be and so abound in such times wherein God hath been many wayes bringing His People low argues a great deal of the contempt of the hand of the Lord which hath been upon us Be ye sober is a precept often urged and enjoyned in the Gospel There are other Sins also that have gotten footing and extend too far which it concerns God's Covenant-People to eye observe and avoid Your Covenant with God engageth you to withstand all sins and your own prudence will teach you to fortifie most there where the assault of temptation is like to be the most furious Examples Especially of our Fellow-Christians and Professours are of great force and the efficacy of them will not be avoided without great resistance Put but a Vessel into the stream and if you do not row against it it will readily enough run down with it The stream of the times will undoubtedly carry those Men away that will not take up a resolution to stem it And know it it will be your Glory to have stood it out and weathered evil times For you to stand true to the Covenant when there are so many that prove false will be recorded to your honour and commendation When many Disciples went away from Christ it was the credit of the Twelve that they stood by Him and would not go I know many will account you giddy nice whimsical over-precise to be ready to fall foul upon you with calumnies and reproaches for it hath ever been the guise of loose Professours and by this note you may know them that they count it a strange thing that others cannot comply with them and draw out their consciences to such a latitude as for companies sake to run into the same excess with themselves But know and be assured that if to keep other men company you go their pace and slip aside into their irregularities when God shall come to plead the controversie of His Covenant you must not think it hard measure if you be made then also to keep company with them But if you lay out your lives by the straight Line of Scripture Truths and not by the crooked line of such examples God will remember you with favour in such a time when it will be not only a safety but a glory and a happiness so to be remembred If you stand to your Covenant-oath against such Temptations He will never fail of His Covenant-Promise 3. Make conscience of discharging your Covenantdutyes one to another Man is made a sociable Creature and the main end of society is designed for the bettering of the Estate of Mankind by giving them opportunity to be mutually helpfull each to other And the particular end of Christian societyes considered as such is for the better promoting of spiritual good This duty is a Covenant-engagement which you stand under not only by vertue of a voluntary Promise plighted explicitly and engaged in mutually but by the will of Christ it being a New Govenant-Command Joh. 13. 34. A New Command I give you that you love one another It is a Debt which you owe each to other for Christ's sake Love is a very large and comprehensive-duty Christians being bound up together in a society ought to express this Love by a fedulous endeavour to carry on the Glory of Jesus Christ and foreward the Salvation one of another I shall comprimize what I have to present as particular advice in this Case to two Heads 1. Encourage one another to holiness in Life and Conversation We are called to Holiness and it is the way to Happiness Heb. 12. 14. The Covenant of God is an holy Covenant and God is honoured and His Covenant established in a way of Holiness It is then the duty of such as fear God frequently and sedulously to quicken to it and provoke one another to good Works Do this I. By the light and shine of a godly Conversation The example of Christians is very prevalent whither it be good or bad God sometimes pleaseth to make a godly conversation convictive of gainsayers and that which stops the mouths of the most spiteful Enemies and so brings from Men the tribute of Glory to Him Matt. 5. 16. Much more then may it be expected to be quickening and exciting to the graces of Beleevers and put them much foreward that truly fear God The zeal of one Saint if it blaze it may heat even a great many and indeed there is great need to be put upon this especially in these dayes wherein a lukewarm-Profession is much in credit being very fashionable but forwardness and zeal for God is almost out of date and when there are also so many evil examples carrying much of inticement in them to draw men away from God and turn them out of the right way be therefore very wary that you do not add to the number of such 2. By readiness and forwardness to relieve one another with good and wholsome Counsel and Christianhelp at every lift and time of need God is wont for the most part so to order it that in a Church there are some strong and others that are but weak and it is His Will that the strong should help the weak Ga. 6. 1. Are any not so well instructed in the Truth Be willing to take pains with them Are any overpowered with grief sorrow c Comfort and strengthen them Open your hearts one to another have you any thing laid up in your Cabinet of experiences and prudent observations which another stands in need of be not nigardly but readily and
infancy God gives Men Ordinances not only because they are converted though they are also for the perfecting of the Saints Eph 4. 12. but also that they may be converted Mat. 3. 11 It is therefore our duty to take care that they may want nothing of that which God hath appointed for them for their good We cannot give saving 〈◊〉 to our Children that God reserves to 〈…〉 Work but the means of Grace we ought to 〈…〉 As 〈…〉 Works so have 〈…〉 Children is to deny them to be 〈…〉 Kingdome of Christ for this is 〈…〉 He hath appointed all His Subjects to wear and a sign and token of our initiation into His Kingdome To exclude them from Church-watch is to refuse them that help for their spiritual good which Jesus Christ hath allotted them and exspects we should afford them as a part of the body Touching their admission to the Lord's-Table I know there are besides their birth-right such qualifications requisit to be found in them as may give satisfaction to a well grounded Charity that they are spiritually fit for it and to thrust or force them upon it though without these requisit preparations were cruel charity But 3. That all means be used whereby they may be brought to such a fitness and so encouraged and helped in comming to this Ordinance is also a Duty the Churches ow them Touching the great care and pains which were taken upon this score by the primitive Gospel-Churches Ecclesiastical History will give us a plentifull account God makes a great complaint Ezek. 16. 20. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters which thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured Now this is done in God's account when they are neglected and not brought up for God Peter had one particular charge given him by Christ to seed His Lambs Now the care which the Church ows to the Children of it in order to their being fit to receive and maintain the purity of Gospel-Priviledges is 1. That they be instructed in Knowledge I know the first care and endeavour upon this account lyes upon Families where it is to be begun but because Parents ow their fidelity in this point not only to their Children but to the Church also in respect of their Children Hence inquiry is to be made into their proficiency and Parents are accordingly to be further quickned or encouraged Yea when they have done their best there may more be needed to be done for their further proficiency Publick Catechizing was a great business of our first and best times and it was blessed with no small success and I believe it one part of the unhappiness of our time that it is laid aside And could it be revived agen it would certainly be an acceptable service to God and profitable to this and after Generations This is training up Children in knowledge according to Scripture and the neglect of which is so condemned Hos 4. 6. And it would be a sad loss if Religion should be lost in New-England a Place of so great Light and Means for want of attending upon this Duty 2. That a due and careful inspection be made into their Lives and Conversations that what there is of good may be encouraged and what is otherwise may be faithfully reproved It is a temptation by which Satan gains much advantage that we are affraid of incurring the censure and title of busybodies in other Men's matters and hereupon neglect the charge and duty of watching one over another And it much discourageth Children on the other hand from minding that which is good at least is a great encouragement to follow their natural and corrupt inclinations in the pursuit of evil when they see no notice is taken of them but they are looked upon as strangers they are not regarded but they live and do as they list I am perswaded nay I know there are some Children of the Covenant would thankfully accept of faithful admonitions and serious counsels from them that fear God and there is great hope were this practised God would bless it with good success 3. That the wayes and orders and Ordinances of God's House may be left to them not depraved or polluted but pure and intire according to the Orders of the Gospel and instructions of Jesus Christ If we shall through neglect suffer corruptions to creep in in our dayes we may expect that they will grow a-pace upon our Posterity Apostasy hath alwayes been observed to grow much faster than Reformation There are some publick Church dutyes which if practically neglected when once lost will hardly be recovered some evil practices which if once grown into a custom will soon plead prescription and not without great difficulty be suppressed Something of this New-England's experience will attest to what bickerings controversies and disputes have been What oppositions have been broken thorough in redeeming our Childrens interest And there are many Ex orbitances standing at the door ready to thrust in The Rule left us by Christ must be stood to if we will have His Peace and it will be no little comfort to you when you leave this World that you leave behind Religion setled upon the right Basis and unpolluted and this will be a good argument of hope that God intends a blessing to succeeding Generations However it will afford great peace to your Consciences that though Religion should dye decay suffer in the World yet you have been true to your Covenant with God have been faithful observers of it in this your Generation and have done the best to leave it nothing worse than you found it and can therefore quietly depart out of the World yea go hence with a solid hope and grouded expectation to receive the Promise and take possession of everlasting Mercyes II. Give me leave in the next place to speak a few words in particular to those that are the Children of the Covenant and so I shall close this discourse And let these carefully receive and lay up in their hearts these few things You here see the way for you either to keep or lose these Covenant-Mercyes Be therefore perswaded to know your Duty and carefully to set your selves to perform it If you would have your Father's God continue to be yours you must make it your study and business to know and serve Him Solemn was David's advice to his Son Solomon 1 Chro. 28. 9. Besides the general motives which were propounded at the beginning of this Vse I would leave a few special Considerations with you God grant you may receive the impression of them 1. The main errand which brought your Fathers into this Wilderness was not only that they might themselves enjoy but that they might settle for their Children and leave them in full possession of the free pure and uncorrupted libertyes of the Covenant of Grace They have made this Profession openly to the World yea let reason speak and say what else was there which could have
real and material purpose in it carefully enquire and see what that is And whether the want of a firm and fixt heart in it will not evert and disappoint it The design then of this work if any is this viz. To promote and forward a true and through reformation or at least to confirm and settle our selves in a serious and stable Profession and practice of the fear and service of God to put a strongly and obligation upon our selves to keep close to God and his wayes Now if the heart be not right in this matter all will come to nought and be to no purpose It is not the least breach of Charity to say that either no reformation or to be sure no durable reformation will follow a verbal and out-side Profession If the heart do not vow to God as well as the lips we shall never stand to such vowes The bond of a meer Oral Covenant let it carry never so fair promises in it styed of a slip-knot and a false heart will easily unty 〈◊〉 And what then is to be expected as the fruit of such a Covenant It is possible it may bear a little aw upon us for a few dayes but it will quickly wear off that which here followes in my Text will be the same which will be consequent upon our engagements Neither were they stedfast in His Covenant 3 Consider how hard a thing it is for you to get your â—earts right in so solemn a Service I can assure you that except God afford his special help and Grace all the power of Man cannot effect it It is a hard thing Man to know when his heart is right It will solemnly protest that it is so when it is indeed most false if he be so foolish as to believe it at its word he shall be easily cheated Did not Israel when they were at mount Sinai under the amazing terrors of God's dreadful presence think their hearts right when they made that profession to Moses Deut. 5. 27. Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it But let us see what God saith vers 28 29. They have well said all that they have spoken Oh! that there were such an Heart in them c. Did not Jehu think his heart was right when he invites Jonadab as a Spectator Come and see my zeal for the Lord The understanding may be convinced and the affections may be raised and the Man may be forward and yet a false heart in all this And if it be thus hard to know the hearts falseness much more hard and difficult is it when it is discovered to be wrong to get it right Before the heart can be right in the Covenant it must part from that enmity which it bears against God it must lose its self-soveraignty and be brought into true subjection unto His Holy Will it must renounce it self it s own guidance its carnal delights and be truely and willingly devoted or consecrato God and His Service It must make a free full and everlasting choise of God and His Wayes it must take delight to be bound and engaged to him and account that its Covenant-engagement unto God is its greatest liberty It must take up strong purposes and inviolable resolutions to do whatsover God commands To avoid what He prohibits with greatest care and vigilancy to be for Him and no other How contrary and unpleasing these things are to flesh and blood he cannot but in some measure understand who was ever truly acquainted with His own heart 4. Consider what it is that you desire may follow upon this dayes work I dare presume that there is never an one of you but propounds to himself some good effect to ensue upon so solemn an affair as this is and so indeed their will if it be not our own fault But yet on the other hand take this also for an undoubted truth that if your hearts do here dissemble and deal falsly not good but evil is to be expected to follow You would have God's anger turned away which hath broken in upon us laid wast many of our pleasant things you would enjoy Him as a reconciled God you would have Him to own us signally by some tokens of His favour whatever your desires be the want of a right heart in the duty wil frustrate all It is with you now to procure Life or Death God's Favour or more of His Anger Alas God is not delighted in a pompous shew and a great appearance of seeming solemnity as we poor Men are apt to be God's heart is no wayes engaged to us by such things an humble an holy and a contrite heart is that which reacheth His heart and will procure His Love and Favour Let but your hearts be right with the Lord And I dare promise you that His shall be so with you and He shall so witness it as not only you but others also shall see and observe it Eminent for this was that hearty Covenant of Asa's of which we have that memorable note 2 Chro. 15. 15. All Judah rejoyced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their Heart and sought Him with their whole desire and He was found of them And the Lord gave them rest round about If you be not great Gainers you will be great losers If you think to deceive God He will certainly deceive you And whiles you are vainly gaping after and promising your selves Mercy and deliverance you shall find Plagues and Miseries encrease But be faithfull and you shall prosper God even your own God shall bless you For Direction that your hearts may be right in this Service 1. Dread hypocrisie in this Work Be awfully afraid to come before God with a false heart There is nothing more dangerous than carnal confidence Prepare your selves to the work by thinking seriously in your own Souls how dreadful a thing will it be for me now to come and dissemble with the holy One of Israel You had much better to impose upon all the World than so much as think to do so upon God Say thus to thy self If I should now come and plight Promises make vowes enter a Covenant and my heart not be in it I shall pull down curses upon my own Soul Shall I call the God of heaven of earth to witness to a lye Shall I invite His solemn presence to a mockery And shal I not in so doing draw down and hasten vengeance upon mine own head 2. Be very jealous of your own hearts Ever suspect and be afraid lest they should be deceitful Blessed is the Man that feareth alwayes Pro. 28. 26. Peter trusted to his heart and it deceived him and so may it be with me It is the wisdome of a Christian to watch his Soul diligently looking upon it as a slippery thing and very ready to steal away from every holy and solemn work and to deceive him with