in our stead and made over to us in the Covenant of Grace That is one Righteousness Secondly There is another Righteousness of Christ which is not only inherent in himself but is communicated to us so that it is wrought in us which is the righteousness of our Sanctification and it is that branch of our spiritual Life that this Text aims at for he did assert the other our quickning from the guilt of sin in al the former part of his discourse Now that no wretch may abuse it and say that then we may continue vassals to sin he proves it that Christs righteousness is communicated to us that is Christs Grace is infused into our souls and that is made up of these three things and I conceive there is nothing else in it but these three things The one is The Spirit of Jesus Christ that holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is communicated to Beleevers to dwel in them to be in them a principle of a new Life Secondly This holy spirit poured into the soul works in them in al the faculties of the soul those gracious dispositions wherein the Image of God stands which is light in the understanding freedom in the will love and fear and joy that is the turning of al these affections or passions to their right object habitually disposing them turning the bent of the heart from sin to God And then the third is This self same spirit that plants in them these Graces abides in them to excite them and stir them up and draw them out in their whol course to think and speak and do the things which in a kind of natural way flow from these inward principles and are a conformity to the Will of God and thereupon al the love of the Saints to God and one to another all their mourning for sin their striving against it all their endeavors after God they are motions of this new life that is wrought in us and this is the life now that all the Lords people do live while they are in this world The Spirit of Jesus Christ bestowed upon them working in them a new frame of heart turning the bent of their hearts to God and remaining as an exciting principle to draw out their graces and strengthening them in their working whereby their endeavor is in al things to live unto God according to his Will and this is that Life which my Text and other Scriptures call the Life of Christ and the Life of God which although it be perfect in none in this world but there are reliques of our old death in us and of our sinful distempers in us yet really and truly these things are found in every soul that is brought home to Jesus Christ. And let this I pray suffice for the Doctrinal part that without being burdensom to you I may make some application of it Thus then you see though I have not turned you to many particular Scriptures yet I know that if you do but read the Scriptures you wil find that this Doctrine it lies written upon the foreheads of abundance of Texts that thus it is with al Gods people Now then for the use of it I intend but three Uses it may be I shal but even name the last First You see by all this how necessary it is that you should al try and examine your souls Whether you be partakers of this Life or no And good friends be serious about it and to make you the more serious give me leave to stir you up by these few Considerations to be willing to have your hearts tried about it The one is That in truth this alone is Christianity mark my words and if you understand them not now study them There is nothing Christianity but the Life of Christ nothing else that is truly Christianity Opinions they may be Christian Opinions they may be Christian Truths but there is no life As we say not of any dead Carkass of any Picture though it be drawn to the life we say not in proper language this is a man though it be as like him as one thing can be like another if it have not a mans soul we say not of a dead man though it be the body of your Father or Mother you cannot properly say this is my Father or Mother it is but the Carkass of them So I say be baptized be in any Church Form or Order wait upon never so many external Duties hear Sermons never so constantly give as good words as you will to those that preach the Truth and hold it out to you this is not Christianity Christianity is to live Christs Life and at that day you shall find the Lord will never own a soul to be a Christian that had not the Life of Christ communicated to him And Secondly I tel you to provoke you to it Abundance of things go for this Life which are not this life because it is the thing that discriminates Gods people from others Satan hath shewed infinite stratagems and discovered all his abilities laid them out that he might make counterfeits of these things that might go currant with people that he could delude Civil Righteousness in some it is not Christianity a form of Godliness in others it is not Christianity and abundance of things that I have not time so much as to reckon up but these are not Christianity though they look like it and therefore I beseech you but think how you could answer this great Question Doth Christ live in you have you the life of God in you The Life you live in this life is it the Life of the Son of God Think what you could answer to it Now if you wil say How shall we know it I wil briefly discover it to you for I will give you but two Characters of it many others might be had but two I would bestow a little time to cleer to you The one is Wheresoever the Lord gives Life to any Creature in a natural way the life is the preciousest thing in the world to that Creature howsoever it may mind other things delight in them be taken with them there is nothing so precious to it as life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life and if you would suppose as the life of a man it is made up of several lives that that continues the being of his life it is prized above al the others if he wil be impaired in any of them it shal not be in that as neer as he can that concerns the being of his life Now accordingly say I you shal find it cleer that among al those that live the life of Christ there is nothing in this world so dear to them as their spiritual Life is it may be they are dayly mourning for the weaknesses of it but that that they have of it is dearer to them than any thing they have in this world besides and the high
Riolanus Anatomy 6 Veslinguâ— Anatomy of the Body of Man 7 A Translation of the New Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London Wherein is added The Key to Galens Method of Physick 8 The English Physitian Enlarged 9 A Directory for Midwives or a Guide for Women 10 Galens Art of Physick 11 New Method both of studying and practising Physick 12 A Treatise of the Rickets 13 Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the Common People 14 Health for the Rich and Poor by Diet without Physick The London Dispensatory in Folio of a large Character in Latin The London Dispensatory in twelves a smal Pocket Book in Latin To the Physical Reader THe greatest Reason that I could ever observe why the Medicines prescribed in these Books above mentioned and in many other Physick Books do not perform the Cures promised is the unskilfulness of those that make up the Medicines I therefore advise all those that have occasion to use any Medicines to go or send to Mr. Ralph Clarke Apothecary at the sign of the three Crowns on Ludgate-Hill in London where they shall be sure to have such as are skilfully and honestly made The Printer to the Reader I Have in my hands divers other works of Mr. Stephen Marshals which for their excellency and variety of matter are highly esteemed by all that heard them preach'd Or have read them in writing I intend to print them in several smal Books that they may not be above the reach of a poor man's purse The Subjects on which they treat are Chiefly these that follow VIZ. 1. Of the Covenant of Grace And the great priviledges the Saints have therby 2. Formal Professors seldom become sincere 3. Reformation and turning to God the only means to prevent Ruine 4. Christ the Prince of Peace 5. The Excellency of Christ's Kingdom 6. How Freedom come by Christ. 7. The Vnion between Christ and Beleevers 8. The Riches of the Saints through the Poverty of Christ 9. How Christ is the Head of the Church 10. Christ and his Seed have sufficient strength to destroy their Enemies 11. Christ the Bridegroom Beleevers are his Bride 12. No Participation of Christ but by Faith 13. Faith so precious a Grace that Christ is glad of any thing that may further it 14. An Humble Spirit Infinitly acceptable to God 15. Great Joy to all that Mourn in Zion 16. The double Recompence the Godly shall have after their affliction 17. The Happiness of the Saints under the Cross 18. The untimely Death of good men a Ground of Great Lamentation 19. The Magistrates Dignity Duty and Vsefulness 20. The Churches Danger Deliverance and Duty 21. The Churches praise unto God for their Deliverance 22. A great Mercy in God to prevent his Peoples ingageing one against another in Blood 23. Gods Chosen Ones are the Preventors of destruction 24. Mens Misery is only from themselves Their Deliverance is only from the Lord. 25. The Pearl of the Gospel 26. How the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation 27. It 's impossible for true Beleevers totally and finally to fall away 28. Parents Duty to their Children 29. Provision for the Poor 30. The Great Judgment of Famine 31. Of the Sacrament The CONTENTS of the first Book of Mr. Stephen Marshals Works VIZ. Of Christs Intercession or Sins of Infirmity SERMON I. On 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous THe scope of the Epistle Opened Page 1 2 3. The words of the Text explained Page 3 4. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs Intercession in Heaven is the great dayly Relief that all the Saints diligentest their watchfulest work in the world to keep their hearts in a good frame when once the Lord in mercy hath put them into a good frame Page 132 133 Reasons of the Point Reas. 1. Because the Heart is beyond all comparisons the best part of Man it is the Head Quarter Page 142 Reas. 2. Because the Heart is not only the best part of Man but it is the Treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self Quest. What are the Treasures laid up in the heart of a gracious Man Answer 1. The great God chooses the Heart of every Godly man for his Privy and Presence Chamber 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel dwels there in whom are bid all the Treasures of God 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too the Heart of every Godly man is his Temple 4. All the Graces of the Spirit of God are laid up there 5. The Word that is the the rule of our life is laid up there Reas. 3. Because the Lord whom we profess to serve looks only at the Heart in al the Sacrifices we perform to him Reas. 4. The Devil makes all his Assaults and Batteries against the Heart and counts all his labor lost if he get not into the Heart Reas. 5. Because the Heart is not to be trusted but is deceitfull false cosening even the Heart of the best man in the world 139 Reas. 6. Because out of it are the Issues of Life thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept Use 1. Serves to reprove thousands with a bitter reproof who would fain go for Children of God and yet 1 They are exact in keeping their Houses c but neglect their Hearts Page 143 144 2. Others are curious about their Bodies to Feed Physick Adorn them but neglect their Hearts Others are careful also of their manners and Conversation to avoid scandal and yet neglect their Hearts 4 Others keep indeed their Hearts but sleightly they do not keep them above all keepings Page 146 Use 2. This is a Doctrine of wonderful consolation though it carry just rebuke with it to al whose Consciences witness that their greatest care is to purge and keep their Hearts Page 147 Use 3. To exhort all men for the time to come to make this their study to keep their Hearts Before this can be done I. The Lord must break the Heart to pieces and new mold it And then you must 1. Keep it pure from Sin 2. Keep it fit for Duty The Life of Christ or the great Mystery of Spiritual Life SERMON I. THe Text Opened Page 1 2 3 Doctrine 1. Every Soul that hath Interest in Christ while he is in this world it is in Christ that lives in him Doctrine 2. The manner of their living this Life in this world it is by Faith For Explication consider that There is a twofold life 1. A Natural life which we have from Adam 2. A Spiritual Life which flows from the second Adam Quest. What is this spiritual life Answ. It is a Participation of Christs Righteousness upon the Souls union with him Use 1. Shews how necessary it is that we should all try and examin our Souls whether we are partakers of this Life or No. Page 20 Considerations to stir up to this examination 1. That in Truth this alone is
particulars then he walketh as becomes a Saint in holiness and righteousness but when at any time the Spirit of God for reasons best known to himself doth withold his immediate assistance from that Soul then their habitual inclination is never able to make them do any thing that is good If a temptation to a sin be propounded and a corruption of their nature be a little excited and Satan backing it and the Spirit of God not joyning down they tumble in every temptation and sin against God though never so fouly and if a holy Duty be to be performed pressed with all the moral Arguments in the world if the Lords spirit afford them not assistance and strength immediately they are not able they are unfit unable to do that which they are required and from hence ariseth all the infirmities of Gods people and herein you may see there is a corrupt nature in part remaining There are likwise external objects that would stir up this corrupt nature temptations from the Devil that would inflame it when these stir and Gods spirit doth not assist then are all the Lords people so weak and feeble that infallibly they sin against him and this is the nature of the sins of infirmity that is the first The second thing I would cleer is this Secondly What kinds there are of them because that will further acquaint you for indeed my aim is that all the Saints of God may see the frame of their own spirits as it were in a Glass that so afterwards you may learn how needful the Lord Jesus Christ is to us then the second question is What kinds of infirmities are the people of God subject to To that I answer They may all be brought to these two Heads they are either First Such as are not common to all the Saints No nor to any of Gods Children except upon special desertion or else Secondly They are such as all Gods people while they live in this world are dayly compassed about with For the first of them I. There are Infirmities I say which are not common to all Gods people No nor to any of them unless when very extraordinarily deserted of God and they are such as when the Servants of God do seem to pour their hearts out into wicked waies and commit those sins that are publickly to the dishonor of the Lords Gospel to the wasting of their own Consciences to the defiling of their own holy waies to the scandal of Gods people as suppose to live in Adultery in Uncleanness in wantonness Cursing Swearing Drunkenness false dealing and the like Now two things I would say about this 1. That somtimes Gods own Children for a season are left under such a condition David you know even when he was the Child of God took his neighbors Wife into his bosome and most wickedly plotted to take away her Husbands life and did take it away Peter Cursed and Banned and Swore and counterfeited himselâ— to be a prophane person that he might not be thought to be a follower of Christ So that such things many other instances I might give you that in the greatest the most flagitious way wherein a man may seem to be turned from Christ and betake himself into the Tents of his enemies to fight against him as if he would be a Ranter against him such a thing may befal a Child of God But then I adde 2. But this is not the Lot of all No nor of any but when extraordinarily deserted and that is cleer by this because throughout all the tennor of the Gospel it is sufficiently declared that these are not the spots of Gods Children these are not the waies of the Saints these are the waies in which whosoever walks cannot be saved and therefore what their condition is I shal tel you by and by God willing when I come to cleer it But that is one sort that it is possible the corruption may be so strong the assistance of Gods spirit so wholly withdrawn and the temptation so mighty as that a Child of God for want of strength may fall into the foulest mire and filth in the world That is one sort II. There are other sorts of Infirmities which all the Saints are compassed about with every day that they live and it is rare that any of them spend a day either without al of them or some of those infirmities and if you wil know what they are I answer There are three kinds of them and I think all the infirmities of the Saints wil fal under one of them and I purposely open them that you might have a Glass to see your faces in 1. Some and very many of the infirmities of the Saints of God they are meerly the infirmities of their understandings that is sins of ignorance that they do the things that are contray to God contrary to his will but do not know Gods mind about them and from this sort no man upon earth is free Who knows the errors of his life and I think verily under this head fals those sins of the Patriarchs of the holiest men that walked with God whose hearts were perfect with God they had their many Wives they had their Concubins too not knowing that this was against the Institution of God And so likwise in the sin of omission as you shal see there was from Joshuah's time to Nehemiah's time one of the great solemn Feasts that is the Feast of Tabernacles was never kept according to Gods institution for a thousand years together that they were by Gods institution to keep it not in their own houses but to go to live in Booths in the Fields for that time it is said expresly from Joshua to Nehemiah that that Feast had never been so kept that either they had forgotten it or the generations were unacquainted But now when Gods people do any of them in their speeches or actions do the things that are indeed contrary to Gods wil but especially not knowing it to be so and yet their hearts prepared that if the Lord would but discover his mind to them they would follow him in all things and yet this is one sort that all Gods people are liable to in the world But I tel you by the way that were but this one thing understood it would go a great way to make the Servants of God less harsh than they are one to another The Lord give them so much light to own it he sees such a thing as cleer as the Sun to be the institution of God or the mind of God or the way of God in this or that Duty of the first or second Table and then because he sees it he is ready to condemn all the world as rebelling against God for not being of his practice because the Lord it may be lets not them see it But that is one sort sins in the understanding when Gods wil is not known 2. Another sort of these infirmities when the
after him and would but accept of him and tels them more particularly that they must eat and drink his flesh and his blood as the only Food that would do good to their Souls hereupon these carnal People were extreamly offended at him and at his Doctrine for they interpret all this in a carnal manner as if Christ did mean that they must eat his very flesh and drink his very blood as they did eat and drink other food and truly it was ever thus and it wil be ever thus that nothing can act above its own Sphere and they who have carnall minds can never judg right of spiritual things thereupon our blessed Savior in the words that I have read and in many other in this latter end of the Chapter inculcates this Doctrine further Assuredly no man could ever live that did not eat and drink his flesh and blood and he that did eat him and drink him eat his flesh and drink his blood would receive such invaluable nourishment as he would think it the best meal that ever he was at And that is the scope of these words which before I come to handle give me leave very briefly to vindicate them from the gross erronious interpretation that the Papists put upon them for you all know that there is a monster in their Doctrine that is called transubstantiation which in their conceit is the turning of the Bread and the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and whosoever doth not beleeve it in their conceit is certainly damned And this Doctrine of theirs hath been the occasion of the murdering and martyrdome of many thousands of Saints and among all the Arguments that they alledg to prove it this Scripture is the prime of all the rest except only that of This is my Body But in the next place to that comes this discourse wherein Christ speaks so Positively and punctually of eating his flesh and drinking his Blood and the necessity of it to salvation that they think every man out of his wits that is not convinced by these Texts to grant their transubstantiation yea one of them and one of the learnedst of them hath left it in Print that if ever the Lord Christ should say to him at the day of judgment Why didst thou beleeve that the Bread and Wine was my very Body and Blood he would make no other Answer than this Thou spakest it so plain in such a place that it could not be denied my sense and reason could not deny it Now I wil a little cleer this Text from them and I hope to such an understanding Auditory as I think I preach to a very few words wil serve the turn There are three things which whosoever doth but weigh will be easily convinced that the eating and drinking that is here spoke of hath no relation in the world to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The first is 1. This Sermon was preached a whole year before there was any word of the institution of the Sacrament the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was at the Passover immediately before his Death this was a whole year before it Now how can it be imaginable that Christs speech here should be meant of a Sacramental eating when no Sacrament was instituted Who can imagine such a thing Secondly 2. This Text and all this discourse in John 6. if it should be interpreted literally for that is the thing they stand for the literal sense I say interpret it literally and it is quite against their transubstantiation for they say that the Bread and Wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ but if here be any transubstantiation at all it is that the Body and blood of Christ are transubstantiated into bread and drink for he doth not say the bread is my body the drink is my blood but my body my flesh is meat and my blood is drink so that if you will have any transsubstantiation it is quite contrary And Thirdly 3. The eating and drinking of Christ that my Text speaks of it is very plain by our Lords words that whosoever eats him and drinks him as this Text holds out shal certainly live another life for ever and they themselves grant that you may eat that very Body and Blood of Christ as it is in the Sacrament and never partake of his Grace but go to Hell with the Sacrament in their bellies I hope that this is enough to shew you that this Text proves it not I tel you in a word that the eating and drinking that my Text speaks of is the same thing that the people of God enjoy in the Sacrament and out of the Sacrament for there do we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ spiritually by faith whosoever receives it preparedly but the discourse here is nothing at all to that But now I come to the matter and in the words there are two things which the Lord assisting me I wil open to you the first is 1. The duty required of every one that would partake of Jesus Christ and that is to eat his flesh and drink his blood that is the duty pressed over and over and so heavily that the Lord saith expressly that whosoever doth not do it can never live The duty required to eate and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ the second is 2 The benefits which every soul doth receive who doth eate Christs flesh and drink Christs blood and that is set down in many various expressions but all tending to the same thing that is they shall live for ever they shall never hunger nor thirst they shall in no wise be cast out they shall be raised up at the last day they shall live to eternity these are the benefits or rather the benefit for all is one that every soul partakes of who eates the flesh of Christ and who drinks his blood wel now for the meaning of it that I may make it plain for my intent is to preach but a short Sermon I will God willing open both the parts that is the duty required and the benefit received I will open them distinctly and give you the application of them both together for the first 1. What is meant by our Lord when he doth thus positively say that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed this we must eat this we must drink What doth he mean I answer plainly that his meaning is we must beleeve Beleeving is eating and drinking and eating and drinking in this sense is beleeving that is the general meaning and that it is so any of you may prove it your selves if you wil but read the Scriptures over for where he saith My flesh is meat indeed in one place He that beleeveth in me shall never hunger nor thirst by and by He that eateth of this Bread shal live for ever So that I
wil is and he gave it me in commission when I came from him not to deny food to any one that cometh after me Nay saith he last of all 4. This is the Command I have from the Father That I should raise them up all at the last day Though it is true the bodily life ends and fails and they shal turn to dust as others do yet when I come to make good the life that my People must have in abundance when I come in the last day to make it good to them I must raise al up that ever did partake of me to life you see here is the benefit which is laid down in the Text I have only a little paraphrased upon it thus I have opened the Doctrinal part That whosoever would live happy Eating and Drinking of Jesus Christ is the Duty required of him and they that do it are happy abundantly Let me now a little apply this to you but three Uses I wil briefly make of it or rather the Lord makes them for it is out of mans power to do it three things I would observe First USE 1. If you be but willing you may cleerly discern whether you are partakers of Jesus Christ yea or no Oh! that the Lord that is the Father of spirits would work upon your spirits while I am speaking Friends Shall I speak a little freely and examin this great Assembly where doth your eternal happiness lie tel me in your own hearts what you would answer to it if God did examin it where doth your hope of happiness lie Would not this be your Answer Only in Jesus Christ the Son of God that became a Savior for poor sinners I disclaim all other things and I look for my happiness only in Christ Would not this be the Answer of you all It may be some Pharisaical self justifiers they can pitch presently upon their own honest and innocent life but I pitch upon that which I think every one of you would answer It is Christ you say but what Christ is it that you make account is your life What Christ is it Is it Christ the Son of Mary and the Son of God Christ that died upon the Cross that rose again and ascended into Heaven and sits at Gods right hand in the Glory of his Father and that shal come again in the end of the world to judg the quick and the dead Jesus Christ is preached to you in the several meetings in the ministry of the word Is it this Christ you look for I let me add this If there be no more for thee or me than this this Christ that sits at the right hand of God if thou canst not ad this Christ fed upon by me It is Christ in you the hope of Glory it is not Christ in Heaven the hope of Glory therefore I must needs beg of you that you would be true to your own souls for through mercy I have a little converse amongst men and a little experience of them but the want of the knowledg of this point undoeth many men they have heard so much of Christ that unless they be the arrantest sots and debauched persons they can tell you all the story of Christ but if you come to examin how I pra'y came this Christ into your hearts I know how he was prepared for Bread how the Father hath ground him and baked him pardon the expression I know how the Father hath prepared his flesh and blood to be meat and drink But how came he to be your food and how got you your interest in him if you did eat his flesh and drink his blood in a carnal way it would do you no good for though you go for Church members yet if the Lord have not done these things in thee which I have spoke of thou wilt be utterly lost when thou comest to seek for salvation Doth it not trouble thee to think how thou canst answer these four or five Questions I will but name them First 1. Hath the Lord convinced thy Soul really and cleerly that there is no salvation to such a wretch as thou art further than Christ Jesus wil vouchsafe it unto thee art thou set down under that that is wel for believe it til this work of Christ come upon our hearts we never see the necessity of that work Secondly 2. Hath he raised up in thee that amongst all the contents thou findest in other things though God maketh thy Wife comfortable or thy Husband comfortable and al things sutable yet stil thy heart is unsatisfied if I have not Christ I am undone What will my riches do me good if I have not Christ What wil all the talk of others do me good if I have not Christ Hath he raised up in thee such a desire after him What sayest thou Thirdly 3. If at any time the Lord smile upon thee though no body be by but he smiles upon thee in secret thou hast gotten some cleer Evidence that Christ is thine and he wil own thee before the Father Canst thou turn back and even laugh before the Lord and say Oh Lord is it so Is Christ mine Is this to thee 〈◊〉 the honey and the hony combe 4. Dost thou find likewise in a way that thou know'st not how it is brought about but thou findest somwhat settled upon thy heart that hath changed the frame of thy heart thou that art by nature proud lascivious and naught there is somwhat that is wrought in thee and there comes some strength that though thou canst not walk as thou should'st do yet the Lord is dear and his Children are dear and his waies are dear some strength God affords that thou art not pleased in the world but thy soul finds that God hath enabled thee to make him the end of thy life and his word the rule of thy life Hath he done this for thee then there is eating and drinking of Christs flesh and blood then in the name of God thou doest partake of Christ But good Friends be not deceived I tel you in many places not one of a hundred that hears such a Doctrine as this have any part in Christ or their feeding upon him or relying upon him therefore I pray try your selves That is the first Use I wil make of it Then in the second place USE 2. Oh! what a comfort may this be if the Lord would enable me to speak of it I could pour down even showers of Consolation upon those souls that have gone along with me in the tryal All you that the Lord hath shewed this mercy to you that you feed thus upon Christ I tel thee this Carry it home thou hast eat a meal's meat that will keep thee as a man while God lives he hath given thee one bit Oh! one mouthful of Christ to get into Christ I read of the Widows Oyl truly it was a delicate portion that God laid out for her that for a great while together shee
himself there he reckons up Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and all that he hath This is a third Branch of Self Fourthly 4. There is another that is as much Self as any of these and that is that that we cal religious Self and by that you are to understand our performance of holy Duties our Vertues our Righteousness any thing that seems to be spiritual and good and moral in us this you shal find a notable passage about in Phillip 3. where the Apostle there saith of true Beleevers saith he We are the Circumcision that do worship God in the spirit but we put no confidence in the flesh we regard nothing of the flesh and saith he if there be any man that might have any confidence in the flesh I as much as any mark his words I much more than any What flesh doth he mean mark what follows I was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin by my Religion a Pharisee touching the righteousness of the Law I was altogether unblameable here was his self Now this was his flesh so that the Religion the Honesty the Conversation agreeable to the Law that Paul makes a part of himself and cals it his flesh Now concerning these four for yet I have not done explaining this first part what I mean by Self concerning all these four both our Lusts and our natural endowments and our worldly interest and our Religion you must take these three corrollaries to understand them all three things that I would add The first is 1. That al these are but one and the same self pray mark me all these are but one self only As the Sea which is but one yet it is called the Brittish Sea as it toucheth upon England or Scotland It is called the German Sea as it washeth the German shoar and a great way off it is called the Ethiopique Sea as it washeth there but all is but one Sea so all is but one wretched self though we call it a sinful self as self applies it self to Lusts cal it worldly self as self applies it self to wealth or riches or honor and cal it religious self as self applies it self to the Law of God or to God in any such like but all is but one self all is but one and the same man in all these And Secondly Another thing that I would have you know about them all four is this 2. That though all these are in every natural man yet commonly there is but one of them that is predominant and all the other are subordinate unto it As for example Some men make their Lusts their known Lusts their predominant self and unto that Reason and Wil and Father and Mother and Children and Law and Duties and all shal be subordinate because this is the Lord paramount In some others it may be the world is the paramount Oh! and then unto that all their other Lusts and all their Religion likewise shal be subordinate It may be in another his Religion is the predominant his Honesty his righteousness his holy performances that is his great predominant and then unto that all the other shal be subordinate Commonly there is but some one of them that carries the Chair that sits upon the Throne and al the rest are underlings to that Thirdly and that which I most of all would have you mark and weigh concerning them all is this and I beseech you weigh my words 3. That in all these the heart is equally wicked in every one of them the heart is as bad and as far from God in the one as it is in the other I mean plainly thus That man that sets up his Lusts suppose his Whore suppose his Pride suppose any known wickedness sets up that to be the great good that pleaseth him that man is no more wicked his heart is no more wicked in that than another man that maketh Mammon his God the gathering of wealth or the maintaining of his honor and neither of these are more wicked than he that maketh his righteousness his own religious performances his God because for though these may seem strange yet if you wil wait you will find it to be good Divinity though in all these self is the end and all these are used but as means in the one of them I make use of the Devil to serve my self in another I make use of the world to serve my self in another I make use of God to serve my Self but whosoever I make use of it is my self that I set in the Throne my own Ease my own Wil my own Good my own Happiness Now then here is the result whatsoever a poor lost sinner doth make his portion before he come to be reconciled to God in Christ whatsoever it is that he maketh his portion or placeth his happiness in that our Lord means by self and there you have the first thing explained that I intended to handle What is meant by our Self that must be denied all that we make our portion be it our Lusts be they our natural abilities be they our worldly interests be they our religious Vertues Duties Righteousnesses they are all alike when the heart sodders with them or rests in them all these make up that self that must be denied That is the first Secondly The second thing that is to be explained is 2. What it is to deny a mans self he that will follow Christ must deny himself What is that I answer First 1. In general as I hinted before it must be a total denyal it is such a denial of a mans self as must be a total abrenunciation it must not be to put off the skin the Serpents skin and leave the Body or to cut off a Joynt and leave the Trunk but the whole man all the comprehension of this must be abhominated and renounced by that self-denial that the Lord here means But what is it you wil say Wherein stands it That I shal labor to cleer to you as wel as I can 1. Negatively I wil shew what it is not And then 2. Positively I wil shew you what it is 1. What it is not First 1. By denying a mans self the Lord means not that we should counterfeit our selves to be other than we are as Jeroboam's Wife denied her self to be Jeroboam's Wife by faining her self to be another Woman than she was The Lord means not that he that is a proud man should say I am not a proud man or he that is a rich man should say I am not a rich man or he that is a proper man should say I am not a proper man or he whose name is John or Thomas should say I am not that man that is not the meaning that he should counterfeit or feign himself to be another than he is Nor Secondly which it may be you think most probable by denying a mans self is this meant 2. That a man must wholly be
rid of al these things that that man that denies himself must wholly part with all his corruptions and part with the powers and faculties of his soul or the accomplishments of them or part with all his Estate his Wife and Children or part with his morral Duties and Religion that is not the meaning neither and that that is not the meaning I prove thus to you First 1. Some of these things are things we must not part with the Lord forbids us to part with them If God have bestowed upon any man a good Wife or Children or Memory Understanding Learning Wealth Honor or Abilities or Honesty and Righteousness the Lord commands them not to part with these these are things that God may be served with and must be served with therefore that cannot be the meaning Nay 2. The worst of them none of them can be parted with while we live in this world though we would never so fain part with them totally no man upon earth can part with all his corruptions If there be any man can say he hath no sin in him that man rather hath no Grace in him St. John saith that man that saith he hath no sin in him lyeth and the truth of God is not in him therefore that cannot be the meaning What is it then I answer and I humbly crave your attendance and weighing of these things because your everlasting welfare must be measured out by this you wil know your spiritual interest in Christ by it I answer then 2. That this same denial of our selves this total renunciation of our selves it comprehends these four things in it and these four things do constantly meet in every soul that doth deny it self First of all 1. All these things that I have spoken of we do totally and absolutly renounce them all from being any part of our portion that whereas before all our good lay in some of these things that if you would ask any man what he is worth What are you and what are you worth he must tel you I am worth a thousand pound a year or I am worth as much as my Wife and Children my Wit my Parts my Learning my Education my good name my honest Conversation Look what worth there is in all these so much I am worth and this was all his portion but now when the soul cometh to Christ it totally renounceth all these to be nothing at all to him in the point of a portion if he be the Lords and I shal shew you good reason for it by and by God willing I wil shew you a notable instance of it in the Apostle Paul in that forenamed Phillip 3. where he saith I think if any man might Glory in the flesh I might Glory as much as any and there he reckons up his Religion his Birth his Education his Learning his Righteousness and the like and saith he these things were gain to me they were my portion that if you had asked Paul Paul what are you What am I as good a man as you I hope Wherein lies your goodness I am a Jew an Hebrew a Benjamite a Pharisee a Scholler an honest man one that is unblameable in my whol conversation This was my gain saith Paul but after that Paul was called to Christ he did profess al that was his gain before it was now Dogs meat to him shipwracked his Learning abided with him stil and his wealth and his wit or any thing he had it stil but it was all rubbish now he did lay no worth in the world upon it he had no portion now but the favor of God in Christ Jesus that was his wealth but now for all these things what use soever he might make of them they were nothing not one penny to him in the point of a portion This is the first thing that is an ingredient into this same self-denial that when the soul cometh to Christ it is unloosed and set loose from all these things as they gave any support to the soul to breed a good esteem in it of its own happiness That is the first The Second thing that maketh up this self-denial is 2 That as the Soul doth renounce all these from being a portion so as in any of these there is any thing found that stands in opposition to Christ or hath any enmity against Christ so far the soul totally doth not only throw it aside as a worthless thing but opposeth it as a deadly thing it casteth it aside as an enemy Before in the other it throws it aside as a useless thing but here it throws it aside as an enemy when it hath any opposition or enmity against Christ Jesus or the waies that Christ would have his people walk in that is plain both by many Scriptures that you shal see the Servants of God when they come to deny themselves they say to their Lusts get you hence to their Idolatry to their wicked waies they throw them out to the Moles and the Bats they mortifie them they crucifie them they put off the old man with all the Lusts that are contrary to Christ their carnal reason that stands in enmity against Christ According I say as there is any thing in them that bears opposition to Christ Jesus and the waies of holiness so far the soul renounceth them as an enemy if ever they deny themselves because as you shal hear in the Reason Christ Jesus alone is the great good of that soul that denies it self A Third thing that maketh up this self-denial is 3. That all these four or any thing that may fal under any one of them so far as they ever stand in competition with Christ and the things of Christ so far the soul totally abandons them likewise totally abandons them all according as they stand in competition with Christ Jesus and that our Lord means when he saith That a man must hate his Father and Mother and Wife and Children Certainly the Lord doth not mean that we should hate them simply No but when they come to stand in competition with Christ's excellence or providence or things fall out so that I must either renounce these or I must withdraw from Christ I cannot serve Christ and enjoy them too therein I totally renounce them all and this you shall understand thus Our Savior Christ saith a man then denies Christ though he have never so good an opinion of Christ if yet when he comes to that exigent that either he must leave Christ or leave the world or leave his wealth if he leave Christ for his wealth sake then he denies Christ so Christ saith by the same reason when I leave my life leave my wealth leave my Wife my Children my Name my Credit my wil my Duties when these stand in competition with Christ then I deny them all then that soul may truly be said to deny them as I pray take an instance or two of it that you may see what I mean
how the time is gone nor how burdensom I may be to you and although this was all the use I intended when I prepared this Sermon for this place yet since I finished it there is brought somwhat to my hands that doth enable me to make another use of it at least of one branch of it and I beseech you give attention to it and I have done I am informed that it is one of the ends of this grave honorable and solemn meeting of the Magistracy of the City and of this holy service to promote a work of Mercy and Charity towards the poor of the several Hospitals to let the wel affected be acquainted how things are and what may be expected or desired from them and that I may do it in a few words have patience but while I read this short paper to you and then I shal spend a little more of my Theam about it and then I have done Here is a true report c Thus Beloved I have read over this paper and I think I shal not need to tell you how it fals within my Theam I told you that one special branch of Self denial is to resign up all that we have of Wealth Lands Mony Trades Parts Abilities to resign them up to Christ to serve him with them to lay them out in the way that he wil appoint Now your hearts could not wish for a way more cleer and evident for the testifying your being good Stewards for Christ than in owning the present business that hath been read to you and to make it good I wil say but these two things in a few words First 1. That of al the Services of al kind of Services that ever we can do for Christ next to the saving our souls the work of Mercy and Compassion to People is most accepted with him that that himself wil most own in the great day when there shal not a cup of cold water go unrewarded that ever hath been given for his sake I am confident you so frequently hear of the excellency of the work of mercy and bounty to the poor that I shal not need to spend any more time to commend it to you only I pray you to think of it 2. But the other thing that I would commend to you is this and I beseech you beleeve I would not willingly flatter but according to the best information that ever I could obtain There is no such Treasury in the Christian world no such Banck where a man might promise what he doth to be faithfully and wisely and most advantagiously laid out as in this Treasury of the honorable City of London and the Governors of these Hospitals I have often heard for I am but an ignorant man my self in the affairs of this City Godly men and wise men often say that had they any Hospitals to erect any sums of mony were it a hundred thousand pounds that they would promise themselves to be laid out so that it should not go into private mens purses or be given to Vagrants and Knaves but to the halt and the lame that have need of it they have professed they would put it into the hands of those that are the Governors of the Hospitals about London where things are done in such a way that setting aside such frailties as al humane affairs are suhject to in the generality they are above making personal gains but desire only to be faithful Stewards and therefore if God do put it in any of your hearts that you would shew your self-denial and would indeed make Christ beholding to you as he will be pleased to cal himself your Debtor know that such things as these are very fit objects for your thoughts And the Lord of Heaven direct you about it I dare stay you no longer FINIS THE SAINTS DUTY To keep their HEARTS In a GOOD FRAME Opened in a Sermon at Olaves Silverstreet November 9. 1654. PROVERBS 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all Dilligence or as it is chiefly read Keep thy Heart with all keepings for out of it are the Issues of Life IN most of the Chapters of this Book of the Proverbs there is no connection of one verse with another that one should give light or help to clear the other but they are as a multitude of excellent Pearls put into a large Box whereof every one singly is of a very great price and it is thought by many that they were but so many sentences that King Solomon did utter usually when he sate in judicature according as the cause or condition was that was heard before him so there was a divine sentence in the Lips of the King and the Lord in his good providence and love to his Church hath recorded them to be for instruction for his People to the end of the world and amongst them al if you go from one end of the book to the other if it be lawful to make comparisons I may freely say there is not one Pearl of greater price one sentence of more divine use than this that I have read to you and shal endeavor God willing to open as far as I can within the compass of an hour and in it there are these two things plainly laid down Here is first 1. A Duty enjoyned to all the Lords Children in these words Keep thy heart above al keeings Secondly 2. Here is an Argument to enforce to this Duty in these words for out of it are the issues of life 1. And in the Duty there are likewise two things First 1. Here is the subject matter the thing that is to be done and that is Keep thy heart Secondly 2. Here is the manner how it must be done and that is as we translate it with al diligence Keep thy heart with all diligence or above all keepings keep thy heart Now give me leave briefly to interpret the meaning of the words and then I will put it all into one instruction which I will endeavor to handle in this hour First 1. What is meant by the heart And 2. Keeping the heart And 3. Keeping it above all Keepings And so 4. Of the issues of life that flow from it Let me give you a brief interpretation of each of them 1. What doth Solomon mean by the heart here that must be kept No doubt it is not meant of the heart made of flesh that is in the midst of our bodies it is spiritually meant that no man doubts of Now take the heart spiritually and somtimes in the holy Scripture the heart is put for the whol soul somtimes it is put for the understanding faculty somtimes it is put for the memory somtimes it is put for the Conscience sometimes it is put for the Wil sometimes for one or two Affections it were endless to give you the instances of all these but here is a Key in the Text which will tel you what is meant here for without question that is meant by the Heart here that is
you shal find this That when all their infirmities as many of them had many gross ones and grievous ones when they were all reckoned up if this were but added but his heart was with God his heart was upright with God that was a Salvo for all the other he never broke with any of them or cast them off if so be their hearts were but with him in the midst of al other weaknesses and infirmities if they could but say as Hezekiah Lord remember that amongst all my weaknesses my heart hath been with thee there was Gods content And on the other side Let the performances be never so glorious or in things never so much commended or never so much delighted by the Lord the duties of his Worship and Ordinances if God did but say of them This they did but their hearts were not with God Nevertheless his heart was not upright with God that signified the Lord threw it all away as rubbish stuf that he took no pleasure in the wnrld in So then because that it is the Lord that looks at the heart and if he have that he hath all he hath so much as contents him and never breaks for the want of any thing else as you shal see further anon because where the heart is the best they have wil be brought out therefore above all we should keep that That is a third ground The Lord looks at that above all others therefore we should keep it above all others Then Fourthly which I need but name 4. The Devil who is our Adversary and the Lords Adversary and goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking how he may devour all his assaults and batteries are at the heart and he counts all his labor lost if he do not get into the heart if he gets that he gets the Cittadel that wil command all the rest and if he be kept out or cast out there he himself counts he hath nothing therfore he saith he wil enter into Judas's heart he wil fil Annanias's heart he labors to set up his Throne and his Dominion in the heart of the Children of disobedience that is his great endeavor Now then when we are called home to the Lord we give our selves up to him to fight his battels and where we know the Enemy wil most assault certainly our care should be most to watch If the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come he would watch if he knew what part of the house he would assault he would watch that most of all Now Satans whol endeavor though I confess that by his good wil he would not let the Lord have a good word out of the mouth of any of his People nor of any People in the world nor the bending of a knee if it lay in his power but he wil afford that so he may have but the heart and if he can but any waies batter the heart or discompose the heart or bring it out of frame he wil not greatly be troubled at all other formalities they give to God Now because Satan doth so extreamly lay his battery there surely the servants of God should above all keepings with all diligence keep that That is a Fourth ground Fiftly Another that is of equal force is this 5. The Heart even the heart of a Godly man it must be kept above Keepings with all diligence because in truth it is not to be trusted No not the heart of the best man living in the world it is deceitful it is false it is cozenig it is treacherous not that the new heart is so but our heart is renewed but in part and though it be made a Garison for Jesus Christ where our Treasures are kept yet that Garison hath a great many false enemies that lodg within it It were endless for me to explain this sufficiently in so short a time as is fit for me now to speak you know where the Scripture saith that the heart of man of an unconverted man in Jerem. 17.9 It is deceitful above all things it is desperately wicked so desperately wicked and deceitful that none but the God of Heaven can search into the bottome of it the deceitfulness of a mans heart goes as deep as Hel that no plum-line wil go to the bottom of it Now when the Lord plants Grace in any of his Children and brings in some integrity some sincerity yet there remains a woful tang of their former falshood and treachery that was in it before any Grace was brought in and if it be not wel kept and wel looked too the old deceits wil quickly so get up again that all wil be put most wofully out of temper upon a sudden Should I but give you the instances that the Scripture hath left upon record of some of the choycest Servants of God how they have been lamentably befoyled when they have but a little trusted their own hearts and not had a sâ—ickt watch and ward going along with it you would hardly beleeve it That holy Apostle Peter how did he trust his heart when our Lord and Savior asked him whether he would stick to him when he was in danger Lord saith he I wil die with thee and hang with thee if thou beest in danger and he beleeved it and little knew what danger lay in the bottom and David he would not countenance any one that was wicked but when he trusted his heart it led him to Murther and Adultery and Dissembling And abundance of others that when they have but a little beleeved their own hearts the best of Gods Children have found so much that I may say of all the Saints living what Solomon saith in Prov. 28. He is a Fool that trusteth his heart he that trusteth his heart that wil beleeve it No if it be not throughly searched and throughly looked too as Solomon saith of an enemy Beleeve him not though he give the fair words there are seven abominations in his heart So I may say to a Child of God that hath set Christ and Grace and Gods Glory the highest in his heart Beleeve not thy heart there are seven abominations lie in it that if it be not very wel looked to it wil lay thee in the ditch it will bring thee into woful inconveniences Now then as you know in a Garison if so be that we would keep a Garison if there be impetuous enemies without if the Rampires and Wals be strong the Guard may be a little secure but when they know there are a hundred false enemies within their wals that watch for any opportunity to open some postern Gate or other to set fire upon the City to make way for the enemy to come in they are mad that think that it wil be kept without al diligence So that because of the deceitfulness and treachery of our hearts we must therefore keep them with all diligence in the world Lastly to give one more and that is that which my
and then when the Lord hath broke it and new shot it that he hath given you an interest in Christ and the Spirit of Christ is become a new life to you then you are fitted to this Duty but til the Lord hath wrought that in you all other talk is to no purpose therefore your first work must be to get such a heart as is capable of this for every one is not Then Secondly 2. When the Lord hath done so then for the keeping of it in a good frame all the directions though there be very many of them yet I think they may be all brought to these two heads The one is 1. Keep the heart pure keep it pure from sin from the defilement that wil daily grow upon it if it be not wel kept from the stirrings of corruption either to keep them down that they do not stir or when they do stir to get them dayly washed off by the blood of Christ. And then the other is 2. As to keep it pure from sin so to keep it fit for Duty tuned and prepared for the several Duties the word is large and through Gods mercy your instructions are many and whosoever is willing may have constant directions to guide him in all these FINIS THE LIFE OF CHRIST OR THE Great Mystery OF SPIRITUAL LIFE Opened and applied in several Sermons at Olaves Silverstreet Octob. 27. 1653. Gal. 2. part of verse 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me now follows that which I shal more insist upon and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me THE Dependance of these words with the former briefly stands thus The Holy Ghost having decried the Law as that which is utterly unable to give life and set up the justification of a sinner only from Gods Free Grace in making over unto him the Righteousness of Christ having I say asserted this great fundamental Doctrine of our Christian Religion wherein the Galatians were begun to be tainted he then comes to answer the common Cavil which not only the Papists but too many among our selves do charge this Doctrine withal namely That it is but a door to al licenciousness and doth take off the rains from any man and give him an occasion to be bold in wickedness for if our righteousness cannot justifie us nor our unrighteousness condemn us but the righteousness of Christ is accepted for us and in him we are compleat without any thing of our own who would not take liberty to indulge himself in such fleshly courses as are agreeable to his nature Now against this the Apostle opposeth several things as arguments to prove that this cannot be a consequence of this Doctrine to a man that rightly understands it Justification by free Grace wil never be a temptation to a man to a sinful life and one Argument is All Pauls Ministry tended to beat down a wicked life and do they think he would come to build up that which he had pulled down that were an absurd thing Secondly The very end of our Justification by Christ is quite contrary to it for saith he through the Law I am dead indeed to the Law but it is that I might live to God as if he should have said It is true that the right understanding of the impossibility of a sinners keeping the Law wil beat down in him al thoughts of ever obtaining any life by the Law he wil be dead as to look for justification or acceptance that way but it is that he might live to God that is the very end of it that he might live to God that is another argument and that being the very end that God aims at it is impossible that the quite contrary of it should flow from the Lords own appointment Then Thirdly Every man that doth but partake of Jesus Christ he is crucified with him and he instances in himself I am crucified with Christ when Jesus Christ hung upon the Cross and there by vertue of his death did kil sin and by vertue of his resurrection hath opened a way to a new life when I partake of Christ I have an interest in this I die with him and am buried with him therefore it is impossible that looking for life by Christ should make a man live a wicked life And Fourthly Which he brings in by way of Answer to a tacite Objection Are you crucified do we not see you are alive Yes I live indeed but in truth more properly I may say it is not I that live but it is Christ Jesus that lives in me by vertue of my interest in him my whol life flows from him and that life that I live in this life that is in this fleshly Tabernacle it is the life of Christ and the way how I live it is by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me And so I have brought you to my Text and in the words without any further interpretation save what you shal have in handling the Doctrine there are these Two Doctrines cleerly laid down The first is That every soul that hath an Interest in Christ while he is in this world it is Christ that lives in him While we live in this flesh in this world the life that we live it is Christs life Christ lives it we do not only when we accept of Christ beleeve in him to be saved by him when we go out of this world and trust al the daies of our life that when this life endeth he hath a better life for us in store that is not al but when we accept of Jesus Christ we so accept him that his life is communicated to us and while we are in this world we live that life That is the first Doctrine That all the Lords people while they live in this world they live Christs life The Second is That the modus vivendi the manner of their living this life in this world it is by faith We shal live the life of Christ to Eternity but when that moment of Eternity cometh faith shal have no hand in it but the life we now live while we are in the flesh it is the grace of faith by which we live it Just as I may express my meaning for I shal not handle that Doctrine as take it of an Infant As soon as ever the body and soul are but joyned together that it is made a living soul it is the life of a man that it lives but while it is in the mothers womb the manner of living is by the navel the navel-string conveyeth al to it when it comes into the world that is cut there is no more use of it and then it lives another way So while we are in this world though we live the life of Christ yet Faith is as it were our navel-string
it self unto the Word the Word of Promise for matters of Comfort the Word of Precept for matters of Duty the Word of Direction in matters of means and Ordinances the applying of the soul to the Word in all these things the Lord according to his goodness making these things good to the soul that thus applies it self to the Word this is to live by faith So that now to come a little neerer to the business for I have not yet explained it so far as I hope by and by I shall but I say now to live by faith First It is not only for a soul to beleeve in Jesus Christ for salvation or to beleeve all our life time that we shal be saved by Jesus Christ when we go out of the world it is not only that that is but a piece of it But To live by Faith it is in our course to enjoy the whol revealed will of Christ to us as our life thereby fetching all our consolations that are fit for our life from promises thereby fetching all our practices from the declaration of what he makes our duty and applying our selves in the use of those means which the Lord hath appointed us to attend upon for the accomplishment of these this conversation of the soul is the living by faith To live by faith it is this I am not only made partaker of the Righteousness of Christ which is imputed for my justification and is inherent for my new quickening I have not only these principles in me but by the grace of faith al the comfort of my life is fetched from a promise al the rule of my conversation is from the Precepts and all the means I use for the accomplishment of one or other they are those that are prescribed there so that be it to undergo affliction to conflict with a temptation to go through my Calling be it to comfort my heart against temptations when the soul looks to the Word of Christ and there takes the Word for its guide both for comfort and duty until the Lord of his meer grace have accomplished in us all the good that he intendeth to us which wil never be til he takes us out of this world when faith ceaseth but in the mean time this and this only is that which the Scripture cals living by faith But now because I would yet make it a little plainer to you be pleased to know That although there are acts of faith applicable to every particular condition we are in which would require a Volumn to mention yet for the present purpose you must know that there are five things faith doth in this general living by faith that every one that is said to live by faith his faith doth five things in his ordinary course which are applicable to every thing that you can think upon which I shall not need to stand to prove though I will give a touch as I go along because I would spare a little time for the Application before I break off But there are five things applicable First The grace of faith looks at the Word as that which is most sure that is it yields a firm assent to the truth of all that Jesus Christ hath revealed concerning him in his Word The Promises that are made faith assures the soul they are al true they are not whimsies nor fancies The Duties and Directions there prescribed faith assures the soul they are things the Lord looks for so that the Apostle saith in Acts 20. when he lived as a Christian he did exercise himself to beleeve al that was spoken by the Lord in his Law and David saith Thy Word Lord is from everlasting It makes not any scruple or doubt but gives a firm assent to what the Lord hath set down in his Word That is one and that indeed is the Basis and Foundation of the rest The Second It not only assents that all these are true but faith acquiesses that these are the magazine the store house the comprehension of al excellencies that the soul shall ever be made partaker of he desires to be satisfied in the goodness of them he desires no other course of Life to order him but what is set down in the Word he thinks not there are any Councels nor Directions to be regarded nor compared to those set down in the Word he rests in them there his Treasure lies in that great iron Chest and the Word is not only true but his livelihood he knows God hath declared this in his Word and there his soul is satisfied That is the Second And then the third is this The Lord laies al our happiness up in his Word the happiness of our comfort the happiness of our holy conversation therefore faith directs the soul to attend to the Word as to its only guide and comfort that look as a man that is satisfied I am to travel in a dark night and to go through a dangerous place but I am sure I have a mighty guide not a Will of the Wisp as they cal it and an Ignis fatuus to miss-lead me and therefore as I love my life and happiness I will look to the Word by the Word I am guided by the Word I am directed as the Apostle expresseth it It is a thing you do wel to take heed to as to a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn until the day of Heaven come and you be brought to glory The soul looks to the Word as its only card and compass as the Marriner at Sea looks at his Card and Compass they are his guide so the Beleever he only looks at the Word as his guide There is the third And then the fourth thing that faith doth in al that live the life of faith is this That they make the things revealed in the Word the matters of their prayers they dare not beg a thing of God until they know it is Gods wil that they find a warrant to beg it either absolutely or conditionally they make the Word the matter of their prayers and endeavors and if they go about any thing or be under distress and affliction they labor to get rid of it by making the word their direction in that And Fiftly and lastly Doing al these things as well as it can it staies it self upon the truth and faithfulness and power and wisdom and goodness of God and the Lord Jesus who hath revealed these things to him he staies himself upon him for the accomplishment of these things in his own time and in his own way And he now that doth these five things he truly lives by faith The Lord hath turned the bent of his heart to it and he is assured his Word is true and that there lies his happiness he looks at it as his only guide he makes this the matter of his prayer and endeavors and when he hath done knows all his poor endeavors are nothing but waits upon the Lord to
yet this I must say That while these lower conditions are and as long as each form carries people to the Word holds out Christ in his Word Christ in preaching Christ in the Sacrament there is food for souls and if we could look aright it may be we would not be so angry with one another about it as we are for there is but one Truth and we pray the Lord to reveal it but stil here is carrying on the life of Comfort Duty Direction and all that faith meddles with that the Lords people may enjoy but for Gods sake and as you love the life of your souls watch against temptations that would take you off from the Word that the Scripture should be nothing this takes you off from that that your faith wholly meddles with for if you can say I beleeve God for such a thing and Christ for such a thing unless you find it promised in the Word it is presumption Therefore Pity such poor souls your own experience may tel you do but mark them generally they that live above Ordinances see whether the Spirit of God do not withdraw see whether the Lord hath any other way to convey himself to them than what he hath held out in his Word their loosness folly pride and joyning in any thing else that is naught almost plainly shews that the Lord hath withdrawn from them And secondly You wil find that such of them as have grace in them for I am far from thinking any that have grace cannot be under such a temptation but I fear not but the Lord will awaken them again though they be asleep because faith must be the navel and the string that must maintain them here But this I did not intend to be large in The great Use that I intend is To all the Lords people whose Life is Christ and in whom Christ doth live I would endeavor in the rest of this hour to give them some help out of the Word that this living by faith might be better known to the Lords People and more exactly practised than it hath been hitherto and if the Lord help me to divide it and you to receive it I will not fear but your life will be more honorable to the Lord and sweeter to your selves than it hath been and there are but two things that I intend to treat upon The one is Some serious Considerations or Motives to provoke all who have any thing of Christ in them that they would study this art of living by faith more than in time past And secondly and principally To lay out of the Word the true Directoins the easiest and the readiest way that a willing soul may take to be built up in it For encouragement to provoke you to it I pray think of these things First If you will be Christians it is our Trade and the way of our livelihood we have no other mystery for the maintainance of our lives but faith that is cleer Schollers may live by their Wits Trades-men upon their Mysteries and Gentlemen upon their Wealth But as a Christian we have no other living or way of living to God but only our faith Now because it is our Life and our Trade and our Profession it would be a horrible shame to be found Bunglers in that that is properly our own Mystery If a man should come and examine me a Minister of the Gospel and put into my hands a Merchants Book and bid me cast up such an Account and I could not this were no shame to me but if he should come and give me a Bible and bid me open a Text if I could not do it it were a shame to me So friend have you the right skil of living by faith No It is thy Trade As thou art a Member of the Common-wealth or one of the Army thou mayest have a Calling but as thou art a Christian which is thy best Life thou hast no Trade but to live by faith no other way to honor the Lord nor to manifest the Life of Christ nor to turn all things for thy good and the Lords glory it is thy living by faith must do it what a horrible disgrace will it be for thee to be found ignorant of it Secondly I tell you there is no other way of Life that any man pitches upon but it will very shortly appear to be but a poor thing If you should think that the living upon God this holy life it is a thing that is a mystery that you do not study but for the present life that you mind and you mean to follow the things that will help you to live in the world I tell you all those after a little while will prove meer delusions If any of you have the way as some of you have found it to raise up your selves to great estates of a poor servant in few yeers to become a great man in the place where you live and now you are wealthy Before our eyes God hath overturned all these things hath not God let us see how he hath pulled down great Princes and Kings hath he not let us see a thousand ten thousand a yeer a man may have and yet live to see them al buried and himself come to beggery doth not God tell us they are not al worth our study The Lord my meaning is dayly before our eyes stains the glory of all other waies of living never to the worlds end did he or wil he stain the glory of living by faith because you can no where else close with him Thirdly that which I most aim at in my Considerations is to acquaint you with this That this same Art this excellent Christian Mystery of living our life by faith it is absolutely the best life the most desirable life that any man or woman can live til they come to enjoy God immediately This I wil demonstrate and I hope I shal make it plain that if a man had the comfort of al other waies of living in any kind never would the learning or wit of man find out any life to be compared with the life of faith for the excellency of it and the excellency of the life of faith I would open to you in four or five Particulars the Lord perswade you but to study them when you are alone One is more general It is the Life which the Lord hath chosen out to be the life of those that he loved from all eternity The Lord you grant him al of you to be infinite in wisdom and therefore before his eyes al waies of living happy were apparent and out of them all he chose this same life of faith to be the life of those he loved from al eternity It is the Prophet Malachi's argument it is the best Conjugal condition for a man to have one wife and a woman to have one husband because else God could have made ten women if he would but he made but one that is Gods choyce
therfore that is the best matrimonial life Therefore the Lord say I who knew what learning what wisdom what friends what Phylosophy what Policy what any thing might advance men to he out of them al shews the living by faith to be the way how they should live in this world who are as dear to him as the apple of his own eye and to a sober heart more needs not be said to make him think it an excellent thing Secondly as it is excellent because of Gods choyce so It is the honorablest life that can be there is no life in this world so honorable as the life of faith First It is wonderfully honorable to God when his redeemed ones have their whol livelihood from him without hanging upon every hedg but to acknowledg the Lord I to tel every body where they come I have not one comfort in a child nor in a wife nor in a penny nor in a garment nor in a dish of meat but I receive it from the hand of God by vertue of my faith here God is lifted up in al his administrations And as it is honorable to God so It is most honorable to us for in truth if we were independent that is if we needed no dependance upon any we must be Gods our selves and no man would put his foot under another mans table as we use to say that hath one of his own To live dependantly upon another man that can live independantly of himself takes off from his nobleness but if we must live dependantly then surely it is more honorable and noble to depend upon the head than the foot He that hath not learned to live by faith upon God he lives in part upon skins of beasts upon the world upon the excrements of the world he lives I mean upon poor ragged beggerly creatures one man saith to Gold thou art my hope another man loads himself with thick clay wel this is a poor low thing in comparison of depending upon him more immediately that hath incomprehensible glory it is ignoble Thirdly In this world it is the easiest life I will speak it I humbly bless the Lord that I have any experience of it in my own soul but I dare speak it as Divine Truth to live by faith is the easiest life under Heaven Do not mistake me I mean not it is easiest learned that a man may learn it with a wet finger Oh! it is a hard trade to learn and this may be one motive it is not easily gotten but my meaning is that when once the soul hath learned it that it be but a Master of this Trade that it can say I have learned to live by faith no man under Heaven lives or can live so easie a life as a Beleever may Why Because the life of faith wil never leave any thing upon my care but to walk humbly and thankfully with my God it leaves the providing for my body and soul and posterity and for the disposing of them al and for al my affairs it leaves it at Gods doors laies it to him and to me leaves nothing but to take the Book find my duty bend the knee and for all the successes faith leaves it quietly to the Lord and is not this a sweet life We that are Parents know by reason of our carnality what a hard thing it is when we have a company of poor children to provide for in a confused World when all we have may be swept away and others to have great trading and yet our Ships miscarry how we shal pay all our engagements we know not but if once the soul have faith it directs him to leave al to the wise and gracious God and my self to acquiess in his will I repeat it again and I pray if you be not satisfied in it now study it and I wil be bound to recant it as the saying is at Pauls Cross whensoever you wil if ever man can come out and say the life of faith is an uncomfortable life no it is the sweetest life of all Oh! that God would perswade you to study it it is the easiest life Come into a family and tell me who lives the easiest life the Father or the Child the Child hath food the Father provides it the Maid cooks it he hath cloaths his Father buys him them the Taylor makes them and the child goes to school and never thinks what will become of him when his cloaths are worn out and his linnen spent he leaves all to his Father And then again I tel you It is the best life because in truth it is the surest life for that man or woman that will trust God and wil study to live according to the rule of faith I speak it with reverence they have a statute upon al that God is worth that they shal be provided for they have a statute upon his All-sufficiency I am a God all-sufficient walk before me I will be a horn of strength I will never leave thee nor forsake thee a statute upon his Wisdom Power Goodness Faithfulness what God is and hath he hath engaged to the soul that wil trust in him It is an old saying of a Poet That it is an uncertain Estate though it may be great if it cannot be built upon It is an uncertain estate to depend upon Cables and Anchors if it come home it is well but it cannot be built upon and somtimes they stand in need of an Insuring Office but how justly I dispute not But lastly This Art when once the soul hath learned it it will deliver a man from all base and unworthy means it wil deliver the soul from all base and unworthy means in any kind whatsoever because if he have God in his Word what need he shirk and shift or do any thing that is base when he hath such a rock such a livelihood for his soul as faith As now I wil give you but an instance The Apostle Paul when he was in prison at Rome he conceived he might have gone out by giving the Captain of the Guard some money but Paul scorned to give a penny when he was at Philippi put in prison in the stocks the Magistrates came and bid him come out he scorned to go out some might have said you may provoke them I care not he had God on his side Never did any one so much study to get an Office or Lordship or an encrease of his Estate that they may say there is that boy or girl provided for let them go where they wil their portion lies by me this is not so comfortable as to study this Doctrine That that life that you live in the flesh you live by the Son of God that this life of faith may be on your part your principal delight Now then the Last part of my Sermon which I come to is But how should we do this Attainable it is and in some degree all Gods people have it but what course
but what they signifie what doth a Promise signifie that God in his Gospel maketh to souls for a man may have Promises and truly from a great many able and great men good Promises signifie very little from many great men and mighty men but to know what Gods Promises are and what they signifie it would be a great comfort and I wil tel you briefly what they signifie and it may be a key to unlock all the Locks in the House that is al the Promises in the Bible First of all The Promises of God they do for the present at the instant of their making signifie That God loves us for all the Promises come from his heart his Providences come from his hands the Promises come from his heart and when the Lord makes a Gospel Promise to a soul he doth as if he should say to that soul I love thee dearly at the present before the thing be accomplished thou mayest say it signifies thus to me If the Lord make such a Promise to me he loves me And Secondly A Promise signifies thus much at present That God wil never hurt me God gives in a way of Providence those things to many men whom he wil hurt and destroy nay he will destroy them even by the things that he gives them but to the souls to whom his Promises belong they signifie not only Gods good will but nothing in the world that can betide them shal ever hurt them because they are all Branches of that Covenant of grace in which Covenant of grace there is no evil shal light upon the soul that is under it therefore God wil one day make thee to know that he intendeth thy good in it this is signified for the present And For the future A Promise is a certain infallible pledg of a seasonable performance His Covenant he wil never break he will not alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth All the Promises of the new Covenant are all backed with an Oath of him that is unchangeable Here is a Promise for my poverty for my temptation it comes from the God that first loves me and will do me no hurt and wil accomplish it Brethren Do you beleeve this As Jesus Christ said to Martha He that beleeveth in me though he were dead he shall live and if he live he shall never die Doest thou beleeve this I Lord I beleeve it So say I Do you beleeve this Do you not think you shall live comfortably And Secondly when I said in this third Direction about being acquainted with the Word I mean Be acquainted with the Duties held out in the Word as wel as the Promises for it cals to holiness as well as to comfortableness therefore in the Word learn your Duty and I the rather tell it you because many a poor soul takes a great deal of care and pains in some things that God never required and they afflict themselves and make their lives uncomfortable in things that God hath not appointed as not to tel you of many poor creatures in Popery that would thrust themselves into Monasteries God never required it but my meaning is study the Word you can never study any thing that so much concerns you therefore there learn your Duties the Duties that belong to your relations and particular places where God hath set you for to know the will of God concerning me argues an honest heart more than to know the will of God concerning others but study to know the Word in the Promises and in the Duties That is the Third Fourthly which must not be neglected When you have done all this faithfully and conscienciously serve the Lord in the use of means serve the Promises and Commandements serve them faithfully in the use of the means without distraction but out of conscience resigning up your selves For for me to go to labor for an enlarged faith and to know the all sufficiency of God and to have the Promises as familiarly as my Pater noster as they use to say for me when I have done this to neglect the means the Lord hath appointed this is not good But look as an Husband-man What rational Husband-man is there especially if he know God but he knows that the Corn upon the ground cannot yield him a Crop unless rain from Heaven water it and it cannot fall from Heaven unless God send it and notwithstanding all this unless God give the Corn a new body but because he hath likewise learned that ploughing sowing and harrowing and dungcarting c. are all duties belonging to Husbandry he serveth the Providence of God and God blesseth him accordingly Do thus with your souls God hath given you Promises for some things Commandements for other things serve him diligently in the use of the means but remember what I taught you before that by the use of the means I mean means only of his own appointment for faith dare not go out of his own line Lawful means that are agreeable to a particular calling to reason c. I have often thought and I speak it to you from the Lord that when a people walk with a Word in one hand and the use of the means in the other hand we fairly leave the business at Gods feet whatsoever the success shall be we will be his Servants when such a thing hath betided me I find this is my duty by the best Counsel I can get and so we leave it at his door and whatsoever will come fall back fall edg we may have peace and comfort These are the great Directions only with these I must put in two Cautions and when I have done them I think I may have said that which may be helpful to them that would walk by Faith The one is When I say we must use means and thus live by faith my meaning is First That when you have done you must never limit God God limits you and limits me but for himself Faith must not limit him My meaning is Do not limit him to the way how he shal make it good for he often works by contraries do not limit him for time when he shal make it good for it is good to wait patiently the Lords leisure though it be al the daies of our appointed season and we injure God and our faith doth not work up to its true height when we will come and say do it to day Lord or else I will question it to morrow no limit him not chalk him not out his way I may Lawfully expect from God that such a thing shall do me good but I may not Lawfully tell God which way it shall do me good I may Lawfully say from such a temptation God wil deliver me but I may not Lawfully say he wil deliver me from it within this week or fortnight but quietly wait upon the Lord as one that infallibly wil do what he hath spoken and is not here enough It may be some will add now