humbled for our sins in an evangelical way as wel as performe duty in an evangelical way Now evangelical humiliation it is a sorrow for sin not that we might purchase pâ—â—don for that sorrow as we must not perform a duty to think to purchase Heaven neither must we sorrow for sin to think to satisfie for sin and to purchase pardon for our sin but our very sorrow for sin must have a sweetness from Christ in it it must be out of love our very mourning must be a fruit of love and not come from the fear of being destroyed eternally for such sins that is legal sorrow I have sinned against God and therefore am afraid that God will destroy me eternally and therefore I am sorry No but I have sinned against the Lord a gracious and a merciful Father and the Lord yet hath made a Covenant with me that he will not take advantage of my sin that he will not destroy me and therefore my soul mourns and laments the rather for my sin that I have sinned so much against the grace of the Gospel as I have done Sorrow evangelically and then your sorrow wil have more sweetness in it then all the joy that the men of the world have when all their Corn and Wine and Oyl is encreased not only when God lifts up the light of his countenance but even the very sorrow of your heart for sin may have more sweetness in it then all the men of the world have when their Corn and Wine and Oyl encreaseth Many Christians have much bitterness in their sorrow but certainly Evangelical sorow the tears of it is Rose water that hath a great deal of sweetness it is sweet both unto God and sweet unto the soul even while the soul is sorrowing there is sweetness in the heart and this is the difference between legal terror and Evangelical sorrow the one hath nothing but bitterness and gal in it and the other nothing but sweetness That is the first thing Secondly Another way to facilitate and make easie that we do is this Labor to keep our hearts in a constant readiness and preparation to every duty Duties are very hard because we fall upon them unprepared we are not in a readiness continually unto every good work you know when you are set about any work and if you have many things to prepare and to look for when you should go about your work it will go off but heavily and it will be more troublesom but now when every thing is prepared in a readiness then how soon and how easie doth the work go on when you are going to Sea there is making a great deal of preparation aforehand now when the Ship is rigged and trimmed every thing ready then you are at an instant able to put off and set saii and go away when al things are ready you go off with ease If you would entertain Guests if they come upon you suddenly and you have nothing ready what a deal of stir is in the house what running up and down this way and that way but now if things be ready when they come they are entertained with a great deal of delight and all things in the house are in order and things go off very easily and there is no trouble in it Truly thus it should be with a Christian he should not only perform duties now and then but his life should be a constant walking with God so that he should be alwaies in readiness for every duty that God requires of him so it comes to be easie As now for the duty of Prayer you should keep your hearts in a praying frame continually and then prayer would be easie it would be an easie thing for you to pour forth your souls to God when you keep your hearts in a praying frame all the day long It may be when you go to prayer you find a great deal of trouble within you your thoughts wander and your affections are dead and dul and you rise up discouraged But what is the reason you do not keep your heart all the day long in a praying frame in a heavenly temper and frame in the day time and therefore when you come to pray at night there is no readiness in your hearts to the duty but you are altogether indisposed to it And so to come unto the Sacrament you find it a great labor and toyl to prepare for the Sacrament as you should I speak of those that make conscience of preparation many times they find it a mighty toyl a hard work I but Christians should keep themselves alwaies in a Sacramental disposition a Sacramental frame alwaies having their spirits savoring of the meditation of the death of Jesus Christ that nothing should be more familiar to a Christians Soul than the meditation of the death of Christ and of discerning the Lords Body and the Covenant of grace and giving it self likewise to God in a Covenant of grace this should be continually and then if you should receive the Sacrament every day you might be fit for it or every week you would be fit for it Now People think it a great matter and make a great deal of do about receiving of it often whereas the truth is the Saints of God they should be in as great a readiness to receive the Sacrament as to hear the word or to pray and that would be a mighty ease unto them therefore if things were as they should certainly it would be more convenient to have it more ordinary and constant every Lords day the Sacrament The Christians in the primitive times would receive it every day in the year and they kept their heart in readiness to such kind of duties let it be what work it wil be You should be patient in affliction if affliction come upon you and your heart is not in a readiness to alter your condition Oh! it wil be a grievous burden to exercise patience it wil be a hard thing for you now you should keep your hearts ready for every condition that is the true work of grace in the Soul to keep the soul in a constant bent Godward and that Soul wil do things very easily Somtimes you have much ado with your children when strangers come to keep them in good order the reason is you neglect them at other times and that is the reason that they trouble you when strangers come but keep them in a good order at all times and then you wil have them right at those times So it is with the heart keep the heart prepared and ready to every good work and then every work wil be easie Object But you wil say That is a great deal of toyl and labor to keep our hearts alwaies bent and ready to good works To that I answer at first it may be some labor and toyl but those that have once got their hearts into a readiness find it not so hard but have a great deal
of ease As now it is a great deale of toyl for one that neglects his accounts he is not ready but his accounts are intangled if he be called to give a perfect account it is a great deal of toyl to him but now let a man get over the difficulty and make all his accounts cleer now for him every day to keep his Books streight and cleer this wil not be so great a trouble This is the difference between one Christian and another for all the world one that shall take his pleasure all the week long and ride this way and the other way and neglects his Books and but one day in the week will look them over he wil have a great deal of trouble and it wil break his head somtimes when he hath multitude of business But now the other Merchant looks into his Books every day spends half an hour or a quarter of an hour every day and he goes on with a great deal of cheerfulness So it is with many Christians they think on the Lords day they must have their hearts in a good frame and temper but all the week they have no thoughts of God and of the word and now when the Sabbath comes or Sacrament and holy duties come they are burdensome to them whereas another that keeps his heart in a holy frame he rejoyceth in the Sabbath for he hath had a Sabbath day frame of heart all the week long Luther saith a Christians life should be a perpetuall Sabbath And that is the second means to facilitate every good work 3. Another is this Labor to inflame your hearts with love unto the Duty Do not do duties because you must do them but use all the means that you can for to kindle in you a love unto the duty never satisfie your selves with this I see I must do duty Conscience puts me upon duty therefore I must do it so it may be burdensom but labor to use all arguments you can to make you in love with the duty A Schollar that is in love with his Book will not cry when he goes to the School and especially if he delight in it and be in love with his Master there is many that are put to go to School that dare not go Oh their Father will be angry and their Master wil be severe if they should not learn and so they learn but with much ado they had rather do any thing in the world than go to School neither love their Books nor love their Master and so seldom come to any eminence of learning Love takes away all difficulty love is ashamed to complain of difficulty at any time as now take a man that loves recreation that loves that kind of sport of hunting or hawking if he love it he wil be running in the dirt all the day long though it be a hot day run over hedg and ditch whereas now if such a man had not a love to such a thing but were injoyned to such a thing that you must all the day from morning to night eate not a bit of bread but all the day long run after doggs over hedg and ditch and through waters it would take away the love that such a one should have in his sports and what a miserable bondage would this be so it is in the waies of God let there be love to the waies of God then whatever difficulty there may seem to be in them it is taken away presently love to the person of Jesus Christ will take away the difficulty of the waies of Christ you know when Jacob loved Rachel he cared not how long he served for her the hard nights were not hard to him Love God and love Christ and then his waies will not be difficult 4. Another rule is this do not loose your incouragements that that you have had from what good God doth bestow upon you and inable you to do take heed of loosing that incouragement many Christians are altogether looking upon what they ought to do what God requires of them to do and because they have had not yet attained unto what they ought to do and what is required of them to do therefore they find no incouragement from what the Lord hath already bestowed upon them what the Lord hath already inabled them to do they wholly neglect that and never think of it they think of what they want and what they should have and what they should do and so they are labouring to get what they should have and to do what they should do but for what God hath inabled them to do already or what God hath given them already that they do not think of and for want of those incouragements they make their endeavours for the getting of more to be burdensome to them but now when we are endeavouring to do more we should go on in the strength of this incouragement Oh blessed be God for any little You shal have Christians thinking of what they should do and therefore they think all the grace they have is nothing Oh! say they that which I have done what is it It is true if we were looked upon in the way of the Covenant of works it is nothing but in the way of the Covenant of Grace it is a great deal now that wil be a great ease to your souls labour to get more and do more for God but stil carry along with you the incouragement of what God hath done for you when you pray for any grace bless God for any grace you have Take notice of al the incouragement that God doth give you and that will help you to go on in any further work that God calls you unto and the want of this makes the lives of many Christians to be very greivous and burdensome unto them because they neglect those incouragements they might have from what God hath inabled them to do and from what God hath done already for them 5. Take heed of lying in the guilt of any sin I meane though in respect of God the guilt is taken away from beleevers but of lying so in any sin as not to cleer up all between God and your soul for the discharge of it of having any thing not cleered up in your own consciences take heed of lying in any sin unrepented of that is my meaning every sin that a man commits excepting those daily incursions and infirmities of the Saints which they cannot while they are here in the flesh be altogether without but every other sin it is as a thorne at least a thorn â—n the foot every sin that a man hath committed by strength of temptation it is a thorn in the foot and if it be a greater sin it is a gash in his flesh Now a man that hath a thorn in his foot he cannot go very fast but especially if he have a gash in his flesh when thou hast been overcome with a great sin thou hast given a great gash unto
will prove to be a snare to you God requires it not it may be that day that you would observe for one duty God may require it for another duty may be you will keep a day of fast for such a great deliverance for such a great mercy certainly it may prove a snare unto you God may call you to another duty on that day to the duty of thanksgiving Many will vow to keep such a day and when they have vowed it they know not how to go back And so many will vow they will do so much every morning and so much that day this may bring a snare upon you labor to do all what you can for Christ all the day long consider your duties and lay the word upon you but to put upon your selves that which Christ puts you not upon it is that that makes the duties of Religion very tedious and many have done it that way not foreseeing the inconveniences that may come upon it and yet they dare not go back Therefore I would rather advise Christians to take heed of such things as those are but to walk in the way of Christ according to that the Lord requires for the present and not to bring themselves into a snare and so they shal make the way of God more easie 9. Another Rule is this Take all advantages take all opportunities and advantages all the gales of Gods Spirit do not neglect the opportunities you have the neglect of opportunities may bring us to woful difficulties As in voyages if a â—arriner neglect the opportunity of the gale of wind it is a difficult voyage and then he cries out I may thank my self for all this had I taken such an opportunity such a wind then I had been freed from this hardship that now I meet withall So it is with a Christian many times the spirit of God comes with a gracious gale and gives them opportunity to go on with cheerfulness in the waies of God hadst thou taken the opportunity the gale of the spirit Oh what a deal of trouble mightest thou have avoided Those that are watchful for al opportunities find the waies of God easie It was the speech of Alexander because he carried things so easie as he did in a little time conquered al the world when it was asked him how he could do so great things and carry on things with so great ease his answer was by neglecting nothing he meant by neglecting no advantage There are many men that when God helps them a little they carry the work on with ease but then they do not follow on their work and so they bring themselves into streights As now we cry out of these wars what a great deal of trouble they put the Nation to and one main thing is for want of taking advantages and following advantages We say somtimes Oh if such a victory had been followed such a victory that we had at Brainford and York and other places we might have delivered our selves from abundance of trouble and tediousness of war but when God gives advantages and we do not follow them no marvel that we find trouble So it is with many Christians you find many troubles in Religion Oh it is because you do not follow your advantages if you had ever since you were young and ever since God revealed himself to you followed the gale of Gods spirit your old age might have been spent in nothing but gales of joy comfort and the like but now no marvel you act with so much difficulty in the waies of God 10. Another Rule is this Preserve all your experiences that you have had of the goodness of Gods waies when your hearts have been most enlarged and you have walked most close with God and God hath come in to your soul Preserve those experiences keep them by that they may help you against an il day it may there be may be a time a coming that you may be in spirituall desertion and that may be grievous to you but if you had kept the experiences you had of God when your heart kept close to God it would much help you sweeten your hearts to think of the daies of old As David when he was in desertion he would many times be thinking of the daies of old So if Christians would be very careful to observe and lay up all the experiences that they have of God and his waies the sweet and good of them it would mightily facilitate them in holy duties and be a continuall Cordial to them and put spirits into them to make them go on with ease in any duty God requires of them 11. Another Rule is this Take heed in any duty of disturbing passion the disturbance of passion puts people ouâ— of frame that they are fit for nothing when they are passionate passionate with God passionate with men because they cannot have what they would have fling up all As Children that when they cannot have their desires fling a way all this makes every thing hard but if you could but keep your selves in a constant quietness you should have every condition and every duty delightful but I have spoken of that you know of the evil effects of it and of meekness the gracious effects of that but I bring it only now as a rule that you may present all these rules together As now suppose a company that are in a Boat and there cometh a strong wind and tosseth the Boat you shall have some silly people that wil be shriking out and mightily troubled and through their passion will be rising up in the Boat and be ready to tumble down all through their passionate carriage in the Boat whereas those that have skil wil sit stil and be quiet and give up themselves to the stream and that is the best way to come with the greatest ease you make the Boatmans labor so much the more dâ—fficult by your unquietness in the Boat So certainly you make the work of God more difficult when your hearts are unquiet Let the thing be what it wil you wil say Oh no bodies condition is so as mine Certainly your unquietness will not help you you wil not come the sooner to your landing place if people toss from one side of the Boat to the other and be unruly in their carriage they wil not come the sooner to their landing place the quieter they sit in the Boat the sooner they will come to land So it is in a Christians course he must not think to come to have his desires satisfied by his froward carriage to be angry with God or man or the means that they do not work as they would have them but the quieter they sit and give up themselves to God the sooner they come to their desires 12. Another Rule is this Communion with the Saints spirituall Communion Heavenly Communion not frothy Communion but a spiritual holy gracious communion with the Saints wil facilitate the waies
off Now an humble Soul is an afflicted soul is willing to afflict it self before the Lord it is not so much sollicitous of comfort and is altogether for comfort would fain have comfort and comfort no but is willing to afflict it self and to burden it self with its own sin and to beat down it self as we read of Paul 1 Cor. 9. 27. the Text saith He beat down his body least after he had Preached unto others he himself should be a Reprobate Not to afflict our selves as Papists to be whipping our selves and to do those things that God never aequired at our hands but so far as any way God shal require it such a one is willing to afflict it self before the Lord the main work of the heart in this thing is that it is not sollicitous so much for comfort as to be willing to be afflicted before the Lord so far as God would have it afflicted So now put all these together and you may see the behavior of a lowly heart in respect of it self 1. It is suspicious of it self jealous least theâ—e should be some secret evil in the heart that it doth nor know of 2. It is willing to know the worst of it self 3. It looks often to its poor beginnings 4. It is ashamed of it self and thâ—t in the midst of its own excellencies 5. It loaths and abhors it self before the Lord. 6. It judgeth it self 7. It denies it self 8. It keeps down it self 9. It hidâ—â— it self 10. It goes out of it self and empties it self 11. It bemoans it self And lastly it afflicts it self so that your hearts now having these workings in them in reference to your selves you may by this examine whether you have humble and lowly hearts yea or no. CHAP. CXXV Three Consequences from the former Point ANd from all these things there are these three Consequences Consequence 1. First Here you may see how to examine your own hearts in respect of Humility whether you find these workings of an humble spirit in respect of your selves lay these and your hearts Level examine and call your hearts to an account when you get alone By these twelve foregoing Particulars Ask thy self as in the presence of God Is my heart thus Have I this lowly heart Christ would have me of a lowly heart Thus if you cannot find these charge your selves with the want of them and take an advantage even from the want of them to humble your hearts before the Lord because you have not these things that are the genuine and naturall workings of an humble Spirit for so they are if you can find your hearts coming off in in these Particulars in a natural way from a renewed nature you may have abundance of comfort that this Grace of Humility of Lowliness that Christ would have you learn is wrought in your Souls you have been a Proficient in Christs School but many may have cause upon the hearing of this to charge themselves with this that they scarce have begun to learn in the School of Christ to learn Humility Consequence 2. Secondly Another Consequence is this upon the consideration of these several workings of Humility in respect of our selves we may see That the work of a Christian is very much inward it is a work of reflection upon our selves if there were nothing to do in a Christians life but that that is external to perform some outward Duties to come and hear the word and speak good things and pray and make an outward profession The Life of a Christian were a great deal more easie but from this that you hear from the working of this one Grace of Humility you may see that the work of a Christian lies much within doors that Christians should be very busie within their hearts there are many workings within rather then without and therefore if you would profess your selves to be Christians and would indeed have the power of Godliness in your Hearts you must work â—uch inwardly there must be much reflection upon your own Hearts Consequence 3. Thirdly And Lastly Another Consequence is this by this that you have heard what the working of an humble Heart in respect of it self is we may take notice of the great power of Jesus Christ in the heart of a Christian wheresoever Grace is wrought Jesus Christ is very powerful and very strong in that Heart Certainly these things could never be in the Heart of a poor wretched sinner Yea in a heart that is Naturally very proud for so we are all and were not the Grace of Christ very powerful in the heart of a Christian these things could never be wherefore when you hear that these things are in a heart working thus we may conclude surely the power of Jesus Christ is very mighty and very strong Well thus you have the Grace of Humility presented to you towards God and your selves let us Learn to be of Lowly Hearts and be not at rest until you find these kinds of workings in your Spirits CHAP. CXXVI The First Property of Humility in respect of â—thers is that it thinks better of others then it self Which is laid open in divers Particular answers unto several doubts and Objections THere is yet one of these three things to be spoken unto in this Grace of Humility which is the third Particular what the behavior of an humble heart is in reference unto others For Humility much appears in that though the principal work in humility is in the carriage of the Soul in reference unto God and in reference unto it self yet there is very much in this grace of humility in the carriage of the Soul in reference unto our Brethren Now then the First thing wherein the behavior of an humble heart is in reference unto others and a principal thing it is of very great concernment and that is this First It thinks better of others then it self this great work of humility that hath very much in it as I shal shew in opening of it is held forth unto you in 2 of Phillipians 3 verse Let Nothing be done through strife or Vain Glory but in Lowliness of mind let each esteem others better then themselves Mark This is the Work of a Lowly mind Learn of me for I am Lowly in Heart You must be of lowly Hearts of Lowly minds what is that Saith the Apostle Let each esteem others better then themselves You wil say this indeed upon the very hearing of it doth make us judg it to be a great work of the Grace of God in the heart to esteem others better then themselves and â—ow that should be that I shall speak unto by and by in the opening of it but I shall first shew some Examples of it of esteeming others better then themselves That which Paul did Exhort the Phillipians to he did himself he did not preach to others that they should esteem others better then themselves and yet he would lift up himself above others No see
men for that you are humbled but when you can be humbled for the first stirring of your heart towards pride here is a sign of Humility But this I shall not stand upon because I will take occasion to handle this sin and shew the foulness of this sin more largely and therefore all I wil now do shall be to work this upon your hearts that you may become the Schollars of Christ to be lowly as Christ was It is a Use of Exhortation That we would all labor for Lowliness of heart Know it is that that is necessary for us all that we do else is nothing except we come to learn this of Christ we learn nothing of him you cannot be said to be a Christian whatever your profession is all your brave Duties and performances are nothing I remember Chrisostome hath such an expression saith he If a man be able to raise the dead cure the Lame cleanse the Leaper yet if he be not humble he is the most filthy thing in the world this is the Grace that we have constant need of upon every occasion in what state soever Doth God afflict you then you have a great deal of need of this Grace to bear your affliction patiently if you be lifted up then you have need of this Grace to carry your self so as you be not raised up against God Oh! that you would have care of that when you find God coming in most upon you that is the time to keep your heart down most As we read of the Devill to Christ in Matth. 3. After Christ had that Testimony from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and the Spirit of God came upon him like a Dove the next words in the beginning of Chap. 4. is Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil just then thus it is with Christians as it was with Christ somtimes in Duties in Prayer they are mightily enlarged and have mighty comforts and God comes in abundantly unto them and doth even as it were say this is my beloved Son and my beloved Daughter I have chosen you to life but expect the very next thing will be the Devill wil take and set thee upon a Pinacle of the Temple to tempt thee and tempt thee especially to Pride If God imploy you in any great service then you have need of Humility it was the beginning of Christs publick work of his Ministry that the Devill came to tempt him then the Devill fell upon him So if God imploy a man in publick service Oh! then the Devil will fall upon him and tempt him most of all then I remember Luther when God began to work upon him and he appeared to stand up in witnessing for God it was one special Prayer of his Oh that God would deliver me from Pride and those that God imploies in publick works had need to pray for this If God take a man off from any service he had need have much humility then and so I might instance in al kinds of things that Humility must have an ingredient in them I remember Bernard hath such an expression That except it doth come before and accompany and follow Pride doth extort all out of our hands and spoil all Humility is to come before any thing you do to accompany any thing you do and it is to follow any thing you do or else all is spoiled And in this Exhortation consider that you cannot come all of you to be eminent do what you can you that are weak do all what you can you shall never come to have any great parts you cannot have great Estates do what you can but it is possible for you to come to be humble You would think it a great matter you that are weak if one could shew you how you should come to have excellent parts gifts memory the like you that are poor to be rich eminent in the place where you live to be above others Now God will not grant you these things but here I can shew you how you can come to be as humble as any man and that is as much as if God gave you Ships and they brought home to you the Riches of the Indies you may come all to be humble though you cannot come all to be eminent in the world Quest You wil say How shal we come to get an humble heart Answ First Labor to set the excellency of this Grace before your Souls set this Grace in the excellency of it much before you and meditate on the beauty and excellency of this Grace of Humility so as to account your excellency to be in Humility that which a man accounts his excellency to be in he is in a good forwardness to get it especially in morals Look upon Humility as your excellency as a glorious beautifull Grace and set it before your Soul as that that hath a great deal of beauty and excellency in it to be in love with this Grace As sin prevails in the heart by meditation a corrupt heart by meditating and plotting about a corruption or sinfull distemper comes to defile it self with that corruption So a gracious heart by meditation of the sweetness and excellency of a Grace comes to be adornd with that Grace How comes it that men fall into wickedness and sin but at first this is the beginning of it they by meditation suck out the sweetness of sin into their Souls and look upon it as that which they may get so much good by now by delighting in the thoughts of a sin they come to fall into a sin therefore take heed of delighting in the thoughts of sin it is the way to come to fal into a sin So by delighting of our selves in the meditation of the excellency of Grace we may come to have that Grace Secondly Labor to convince thy Soul of the emptiness and vanity of all those outward excellencies that are the usuall things that puff up the heart it is nothing but wind that puffs up any mans heart if they had what is truly excellent their hearts would not be puffed up but that that puffs up the heart is wind Now consider all things in the world under these three Notions 1. They are things beneath the true excellency of an immortall Soul the way to cure sinful pride is to have a holy gracious pride Now a Holy pride is to know what is the end of a rational Creature what he is capable of to enjoy communion with Father Son and Holy Ghost the knowledge of this will take off the heart from all things below look upon these things as Dogs meat if you could but take off your heart from al these things it would keep your hearts Low 2. Another Notion is this Consider That al these outward Excellencies make no great difference between man and man it may be you have more parts than another you have more Estate
than another you have more honor and esteem than another What great difference makes this between man and man But now Grace makes a great difference between man man one hath Grace another hath not this makes a mighty difference one hath Humility another not this makes a very great difference there is not so much difference between the natural excellency of an Angell of Heaven and a Worm upon the earth as between an humble Soul and the greatest Prince in the world that hath not the Grace of Humility Were we but throughly principled in this one thing we may hear it and confes it I suppose but none of you when you go away will say this is true that Grace makes the great difference except you be principled in this thing that it is not the having much and little that makes any great difference between man and man Thirdly Seriously work upon your hearts the meditation of the vanity of all these things how quickly all the beauty and excellency of these things will be gone what is become of all the great pomp and excellency of the world when death comes what is the difference between one that was poor and contemptible and one that was rich and honorable Death makes all even The Glory of the world passeth away and the lustre of of it every thing here is but as flesh and grass that withereth by looking upon all these things that puff up the heart to be but as wind is the main thing to make the soul humble But the main thing is the setting God before us and Christ before us and the right understanding of our selves these are the three principall things that are helps for the Lowliness of the heart 3. The knowledg of God and the setting God before us is a principal thing to make us humble you know how it was with him in Prov. 30. and the beginning The man spake unto Ithiel and Ucal I have opened the meaning of this to you at another time he spake to Ithiel God with me Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man Oh! how low was he in his own eyes when he had to deal with God the sight of God is that that humbles one more than any thing in the world And so that of Job that famous place in Job 42. after God had made himself known to Job at verse 3 4. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear saith he but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes What an humble heart and a broken heart had he I set alwaies God before me And so Isay when he had the vision of God and the Seraphims cry Holy Holy Holy the whol earth is full of thy Glory wo to me saith he I am undone because he had seen God Thus al the Servants of God that did converse much with God were very humble Jesus Christ himself that had a lowly heart he conversing much with God and knowing so much of the divine nature having such interest in him therefore there was never such an example of a Lowly Spirit as Christs example was whenas we come to know God the infinite distance that is between God and us then what is all the excellencies in the world when thou comest to know the infinite excellency of God What is the glimerings of a Glo-worm when we come to see all the Glory of Heaven And then also we come to see the infinite dependance we have upon God I wonder not to see men in the world that do not know God to have bold and presumptuous Spirits and see men that have knowledg that they are humble though the others have their spirits lifted up in vanity But for the soul that ever had any sight of God it is a wonder that such a Soul should have any rising of Spirit that any sinfull height of Spirit should be in that Soul that knows what an infinite God it hath to deal with Oh converse much with God and then you will have humble Souls that Soul that never goes from Duty but hath much converse with God that Soul is very humble As Bernard said Lord I never go from thee without thee I carry thee out in my heart when I am in thy presence Now an Hypocrite converseth not with God you that converse with men you would be higher than your Neighbors and live better than your Neighbors O! this is the fruit of converse with men but now true Humility comes from converse with God nothing hath that excellency in it as that which comes from conversing with God and upon the sight of his excellency May be God laies affliction upon you takes away a Child or some of your Estate and this may be may humble you but true humility comes from conversing with God and the sight of his excellency 4. Another is from the right knowledg of Jesus Christ saith he Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart There is no such means of Humility as conversing much with Christ for there was never such an example of Humility as Christ and it was one of Gods ends to send his Son for an example into the world to honor this Grace of Humility and therefore they that know Christ much and the way of Salvation cannot but have empty hearts It is a speech of Austin saith he It may be thou wilt be ashamed to imitate an humble man such a one as is humble to make him thy pattern thou thinkest thou hast more excellency in thee than him I but be not ashamed to imitate an humble God Do but consider how willing Christ was to have that Glory and excellency of his to be eclipsed and darkned for so many yeers though he was one that the Angels adored and he might have let out that Glory to have filled all the whol world and have made the world astonished with his Lustre yet he was content for thirty two or thirty three yeers together to go up and down in the world as a man without form and comeliness to be despised contemned and spit upon If you have a little excellency you shew it presently in Cloaths in Speeches and the like Christ shewes you by this what vanity this is what an excellency and Glory was upon him and yet he was up and down in the world without form and comliness And when we look upon Christ Consider that he was not only humble but humble for us to fatisfie for thy sin without which thou must have gone to Hell eternally to be humble for thy sin there lies the power and efficacy of Christs example in Christs example thou seest what a mean thing any outward excellency of the world is What did he care for any outward excellency When they would have made him a King he cared not for it look up higher God hath made mankind for higher things than these below I that had
the righteous have a plain path to Heaven but the wicked they are upon the stones they are upon the dirt when one comes upon the stones and it be dirty too that is more difficult But the way of righteousness is plain And there is one Scripture more remarkable than these and that is in 1 John 5. 3. And his commandments are not grievous the commands of God have no grievousness in them there is nothing in Gods Commandments to be so much as grieving to a Gracious Soul It is said in the Scripture that God delights not to grieve the Children of Men certainly there is nâ—thing that God requires of thee if thou understandest it aright that will grieve thee when you tender a Child or a Friend you wil not require of them any thing that may grieve them now Christ hath so tender regard unto you that are the Servants of God that he will require nothing of you that wil grieve you and therfore if nothing be grievous in Gods Commandments surely his Yoke is eâ—sie and his Burden is light But now for the opening of this Point for there is a great deal that had need to be said to it for the opening of it and making it usefull and profitable I shall cast what my meditations have been about this Point into these Six heads The first is To give you some Evidences of it that this is so And then the second thing is The differences that there are between the ease that a carnall heart finds in the waies of Religion and the ease that a true Gracious heart finds in the waies of Religion those that are carnall and take up but a meer formality of Religion they find not ease but those that are truly religious they find rest And the third is this If the waies of God be easie How comes it to pass that many that we hope are truly Gracious and Godly yet make such complaints of so much difficulty as they do find in Gods waies And then fourthly We are to open which is the principal of all in the explication wherein the easiness of Gods waies appears what are those things that do make the waies of God so easie and in what particulars doth consist the easiness that there is in the waies of Religion And then fifthly Some Consequences that are to be drawn from this which is by way of Application And sixthly and lastly Some Directions what we should do to make the waies of God easie These are the six Heads that I cast the handling of this Point into CHAP. CXXXV Six Evidences of the former Doctrine in the last Chapter 1. Because the word that injoyns these waies is Sweet 2. A Gracious Soul counts his Duties his priviledges 3. He would rather come under any other Burden than cast off the Yoke of Christ 4. Because Christ whose Yoke it is is Gentle 5. Never any truly that put their neck under this Yoke would willingly take it out again 6. The Experience of all the Saints of God prove the Point FOr the first then The Evidences that do demonstrate that certainly the waies of God are easie and his Burden is very light unto those that have indeed submitted their necks unto the Yoke of Jesus Christ Evidence 1. First The first Evidence is this Surely Gods waies are easie unto them for there is none that is truly Gracious but they account the word of God that doth require them to walk in those waies very sweet unto them and they prize it highly now if there were difficulty and a harshness in Gods waies Certainly though the word of God may be accounted just and righteous yet it would not be sweet and comfortable unto the Soul but there is nothing more sweet and comfortable unto a Gracious heart than the word of God that doth require such waies of him Ye know the expression of David that It is sweeter than the Hony and the Hony Comb more precious than Silver or Gold or any riches of the world read but Psal 119. and there in every verse almost you find such expressions of much sweetness that David did find in the word of God if the word be sweet and delightful certainly the waies of God must needs be sweet and delightfull that are required in the word that is the first Evidence 2. Secondly Surely they are sweet and delightful for those that are in Gods waies do not account what they do only to be Duties but Priviledges they look upon every thing that Christian Religion requires of them not only as Duties but as Mercies as that wherein their happiness consists I have received mercy from the Lord that I may be faithful saith Paul I do not say I have received mercy from the Lord that I may go to Heaven that I may be rewarded and have such and such blessings but I count it mercy from the Lord that he makes me faithfull in this way not only dutifull but faithfull The Saints of God do not account the bonds of obedience to be fetters to them they account them chains of Gold about their necks for Ornament not bonds of necessity to tie them to obedience because otherwise they would not obey them but I say every Law of God is counted by the Saints of God to be as chains of Gold Ornaments to them that they account their Glory as wel as their Duty therefore in the Revelation we find the new City is described thus that her streets is paved with Gold that is the very way path of the Saints it is a Golden way it is paved with Gold it is a glorious way now that which a man accounts his Priviledg and Dignity Glory that must needs be easie their suffering actively and passively Paul counts his sufferings Glorious and Moses counts his sufferings more than the riches of Egypt If so be that you had given unto you as much Gold as you could carry the weightier the bag the lighter would your heart be you would count the burden so much the more lighter by so much the more was in it Certainly the suffering for Christ and dying for Christ is riches it is so to a Gracious heart may be this may be a Riddle to carnal hearts many carnall hearts think they must do such good things and if they do not they must perish and go to Hell and therefore they force themselves upon Duty I but it is otherwise with a Godly heart he doth not think I must do this but his work is wages every work that a Child of God doth is wages to him the man works hard I but he expects the more he expects wages So an Hypocrite may work he may do somthing but he expects wages but a Gracious heart his work is wages Receiving the end of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls there is receiving continually while we are working Saith Christ in Joh. 17. 4. Father I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do So the
go under Christs yoke more comfortably but he would not have Christs yoke less that is there is no duty that Christ requires of a gracious heart that it would be freed from I appeal to you that are gracious hearts what one duty that Christ requires of you when you are your selves that you would be freed from Look through the whol book of God and you shal find it so of the Saints And here is a great difference now between an Hypocrite and a Gracious man an Hipocrite would fain do this duty but not that and omit this but not that but a gracious heart saith Lord I am not willing only to do what thou requirest of me but Lord whatsoever thou requirest of me I would chuse it if I had my choice but I leave that till I come further only now to shew that it is easy because no gracious heart that will ever take up any other yoke but saith let me alwaies be here surely it must needs be easy then that is a fifth Evidence Evidence 6 And the Sixth and Last Evidence is this it is taken from the experience of the Saints and that is as great a demonstration as any thing that which I have found experimentally that I find so it is taken from the experience of the Saints there is none that are truly Gracious though they may be afflicted with temptation especially when they are grown in the waies of Christianity but they have some experience of it perhaps at first they find it somwhat hard to get their necks under but afterwards they will say well I never found that rest that ease that quiet upon my â—oul as since I got my neck fully under the yoke of Christ since I brought my self to resign my self fully wholly to the ways of Jesus Christ I bless God I have had great ease and rest Just as it is with your ships if your ship Stick fast in the Sands and water the Waves come and beat against your ship and it is ready to break but now if it is got off from the Sands and wholly upon the Water then away it goes and you may hold a cup of wine in your hands and it goes away with ease so it is with a Godly heart when he is part in Gods waies and part in the mudd and doth not fully give up himself to Gods waies then he findes trouble and his Conscience flies in his Face and he cannot sleep quietly but let the Soul fully resign it self to Christ to be guided by him Oh! the unspeakable joy that there is in this Heathens may talk and have witty discourses about tranquillity of mind but only the true Cristian can have the true tranquillity of mind never could the soul say till now my soul returne unto thy rest let there be never such commotions in the world and troubles and stirs in the World yet I can retire to God and I can bless my self in God and bless God in what I injoy when I can say as in the presence of God to my soul O my Soul return to thy rest I never had such rest and quiet in any waies as I find in these Surely these Six things do evidence the truth that his yoke is easy and his burden light CHAP. CXXXVI The Second Particular mentioned Chap. 13. Is opened in two differences between a Carnal heart and a Gracious Soul in the waies of God 1 The Hypocrite finds ease in the waies of God and Sin both 2. The Hypocrite hath some ease because he mistaks the Yoke of Christ contenting himself with the outward forme of Godliness but theb eleevers ease comes from the power of it BUt now many carnal hearts they think it easie Gracious hearts may think this point at first hearing very strange but carnal hearts they think I we like this point wel enough for men keep such a do and make the waies of God so difficult to go on in a faire way that is easy but to be put to so much trouble and pains there must be Such praying and humbling and such strict keeping of the Sabbaths this is that disturbs now because civil men they find ease as well as carnal hearts that will be the next thing for Indeed I was loth to speak so much of the easiness of the waies of Christ without shewing the difference between the rest and ease of a carnal heart or an Hipocrite and a true Gracious heart an Hipocrite and a carnal heart shal find no ease and rest at al though a gracious heart shal Wherfore the differences between that ease which a carnal heart finds and that which a gracious heart finds in Gods ways they are many First of al a carnal heart finds ease in Christs yoke and ease in the yoke of sin both they find ease in both yokes when they have a temptation to sin that is comfortable to them when it is suitable to their own ends to their own waies when they come to performe duty and come to the Church and somtimes pray and receive Sacraments and the like they think they find a great deal of ease there they are content with both now it is quite otherwise with a gracious heart a gracious heart finds ease in the yoke of Christ but there is nothing more burdensom to a gracious heart then the yoke of sin the yoke of Christ is such an ease as cannot stand with ease under the yoke of any sin but the yoke of sin it is burdensome and intollerable unto the heart that hath true ease in the yoke of Jesus Christ Yea and the more ease any gracious heart hath in bearing the yoke of Christ the more intolerable is the burden that such a heart hath when it is under the yoke of sin if at any time sin doth prevail with one that is come under subjection to Jesus Christ O! how greivous is that sin and therefore greivous because such a foul knows what the difference is between the yoke of Christ and the yoke of sin therefore it is grievous It is not only greivous because it brings terror to the soul through fear of judgment and fear of hell but it is grievous because the soul knows a difference between the yoke of Christ and the yoke of sin As now if a man hath been acquainted with a service to some Noble man or Prince and hath a great deale of Honor and respect and gained very much and afterwards this man should come to be a slave in the Gallies Oh how burdensom would this be to him upon this ground because he once knew a better service he knew what it was to serve such a Prince that was a gracious Prince and loved him and delighted in him and required nothing of him but that that was very suitable to him now if such a one comes to the Gally it will be very greivous Truly thus it is a true Gracious heart that hath been acquainted with the yoke of Christ if at any
time he is overcome with any corruption with any sin he is like one in the Gally Oh this soul considers I am in a different way from what I was wont to be I was wont to be in the service of Jesus Christ and my heart had soul satisfying contentments while I was there but O what a difference is there in this work here is a base drudgery in comparison of what I was wont to have Oh the sweet communion I had with Jesus Christ while my heart kept close to him but now now I am raking in kennells and rowing in Gallies Oh! wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this burden now this is a wide a broad difference between the easiness of the yoke of Christ to one and to the other one finds a great deal of ease in the yoke but the other finds all one if he goes amongst company that are vaine and sleight and prophane and when he comes to hear the word to read or receive the Sacrament almost all one and indeed if there be any difference his greatest ease is in that of sin he hath ease in the duties of religion in performing duties but his greatest ease is in the other way I but now the ease of a Saint is such as cannot stand with the ease of sin a child of God can beare the yoke of Christ with ease but he cannot beare the yoke of sin it is death to him to beare the yoke of sin that is the First Secondly Another difference is this a carnall heart may have some ease in duties of religion in the yoke of Christ but it is because he mistakes the yoke of Christ it is because he doth not know the yoke of Christ he thinks that the yoke of Christ is only some external duties that Christ requires or to keep from some grosse sins and now and then to say his prayers and now and then to read a chapter and come to Church and to receive Sacraments he thinks this is all that Christ requires of him what needs any more to do then this May not I go to Heaven as well with this as with keeping so much a do as others do and he thinks here is the yoke of Christ and this is fine and easy indeed If this were the way that would bring to Heaven it were a very easy matter to go to Heaven that is for a man to keep from a gross foul sin that would make him odious in the place where he lives and for him only to come from his house and sit an hour or two and heare a Sermon and come at Easter and other times and receive the Sacrament this is the easiest thing in the world who would not go to Heaven if this were all But now if thou wert acquainted with the spiritualness of holy duties that Jesus Christ requires with the power of Godliness that there is in holy duties that Christ requires in the word mortification of thy Lust and the keeping of thy thoughts and of thy heart holy and spiritual he requires that thou shouldest serve the Lord thy God withal thy heart and all thy might if thou knewest I say the spiritualness of holy duties and the power of Godliness that is in holy duties then it would be an intolerable burden to thee it would be very grievous to a carnall heart to put it self under the spirituall acts of Religion to put it self under the outward acts of Religion that is easie but to put it self upon the inward acts of Religion they would find that to be somwhat indeed For one that hath learned a Prayer to go and say it over and read it in a Book What an easie matter is that part of Religion for a man in the morning and evening to go and turn over two or three Leaves and shake himself and go away and then there is Religion for all that day But now if you would set your selves to the power of Godliness in Prayer that is when you come to Prayer to meditate what an Infinite and Glorious and eternall God you have to deal withall in Prayer I am now coming to tender up that high respect that I owe to the infinite God that which the Creature ows to an infinite Creator now I am coming to open my Soul to God to search out all the corruptions of my heart and I am now coming to bewail them in the presence of the infinite God and to set my self before the Lord as in my self a condemned Creature before an infinite Judg I am coming now to plead with God for my life for my Soul for my eternall estate I am now coming to engage my Soul to God that as ever I expect mercy in the day of Christ so I am willing to give up my self to God here is some power of Godliness in this now I would have you put your selves to this divine ease the more a Gracious heart doth this the more ease he hath in Prayer as I will appeal to you Take a carnall heart such a one thinks he must pray and so he comes in the morning and speaks a few words such words as he was wont to do and such words as may be he hath heard other men speak when he joyns with others in prayer and he hears some expressions in prayer from them and he gets them and comes in the morning and speaks them and perhaps gets into his Closet and barely speaks them over now if it be one that hath true Grace alas he is in a troublesome condition all the day after if he find not the power of Godliness in it such a one hath no quiet in his Spirit al the day after Why because there hath not been the power of Godliness in his Duty and therefore he is troubled all the day long But now let such a one come to Prayer to purpose in the morning and stir up the life and power of Godliness in Prayer worshipping God as a God Oh! the ease and quiet that such a one hath all the day he can go on in his work and can sing at his work So that the ease of a Gracious heart comes from the power of Godliness in a Duty and from the spiritualness that is in a Duty but the ease of a carnall heart comes from the formality of a Duty as because the Duty is formall and he thinks that it is the Yoke of Christ and this is pretty wel it is easie indeed to have no other Yoke than this to worship God in a few words and not to have the power of Godliness in the Duty And so we might instance in the hearing of the word you come to the word barely you rise out of your bed and come and sit here an hour that is easie enough but now if you come to the word with preparation and think now I am going into the presence of God to hear what God hath to say to my Soul this morning Oh my Soul
yoke of Christ but were they come in they would not find it so difficult Somtimes indeed the work of God in converting of a Soul comes to it so as the Soul finds a great deal of difficulty The Ministry of John by way of preparation comes in a terrible way to make smooth the rough paths and level the lofty hils comes in a fiery way to prepare them many times it is very terrible and they find a great deale of difficulty much trouble of conscience and terrour at first I but this is but to get â—hy neck into the yoke this is not the difficulty of Christs yoke but it is the bringing thee under the yoke of Christ therfore let not those that God is beginning to stir them in awaknâ—ng their Consciences be offended because they find difficulty because they find the waies of God terrible to them and conscience terrible to them and they find the flashes of Hell upon their spirits be not offended because thou hast more trouble now then before it is but in getting that unruly spirit of thine under the yoke of Christ if once thy spirit be subdued to Jesus Christ and brought under his yoke thou wilt not find it so terrible and it may be the more terrour thou hast now the more sweetness and comfort thou wilt find afterwards Thirdly Thou complainest of difficulty that thou findest in Gods waies do not therefore complaine of the yoke of Christ it may be it is from the distemper of thine own heart not from Christs yoke we know that a light yoke to one that hath a sore neck seemes to be very grievous but the fault is not in the yoke but in the soreness of the neck if the neck were sound and made whol the yoke would seem light so it is with many that profess religion and it may be have true grace they find the yoke very haâ—d to them and they complain of the yoke and think that which Christ requires of them is greivous to them but truly it is the distemper of thy heart and the unsoundness of thy spirit that makes it so if so be thy heart were but healed if thy hearâ— were but sound thou wouldest not find any such difficulty in any way of Christ In 2 Tim. 1. 7. There the spirit of power of love and of a sound mind are joyned together where there is a sound mind a sound spirit theâ—e will be power there will be strength there will be love and sweetness but where the mind and the heart is unsound and disteâ—pered there you will find a great deal of difficulty in the yoke of Christ so that I say where you find the yoke of Christ difficult do not complain of that so much as of your own heart and labor to heal your own soul and then it it will not be so difficult and that is the third answer I would give to the Godly that yet find difficulty in the waies of religion it is not because of the yoke but it is because you are not enough under the yoke that is the difficulty if your hearts were under it more then it is it would not be so difficult and this expression may serve to enlighten us into the fourth answer which is this Fourthly the yoke of Christ may seem to be hard but it is because of the disordered carriage of thy spirit when thou art under it not only from a distempered heart that thy heart hath distempers and habitual corruptions but now when thou art doing a duty thou dost behave thy self in a disorderly way in the performance of the duty the disorderly behavior of thy heart in the performance of duty As now we know it is with some Bullocke some creatures that are unruly when they are in the yoke they keep such a stir and riggle this way and that way and they are so unquiet when they are under the yoke that they toil and trouble themselves abundantly more then another that can carry the yoke quietly that goes on quietly with his yoke so it is with many Christians when they are in the performance of duty if they cannot do it as they would they do so vex and frett and are so disquieted in their spirits and so tumultuous in their spirits and are ready to cast it off Conscience will keep it on and they are ready to cast it off there is such a disorderliness of spirit and such tumultuousness of spirit this makes duties difficult whereas now when thou art in performance of duties if thou couldest be under the yoke of Christ with a calme quiet Spirit and carry it in a meek way Oh! the sweetness that thou wouldest find there how many times shall you have many people that when they go to prayer if they cannot pray as they would do then they vex and fret and are ready to think to pray no more and why should they pray any more they are so disturbed in the duty they think it is better to cast it off and they begin to have hard thoughts of the duty and so their spirits are all in a dâ—stemper and disorderly working presently and there is the difficulty Whereas another though he cannot do what he would yet he hath an humble dispose to God and thinkes I will try another time may be God may come in another time still I love the duty the law is good the duty is just and good and though through the untowardness of my spirit I cannot do it now yet I hope God will come at another time I will do my duty and leave it to God to come in when he pleaseth as you heard before when the Bullock or the Heifer that beares the yoke if he goes on quierly his yoke is not so grievous but if he flings this way and that way and turnes to this side and that side every way he makes his yoke grievous to him and so it is with many Christians it is the disorderly carriage of people under this yoke that makes it so difficult Fiftly Thou complainest and sayest this yoke is hard consider that the casting of the yoke off would be a great deal harder and therefore there is no cause to complain can a man in a rational way complain of a yoke to be hard whenas the casting of the yoke off would be a harder thing then the bearing of it therefore the Hebrew word that signifies sin signifies also labor and trouble there is more trouble if thou shouldest cast off the yoke thou wouldest find more distress of spirit and more difficulty in casting off the yoke then to be under the yoke It is true those that be carnal and wicked do not find it so but if thou hast Grace if thou shouldest cast off the duty because of the difficulty thou wouldest find it more difficult to be without the duty then to perform it As I will instance to your own experiences you fiend sometimes that your hearts are loth to come off to prayer
in a morning or if you do pray you do it sleightly now do not you find your hearts off the hooks al the day long after have not you more trouble all the day long when your conscience tells you that you should go and seek God and pray I but other things are more easy and that is a hard thing and therefore you neglect it now do not you find it more dificult to be with out prayer in a morning then is in all the labour of prayer compare one day with another and see which is the easyest The yoke of Christ that was upon David might be somwhat hard to the flesh but the casting off the yoke broke his bones therefore in Psal 51. He cries to God to restore to him the joy of his Salvation and to heale those Bones of his that were broken That the Bones that thou hast broken may rejoyce that expression the Prophet hath Psalm 51. vers 8. Make me to hear joy and Gladness that the Bones that thou hast broken may rejoyce so that it broke the very Bones of David the casting off the yoke of Christ the trouble that David felt in his heart it was such a burden to him as broke his bones now when did ever any duty that David performed break his bones though it might a little paine his flesh and be a little burdensom to his flesh yet it was not that which broke his bones the casting off the yoke of Christ is a greater burden and more troublesom to a gracious heart then to keep it on Sixthly Thou complainest of difficulty in duty in Christs yoke may be it is not the yoke of Christ that is upon thee that is so heavy upon thee if thou examinest it again perhaps thou shalt find it is not Christs yoke that is upon thee 1. May be it is a yoke that thou hast taken upon thy self perhaps somthing that thou hast put upon thy self that Christ never required of thee then it may be grievous to thee if we will put that upon our selves that Christ never required as Papists do that put that upon themselves that Christ never required who required these things at your hands It may be some men have put somthing upon you that Christ never required of thee it may be thou puttest upon thy self a duty at this time that is not the duty of this time but is the duty of some other time when thou wilt enjoyne thy self to do such a duty that is not the duty of this time but the duty of another time then it may be troublesom as many poor Christians are pestered this way when God would have them do such a duty conscience puts them upon another duty God calls them to a duty of their calling but conscience puts them upon prayer now that is not the duty it may be of this time and this is the way of Satan of the Devil to weary them and tire them by putting them upon duty unseasonably when he cannot by temptation hinder them from duty then he labors to weary and tire them by putting them unseasonably upon duty As I have known some they could not be at their work a quarter of an hour but suddenly they must leave all and go to prayer and they thought it was the motion of Gods Spirit and the dictates of conscience and they thought they must not neglect it and so made their lives uncomfortable upon that ground whereas the Spirit of God puts people upon duty seasonably every thing in its right order and right way and in its due time it will put you upon prayer in a fit time and put you upon duties of your calling in a fit time and when it comes unseasonably to disquiet you it is rather a suggestion of Satan to disquiet you then to make you to obey Christs yoke 2. May be it is not the yoke of Christ but meerly the yoke of the Law as thus though it may be the same thing that Christ would have you do yet you may have it laid upon you in a legal way to do it meerly out of fear of the wrath of God and damnation and so it may be as a scourge to force you to it and so to look upon every duty as if your eternal estate depended upon it as if you were to be cast or saved by the meer performance of your duty this is rather the yoke of the Law then the yoke of Jesus Christ to be put and hurryed upon duty as if your eternal estate did depend upon your duty and you were to be cast in your eternal estate by that rather then any thing here is the yoke of Moses not the yoke of Christ Christ puts you upon duty for the honor of God yet so as the hazard of your eternal estate is over and thou art not to be cast upon the performance of the duty this way or that way that if thou failest thou wert to be cast for ever to everlasting destruction upon thy failing he doth not bring you before God as before a severe and revenging judg but puts you upon service as a Child is put upon doing service by a Father now it is a great deale easyer for a child to do service to a father then for a slave to do service to one that hath him in bondage that will be continually lashing him and beating him black and blue so indeed the yoke of the Law which we are to speak of afterwards when we come to speak of the easiness of Christs yoke that is greivous and many Christians they do their duties meerly in a legal way and so it is rather Moses yoke then the yoke of Jesus Christ and so it comes to be hard whereas when thou comest to understand what the yoke of Christ is and what the duties are that are required by Jesus Christ and so to take them from him by a covenant of Grace for so they are required there is no duty in the Morral Law but is required of you in the Gospel and in a stronger bond then ever it was required upon the first Covenant but in another way coming unto it in another way in Christ and through the hand of the mediatour Jesus Christ so it comes to be a great deal more easy and when duties are taken up in an evangelical way then they are easy but so long as you take them up in a legal way then they come to be very grievous that is the Sixth Answer Seventhly Another answer is this that difficulty that you find it is not the Yoke of Christ if you consider That now Corruption is more Stirred then ever it was before the difficulty is in the discovery of corruption in the Stirring of your corruption more then before so that your Corruption through this by means of the yoke of Christ comes to be more stirred then formerly it was As thus now sometimes I think I have given you this Similitude if there be a few embers
then it is now And then the Last thing is to speak especially to young ones those that complain of hardness in the waies of Christ for the present and feel their work very difficult that say Oh that I could find what you say is in the waies of Jesus Christ that I could find them so what a happy life should I live Now be convinced there is such a way what should be done to facilitate and make easy this way Now what rules we should observe to make the waies of Christ easy that we may go on with ease sweetness and comfort in them is the next thing I shal come unto CHAP. CXLVI The meanes to make the waies of Christ easy to our selves 1. Our obedience must be evangelical 2. Keep the heart in a readiness to every duty 3. Get the heart in love to the duty 4. Loose not your incouragements 5. Continue not in the guilt of any Sin 6. Order the duties of your condition 7. Leave the Success wholly to God 8. Bind not your self to what Christ doth not 9. Lay hold upon all opportunities 10. Preserve all experiences 11. Beware of disturbing passions 12. Entertaine communion with the Saints 13. Exercise much faith 14. Get strength of Grace THe last thing that I intend in this point is To shew how we may come to facilitate the waies of Godliness to our selves that is how we may come to live so under the yoke of Christ as to make it easy unto our selves for certainly though Christs yoke be easy yet many people of God find more difficulty in Gods waies then they need there is an art a skill a mystery of Godlyness which if you come to hit on right you may carry on the work of Godliness with power and yet with a great deal of ease and sweetness As you know a workman that is skillful in his trade indeed and can handle his tools well and is exercised in it he carries on his work with ease it goes on before him delightfully whereas an unskilful young workman that cannot tell how to handle his tools he will keep a bungling and stir and tires himself and doth not carry his work on with ease and doth but a little work and doth it not wel neither those Workmen that do their work well with most ease they do the most work Now for those rules to be observed that may help us to make the waies of Christ easy to us they are these 1. Be sure that all your obedience be evangelical obedience when you are tendering up any service to God let it be I say an evangelical service you will say what is the meaning of an evangelical work or evangelical obedience or service certainly the want of the knowledg of Christ is the chiefe thing that makes the waies of God difficult to Godly people their obedience is legal not evangelical I have already in the former part of the invitation of Christ shewed much of the difficulty that there is in legal obedience I will give you but the heads of some four or five things for evangelical obedience and shew what it is or what ease there is in evangelical obedience in comparison of the other First Evangelical obedience is an obedience that the child tenders up unto the father when you come to do any work do not look upon God as a severe Judge passing judgment and condemning of you But look upon God as a father and all your obedience to be nothing but the obedience of a child to his father this wil make it easy it is a greater ease for a child to obey his father when he knows that he is a loving and tender father then for a gally slave to obey him that hath the power over him Secondly Evangelical obedience is to know that the Gospel accepts of uprightness where there is not perfection many Christians are exceedingly troubled in the duties of religion and they are very difficult to them because they think that God being an infinite Holy God he looks for absolute perfection from them in their duties and if there be any imperfection in their duties they think they shall not be accepted but now Evangelical obedience accepts of uprightness when there is not perfection if there be uprightness this is accepted of God Thirdly Evangelical obedience the Duties of the Gospel hath ever a promise going along with them whatever the Gospel requires it joyns a promise to it as it is in the body there is an Artery that goes along together with the Veins in the body that carries the blood and the Spirits through the body we must look upon every Duty as having a promise joyned to it and this will make our obedience easie evermore joyn promises unto commands Fourthly Evangelical obedience it bears the heart upon the strength of Jesus Christ upon Christs strength to look up to him when we go to Duty not to be tiring our selves and think to carry it out by main strength of our own but to look up to him and bear our selves upon Christ upon his strength Fifthly Evangelical obedience it is not an obedience upon which our eternal life depends we are not to look upon what we do as any part of the Covenant of eternal life as that which our eternal life depends not as a covenant of works upon which eternal life depends but the safety of our Souls and eternal life is in another way and all that which we do is rather in way of thankfulness unto God for the mercy that God hath granted to us and the eternal life that Christ hath purchased for us already this is Evangelical obedience now if our obedience and Duties were after this manner performed they would be very easie if we would but do thus this it is to obey evangelically If we could come as children to obey our Father and know that the uprightness of our hearts is accepted and to look upon every Commandment as having a promise annexed to it and to bear our selves upon the strength of Christ and to look upon every Duty only as a testimony of our thankfulness to God for eternal life purchased for us rather then a part of the Covenant of eternal life Now this obedience hath a great deale of ease in it But because we have spoken largely heretofore about the difficulty of the burden of the Law and of the rest of the Soul from under it it shal be sufficient to namâ— it at this time but if we would have ease in the waies of Christ we must performe all our obedience in an Evangelical way and I will add this one thing to it As our obedience so our humiliation for want of obedience must be evangelical for many Christians may find their obedience somwhat easy to them I but when they do not obey then the sorrow for their sin that is grievous their humiliation that is a burden to their Spirits sin lyes upon them as a burden I but we should be
thy soul and other sins the sin of thy passion and the sin of thy giving liberty to thy thoughts may be as a thorn to thy foot to make thy way very hard unto thee No marvel though thou complainest the way is hard it is not the hardness of thy path but the tenderness of thy foote that makes thee to think the way hard therefore let every Christian if he would go on with ease in the waies of religion as soon as ever a thorn is got into the conscience Oh! get it out presently do not let it lye and fret in the flesh Oh! if we would as soon as we had committed sin get it out of the conscience presently then repentance would not be so difficult and you would find your heart at a mighty deal of ease When a man goes with pain and hee lookes upon his foote and pulls the thorn out he goes with ease then As the beast when you go in the way and your beast halts and shufflles you will have him searched if you cannot see it your selfe then when you come to the next Smith you have him searched so do you find the waies of God difficult that you cannot go the pace you were wont to go search your hearts see whether there be not a stone in your hearts or some gravel see if there be any particular sin that you know to be a sin and particularly repent of that and that will make the way of God easy to you the often renewing of repentance will make the way of God easy 6. Labor by wisdom to order the duties of your condition that is thus Labor for wisdom to know what is suitable to your condition and order the duties about that condition many think Oh! if I were in such a place as such a one is I would doe thus and thus but you should look upon the duties of your present condition what is the condition that I am now in I am a servant what is my duty in that condition not what is the duty of a governour And so in a single estate what is the duty of this condition not what is the duty of a marryed Condition and so in a Married Condition what is the duty of that And so when you are in affliction what is your duty at that time or if so be that God cal you to humiliation you should mind the duty of humiliation And when God calls you to rejoycing you should know the duty of that time Some when God calls them to rejoycing they think they must be humbled and when they are called to be humbled they think they should rejoyce and when they are called to beleeving then they wil be poring upon their corruptions and when God calls them to searching of their hearts they have thoughts of matter of joy Now wisedom to suite our duty to our condition and to apply our duty to that condition is a great ease to the soul Now many times we are thinking of a duty at one time that is not the duty of that time may be when one is sick Oh! they are many times troubled that they cannot go to heare the word and meere with Gods people and spend so much time in prayer and meditation and reading as they were wont to do and upon this they trouble themselves now this is not the duty of your condition the duty of your condition at that time is to fanctify Gods name in your affliction and to quiet your heart under the hand of God and the duty of your condition is not to go to heare sermons now but to think of what you have heard heretofore the duty of your condition now is not to spend so much time in your closet in prayer as when you were in health and you are troubled for the want of this we often trouble our selves about those duties that are not the duties of our present condition and that makes them difficult now wisdom in ordering our duties wil much help to facilitate them 7. Another Rule is this In the performance of duties you should ease your selves of the care of the success of what you do about success or discouragement for want of success nothing makes our lives more troublesom and our work more difficult than our carking care about success I wil do this and this but I am afraid I shal not have success or if I have success not such as I desire but now if you would perform duties in a gracious manner look to the duty perform that and cast the care wholly upon God it is enough for me to do what is required of me as a creature to do and let God himself take care of that that belongs to him and that is the success I told you in the opening of the ease that there is certain success and yet we might trouble our selves in carking about success now if we can go on in performance of duty and never be troubled about success it wil be exceeding easie but Christians find somtimes that though they have been diligent in performance of duty yet they do not find success they find nothing comes of it and this troubles them this makes them go heavily to the duty at another time I but observe that whatever duty you perform if you do not find present success you must not conclude that there wil be no success the carking about the success in things makes the work extraordinary difficult now if we could bring our hearts to this Lord I am where thou wouldst have me and doing what thou wouldst have me and as for the success that belongs not to my work but to thy self I walk according to that that is thy wil and as for success I will leave that to thy self 8. Another rule is this do not tye your selves to what Christ doth not tie you unto there are many Christians bring upon themselves many snares that way by tying themselves to that which Christ doth not tie them to tying themselves to such a time of prayer to spend so much time in such a duty we must take heed of laying a yoke upon our selves do not put a yoke upon Christs yoke It is a great question to many and it s to me a question whether in the Gospel there is required any Vows at all to vow any thing that is not a duty before we have vowed it indeed to strengthen our selves to do what God requires as David I have sworn to keep thy righteous Laws we may engage our selves that way but properly in the Law it was a free will Offering but for a Vow now I do not find that the Gospel hath any such thing for men to bind themselves to that that they were not bound to before by the word Indeed whatever we are bound to by the word that we are to engage our selves to the utmost but now to bind our selves to any thing else as that we will as long as we live keep such a day this
of God very much the experience of this is very much I do not know how it comes to pass but certainly now there is a great deal less communion between Gods people than formerly the times have been when some that have been alone have bin striving and tugging and could not get their hearts into any good frame they have come buâ— into the company of Gods people laid their experiences together and warmed themselves together and then they have gone away and they have thought nothing too hard that God should require of them to do or to suffer they would go into their closets and pour out their hearts if there were trouble in the Family between Wife and Husband in regard of passion when they have been amongst Gods people they could carry themselves in a gracious manner Oh! communion much communion with the Saints of God it is that that facilitates the waies of Religion We know in travelling if a man be travelling a journey all alone especially if he have wind and weather against him his way is tedious to him very hard and grievous and he is tired in his journey but now if he travel and have good company and good discourse and is joyfull and cheerful when he is going his journey is nothing when he comes to the Inn he saith I thank God I am not weary at al Why is it so the journey is long I but the company is good the dâ—scourse is good and that makes it easie So it is in our journey to Heaven we complain of tediousness in our journy Why is it because we love to be alone As many that are of a dumpish disposition loving alwaies to be alone there is a time indeed that people should be alone they have sweet refreshings from God that way but there is a time to have Society with the Saints and it is an ordinance appointed by God for the facilitating of Gods waies while we are passing in the wilderness in our way to Heaven and therefore make Conscience of that to have Communion with the people of God to spiritualize your Communion and make what use you can of them to help you in your Christian course 13. Another Rule is this Exercise much Faith Faith doth facilitate every action as Unbelief makes every thing difficult let a man be put upon any duty if he have an unbelieving heart it is difficult Why because before he comes to it he saith I shal never go through with it and therefore comes heavily to it all the while his unbelief prevails his work goes heavily on but let a man come to a work and come to purpose A man of confidence and of spirit he saith let me take such a thing another man he is toyling laboring and he saith I shal never bring it to any thing but now another man that is of a lively constitution faith he let me come to it and he carries it on with ease and the truth is when Christians see Gods call to any work they should not pore upon the difficulty but exercise Faith and come with courage to the duty and God will carry you through God that cals me to a work he will give me strength in the work and therefore let me go to the work as if I were carried through it already go on with confidence and resolution and take heed of Unbelief up and be doing and the Lord wil be with you so do you say to your souls when you are discouraged in the work Oh such and such have miscarried and how shall so weak a soul as I do Wel up and be doing and the Lord will be with you 14. Lastly Do not satisfie your selves that you have grace but labor to have strength of grace that is easie to a strong man that is hard to a weak now Christians should not satisfie themselves with Gods grace God hath begun grace in thee you will say he that hath the least dram of grace it will carry him to Heaven I but it is a great deal of grace that must make the waies of Religion easie and delightful to thee Therefore look into the word and when thou dost exercise Faith or make use of any Ordinance Do it for the encrease of grace for strengthening thy self strengthen those weak things that are in thee that thou maist go on steadily in the waies of Religion and know to that end that though thou beest never so weak yet there is strength enough to be had Look into the word of God and you shall find there that there is a most glorious strength that is possibly to be attained unto by Christians in Ephes 1. 18 19. that place that we have often made use of What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward which beleeve according to the working of his mighty power Mark this Text it is not only meant of the greatness of Gods power in working Faith in us but the greatness of his power toward us who do now beleeve God doth put forth power greatness of power and exceeding greatness of mighty power and the same that he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at the right hand of God Thou mai'st come to have by the exercise of Faith the power of God put forth his almighty power to give thee Faith so now by the exercise of Faith thou mai'st have the power of God the greatness of his Power the mighty power of God and the exceeding greatness of the mighty power of God and the same that God put forth when he raised Christ from the dead set him at the right hand of the Father Thou sai'st thou hast a dead heart but wil not the power of God that raised Christ from the dead raise thy heart exercise Faith Lord I go about such a business it is difficult because of the hardness of my heart But Lord wil not the power that raised Christ from the Grave raise my dead heart And so Lord I have a heart sunk down to the things of the world I but Lord hast thou not promised to put forth the same power into the hearts of thy people that set Jesus Christ at thy right hand Wil not that power raise up my heart to Heaven and give me an heavenly heart Now here is strengthening of thy Faith from the word of God and that strength that the Scripture holds forth that God himself wil put forth into the heart of his people upon the exercise of Faith And so in Ephes 3. 16. That he will grant unto you according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man what a heap of expressions are here therefore I put you upon this not to content your selves with weak grace for there is abundance of strength not only the strength in Christ but the strength that is conveyed into the heart by the Spirit of Jesus Christ it is one thing for