the Apostle makes so necessary to well doing that all may know whether they have this willing mind 2. Shew its Necessity in the general to all Men. 3. That Ministers above others should have it 4. Draw some practical Inferences from the Proposition in relation to us all as Christians but especially as Ministers 1. This willing mind seems to consist of two things 1. A fixing of the Will that it may stick to its duty 2. The chearfulness of the mind in its performance First The Will must be fixed without this nothing is done willingly The great Controversie of late hath been who doth determine the Will God by the Irresistible Operation of his Grace or Man by making those Operations to be effectual In which Controversie whilst some have given to Man more power than in truth is in him others have gone into another extreme those that go in the former extreme though otherwise very Learned Men do so rarely mention the Supernatural Operations of the Holy Spirit which are as necessary to deliver the Soul from the bonds of Sin as to Release the Body from the power of the Grave at the last day that as one saith of the Socinians 't is hard to call them Hereticks for they scarce deserve to be called Christians so of these Men 't is hard to say that they Preach another Gospel for they seldom Preach any Gospel and yet some have erred on the other hand as if God's Grace had so superseded Man's duty that there were nothing for us to do but to look when God will do it that we may sit still and do nothing The truth lieth between these two extremes which will the sooner appear if you consider that they only are willing whom God doth make willing and yet every Man that is truly willing his heart doth stir him up to his own duty and his own spirit doth make him willing 1. They only are willing whom God doth make willing for 't is his work to subdue the will a work that needs and becomes a God to do the work is the greatest manifestation of a Divine Power Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth The words seem to relate to those early and numerous Conversions which are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles where you find thousands at one Sermon converted to Christianity which times are therefore called the womb of the morning and the dew of Christ's youth because as he that goeth forth in the morning is then strongest for his Labour and the Young Man hath most agility of body to run the Race So the Grace of God in the first publishing of it should go forth with that power as is in the young for his Race as is in a strong Man for his Labour Hence it is that they that think they have made themselves willing do but deceive themselves when by the Grace of God they were not made so for the Will of Man is conquered by none but God Men may attempt it to bend it to God's Will as you would bend a crooked Stick it will return to its own crookedness And therefore Moses that knew what a great work 't is to fix the heart to its duty tells the People that though they had seen more of God's Power than ever any Nation before them or perhaps more than ever any Nation shall see whilst the World continueth if God would do this they would see more of a Divine Power than as yet they had seen Deut. 29.2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the Land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and his Servants and to all his Land the great temptations which thine eyes have seen yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive the greatness of the work and the successlesness of outward means shews it to be God's work and therefore to argue against this from some difficulties that occur in stating the Controversies as to the manner of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon our Wills that because Man hath a self-determining Principle and is Master of his own actions which can't be denied yet to argue from hence that this can't agree with the Irresistible Operations of God's Grace is to pretend a tenderness to Human Nature that we may not wrong that and in the mean time wrong God as if we were to be more tender of Man's Honour than of God's Honour Why should it not suffice us what so many have said in this matter that the turning of the Will is done by Moral Perswasion as Man is a Rational Creature made for Moral Government but the Efficacy of God's Grace lieth in the immediate Operations of God's Spirit upon Man's Will which is subdued in a way of power as Man is a wicked Creature and yet so subdued that no Man is forced against his Will but made willing and yet that which makes him so is not the cooperation of his own Will with God's Spirit but the Conquest of the Spirit over the Will which being effectual Man shall not be able to Resist it and if he could he would not he is so drawn by Love as well as subdued by Power Now to scorn all this which in effect so many have done by saying How can this be and Man act as a self-determining Creature Master of his own Actions is to pretend that we can refine upon every thing that is done in the World when in the mean time if we descend into the manner of things we can give account of nothing for though we do all know that we can will and chuse and refuse and think and love and hate yet enquire how this is done how the Soul that is a Spirit doth operate upon the Body to move and stir it and how one thought doth beget another and who can give an account of all this Why then should we pretend to know how far the Spirit of God can operate upon our Souls to incline us to good and not destroy that determining Principle which is in all Men and therefore it will more become us to believe that which the Scripture is so positive in though we can't give an account how ' t is And as I hinted before there is not only need of God's Grace to determine the Will to its duty but to keep it there For we are apt to go off from our own Resolutions and Purposes and to lose the present Impression of God's Grace the willing mind will of it self become unwilling and therefore God having tryed us in Adam doth not trust us in the Second Covenant to our selves and we have need to consider this that we may not depend upon the first determination of our own Wills we are mutable fickle and unconstant Creatures our hearts are deceitful not only in this that they are not really willing when they
seem so but are soon chang'd from willing to be unwilling and the true Reason why Men do not live more suitable to their own Resolutions is not because they were never willing but because men do change their minds from willing to unwilling for which reason 't is that God desclaimes his being like Man that he should lie or Repent Men will promise what they never Intend to perform this is lying with a witness but besides that they that scorn to do this do Repent that is change their minds God is not such an one we will serve the Lord said the People but you can't serve the Lord said Joshua not that absolutly they could not but because he saw in them a kind of rashness to promise and resolve but they did not enough consider that to do what they promised there was more need of Gods Grace than as yet they were sensible of and without this they could not serve the Lord and it is generally the mistake of good men to think that they shall be able to do what they are willing to do Peter found it so David whose heart was made willing prays that it might be kept so 1 Chron. 29. â—8 Who am I and what is this People that we should be able to offer so willingly keep this Lord for ever in the Imaginations of the thoughts of the hearts of this people and establish their hearts to thee that is thou hast made us willing Lord keep us so the first grace to determine the will may be given and that grace not given which is needfull to performance He worketh to will and to do Phil. 2.13 Paul found it so to will is present with me but how to perform I find not 2. And yet he only is willing whose heart doth stir him up and whose Spirit doth make him willing as 't is said of the Children of Israel Exod. 35.21 29. and they came every one whose heart stirred him up and every one whose Spirit made him willing verse 29. the Children of Israel brought a willing offering to the Lord every Man and Woman whose heart made them willing it is the want of this that God complains of Isa 64.7 none stirreth up himself and the Apostle Paul would have Timothy stir up the gift in him not only the Ministerial but the Sanctifying gift of Gods Grace for though the Grace of God be not made effectual by our own co-operation with it neither is it effectual without our own Concurrence and therefore it is that we are directed to our duty towards Gods Grace and that not only when we have it but that we may obtain it not only to keep our selves awake when God hath awakned but to awake out of sleep that Christ may give us Life Eph. 5.14 for 't is the heart the will in man that is the Fountain of all the good or evil that is in man and under Gods Grace the first mover out of the heart proceeds Murder Fornication and Adultery and a good Man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things as we are never subdued to Gods Grace till the will be subdued so the will is never subdued till it stirs us up to our duty Prov. 2.10 when Wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant to thy Soul then the work succeeds and never till then for as Mr. Fenner saith sincerity lieth in the Will So that as he that would kindle the fire must put the Fewel together and then Blow to it So God working upon us as Rational Creatures doth expect that we do what we may towards our turning to Him and this stirring up our Selves that our hearts may make us Willing holds as to the first Grace by which the Will is determined and as to that Subsequent grace by which it is kept to its duty and in both Respects is Oppos'd 1. To Outward Judgments and Foreign motives which many a man is Influenc'd by whose heart doth not make him willing and when 't is so the thing done though otherwise Good and Praise-worthy hath no acceptance with God for 't is not done willingly that is sincerely Jehu in his access to the Throne of his master Ahab pretended Zeal to the Lord God of Israel and in that pretended zeal pulled down the Altar and Images of Baal and destroyed his Masters house and yet saith God though Jehu did what he was commanded I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu The blood of that Woman as Bad as she was was too good to be spilt upon so low an end as Jehu purposed to himself for it seems it was not Gods Glory but his own security or Revenge or both the like may be said as to custom or example the latter of which though we may Lawfully make a good use of yet when 't is that only or Cheifly that prompts us to our Duty It will never please God and generally He is made Willing by foreign motives the Praise or fear or the example of men that he may not seem singular any thing else that is short of Gods Glory take away that and He goeth no farther as when you take away the weight that made the Clock go it stoppeth 2. And It must be in opposition to the workings of Conscience enlightned but not Renewed for we may have a sense of our Duty when we have no Inclination to its performance I don't say but 't is better to do what is good and to forbear what is Evil though it be only the sense of our Duty without a Willing mind prompting us to it and yet 't is evident enough that this is a sort of Religion which none should rest in conscience when Enlightned but not Sanctified may put Men upon doing something in Religion which is far enough from what the Apostle calls Obeying from the heart take a wicked Man at some Particular times when he is under the Influences of Fear upon a Sick bed and how free doth he seem to be from that rancor and prejudice that before appeared in him Now he is for an Holy Life Resolv'd on a sudden now he is for Prayers and perhaps those Prayers which before he scoff'd at What a change doth this seem to be but yet this Work is but the Operation of an enlightned awakned conscience melted humbled under the sense of Gods Wrath but yet as the metal when in the Fire was soft when out of the Fire grows as hard or harder than before so do they that are only under the operation of fear In their affliction they will seek me early than they will cry arise and save us Jer. 2.26 't is Fear cheifly that works upon Conscience when enlightned only but not Renewed and Sanctified And therefore it is that when what they feared seems upon their Recovery to be at a distance from them they fear it as little as before for fear is not lasting he whose Conscience only doth stir him up to
his Duty will seek an advantage one time or other to be at liberty from his fears for he is as a man in Prison that cannot go and do as he would but an heart made Willing by the Grace of God and making us Willing is enlarg'd to its Duty were there more of this disposition of mind in us there would be less need of the Restraints or Constraints of Conscience 't is to be observ'd in the Children of Israel at the first setting up of the Tabernacle their own hearts stirring them up they did so forward the work that Moses made a Proclamation throughout the Camp let no Man make any more work for the Tabernacle and so the People were restrained Exod. 36.6 7. For want of this there is no need in any Publick work to restrain men from over doing It were well if by any means men would be constrained to their Duty 2. This willing mind consists in a chearfull performance of our Duty he that can live under a sense of his Duty and can attain to a Resolvedness to stick to its Performance and in the performance can find in himself a chearfullness of mind hath attain'd a good measure of that diposition of Spirit which the Apostle makes so necessary to our acceptance and Reward for where the Will is subdued it doth carry with it the subordinate affections and so where the Will is Love is and where Love is delight will be The great Promise of God is to write his Laws upon our hearts now this writing the Law in the heart signifieth an act of Grace upon the Will towards Gods Law rather than upon the understanding to know it for the misery of man lyeth not so much in an Ignorance of Gods Will as in an enmity to it now when God takes away this enmity and puts a new byas into our Souls Love and delight will not only constrain us to Obedience but will make it more or less Easy and Delightfull Most things are to us as we stand affected to them and therefore that is a delight to one that to another is a burden but now God in order to Reduce us to our Duty doth give us disposition suitable to it and therefore when this Will of God meets with a disposition suitable to it 't is this makes obedience Easie and us chearfull in it thy Law is in my heart I delight to do thy Will O God Psal 40.8 So that he that cannot delight himself in the Almighty nor in his Duty is never like to persist in it Psal 37.4 I do not extend this so far as to exclude all those from the Grace of God that have not the Swavitys of Religion those sensitive Joys and Affections which are rather the Evidences of the full assurance of understanding than of Grace in its lower degrees but I speak it in this sense that what we do in obedience to Gods Will must not be a burden to us for what is a burden though for a time we may bear it one time or other we shall lay it down at least we must be so far Reconciled to our Duty that we had rather do it than Neglect for what we Do grudgingly and had rather do otherwise though for some reasons we do it 't is in the sight of God as if we did it not 2. The necessity of this disposition will appear if you consider two things 1. No good in an Ordinary way will be done without it to do is more than to Will in some respect Rom. 7.18 The Apostle found it so the Apostle doth not absolutely deny a Power Imparted to him for the doing Good for I beleive he speaks of himself as renewed by the Grace of God but he compares doing and Willing and tells us he found it easier to Will than to perform now if where the Willing mind is a Power to do may be wanting It will be much more so where the Willing Mind is not I know where the Willing Mind which is first in order of nature is vouchsafed the Tower to Perform shall be given in some measure yet It must needs be that where that which is first in order of Nature and not obtain'd that which depends upon it cannot be expected for as in going up the Ladder you must begin at the lowest range so in order to acceptable Obedience we must begin at the Willing Mind the reason why the Stony ground brought not forth any thing to perfection was this it had no depth of Earth to cherish the Seed so is all Obedience without an heart made Willing either it will not be at all or it Will wither as the Grass upon the house top wherewith the Mower filleth not his hands 2. This Willing Mind doth so forward men to that which tends to Gods Glory and the Good of others that this may convince us of its necessity thus then the person pleads not excuses layes aside his delays is exalted above Discouragments and ordinarily we may expect assisting Grace to perform when by the grace of God we are Inclin'd to our Duty 1. We are apt to excuse our selves out of our Duty and the general excuse of wicked Men is they Cannot but the True Reason is our want of a Will if men were really willing as Mr. Fenner observes they would do what they can but when men can do something at least frame their doings that they may turn to the Lord consider that they may Repent hear that they may consider and attend the word of God and the places of his Worship where they may hear their Duty and know their danger 't is evident that men can do this what should hinder them Now when men can do this and yet will not and then pretend excuses how Justly may God Condemn such persons an heart made Willing layes aside excuses there is no Lion in that Mans way pleading excuses argues that there is at the present a contest within as to our Duty whither we shall or no and so far as we Cleave to our excuses so far we take part with Sin against Conscience and Conviction for the design of Conviction is to put us forward but the design of excuses is to draw us out of the hands of Mercy An heart made willing as far as 't is really willing lays aside its excuses Peter had an Excuse in appearance a good one we have toiled all Night and taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will cast in the Net 2. This Willing Mind will not be put off with delays 't is said that he that believeth will not make haste but 't is meant of the thing Promised and Expected in relation to which he that Believeth will wait and not precipitate the Counsell of God nor the accomplishment of the Promise either before its time or in an unlawfull manner but in Relation to our Duty the sooner generaly the better for we may set about it too late but seldom or never too soon So that he
that is really Willing to turn to God doth determine to do it presently deferring to hereafter is the fruit of an unwilling Mind Pro. 3.27 28. Withhold not good from him to whom it is due when it is in the Power of thy hands to do it Say not to thy Neighbour go and come again and to Morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee The Wise Man considered that delaying is not safe for we may either loose the Opportunity of doing or which is worse the Will to perform the present Impression as well as the present opportunity may be gone by delaying without a good cause we make no Conscience of the Command that relates to the Time and to Morrow we may make no Conscience of that part of the Command that relates to the thing it self The Apostle whom God at an Instant Inclin'd to his Duty did immediately set about it Gal. â— 15 16 17 But when it pleased God who separated me from my Mothers Womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me that I might Preach him among the eathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and Blood And therefore it must needs be a general mistake in the World for men to pretend that they are not only Convinced that 't is their Duty to lead a new Life but Willing and yet this must not be till hereafter And yet think it shall be well enough especially if it should happen that they live to that hereafter 't is true in some cases and as to some particular dutys It may consist with a willing mind to defer them when the present time is not convenient or when the time to come may prove more advantagious but as to the amendment of a Mans life to pretend to be willing but not for the present as in it self 't is not a real willingness so in some respect 't is a resolution to the contrary of what we pretend to and therefore how can such a purpose be pleasing to God consider that besides the danger that you run and the presumption that you manifest that the grace and Mercy of God nay God himself shall be at your beck when you shall be at leisure to return to him you do at present resolve that as yet you will not as if you had not enough provoked the Almighty as if the time past of your Life did not suffice you to have wrought wickedness but you will continue to do so longer you do in effect declare that you ought to live otherwise than you have done that you must do otherwise and be other manner of persons and yet though you have wronged God already and wearied the Almighty and though if you die in your Sins without repentance you expect damnation and though you have no assurance that God will give you longer time as to be sure you have not yet you will venture upon it you will run the hazard of being damned under a pretence that you will do your Duty hereafter when you have spent your time in Sin and can do God no Service when you can Sin no longer you will cease to do Evil and when you can do nothing then you will learn to do well when the day is at an end you will go forth to your Labour and when the Sun is setting then you will set forth for your Journey can this delaying consist with a willing mind 3. As for discouragements this disposition of mind will help us to overcome them In the best of times well doing will meet with if not direct opposition at least discouragements for whilst the World continueth the Seed of the Serpent which sprung up in Cain will be The World will be ungrateful malicious and opposit to what is good even Morality hath had its Persecutors much more shall all they that will live Godly in Christ Jesus the greatest Innocence the strictest life the most publick Spirit the utmost caution shall never be able at all times and in all places to protect the Servants of God from the tongues or hands and hatred of the wicked who rather than they will lose the opportunity of doing mischeif will turn Christians that under the pretence of the Christian name they may wreak their Malice upon them that differ not from them but in those things wherein they themselves differ from what they pretend to these men will shew a Reverence to the deceased Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour that they may mischief the living ones Nay sometimes persecute them for that very thing for which the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord are reverenced among Christians Just so the Jews did build and adorn the Sepulchers of the Prophets whom their fathers slew and did to the Disciples what their fathers did to the Prophets Now this disposition of mind will help us against these discouragements for 't is our unresolvedness that makes the discouragements that lye in our way more and greater than they are 4. Where this is we may expect Gods assisting Grace to help us to do what by his Grace we are Inclined to for though willing and doing are not equally easy yet if we humbly go to God under the sense of our Duty and do not lean too much to our own Resolutions God will not be wanting to us his Grace shall be sufficient for us Philip. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it untill the day of Jesus Christ 't is true God keeps this grace in his own hands but yet the giving of the first grace doth give us cause to depend upon him for this also which we shall be sure to obtain if we do not forfeit it by our neglects I say again where this willing Mind is in truth It will cause that we shall not be Barren nor Unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Kingdom of God doth not consist in Word but in Power nor in wishing and willing but in doing and performing 3. Having shewn in the general the necessity of this disposition of Mind I would more particularly consider it as 't is necessary to Ministers to whom whilst I am speaking I would not be thought to pretend to speak what they can't tell me as well as I do them but only to put them in Remembrance of what they all know 1. Therefore we all know and therefore should consider that the bare Art of Preuching as a task expected at our hands every Lords-day can never please God but the Mind with which this and every other part of our Duty is perform'd God is a great God and a good Master and therefore a little forc'd service without our Wills or against our Will done because we dare not for shame do otherwise can this be Accepted and Rewarded 't is said in the general there must be a Willing Mind and then God accepts men according to what they have and can do and not according
Religion God Esteems it not so have ye fasted unto me to fast for stuff to pray to be seen of Men to give Alms to be applauded may go a great way in the sight of Men who ought to the praise action without Enquiring into the heart but it hath no other reward than what is here but he that is prompted to his Duty from his own heart hath a Testimony in himself in which he may rejoyce 2 Cor. 1.12 4. And Lastly let us all get this Willing Mind this disposing principle that what we do may be accepted and Rewarded under this head I shall speak in the general to all and Particularly to my brethren in the Ministry 1. All of us have need to Pray and to be Instant with God for this disposition of Mind For First by this means our Duty will be the more easy 't is true Christ hath a Yoak and a Burden but there is nothing that tends more to make it easy to us Motives than the disposedness of our Wills and Hearts unto it 2. The Will being the chief executive faculty where that is there the delight of the Soul followeth and what a desirable disposition will this be when our Duty becomes our Delight that as nature hath provided a delight in doing those things that tend to its preservation such as is the Saline humour in the Palat adjoyning it self with our Meat and Drink so when Grace doth furnish us with a disposition Co natural to our Duty that it shall be our Meat and Drink to do Gods Will How desireable is such a temper get me this and we shall find by experience that the ways of Wisdom are ways of Pleasantness 3. Hereby our Obedience will be more steady and even and we more constant and stedfast in it Ephraim is said to be as a Bullock that was not accustomed to the Yoak not used to work now such a Bullock is sore with his labour and unskilfull in it It makes bawks 't is in and out the main and principal reason of our uneven walking is either the want of a will fix'd and determined to its Duty or not carryed forth with delight in its performance 2. Directions 1. First Beg this disposition by Prayer every good and perfect gift cometh from above this especially if we can do it our selves Incline and fix our Wills to our Duty our sin is the greater if we do not but if we cannot do it of our selves as to be sure we cannot our sin is the greater that we are not more earnest and Incessant with God to help us Prayers for the first converting Grace are not alltogether unacceptable to God let us have Grace saith the Apostle that is let us seek it that we may have it let us Pray that we may obtain it and indeed if the natural man could be supposed seriously and heartily to desire this Grace we could not without wronging of God suppose that he would deny him they that have not higher and stronger arguments may plead from such as they have their relation to God as the work of his hands their rational and natural Powers thy hands have made me saith the Psamist give me understandng beg also the continuing and Increase of this first disposing Grace that he that hath made the Willing would keep so and make the more Willing 2. Keep your hearts under a sense of your Duty for tho' the sense of Duty may be urg'd upon us by an enlightned conscience which will leave us short of a willing Mind yet 't is good to feel something in our selves pleading Gods right urging upon us the necessity of our obedience the Apostle did so if against my Will a dispensation is committed to me I must do my Duty Willing or Unwilling it ought to be done though I lose the reward God will not lose his Right 3. Do what you can to make your selves Willing and do what you can to keep your Selves so even in conversion we must not expect that because God can that therefore he should do all though all that Man doth in his conversion doth not make nor is the reason why Grace is effectual in this rather than in that Man this doth not supersede Mans Duty towards God's Grace no but every one should do his own part we can attend the means and we can consider and Remember and though all that do this do not turn to God yet 't is the way to it the Psalmist thought and turned and 't is said all the ends of the Earth shall Remember and turn to the Lord Psal 22.27 and God blames them that they would not frame their doings to turn to the Lord. they would do nothing to promote it Hos 5.4 4. Consider what Encouragements you have from a good God and from a Gracious Covenant wherein sincere endeavours are accepted and involuntary weaknesses are pardoned to them that do their best though it be infinitly short of what is due Mal. 3.17 I will spare them as a Man that spareth his only Son that serveth him 2. And lastly as to my brethren the Ministers all that I have now to say is to my self and you those that would know the reason of our coming together at this time It is this that I have been all this while speaking to viz. To Stir up one another to the Dutys of our calling and to promote the necessary work of our Ministry I do not pretend to dictate to Ministers what is their Duty but yet I consider that that Minister that needs not to be directed what to do may yet be content to be encouraged may need it and will de thankful for it Even St. Paul himself when the brethren from Rome came to meet him at Appij forum and the three Taverns he thanked God and took courage If I could so far serve my Brethren 't is what I aim at And truly whatever our Circumstances are we may do well to consider the Apostles for our Encouragement that we may have this Willing Mind now the Apostle through the perversness of some Men esteemed it his Duty not only to Preach to the Corinthians but to do it for nothing And yet It was not because the Apostle was richer than other men no for being an Apostle and having such a charge upon him he would not have laboured with his own hands for a livelyhood if there had not been a necessity lying upon him to do both to Work and yet to Preach now thanks be to God our Circumstances are not the same and for that reason it is rarely the Duty of a Minister to do as the Apostle did who yet shews the greatest satisfaction in his condition and a full Resolution to stick to his Duty a necessity is laid upon me and yet he would not be without a Willing Mind under that necessity And therefore let our Circumstances be what they will if we can get this disposition of Mind and keep it we shall have cause to
persons be expedient for this reason the Apostle declin'd the taking of Maintenance from the Church of Corinth v. 15. I have used none of these things neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me for it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void meaning that the success of his Ministry which he calls his glory was dearer to him than his Right to a Maintenance And yet the Apostle would not be mistaken as if because he was free from all men by Preaching Gratis that therefore he thought himself at liberty to Preach or not to Preach the Gospel no necessity is laid upon me Wo is unto me if I Preach not the Gospel v. 16. Now the Apostle having considered the necessity of his duty doth in these words consider that disposition of mind that is necessary to the acceptance of his Duty shewing that 't is not the bare performance but the willing performance that God would reward If I do this willingly c. So that there is an Antithesis in the words though both parts of it are not expresly mentioned and in this Antithesis there is a twofold Supposition and a twofold Inference 1. From the willing and chearful performance of his duty the Apostle infers the certainty of his Reward he doth not say I shall have but I have a Reward He speaks de presenti not that he expected the Reward here but because of its certainty in which case we use to say Sure pay is as good as ready Money 2. From the unwilling performance of his duty he infers but 't is by Implication the Loss of the Reward adding that notwithstanding his unwilling mind if such a frame should return upon him he would check it with the sense of his duty A dispensation of the Gospel is committed to me as if he had said I must Preach the Gospel 't is committed to me were I not therefore better do it willingly and be rewarded than with an unwilling mind and so lose or lessen the future Reward 'T is true as some observed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is translated willingly signifies Injussus to which the word of my own accord better answers and yet I do not think that the Apostle did reckon that in so doing Preaching without a Maintenance gratis he did more than his duty was absolutely considered This the Papists would have to be the sense of the place telling us that this and some other Scriptures establisheth their Doctrine of Divine Counsels which we are at liberty to refuse or observe for they make neither duty nor sin And yet if we observe them we do supererrogate and attain a state of Perfection highly meritorious Now I do not see how this place favours them in the least for if the unwilling mind be a loss of the Reward then it must needs follow that the Apostle did no more than his duty all things considered was to do For the scope of the Apostle's Discourse seems to amount but to this that though Ministers in the general have a Right to Maintenance as much as ever the Priests and Levites had to live by the Temple and Altar upon Tythes and Offerings I say as much though not in the same manner the Apostle doth not prove it from the Letter of the Law but from the equitable part of the Law and therefore doth not prove the same sort of Maintenance yet notwithstanding this that 't was in the general his Right for some particular Reasons it was his duty not to insist upon his own Right for as one observes in another case there is a great difference between an Universal Law and a Man's Personal Obligations for some other Law not opposing but explaining that Universal Law as is very evident in the case before us In the general 't is the duty of the People to maintain them that Preach to them for ordinarily if the People do not perform their duty the Minister can't perform his and yet notwithstanding this a particular Minister may fall under a Personal Obligation not to expect this from the People either when the People cannot do it or when the Minister needs it not but above all when the taking of Maintenance is apparently an hinderance of the success of his Ministry which was the Apostle's case Now in doing this no man supererrogates or doth more than his duty I shall not determine absolutely that what was the Apostle's practice is any Minister's duty at present but am of Opinion that to say the Apostle did more than his duty is to favour the Popish Doctrine of Counsels and to say that though it was the Apostle's duty to do this it can't be ours is to prescribe to Almighty God what our Circumstances shall be of which no Man is Master And 't is easie to prove that notwithstanding the Universal Law of God which determines our duty in the general our Personal Obligations do arise from our Personal Circumstances This therefore is the Apostle's Argument he doth not determine directly any other Man's duty but for himself he could not see how he could lawfully do otherwise to stop the mouths of his Adversaries to promote the success of his Ministry and to obtain the future Reward in relation to which he considers in the next verse What then is my Reward that is what is the way to obtain the Reward viz. making the Gospel of Christ without charge But if against my will a Dispensation of the Gospel is committed to me the Translators have put in a word which they thought to be the sense of the Apostle which is not in the Greek for 't is only thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an Accusative Case I have received a Stewardship or a Dispensation is committed to me And you must not imagine that this Trust is committed to him upon the condition of his unwilling mind no but rather the conditional hath the force of an Exceptive which is not unusual with the Apostle Rom. 8.10 And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin i. e. though Christ be in you so here If against my will though against my will that is I am still under a necessity of doing my duty willing or unwilling I may lose my own Reward but not destroy the Obligation to my duty It is the former part of the words that I shall limit the Discourse unto in which I shall not so much consider the Apostle's Circumstances as the disposition of mind which he makes so necessary to his acceptance under this Proposition Doct. That a willing mind in the performance of our duty is highly necessary to our Acceptance and Reward Or thus Whoever would receive the Reward of well doing had need to do it with a willing mind I am speaking to Ministers but I would discourse of that which concerns others as well as them and shall shew you 1. What that disposition of mind is which
to what we have not and therefore cannot do 2 Cor. 8.12 This must be first in all men and first in us Ministers above other men Our work is so great in turning Men from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God that no Man is sufficient for it and yet notwithstanding our insufficiency for the work and our lame defective Performance of our Duty God's declared readiness to accept our endeavours and to Pardon our defects should at least convince us of the necessity of this disposition that by it we may chearfully perform our Duty whilst we have Liberty and Opportunity for if we get this It will quicken us to our Duty It will assist us in it It will make us Patient in waiting for the success which if it do not answer our endeavours and desires yet the want of success shall never deprive us of the acceptance of God who in rewarding Ministers doth chiefly look to this disposition by this means we shall be press'd in Spirit to our Duty and by doing our Duty we shall Increase this disposition of mind then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Alas to see the world about us lying in wickedness and yet hating to be Reform'd and hating those that would tell them they have need to Reform And to see the world sitting in Darkness and yet avoiding the Light should not this convince us that we have need to get a disposition of Mind that may stir us up to do something to amend all this how little will be done by us without this disposition seeing so little is done with it 2. Besides The nature of our Employment and business which is to Preach Good Will toward Men the love of God in giving his Son to dye for us the love of Christ in giving his life for us doth require a frame of mind suitable to the errand that we bring If we were to open the Prophets Roll in which was nothing but Lamentation and Wo we were the more excusable if we did hang back and say send by the hands of him whom thou wilt send If we had received that message from God to you that God delivered to the Child Samuel a message that might make the Peoples ears to tingle and their hearts to tremble we might perhaps lye down again in our sloth as afraid to deliver it but this is the message that we bring that God against whom man hath Sinned from whom we have all departed in Adam hath given man Fallen Sinfull Man Eternal life and this life is in his Son surely such an Employment to be Messengers of such tidings whatever reception it may meet with from wicked and unreasonable Men doth require in us Ministers a disposition of mind suitable to it 3. The Ministerial work is attended with a peculiar Reward there is a Reward peculiar to a Disciple and a Reward peculiar to Ministers if I should tell you how sure and certain the Reward is you might say so 't is to all other men for all Offices of love and Charity even the Least so that he that giveth a Cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall Receive a Disciples reward but yet tho' Ministers have no more certainty of a reward than other Men have yet they have the certainty of a greater reward and therefore It is set out by the shining of the Sun in the Firmament Now surely such a reward doth require a chearful willing Resolute performance of our Duty and the rather because it is not conditioned upon our success in Converting but our diligence in the performing our Duty for supposing that any Minister should not Convert one Soul I beleive few that are faithful are so unhappy in their labours yet if it should prove so there is that which may relieve that Minister We are saith the Apostle in them that perish a sweet savour to God God that knoweth all Mens hearts doth see 't was what such Ministers did desire and endeavour and God accepts them not according to the success but their desires and endeavours to which this disposition is so highly usefull 4. The Practical Inferences are 1. This shews the Reason of our backwardness to our Duty who is there that hath not his excuses for his neglects but the plain truth is all our excuses and delays do proceed from our unwillingness the Jews upon their recovery out of the Captivity could not deny but 't was fit that the Temple should be built but 't was no fit time to set about it It went hard with them they were newly come out of the Captivity they were poor they had many Enemies and yet though they could not finish the Temple they had their Ceiled Houses now an heart made willing can over-look and despise greater discouragements than we can pretend unto 2. 'T is not only our Duty to do Well but to look to the Principle from which every act of Obedience floweth The Apostle speaks of some Men that to every good Work they are Reprobates having neither a Will to nor a skill in the performance of them Titus 1.16 and because we are so averse to all that is good we must be New made Created in Christ Jesus to good works and by this you may see where our chief care should be even to that which God chiefly requires and first begins at thou art troubled at thy performances I don't utterly dislike that trouble but thou had'st need to look at something beyond that thy Nature that that be changed thy Will that that be subdued that thereby thou be made meet for thy Masters use and Service and prepared to every good work 2 Tim. 2.21 to have the fewel is not enough till you have fire to kindle it without the renewing disposing Grace of God we may be considerate in our words and actions and do many things outwardly good and usefull and yet all this while be destitute of that which is so seldom mentioned in some Mens Writings and so oft in the Gospel viz. Grace without which men may have a Resemblance of the Life Spiritual as the Plant hath of the life Sensitive many a man may have the likeness of the life of God in him and yet remain in the corrupt state of Nature So that we should not only take care to do well but labour for a Mind fram'd to our Duty 3. Have a care of being stirred up to your Duty by such Inducements as are short of this willing Mind See we to this that we be stirred up from something within us and that it be not any thing less than an heart prompting us to our Duty that only is well done that is done to the Glory of God and not upon a design let the design be what it will if it be not to please God and to be accepted of him It will leave us short of the future reward for though it hath the appearance of an act of
bless God that hath not only put us into the Ministry but into our present Circumstances and we have reason to be so disposed to our duty and circumstances not only from the presence of Christ with us as being workers together with him but also from that great change that Almighty God hath made in our Circumstances which although they are not such as perhaps some could desire yet they are not such as formerly they were when the Civil Magistrate pinch'd so hard upon us as being Instigated doubtless by such Men as should rather have Rejoyced that Christ was Preach'd than have stir'd up adversaries against Us. But now 't is otherwise and let us bless God for it and it being otherwise let us endeavour to forget what is past and together with them do our part to Raise up the Tabernacle of God and to bring back the People from that Debauchery and Profaneness which hath Spread it self among them and to Establish them against Atheism and Popery If any of our Brethren have done any thing towards the casting us out as unfit builders if they have done more than became them as Ministers or Christians in adding to our affliction let us endeavour to forget it and Watch over our own Spirits that the Remembrance of what is past do not Imbitter our own Spirits towards them as theirs seem'd to be towards us good Men in their heats do not enough consider what manner of Spirit they are of Though they some of them esteemed us the Pests of the Nation unfit not only to Preach but to live let us consider it was but some of them for as to many of them we ought to Rejoyce that the same Christ the same Gospel is Preach'd to the People that attend their Ministry as is Preach'd by us to the People that attend Ours and whilst the Contention is whose way is best who do Preach most suitably to the design of the Gospel let us Remember that that Minister doth most answer the design of the Gospel who doth most Preach Love and Charity and truly that Ministers Charity is not very large that limits the Catholick Church to his own party to Men of his own Mind and way nor on the other side do I esteem that Ministers Charity to be very large that can see Idolatry in every thing that is not expresly commanded in the Worship of God as if every fault that we commit in worshiping God were of one sort and kind and that the most Detestable and Abominable for so is Idolatry Consider we what a Mercy 't is to have Liberty to do our Duty in Peace and quietness all of us can 't travel to find places to Preach in all are not Fitted to endure noise and clamour but all of us if we can get this Willing Mind that was in the Apostle may find time and place to do some good to the People Discontent at our own condition generally springeth from the reflections that we make upon the condition of those that are above us now if such thoughts should arise they that can Conform have the advantage over us and perhaps many of them do less if their way be by Establishment and ours only by Allowance let us consider we have more than the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour liv'd to see for they were never free from Persecution any longer than their Persecutors were wearied with their own Persecutions or diverted by other intervening occasions or Restrained by Gods Providence some other way nay we have as much Liberty as we are Capable of at Present And if they that Conform live in greater plenty let us watch against Repining thoughts at that and see to it that whilst they some of them Melt away in the midst of their Plenty we don't Pine away under our Discouragements As to what is past 't is to be considered that the hard usage which some Ministers met with was not so much if at all from them that are now esteemed the leading Men of the Church of England Whether they did in this their Duty that they did no more I cannot say but they did declare their dislike of those Severities and were allways Men of Moderation and do now declare their readiness to abate somethings that the Law requires of us to the more Publick exercise of our Ministry in the Parish Churches but these Severities were set on Foot by Men that called themselves the Church of England and yet designed an accommodation with the Church of Rome and therefore 't is no marvel if on that score they had so little respect to dissenting Ministers or taking them to be a Party that might be crash'd by Severity rather than made Pliable to such a design Dr. Heylin that doth not only confess but Justify such a design gives a full account of this matter But now to allay all heats we may do well to consider that we have to do with such Men that had rather abate of what is Establish'd than add to it that have owned the Reformation to be Imperfect that would not have us go backward towards Rome to please the Papists but Forward now who knoweth what such a temper may produce In the mean time let us with all chearfullness attend our calling and perform our Duty and this will carry us against our Discouragements discouragements there will be not only from them that are against us but from them that are with us and for us But this disposition of mind will help us to weather them out and persist in our Duty and to do what we may and whilst we may I say whilst we may for I am perswaded that that Door of Liberty to do our Duty in quietness and Peace which Divine Providence hath now of late opened shall not be shut again but by our own negligence or the Peoples unprofitableness There are two things that Ministers above other Men should fear viz. the loss of the opportunity for doing their Duty and the loss of that disposition of Mind that is necessary to its acceptable performance as for the former the opportunity of doing our Duty and the quiet excercise of our Ministry 't is God that gave it nay wrench'd it out of the hands of those men that never Intended it and without his leave none shall shut this Door as to the latter a disposition of Mind towards the performance of our Duty the preservation of this is more especially our concern and to see that we do not neglect Gods gift in us God hath been pleased of late years espcially to enlarge our opportunities and we shall have no need to fear the loss of those whilst we diligently attend our Duty and God to prevent our fears that they may not distract us in our Duty hath as it were secured our Liberty not only by a Law but by twisting it with the Interest of the Nation So that those very Men or Men of the Same Mind that before argued for Severity and for a restraint from the Interest of the Nation do begin to argue for Liberty for Moderation from the same Topick I do not say that the argument was well applyed or that it was ever or ever will be the real Interest of the Nation or of any other Nation to be Severe towards all that differ from the Establish'd way God in giving Nations Christian Princes doth not give those Princes for this Reason because they are Christians a Power to do Evil no by being Christians they have an advantage to do the more Good but they have never the more Power to persecute or do Evil but if wise Men do sometimes argue for Severity and Restraint and in a little time after against Severity from the Interest of the Nation then it follows that either the Interest of Nations may Vary and so Indeed it may or else Wise Men do change their Minds and are not allways wise and therefore neither by the one or the other have we any great security and it being so there is nothing that we can with more safety trust to under God than the diligent performance of our Duty that will secure our Liberty if any thing shall do it for if we Willingly diligently and painfully Preach as we are able and as we have an Opportunity and a call and yet should happen to be restrain'd as before than it will appear that God took it from us but 't is to be hoped that God will not for ordinarily he doth not punish as a Soveraign but as a Just Judge provoked by our Sins The way therefore to preserve our Liberty is to do our Duty Besides the losing the opportunity we should fear to lose the Disposition of Mind to perform our Duty this by Neligence will be lost or abated as tools not used will Rust and Instruments of Musick laid aside will grow out of Tune but if we persist in our Duty that will dispose us to it and by this means our work will be the more easy and delightfull to us and this is the way to profit the People and to be Successfull in our labours for the more we stand affected to our Duty the more we shall be in earnest with the People without which the Ministry seldom succeeds and then when we can discern that some Good is done that will again put Life into us a Willing Mind in the Minister is most likely to beget a Willing Mind in the People and by this means the one will mutually assist the other However if success do not attend as alas it doth not in some places yet there is that which may relieve us in that case our reward is with the Lord to whom whatever the Issue be we shall be a sweet savour this is our last relief the eying the Reward the Ministerial Reward which if we believe and consider will help us to be Stedfast and unmoveable and to abound in the Work of the Lord whilst we know that though as to men it may be much Fruitless yet it shall not be in vain in the Lord. FINIS ERATA PAge 1. line ult for Expose read Express p. 4 l. 30. for For r. From. p. 8. l. 9. after stick add but. p. 12. l. 16. after He add that l. 18. after singular add or p. 13 l. 7. for When r. which p. 14. l. 25 for Swavitys r. Suavitys l. 32. after Neglect add is p. 15. l. 17. for And. r. is