be infected by what is spoken we should have an hedge about our ears to stop them from unsavoury things Doth not the ear taste words saith Job we should have tasting ears that should be able to tast and relish the good words that are spoken and hate the contrary and distast them Lastly We should watch our selves over the whole man Only take heed to thy selfe Deut. 4. 9. As who should say This is the only thing have a care of watch over thy self lest thy self undoe thy self there is no enemie so dangerous unto us as our selves the Divel in hell cannot do us so much mischief How many corruptions are there in us to draw us from God and incite us unto sin There are abundance of corruptions lying in the heart of man to make a man unfit for any thing that is good that is idlenesse in the understanding it cannot abide to take pains and exercise it self in Divine matters There is in the will and affections covetousness and abundance of corrupt inclinations that if a man look not to it will break forth So that this is the thing we must watch over our selves Secondly We are to watch over the duties of Religion as for example we are to watch unto prayer as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 4. 7. we are to watch to meditating and reading and hearing of the Word of God Otherwise though we do them for the matter of them yet we cannot for the right form and manner of them though our hearts be in a pretty good tune for the present yet we cannot hold this frame if we watch not thereunto Rev. 3. 3. is an excellent place If you will not watch saith the Text and hold fast I will come against thee as a thief in the night As who should say Stir up thy self and watch that thou maist hold fast if thou hast got any hatred of sin in thy heart hold it fast if strength against corruption hold it fast How shall I do that why watch saith he or else Christ wil come against thee as a thief If a book be in a mans hand when he is drowzy it will fall out he cannot hold it fast So when a mans heart is drowzy and secure it will let go comfort and any thing that God hath bestowed for the good of the soul therefore we ought to watch if we have any sweet disposition of heart to go on in the Service of God and in the duties of Religion we may go on if we be watchful And now to branch this into particulars First We must watch before the Duty Secondly We must watch in the Duty Thirdly We must watch after the Duty First We must watch before the Duty Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8 So I may say remember Prayer to keep it holy remember Meditation to keep it holy remember all the duties of Religion to keep them holy and perform them in an holy manner think of them before you go about the performance of them we cannot pray unless we watch unto prayer unless we be careful and have our eyes in our heads before we go about the duty In the morning as soon as we awake we should think of prayer and when tempted to sin we should think of prayer If I sin how can I pray unto God I have ever and anon need to poure out my prayers before God now if I commit these and these sins how can I look up to heaven when my conscience doth reproach me for sin So when we hear the word of God look to thy foot when thou comest into the house of God Eccles 5. 1. that is Before thou goest into the House of God to hear the Word of Salvation see into thine own heart think whose word it is thou hearest and that thou goest to hear the Word that shall judge thee at the last day When thou comest into the presence of God take heed lest thou hearest as fools hear and take heed lest thou prayest as fools pray and comest to the Sacrament as fools use to come we should watch before the duty that all things may be in a readinesse before we come to the performance of it that we may prevent all things that may hinder us be fitted with all things that may help forward the duty that time place and all advantages may meet together for the better doing of it Then secondly We must watch in the duty as well as before the duty As the Apostle speaks concerning prayer so I may say concerning all other duties Continue in prayer and watch therein with thanksgiving Col. 4. 2. As we are to watch before that we may have preparation so we must watch in the duty that we may rightly discharge it for though a man hath been watchful before the duty and hath been prepared in some measure and fitted yet you are not without danger But when you are in prayer and when you are at the Lords Table or any other duty for all your former preparation if you be not watchful now you may fail in some kind or other and so mar the duty therefore we should watch in the duty that our hearts may be waking in it and our mind attentive upon it that our hearts may be fixed upon that we are about my heart is fixed my heart is fixed saith the Prophet David he was a joyful man he repeats it again and again as if a man should be jocund and say I have got it I have got it We should get hearts fixed upon the duty that so we may not have wavering hearts half off and half on the duty but that the whole man may be employed about it Thirdly We should be watchful after the duty that we may not lose the benefit and reward of the duty lest the subtilties of Satan and the wiles of our own hearts do rob us of the fruits of it though a man hears very attentively and pray and perform all other duties very enlargedly yet when he hath done all he may lose the comfort and reward of the duty Therefore when we hear the word we should watch over our hearts that the souls of the ayre may not pluck it out again that if we have any quickning we may not lose it again if we have heard any thing that hath helpeld us forward in Grace we should take heed that we lose not the ground again As the Publican as soone as he had prayed to God and performed an Ordinance aright how careful was he not to lose the benefit thereof He went to the Temple to pray and he was watchful before the duty thinking I am now going to pray and power out my soul before God He was watchful in the duty for you may see how humbly and feelingly and penitently he did pray standing a far off and smiting upon his brest and not lifting up his eyes to heaven bewailing the hardness of his own heart and rowzing it up
had the Spirit Lord take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51. 11. So when a man hath not the Spirit of God he should pray to God Lord Give thy holy Spirit to me and send down thy holy Spirit into my heart that may work this work in me But it may be many of you will think that you expect this and desire it and wish it and use some means I Answer Then shew it by thy coming unto God for it from day to day will any man say That Noah did expect that God should deliver him from the Deluge if he had not took that course which God appointed If he had not built an Ark certainly we may justly say That he did not look that God would deliver him Therefore it is said of Noah That as he did expect that God should keep him so being warned of God he built an Ark c. Heb. 11. 7. So when a man shall say That he looks that God should deliver him from his natural estate and condition that God should renew him by his Grace and goodness yet if a man will not prepare an Ark if when a man is Commanded and directed by God what to do yet he will not come to God to do that which should be done for him these men do but deceive their own souls and treasure up indignation against themselves I remember the story of Moses Exod. 14. when the Children of Israel were in Pi-hahiroth and the Egyptians were behind them and the Mountains were on the side that they could not pass and the Sea was before them and there was notable crying out Oh! that God would deliver them now they were dead men the Egyptians were come out to destroy them the Mountains were on the side and the Sea before them Now mark what an Answer God gives to their cry cause the people to go forward you keep a crying to me I pray go forward you are not yet at the red sea but go to the red sea and when you are there then cry to me you are idleing and lazing and mistrusting me though the red Sea be before them yet cause them to come thither and when they are there then cry for help to me So thou sayest thou desirest that God would Regenerate thee and quicken thee and turn thy heart vouchsafe thee his holy Spirit do you so I say it is very well the thing is very good but if the desire be sincere you will take that course God bids you art thou come to the utmost difficulty Are not many things to be done which thou refusest to do Must thou not seek God more and more carefully Go forward go forward if thou meanest to have help and aid from God otherwise it is in vain if thou wouldst go on in the wayes of God and do what God Commands thee thou shouldst be quickened and renewed Fourthly Another Vse is for Examination To examine our selves whether the Word of God hath wrought this for us yea or no. And the first sign is this If thou beest born again if thou hast this new Nature then it is natural to thee to do good duties to follow good courses and to yield obedience to the commandements of God it is not enough for a man to do good duties a natural man an unregenerate man may do them but whether is it natural to thee A proud man may do the actions of humility a proud man may pull off his Hat and give the time of the day and speak meanly of himself a proud man may suffer another to do him wrong and put up base language he may do these things but the man is a proud man still he hath no humble nature but the question is whether it be thy nature to do this May be thou dost these things for fear or some by-respects A worldly man may speak of heavenly things but is thy nature heavenly A man may think of God but is thy nature godly Here is the thing If a man be regenerate there is Grace got into a mans nature Jer. 31. 33. when God regenerates his people he saith He will write his laws in their inward parts he doth not only say they shall do these duties but their very hearts shall carry them their very hearts shall go to a Sermon their very souls shall go about the duties of God as it is with the fire water may heat but not by nature but it is the nature of fire to heat So if a man be Regenerate it is natural to him to do good duties Rom. 2. 14. A man by nature may do the things commanded in the Law but here is the question Whether he doth them with this new nature this heavenly nature The old creature may hear and pray and be sober and moral for by nature the Heathen did the things contained in the Law But if a man be Regenerated as he doth the things contained in the Law and Gospel so he doth them with a new nature as Deut. 5. 29. when the Children of Israel had spoken admirable speeches All that the Lord saith to us we will do they made goodly professions now mark what God saith Oh that there were an heart in this people to keep my commandments As who should say These are very good words and I know that you think what you speak but Oh that this were written in your hearts that this were natural to you this will not hold your hearts are not carried this way Secondly If the Spirit of God hath Regenerated a man then the heart begins to be a good soyl for Grace and the heart begins to be sutable so that the heart is fit for Grace A natural heart is not a proper soyl for Grace As if a man should bring a Plant from Spain and set it here in England it cannot thrive unlesse a man meet with a soyl that is fit for it So Grace if it come into the heart and the heart is not a soyl for it it can never thrive there unlesse the heart be Regenerated and unlesse there be a new nature there may be admirable things in a natural man excellent good purposes and resolutions God may come to him as a Passenger that lodgeth for a night but he is gone the next morning he may come as a sojourner to endure for a while but here is no dwelling for him these resolutions and purposes and desires cannot last long that heart will squander them away it is like the putting of a new piece into an old garment Matth. 9. 16. When a man puts a new piece into an old garment a fine new purpose into an old heart a new good desire into an old mind the rent will be worse for that man will return back again and will have his lusts and will be worse then he was before for the heart is not able to hold these 't is true in the best hearts of Gods people is a great deal of unnatural soyl
nation that did righteously and had not forsaken the statutes of their God they ask of me the ordinances of Justice they draw near to me saying We have fasted and thou regardest it not We see here they take delight in approaching unto God they take delight in Gods Ordinances and seek God early they can do thus and thus and are alive in all performances but that man whose spirit the law hath pulled down and the Lord hath convinced him of his infinite inability to perform the law he cannot see any livelinesse in him unto any performance Let any duty come it kills his heart I should now hear the Word of God but my heart is unprepared and my ear uncircumcised and I cannot hear aright Let an opportunity be offered to pray it kills his heart I should now call upon the Name of the Lord but I have such a cursed heart I cannot pray I cannot speak one right word before God Let an occasion be offered of holy conference it kills his heart alas saith he I want pure language my tongue was never touched with a coal from the Altar my lips have not ability to drop forth savoury speeches I am not able to speak one syllable aright to Gods glory it kills his heart he sees no life at all in him unlesse he can have life from without and ability from without he is dead all is nothing to him the law hath taken away the livelinesse that was in him But he that is not humbled by the law he is alive he hath life in himself it is nothing with him to Pray and go to Church and hear Gods Word it is nothing but thrusting to do the duty he hath life in him to do duties and wait upon God in his ordinances but when the law comes home to him it plainly lets him see that he hath no life in himself to do any good he must seek for life and ability from without else he is a dead man he can do nothing in this case David in this case cannot lookup Mine iniquities are gone over my head I cannot look up Psal 40. Moses he is a man of uncircumcised lips and cannot speak unto Pharaoh Paul cannot do any thing that is good In me dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. And so for the rest of Gods people when the law hath killed them and laid them dead in regard of any performance they must have life from without there is no life at home no grace at home no understanding at home they must go out for all but a carnal man he is alive unto all performances Many a man is like unsavoury salt good for nothing but to throw upon the dung-hill He never received the Holy Ghost and yet he will be inducted into a living and take Pastoral Charge upon him as if he were able to performe the Duty of a Minister and take the Charge of Souls upon him So Ananias will be a husband and Saphira a wife Athalia will be a Queen and Nimrod a King and Abimelech a Judge they are alive to discharge all these duties thus men are alive the Law of God hath not killed their hearts pulled down their spirits it hath not made it appear unto them what wretched cursed creatures they are This is the second thing wherein this livelynesse consists Thirdly This livelynesse consists in a presumptuous hope he conceives that he is justified before God and that God will not damn him but forgive him his sins There is nothing can make a mans heart more full of life then to think that he is righteous before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him there is nothing can make a man more alive then this If they think they are justified before God they have then a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. blessed be God saith the Apostle even the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead So these men have a hope that makes them lively and full of life as a poor man that hath some grounded hope of an Earthly inheritance it makes the heart lively Poverty deads the heart he that hath nothing to maintain himself and those that belongs unto him it deads his heart but if he hath some hopes of an hundred pound a year and his hope is grounded if he hath sure hope of it and he makes no doubt of it it makes his heart full of life so when a man doth believe that he is in a good case that he is delivered from death that he is in the estate of grace when he hath some probability that God hath justified him from sin this breeds an hope in him of an eternal Inheritance and this hope the consideration of it makes the soul full of life There is nothing can make a man more lively then a hope that he is justified before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him Now when a carnal man conceives he is righteous before God and that God will forgive him his iniquities that God will not damn him nor count him a dead a damned man so long as a man doth imagin this he must needs be a lively man he is alive in his own apprehension nay all the delights in the world cannot make a man so ful of life as this hope It is not mens following their pleasure that makes their hearts so full of life as to have hope that the Lord doth not account them dead men that they are justified men and righteous men that they have salvation to shew for heaven and Eternall happinesse to shew for that they shall go to heaven But if now the Law were charged upon a man if he knew that he were a dead man a damned man it would pluck down his spirits and make his spirits dead for all his pleasures It is the conceit that men are justified that makes them so full of life so long as the Law doth not come home to a man and point him out in his colours and make it appear to him that he lyeth under the wrath of Almighty God that the Lord doth account him an abominable wretched creature so long as he doth not apprehend this especially if he have any good gifts and parts and qualities and moral obedience to the Law doing good duties and a general laying hold upon the promises and a hope they belong to him this makes him alive Phil. 3. 9. Paul when he was a Pharisee and did Moral Duties and performed Moral Obedience to the Law of God he thought he had righteousnesse of his own he calls it there his own righteousnesse he so apprehended of himself now this is that which makes men alive when they conceive that they have some Religion and some Grace You shall have many men and women that hate the Servants of God and yet think they are godly men and have Grace and
Law and Commandment of God as those to whom the Law comes it eggs a man forward and maks him itch unto Rebellion If a man had asked Paul before whether he had such a devillish heart against God he saw no such matter he never meant God any hurt when he went on in his course he thought not that he was so stubborn and rebellious he did not feel this stubbornnesse and rebellion But when the Law came once it shewed him the venome and cursed nature of his sins 3. The Third life of sin is the worst of all and that is the life of Imputation for here sin is so full of life that it is not only able to discover unto him that he is a sinful wretch and an abominable creature but to bind him over to wrath and send him to hell and everlasting destruction Now it is the Law of God that discovers this life of sinne before the Law comes a man hath many vain hopes that God is merciful and Christ dyed for sinners and that God will forgive him his sins he doth not see the imputation of sin the imputation of sin lying upon the Soul is not clearly discovered before the Law come for where there is no Law there is no imputation of sin Rom. 5. 13. there saith the Apostle unto the time of the Law was sin in the world but sin is not imputed while there is no Law Before the Law is charged upon the heart the heart never dreams of the imputation of sin as if he should answer for sin and be damned for sin for ever He thought the contrary before but now the Law discovers the life of sin unto him and sin revives and appears to have life to damn him for evermore Sin now appears to have life to cast him off from God and to bind him over to Everlasting vengeance Thus it was with Paul when the Commandment came sin revived I saw sin was alive indeed and I saw the life of aggravation I saw the hellish nature of sin it was painted out to the full I saw the life of irritation I saw the infinite egging and itching of sin how it did work in me I saw the life of imputation how all my sins were imputed unto me and did all lye upon my conscience and so sin revived that is the meaning Now for the meaning of the Second word I dyed that is I saw I was a dead man I saw plainly and clearly that I was but a dead man I thought I was alive before because I did good duties and walked in the Ordinances of God and I thought that I might goe for a Christian and servant of God as well as another I did not think I was a dead man I thought I had some goodnesse in me some hope of eternal life in me I did not conclude that I was a dead man But when the Law of God humbled me and discovered my estate plainly unto me then I saw I was a dead man indeed my heart failed me and the livelynesse that was in me before departed from me I saw I was a dead man and had not the Spirit of Christ come and quickned me I had been a dead man to all eternity I now saw that sin began to revive in me and I began to be a dead man Thus we see the meaning of the words Now the Theame I propounded to you was this namely how the Lord converts the will and the first work that prepares a man hereunto is the work of pulling down the will and the pulling down of a mans heart for the will of man is full of obstinacy full of livelynesse against the truth and Commandment of God full of livelynesse in sin and conceives it self to be in a better estate and condition and so the will is obstinate still Now when it pleaseth God to convert a man first he pulls down the will of a man and pulls down his Spirit now here is a Doctrine to make way for this Namely that when the Lord takes a man in hand to pull him down to pull down his will he doth shew him what a dead Creature he is The Lord by pronouncing a man in his own Bosom a dead man a damned man one that can no way help himself he is dead absolutely dead in his own estate and in Gods account all his hopes are rotten he is meerly a dead damned man hereby the Lord pulls down his will We may see this in Paul before his Conversion his will was full of obstinacy and rebellion against God he would go and make havock of the Church he would not submit to the will of God but when the Lord came to work upon him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks What wilt thou that I shall do Lord saith he Act. 9. 6 Now his will is come down but mark how the Lord puts him off go to such a place saith he and there it shall be told thee what thou shalt do The Lord puts him off and would not give him an answer presently what he should do as who should say thou hast as yet an obstinate will thou wilt not do as I command thee I will not tell thee as yet what I will have thee to do but go to such a place and I will Arrest thee there and charge my Law upon thy Conscience and shew thee thy dead and damned estate And now his will is come down he bids him be Baptized and he was so he bids him go and Preach the Gospel and he did so now his will is come down So the prodigal his heart was marvellous obstinate against his Fathers commandement he would be gone from his father he could not abide to stay in a house where there were such strict courses he would have his goods and patrimony in his own hand as it is the property of every carnal man he would have his Inheritance in his own hand he would have power and strength and ability and these gifts and parts in his own hand But when he is humbled by the Law he is content to have all in Gods hand he is content to have all his wisdom there that he may come thither for it he is content to have all his righteousnesse there and all his ability strength and sufficiency there that he may come thither for it all is there and he sees himself a beggar if he comes not to God and keeps close to God and keeps fast to his Covenant he is a very beggar But this man would have all in his own hands and goe and squander away all upon his lusts and pleasures and he would not stay at home with his father Now when the Law of God came home to him to shew this man to himself when he came to himself as the Text saith his father did esteem him a dead man before But when he came to himself and saw he was a dead man for going
discovered to a man that he is a dead and a damned man It makes it now appear unto him that he is utterly unable to do any thing he is in the depth of misery and he is unable to cry mercy aright he is not able to make a prayer no more then a dead man he seeth he can no more keep a Sabboth as he ought than a dead man So for any duty of Religion he seeth he hath no more life to do it then a dead man hath to do the actions of the living as the Apostle speaks Gal. 2. 19. I am dead to the Law that I might live unto God God made St. Paul alive unto him but first he charged his Law upon his Conscience and made him seem to be a dead man to the Law That he had no life or activity to do any thing pleasing to God but when the Lord made him alive to himself then he could do something nay he was able to do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ that strengthned him But in himself both still and before he was altogether dead to the Law of God so that when the Law comes and shews a mans estate unto him it shews him his utter inability to the performance of any good duty The Pharisee will to the Temple as well as the Publican Saul will sacrifice as well as Samuel Prophane people will take up the Ordinances of God as if they had life to go through them as well as the people of God But when the Law comes it plainly convinceth a man it makes him feel and understand that he hath no activity or life to performe any thing pleasing to Almighty God a dead man can do nothing he is cut off from all the actions of the living dead men they cannot devise ought they cannot purpose ought they cannot work ought So when the Law of God is charged upon a man and shews him that he is but a dead man and a damned man now he seeth he can as well create a world as make a prayer he can as well remove a Mountain as do any thing acceptable to God Such a man will say I am a dry tree and cannot grow I am lost in the wildernesse of sinne and cannot get out again Thus we see wherein this deadness consists 2. Now I come to shew you the Effects of this Deadnesse how it pulls down the heart this will pull down the heart of a man marvellously when the Law chargeth this upon him that he is but a dead man though the will of man be infinitely unruly it is wild it is like the mad man in the Gospel that the Divil was in no man was able to bind him no Chains were able to hold him no Creature could tame him Mark 5. 34. So it is with the will of an unregenerate man his will is marvellous wild he breaks all bonds and snaps all cords in pieces and casts off the yoak from him Let God bid him do this he will not do it let him be in a good mood he is presently out of it again let him be convinced of his vain hopes and let him see what a wretched creature he is he will have vain hopes again his will is infinitely unruly and desperately wild the very Divel in hell hath the rule of it it is full of life against God and his Commandments and will never yield while the world stands till now the Lord comes with his Law and shews a man that he is a dead man and a damned man and shews him that he is under the wrath of God the Law is able to do this as the Apostle speaks Rom. 4. 15. The Law causeth wrath It makes a man appear to lie under the wrath of God under Gods everlasting displeasure and in the mouth of hell and damnation and if God be not merciful to him and more merciful then to a world of men he seeth he is a dead man utterly lost and undone for ever now this will make his spirit yield and make his heart begin to come in as the Psalmist speaks concerning Princes He shall cut off the spirit of Prince he is terrible to the Kings of the earth Psal 76. 12. Kings and Princes have stout Spirits now when the Lord sends but a little terrour into their hearts he is able to snib their spirits for all their security and for all the height of their magnanimity he is able to cut off all by sending his terrour into their hearts so the Law sends terrour into the heart Can there be a greater terrour then to have the Law denounce a man to be a dead man and that the wrath of God is gone out against him and that he lyeth in the very mouth of all the Canons of the fury of the most High This will break the heart of a man if his heart were made of brass this would break it Look as it was with the Moabites 2 Sam. 8. 2. They were stout against David and would not yield and submit unto him but when David smote them and measured them with a cord and cast them down to the ground when he measured them with two cords to put them to death and with one full cord to keep them alive then saith the Text the Moabites became Davids servants and brought him gifts So it is with a prophane creature whilest God lets him goe on he is stout and will not serve God but his will is altogether crosse and contrary to Gods will and Commandements he will not take up those courses that God commands he will not submit himself to the precisenesse of the Gospel his will is infinitely crosse in this kind and marvellous obstinate But if the Lord takes him in hand and charge his Law upon his conscience he puts such terrours into his heart that he is willing to submit unto God upon any tearms I confesse the Law cannot do this of it self it cannot thus bring down the will of a man and mortifie a mans sins For if the damned in hell were let loose again to live here upon earth they would forget all their former Plagues and Torments and sin would revive again in them The Law of it self can only lay some in a swound it will up again if it be loose the law cannot do this of it self but I speak now of the law as it is Gods Instrument Hereby he pulls down the heart of a man and pulls down his Spirit labour will pull down any mans spirit when a man is in labour and pain and affliction it will make a mans Stomack come down as we may see Psal 107. 11 12. Because they rebelled against the words of the Lord therefore he humbled their heart with labour and heavinesse then they fell down but there was no helper Before they were stout against the Lord and would not hearken unto him and obey his Commandments now the Lord brought down their heart But how did he bring them down he pulld
is no promise in the Word that God will quicken him and raise him up Christ is free from any promise in this kind he may quicken him if he will and not quicken him if he please I may say in this sense as Christ himself saith Joh. 5. The Son of man quickens whom he will He is free to quicken whom he will though a man be made a dead man by the law and cry out he is a dead man and a damned man though he hath the works of the law and be terrified and gastered and humbled by the law yet Christ is free from any promise he hath made to these people there is never a promise in all the Word that Christ hath bound himself by to these people to quicken them they cannot say there is such a promise in the Word that Christ will quicken them There are plain places in the Scripture wherein the Lord invites such people upon condition they will come and believe and submit to the Gospel there is a conditional invitation upon these terms But that these people shall be quickned and shall have eternal life given them there is no such promise the Lord is free the Lord hath not bound himself to it but when a man is dead according as the Gospel makes a man dead before it quickens him and when a man is poor according as the Gospel makes him poor and when a man is blind according as the Gospel makes him blind now a man is within the compass of Gods promises he is one that is the formal object of Mercy he is one that shall have Mercy and shall have Salvation and Redemption by Jesus Christ these dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall live the tongue of these stammerers shall speak plain the eyes of these blind shall see these out-casts shall be gathered these naked shall be cloathed these lost shall be found these poor shall be enriched when a man is dead so as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens a man for the Lord damns a man before he saves a man and kills a man before he quickens him like a good Surgeon that cuts before he cures or like a good Physician that kills a man almost with Physick so the Lord doth bring a man to deaths door before he quickens him it is the Gospel that truly humbles him and works these privations and now he is within the compasse of the promise now he hath a promise that he shall be quickned and have supply in regard of all these Privations but so long as these Privations are only legal he hath no promise that he shall be quickned for many are humbled and made dead as it were by the law and yet shake it off again and go to their proâ—â—ts and pleasures and delights and hardnesse of heart again many a man hath been gastered by the law and cryed out of his damned estate and condition and yet hath got up again and recovered himself by the world and the things of the world and it was ever so of old as we may see in Cain the law had discovered him to himself to be a dead man and a damned man I see my sins are greater then can be forgiven or are forgiven or shall be forgiven he saw his punishment was intolerable his condemnation was more then he was able to bear From thy presence am I cast out and a Vagabond shall I be upon the face of the earth Gen. 4. 14. Yet he was not the formal Object of mercy the Gospel did not quicken him nor convert him he was not the formal Object of mercy for he shook off these terrours again as we may see in the very same Chapter and went to building of Cities and inventing of musick and other arts and sciences and this quickned and revived him again but he never came to true life So it is with many men though they be terrified and gastered and humbled and cast down by the law yet they get up again and run after the world and after security and hardnesse of heart again so that such a man is not the formal Object of mercy 2. Again we see that many though they be wrought upon thus by the law and their eyes be enlightned and their Consciences awaked and they see that they are in a wretched and damned estate yet they scrape together a company of vain hopes and so heal themselves again When they have been terrified by the law they seek presently for promises and how they may get up again and they would fain get up and they lye at catch at every Sermon and at every Chapter and at every Word which a good man speaks and if they can get any hold they catch at it and so get up a gain and go on And when they have got a little comfort and think they shall do well they are as carelesse and as stubborn and as secure as ever they were they may go on in the profession of Religion but yet their latter end is worse then their beginning The unclean Divel may be cast out but the Divel transforms himself into an angel of light and enters into them and they go on in doing good duties but they never have the power of Religion Again Thirdly Many that are humbled by the law they run away and never come to Christ as Judas when he saw he was condemned he went and hanged himself Matth. 27. 3 5. Some expound it of Christ when he saw Christ was condemned but others expound it of himself when Judas saw himself was condemned and that seems to be the meaning of the place for Christ was not condemned nor so much as accused there came not any witnesse against him till Judas had hanged himself as we may see if we read that Chapter But whether that be the meaning or no this is true and certain he saw he was a dead man he saw he lay under the guilt of his sins and he despaired of mercy and went and hanged himself Again Lastly If such a man were the Object of mercy then all the damned in hell were the formal Objects of mercy for there is never a man in hell but the law hath its work to the uttermost upon him it can work a man no lower it can sink a man no deeper it can make a man no more miserable then those that are in hell Now if a dead man by the law should be the formal Object of mercy then the damned in hell should be the formal Object of mercy which cannot be for from thence there is no Redemption Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his angels there is no quenching of that fire So that we see the legal killing of the law doth not make a man the formal Object of mercy But yet such a man hath a great deal of advantage he is before a world of other men that live secure if men were in this estate
man is so drowzy that he hath much adoe to keep any Grace alive in himself we are so apt to be so secure that we had need to watch Zech. 4. 1. the Prophet complains of the drowziness of his heart The Angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man is wakened out of his sleep when God was talking with him he fell into a sleep So when we are in Prayer we have much adoe to hold out in the duty we have such vile natures and cursed dispositions How ought we then to watch over our selves Secondly Another reason why we should be watchful is because our life is a Warfare and we do not lie like two Armies in a field removed one from the other but we lie in the midst of our enemies round about us and so they are ready to surprise us The greatest means of doing us mischief are most commonly those things we have need of as our meat and drink and affaires and callings we cannot go to prayer but worldly thoughts are ready to intangle us we cannot go to the House of God but a man is in danger to be intrapped There is danger in every thing we go about by reason of the worlds powerful enticements therefore we had need to stand upon our Guard and be careful for else how can we avoid to be suprized and led away this is the reason why so many sink into Perdition Many that have given good hopes many that have promised excellent things have come to nothing but have fallen away as the fall of a leafe Whence comes this but because they have not been careful and watchful The Divel is watchful to insnare and intrap us therefore we should watch to avoid his snares As the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober and watchful for your Adversary the Divel goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour The Divel is alwayes busie and therefore we had need watch and busie our selves and be careful at all times when we are secure and consider not God and consider not the good of our Souls and the peace of our Consciences Satan presently hath advantage against us If the Divel had any thing else to do it were something but the Divel hath nothing to do but to hurt us and lay Siege against us All his practice from the beginning of the world to this day is to go roaming and ranging up and down to do mischief it is all his employment from the beginning of the day to the end thereof If he get us alone he will ensnare us there if not there he will ensnare us in company if he cannot get us there he will get us in a Sermon and if any thing falls against our lusts he will cause our hearts to rise against it Now when we do not watch over our selves we are led away by Satan therefore we had need be careful for the Divel is alwayes watchful therefore we should labour to be alwayes provided to resist him Again we have the flesh that is continually about us it is an enemy within us it is that which doth betray us to the World and the Divel even our own hearts do betray us and therefore we had need be careful we have enemies from without and our own hearts within and all to undo us Take a man that is in a good way and hath all means and helps to make him Godly though there be no temptation from without yet he may de damned from his own heart if he be not delivered from it Jam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted by his own lusts and Jam. 4. 5. The Spirit that is within us lusteth to envy and covetousness and security and vanity and carnal ease it lusts after these things and therefore we had need to watch A Third reason is Because it will do us a great deal of good for as if we do not watch we are easily surprized so if we do watch it is an easie thing to stand all our miscarriages in the duties of Religion lye in security whereas if we were watchful and would walk with eyes in our heads and would consider the snares that be laid for us and consider Gods threatnings and Commandments the duties of Religion would be easie For if we do not watch the Divel and the World and the Flesh have advantage against us but if we do watch this is as it were a fence to the heart to hedge a man in to keep him safe Rev. 3. 2. there is an excellent place Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain it is the strength of the soul When a man watcheth let a man have but a little grace suppose a man be marvellously fallen off and hath but a little good remaining a few graces in him a little faith a little hope a little sanctified desire he hath but a little strength to go on against sin if a man doth but now watch if a man do but husband this little how strong will he be A little Faith is able to overcome all the Divels in Hell well managed a little hope is able to keep a man above water from sinking a little strength is able to maintain the Combate a little affection to goodness if a man have a careful heart to improve it to the uttermost will go a great way if a man did but watch it would strengthen the things that remaine Though a man were never so infeebled and come to never so low an ebb watchfulnesse is a stay and strength to the heart Fourthly Again if we do not watch we cannot so much as pray to God to forgive us our consciences tell us unlesse the Lord save us we cannot be saved now how can we expect that God should save us if we do not pray unto him and we cannot pray to him to save us unlesse we watch it is to tempt God to pray to him to preserve us from evil when we do not watch over our selves it is to tempt God to pray to him to quicken us when vve deaden our selves to intreat God to give us an holy mind vvhen vve our selves let in vain thoughts Therefore see vvhat Christ speaks Mar. 14. 38. Watch pray that ye fall not into temptation as vvho should say You cannot pray that you may not enter into temptation you tempt God if you intreat him to do any thing if you do not vvatch over your ovvn souls Though a man hath no Activity to do any good yet God vvill have him be vvatchful if he mean to purifie a man he vvill make him purifie himself if he mean to keep him from pride he vvill make his ovvn heart resist pride therefore watch that thou enter not into temptation if thou mean to pray to God not to lead thee into temptation But you will say All a mans watching will do no good except God watcheth over him Psal 127. 1. Except the Lord keep the City
the Watchmen watch in vain I answer 'T is true indeed unlesse the Lord keeps a mans soul all a mans watching is nothing But I tell thee If thou watchest thou hast two watchers thou hast God to watch over thee and thy self to watch over thee thou hast God to watch over thee and keep thee in all thy wayes and then thou watchest over thy self and art sustained by God so that thou hast two watchers God above and thy own soul within thee employed about this work A Fourth reason is Because this is the very means prescribed by God to do us good It is the very remedy that the Lord of heaven hath appointed unto us to save us from danger and keep us from falling the Lord hath sanctified this means to this very end and purpose therefore when our Saviour Christ would disswade his people from carking and caring for the things of this life Luke 21. 36. see what means he prescribeth and layeth down to do it Be watchful saith he and pray the world is ready to get in therefore watch saith he and pray alwayes that you may be accounted worthy to escape these things So that we see this the means prescribed by God himself to escape the falling into sin Fifthly Again We should be so much the more careful in this watch because no other can watch for us in outward things one man may watch while another sleepeth as in sailing when all the rest are asleep there is one watcheth so in war when all the Souldiers lye in their tents asleep it may be some few are watching that the rest may take their rest but it is not so in regard of our souls one man cannot watch while another man sleeps but every man must watch over his own heart If we do not watch our own souls we shall perish and if we do not perish everlastingly we shall have miserable temptations and evils and many inconveniences we shall be exposed unto But some may say Are not Ministers to watch over us How then is every man to watch over himself Ministers are watchmen Son of man I have made thee a watchman over the house of Israel saith the Lord to the Prophet Ezekiel and Heb. 13. 17. The Apostle speaking of Ministers saith They watch for your souls I Answer The word in the Original is not for your souls but over your souls to watch for a man is to watch for another that he may not watch as when a man watcheth for his neighbor that his neighbour may not watch but the Ministers are not so to watch for the people that the people may not watch but the Ministers are to watch over the people that they may watch as when a man watcheth Deer or Hawkes he watcheth them that they may watch and not sleep that so he may tame them as a man that watcheth with a man which is sick of the Lethargy which is such a Disease that if a man be let sleep he goeth away in his sleep therefore their friends stand about them to watch over them that they may not sleep knowing that if they do sleep their lives are hazarded and if they see them but to slumber they awaken them lest in their sleep they die and go away So it is with the Ministers of the Gospel we ought to watch over your souls that you may not sleep for you are all sick of the Lethargy of sin and if ye sleep you go away if you be not careful for heaven and heavenly things if you follow vanity and security of heart and do not take heed to avoid sin your souls will die therefore the Ministers are to watch over you and keep you from sleeping and shew you the danger of it and labour to awaken you and keep your eyes waking The First Use is To condemne the infinite security that is grown upon people that though it be so excellent a duty for a man to watch yet where is the man almost that is careful of it They put this duty over to God as if it did not belong to them they will watch over outward things for plowing and sowing and reaping and the like but for the good of their souls they never acquaint themselves with this watching their hearts are like the wildernesse as the wildernesse is open for all wild-beasts so their hearts are open for all temptations that is the reason they have such dead hearts and cold affections that is the reason they look so little after salvation and eternal life because people never look after this duty of watchfulness nay they are so far from watching how to be saved that they watch how the divel may take them when a man sins he wisheth the Divel would help him to more sin a covetous man is so far from watching over his sin that he would have more opportunities and more occasions of getting the Devil cannot come fast enough to fill his heart with these things So if a man be given to pleasure he thinks he cannot have enough but would have more still Thus people would have the Divel put more corn into the hopper they are so far from watching for good that they watch for evil they devise evil upon their beds as the Prophet Micah speaks they are possessed with the spirit of slumber they have eyes and see not they have eares and hear not hearts and understand not they do not know what watchfulnesse is if they do they are the lesse excusable because they practice it not they do not watch and wake unto Prayer that they may not enter into temptation but are carried away with the world and sin The Second Use is To them that are Godly in some measure that we cannot say they altogether do not watch yet how negligent are they in this duty Many Christians are there among us that have some goodnesse in them yet how doth this duty lye unpractised whence come all the vanities in our minds and untowardnesse in the Ordinances of God whence comes all unfruitfulness in our meetings and unsettlednesse in our Consciences it is because we do not watch Whence comes it that we are no more ready to good duties When we are called forth on the sudden to pray or do any thing for the good of Gods Church and People that we are so unfit to do it and so backward it is for want of watchfulness Nay what is the reason that we perform not the Worship of God in our Families better but because we do not watch the very regenerate themselves what a world of mischief do they do to their own souls for want of this duty of watchfulness How do they swell in sin and are slack in goodnesse and slubber over Gods service How do they favour themselves too too much and suffer the dishonour of God by the wicked and suffer their own hearts to dishonour him too too much Thirdly The next Vse shall be to shew
For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent The Lord helps them all to Pray after one pure language and gives them all one pure consent in the Service of God though it is in different degrees indeed one ariseth to an higher pitch than another therefore the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 1. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that ye speak all the same things that there be no divisions among you As who should say All the Members of Christ are so I beseech you endeavour to have this sign of being Members of Christ be all joyned together in the same mind it is true that this union and consent and agreement and oneness of heart and mind as I may call it is very imperfect but in some it is more imperfect then it is in other some have attained to a further degree there is a great deal of unlikeness of affections a great deal of unlikeness in Prayer a great deal of unlikeness in Obedience there is a great deal of jarrings now and then through weakness but as the Apostle saith As far as we have attained let us be thus minded Phil. 3. 15 16. Let us walk by the same rule mind the same things the Children of God throughout the whole world they are of one mind as far as they have attained though in Faith in Repentance in new Obedience they differ gradually in their attainments yet they all agree in this consent of judgment That sin must be hated that a man must live in no sin that a man must yield Obedience to all Gods commandments that a man must deny himself in all things that in all things God must be glorified they all agree that we are Members one of another and that we must love one another and forgive one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us they all agree in this They are all of one mind and as one is mortified so is the other and as one is meek and gentle so is the other It is truè indeed one hath attained further then another but whereunto they have attained they are all alike minded Now whereunto we have not attained God will reveal it in his good time unto us saith the Apostle May be one seeth such a thing is a duty which another doth not yet all see that it is their duty to fear God and obey him in all their wayes and they all set themselves to hate and oppose all manner of known sins As far as they have attained they are all of one minde Fifthly All this is for mutual profit and help and care and sympathy as you may see delivered by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. That it must be for mutual profit see the seventh vers The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal that is when the Spirit of God doth manifest himself in one man one way and in another man another way he gives one man may be the gift of Teaching to another man the gift of knowledge some have excellent gifts in one kind some in another but all have the gifts of new Obedience Now look whatsoever gifts they are whensoever the Spirit doth manifest it self to any Member of the Body of Christ it is to be helpful and useful to others so that the Members of Christ need one another that you may see vers 21 22. The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the foot I have no need of thee c. We cannot be without the poorest and vilest and contemptiblest Member in the Body nay the very life of the Body may depend upon the vilest Members So again That they are to care for one another That you may see in the 25. verse Lest there should be any division in the Body but that the Members should have the same care one for another You see how it is in the Body of a man the head hath care of the feet it guides the feet and the foot hath care of the head to hold it up and carry it up and down and the hand is useful for the relieving of any part they have all the same care one of another so it is in the Body of Christ And for a Sympathy see it in the 26. verse Wherefore if one Member suffer all suffer with it and if one Member rejoyce all rejoyce with it all have a fellow-feeling of one anothers necessities and comforts Therefore when the Spirit of God doth implant a man into the Body of Christ it is all one with the implanting a man into Christ he doth give him a common life one minde and heart he doth give them all natural help and natural care one of another for they have need one of another In the Third place we must shew That the Spirit doth this And why he doth it First That it is the Spirit that unites and tyeth all these Members together This makes them hang together therefore it is called the unity of the Spirit Eph. 4. 3. He exhorts the Ephesians that were the Members of Christ to keep the unity of the Spirit because as the Members of Christ are united to Christ so they are united mutually by the Spirit Therefore take heed saith the Apostle to keep the unity of the Spirit that you may be of one mind and one heart Therefore the Apostle speaking of the Body of Christ he compares it to a building A building consists of divers bricks and stones and timber which being joyned together make up an house So the Members of Christ being joyned together make up an house for God to dwell in But who makes this The text saith the Spirit of God Eph. 2. 22. The Spirit of God makes up this blessed building all the elect of God all the faithful all the heirs of Grace in the world are as an house or body though there be never so many parts in it yet they make all but one body or house so it is here Now the Spirit unites these and layes them artificially together so that they may prop one another Ezek. 11. 19. The Lord there speaking of his Elect I will give them saith he one heart and make them of one mind How will he do it I will put a new Spirit within them And so he makes them to be of one and the self-same mind Now the Reason Why the Spirit of God doth do this is First Because none else besides the Spirit is able to do it For by nature we are wofully and fearfully different from the Body of Christ we are of another nature of another kind of another life nay we are contrary to it all the Members of Christ they are as young sucking children but wicked men and all men by nature are Lions and Leopards and Bears and Tigers as the Prophet