bless themselves and the carnal World applauds them in a sensual Course and Way of Living They measure all Happiness by their outward Condition in the World and please themselves with golden Dreams of Contentment and this being seconded with the flattery and applauses of the deceived World they are fast asleep in the midst of the greatest Soul-Dangers and so go down into Hell before they think of it 2. Come we now to the Regenerate Such the Apostle looks upon the Thessalonians to be They need to have their Hearts directed to the patient waiting for Christ for these Reasons 1. Because we have too dim and doubtful a foresight of these things How dark a Prospect have even the best of God's Children of the World to come We may speak of others as Unbelievers but God knows how doubtful our own Thoughts are about Eternity and Christ's Coming how little we can shut the Eye of Sense and open that of Faith and say truly with the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at the Things that are seen that are temporal but to the Things unseen that are Eternal Alas we have no through Sight into another World The best Christians have need to have their Eyes anointed with spiritual Eye-salve that their Sight may be more sharp and piercing to beg the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to open the Eyes of their Mind that they may see what is the Hope of Christ's calling Eph. 1. 17 18. There are too many intervening Clouds between us and Eternity that darken our Sight and obscure our Faith 2. Our Thoughts of these things are strange and dull and too rare and unfrequent How seldom have we any serious thoughts of his Coming and how unwelcom are they to our Hearts It was a Complaint against Israel that they did put far away the evil Day but the Complaint against us may be taken up thus that we put far away the good Day when all our Desires and Hopes shall be accomplished and satisfied The Atheistical World deny it and we forget it Solomon saith to the sensual young Man Remember that for all these things God shall bring thee to Iudgment Young Men forget or put off these Thoughts lest like cold Water cast into a boiling Pot they should check the Fervor of their Lusts. But alas grave Men good Men forget these things When Christ had spoken of his Coming to Judgment he saith Mark 13. last v. What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. Watching is keeping up this Attentiveness to his second Coming with all Christian Vigilance and Endeavour But few regard the Charge therefore the Lord direct your Hearts c. 3. Because our Affections are so cold and we are no more affected with it but as if we were senseless of the weight of these things Some dead and drousy Desires we have but not that lively Motion which will become Hope and Love If Nature say Come not to torment us before the time Grace should say Come Lord Jesus O come quickly We are not only to look for his Appearing but to love his Appearing Where are these Desires that Christ would either come down to us or take us up to himself that we may live with him for ever 4. This Prayer need to be made for the Renewed too because Christians think of it with too much perplexity and fear Is the Sight of a Saviour unwelcom to you Or should the drawing nigh of your Redemption be a Comfort or a Terror Why do you then believe in Christ and choose his Favour for your Happiness We thought that this had been all your Hope and your Desire and your great Comfort and shall your Hope be your Torment and beget Horror rather than Joy O beg the Lord to direct your Hearts that you may hope to the end for the Grace that shall be brought unto you at the Revelation of the Lord Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. We do not only wait for Glory but for Grace and shall not this be a Comfort to you 5. We need to pray this Prayer because our Preparations are too slender for so great a Day Serious Preparation is necessary 'T is described 1 Pet. 3. 14. Wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless that is In a State of Reconciliation with God But we live too securely and quietly in an unprepared State If we have the habitual Preparation we do not keep up the actual Preparation by clarifying and refining our Souls from the Dregs of Sense by honouring God in the World with greater earnestness that when our Lord comes he may find us so doing We do not stand with our Loins girt and our Lamps burning that when the Lord knocks we may open to him immediately We do not keep up the Heavenly Desire the actual Readiness The Return of a Husband after long Absence is more welcom to the Wife than to a Harlot but she would have all things ready for his Reception and Entertainment 6. Because our Motions are too inconstant We interrupt the Course of our Obedience frequently faint in our Afflictions do not keep up the Fervor of our Affections and follow after Salvation with that industrious diligence We need often the Christian Watchword The Lord is at hand We lose much of our first Love intermit of our first Works Therefore the Lord direct your Hearts to the patient waiting for Christ. The Exhortation is To quicken you to take care of this Grace that you may be constantly exercised in it While we are upon Earth we should continually be expecting Christ's Coming from Heaven The Motives may be these 1. Before Christ's Coming in the Flesh the Saints waited for him I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord saith Iacob Gen. 49. 18. And Simeon for Christ the Saviour of the World for so it is explained Mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation And our Lord tells us Abraham rejoyced to see my Day Joh. 8. 56. And it is said of Anna and others That they waited for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2. 25 38. And after Christ was come the Disciples were commanded to wait for the Promise of the Spirit Acts 1. 4. So by parity of Reason we must wait for the Coming of Christ for that is the next great Promife to be accomplish'd and the great Thing to put Life into our Religion 2. The People of God are described by this 1 Thess. 1. 10. Who wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Iesus which delivered us from the Wrath to come A Man would have thought in those early Days they should have heen described by their respect to what was past rather than to what was to come which was at so great a distance they should have been described by believing Christ was already come in the Flesh rather than waiting for his Coming in Glory No this is proposed as an
Inclination but it can be brought into no Effect He cleareth the Mind which otherwise would be blinded by Temptations excites the Will which otherwise would be blunted with oppositions assists the vital Power which else would be obstructed and impeded from producing its Effects 2dly That a Christian hath a Liberty or Power of walking according to the Flesh. The opposite Principle though it be broken so far that it is not in habitual predominancy yet doth too often prevail over us otherwise it were impossible to sin or to be unjust unmerciful unmindful of God and heavenly things unchast intemperate or licentious in our Actions and all the Admonitions and Exhortations of the Word to keep the Regenerate from yeilding to the Enticements of the Flesh would be in vain if they could not possibly yeild to them In Heaven indeed there need no Disswasions from Sin because the glorified Saints are above all possibility of sinning there is no Devil to tempt nor World to entice nor Flesh to incline them to be seduced by those Temptations but Earth is not Heaven Here mortified Lusts may awaken and recover Strength by a Temptation But more distinctly these Arguments shew it 1. That though the Inclination be to God and Heaven which is the Fruit of Saving-Grace yet the Acts of it are voluntary Grace is a real active working Thing but it doth not work necessarily as Fire burneth it must be excited and stirred up both by the Spirit of God who worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2. 13. and by our selves We must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 6. We must still be blowing up this holy Fire as the Priest did the Fire of the Altar to keep it burning and its Motions must be hearkned to cherished and complied withal if we would keep the carnal Part under and prevent it from breaking out into shameful Acts. But as we grow remiss or careless in our Duty Sin acquireth and prevaileth over us 2. The Flesh which remaineth in us is importunate to be pleased and though it be not superior in the Soul yet it hath a great deal of Strength that still we need even to the very last to keep watching and striving and must resolve to be deaf to its Entreaties and Sollicitations 1 Pet. 1. 14. Not fashioning your selves to the former Lusts of your Ignorance or accommodating your selves to please the Flesh that is they must not cast their Conversations into a carnal Mould nor suffer their Choice and Actions to be directed and governed by the Influence of the Flesh or give up themselves to the Satisfaction of their sinful Desires In short former Lusts are but in part subdued our old Love to them may be soon kindled and the Bias of Corruption gather Strength again and the Gates of the Senses are always open to let in such Objects as take part with the Flesh and stir it up Therefore we must not imagine that there is no need of Diligence or Striving and Watching Holy Paul saw a need of beating down his Body lest after he had preached to others he himself should be a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 26. After so many years Service in the Cause of Christ this great Champion was not secure of the Adversary he carried about with him There is need of Caution to the last that we do not revert into our old Slavery The contrary Principle in us still retaineth some Life and Vigor though much abated there is not such a Con-naturality and Agreement between the Heart and Sin as there was before but yet Sin still dwelleth and worketh in us and we are often foiled by it 3. That since there is a Liberty we must be careful to live according to the Operation and Influence of the better Principle for it lieth upon us as our Duty though we have the Power from above There is a double Argument implied in the Text The one is A Beneficio the other A Periculo the Profit the Danger 1. A Beneficio from the Benefit accruing to us We shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh. If they yeeld to the Motions and Inclinations of the Regenerate Part they cannot 〈◊〉 the Evil which the Carnal Part would have them the 〈◊〉 they have will hold them in as a Bridle and turn their Minds another way Surely Sin is no such lovely thing that we should be enamour'd of it yea it is such an hateful thing that we should shun and avoid it by all means possible Now when you have an Help at hand not only near you but within you such as the new Nature which riseth up in Rebukes and Dislikes against Sin you should take this Advantage otherwise you offer violence not only to the Law of God but that new Nature which he hath put into you There are three Reasons which may be urged here 1. The better Principle the more it is obeyed the more it is strengthned for the Way of the Lord is Strength to the Upright Prov. 10. 29. The Habits of Grace increase by Exercise and the more Godly and Heavenly we are the more we shall be so and the more constantly we act Grace the more easily and readily we act it and with greater pleasure and delight This is a sure Rule that God rewardeth Grace with Grace one Duty is an Help to another and the Sweetness and Pleasure groweth upon us every day It is at first yoking that the Bullock is most unruly and Beginners are burthen'd with the toil of Obedience more than grown Christians Christ's Yoak groweth more easy every day by the bearing for the Opposition is more broken and the Experience of the sweetness and goodness of this way is more increased Prov. 4. 18 19. 2. The Power of inbred Corruption is subdued and the Lusts of the Flesh weakned for as the better Principle groweth the other loseth Strength Mortification and Vivification mutually help one another the more we are dead unto Sin the more we are alive unto Righteousness so on the other side the more we live unto Righteousness the more we are dead to Sin for the carnal Life is swallowed up of the spiritual And therefore to grown Christians Temptations either make none or no considerable Impression they are alive to God and therefore dead unto the Flesh and dead unto the World It cannot be imagined that the Flesh should bear sway where there is a strong opposite Principle to check it and when we suffer it not to be idle and unfruitful it will obtain its Effect Sin cannot be our Trade Custom and Delight No it is complained of as our heaviest Burden Rom. 7. 29. resisted as the greatest Evil and most opposite not only to our Duty but to our very Nature and Temper 3. This walking in the Spirit giveth us an Evidence of our Interest in the Grace of Iustification Gal. 5. 18. And if ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law Not to be under the teaching of
the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. And yet Christ's Soul was troubled and heavy unto Death The Godhead suspending its Virtue and Operation both might well consist for though the Presence of the Divinity be necessary with the Humanity of Christ yet the Effects are voluntary God worketh not out of necessity no not in the Human Nature of Christ all kind of Communications are given out according to his own pleasure The Divinity remained united to the Flesh and yet the Flesh might die so it remained united to the Soul and yet the Soul might want Comfort The Bond by which the two Natures were united in one Person remained firm and indissoluble but the Influx of Sweetness and Comfort was suspended Some Effect there is of the Union but not that which affords Comfort and Felicity and this was suspended but for a time There is a Desertion indeed which agreeth not with the dignity of Christ. There is a total and Eternal Desertion by which God so deserteth a Man both as to Grace and Glory that he is wholly cast out of God's Presence and adjudged to Eternal Torments which is the Case of the Reprobate in the last Judgment this is not compatible to Christ nor agreeing with the dignity of his Person There is a partial temporal Desertion when God for a moment hideth his Face from his People Isa. 54. 7. This is so far from being contrary to the dignity of Christ's Nature that it is necessary to his Office for many Reasons 2. That it is very grievous This was an incomparable Loss to Christ. 1. Partly because it was more natural to him to enjoy that Comfort and Solace than it can be to any Creature To put out a Candle is no great matter but to have the Sun eclipsed which is the Fountain of Light that sets the World a wondering For poor Creatures to lose their Comforts is no great wonder who though they live in God are so many degrees distant from him but for Christ who was God-Man in one Person that is a difficulty to our Thoughts and a wonder indeed for by this means he was so far deprived of some part of Himself 2. Partly because he had more to lose than we have The greater the Enjoyment the greater is the Loss or Want It was more for David to be driven from his Palace than a poor Israelite to be driven from his Cottage We lose Drops he an Ocean A poor Christian that hath some Heaven upon Earth in the fore-enjoyment of God and the first-fruits and earnest of the Spirit hath more to lose than another that hath had only some vanishing Tast in the Offer of Eternal Life and receiving the Word with Ioy. Proportionably judge of Christ who was Comprehensor while he was Viator had the beatifical Vision whiles on Earth 3. Partly because he knew how to value the Comfort of the Union having a pure Understanding and heavenly Affections God's Children count one Day in his Presence better than a thousand Psal. 84. 10. One Glimpse of his Love more than all the World Psal. 4. 7. If they have any thing of the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts they would not part with it for all the sensual Enjoyments which others prize and value so much and if they lose it they are touched to the quick they lose that which is the Life of their Lives which they account their chief Happiness Now Christ was best able to apprehend the Worth and Value of Communion with God having such a clear Understanding and tender Affections and therefore it must needs be grievous to him to have his wonted Conversations suspended 4. Partly because he had so near an Interest and Relation to God Prov. 8. 30. One bred up with him and daily his Delight Col. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look among the Children of God if they have any Interest in him how mournfully do they brook his Absence Mary Magdalen Woman why weepest thou They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him Luk. 24. 14. She sought a Christ and found a Grave Christ's words my God do not only express his Confidence but Affection when his God and Father hideth his Face from him 5. Partly from the Nature of Christ's Desertion It was Penal All Desertions may be reduced to these three Sorts for Trial for Correction or Punishment For Trial so God left Hezekiah to prove what was in his Heart 2 Chron. 32. 31. For fatherly Correction so God leaveth his People for a while to teach them Repentance Humility Hatred of Sin more entire Dependance on Himself Isa. 54. 7. I have left thee for a small moment but with everlasting Mercies will I love thee For Punishment so he left Saul 1 Sam. 28. 6. When he answered him neither by Dreams nor by Urim nor by Prophets So he leaveth the wicked to a reprobate Mind Now Christ's Desertion was not for a Trial. Fallible Creatures may be put upon Trial but the Son of God needs it not It would not agree with the Goodness and Wisdom of God to put his beloved Son on such a Trial. He was neither unknown to his Father nor did he vainly presume of his own Strength as to need to be confuted by Trial. Nor can it properly be called Fatherly Correction for there was no Sin in Christ that needed to be corrected Indeed the Chastisement of our Peace was upon his Shoulders Isa. 53. 5. Therefore it remains that this Desertion was penal and satisfactory such as came from the vindictive and revenging hand of God Our Sins met in him and he was forsaken in our stead There was no Cause in Christ himself wherefore he deserved to be forsaken of God but we had done the wrong and he maketh the amends There was nothing in Christ's Person to occasion a Desertion but much in his Office so he was to give Body for Body and Soul for Soul And this was a part of the Satisfaction He was beloved as a Son forsaken as our Mediator and Surety II. Why was Christ forsaken Answ. With respect to the Office which he had taken upon him to expiate our Sins and to recover us from the deserved Wrath and Punishment into the Love and Favour of God This Desertion of Christ carrieth a suitableness and respect to our Sin our Punishment and our Blessedness 1. Our Sin Christ is forsaken to satisfy and make amends for our wilful desertion of God When Adam sinned we all turned the back upon God who made us Yea all actual Sins are nothing but a forsaking of God for very trifles an Aversion from God and a Conversion to the Creature Ier. 2. 13. They have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters and have hewen out unto themselves broken Cisterns that will hold no Water Now we that forsook God deserved to be forsaken by God therefore what we had merited by our Sin Christ endured as our Mediator He himself
for the Glory of God and the Advancement of his own Kingdom I say the Glory of God Rom. 6. 10. In that he liveth he liveth unto God His own Kingdom Psal. 110. 1. Sit thou at my right Hand till I make thine Enemies thy Footstool He is at the right-hand of God and there shall abide till he return to judge the World In the mean time he hath the Inspection of all Affairs All Iudgment is put into his Hands Joh. 5. 22. Things are not left to the Will of Man nor to their own Contingency but are guided and ordered by him with good Advice However Matters go Christ is Governor who is not cannot be deposed from his Regal Office nor justled out of the Throne As Luther said upon some Loss that befel the Friends of the Gospel Etiamnum vivit regnat Christus When the Floods lifted up their Voice and all things seemed to threaten Ruin and to over-whelm then follows The Lord reigneth The Lord on high is mightier than the Noise of many Waters Psal. 93. 1 4. It is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ for the advancing and preserving of which he gives forth signal Testimonies of his Regal Power 2. In spiritual Distresses when we want Life and Quickning are opposed with troubled thoughts about our sinful Infirmities Your Redeemer hath Life in himself but not for himself alone he came into the World that we might have a fuller Communication of his Grace Ioh. 10. 10. Now he is gone back again to God and filled with the Spirit to communicate it to the Members of his Mystical Body Eph. 4. 10. He is ascended up to fill all things When we are dead our Redeemer liveth as a Fountain of Life to God's People 3. In outward Calamities He liveth when other Comforts fail or are taken away from us he will prove the nearest and best Friend when all others forsake us he will not only sympathize with us but help us and knoweth how to to give a comfortable Issue out of the sorest Troubles 2 Cor. 4. 14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Iesus shall raise up us also by Iesus and shall present us with you For which cause we faint not 4. It is a great Comfort in Calumnies and Slanders when our Names are taken up in the Lips of the Taunters and cast forth as evil Iob here when his Friends suspected him as fallen from the Grace of God puts his Cause into the Hands of the great Mediator who was now with God in Heaven making Intercession for him and will one Day stand on the Earth judging the World We need not fear any partial Judge here below nor be troubled at their Prejudices and Misconstructions Christ is the true Judge who will bring to light the hidden things of the Heart and then shall every Man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 15. That is every one that hath done well Though we have Failings yet those that flee to a Redeemer for Pardon and Reconciliation with God and Grace to walk uprightly shall then be acquitted 5. Chiefly it is a Comfort against the Fears of Death that you may yeeld up yourselves into Christ's Hands Thoughts of dwelling with God in Eternal Life are less comfortable because Death and the Grave interpose we must pass through them before we can enjoy him But though we die Christ liveth who is the Resurrection and those that believe in him shall live though they die Ioh. 11. 25. For our Souls he standeth ready to receive them Acts 7. 54. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit And our Bodies at the last day shall be raised again to immortal Life When Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3. 4. We need not fear Death for by his dying and rising again the Powers of the Grave are shaken and Death it self is become mortal The Grave is not a Prison but a Place of Repose Isa. 57. 2. And Death not a final Extinction but a Passage into Glory It is ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours Life Death Things present Things to come all are yours And it is Gain Phil. 1. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Therefore we may go to the Grave with Comfort and Hope Christ died and yet is alive so shall we He is risen as the First-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. The whole Harvest was blessed and sanctified by an handful of the first-Fruits dedicated to God When Christ arose he virtually drew all the Elect out of the Grave with him being renewed and reconciled by his Grace they may be confident of a joyful Resurrection for Christ is their fore-fruits The First-fruits did not bless the Tares Darnel and Cockle that grew amongst the Corn no Man that ever offered the first-Fruits desired a Blessing upon the Weeds no Bind the Tares in Bundles and gather the Wheat into my Barn But if he indeed be your Redeemer and hath redeemed you from all Iniquity that is from the Guilt and Power of Sin it is a Comfort to you to know that he lives gloriously with God and will draw all his own after him that they may live gloriously with him He is our Fore-runner Heb. 6. 20. Who is gone to Heaven and hath taken Possession for himself and in our Behalf to make the Way more passable for us When we die we do but go thither whither he is gone before us he standeth upon the Shore ready to receive us into Glory Use of Exhortation I. Believe it and be perswaded of this Truth that you have a Redeemer living with God in the Heavens 1. This is a matter of meer Faith and therefore it must be soundly believed before it can have any efficacy upon us Some points of Faith are mixed partly evident by Natural Reason partly by Divine Revelation as that there is a God it is matter of sensible Experience Rom. 1. 20. and a matter of Faith also whosoever comes to God must believe that God is Nature helpeth forward the entertainment of these things but Redemption by Christ is a matter of pure and meer Faith and is received by believing Gods Testimony 2 Thess. 1. 10. there is no improving these points till we soundly believe them 2. Because we often think we believe these general Truths when indeed we do not believe them at all or not with such a degree of assent as we imagine Our Lord when he speaks of these Truths Joh. 11. 26. He that believeth in me shall live though he die Believest thou this Joh. 16. 31. Do ye now believe We conceit our Faith to be much stronger than indeed it is about the main Articles of Faith 3. Because among them that profess themselves Christians there are monstrous defects in their Faith Naturally we look upon the Gospel as a well devised Fable 2 Pet. 1. 16. and many that dare not speak it out yet do but speak of Christ
think all their business is to get a Victory over their Consciences and though they do not deny their Lusts yet if they can be strongly perswaded that God will be merciful to them in Christ they shall not perish but obtain everlasting Life No we must obey we must deny our selves or else we do not trust Christ to bring us to Heaven in his own ways and methods but trust to some vain conceits of our own II. How this is to be understood That whosoever believeth since many other things are required of us as Repentance Mortification of Sin Self-denial new Obedience or Holiness Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mortification Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Self-Denial Luke 14. 16. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple New Obedience or Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. I answer all Truths are not delivered in one place and therefore a solitary Faith will not bring us to Heaven but that which is seconded with other things But more distinctly I. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are connexed with it by the Ordination of God For every one that believeth Christ believeth the whole Gospel to be true Except against one part and you may except against all the rest Now it is evident in the Gospel that without Regeneration Repentance and Holiness no Man can be saved and see God therefore every one that believeth in Christ must trust him to obtain it in the way that he hath appointed and promised to give it 2. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are included in the nature of it or flow as genuine Effects from such a cause A purpose of Obedience is included in the Nature of Faith and actual Obedience is the fruit of it Every one that believeth Christ receiveth him in all his Offices therefore a purpose of Obedience is included in the nature of it and if Faith be sincere universal Obedience in Self-denial Mortification and our duty to God and Men will naturally be derived from it Therefore as he that is to entertain a King makes reckoning of his Train and that he will not come alone so every one of whom Faith in Jesus Christ is required must reckon that his Faith must be evidenced to be sincere by the Fruits of it III. Why is Faith required that we may receive Benefit by Christ For these Reasons 1. In respect of God 2. In respect of Christ. 3. In respect of the Creature 4. In respect of our Comforts 1. In respect of God that our Hearts may be possessed with a full apprehension of his Grace who in the new Covenant appeareth not as a revenging and condemning God but as a pardoning God This reason is rendred by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace The Law brought in the Terror of God by being the Instrument of revealing Sin and the punishment due thereunto ver 15. The Law worketh Wrath for where there is no Law there is no Transgression no such stinging sense of it but the Gospel brought in Grace The Law stated the Breach but the Gospel shewed the way of our Recovery And therefore Faith doth more agree with Grace as it makes God more amiable and lovely to us and beloved by us by the discovery of his Goodness and Grace The saving of Man by Christ that is by his Incarnation Life Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension do all tend to possess our Hearts with his abundant Grace To the same tend also his merciful Covenant gracious Promises and all the Benefits given to us his Spirit Pardon and Communion with God in Glory all is to sill our Hearts with a Sense of the Love of God And all this is no more than necessary for a guilty Conscience is not easily setled and brought to look for all kind of Happiness from one whom we have so much wronged Adam when once a Sinner was shy of God Gen. 3. 10. and Sin still makes us hang off from him Guilt is suspicious and if we have not one to lead us by the Hand and bring us to God we cannot abide his Presence For this End serveth Faith That Sinners being possest of the Goodness and Grace of God may be recovered and return to him by a fit Means In the new Covenant Repentance more distinctly respects God and Faith respecteth Christ Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance respects God because from God we fell and to God we must return We fell from him as we withdrew our Allegiance and sought our Happiness elsewhere to him we return as our rightful and proper Happiness but Faith respects the Mediator who is the only Remedy of our Misery and the Means of our Eternal Blessedness He opened the way to God by his Merit and Satisfaction and actually bringeth us into this way by his renewing and reconciling Grace that we may be in a capacity both to please and enjoy God and that is the reason why Faith in Christ is so much insisted on as our Title and Claim to the Blessedness of the new Covenant It hath a special aptitude and fitness for our recovery from Sin to God because it peculiarly respects the Mediator by whom we come to him 2. With respect to Christ. 1. Because the whole Dispensation of Grace by Christ cannot well be apprehended by any thing but Faith partly because the Way of our Recovery is so supernatural strange and wonderful that unless we believe God's Testimony how can we be perswaded of it That the Carpenter's Son should be the Son of that great Architect and Builder who framed Heaven and Earth that Life should come to us by the Death of another that God should be made Man and the Judge a Party and he that knew no Sin be condemned as a Criminal Person that one crucified should procure the Salvation of the whole World and be Lord of Life and Death and have such Power over all Flesh as to give Eternal Life to whom he will Reason is puzsed at these things Faith can only unravel them Partly because the Comfort of the Promises is so rich and glorious and the Persons upon whom it is bestowed so unworthy that it cannot easily enter into the Heart of a Man that God will be so good and gracious to us 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the Things God hath prepared for them that love him Therefore Sense and Reason could look for no such thing Faith is necessary and a strong Faith that it may work upon us These are things
it is yet the full Reward lieth in another World and the main Encouragements must be fetcht from thence There is an opposite Principle against it in the Heart which must always be curbed and suppressed and it meeteth with many Temptations from the Reproaches and Oppositions of those who like not this sort of Life The sensual and ungodly will use all Ways and Means to brand the Holy and Heavenly as an humorous Sort of Men and if their Hands be tied by the restraint of Laws and Government so that we are not exposed to Sufferings by their Violence yet we cannot but expect slanderous Abuses from them Now the Case being so the Motives must be sufficient to resist all the Temptations of this Life to keep us in the Love and Obedience of God to the end which the bare Sense of our Duty would hardly do in the midst of so many Temptations We are in an estate of Imperfection and Sense is very strong in us all and the Sufferings of the Obedient are very great that if we had not an eye to the Recompence of the Reward we could not so well deny our selves Let every Man consult his own Soul what would support him when all the World is against him and he is hooted at by the Clamours of the wicked Rabble and pursued with sharp Laws and exposed to great difficulties and hardships if he had no Life to live but this what would he do Besides it will not stand with the Goodness of God if you can suppose one that loves Goodness for Goodness sake and is so hardy as to contemn all his natural Interests that such a Man should be a Loser by his Faithfulness and Obedience to God and be made altogether miserable by his Duty without any Recompence 1 Cor. 15. 19. And upon another account his Goodness is engaged to take his Servants into his own blessed Presence for the prevailing Inclination of Holiness that is planted by his own hand in their Breath to love serve and see him is an earnest that we shall not always be thus imperfect for our Reward consisteth as of compleat Felicity so exact Holiness seeing God and being like unto him 1 Joh. 3. 2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is But suppose this were true that Vertue were a Reward to it self then what Provision is there made for the punishment of Vice Cannot it be said that they that addict themselves to that Course of Life are punished enough by doing so Alas wicked Men profess great Contentment in that Course of Life which they lead and would be glad of the News that they should have no other Punishment than to wallow in their Lusts. Nature teacheth us and the Practice of all Nations confirmeth it that Evils which consist in a breach of Duty must be punished with afflictive Evils painful to Nature Never such a Law-giver was heard of that would punish a Man for Robbery by causing him to commit Adultery And for Vertue though it hath a Beauty to draw our Love yet it cannot it self be its own price and recompence for Man is of such a Nature as he is still drawn on with the hope of some further good till he come to the enjoyment of the chiefest Good And so many are the Trials of the Righteous in this World that the Apostle telleth us We were of all Men most miserable if our hopes were only in this Life 1 Cor. 15. 19. The Calamities of the Good are as great a discouragement and offence as the prosperity of the Wicked therefore there is an estate of Life and Death to come Besides if Man be God's Subject employed by him in a Course of Duty and Service when his work is ended then must he look to receive his wages accordingly as he performed his Duty or faulted in it Now our work is not ended till this Life be over then God dealeth with us by way of recompence either in Pains or Joys Add further Reason will tell us that these Pains and Joys after Death should be everlasting that the recompence should last as long as Man lasts For Man as to his Soul is immortal and there is no change of Estate in the other World after our Trial is over and things of Religion become meer matter of Sense Certainly one that hath lived holily and is translated to Glory there is no Reason that he should afterwards be made miserable and the Punishment holdeth Conformity to the Reward Luk. 16. 26. Between us and you there is a great Gulph fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence There is no changing of Estates or Places in the other World the Blessedness and Misery is Eternal Things to come would not considerably counter-ballance things present if there were not Eternity in the case 2. Conscience hath a sense of it and on the one hand standeth in dread of Eternal Death and on the other is cheared with the hopes of Eternal Life The first is proved Rom. 1. 32. and Heb. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Men are afraid of Death not only as a natural Evil as it puts an end to present Comforts but as it is an entrance to an unknown Countrey What is the reason of the stings of Conscience which are never so sensible and quick as when Men approach near Death or behold themselves in some near danger What are these but presaging Fears that anticipate Miseries after this Life If the Soul were extinguished with the Body then troubles should in reason vanish but we find that this is the time when these Allarms are redoubled and these Tempests increase with violence On the other side there are Joys of the Spirit which are a taste and earnest of Eternal Life Eph. 1. 13. He hath given us the earnest of the Inheritance Good Men have so much of Heaven upon Earth as may assure them they may look for more this hath supported them in all their difficulties and labour Now if there were no such thing the wise and best Men that ever the World saw would be Liars or Fools Liars in pretending Comfort which they had not or Fools in being deceived by their own vain Imagination and in taking such pains in subduing the Flesh hazarding their Interests and performing their Duty upon the hopes of another World 3. Scripture if we will take God's Word for it is express Rom. 8. 13. Rom. 6. 21 22. and Gal. 6. 8. The present World is comprised in two Ranks either Sowing with the Flesh that is such who employ their labour to make Provision to gratify the Carnal Appetite or Sowing to the Spirit such as employ their Time and Study in advancing the work of the Spirit and they issue themselves into two States in the other World the State of Everlasting Perdition or Everlasting Life Thus do the Scriptures propound Good and
his Justice in reference to Men and to appear to them still as a Righteous God Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right And Rom. 3. 5 6. Is God unrighteous to take Vengeance how then shall he judge the World These Scriptures imply that if there were the least Blemish if you could suppose he should fail in point of Righteousness this were to be denyed that God should be the Judge of the World Therefore God's Righteousness and Justice which gives to every one their due must shine in its proper place he will give Vengeance to whom Vengeance is due and Blessing to whom Blessing belongs In our Case Punishment belongs to us and what can we expect from this God but Wrath and eternal Destruction Therefore if all this be so if a Conscience suppose a Law a Law a Sanction a Sanction a Judge a Judge some time when his Justice must have a Solemn Tryal and this will necessarily infer Condemnation to a fallen Creature What then shall we do 7. From this Condemnation there is no Escape unless God set up another Court and Chancery of the Gospel where condemned Sinners may be taken to Mercy and their Sins forgiven and they justified and accepted unto Grace and Life upon Terms that may salve God's Honour and Government over Mankind There is a great deal of Difference between the forgiving private Wrongs and Injuries and the pardoning of publick Offences between the Pardon of a Magistrate and the Pardon of a private Person When Equals fall out among themselves they may end their Differences in Charity and in such ways as best please themselves by a meer forgiving by acquitting the sense of the Wrong done or a bare Submission of the Party offending But the Case is different here God is not reconciled to us meerly as the Party offended but as the Governour of the World the Case lies between the Judge of the World and sinning Mankind therefore it must not be ended by meer Comprimise and Agreement but by Satisfaction that his Law may be satisfied and the Honour of his Justice secured Therefore to make the Pardon of Man a thing convenient to the Righteous and Holy Judge to bestow without any Impeachment to the Honour of his Justice and Authority of his Law the Lord finds out this great Mystery God manifested in our Flesh Iesus Christ is made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4. 5. And is become a Propitiation to satisfy God's Iustice Rom. 3. 25 26. And so God shews Mercy to his Creatures and yet the Awe of his Government is kept up and a full Demonstration of his Righteousness is given to the World 8. This being done conveniently to God's Honour we must sue out our Pardon with respect to both the Covenants both that which we have broken the Law of Nature and that which is made in Christ and is to be accepted by us as our Sanctuary and sure Refuge 1. We must have a broken-hearted Sense of Sin and of the Curse due to the first Covenant for it is the Disease brings us to the Physician the Curse drives us to the Promise and the Tribunal of Justice to the Throne of Grace and the Avenger of Blood at our Heels that causeth us to fly to our proper City of Refuge and to take Sanctuary at the Lord's Grace Heb. 6. 18. So that if you mince and extenuate Sin you seem to hold to the first Covenant and had rather plead innocent than guilty no if you would have this favour you must confess your Sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and vo cleanse us from all Unrighteousness You must confess your Sins and with that remorse that will become Offences done to so great a God And there must not only be a Sense of Sin but of the Curse and Merit of Sin also for we must not only accuse but judge our selves that God may not judge and condemn us 1 Cor. 11. 31. Self-accusing respects Sin and is acted in Confession Self-judging respects the Curse or Punishment that is due to us for Sin and it is a Persons pronouncing upon himself according to the tenor of the Law what is his due acknowledging his Guilt and this with much brokenness of Heart before God when he hath involved himself in God's eternal Wrath and Displeasure I observe that the Law-Covenant is in the Scripture compared to a Prison wherein God hath shut up guilty Souls Rom. 11. 32. He hath concluded or shut them up that he may have Mercy upon them Gal. 3. 22. He hath shut them up under Sin The Law is God's Prison and no Offenders can get out of it till they have God's leave and from him they have none till they are sensible of the Justice and Righteousness of that first Dispensation confess their Sins with brokenness of heart and that it may be just with God to condemn them for ever 2. We must thankfully accept the Lord's Grace that offers Pardon to us For since God is pleased to try us a second time and set us up with a new stock of Grace and that brought about in such a wonderful way that he may recover the lost Creation to himself surely if we shall despise our Remedy after we have rendred our selves uncapable of our Duty no Condemnation is bad enough for us Ioh. 3. 18 19. Therefore we should admire the Mercy of God in Christ and have such a deep sence of it that it may check our sinful self-love which hath been our bane and ruine And since God shewed himself willing to be reconciled we must enter into his Peace not look upon our selves in a hopeless and desperate condition but depend upon the Merit Sacrifice and Intercession of Christ and be encouraged by his gracious Promise and Covenant to come with boldness that we may find Grace and Mercy to help in a time of need Heb. 4. 16. Thus you see the Need we have to look after this Pardon of Sin 2dly I must shew our Misery without this And this will be best done by considering the Notions here in the Text. Here is Filth to be covered a Burden of which we must be eased and here is a Debt that must be cancelled and unless this be what a miserable Condition are we in 1. What a heavy Burden is Sin where it is not pardoned Carnal Men feel it not for the present Elements are not burdensom in their own place but how soon may they feel it Two sorts of Consciences feel the burden of Sin a tender Conscience and a wounded Conscience It is greivous to a tender Heart that values the Love of God to lie under the Guilt of Sin and to be obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure Psal. 38. 4. Mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as a Burden too heavy for me Broken Bones are sensible of the least Weight certainly a
these things cannot be Graces but in a Concomitancy Repentance without Faith what would it be When we see our Sins and bewail them Despair would make us sit down and dy If there were not a Saviour to heal our Natures and convert our Souls Neither can Faith be without Repentance for unless there be a Confession of past Sins with a resolution of future Obedience we continue in our Obstinacy and Stubbornness and so we are uncapable of Mercy our Case is not compassionable In short Repentance without Faith would degenerate into the horrour of the Damned and our Sorrow for Sin would be tormenting rather than curing to us And then Faith would be a licentious and presumptuous Confidence without Repentance unless it be accompanied with this hearty Consent of living in the Love Obedience and Service of God with a detestation of our Former ways it would be a turning the Grace of God into wantonness Therefore these two always go together Which is the first I will not enter upon but the one cannot be without the other 2. Let me shew you wherein they differ The one respects God the other Christ. 1. Repentance towards God While we live in Sin we are not only out of our Way but out of our Wits We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Tit. 3. 3. We live in Rebellion against him against whom we cannot make our party good and withal contenting our selves with a false transitory Happiness instead of a solid and eternal one we never come to our Wits again till we think of returning to God As the Prodigal when he came to himself he thought of returning to his Father And Psal. 22. 28. They shall remember and turn to the Lord. So long as we lie in our Sins we are like Men in a dream we consider not from whence we are nor whither we are going nor what shall become of us to all Eternity but go on against all Reason and Conscience provoking God and destroying our own Souls Man is never in his true posture again till he returns to God as his Sovereign Lord and chief Happiness as our Sovereign Lord that we may perform our duty to him and our Felicity and chief Good that we may seek all our Happiness in him And none do repent but those that give up themselves to obey God and to do his Will as he is the Sovereign Lord 1 Pet. 4. 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men but to the Will of God and look upon him as their chief Happiness and prefer his Favour above all the sensual Pleasures of the World that they may be able in truth to say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee Psal. 73. 25. This is Repentance towards God 2. There is Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. This Grace is necessary that we may own our Redeemer and be thankful to him as the Author of our Deliverance Rom. 7. 25. O wretched Man that I am But thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. And also Faith is necessary that we may trust our selves in his hands We are to take Christ as our Prophet Priest and King to hear him as our Prophet Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son hear him We are to receive him as our Lord and King Col. 2. 6. As ye have received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him We are to consider him as the great High-Priest of our Confession Heb. 3. 1. Let us consider the Lord Iesus the great Apostle and High-Priest of our Confession Hear him we must as a Prophet that we may form our Hopes by his Covenant and frame our Lives by his holy and pure Doctrine Receive him we must as a King that we may obey him in all things Consider him as a Priest that we may depend upon the Merit and Value of his Sacrifice and Intercession and may the more confidently plead his Covenant and Promises to God Now without this there can be no Commerce between us and Christ. Who will learn of him as a Prophet whom he takes to be a Deceiver obey him as a King who doth not believe his Power or depend upon him with any confidence or hopes of Mercy if he doth not believe the value of his Merit and Sacrifice Herein these things differ Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the one respects the End God the other the Means Christ. Repentance more especially respects our Duty Faith our Comfort Repentance newness of Life for the future and returning to the Primitive Duty the Love of God and obeying his Will Faith Pardon of what is past and Hope of Mercy to come In short to God we give up our selves as our Supreme Lord to Christ as Mediatour who alone can bring us to God To God as taking his Will for the Rule of our Lives and Actions and preferring his Love above all that is dear in the World To Christ as our Lord and Saviour who makes our Peace with God and gives the Holy Spirit to change our Hearts that we may for ever live upon him as our Life Hope and Strength Thus I have briefly shewed you how Repentance respects God and Faith our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. That these Graces having their peculiar Reference are required in order to Pardon for distinct Reasons and Ends. First Repentance is required for these Reasons 1. Because otherwise God cannot have his End in Pardon which is to recover the lost Creation that we may again live in his Love and Obedience Surely Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Now to be lost in the first and primitive Sence was to be lost to God Take the lost Sheep or Groat it was lost to the Owner the Son to the Father and so if Christ came to save that which was lost he came to recover us to God therefore said to redeem us to God 2. Neither can the Redeemer do his Work for which God hath appointed him 1 Pet. 3. 18. He dyed the Iust for the Unjust that he might bring us to God We accept him in all his Offices for this end I am the Way Truth and Life no Man comes to the Father but by me Therefore whole Christianity from the beginning to the end a short Description of it is this A Coming to God by Christ. Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost whom all those that come to God by him 3. Without it we should not have our Happiness It is our Happiness to please and enjoy God we are not in a capacity to please and enjoy God till we are returned to him They that are in the Flesh cannot please the Lord. Nor to enjoy him here for here we see his Face in Righteousness Nor hereafter for without Holiness no Man shall see God Secondly But why is Faith in our Lord
the Conscience and the Conscience against all But where the Heart is framed to the obedience of God's Will there is Peace Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all things keep their place as in an accurate orderly Life they do Gal. 6. As many as walk according to this Rule Peace and Mercy be upon them and the whole Israel of God There is Peace for there is an harmonious Accord between God and them and between them and themselves Psal. 119. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law not only Peace but great Peace a Peace that passeth all understanding Whilst we are in our Sins there is ever a fear of the War which is between God and us and there is a War in our selves Conscience disallowing our practices and our practices disliking the conduct of Conscience so that there is no peace to the Wicked But when the Lord Jesus hath taken us in hand and begun to cure us and frame us aright and shew us his wonderful Grace in turning us from our Sins here is matter provided for Serenity and Peace 2. It is the pledg of our eternal Felicity hereafter For Heaven is the perfection of Holiness or the full fruition of God in glory Now when the Mediator begins to take away Sin he blesses you for the Life is then begun which shall be perfected in Heaven Unless it be begun here it will never be perfected there For without Holiness no Man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But if it be begun it will surely be perfected there for blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The vision and fruition of God is begun here the Spirit of Holiness is the earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1. 13 14. O what Blessedness is it then to have the new heart planted into us by Christ and to live the new Life It is the Beast about you that delights in the momentany base dreggy Pleasures of Sin But when Christ hath turned you from your Sins you are blessed indeed you are in the way to Blessedness and you shall be blessed for ever he gives Peace as a Pledge of Happiness and Eternal Glory III. I shall prove that this is the Mediator's Blessing 1. Let me lay down this that those Blessings that are most proper to the Mediator are spiritual Blessings We forfeited all by Sin but especially the Grace of the Spirit whereby we might be made serviceable to God Other Mercies run in the Channel of common Providence but spiritual Blessings are the discriminating Graces and Favours that are given us by the Mediator Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places Christ came not to distribute Honours and Greatness and worldly Riches to his Followers but to turn away every one of us from our Sins to reduce us to God that we may love him and be beloved of him He came as a spiritual Saviour to give us Grace rather than temporal Happiness Most Men have a Carnal Iewish Notion of Christ they would have a temporal Safety and Happiness they would have Deliverance from Affliction rather than Deliverance from Sin To be delivered from every evil Work is more than to be delivered from the Mouth of the Lion This is most proper to the Mediator 2 Tim. 4. 18. A sanctified Use of Troubles is more than an Exemption from them a carnal Man may have Exemption from them but not a sanctified Use of them Poverty Lameness Blindness are not as bad as Ignorance unruly Lusts and Want of Grace Moral Evils are worse than Natural Daniel was cast into a Lion's Den you would think that was a Misery but it was a greater Misery when Nebuchadnezzar was thrust out among the Beasts being given up to a brutish Heart Exemption from Trouble may be hurtful to us but Deliverance from Sin is never hurtful to us Among the spiritual Blessings we have by the Mediator Conversion from Sin to God is the chiefest we have on this side Heaven That it was the main Part of Christ's Undertaking I shall prove by Scripture and Reason For Scripture the Text is clear for it for thus the Apostle interprets the Covenant-Blessing In thy Seed shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed viz. God hath sent him to bless you wherein in turning every one of you from your Sins He shall be called Iesus Mat. 1. 21. for he shall save his People from their sins not only from the Guilt but the Power of Sin not only from the Evil after Sin but the Evil of Sin it self Denominatio est à majori the Name is taken from what is chiefest And so when he is promised to the Iews The Redcemer shall come out of Sion and he shall turn away Ungodliness from Iacob There is his principal Work 1 John 3. 5. Christ came to take away Sin and in him is no Sin He means not only the condemning Power but the Power of it in the Heart for he is pleading Arguments for Holiness why Believers should not run into Sin which is a Transgression of the Law One is from the Undertaking of Christ he came to take away Sin and from the Example of Christ In him is no Sin he plainly means the Power of Sin 2. Now to give you some Reasons why this is the chief Benefit most eyed by Christ and should be most regarded by us 1. Christ's Undertaking was principally for the Glory of God All the Promises are in him Yea and Amen to the Glory of God And it should not be a Question which should have the precedence the Glory of God or our Good Christ came to promote God's Glory and that must have the precedence of our Benefit Now then the abolishing the Guilt of Sin doth more directly respect our Interest and Good but the abolishing the Power of Sin or the turning and cleansing the Heart from it doth more immediately respect the Glory of God and our Subjection to God Therefore Christ would not only pacify the Wrath of God but his chief Work that doth mostly concern the Glory of God was to heal our evil Natures and prevent Sin for the time to come 2. To be turned from Sin is to be freed from the greatest Evil. For Pardon gives us an Exemption from Punishment which is a natural Evil but Conversion gives us freedom from our naughty Hearts which is a moral Evil and certainly Vice is worse than Pain and Sin than Misery Besides Sin is the Cause of all Evil and the taking away the Cause is more than ceasing the Effect 3. This hath nearer Connection with the Life of Glory Pardon only removes the Impediment but the sanctifying and healing of our Natures is the beginning of the Life of Glory and Introduction into it Pardon removes our Guilt which hinders our Happiness therefore Divines say Justification is Gratia removens prohibens that that removes the Impediment but the sanctifying
no Sacrifice without it Not that he tasted of their Meat-offerings or did eat the Fat or Flesh of Bulls and Goats and drink their Blood and so would have it seasoned for his Pallate and Appetite it is not so to be understood but in Types as well as in Similitudes there is a condescension to our sense and apprehension of things That that is salted is savoury therefore God would note his acceptation of our persons and services this way By nature we are all odious unsavoury and distasteful to God by reason of Sin Psal. 14. 3. They are all become filthy there is none that doth good no not one in the Hebrew it is putrified stinking like corrupt and rotten Flesh. We must be salted and seasoned by the Grace of Christ and so we become amiable and acceptable in the sight of God The more upright we are the more he delighteth in us 2. To Men the more we are thus salted and mortified the more shall we do good to others Our Lord tells his Disciples Mat. 5. 13. Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the Salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of Men. This is spoken to the Disciples as Disciples not as Apostles and publick Persons It is a mistake to think that only Ministers are the Light of the World and the Salt of the World No all Christians must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation all Christians must be as the Salt of the Earth Christ's whole Sermon contains general Duties and the Disciples were not yet sent abroad as Apostles nor ever heard of such a Commission or that their Master would send them abroad for the proselyting the World to the Kingdome of God that was done afterwards Chap. 10. and therefore here he speaks to Christians as Christians Now they are said to be Salt even as they season all those among whom they live A Christian is never savoury in his Conversation with others till he hath Salt in himself then all his actions are seasoned with Grace and beget a remembrance of God then his words are seasoned with Grace and do good to others The Apostle saith Eph. 4. 29. Let no corrupt Communication come out of your Mouths that rotten and corrupt Communication which vents it self in slandering rayling ribaldry foolish jesting at holy things lyes cursing and the like all these come from a corrupt Heart as a stinking Breath argues rotten Lungs These want the Grace of Mortification so are all sapless Spirits that cannot speak any thing of God seriously but in their most serious discourse are as fresh as Water But go among the mortified and you receive the savour of good things from them you have not only savoury Prayers and savoury Sermons but savoury Conferences and Discourses Col. 4. 6. Let your speech be alway poudered with Salt that is do not speak idely much less profanely but in an edifying manner Now Christians ought to take heed they do not lose their savouriness for then they do not please God nor profit Man and are fit for nothing but the Dunghil Thus I have proved the second thing that the Grace of Mortification is the true Salt that seasons Christians III. There is a Necessity of this Salt in all those that have entered into Covenant with God and have dedicated and devoted themselves to him 1. By our Covenant Vow we are bound to the strictest Duties and that upon the highest Penalties The Duty to which we are bound is very strict We have answered God in all the demands of his Covenant 1 Pet. 3. 21. For Baptism saveth as the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Lord demands and puts in effect this Question Will you die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness this is the tenour of the Baptismal Covenant that is so often so solemnly renewed at the Lord's Supper and you are to reckon your selves Rom. 6. 11. to be dead unto Sin and alive unto Righteousness through Christ Iesus our Lord reckon your selves that is in Vow and Obligation And the Penalty is very high Heb. 10. 26. that we sin wilfully so that our admission into Christ's Family will be in vain yea to our further ruine If you do not stand to the Covenant if you keep Sin still alive and add Fuel to the Flames 2. The Abundance of Sin that yet remains in us and the marvellous activity of it in our Souls we cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till our Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay tumbled into the Dust. Paul groaned sorely under it Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Rom. 7. 24. And it is called Sin that doth easily beset us Heb. 12. 10. Well then since Sin is not nullified it must be mortified It works it wars there is a marvellovs activity in it it is very active and restless Rom. 7. 8. Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence he means sinful nature And the Apostle Iames tells us Iam. 4. 5. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy there is not a sleepy but a stirring Principle always inclining us to evil and hindring that which is good Sin doth not only make us a little flexible and yeelding to Temptations but doth hurry us and impel us thereunto It is a Law warring in our Members that brings us into Captivity to Sin Rom. 7. 23. Corrupt Nature is not a tame thing that works not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan or temptations of the World but is like a living Spring that pours out Water of its own accord it will not let us alone the Heart of Man is evil continually and so it always hinders us from that that is good Rom. 7. 21. When I would do good evil is present with me it blunts the edge of our Affections it seeks to weaken our purposes by unbelieving thoughts or drawing us away from God by the lure of some sensitive delight in stealing our Hearts from him in the very duties and solemn addresses we make to him distracting our minds with thoughts of the World and the Pomp and Glory thereof and so turns our very Duties into Sin and makes us lose the comfort and sweetness of them it blasts and perverts our most sincere endeavours Well then without this Salt of the Covenant if this be so what shall we do have we not need to keep humble and watchful if Sin be stirring we must be stirring against it and improve the grace of the Holy Spirit upon the account of Christ's Death and use all good means that it may be subdued in us 3. Consider the sad consequences of letting Sin alone both either as to further Sin or Punishment 1. As to further Sin For Christ speaks here of Scandals If Lust be not mortified it grows outragious it has foil'd us before God
God and the everlasting Fruition of Him By a wonderful Exchange he taketh our evil things upon Himself that he might bestow his good things upon us and took from us Misery that he might convey to us Felicity Application First by way of Information 1. How different are they from the Spirit of Christ that can brook God's Absence without any remorse or complaint Christ cried with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me These go on securely never observe God's Accesses and Recesses when the Comforts of his Spirit and the Communications of his Grace are wholly suspended and with-holden from them they never lay it t Heart Stupid and insensible Creatures It is all one to them whether God go or come whether He manifest Himself propitious to them or his Face be hidden from them They take up with the vain delights of the present World Micah shewed more respect to his Idols than they do to God Iudg. 18. 24. Ye have taken away my Gods and what have I more And do you ask What aileth thee When God is gone they are not troubled The Christians wept when Paul said Ye shall see my Face no more Acts 20. 25. And will ye not mourn and lament your Loss when God hideth his Face and shutteth up Himself in a Vail and Cloud of Displeasure Much of serious Christianity lies in an Observation of God's coming and going and a sutable Carriage Mat. 9. 15. A serious Christian will be affected with the Loss of comfort and quickning and lament after a withdrawn God 2. It informeth us of the Grievousness of Sin It is no easy matter to reconcile Sinners to God It cost Christ a Life of Sorrows and afterwards a painful and an accursed Death and in that Death Loss of actual Comfort and an amazing Sense of the Wrath of God We make a Mock of Sin jest and sport away our Souls but Christ found it hard Work to save them and recover them to God When you make Sin a light matter you slight the Sufferings of Christ. O therefore take heed you do not break with God for every Trifle 3. The Greatness of our Obligation to Christ who omitted no kind of Sufferings which might conduce to the Expiation of Sin He exchanged his Heaven for a kind of Hell to do you good the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily and therefore he had a Heaven upon Earth If one could say Anima iusti Coelum est because Heaven is begun there in Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost How was it with Christ This Heaven he wanted for a while felt no Comfort yea he was amazed at the sence of God's Wrath due to Sinners therefore it was said in the Type of him The pains of Hell got hold upon me Psal. 116. 3. Oh let this excite us to love Christ that you may count nothing too dear for him 4. The Infiniteness of God's Mercy who appointed such a degree of Christ's Sufferings as in it he gives us the greatest ground of Hopes to invite us the more to submit to his Terms There is nothing standeth in the way but our own impenitence and unbelief Now God is so amply satisfied shall we deprive our selves of Eternal Blessedness This is the worst Cruelty and Hatred to our own Souls SERMON X. ROM 1. part of the 29th and 30th Verses Whisperers Backbiters THe Context sheweth how corrupt and miserable Man's Nature is without Christ his Heart was first withdrawn from God and then became a Sink of loathsom Sins and Vices Therefore the Apostle telleth us how after Men were false to God how little they were true to themselves whether considered singly and apart or as to Commerce and Society singly and apart defiling themselves with uncleanness of all sorts as to Commerce and Humane Society full of Malice and Contention which sometimes goeth as far as Blood at other times sheweth it self in falseness and baseness of Disposition generally in Self-Love and Detraction from others Of all Judgments Spiritual Judgments are the sorest When God leaveth Mankind to its own degeneracy and corruption and one great Branch of this corruption is Detraction which venteth it self either by Whispering or Backbiting So it is in the Text Whisperers Backbiters These two words agree that they both wound the Fame of our Neighbour and they both do it behind his Back or in his absence But they differ 1. In that whispering doth it secretly and closely but backbiting openly The one being privy the other open Defamation and are like Theft and Rapine what Theft and Robbing are to our Goods the same are Whispering and Backbiting to our good Names 2. Whispering tendeth to breed strife among our Friends or to disgrace us to some who are well conceited of us but backbiting to our general disgrace before all the World or amongst whomsoever The one seeketh to deprive us of the good will of our Friends the other to destroy our Service But however they agree and differ they are often conjoyned in Scripture 2 Cor. 12. 20. I fear lest when I come among you I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not lest there be Debates Envyings Wraths Strifes Backbitings Whisperings Swellings Tumults The Apostle foresaw it as too probable that neither of them would be much pleased with their meeting together nor he with the Corinthians when he should find them corrupted with Partialities and Divisions nor the Corinthians with him when he should be forced to inflict censures upon them for their Factions and Emulations too much bewrayed by their backbitings and whisperings against each other So here in the Text they are conjoyned Whisperers Backbiters when the Apostle speaketh of the reigning Sins among the Gentiles Doct. One great Sin wherein the corruption of Humane Nature bewrayeth it self is Detraction or depriving others of a good Repute Here I shall shew I. What is Detraction II. The Hainousness of the Sin I. What it is 1. The Nature of it 2. The Kinds of it First The Nature of it in general It is an unjust violation of an others Fame Reputation or that good Report which is due to him God that hath bidden me to love my Neighbour as my self doth therein bid me to be tender not only of his Person and Goods but of his good Name And indeed one Precept is a Guard and Fence to another I cannot be tender of his Person and Goods unless I be tender of his Fame For every Man liveth by his Credit and therefore certainly this is 1. A Sin against God 2. A wrong to Men. 3. It proceedeth from evil Causes 1. It is a Sin against God who hath forbidden us to bear false Witness against our Neighbour and to speak evil of others without a cause Eph. 4. 31. Let all evil speaking be far from you by evil speaking is meant there disgraceful and contumelious Speeches whereby we seek
to be a meer Chance and Adventure In short that which God hath from all Eternity ordained shall and must come to pass at such a time as God hath ordained it should be and likewise in such a manner and by such ways and means as he hath ordained it shall be done Things Casual to us are Counsels to him What was Chance to others is the Lord to Iob Chap. 1. 21. Therefore not uncertain Chance is intended but such as is ruled and governed by God who disposeth of all Occasions and Events according to his own good Pleasure either in escaping out of Danger or obtaining Victory or being supplied with Necessaries or growing Rich or received into Favour it is all as God will order it The Swift the Wise the Strong though they are best prepared disposed and do most intend their Business yet the Event is in God's Hand who disposeth it according to his own Will Before we draw the Doctrine from hence we shall remove the false Inferences and Deductions that some make 1. Some think these words to be spoken in the Person of the Epicure or Atheist whom Solomon introduceth as reasoning against Divine Providence but it agreeth not with the Preface I returned and saw under the Sun which is usually prefixed before his Observations about the Vanity and Vexation that ariseth from meer Worldly Things 2. This Text must be vindicated from them who set up an Idol of the Heathens blind Fortune as if all things were carried by uncertain Chance No it is Occurrence as before and though it be Chance to Men it is Providence to God the Universal and first Agent who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his Will It is not Chance to them for he never misseth of his End for his Knowledg is infallible and his Power insuperable 3. From those who reject the use of Means and all Operations Dispositions and Preparations of second Causes as if they moved not and God did not act or move by them No this is a false Deduction and Inference both in Naturals and Spirituals 1. In Naturals for God worketh by Means and by Means prepared Hos. 2. 21 22. I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth c. There is a Train of Causes governed and influenced by God The second Causes have their Operation but they are under the Government of the first who worketh by them and also suspendeth their Operations at his Pleasure There are two extreams one of Durandus that God giveth second Causes only power to work of themselves and doth only continue this Power to them but not work with them But this is false for all things depend on God not only for our Being but Working Acts 17. 28. In him we live move and have our being The other is That the Creature hath no Operation at all that the first Cause doth only work ad presentiam Creaturae by the Presence of the second But this is also against the Wisdom of God for if the second Causes did no way concur to the producing of their Effects then they are made in vain and used for such an End in vain 2. Nor in Spirituals Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure God's working is an Engagement to us to wait upon him in the use of Means that we may meet with God in his way and God may meet with us in our way In his way for God hath appointed certain Duties to convey and apply his Grace to us We are to lie at the Pool till the Waters be stirred to continue our Attendance till God giveth his Grace Mark 4. 24. In our way for God influenceth all things according to their natural Inclination God that enlightneth with and by the Sun burneth with and by the Fire reasoneth with and by Man acts necessarily with necessary Causes and freely with free Causes He doth not oppress the Liberty of the Creature but preserveth the Nature and Interest of his own Workmanship Hos. 11. 4. I drew them with Cords of a Man with Bands of Love He draweth by propounding Reasons which we consider and so betake our selves to a godly Life In short we must do what we can otherwise we are wanting to our selves but we must not depend upon our own Counsel Wisdom and Strength for the Event is not always to the Swift Strong and Wise. The true Observation contained in these Words is this That many Endeavours of the Creature are often frustrated of their End when there is greatest Probability of Success Here Solomon representeth Men 1. Under several Accomplishments of Swift Wise Strong 2. As addressing themselves to some Effect to obtain Success 3. As in the Issue disappointed None of these Accomplishments alone do give the Event intended and hoped for nor doth it depend absolutely and infallibly upon them 4. That all things intended desired expected by us depend upon Time and Chance namely as they depend upon God's Providence as and when God will order and determine the Time and Opportunity the Success and Event Therefore from the Whole it appears That Instruments most fitted and furnished and most diligent in their way are frustrated of the Event which they so earnestly intended and hoped for REASONS I. The best Instruments fail out of their Ignorance Oblivion and Inadvertency from which Man cannot altogether free himself in this Life not only in Matters Spiritual but Secular whether Occonomical in the disposing of our selves and Relations or Family-Interests and Concernments Wise Men have their Errors Iam. 3. 2. In many things we offend all of us This Ignorance sheweth it self sometimes in a Mistake of Instruments whose Hearts we know not or if we know them for the present we are not sure of Futurity how they may change or be alienated and drawn off from us Sometimes about Time and Opportunity for the beginning setting on foot or carrying on any good Works Man knoweth not his Time Sometimes in the manner of doing there is some Error for some things we know speculatively we do not know practically and what we know in the general is to be done we do not always know in particular Cases but are blinded by our Affections what we know habitually we do not know actually we do not consider of it for the Time In short no Man knoweth all the Secrets and Circuits of Human Affairs God only is Omnipotent and Omniscient hath all Creatures in his Power and can foresee all Events But it is much for us to understand our Duty we cannot know Events for things are carried strangely beyond Mens expectation and their likeliest Projects crossed II. Because if we have sufficient Knowledge yet God can easily put some Impediment from within or without to hinder the Use of our Wisdom Power and Knowledge 1. Within He can blast our Excellencies in an instant or obstruct the
me again and shew me both it and his Habitation But if he say thus I have no delight in thee let him do with me as seemeth good unto him Such an holy Indifferency should there be upon our Spirits that we should be like a Die in the Hand of Providence to be cast high or low according as it falls When we are over-earnest for temporal Blessings we do but make a Scourge a Snare and a Rod many times to our selves For when God's Will is declared to the contrary this fills us with bitter Sorrow and obstinate Desires pettishly sollicited put us upon great Vexation and Disappointment and that layeth us open to Atheism and Distrust of God the Conduct of his Providence and the Promises of the Invisible World Therefore until God hath declared his Pleasure there must be such Moderation as to be prepared for all Events 4. When the Event depends upon a Duty we must do the Duty and refer the Event to God 1 Cor. 9. 16. Necessity is laid upon me yea wo is me if I preach not the Gospel It is a base Principle to say we must be sure of Success before we will engage for God No when there is an apparent Duty we must do our Duty and trust God with the Event 5. In a dubious Case observe the Ducture and Leading of Providence The Israelites were not to remove but as they saw the Pillar of Cloud before them And so in all things the Happiness of which depends upon God's secret Will see what God's Providence will lead you to Acts 16. 10. We endeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them Sometimes we are left to gather and collect from our own Reason what such or such a thing means Now after earnest Prayer when the fair Course and Tendency of outward Circumstances lead us we may look upon it as the Way of God's Providence for our Good It is said Ezra 8. 21. I proclaimed a Fast that we might afflict our selves before our God to seek of him a right Way for us and for our little Ones and for all our Substance How did they know the Lord was intreated for them Why after Prayer they found such an over-ruling Instinct such a fair Invitation of Providence that from thence they apparently gathered this is the right Way the Lord would have us walk in This is the Direction to be given to Christians when the Event is uncertain But when the Event is declared in God's Providence then we have nothing to do but plainly to submit and that very quietly and contentedly with Hope and Encouragement in the Lord. And that is the main Point Doct. That it is the Duty of all God's Children to be willing to submit themselves to the Dispensation of God's Providence in whatever befalls them or theirs In this Point there is 1. Something implied That all things come within the Guidance of God's Providence There is Nothing so high but God doth it Dan. 4. 35. He doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand and say unto him What doest thou The Sun doth not shine by Chance nor the Rain fall by Chance There is nothing so Mean but it is under God's Providence Mat. 10. 29 30. Not a Sparrow lights to the Ground without your Heavenly Father A mighty Support unto Christians in their Affliction There is nothing so bad but the Lord can turn it to good Gen. 50. 20. Ye thought it for Evil but God meant it for Good There is nothing which happeneth from wicked Men to his Children but the Lord hath a hand in it Iob 1. 23. The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken c. It is Chrysostom's Gloss upon that Place He doth not say the Thief the Sabean the Chaldean hath taken no but the Lord hath taken the same God that gave it If it come from Satan God hath a hand in it for many of Iob's Troubles and Afflictions especially upon his Body came immediately from Satan and yet he saith Iob 6. 4. The Arrows of the Almighty stuck fast in me They were the Arrows of the Almighty though shot out of Satan's Bow This certainly is implied that God hath a Will Hand and Providence in all those things which are most contrary to us The Will of the Lord is to be seen II. That which is exprest is That we ought to submit to the Providence of God I shall prove it 1. By the Example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mat. 20. 39. Father not as I will but as thou wilt He had more to lose than any of us have or possibly can have the Comfort and Influence of the Presence of God in a personal Union and more to suffer yet he submits and professeth a full Subjection to his Father's Will His Cup was a bitter Cup which made him sweat Drops of curdled Blood yet he was willing to drink it even the Dregs since it was his Father's Will But let me fully vindicate the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obj. You will say Christ desires it to pass Mat. 26. 39. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me How could Christ make an Offer of Prayers repugnant to God's Will and Purpose He knew it was the Will of his Father that he should suffer many things and be slain and had rebuked Peter resisting the Souldiers The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18. 11. Many Answers may be given for the clearing of this Matter 1. We must know contrary to the Monothelites That there was a double Will in Christ as there was a double Nature Divine and Humane These are not contrary but yet distinct The Divine Nature would because it was necessary to our Redemption The Human Nature was to shew a reasonable Aversation of what was destructive to it and yet the Human Nature did not contradict the Will of God because he did it not absolutely but only conditionally Father if it be possible 2. There is a deliberate Elective Will and a Natural Velleity Now mark the Human Nature did except against his Suffering not with a deliberate elective Will but only by a natural Velleity There is a resolute Will which overcometh all Impediments and there is an innocent Desire shewing it self in a simple Complacency in that which is good or a Displicency to that which is evil but goes no farther Apply this to the Business in hand When Christ would have the Cup pass it is not meant of his resolute and effective Will but only of his Will expressing a simple Displicency of the Human Nature to what is destructive to it Aquinas gives us another Distinction There is a Will natural and indeliberate and a Will deliberate and elective The one sheweth the sudden Inclination of Nature to what is good for us as we are living Creatures the other
Birth they have the happiness to be born there where Christ is the God of the Country that which makes others Turks and Infidels makes them Christians but though they stand upon the higher Ground they are not the taller Men. 3. They are very willing to be forgiven by Christ and to obtain Eternal Life but this is what meer Necessity requires them They will not suffer him to do his whole Work to sanctify them and fit them to live to God nor part with their nearest and dearest Lusts and come into the obedience of the Gospel or at least if Christ will do it for them without their improving this Grace or using his holy Means they are contented But having such precious Promises and such a blessed Redeemer we are to cleanse our selves 2 Cor. 7. 11. The Work is ours though the Grace be from him So Gal. 5. 14. They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. 4. Some have a strong Conceit that they shall be saved and have Benefit by Christ. This which they call their Faith may be the greatest Unbelief in the World that Men living in their Sins shall yet do well enough is to believe the flat contrary of what God hath spoken in his Word 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not that the Unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Drunkards nor effeminate Persons c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God It is not Strength of Conceit but the sure Foundation of our Hope that will support us nor are they the most happy who have the least Trouble but who have the least Cause Use 2. Do we believe in the Son of God Here will be the great Case of Conscience for setling our Eternal Interest 1. If we believe Christ will be precious to us 1 Pet. 2. 7. Unto them which believe he is precious Christ cannot be accepted where he is not valued when other Things come in competition with him and God will not be prodigal of his Grace 2. Where there is true Faith the Heart will be purified Acts 15. 9. Purifying their Hearts by Faith 3. If you do believe in Christ the Heart will be weaned from the World 1 Ioh. 5. 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 4. If you have the true Faith it works by Love Gal. 5. 6. For in Iesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love By these things will the Case be determined Then the Comfort and Sweetness of this Truth falls upon your Hearts that God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life SERMON XVII DEUT. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this day Life and Good Death and Evil. MOses the Man of God having acquainted the People with the Tenour of God's Commandments both concerning Worship and civil Conversation doth inforce all by a pregnant Exhortation laying before their Eyes the Blessings of Obedience and the Plagues and Curses that should overtake them in case they should decline from the Ways of the Lord thus recommended to them In all which he sheweth himself not only as an ordinary Preacher speaking by way of Exhortation and Doctrinal Threatning but as a special Prophet speaking by way of Prediction and that with such clearness and certainty that these few Chapters may be looked upon as an exact Kalender and Prognostication wherein the good or bad days of this People are expresly calculated and foretold yea comparing Events with the Prediction you would rather conceive Moses his Speech to be an Authentick Register and Chronicle of what is past than an infallible Prophecy of what was to come nothing good or bad hath befallen this People from the beginning to this Day but what is here foretold What is more largely declared upon in this Exhortation is contracted into a narrow room and summary here in the Text See I have set before thee this day Life and Good Death and Evil. In the Words observe 1. The Matter propounded in two Pairs that have a mutual Connection one with another Life and Good Death and Evil. 2. The Manner of Proposal I have set before thee 3. A Duty inferred or Attention excited See 1. The Matter propounded a double Pair or Conjugation Life and Good Death and Evil. Life as the End Good as the Means leading to Life Or else Life that is the enjoyment of God and Good the Felicity following it The Septuagint changeth the Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The Manner of Proposing I have set before thee The Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in a lively manner laid forth and offered for choice We have a saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that contraries put together do mutually illustrate each other Here is Good and Evil Life and Death put together that we may embrace the one and eschew the other As the Poets feign of Hercules when he was young Vertue and Vice came to woo and make court to him Vertue like a sober chast Virgin offering him Labours with Praise and Renown Vice like a painted Harlot wooing him with the Blandishment of Pleasures So in the 5th of Proverbs Wisdom and Folly are represented both pleading to draw in the Hearts of Men to them ver 4. compared with the 16th Whoso is simple let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth Understanding she saith Come eat of my Bread and drink of the Wine that I have mingled The one hath her Pleasures and the other hath her Pleasures only the Pleasures of Folly are stolen Waters and Bread eaten in secret Comforts we get by Stealth Jollity and Mirth when Conscience is asleep So here Moses layeth before them the fruit of Obedience and Disobedience Life and Death 3. The Word exciting Attention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See I have done this in order to Choice for so it is ver 19. Choose Life that both Thou and thy Seed may live Doct. It is the Duty of the Faithful Servants of the Lord in a lively manner to set before the People Life and Death as the fruit of Good and Evil. Moses was God's Minister to instruct this People and what doth he propose and confirm in his Doctrine but Life and Death Good and Evil and this was a part of his Faithfulness Witness that vehement Obtestation used ver 19. He calls Heaven and Earth to record that he had faithfully discharged his Duty herein This was the course that God himself took with Adam in Innocency he set before him Life and Death a Blessing and a Curse the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledg Gen. 2. 9. That he might live by the one and not perish by the other God had respect to the Mutability of his Nature and therefore restrained him by the threatning of
Bodies must be changed before they can be brought to Heaven We shall not all die but we shall all be changed saith the Apostle If the Body must be changed how much more the Soul if that which is Frail much more that which is Filthy if Flesh and Blood cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its corruptible Qualities certainly a guilty corrupted Soul cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its sinful Qualities Application I. Use. Of Information 1. That there is such a thing as the new Nature Regeneration or the new Birth and the new Creature It is one thing to make us Men another to make us Saints or Christians We have Understanding and Will and Affections and Sense as Men but we have these sanctified as Christians The carnal World thinks Christianity puts strange names upon ordinary things but is it an ordinary thing to row against the Stream of Flesh and Blood and to raise Men above those Inclinations and Affections by which the generality of the World are mastered and captivated For a Man to be another kind of Creature than the rest of Men are surely proceeds from a new Nature put into him 1 Pet. 4. 4. The World wondereth at Believers in their contemning the pleasant powerful Attractives of sensible things 2. That by this new Nature a Man is distinguished from himself as Carnal he hath somewhat which he had not before something that may be called a new Life and Nature a new Heart that is created Psal. 51. 10. and may be increased 2 Pet. 3. 18. In the first Conversion we are meer Objects of Grace but afterwards Instruments of Grace First God worketh upon us then by us On the Unregenerate the Spirit worketh while they do nothing that is good sometimes the contrary The Regenerate he helpeth whiles they are working striving labouring he quickneth and exciteth their Inclination to God They have some Principles of Operation there is Life in them and where there is Life there is some power to act or else God's most precious Gifts would be in vain therefore it is their Duty to bestir themselves 2 Pet. 1. 3 4 5. We have Understanding and Memory sanctified and planted with a Stock of Divine Knowledg and can retain things on the Conscience which if we do not we are highly culpable before God Mat. 25. 25 26. Thou wicked and slothful Servant c. We have an inclination to God and Heavenly Things and we must blow it up Isa. 64. 7. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stir up the gift of God that is in thee 3. How little they can make out their recovery to God and Interest in Christ who are not sensible of any change wrought in them They have their old Thoughts their old Discourses their old Passions and their old Affections and their old Conversations still the old darkness and blindness which was upon their Minds the old Stupidity Dulness Deadness Carelesness that was upon their Hearts knowing little or nothing or regarding nothing of God the old end and scope governeth them to which they formerly referred all things If there were a change there would be some hope the Redeemer had been at work in their Hearts You can remember how little savour you had once of the things of the Spirit how little mind to Christ or Holiness how wholly you were given up to the Pleasures of the Flesh or the profits of the World what a mastery your Lusts had then over you and an hard servitude you were in Is the case altered with you now is your taste of Fleshly Delights deadned your Souls taken up more with the Affairs of another World Is the drift aim and bent of your Lives now for God and your Salvation and the great business you attend upon the pleasing of God and the saving of your Souls Are ye not Servants to your Senses and fleshly Appetites and things here below but can ye govern your selves and master these Desires This is a change indeed But in many that profess Christ and pretend to an Interest in him there is no such change to be sensibly seen their old Sins and their old Lusts and the old things of Ungodliness are not yet cast off Surely so much old Rubbish and rotten Building should not be left standing with the New Old Leaves in Autumn fall off in the Spring if they continue so long so old things should pass away and all become new 4. It informeth us in what manner we should check Sin by remembring it is an old thing to be done away and ill becoming our new Estate by Christ. 2 Pet. 1. 9. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins Former Sins ought to be esteemed as old Rags that are cast off and as Vomit never to be licked up again If we are and do esteem our selves to be pardoned we should never build again what we have destroyed nor tear open old Wounds So 1 Pet. 1. 14. Not fashioning your selves to the former Lusts of your Ignorance nor cast our selves into the old Mould and Shape and return to our old Bondage and Slavery So 1 Cor. 5. 7. Purge out the old Leaven that you may be wholly a new Lump So ver 8. Therefore keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth The unsuitableness of Sin to our present State should stir up our Indignation Hos. 14. 8. What have I to do any more with Idols Worldly things are pleasing to the old Man therefore we should not over-much esteem them They are not new Creatures that have not put off the Lusts of the old Man II. Use. To put us upon Self-Reflection Are we the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus that is are we made new Creatures It will be known by these things a new Mind a new Heart and a new Life 1. Have we a new Mind A new Creature hath a new sight of things looketh upon all things with a new Eye He seeth more odiousness in Sin more Excellency in Christ more Beauty in Holiness more Vanity in the World than ever he saw before Before they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They knew aâ—l things after the Flesh. A new value and esteem of things doth much discover the temper of the Heart Heb. 11. 26. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt They esteem the decay of the outward Man to be abundantly recompensed with the increase of the inward 2 Cor. 4. 16. A new Creature is not only changed himself but all things seem to be changed with him Heaven is another thing and Earth is another thing than it was before so is Sin and Righteousness yea he looketh on his Body and Soul with another Eye 2. As he hath a new
turn unto the Lord. Psal. 119. 59. I thought on my ways and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies Man is very inconsiderate his Soul is asleep till consideration awaken it again We are to search and try our Estate whether it be good or bad Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord. We are to observe God's Rebukes Prov. 1. 23. Turn ye at my Reproof To set our selves to seek after God in the best Fashion we can Hos. 5. 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God that is think of recovering themselves and bending their course to him chiefly we are to take heed that we do not hinder God's work and obstruct our own Mercies Prov. 1. 25. They set at nought my Counsel and would none of my Reproof Sometimes Conscience is startled either as being excited by the Word Acts 24. 25. or some notable Affliction and Strait Gen. 42. 21. by one means or another the Waters are stirred great helps are vouchsafed to us observe these Seasons However check Despair He that did turn Water into Wine can turn Sinners into Saints Lions into Lambs he hath not excluded you from his Grace therefore do not exclude your selves When did he ever forsake the anxious and waiting Souls that would not give over seeking till they did obtain the sanctifying Spirit SERMON XX. EPH. 2. 10. For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them WE come now to the End why we are brought into this Estate created unto good Works c. the End is not to live idly or walk loosly but holily according to the Will of God In this latter Clause Created unto good Works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Observe 1. The Object Good Works that is Works becoming the new Creature in short we should live Christianly 2. God's Act about it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which God hath before ordained The word signifies both prepared and ordained 1. God hath prepared these Works for us 2. God hath prepared us for them He hath prepared them for us either by his Decree or Precept if you understand it in the first sense God that hath ordained the End hath also appointed Means as Acts 27. 31. compared with 24. Or else appointed by his Precept and express Will. Micah 6. 8. And he hath prepared us for them by his Spirit making our Hearts fit for our Work Heb. 8. 20. enlightning the Mind inclining the Will The first sheweth the necessity of them the second the easiness of them God hath accomodated all things to that End enabling us to know our Duty and to do it 3. Our Duty that we should walk in them Walking noteth both a Way and an Action 1. It implieth a Way that good Works are the way to obtain Salvation purchased and granted to us by Jesus Christ. Unless we walk in the Path of good Works we cannot come to Eternal Life 2. An Action Walking notes 1. Spontaneity in the Principle not drawn or driven but walk set our selves a going 2. Progress in the Motion he that walketh sets himself forward and gets ground he doth not stand still or lie down but goeth on still Doct. That new Creatures are both obliged and fitted or prepared for good Works I. What is meant by good Works II. What Obligation lieth on the new Creature to make Conscience of them III. How they are fitted and prepared by that new Nature which is bestowed upon them by and through Christ 1. What is meant by good Works 1. The Kinds 2. The Requisits First The Kinds all acts of Obedience more particularly they are divided and distributed into five sorts or ranks 1. Opera Cultus Acts of God's immediate Worship both internal and external The Internal Acts are Faith and Love Trust Delight Reverence The Children of God are often described by these by believing in his Name Iohn 1. 12. Love to God and Delight in him Psal. 97. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate Evil. Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord. Trust. Psal. 62. 8. Trust in him at all times ye People Fear or Reverence Psal. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared External as to Pray Read Hear to be much in Communion with God in all the parts of his Worship Without Works of Piety we are practical Atheists Psal. 36. 1. and Psal. 14. 1 2 4. God's People do certainly make Conscience of these The Internal Acts are the Life of their Souls the External are their Solace Strength and Support their Songs in the House of their Pilgrimage their refreshing by the way Cornelius Acts 10. 2. feared and prayed to God alway Daniel would not omit Prayer one Day though in danger of Death Dan. 6. 10 11. There is little Zeal in them that are not frequent with God but forget him days without number Ier. 2. 32. 2. Opera Vocationis Every Man must labour in the Work to which he is called God is pleased to appoint and accept the Duties of our Callings as a good Work Are they never so mean yet Servants may Honour God by diligence in their Duties Tit. 2. 9 10. Exhort Servants to be obedient to their Masters c. That they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things To be profitable to Humane Society in your place is good the new Nature helpeth us so to be Phil. 11. Onesimus in time past was to thee unprofitable but now profitable to thee and me All have their work from the Mediator to the poorest Creature in the World John 17. 4. I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do So Tit. 3. 14. Let ours also learn to maintain good Works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful When Iohn's Hearers came to know what they should do he referreth every one to their Callings Luke 3. 10 11 12. Walk conscionably therein glorify God Souldiers Publicans c. Without these good Works we are Drones in the common Hives yea Burdens upon the Earth 3. Opera Iustitiae Works of Righteousness and Justice to hurt none to give every one his Due to use Fidelity in our Relations Acts 24. 16. The Credit of Religion is much concerned in the just dealing of them that profess it God will have the World to know that Religion is a good Friend to Human Society Neh. 5. 9. Ought ye not to walk in the Fear of our God because of the Reproach of the Heathen our Enemies This was the Primitive Glory of Christianity Dent Exercitum talem tales Exactores fisci c. Some carry it so that they deal with God's Commandments as Hanun with David's Messengers as if they had cut off the whole second Table and so prove a Stain and Blot to Religion In short they that do not make Conscience of paying their
Now wilt thou wait diligently till it be accomplished The Physician cures the Disease but the Patient must take the appointed Medicine you must not expect he should cure it and thou feel it not as it were by Spells and Charms without thee without putting thee to the Trouble of Physick Take up a Resolution to look after the Cure of thy Soul and observe the whole Progress of the Work and what a Wound is given to Sin in every Ordinance what in the Word what in the Lord's Supper how thy Resolution is strengthened against it how the carnal Nature wears off every day the Work is not perfect in an instant but he is still turning therefore when thou beginnest to be dead to Sin die more Ye are dead therefore mortify Christ hath perfectly bought off all Sin in every kind and degree should not we strive to have all that he hath purchased At least do not strengthen thy Bonds the Sin thou canst not avoid hate it and keep up the lively resistance still hear diligently pray earnestly watch narrowly and keep thy self from thy Sin do not only pare the Nails of it but cut off thy very right Hand and mortify and subdue it yet more and more that Christ may have his Conquest in thy Soul SERMON IV. 2 PET. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. IN these Words the Apostle extolleth the Grace of God towards us in the Gospel In them take notice of First The Means 2dly The End and Use of them 3dly The Method and Order in which this Effect is wrought in us First The Means whereby God conveys his Grace to us viz. The Promises of the Gospel which are set forth 1. By their Excellency Exceeding great and precious Promises 2. Their Freeness Are given to us 1. Their Excellency is set forth by two Adjuncts They are exceeding great and precious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The one noteth their Intrinsick Worth and Value they are exceeding great The other our Esteem of them they deserve to be precious to us 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called from the Matter of them which are great and precious Gifts such as Pardon and Life begun in Sanctification and perfected in Glory 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precious deserving and challenging our Esteem being so suitable to our Necessities and Desires Our Necessity ariseth from the fears of Misery so justly deserved Our Desires are after a proper Happiness which is only offered to us in the Promises of God not only as probable but as certain to be ours if duly qualified Now these Promises being so great and precious should attract us to all Purity and Holiness for what is greater and deserveth to be more esteemed by us than Remission of Sins and an Inheritance among the Sanctified 2. Their Freeness given made freely made good freely 2dly The End and Use of them That by these ye might be Partakers of the Divine Nature By the Divine Nature is not meant here the Essence of God but his communicable Excellencies or such Divine Properties as can be imparted to the Creature and these not considered in their absolute Perfection but as as they are agreeable to our present State and Capacity These are sometimes called the Image of God Col. 3. 10. The new Man which is renewed in Holiness after the Image of him that created him because they imply a Likeness to him And sometimes the Life of God Eph. 4. 18. Being alienated from the Life of God because it is a vital Principle And here the Divine Nature and that for two Reasons 1. Because these are communicated to us by God they are created in us by his Divine Power and therefore the Word Created is so often used on this Occcasion Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature Creation is proper to God We have them by virtue of our Communion with him They flow from God as the Light doth from the Sun 2. Because by these Perfections we somewhat resemble God Therefore it is said 1 Pet. 2. 9. We shew forth his Praises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Vertues or Divine Attributes his Wisdom Goodness Bounty Holiness for in these we most resemble him If you take in his Power there is some resemblance of that too as to the moral Exercise in taming our own Flesh mastering our Inordinate Lusts and Passions and vanquishing all Temptations This is a Spiritual Power and so spoken of Prov. 16. 32. He that is slow to Anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4. 13. To live above the Hopes and Fears of the World is a great Ability and Power And vanquishing the World is made the Fruit of the new Birth 1 Ioh. 5. 4. That which is born of God overcometh the World And in that place where the Spirit of a Christian is described 't is said to be a Spirit 2 Tim. 1. 7. of Love Power and of a sound Mind We conceive God to be a Spiritual Being of infinite Wisdom Goodness and Power To his Wisdom answereth the Spirit of a sound Mind to his Goodness a Spirit of Love and what is the Original and Pattern of the Spirit of Power the very Name discovereth namely God's own Power So all his Attributes leave their Impress upon us 3dly The Way Method and Order how we receive this Benefit of the Divine Nature Having first escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. As we dye to Sin the Divine Nature increaseth in us There is a putting off before there can be a putting on Eph. 4. 22 23 24. We put off the old Man which is corrupt by its deceitful Lusts. We begin the Work of Sanctification with Mortification in the first place and then proceed to the positive Duties of a new Life for the Plants of Righteousness will not thrive in an impenitent and unmortified Heart As the Corruption of Sin is driven out and expelled so the Divine Nature succeedeth Intus existens prohibet alienum these things are not consistent cannot be joyned together The Corruption that is in the World and the Divine Nature can no more agree than Darkness and Light Rom. 13. 12. But let us see how this Mortification is expressed 1. What is to be avoided 2. The Manner of shunning it 1. What is to be avoided The Corruption that is in the World through Lust. Observe Sin is called Corruption as often in Scripture because it is a blasting of our primitive Excellency and Purity Gen. 6. 12. All Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth Psal. 14. 1. They are all corrupt and abominable that is degenerated
fallen from their pristine or former Purity Observe the Seat of this Corruption is said to be in the World where Lust and all Uncleanness reigneth therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pollutions of the World 2 Pet. 2. 20. The Generality of Men are defiled with corrupted in their Faith Worship and Manners therefore Conversion is called for under these Terms Acts 2. 40. Save your selves from this untoward Generation Conversion to God implies a renouncing or an escaping the evil Fashions and Corruptions of the World or having no fellowship with them with their Sins but reproving them rather So that the Question is whether we will conform our selves to God or the World whether we will have fellowship with the Corruptions of the World or be Partakers of the Divine Nature We must avoid the one to obtain the other Lastly observe that this Corruption is said to reign in the World through Lust. Besides the Bait there is the Appetite it is our naughty Affections that make our Abode in the World unsafe and dangerous If it were not for Lust neither the Baits nor the Examples of the World would pervert or hurt Mortify the Lust and you have pulled up the Temptations by the Roots 2. The Manner of shunning in the word escaping There is a flying away required and that quickly as in the Plague citò longè or from a Fire which hath almost burned us or a Flood that breaketh in upon us We cannot soon enough escape from Sin Mat. 3. 7. Who hath warned you to flee from the Wrath to come Heb. 6. 18. Who have fled for Refuge c. No Motion but Flight becomes us in this Case Doct. That the great End and Effect of the Promises of the Gospel is to make us Partakers of the Divine Nature 1. Let us consider the Effect or End 2. The Means appointed to attain it 3. The Influence of the one on the other 1. For the Effect or End There observe 1. That it is a natural not a transient Effect There may be such a Sence of the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God as may produce a sudden Passion as suppose of Fear or Love it may only affect us for the present but inferreth no Change of Heart and Life There is an Impression we cannot deny and an Impression suitable to those Apprehensions that we have of God but it is not a constant Principle of holy spiritual Operation But the Promises of the Gospel are to breed in us such a temper of Heart as may be a second Nature to us an Habit or Constitution of Soul that may incline us to live to God A Habit serveth for this use ut quis facilè jucundè constanter agat that a Man may act easily pleasantly and constantly 1. To act easily There is an Inclination and Propensity to Holiness God created all things with an Inclination to their proper Operations as Air to ascend and Water to descend So the new Creature hath a tendency to those Actions that are proper to it Their Hearts are bent to please God and serve him and do whatever they do with a kind of Naturalness because of this Bent and Inclination They act not only or barely as injoyn'd but as inclin'd The Law of God is in their Hearts Heb. 8. 10. So act not by Constraint but with a ready Mind 2. To act pleasantly They have not only a new Bent Biass and Tendency but it is a Delight to do what is holy Psal. 40. 8. as being in their Element when they are thus employed What is against Nature is ingrate and harsh but what is with Nature is sweet and pleasant It is hard a kind of Force to bring them to do the contrary 1 Ioh. 3. 9. There needeth some kind of Violence to bring a good Man to sin as also a naughty Man to do good 3. It is a constant Principle of holy Operations so that a Man doth not only obey God easily but evenly and without such frequent Interruptions of the holy Life Many do that which is good or forbear evil uneasily because of the Restraints of Providence or Dictates of Conscience and unevenly by Fits and Starts Psal. 106. 3. Blessed is he that keepeth Iudgment and doth Righteousness at all times They are continually exercising of all Duties of Godliness Righteousness and Mercy for the Operations of Nature are constant however impeded obstructed or diverted at certain times This we are to look after that the sanctifying Grace we have received become a new Nature that the Soul have a tendency and delight as to Spiritual Objects and be constantly and easily carried to them and this should be the whole Frame and Drift of our Lives 2. It is a Divine Nature that is not only such as floweth from God but may carry some Resemblance with him or to him It floweth from God for we are Partakers it is but a Ray from his Excellency and it carrieth a Likeness to him or cometh nearer to the Nature of God Himself than any thing that a Man is capable of Now this is said for two Reasons 1. To shew the Dignity of it Nothing known to Man is so like God as a sanctified Soul The Saints have their Maker's express Image therefore if God be excellent and holy they are so The Image and Picture of God and Christ is in them not made by a Painter or Carver but by the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 3. 18. This is not a forbidden Image which may pollute and stain our Minds or form in us ill Thoughts and Conceptions of God but raise our Hearts to him Natural Conscience doth Homage to the Image of God shining in the Saints Mark 6. 20. Herod feared Iohn knowing that he was a just Man and an holy So of Moses it is said Exod. 11. 3. Moses was a great Man in the Land of Egypt and in the sight of Pharaoh's Servants and in the sight of all People His Person and Presence was awful to them as having something rare in it There is a secret Sentiment of the Excellency of Holiness that draweth Eyes after it and maketh wicked and carnal Men wonder at it stand in awe of those in whom it is eminent and extorteth a Reverence from them But especially when they come to dye they have a sence of this Excellency all then approve a sober righteous and godly Life and disallow that which is dissolute and carnal Then all things appear in their own Colours and the Fumes of Lust being dissipated they begin more clearly to discern the Happiness of those who are made like God Then those that would live with the carnal would fain dye with the righteous Numb 23. 10. Let my last End be like his When entring on the Confines of Eternity they grow wiser 2. To shew the Quality and Condition of it You must have a new Nature and such a Nature as may be a Divine Nature If you have nothing above natural Men or corrupt Nature you