And I hope you will confess that you cannot be pardoned and saved without a Saviour and therefore that as you need a Saviour so you must have a special interest in him It is as certain that Christ saveth not at all as that he saveth any For thâ— same word assureth us of the one and 〈◊〉 the other Quest 2. But if you confess that once you were children of wrath my next Question is Whether you know how and wheâ— you were delivered from so sad a state or at least Whether it be done or not Perhapâ— you 'le say It was done in your Baptism which washeth away Original sin But granting you that all that have a Promise of pardon before have that promise sealed and that pardon delivered them by Baptism I ask you Quest 3. Do you think that Baptism by water only will save unless you be also baptized by the spirit Christ telleth you the contrary with a vehement asseveration John 3.5 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And Peter tels you that it is not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 2.21 If therefore you have not the spirit of Christ for all your Baptism you are none of his Rom. 8.9 For that which is born of the flesh is but flesh and you must be born of the spirit if you will be spiritual John 3.6 I shall further grant you that many receive the spirit of Christ even in their infancy and may be savingly as well as Sacramentally then Regenerate And if this be your case you have very great cause to be thankfull for it But I next enquire of you Quest 4. Have you not lived an unholy carnal life since you came to the use of reason Have you not since then delcared that you did not live the life of faith nor walk after the spirit but the flesh If so then it is certain that you have need of a Conversion from that ungodly state what ever Baptism did for you And therefore you are still to enquire whether you have been converred since you came to age And I must needs remember you that your Infant Covenant made in Baptism being upon your parents faith and consent and noâ— your own will serve your turn no longer then your Infancy unless when you come to the use of Reason you renew and own that Covenant your selves and have a personal faith and Repentance of your own And whatever you received in Baptism this must be our next enquiry Quest 5. Did you ever since you came to age upon sound Repentance and renunciation of the flesh the world and the devil give up your selves unfeignedly by faith to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and shew by the performance of this holy Coâ—venant that you were sincere in the making of it I confess it is a matter so hard to most to assign the time and manner of their Conversion that I think it no safe way of trial And therefore I will issue all in this one Question Quest 6. Have you the Necessary parts of the New Creature now though perhaps you know not just when or how it was formed in you The Question is Whether you are now in a state of sanctification and not Whether you can tell just when you did receive it He that would know Whether he be a Man must not do it by remembring when he was born or how he was formed but by discerning the Rational nature in himself at present And though Grace be more observable to us in its enterance then Nature as finding and entering into â— discerning subject which Nature doth not Yet it beginneth so early with some and so obscurely with others and in others the preparations are so long or notable that its hard to say when special grace came in But you may well discern Whether it be there or not and that is the Question that must be resolved if you would know your selves And though I have been long in these exhortations to incline your Wils I shall be short in giving you those Evidences of the Holy Life which must be before your eyes while you are upon the trial In summ If your very hearts do now unfeignedly consent to the Covenant which you made in Baptism and your Lives express it to be a true Consent I dare say you are regenerate though you know not just when you first consented Come on then and let us enquire what you say to the several parts of your Baptismal Covenant 1. If you are sincere in the Covenant you have made with Christ You do resolvedly Consent that God shall be your only God as reconciled to you by Jesus Christ Which is 1. That you will take him for your Owner or your Absolute Lord and give up your selves to him as his Own 2. That You will take him for your Supream Governour and Consent to be subject to his Government and Laws taking his Wisdom for your Guide and his Will for the Rule of your Wills and Lives 3. That you will take him for your chiefest Benefactor from whom you receive and expect all your Happiness and to whom you owe your selves and all by way of Thankfulness And that you take his Love and favour for your Happiness it self and prefer the Everlasting Enjoyment of his Glorious sight and Love in Heaven before all the sensual pleasures of the world I would prove the necessity of all these by Scripture as we go but that it is evident in it self these three Relations being Essential to God as our God in Covenant He is not our God if not our Owner Ruler and Benefactor You profess all this when you profess but to Love God or take him for your God 2. In the Covenant of Baptism you do profess to believe in Christ and take him for your only Saviour If you do this in sincerity 1. You do unfeignedly Beleive the doctrine of his Gospel and the Articles of the Christian faith concerning his Person his Offices and his suffering and works 2. You do take him unfeignedly for the only Redeemer and Saviour of mankind and Give up your selves to be saved by his Merits Righteousness Intercession c. as he hath promised in his word 3. You trust upon him and his promises for the attainment of your Reconciliation and Peace with God your Justification Adoption Sanctification and the Glory of the life to come 4. You take him for your Lord and King your Owner and Ruler by the right of Redemption and your grand Benefactor that hath obliged you to Love and Gratitude by saving you from the wrath to come and purchasing eternal Glory for you by his most wonderfull condescension life and sufferings 3. In the Baptismal Covenant you are engaged to the Holy Ghost If you are sincere in this branch of your Covenant 1. You discern your sins as
Hearken then whether â—e think that God or the world Heaven or â—arth Soul or body be more worthy of â—ans chiefest care and diligence and then â—udge whether such men did know themselves â—n their health and pride when all this talk would have been derided by them as too preâ—ise and such a life accounted over-strict and â—eedless as then they are approving and wishâ—ng they had lived When that Minister or â—riend should have once been taken for â—ensorious abusive self-conceited and unsufferable that would have talkt of them â—n that language as when Death approacheth they talk of themselves or would have spoke as plainly and hardly of them as they will then do of themselves Doth â—ot this mutability shew how few men now have a true knowledge of themselves What is the Repentance of the living and the Desperation of the damned but a declaration that the persons Repenting and Despairing were unacquainted with themselves before Indeed the erroneous Despair of men while Grace is offered them comes from Ignorance of the Mercy of God and willingness of Christ to receive all that arâ— willing to return But yet the sense of sin and misery that occasioneth this erroneous Despair doth shew that men were before erroneous in their presumption and self-esteem Saith Bernard in Cant. Vtraqâ—â— Cognitio Dei scilicet tui tibi necessariâ— est ad salutem quia sicut ex notitia tui venit in te timor Dei atque ex Dei notitia itidem amor sic è contra de ignorantia 〈◊〉 superbia ac de Dei ignorantia venit desperatio that is Both the knowledge of God and of thy self is necessary to salvation because as from the Knowledge of thy self the Fear of God cometh into thee and Love from the knowledge of God so on the contrary from the Ignorance of thy self cometh pride and from the Ignorance of God comes Desperation Quid est sapientia inquit Seneca Semper idem Velle idem Nolleâ—â— At non potest idem semper placere nisi rectum Wisdom appeareth in alwayes Willing and alwayes Nilling the same thing but its only Right and Good that can alwayes please Poor men that must confess their sin and misery at last would shew a more seasonable acquaintance with themselves if they would do it now and say with the Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son In time this Knowledge confession may be saving Even a Seneca could say without the Scripture Initium est salutis notitia peccati Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Ideo quantum potes teipsum argue Inquire in te accusatoris primuÌ„ partibus fungere deinde judicis novissime deprecatoris i. e. The knowledge of sin is the beginning of recovery or health For he that knows not that he sinneth will not be corrected Reprehend thy self therefore as much as thou canst Inquire into thy self First play the part of an Accuser then of a Judge and lastly of one that asketh pardon It is not because men are Innocent or Safe that we now hear so little confession or complaint but because they are sinfull and miserable in so great a measure as not to Know or Feel it Quare vitia â—ua nemo confitetur inquit Seneca Quia â—tiam nunc in illis est Somnium narraâ—e vigilantis est vitia sua confiteri â—anitatis judicium est i. e. Why doth no â—an confess his vices Because he is yet in â—hem To tell his dreams is the part of a â—an that is awake and to confess his faults is a sign of health If you call a Poor man Rich or a deformed person beautifull or a vile ungodly person vertuous or an ignorant Barbarian learned will not the hearers think you do not know them And how should they think better of your knowledge of your selves if any of you that are yet in the flesh will say you are spiritual and those that hate the Holiness and Justice and Government of God will say they love him or those that are in a state of Enmity to God and are as near to Hell as the Execution is to the Sentence of the Law will perswade themselves and others that they are the Members of Christ the children of God and the heirs of Heaven and take it ill of any that would question it though only to perswade them to make it sure and to take heed what they trust to when endless Joy or Misery must be the issue 7. Doth it not manifest how little men know themselves when in every suffering that befals them they overlook the Cause of all within them and fall upon others or quarrel with every thing that standeth in their way Their contempt of God doth cast them into some affliction and they quarrel with the Instruments and medle not with the mortall cause at home Their sin finds them out and testifieth against them and they are angry with the â—od and repine at Providence as if God himself were more to be suspected of the Cause then they Yea it is become with many a serious doubt Whether God doth not Necessitate them to sin and Whether they omit not duty meerly because he will not give them power to perform it and Whether their sin be any other then a Relation unavoidably resulting from a Foundation laid by the hand of God himself Do men know themselves that will sooner suspect and blame the most Righteous Holy God then their own unrighteous carnal hearts Man drinketh up iniquity like water but there is no unrighteousnes with God Saith Innocent Conceptus est homo in foetore luxuria quódque deterius est in labe peccati natus ad laborem timorem dolorem c. Agit prava quibus offendit Deum offendit proximum offendit seipsum agit turpia quibus polluit famam polluit personam polluit conscientiam Agit vana quibus negligit sana negligit utilia negligit necessaria Man is conceived in the filth or stink of luxury or lust and which is worse in the stain of sin born to labour fear and pain c. He doth that which is evil to the offence of God his neighbour and himself He doth that which is filthy to the polluting of his fame his person and his Conscience He doth that which is vain neglecting what is sound and profitable and necessary And is not such a frail and sinfull wight more likely to be the cause of sin then God and to be culpable in all the ill that doth befall us And it shews that men little know themselves when all their complaints are poured out more fluently on others then themselves Like sick stomacks that find fault with every dish when the fault is within them Or like pained weak or froward children that quarrel with every thing that toucheth them when the cause is in themselves If they want
amplexandum totum corâ—â—â— expositum ad redimendum saith Augustiâ—â— Behold the wounds of Christ as he is hangâ—â—g the blood of him dying the price of him â—â—deeming the scars of him rising His Head 〈◊〉 bowed to Kiss thee his heart open to love â—â—ee his arms open to embrace thee â—is whole body exposed to redeem thee Homo factus est hominis Factor ut sugeret â—â—bera regens sydera ut esuriret Panis ut â—â—â—eret Fons dormiret Lux ab itinere via â—â—tigaretur falsis testibus Veritas occulâ—retur Index vivâ—rum mortuâ—rum à juâ—â—â—ce mortali judicaretur ab injustis justiâ—â—a damnaretur flagellis disciplina caedoreâ—â—ur spinis botrâ—s coronaretur in ligno â—undamentum suspenderetur virtus infirâ—aretur salus vulneraretur vita â—oreretur saith Aug. that is The Maker â—f man was made man that he might suck â—â—e breasts that rules the starrs that Bread â—ight hunger the Spring or fountain might â—hirst the Light might steep the Way â—ight be weary in his journey that the Truth might be hidden by false witnesses That the Judge of quick and dead might be â—udged by amortal judge Iustice might be condemned by the unjust Discipline might 〈◊〉 scourged the Cluster of grapes might be â—rowned with thorns the Foundation might be hanged on a tree that Strength â—ight be weakned that Health might be wounded and that Life it self might dyâ— This is the wonderfull mystery of Love which will entertain the soul that come to Christ and which thou must study 〈◊〉 know when thou knowest thy self But 〈◊〉 then all these will be riddles to thee oâ— little relished and Christ will seem to thy neglecting heart to have dyed and done 〈◊〉 this in vain And hence it is that as proud ungodly sensuall men were never sound Believers so they oft-times fall from that opinionative common faith which they had and of all meâ— do most easily turn Apostates It being just with God that they should be so far forsaken as to vilifye the remedie that would not know their sin misery but love it and pertinaciously hold it as their felicity 4. If you Know not your selves you will not know what to do with your selves nor to what end and for what work you are to live This makes the Holy work neglected and most men live to little purpose wasting their daies in matters that them selves will call impertinent when they come to die as if they were good for nothing else Whereas if they knew them selves they would know that they are made and fitted for more noble workes O man if thou â—ere acquainted well with thy faculties â—â—d frame thou wouldest perceive the â—ame of God thy Maker to be so deeply â—â—graven in thy nature even in all thy parts â—nd powers as should Convince thee that â—â—ou wast made for him that all thou art and 〈◊〉 thou hast is nothing worth but for his â—â—rvice As all the parts and motions of 〈◊〉 clock or watch are but to tell the hour 〈◊〉 the day Thou wouldst know then the â—eaning of Sanctification and Holiness â—hat it signifyeth but the Giving God his â—wn and is the first part of Justice withâ—ut which no rendering men their due can â—â—ove thee Just Thou wouldst then know â—â—e unreasonableness and injustice of ungodâ—â—ness and all sin And that to serve thy â—â—eshly lusts and pleasures with those noble â—â—culties that were purposely formed to â—ove and serve the Eternall God is more â—â—bsurd and villainous then to employ the â—ighest officers of the King in the sweepâ—ng of your chimneyes or the serving of â—our swine Remember it unreasonable â—cutish man the next time thou art going to thy lusts and sensuall deâ—â—ghts It is no wiser a course thou â—akest It is no more honorable or â—ust but as much worse as God is to be preferred to a King and as thy 〈◊〉 is worse then the serving of thy swiâ—e O man didst thou but know thy self and see what employment thy facultyes are made thou wouldst lift up thy head and seriously think who holds the reins who keepeâ— thy breath yet in thy nostrills and continueth thee in life And where it is that thou must shortly fix thy unchangeable abode And what is now to be done in preparation for such a day Os homini sublime dedit c. Thou wouldst know that thou hadst not that Reason and that will and executive power to rowl in the earth and be but a cunning kind of beast that hath wit to play the fool and can ingeniously live below understanding and do that with argument which other bruits can do without it Thou wouldst know that thy higher faculties were not made to serve the lower 〈◊〉 thy Reason to serve thy sensuall delight the horse was not made to ride the man nor the master to follow and attend the dâ—g O man hadst thou not lost the Knowledge of thy self thou wouldst be so far from wondering at a Holy life that thou wouldst look upon an unholy person as a monster and wouldst hear the deriderâ— and opposers of a holy life as thou wouldst hear him that were deriding a man because he is not a swine or were reproaching men of honor and learning because they live not as an Ass I confess my soul is too apt to lose its lively sense of all these things But when ever it is awake I am forc't to say in these kind of meditations If I had not a God to know and think on to Love and honor to seek and serve what had I to do with my understanding will and all my powers What should I do with life and time What use should I make of Gods provisions What could I find to do in the world that is worthy of a man Were it not as good lie still and sleep out my daies and professedly do nothing as to go dreaming with a seeming seriousness and wander about the world as in my sleep and do nothing with such a troublesome stir as sensuall worldly persons do Could not I heave plaid the beast without a Reasonable free-working soul Let them turn from God and neglect the conduct of the Redeemer and disregard the holy approaches and breathings and workings of the soul towards its beloved Center and felicity that know not what an immortal soul is or know how els to imploy their facultyes with satisfaction or conttent unto themselves I profess here 〈◊〉 in his presence that is the Father of spirits and before Angels and men I do not 〈◊〉 know not what els to do with my soul that 's worth the doing but what is subservient to its proper object its end and everlasting Rest If the Holy service of God and the preparation for Heaven and making after Christ and happiness be forbidden me I have no more to do in the world that will satisfie my Reason or satisfie my affections or that as a man or a Christian I can own And it s as good not live as to be deprived
take ye thought for rayment If God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith So in Mat. 16.7 8. The seed that Christ likeneth his kingdom to Mat. 13.31 hath life while it is buried in the earth and is visible while a little seed but is not so observed as when it cometh to be as a tree Though God despise not the day of little things Zech. 4.10 and though he will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoaking flax Isa 42.3 yet our selves or others cannot discern and value these obscure beginnings as God doth But because we cannot easily find a little faith and a little Love when we are looking for it we take the non-appearance for a non-existence and call it none 3. Sanctification is oft unknown to those that have it because they do not try and judge themselves by sure infallible Marks the Essentials of the new man but by uncertain qualifications that are mutable and belong but to the beauty and activity of the soul The Essence of Holiness as denominated from the object is the Consent to the three Articles of the Covenant of Grace 1. That we give up our selves to God as our God and Reconciled Father in Jesus Christ 2. That we give up our selves to Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour to recover us reconcile us and bring us unto God 3. That we give up our selves to the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier to guide and illuminate us and perfect the Image of God upon us and prepare us for Glory The Essence of Sanctification as denominated from its opposite objects is nothing but our Renunciation and Rejection of the flesh the World and the Devil of Pleasures Profits and Honours as they would be preferred before God and draw us to forsake him The Essence of Sanctification as denominated from our Faculties which are the subject of it is nothing but this preferring of God and Grace and Glory above the said Pleasures Profits and Honours 1. By the Estimation of our Vnderstandings 2. By the Resolved habituate Choice of our Wills 3. And in the bent and drift of our Endeavours in our Conversations In these three Acts as upon the first three objects and against the other three objects lyeth all that is Essential to Sanctification and that we should judge of our sincerity and title to salvation by as I before shewed But besides these there are many desireable qualities and gifts which we may seek for and be thankfull for but are not Essential to our Sanctification Such are 1. The knowledge of other Truths besides the Essentials of Faith and duty and the soundness of judgement and freedom from error in these lesser points 2. A strong memory to carry away the things that we read and hear 3. A right order of our Thoughts when we can keep them from Confusion roving and distraction 4. Freedom from too strong affections about the creatures and from disturbing passions 5. Lively Affections and feeling operations of the soul towards God in holy duty and tender meltingt of the heart for sin which are very desireable but depend so much on the temperature of the body and outward accidents and are but the vigor and â—ot the Life and being of the new creature that we must not judge of our sincerity by them Some Christians scarce know what any such lively feelings are and some have them very seldom and I think no one constantly and therefore if our Peace or Judgement of our selves be laid on these we shall be still wavering and unsetled and tost up and down as the waves of the sea Sometimes seeming to be almost in Heaven and presently near the gates of Hell When our state doth not change at all as these feelings and Affectionate motions of the soul do but we are still in our safe Relation to God while our first Essential graces do continue though our failings dulness weaknesses and wants must be matter of moderate filial humiliation to us 6. The same must be said of all common Gifts of utterance in conference or prayer and of quickness of understanding and such like 7. Lastly the same must be said also of all that rectitude of life and those degrees of obedience that are above meer sincerity in which one true Christian doth exceed another and in which we should all desire to abound but must not judge our selves to be unsanctified meerly because we are imperfect or to be unjustified sinners meerly because we are sinners In our judging of our selves by our Lives and Practices two extreams must be carefully avoided On the left hand that of the Prophane and of the Antinomians The former cannot distinguish between sinners and sinners sanctified and unsanctified Justified and unjustified sinners and when they have once conceited that they are in the favour of God whatever they do they say we are but sinners and so are the best The latter teach men that when once they are justified they are not for any sins to doubt again of their Justified state lest they should seem to make God changeable On the other hand must be avoided this extream of perplexed doubting Christians that make all their sins or too many of them to be matter of doubting which should be but matter of humiliation I know it is a very great difficulty that hath long perplexed the Doctors of the Church to define what sins are consistent and what inconsistent with a state of Holiness and Salvation which if any distinguish by the names of Mortal and Venial taking the words in no other sense I shall not quarrell with them At the present I shall say but this for the resolving of this great and weighty question 1. It is not the bare Act of sin in it self considered that must determine the case but the Act compared with the Life of Grace and with true Repentance Whoever hath the Love of God and Life of Grace is in a state of Salvation And therefore whatever sin consisteth with the fore-described Essentials of Sanctification viz. The Habituall devotion of the soul to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and the Habitual renunciation of the Flesh ehe World and Devil consisteth with a state of life And true Repentance proveth the pardon of all sin And therefore whatever sin consisteth with Habitual Repentance which is the Hatred of sin as sin and hath Actual Repentance when it is observed and there is time of deliberation consisteth with a state of Grace Now in Habitual Conversion or Repentance the Habitual Willingness to leave our sins must be more then our sinfull Habitual Willingness to keep it Now you may by this much discern as to particular acts whether they are consistent with Habitual hatred of sin For some sins are so much in the power of the will that he that hath an Habitual hatred of them cannot frequently commit them
should move you to seek to be acquainteâ— with it where it is 1. The knowledge of God is the most exceâ—â—lent knowledge and therefore the best sorâ— of creature knowledge is that which hath the most of God in it And undoubtedly theâ—â— is more of God in Holiness which is his Image then in common things Sins and 〈◊〉 have nothing of God in them They must be fathered on the Devil and your selves Anâ— therefore the knowledge of them is gooâ— but by Accident because the knowledgâ— even of evil hath a tendency to good Anâ— therefore it is commanded and made ouâ— duty for the good which it tendeth to It is the Divine nature and Image within you which hath the most of God and therefore â—o know this is the high and noble knowâ—edge To know Christ within us is our â—appiness on earth in order to the knowâ—edge of him in Glory face to face which is â—he happiness of heaven To know God â—hough darkly through a glass and but in â—art 1 Cor. 13.12 is far above all creaâ—ure knowledge The knowledge of him â—aiseth quickneth sanctifieth enlargeth â—nd advanceth all our faculties It is life â—ternal to know God in Christ John 17.3 Therefore where God appeareth most there â—hould our understandings be most diâ—igently exercised in study and observaâ—ion 2. It is a most delightfull felicitating knowledge to know that Christ is in you â—f it be delightfull to the Rich to see their wealth their houses and lands and goods â—nd money and if it be delightfull to the Honourable to see their attendance and hear their own commendations and applause how delightfull must it be to a true Believer to find Christ within him and to know his title to eternal life If the knowledge of full barns and much goods laid up for many years can make a sensual worlding say Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry Luke 12.19 20. Me thinkâ— the knowledge of our interest in Christ anâ— heaven should make us say Thou hast 〈◊〉 gladness in my heart more then in the tiâ—â— that their corn and wine increased that 〈◊〉 more then corn and wine could put inâ—â— theirs Psal 4.7 Return unto thy Rest 〈◊〉 soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully wiâ—â— thee Psal 116.7 If we say with Daviâ— Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praysing thee Psal 84 â— much more may we say Blessed anâ— they in whom Christ dwelleth and the Holâ— Ghost hath made his Temple they should 〈◊〉 still praising thee Blessed is the 〈◊〉 whom thou choosest and causest to approâ—â—â— unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts 〈◊〉 shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple Psal 65.4 But this 〈◊〉 upon supposition that he be first Blessed by Christs approach to him and dwelling in hiâ— If you ask How it is that Christ dwelleâ—â— in us I answer 1. Objectively as he is apâ—prehended by our Faith and Love As thâ— things or persons that we think of and Lovâ— and delight in are said to dwell in our 〈◊〉 or hearts 2. By the Holy Ghost who 〈◊〉 a principle of new and heavenly Life 〈◊〉 given by Christ the Head unto his members and as the Agent of Christ doth illuminate sanctifie and guide the soul He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 That of Eph. 3.17 may be taken in either or both senses comprehensively That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith 3. Did you know that Christ is in you by his spirit it might make every place and condition comfortable to you If you are alone it may rejoyce you to think what company dwelleth continually with you in your hearts If you are wearied with evil company without it may comfort you to think that you have better within when your have communion with the Saints it is your joy to think that you have nearer communion with the Lords of Saints You may well say with David Psal 139.18 when I awake I am still with thee Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at may right hand I shall not be moved 4. Did you know Christ within you it would much help you in believing what is written of him in the Gospel Though to the ungodly the mysteries of the Kingdom of God do seem incredible yet when you have experience of the power of it on your souls and find the Image of it on your hearts and the same Christ within you conforming you to what he commandeth in his word this will work such a sutableness to the Gospel in your hearts as will make the work of faith more easie Saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 4.14 16. We have seen do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world there 's their outward experience And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him There is their Faith confirmed by their inward evidence Nâ— wonder if they that have God dwelling 〈◊〉 them by holy love do believe the love 〈◊〉 God hath to them This is the great advantage that the sanctified have in the work 〈◊〉 faith above those that much excell them 〈◊〉 disputing and are furnished with more Arguments for the Christian verity Christ hath his witness abiding in them The fruits of the spirit bear witness to the incorruptible 〈◊〉 the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 The impress on the 〈◊〉 heard witness to the seal that caused i◠〈◊〉 it is not a weak uneffectual Argument for the Truth of the Gospel that Believer 〈◊〉 to fetch from within when they plead the effects of it on their souls Labour to know the Truth of your sanctification that you may be confirmed by it in the Truth of the word that sanctifieth you Joh. 17.17 and may rejoice in him that hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thes 2.13 5. If you can come to the knowledge of Christ within you it will be much the easier to you to trust upon him and fly to him in all your particular necessities and to make use of his Mediatorship with holy confidence When others flie from Christ with trembling and know not whether he will speak for them or help them or have any regard to them but look at him with strange and doubtful thoughts it will be otherwise with you that have assurance of his continual Love and presence Nearness breedeth familiarity and overcometh strangness Familiarity breedeth confidence and boldness when you find Christ so â—â—er you as to dwell within you and so particular and abundant in his Love to you as to have given you his spirit and all his Graces iâ— will breed
but still have the comforts of the presence of my Lord how â—ittle shall I miss them how easily can I â—pare them Silver will be cast by if it â—e set in competition with Gold The company of common acquaintance may be acceptable till better and greater come and then they must give place Men that are taken up with the pleasing entertainment of Christ within them can scarce afford any more then a transient salutation or observance to those earthly things that are the felicity of the carnal mind and take up its desires endeavours and delight when the soul is tempted to turn from Christ to those deceiving vanities that promise him more content and pleasure the comfortable thoughts of the love of 〈◊〉 and his abode within us and our 〈◊〉 with him do sensibly scatter and 〈◊〉 such temptations The presence of 〈◊〉 the great Reconciler doth reconcile 〈◊〉 our selves and make us willing to be 〈◊〉 at home He that is out of love with 〈◊〉 company that he hath at home is 〈◊〉 drawn to go abroad But who can 〈◊〉 to be much abroad that knoweth of 〈◊〉 guest as Christ at home We shall say Peter Joh. 6.68 69. Lord to whom 〈◊〉 we goe thou hast the words of eternal 〈◊〉 and we believe and are sure thou ar◠〈◊〉 Christ the son of the living God Anâ— Matth. 7.4 when he saw him in a 〈◊〉 his Glory Master it is good for us to 〈◊〉 here And if the riches of the world 〈◊〉 offered to draw a soul from Christ that 〈◊〉 the knowledge of his special love and 〈◊〉 sence the tempter would have no 〈◊〉 entertainment then Simon Magus had 〈◊〉 Peter Act. 8.20 Their money perish 〈◊〉 them that think Christ and his graces 〈◊〉 no better then money 10. How easie and sweet would all 〈◊〉 service be to you if you were assured 〈◊〉 Christ abideth in you What delightful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might you have in prayer when you â—now that Christ himself speaks for you not 〈◊〉 if the Father himself were unwilling to â—o us good but that he will do it in the 〈◊〉 and for the sake and merits of his son â—hich is the meaning of Christ in those â—ords which seem to deny his intercession â—oh 16.26 At that day ye shall ask in â—â—y name and I say not unto you that I will â—ay the Father for you for the Father â—imself loveth you because ye have loved 〈◊〉 c. I appeal to your own hearts Christians whether you would not be much â—ore willing and ready to pray and wheâ—her prayer would not be a sweâ—ter employment to you if you were sure of Christs â—bode within you and intercession for you â—nd consequently that all your prayers are graciously accepted of the Lord you â—ould not then desire the vain society of â—mpty persons nor seek for recreation in â—heir insipid frothy insignificant discourse The opening of your heart to your heaâ—enly Father and pleading the merits of â—â—rson in your believing petitions for his â—aving benefits would be a more contenting â—ind of pleasure to you Now sweet would meditation be to you â—f you could still think on Christ and all the riches of his kingdom as your own coulâ— you look up to Heaven and say witâ— grounded confidence It is mine and thâ—â— I must abide and reign for ever could yoâ— think of the heavenly host as those that 〈◊〉 be your own companions and of their 〈◊〉 employment as that which must be your 〈◊〉 for ever it would make the ascent of yoâ—â— minds to be more frequent and meditatiâ—â— to be a more pleasant work were you 〈◊〉 assured of your special interest in God 〈◊〉 that all his attributes are by his Love anâ— Covenant engaged for your happiness expeâ—rience would make you say In the mulâ—â—â—tude of my thoughts within me thy comfoâ—â— do delight my soul Psal 44.19 I 〈◊〉 sing unto the Lord as long as I live I 〈◊〉 sing praise to my God while I have my being My Meditation of him shall be sweet 〈◊〉 will be glad in the Lord Psal 104.33 3â— Could you say with full assurance that 〈◊〉 are the children of the Promises and 〈◊〉 they are all your own how sweet would 〈◊〉 reading and meditation on the holy scriptâ—â—â— be to you How dearly would you 〈◊〉 the word What a treasure would yâ—â— judge it your delight would be then in 〈◊〉 Law of the Lord and you would meditaâ—â—â—â— in it day and night Psal 1.2 To find 〈◊〉 grounds of faith and hope and riches of consolation in every page and assuredly to say All this is mine would make you betâ—er understand why David did indite all the 119. Psalm in high commendations of the word of God and would make you join in his affectionate expressions Psal 119.97 98 99. O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser then mine enemies for it is ever with me Sermons also would be much sweeter to â—ou when you could confidently take â—ome the consolatory part and use our ministry as a help to your faith and hope and â—oy whereas your doubts and fears lest you are still unregenerate will turn all that you â—ear or read or meditate on into food and fuel for themselves to work upon and you will gather up all that tends to your disquietment and say It is your part and cast away all that rendeth to your consolation and say it belongeth not to you and the most comforting passages of the word will be turned into your discomfort and the promises will seem to you as none while you imagine that they are none of yours And the loss of your peace and comfort will not be the worst But this will increase your backwardness to duty 〈◊〉 when your delight in the worship of God 〈◊〉 gone your inclination to it will abate anâ— it will seem a burden to you and be as 〈◊〉 to the stomacks of the sick that with thâ— carefullest preparation and much 〈◊〉 can hardly be brought to get it down 〈◊〉 can bear but little and that which is suited 〈◊〉 their diseased appetites The same I may say of the Sacrament◠〈◊〉 the Lords supper How sweet will i◠〈◊〉 to you if you are assured that the 〈◊〉 Christ that is there represented as broâ—â—â— and bleeding for your sins doth dwell 〈◊〉 in you by his spirit What wellcome enâ—â—â—â—tainment would you expect and find if yâ—â— knew that you brought the feast and 〈◊〉 Master of the feast with you in your 〈◊〉 and had there entirely entertained 〈◊〉 with whom you expect communion in 〈◊〉 sacrament How boldly and comfortâ—â—â— would your hungry souls then feed 〈◊〉 him with what refreshing acts of 〈◊〉 would you there take the sealed 〈◊〉 and pardon of your sins whereas 〈◊〉 you come in fearâ— and doubting and 〈◊〉 take the body and blood of Christ in 〈◊〉 Representations with yoâ—â— hand and moâ—â—â— while you know not whether you 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 with the heart and whether you have â—â—y special interest in him O what a damp 〈◊〉 casteth on the soul how it stifleth its â—â—pes and joys and turneth the Sacrament â—hich is appointed for their comfort into â—â—eir greater trouble It hath many a time â—â—ieved me to observe that no ordinance â—â—th cast many upright souls into greater â—erplexities and discouragements and â—â—stresses then the Lords Supper because â—â—ey come to it with double reverence and 〈◊〉 the doubtings of their title and questiâ—ning their preparedness and by their fears of eating and drinking unworthily their â—â—uls are utterly discomposed with perplexâ—â—g passions and turned from the pleasant â—â—â—rcise of faith and the delighful enterâ—ourse that they should have with God and â—â—ey are distempered and put out of relish 〈◊〉 all the sweetness of the Gospel And 〈◊〉 they are frightened from the Sacrament by such sad experiences and dare 〈◊〉 thither no more for fear of eating â—udgement to themselves And should â—oâ— Christians labour to remove the cause of such miserable distracting fears that so much wrong both Christ and them and 〈◊〉 recover their well-grounded peace and comfort 11. Your Love to God which is 〈◊〉 Heart and Life of the new creature 〈◊〉 so much depend upon your knowledge of 〈◊〉 love to you as should make you much 〈◊〉 desirous of such a knowledge Love is 〈◊〉 end of faith and faith the way to 〈◊〉 So much of Love as is in every duty 〈◊〉 much holiness is in it and no more Iâ— is the sum of the commandments 〈◊〉 the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13 â— Mat. 22.37 Mark 12.33 Though God 〈◊〉 us first as purposing our good 〈◊〉 we loved him 1 Joh. 4.9.10 And 〈◊〉 therefore Love him because he first 〈◊〉 us v. 19. Yet doth he Love us by compâ—â—â—cency and acceptance because we love 〈◊〉 Father and the son Joh. 16.27 〈◊〉 the Father himself loveth you because 〈…〉 loved me and have believed that I came 〈◊〉 from God And what will more effectâ—â—â— kindle in you the fervent Love of Chrâ—â—â— then to know that he loveth you and 〈◊〉 in you All this is exprest by 〈◊〉 himself in Joh 14.20.21 22 23. At 〈◊〉 day ye shall know that I am in my Faith and you in me and I in you He that 〈◊〉 my commandments and keepeth them he 〈◊〉 that loveth me and he that loveth me 〈◊〉 be loved of my Father and I will love 〈◊〉 and will manifest my self unto him If a man love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him 1 Cor. 8.3 If any man love God the same is known of him with a knowledge of special Love and approbation This is no disparagement to faith whose nature and use is to work by Love Gal. 5.6 What a man Loveth such he is The Love is the man Our Love is judged by our Life as the cause by the effect but the Life is judged by the Love as the fruits by the tree the effects by the cause Mores auâ—em nostri non ex eo quod quisque novit sed ex eo quod diligit dijudicari solentinâ—â— faciâ—â—t bonos vel malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores saith Augustine that is Our manners are not used to be judged of according to that which every man knoweth but according to that which he loveth It is only good or evil love that maketh good or evil manners If Plato could say as Augustine citeth him lib. 8. de Civit. Dei Hoc est Philosophari scilicet Deum amare To be a Philosopher is to Love God Much more should we say Hoc est Christianum agere this is the doctrine and the work of a Christian even the Love of God Indeed it is the work of the Redeemer to recover the heart of man to God and to bring us to Love him by representing him to us as the most amiable suitable object of our Love And the perfection of Love is Heaven it self O jugum sancti amoris inq Bernard quam dulciter capis gloriose laqueas suaviter premis delectanter oneras fortiter stringis prudenter erudis that is The yoak of holy Love O how sweetly dost thou surprize how gloriously dost thou inthrall how plesantly dost thou press how delightfully dost thou load how strongly dost thou bind how prudently dost thou instruct O faelix amor ex quo oritur strenuitas morum puritas affectionum subtilitas intellectuum desideriorum sanctitas operum claritas virtutum faecunditas meritorum dignitas praemiorum sublimitas O happy Love from which ariseth the strength of manners the purity of affections the subtilty of intellects the sanctity of desires the excellency of works the fruitfulness of vertues the dignity of deserts the sublimity of the reward I appeal to your own consciences Christians would you not think it a foretaste of Heaven upon earth if you could but Love God as much as you desire would any kind of life that you can imagine be so desirable and delightful to you Would any thing be more acceptable unto God! And on the contrary a soul without the Love of God is worse then a Corpse without a soul If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathama maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 And do I need to tell you what a powerful incentive it is to Love to know that you are beloved It will make Christ much more dear to you to know how dear you are to him What is said of affective Love in us may partly be said of attractive Love in Christ Eccles 8.7 Many waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it no riches can purchase what it can attract when you find that he hath you as a seal upon his arm and heart v. 6. and that you are dear to him as the apple of his eye what holy flames will this kindle in your breast If it be almost impossible with your equals upon earth not to Love them that Love you which Christ telleth you that even Publicans will do Matth. 5.46 how much more should the Love of Christ constrain us abundantly to Love him when being infinitely above us his Love descendeth that ours may ascend His Love puts forth the hand from heaven to fetch us up O Christians you little know how Satan wrongeth you by drawing you to deny or doubt of the special Love of God How can you Love him that you apprehend to be your enemie and to intend your ruine Doubtless not so easily as if you know him to be your friend In reason is there any likelier way to draw you to hate God then to draw you to believe that he hateth you Can your thoughts be pleasant of him or your speeches of him sweet or can you attend him or draw near him with delight while you think he hateth you and hath decreed your damnation you may fear him as he is a
doth shake so moveable and weak a thing and muddy and trouble a mind so easily disturbed and how hard it is again to quiet and compose a mind so troubled and bring a grieved soul to reason and make passion understand the truth and to cause a weake afflicted soul to judge clean contrary to what they feel all this considered no wonder if the peace and comfort of many Christians be yet but little and interrupted and uneven and if there be much crying in a family that hath so many little ones and much complaining where there are so many weak and poor and many a groane where there is so much pain To shew us the Sun at midnight and convince us of Love while we feel the rod and to give us the comfortable sense of grace while we have the uncomfortable sense of the greatness of our sin to give us the joyful hopes of glory in a troubled melancholy dejected State all this is a work that requireth the special helpe of the Almighty and exceeds the strength of feeble worms Let God give us never so full discoveries of his tenderest Love and our own sincerity as if a voice from Heaven had witnessed it unto us we are questioning all if once we seem to feel the contrary and are perplexed in the tumult of our thougths and passions and bewildred and lost in the errors of our own disturbed minds Though we have walkt with God we are questioning whether indeed we ever knew him as soon as he seemeth to hide his face Though we have felt another life and spirit possess and actuate us than heretofore and found that we love the things and persons which once we loved not and that we were quite falln out with that which was our former pleasure and that our souls broke off from their old delights and hopes and ways and resolvedly did engage themselves to God and unfeignedly delivered up themselves unto him yet all is forgotten or the convincing evidence of all forgotten if the lively influences of heaven be but once so far withdrawn as that our present state is clouded and afflicted and our former vigour and assurance is abated And thus unthankfully we deny God the praise and acknowledgement of his mercies longer than we are tasting them or they are still before us All that he hath done for us is as nothing and all the Love which he hath manifested to us is called hatred and all the witnesses that have put their hands to his Acts of Grace are questioned and his very seals denyed and his earnest misinterpreted as long as our darkened distempered souls are in a condition unfit for the apprehension of Mercy and usually when a diseased or afflicted body doth draw the mind into too great a participation of the affliction And thus as we are disposed our selves so we judge of our selves and of all our receivings and al Gods dealings with us A soul in a cheerful lively frame thinks well of all that God doth to him and hath thoughts of Hope and Peace and Joy as Health disposeth the body to alacrity and can make a man merry that hath little else Whereas a soul overwhelmed with cares and fears and griefs and muddyed with sinfull excessive thoughtfulness and habituated in a diseased sickly frame is afraid of every thing and turneth matter of comfort into sorrow and is in daily pain by its own imaginations like a man that hath a sore and is hurt with the thought that some body toucht it When we feel our selves well all goes well with us and we put a good interpretation upon all things And when we are out of order we complain of every thing and take pleasure in nothing and no one can content us and all is taken in the worser part As the Poet said Laeta fere laetus cecini cano tristia tristis You shall have a merry song from a merry heart and a sad ditty from a troubled grieved mind And thus while the discoveries both of sin and grace are at present overlookt or afterwards forgotten and almost all men judge of themselves by present feeling no wonder if few are well acquainted with themselves But as the Word and the works of God must be taken together if they be understood and not a sentence part or parcel taken separated from the rest which must make up the sense so also the workings of God upon your souls must be taken altogether and you must read them over from the first till now and set all together and not forget the letters the part that went before or else you will make no sense of that which followeth And I beseech all weak and troubled Christians to remember also that they are but children and Schollars in the school of Christ and therefore when they cannot set the several parts together let them not overvalue their unexperienced understandings but by the help of their skilful faithful Teachers do that which of themselves they cannot do Enquire what your former mercies signifie Open them to your guides and tell them how God hath dealt with you from the beginning and tell them how it is with you now and desire them to help you to perceive how one conduceth to the right understanding of the other And be not of froward but of tractable submissive minds and thus your self-acquaintance may be maintained at least to safety and to some degree of peace if not to the Joys which you desire which God reserveth for their proper season I Should have added more on this necessary subject but that I have said so much of it in other writings especially in the Saints Rest Part. 3. chap. 7. and in my Treatise of Self-denial and in the Right Method for Peace of Conscience I must confess I have written on thiâ— subject as I did of Self-denyal viz with expectation that all men shoulâ— confess the truth of what I say and yet so few be cured by it of theiâ— Self-ignorance as that still we must stand by and see the world distracted by it the Church divided the Love of Breâ—thren interrupted and the work of Saâ—tan carryed on by error violence and pride and the hearts of men so strangely stupified as to go on incorâ—rigibly in all this mischief while thâ— cause and cure are opened before them and all in vain while they confess the truth so that they wilâ— leave us nothing to do but exercise our compassion by lamenting the deliration of phrenetick men while we are unable to save the Church their brethren or their own souls from the dilaceratious and calamitous effects of their furious self-ignorance But Christ that hath sent us with the light which may be resisted and abused and in part blown out will speedily come with Light unresistible and will teach the proud the scornful the unmerciful the self-conceited the malicious and the violent so effectually to know themselves as that no more exhortations shall be necessary for the reception of his convictions nor will he or his servants any more beseech men to consider and know their sin and misery nor be beholden to them to believe and confess it See Jude v. 14.15 And is there no Remedy for a stupified inconsiderate soul Is there no prevention of so terrible a self-knowledge as the Light of Judgement and the fire of Hell will else procure Yes the remedy is certain easie and at hand even to know themselves till they are driven to study and seek and know the Father and his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 17.3 And yet is the Salvation of most as hopeless almost as if there were no remedie because no perswasion can prevail with them to use it Lord what hath thus lockt up the minds and hearts of sinners against thy truth and thee what hath made Reasonable man so unreasonable and a self-loving nature so mortally to hate it self O thou that openest and no man shutteth use the Key that openeth Hearts Come 〈◊〉 with thy Wisdome and thy Love anâ— all this blindness and obstinacy will be gone At least commit not the safety of thy flock to such as will not Know themselves But gather thy remnant and bring them to their folds and let them be fruitful and increase and set up shepheards over them which shall feed them and let them fear no more nor be dismayed nor be lacking Jer. 23.3 4. Ordain a place for them plant them and and let them dwell therein unmoved and let not the children of wickedness waste them any more 1 Chron. 17.9 As a shepheard seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among 〈◊〉 sheep that are scattered so seek out thy sheep and deliver them 〈◊〉 of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day Ezek. â—4 12 Save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up for ever Psal 28.9 FINIS