he loveth him as Mediator and Head of the Church he doth not only love us in Christ but in a sort he loveth Christ in us because of the complacency that he took in his Obedience John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my Life that I might take it again God did therefore eternally love him and glorify his Manhood for his Love to us 2. In God's loving Christ he loved us We are elected in him before the Foundation of the World Ephes. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World When God chose Christ to be Mediator he chose us in Christ. This is the Method of the Divine Decrees God from all Eternity resolved to create Man pure and innocent but with a changeable Will to permit him to fall and he resolved on the Remedy Christ and in Christ to receive them to Grace and accept them to Life again First he loveth Christ and then us in him as a King doth not only love a Subject that hath done him Service but all his Friends and Kindred they are brought to Court and preferred for his sake 3. This Love to us was Eternal also 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an Holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began So Titus 1.2 In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began But how then are we Children of Wrath by Nature the Elect as well as others Ephes. 2.3 And were by Nature Children of Wrath even as others Answ. That sheweth the Merit of the natural Estate not the Purpose and Decree of God There are Vessels of Wrath viz. the Reprobate and Children of Wrath viz. the Unregenerate Elect and Children under Wrath viz. Children of God under desertion It notes not what God hath determined in his Everlasting Counsel but what we deserve by Nature and in the course of his Justice Vse 1. It is a ground of Hope why we may look for Everlasting Life because of God's Eternal Love So it is urged here There are two Grounds of Hope The Eternity of his Love and his Love to Christ. 1. The Eternity of his Love From Eternity it began and to Eternity it continueth before the World was and when the World shall be no more Psal. 103.17 The Mercy of the Lord is from Everlasting to Everlasting upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto Childrens Children It is the weakness of Man to change Purposes God's Love is not sickle and unconstant We have good Purposes but they are speedily blasted but certainly God's Eternal Purpose shall stand So that the great Foundation of our Hope is the immutable Love of God the Father He that â—eeth all things at once cannot be deceived we are ignorant of Futurity and therefore upon new Events change our Minds Whatever falleth out God repenteth not Rom. 11.29 For the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance His Ancient Love continues still We have many back-sliding Thoughts we think to love God but new Temptations carry us away and so we are fickle and changeable but God changeth not he cannot deny himself 2. His Love to Christ which is the ground of his Love to us It is the Wisdom of God that the Reasons why Man should be loved should be out of Man himself in and among the Persons of the Godhead The Son loveth us because the Father requireth it and the Father loveth us because the Son merited it and the Holy Ghost that proceedeth from the Father and the Son loveth us because of the Father's Purpose and the Son's Purchase And then the Holy Ghost's Work is a new Ground of Love As long as the Son is faithful to the Father and God regardeth the Obedience of Christ and the Work of the Spirit we are sure to be loved But will not such an absolute Certainty make way for loosness It is possible it may with a Carnal Heart for the very Gospel is to some the savour of Death unto Death but to the Elect it cannot be the great Gift of God's Eternal Love is Holiness Ephes. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love And so for Christ's Love Ephes. 5.25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water by the Word And the Holy Ghost worketh us to this very thing 2 Thess. 2.13 Through sanctification of the Spirit If we turn a Wheel round the Wheel of necessity must run round If God loveth us Eternally we must be Holy There is not only a necessity of Precept but of Consequence he hath not only commanded it but it must be so Vse 2. It commandeth God's Love that you may admire it Remember it is eternal of an old standing and all that is done to us in time are but the Issues and Fruits of Eternal Love 1. It is Eternal as Ancient as God himself There was no time when God did not think of us and love us we are wont to prize an ancient Friend the oldest Friend that we have is God he loved us not only before we were lovely but before we were at all he thought of us before we could have a thought of him in our Infancy we could not so much as know that he loved us and when we came to Years of Discretion we knew how to offend him before we knew how to love him and serve him Many Times God is not in all our Thoughts when he is thinking how to bless us and do us good Let us measure the sâ—ort scantling of our Lives with Eternity wherein God sheweth Love to us We began but as yesterday and are Sinners from the Womb the more liberal we find God to be the more obstinate are we yet be repenteth not of his Ancient Love Certainly if God should stay till he found cause of Love in us we should never be loved 2. Look to the Effects of his Love in time We receive new Effects of his Love every day but all cometh out of his ancient and eternal Love in Christ tho the Effects be new the Love is ancient It is good sometimes to trace God in the Paths of his Love by what strange Providences our Parents came together that we might have a being how wonderfully were we preserved that we might not be cut off in our natural Estate How were we converted many times when we did think of no such Matter Everlasting Love sets it self awork Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting Love therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee What could move God when Paul was in the heat of his Persecution How wonderfully did God take us in our Month send Afflictions to stop the course and
an internuncius and messenger but when he used him as a Redeemer as one that was to pay a ransom for us it may be much more said so 3. For us all The Persons for whom for the cursed race of fallen Adam who had no strength to do any thing for themselves who had cast away the mercies of our creation and were sensless of our misery and careless of our remedy had abused the goodness of his bounty and patience and were utterly lost to God and themselves the whole time that we lived in the world shewed Gods sparing us but yet he spared not Christ Every moment we lived after the committing of sin was the fruit of Gods indulgence the arrow is upon the string only God respiteth execution and took this way of Redemption by Christ that we might be discharged not only from the hurt but the fear of his wrath and curse due to us 2. God having laid this foundation let us see what a superstructure of grace is built thereon he doth freely give us all things all good things are the gift of God Jam. 1.17 And whatever God giveth he giveth freely for there can be no preobligation upon him Rom. 11.35 Who hath given him first But here the chief thing considerable is the largeness of the gift he will give all things this comprehensive and capacious expression includeth much comfort in its bosem Let us explain it a little both the Creature and the Creator from God to the poorest thing in the world through Jesus Christ all is ours Rev. 21.7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son God himself maketh over himself to his children who is all in all he doth enjoy God and all things besides which may be a blessing to him he is ours that hath all things and can do all things and what can the soul desire more 2. This all things reacheth to the two worlds Heaven and earth are laid at the foot of a believer 1 Tim. 4.8 But godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Here God is not wanting to his people but the gift and grace promised is eternal life 3. This all things concerneth the whole man the body and the soul the body is in covenant with God as well as the soul and therefore 't is provided for by the covenant we feel not only the comfort of it at the last day when 't is raised up as a part of Christs Mystical Body but for the present the bodily life exposeth us to manifold necessities but Matth. 6.33 First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you He that hath any place or office hath the perquisites of the place or office now for the soul 2 Pet. 1.2 The divine power hath given us all things necessary to life and godliness Meaning by life internal grace and by godliness the fruit of it an holy conversation There 's not only the remote inclination but the actual readiness yea the final accomplishment will and deed Phil. 2.13 4. All things that are for our real advantage of what nature soever they be 1 Cor. 3.21 All things are yours Ordinances Providences Death the connexion between both the worlds whatever belongeth to our happiness and will further us to the Kingdom of glory for God is engaged No good thing will he withhold Psal. 84.11 Well then is not a Christian compleatly provided for That hath God and the creature Heaven and earth pardon and life grace and glory that is reconciled to God by the death of Christ and saved by his life protection and maintenance and a sanctified portion in this world and the happinesâ— of the life to come A Christian that is safe among friends and enemies that liveth in Communion with God here and shall dwell for ever with him hereafter is he not well provided for 3. The strength and the force of the inference Certainly this broad and ample foundation will support the building tho the top of it mount above the clouds and be carried so high as the glory to come 1. Because the giving of Christ is a sign and pledg of his great love to us and what will not love and great love do for those whom it loveth John 3.16 God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son He doth not tell you how but leaveth you to admire and rejoice at so unspeakable and unconceivable love and 1 John 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but God loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins The Apostle awakeneth our drouzy thoughts herein is love here is a full manifest real proof of his love 't is commended to us set before our thoughts Rom. 5.8 Christs love resteth not in good wishes or the kind affection of his heart but breaketh forth into action and evidence and real performance nay 't is not only real but glorious things may be demonstrated as real which yet are not commended or set forth as great sometimes God professeth his love to a people I have loved you but because they were afflicted and miserable they expostulate with this bold reply Mal. 1.2 Wherein hast thou loved us Now here is a full and clear Demonstration of it He spared not his own Son Now what may not we promise our selves from this great love Hereby we see how much his heart is set upon our salvation therefore no fear but he will carry it thorough God is in good earnest with you or he would never have made such provision In short he would never have given up Christ to be betrayed and sentenced and crucified and to dye for a sinful world if he had not been in good earnest in his love 2. Because Christ is the greatest and most precious gift And surely God that hath given so great a benefit as his own Son will he stick at lesser things He that hath given a Pound will he not give a farthing Hath he given Christ and will he not give pardon to cancel our defects and grace to do our duty Comfort to support us in our afflictions Supplies to maintain and protect us during our services and finally will he not reward us after we have served him Reconciliation by his death is propounded as a more difficult thing than salvation by his life Rom. 5.10 Two things breed confidence the fidelity of God and his liberality his liberality in his gifts and his fidelity in his promises his giving up Christ to die for us is a pledg of both This was the greatest promise the exhibition of the Messiah and this was the greatest gift All other gifts full short of this and do not beget such a confidence and hope In Creation God gave you a reasonable Nature such a Life as is the Light of man but in Redemption to make way
and sold all that he had and bought it Man would have something contentful that may be an everlasting ground of rejoycing to him 3. As to true happiness and eternal good when it is discovered to us our Inclinations to it are but weak and ineffectual Without grace we discern it but weakly for there is a great mist upon Eternity and the light of Nature being dim cannot pierce through it 2 Pet. 1.9 As a Spire at a distance men see it so that they cannot know whether they see it yea or no or as the blind man when his eyes were first touched by Christ he saw men walking like Trees Again we consider it but weakly the mind being diverted by other objects As when we see a man in a crowd we can hardly take notice of him so men seldome retire to consider what God offereth them in Christ. When God promised Abraham the Land of Canaan he biddeth him go and view the length and the breadth of it Gen. 13.14 15 16 17. So when he promiseth the Kingdom of Heaven he doth in effect speak the same to us For certain no man shall enter into that land of promise but he that hath considered it and well viewed it and can lay aside his earthly distractions sometimes to take a turn in the land of Promise But few do this few send their thoughts before them as Spies into that blessed Land and therefore it worketh so little upon them And we desire it but weakly the Affections being prepossessed and preingaged by things that come next to hand we conceive only a wish or a velleity for this happy Estate not a serious volition or a firm bent of heart and therefore we pursue it but weakly as Children desire a thing passionately but are soon put out of the humour They do not pursue it with that earnestness exactness and uniformity which is requisite The Soul of the Sluggard desireth and hath nothing Prov. 13.4 because his hands refuse to labour Prov. 21.25 So that this inclination to happiness is neither serious nor constant nor labourious These desires are but desires 4. If they like the End they dislike the Means Our Souls are more averse from the Means than from the End All agree in opinions and wishes about a supream and immortal Happiness yet there is a great discord in the way that leadeth to it not so much in opinion as practice Men like not Gods terms Esau would have the Blessing yet sold the Birthright Heb. 12.16 17. Indeed in things natural we do not expect the End without the Means but in things supernatural we do and so by refusing the Means we do separate the End Psal. 106.24 Heaven is a good place but 't is an hard matter to get thither so loath are we to be at the cost and pains We desire happiness not holiness God doth promote those things we naturally desire but still that we submit to those things we are naturally against Whatsoever maketh for our selves we are naturally more willing of than what maketh for the Honour of God Now if we will not submit to the one we shall not have the other We would all be pardoned and freed from the Curse of the Law and the Damnation of Hell but we are unwilling to let go the profit and pleasure that we fancy in Sin Secondly Why this is no more improved and why we make no better use of it There are four Causes of it 1. Ignorance To many the Object is not represented as to Heathens and to sottish Christians 2. Inconsideration Spiritual Objects must not only be represented but inforced upon the Will by the efficacy and weight of Meditation Psal. 1.3 3. Vnbelief They have not a sound perswasion of these Truths Heb. 11.13 They were perswaded of them and embraced them They had not a Ghess but a sound Belief 4. Vnsubjection of will Rom. 8.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God For it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be 'T is easier to cure their Errours than to mortifie their Affections VSE Oh do not rest in desiring to be happy there is no great matter in that the Damned would have the Door opened to them But desire Grace Psal. 119.5 Rom. 7.23 desire it prevalently so as not to be put out of the humour as Children would fain have something when they are in pain but are pleased with Rattles or any Toy If your vain Delights abate not this desire will do you no good Desire it so as to labour for it yea so as to make it your main business Psal. 27.4 yea to part with all for it Mat. 13.46 This is the way to be happy indeed Doct. 3. That 't is a dreadful misery to be disowned by Christ at his Coming I know you not 1. Consider who may be disowned Many that profess respect to Christ and may be well esteemed of in the Visible Church many that cry Lord Lord many that have eat and drunk in his presence There is a great deal of difference between the Esteem of God and the Judgment of the World Many whom we take to be forward Professors yea many that have great gifts and imployments in the Ministry and with great success Mat. 7.22 If only Pagans or only prophane Persons were damned or the opposite party to Christ it were another matter there were not such cause of fear But those of Christs Faction many that profess to know him but were never subdued by the power of his Grace Joh. 11.2 3 4. Christ doth not know because he doth not love them 2. The misery of being disowned 1. This disowning is the Act and Sentence of a Judge If it were the frown of a bare Friend in our misery it even cuts the Heart in sunder but when a neglected Saviour shall become an angry Judge when his favour hath been slighted long then he will stir up all his wrath When 't is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psal. 2.12 2. 'T is the disappointment of an Hope They supposed he meant to own them and therefore put in their Plea There is an hope that will leave ashamed Rom. 5.5 3. 'T is the Cause of all other Misery Poena damni maketh way for poena sensus Here we care not for him so long as we can be well without him It may be now you esteem it nothing to have a frown from Christ in the day of his patience but then Depart ye cursed VSE Oh let this make your more serious for the time to come Do not grieve the Spirit any longer Eph. 4.30 Do you receive and own Christ when others refuse him and you will be owned by Christ Luk. 12.8 9. And I say unto you whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the Son of man also confess before the Angels of God But he that denyeth me before men shall be denyed before the Angels of God SERMON X. MATTH XXV v.
God He that rewarded the Picture and shadow of duty as in Ahab 1 Kings 21.29 the first offers of it in his Servants Isa. 32.5 that regarded the returning Prodigal Luke 15.20 Isa. 65.24 whose Bowels relent presently who hath promised to reward a Cup of cold Water given for Christs sake Mat. 10.42 and that our slender Services should receive so great a Reward that beareth with his peoples weakness that spareth them as a man spareth his only Son by their failing surely he is not harsh and severe 4. These Prejudices are very Natural to us and therefore should be regarded by all This appeareth partly by the first Fall of Man Prejudice against God was the fiery dart that wounded our first Parents to death The first Battery that Sathan made was against the perswasion of Gods goodness and kindness to man he endeavoured to make them doubt of it by casting jealousies into their minds as if God were harsh severe and envious in restraining them from the Tree of Knowledge and the fruit that was so fair to see to Gen. 3. If once he could bring them to question Gods goodness he knew other things would succeed more easily for the sense of the Creators goodness was the strongest bond by which the Heart was kept to God And partly because still the Devil seeketh to possess us with this conceit that God is harsh and severe and delighteth in our ruine and casteth jealousies into our heads as if God did infringe our just Liberties by the restraints of his Law And we have the same impatiency of restraints which they had and the Flesh being importunate to be pleased we are apt to find out excuses And as the naughty Servant condemneth his Master when he should beg pardon so such is the perverse disposition of Man when we should confess our fault we will abuse God himself as Adam Gen. 3.12 The Woman thou gavest me gave me and I did eat This monstrous conceit of God we further by observing his injuries as we count them rather than his benefits We take notice of Afflictions but not of daily Mercies David had much adoe to hold his Principle Psal. 73.1 2. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean Heart But as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt These thoughts are very incident to us VSE Oh then when we set our Hearts to Religion let us take heed of slavish fear And if so take heed with what thoughts of God you are leavened and that you do not draw a monstrous and horrid Picture of him in your minds Oh look upon him as full of Grace and Mercy ten thousand tim◠more inclined to do good than any Friend you have in the World The Devil governeth the dark parts of the World by slavish Fear but God governeth by Love To this end consider 1. That in his Word God representeth himself by Mercy and Goodness rather than any other Attribute Mercy is natural to him he is the Father of Mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 God is not merciful by accident but by Nature The Sun doth not more naturally shine nor the Fire more naturally burn or Water more naturally flow than God doth naturally shew mercy 'T is pleasing to him Micah 7.18 Jam. 2.13 Mercy rejoyceth over Judgment Punitive acts are forced from him but gracious acts drop from him of their own accord like Life-honey Nay God is Mercy it self 1 Joh. 4.8 God is Love It cannot be said of a man that he is Learning and Wisdom though learned and wise But God is not only loving but Love and infinite Sea of Love without Banks and Bounds It was well observed of Oecolampadius That men were taught amiss to know the Nature of God by vulgar Pictures and Representations For their fashion was then to picture God in some fair and beautiful form and the Devil in some foul ugly shape Puerorum major pars nescit quid sit Deus quid sit Sathan But he adviseth Parents if they would teach their Children to know what God is they would first teach them to know what Goodness is and Justice is what Mercy is what Bounty and Loving-kindness is per illas enim propriè quid Deus sit discimus Again If they would know what kind of Creature the Devil is they should first know what Malice is and Filthiness and what Villany and Treachery is for Sathan is a Compound of all these The best Picture that could be taken of the Devil would be by the Characters of Malice Falshood and Envy But God is Justice it self Goodness it self Mercy it self as it is expressed in Scripture 2. In Christ who is the express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 Now Christ disdained not the Company of Sinners went about healing Sicknesses and Diseases and doing good His Miracles were acts of Relief not done for Pomp and Ostentation 3. In his Providence Act. 14.17 He left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us Rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness SERMON XV. MATTH XXV v. 26 27. His Lord said unto him Thou wicked and sloathful Servant thou knewest that I reaped where I sowed not and gathered where I have not strawed Thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with Vsury HEre is the Masters Reply to the Servants Allegation In the words we have two things 1. An Exprobration of his Naughtiness and Sloth 2. A Retortion of his vain Excuse upon his own head If thou knewest c. Not as if the Lord did grant it to be true that the sloathful Servant had alleadged but his own Opinions and Conceits were enough to convince him 1. Here is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Concession For Dispute sake be it as thou hast said 2. The Inference Thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have received my own with Vsury The Argument is returned upon himself The Bankers and Usury here mentioned are only by way of comparison and can no more be urged to justifie the putting Money to use than Behold I come as a Thief can justifie Theft or that Parable Luke 16. should justifie Fraud and Injustice the unjust Steward did wisely Non servi fraudem sed prudentiam c. Parables are not taken from those things that de jure ought to be done but de facto are done Therefore I shall not interpose any Judgment of mine upon this occasion as to that case whether any putting Money to use by lawful yea or no only observe That Christ will have his own with Usury some improvement he expects when he cometh First I begin with the Exprobration 'T was a sharp but well deserved Reproof if the bad Servant had feared this aforehand it might have been better with him shame is the fear of a just Reproof Mark the
of the World another standeth stoutly and from their different Practices there proceed different Interests and Opinions We should with a combined Strength promote the Gospel 2. Observe the Patern he doth not only pray Let them be One but shows what kind of Oneness he meaneth as we are One. Some think that by we is meant the Father and Christ as Mediator between whom there was an Agreement in the Work of Redemption this is true but Unity of Essence I suppose is here intended there being a plain intimation in the Context of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiar to the Trinity viz. Ver. 21. But what then shall we say to the Arrians I Answer In this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is implied not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not an exact Equality but some Resemblance not the same Unity but a like Doct. The Vnion of Believers with Christ the Head and with one another hath some resemblance to the Vnity that is between the Divine Persons themselves 1. It is a Spiritual Union not Natural or Civil but Divine and Spiritual 2. It is a close Union Between the Father and the Son there is not only Consent but Unity of Essence there cannot be a greater Unity So there is a close Unity between the Members of the Mystical Body by Love and Peace and Concord and delighting in one another It is Vnitas Pluralis Pluralitas Vnita saith Bernard 3. It is a constant and inseparable Union The Divine Essence may be distinguished but not divided They that are united to Christ cannot be separated from him and should not from one another Take heed of stragling What becomes of the Member that is cut off from the Body the Branch from the Root It is dangerous to run from the Shepherds Tents 4. It is an Holy Union There is no Unity but what standeth with Purity Mark 9.56 Have Salt in your selves and Peace one with another The Heart must be kept pure and Holy Loose Zeal it is not Unity but Compliance Peace with Men is bought upon hard Terms when we must go to war with God It is better still to be a Man of Contention An Agreement in Evil is like that of Herod and Pilate who shook hands against Christ. Heb. 12.14 Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God A Man may see God without Peace but he cannot see God without Holiness 5. It is an Unity which consisteth with Order and Distinction There is in the Church a Subordination of Callings by which its Beauty and Strength is maintained and if we would keep this Unity we must yield Honour to one another's Gifts and Places In the Body Natural the Eye medleth not with Hearing nor the Ear with Seeing the Foot talketh not the Office of the Hand is to dress the Body that of the Foot to support the Body The Soul giveth Life to all the Parts there is ground of Unity but the Parts have several Offices and there is ground of Order and Comeliness The Soul enlivens the Feet as well as the Hands and Breast It is comfortable to see all conscionably in their way joining together for the common Good Vse Let us study to imitate the Trinity as in the Case now before us there is a little resemblance of the Mystery of the Trinity Men cry for an Union and yet make no Conscience of Separation They would have an unholy Mixture a carnal Compliance and Consent for Carnal Ends out of Worldly Policy As Ice amasseth into a Body Iron Water Wood Sticks and Stones We have one Unity but observe not due distinction therein Is there not an horrible Invasion of Callings and thence comes Confusion and Disorders Ministers turn Souldiers and Souldiers turn Ministers Oh but remember Christ commendeth this Patern to us Walk as those that are One as Christ and the Father are One seeking one another's Welfare rejoicing in one another's Graces as if they were our own contributing Counsel Simpathy Spiritual Assistance and Prayers for the Common Good When the Finger is hurt there is pain through the whole Body We should live as if we had but one Essence and Interest It is almost in vain to hope for the Publick at present but in your particular Societies faithfully yet regularly use your Gifts for the Common Good so as that you may neither dishonour the Head nor dissolve the Union between the Members 3. I Observe That Christ seeketh it of God he beggeth Perseverance that they may be One. Doct. It is God that keepeth the Saints together Nature is prone to Discord if God should leave us we should soon discover what is in our Hearts God doth it sometimes by his Providence letting loose the common Enemy as a Dog let loose makes the Sheep run together Or by inflicting great Distress as two Ends of Wax are joined together in the Fire Or he can take off Contention as a Judg. Sometimes by his Spirit and the constant Influences of his Grace of Light and Love God made Esau a Friend to Jacob let Spirits be never so rough he can meeken them Vse Acknowledg God in this Matter He will be known as the Lord of Hosts and as the God of Peace Acknowledg him in this Matter in Prayer and Praise In Prayer before Division is broken out if God did but leave Men to their own sway they would never be at Peace After Divisions are broken out Prayer is the best Means to settle the Church It is God's Prerogative to speak Peace when Men have wearied themselves in the pursuit of it it is God must give it Acknowledg him in Praise in Days of Peace and Tranquility when there is a happy Union among the People of God give thanks to his Name for it for it is God alone who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh that unites the Spirits of Men to one another SERMON XX. JOHN XVII 12 While I was with them in the World I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled IN this Verse Christ declareth how he had performed his Duty to the Apostles when corporally present with them which Help was now to be removed He had said before I am no more in the World and he saith now Whilst I was with them in the World I kept them c. The Argument is taken from the Necessity of the Request and the Equity of it 1. The Necessity He could no longer keep them as he had kept them by his visible Presence outward Ministry and familiar Conversation therefore he beggeth the Father to keep them Christ is careful to remedy every Defect when the visible external Custody was to have an end then he beggeth the Spiritual 2. The Equity When thou commendedst them to me I kept them now I commend them to thee do thou keep them Which
that God approveth Our delights in God are often corrupted by a mixture of sensual delights so that we cannot tell what supporteth us God or the Creature our remaining comforts the help or pity of friends or God alone Therefore that the affliction may pierce the spirit the Lord causeth it to be sharpned and pointed by the scorn and neglect of men and their strange carriage towards us that we may fetch our supports from him alone That still we are not barr'd from access to the throne of grace there is our cordial that we have a God to go to to whom we may make our moan and from whose love we may derive all our comforts so David speaketh feelingly in deep afflictions Psal. 63.3 Thy loving-kindness is better than life This supplieth all his wants and sweetneth all his troubles and giveth more comfort than what is most precious and desirable in the Creature 2. I will shew you how it helpeth to raise our love to God There are two acts of love desire after him and delight in him for we love a thing when we desire to injoy it and find contentment in it being injoyed 1. Desire is the pursuit of the soul after God desiderium unionis The great act of love is an affecting of union with the thing beloved Now because of our imperfect fruition of him in this life love mainly bewrayeth it self by desires of the nearest conjunction with God that we are capable of and the motions of grace tend to this end to conjoin us to God or to bring God and us together and to this end tend faith and hope and ordinances and means the word and prayer and so Sacraments that we may get more of God When an house is a building there are scaffolds and poles and instruments of Architecture used but when the house is finished all these are taken away So here are many means to bring us to God There is Faith and Hope and Ordinances but when we come to the vision and fruition of him all these cease and love only remaineth In the Heavenly Jerusalem love is perfect because there God is all in all But while the distance continueth see how the hearts of the saints worketh Psal. 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee All acts of the spiritual life are a further pursuit after God that we may meet him here and there and we may find more of him in every duty and be united to him in the nearest way of communion that we are capable of Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple This was Davids great desire above all earthly desires whatsoever But have the saints always this ardent and burning desire No 't is mightily quenched by the prosperity of the flesh when they have something on this side God to detain their hearts they forget him suck on the breasts of worldly consolation you will find their desires are most earnest in affliction As David when in a wandring condition Psal. 42.1 2. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsieth for God yea for the living God When shall I come and appear before thee Naturalists tell us that the hart is a thirsty creature especially when it hath eaten vipers they are inflamed thereby and vehemently desire water This embleme David chooseth to express his affection thereby and his longings after God and the means to injoy God when he was in his troubles so the Prophet Isaiah Isa. 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit will I seek thee right early He speaketh this in the person of the Church during the time of their troubles when Gods judgments are abroad in the earth then they had continual thoughts of God and their endeavours were early and earnest At other times you will find the Church flat cold and more indifferent as to the testimonies of his favour Jer. 2.31 32. O generation see ye the word of the Lord Have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness Wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me days without number They had something whereon to live apart from God therefore afflictions are necessary to quicken these desires 2. The other affection whereby love bewrayeth its self is by a delight in God the cream of it is reserved for heaven but now 't is pleasing to think of God if the soul be in good piight Psal. 104.34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. 'T is the solace of their hearts to entertain thoughts of God to speak of him and his gracious and wondrous works is the contentment and pleasure of their souls Eph. 5.4 Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks There is their jesting to draw nigh to him Psal. 122.1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. This is their heaven upon earth to obey him and serve him Psal. 112.1 Praise ye the Lord blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments Now this delight is flagged and we even grow weary of God and weary of well doing we doat upon the world and grow estranged from God and cold in his service till we are quickned by sharp afflictions Then we begin to mind God again and a serious religiousness is revived in us The hypocrites never mind God but in their troubles Job 27.10 Will he always call upon God But the best Saints need this help and would grow dead and careless of God were it not for sharp corrasives Well now seeking after God and delighting in God being our great duties we should observe how these are promoted by all the troubles thas befalls us SERMON XXXVIII ROM VIII 28 to them that love God NOW we come to the Character and Notification of the persons to whom this great Priviledg doth belong First their carriage towards God To them that love God Doct. The Elect are specified by this character That they love God Here I shall shew you 1. What is love to God 2. Why this is made the evidence of our interest 1. What is love to God Love in the general is the complacency of the will in that which is apprehended to be good The object is good and love is a complacency in it The object must be good for evil is the object of our displicency and aversation and apprehended as good for otherwise we may turn from good as evil to us now love to God is the complacency of the will in God as apprehended to be good And therefore
â—s above others for that we cannot know till we love him but his common love and mercy to sinners and that was manifested in Christs being sent as a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 This is that which is propounded to us to recover and reconcile our alienated and estranged affections to God 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself This grace God offereth to us as well as to others namely that God for Christs sake will pardon our sins if we will but forbear further hostility and enter into his peace None are bound to believe that God especially loveth them but those that are specially beloved by him for none are bound to believe a falshood and a falshood it is to us till we have the saving effects and benefits and therefore it is not the special but the general love of God which draweth in our hearts to him yea his Saints after some testimonies received of Gods special love make this to be the great engaging motive Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me 2. There is a special love when this grace is applied to us Eph. 2.4 5. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins He did not begin to love us when we were converted that is of a more ancient and eternal rise but then he did begin to apply his love to us and this no ordinary but great love when God was angry with us and pronounced death on us in the sentence of his law then he quickned us and reconciled us to himself when his law represented him as an enemy and in the course of his Providence he appeared as an enemy and the apprehensions of our guilty fears bespeak him an enemy then did God for Christs sake bestow his converting grace upon us Now 't is a great advantage to draw nigh to God as a reconciled Father and actually in covenant with us surely this is and will be the object of our everlasting love and joy Rom. 5.18 And a notable prop of confidence in prayer could we once believe that he dearly loveth us and is actually reconciled to us and taketh us for his children and delighteth in our prosperity Oh how chearfully should we come into his presence John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you because you have loved me and believed that I came out from God We have then not only his own intercession but the Fathers especial love as the ground of our audience and acceptance Now this particular interest dependeth on something wrought in our souls by the holy Spirit our Lord mentioneth two things their faith in Christ and love to God or a thankful acceptance of him as our Lord and Saviour love to God or a thankful obedience to him John 14.22 23. We cannot perceive our special interest in the love of God but by the evidences of our sincerity when we see Gods love tokens in our hearts faith and love wrought in us by his spirit then we may know that he loveth us by this special love the question is Doth God love me Hath he given his Spirit How shall I know that Answer By the Effects Do you believe in Jesus Christ How shall I know my faith is sincere and the faith of Gods Elect Doth it work by love Gal. 5.6 How shall I know that I love God The acts of sincere love are seeking after God and delighting in him if you cannot find the latter the former is a comfortable evidence Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me The desiderium unionis the desirous seeking love if it be serious and earnest it is sincere tho you find not such delightful apprehensions of his grace to you clear this once and when you come to pray you may know that God loveth you with a special love the dearest friend we have in the world doth not love us the thousand part so much as he doth nay as Valdesso saith the highest Angel doth not love God so much as he loveth the lowest Saint God loveth like himself becoming the greatness and infiniteness of his own Being and with this perswasion pray to him 2. Gods love is not a cold and uneffectual love That consists only in raw wishes but an operative active love that issueth forth to accomplish what he intendeth to us tho by the most costly means and at the dearest rates God is good and doth good Psal. 119.68 He hath a love to us and will do good to us our love many times goeth no further than good wishes and good words be warmed be cloathed but give not those things which are needful to the body Jam. 2.26 Our Lord rested not in kind wishes but giveth a full demonstration of his love if Christ be needful for the Saints they shall have him God spared not his own Son 3. 'T is a great love such as may raise our wonder and astonishment and so may enlarge our expectations and capacities for the reception of other things Eph. 3.18 19. That ye may with all saints comprehend what is the heighth and breadth the length and depth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God There is such an infiniteness and immensity in this love of God in Christ as raiseth our desires and hopes to expect all other things from him which belong to our happiness if God will do this what will he not do for those whom he loveth he that hath given a talent will not he give a peny We confidently go to one with a request who hath done some great thing for us already What greater thing could there be than his giving his Son to die for a sinful world John 13. 13. Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends We were not friends in state but only friends in his purpose nay we were actual enemies but reconciled and brought into friendship by his death No man can express greater love to his dearest friends than to adventure to die for them This did Christ for us 4. 'T was a love expressed to us when our case was not only difficult but desperate and remediless as to any other agent Isa. 56.16 And he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor therefore his own arm wrought salvation for us Psal. 40.8 The redemption of the soul is precious and ceaseth for ever Like perplexities often occurring in the Churches case 2 Chron. 22.12 O our God wilt thou not judg them for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are unto thee And Esth. 3.14 When the writing was signed and sent abroad
strong love When we cannot apprehend our selves happy without him count all things dung and dross Phil. 3.7 8 9. When we desire a sense of his love or our reconciliation by Christ. This vehement desire after Christ cannot endure to want him if we are deeply affected with that want and make hard pursuit after him Psa. 63.8 My Soul followeth hard after thee We desire his grace or sanctifying Spirit are here hungring and thirsting after righteousness and the perpetual vision of him hereafter as our desires abate so there is some abatement of the degree of our love 4ly Delighting in him Or in the Testimonys of his favour more than in worldly thing Psa. 4.6 Thou hast put more gladness into my heart then in the time when their Corn and Wine is increased And Psa. 119.14 I delight in the way of thy Testimonys more than in all riches Accordingly there is an observing of his coming and going his presence or absence we mourn for the one Matth. 9.15 We rejoice in the other when God is favourable and propitious either manifesting his love to us or helping us in our obedience to him 2. Intermission of acts Or effects of love These more sensibly declare the former for the weakness or strength of the decree is seen by the effects when the heart grows cold and listless and loose in our love to God the Soul is not made fruitful by it Now the effects of love do either concern God sin or the dutys of obedience 1. With respect to God love as to the effects of it is often described First by thinking and speaking often of him Psa. 63.6 I remember thee on my Bed and meditate of thee in the night â—atches And Psa. 104.24 My meditation of him shall be sweet The wicked are described to be those that forget God Psa. 9.17 And seldom or never think of his name Psa. 10.3 God is not in all their thoughts 'T is the pleasure of the Soul to set the thoughts on work upon the object of our love Now when our hearts and minds swarm with vain thoughts and idle imaginations and thoughts of God are utter strangers to us if they rush into our minds they are entertained as unwelcome guests you have no delight in them 't is to be feared your love is decayed For surely a man that loveth him will think often upon him and speak reverently of him and be remembring God both in company and alone upon all occasions his main business lieth with God He is still to do his will to seek his glory and to live as in his sight and presence and subsists by the constant supports he receiveth from him 2dly As love Implieth a desire of nearer communion with him so we will be often in his company in duties Frequency and fervency of converse with God in prayer and other holy dutys is an effect of love there cannot a day pass but they will find some errand or occasion to confer with God to implore is help to ask his leave counsel and blessing to praise his name Psa. 119.164 Seven times a day will I praise thee Now when men can pass over whole days and weeks and never give God a visit it argueth little love Jer. 2.32 My people have forgotten me days without number There is little love where there is a constant strangeness Psa. 26 8. I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth They love Ordinances because there they meet with God and Psa. 63.2 That I may see thee as I have seen thee They cannot let a day pass nor a duty pass God is object and end they seek him and serve him Love is at least cold if not stark dead when God is neglected when we have no mind to dutys or God is neglected in them 2. With respect to sin When the sense of our obligation to Christ is warm upon the heart sin doth not scape so freely love will not endure it to live and act in the heart Grace will teach us to war and strive against it Titus 2.12 Do we thus requite the Lord Or is this thy kindness to thy Friend Sin is more bewailed As she wept much because she loved much Luke 7.47 Now when you wallow in sin without remorse have lost your conscientious tenderness can sin freely in thought and sometimes foully in act spend time vainly have not such a lively hatred of evil Psa. 97.10 let loose the reins to wrath and anger the heart is not watched the tongue is not bridled speeches are idle yea rotten and profane wrath and envy tyrannize over the Soul you are become vain and careless more bold and venturous upon temptations and snares less complaining of sin or groaning under the relicks of corruption surely love decayeth 3. With respect to the dutys of obedience Love where it remaineth in its strength 1. Breedeth self-denyal So that the Impediments of obedience are more easily overcome and so we are the more undaunted notwithstanding dangers as Daniel More unwearied in the work of the Lord Patient under labours difficulties and sufferings Love will be at some expence for the party beloved and will serve God whatever it costs us Nay counts that duty worth nothing that costs nothing 2 Sam. 24.24 Now when every lesser thing is pleaded by way of bar and haesitancy and all seemeth too much and too long and too grievous to be born love is not kept in vigour an unwilling heart is soon turned out of the way and every thing is hard toilsome to it 2dly It maketh us act with sweetness and complacency 1 John 5.3 His commandments are not grievous Acts of love are sweet and pleasing Therefore when you have left the sweetness and complacency of your obedience the fervour of your love is decayed otherwise it would be no burden to you to be Imployed for a good God 3 It puts a life into dutys Rom. 12.12 Not sloathful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Otherwise the worship of God is performed perfunctorily and in a careless stupid manner sin is confessed without remorse or sense of the wrong done to God Prayer for spiritual blessings without any such ardent desire to obtain them returning thanks without any esteem of the benefits or affection to God in the remembrace of them Singing without any life or affection or delight in God or spiritual melody in our hearts conference of God and Heavenly things either none or very slight and careless hearing without attention Reading without a desire of profit Our whole service like a carcass without a Soul As Faith enliveneth our opinions so doth love our practices And as dry reason is a dead thing to Faith so without love every thing done God-ward is done slightly why do we find more life in our recreations than in our solemn dutys but because our love is decayed 5. Having now found the sin let us consider the causes of it 1. One cause or occasion
of sin Or as the Saints of God are eminent for some special Graces Abraham for Faith Moses for Meekness Job for Patience Joseph for Chastity Timothy for Temperance so these have their notorious and contrary blemishes 2. There is a more secret and close Dominion of Sin that is varnished over with a fair appearance Men have many good qualities no notorious blemishes but yet some sensitive good or other lieth nearest the heart and occupieth the room and place of God that is it is loved respected and served instead of God or more than God that which is our chiefest Good or last End is our God or occupieth the room of God Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon Joh. 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Luke 14.26 If any come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple We must be dead not only to carnal Pleasures but to Relations Estate yea Life and all nothing on this side God must fit nearest the heart nor bring us under its command and power 1 Cor. 6.12 I will not be brought under the power of any thing We are besotted and bewitched with some temporal thing cannot part with it or leave it for Gods sake or notwithstanding all the mischief it doth to his interest in the Soul though a man serve it cunningly closely and by a cleanly conveyance yet all his Religion is to hide and feed this Lust. 6. There is a Predominancy of one Sin over another and the Predominancy of Sin over Grace In the first sense renewed men may be said to have some reigning corruption or predominant sin namely in comparison of other sins That such predominant sins they have appeareth by the great sway and power they bear in commanding other evils to be committed or forborn accordingly as they contribute to the advancement or hinderance of this sin As in the Body a Wen or Strain draweth all the noxious humors to its self and thereby groweth moâ—e great and monstrous It appeareth also by the frequent relapses of the Saints into them and their unwillingness to admit admonition and reproof for them and sometimes their falling into them out of an inward propensity when outward Temptations are none or weak or very few Well then there are some sins which are less mortified than others or unto which they are naturally carried by Constitution or Education natural Inclination or course of Life Thus David had his iniquity Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity whether it were hastiness or distrust of the Promise or also an inclination to revenge himself some sins that men favour or withstand less or which are most urgent and importunate upon them and steal away their hearts most from God the great Pond into which other rivulets or streams of sin do empty themselves or that bough or limb which taketh away the nourishment from all the under-shrubs that which is loved and delighted in above other sins and when other sins will not prevail the Devil sets this a-work as the Disciples looked on the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 13.23 24. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved Simon Peter therefore beckened unto him that â—e should ask Who it should be of whom he spake Well then in regard of other sins one may reign and sit in the Throne of the Heart or be loved more than another but not in regard of Predominancy over Grace for that is contrary to the new Nature that sin should have the upper hand constantly and universally in the Soul For any one thing though never so lawful in it self habitually loved more than God will not stand with sincerity Luke 14.33 Whosoever be be that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple if we must not keep our natural Comforts certainly not our carnal Lusts. To love any thing apart from Christ or against Christ or above Christ is a dispossessing of Christ or a casting him out of the Throne 7. There is a twofold Prevalency and Dominion actual or habitual Actual is only for a time habitual for a constancy though a regenerate man be not one that lets sin reign over him habitually yet too often doth sin reign over him actually as to some particular acts of sin First The habitual Reign of Sin may be known by the general frame and state of the heart and life where it is constantly yielded unto and not controuled and opposed but beareth sway with the contentment and delight of the party sinning Men give the bridle to sin and let it lead them whither it will and generally walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit no doubt that is peccatum regnans cui homo nec vult nec potest resistere the sinner hath neither will nor power because usually after many lapses into hainous sin God giveth up men to penal or judicial hardness of heart they first voluntarily take on these bonds and chains upon themselves these are said to walk after their own lusts 2 Pet. 3.3 to continue or live in sin Rom. 6.2 to be dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 to serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 to draw on iniquity with cart-ropes Isa. 5.18 to addict and give up themselves to a trade of sin with delight and consent But more closely the reign of sin is never broken till the Flesh be made subject to the Spirit that will be found by examining every day what advantage the Spirit hath gotten against the Flesh or the Flesh against the Spirit how Providences and Ordinances are blessed for that end or for the weakening of sin for every day the one or the other gets ground Dough once soured with Leaven will never lose the taste and smatch but the sweetness of the Corn may prevail above it Sin dwelleth in the heart but doth it decay Gal. 5.16 This I say walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Secondly Actual Sin may now and then get a Victory over the Faithful but not a full quiet Reign Sin actually prevaileth when we do that which is evil against our Consciences or yield pro hic nunc to obey sin in the lusts thereof It gameth our consent for the time but the general frame and bent of the heart is against it In short when sin is perfected into some evil action or lust hath conceived and brought forth sin Jam. 1.15 that is some heinous offence for that time no question it hath the upper hand and carrieth it from Grace and the Flesh doth shew it self in them more than the
Spirit A man may please a lesser friend before a greater in an act or two but every presumptuous act of sin puts the Scepter into his hands Note That the Predominancy spoken of in the former distinction and this do much prejudice a Christian waste his Conscience hinder his Joy or Faith and if not broken in time or we sin often we cannot be excused from the habitual reign of sin Note again Every dislike doth not hinder the reign of sin it doth constantly govern our lives though there may be some resistance SERMON XIII ROM VI. 14 For sin shall not â—ave dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace II. I Now come to handle the second General There is a Necessity incumbent upon them 1. From their own proneness and proclivity to fall into Sin 2. From the mischiefs arising from reigning Sin 3. From the unsuitableness of it to their renewed State 4. They cannot other ways maintain their hopes of Glory 1. Because of their own proneness and proclivity to this evil That appeareth 1. Because there is sin still in us a Bosom-enemy which is born and bred with us and therefore will soon get the advantage of Grace if it be not well watched and resisted As Nettles and Weeds which are kindly to the soil and grow of their own accord will soon choak Flowers and better Herbs which are planted by care and industry when they are neglected and not continually rooted out We cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till this outward Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay be crumbled into dust like Ivy gotten into a Wall that will not be destroyed till the Wall be pulled down The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites and therefore we are the more obliged to keep them under Our Nature is so inclinable to this slavery that if God substract his Grace and we be altogether negligent we shall soon rue the sad effects of it 2. It is not only in us but it is always working in us and striving for the mastery Sin is not as other things which as they grow in age they grow more quiet and tame no it is every day more active and stirring Jam. 4.5 The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy it is not a sleepy but a working stirring Principle Rom. 7.8 Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence If it were a dull and an unactive habit the danger were not so great but it is always working and putting forth it self and seeking to gain an interest in our Affections and a command over all our Motions and Actions Therefore unless we do our part to keep it under we shall soon revert to our old slavery it is like a living Fountain that poureth out waters though no body cometh to drink of it though there be nothing to irritate it but Gods Law and the motions of his Spirit there is a continual fermentation of the corrupt humors in our Souls 3. It is always warring as well as working Rom. 7.23 I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind â—nd bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Sin seeketh to deface all these impressions of God which are upon the heart which bind the Conscience to Holiness and to stifle all these motions that tend to it that it may alone reign in the heart without controul it sets it self in direct opposition against all those dictates of Conscience and holy motions and inspirations that the Sinner may be fully captivated to do what the flesh requireth to be done by him therefore it must be kept under as a Slave or it will get up as a Tyrant and domineer One sin that we least suspect may bring us under this slavery it doth not only make us flexible and yielding to Temptations but it doth urge and impel us thereunto We think and speak too gently of Corruption when we think and speak of it as a tame thing that worketh not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan no it riseth up in Arms against every thing of God in the heart 4. The more it acteth the more it getteth strength as all Habits are increased by multiplied Acts and when we have once yielded we are ready to yield again as a brand that hath been once burned is more apt to take fire a second time Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst After men have once committed a sin they are more vehement to venture on it again at first we cannot get down sin so easily till an Habit and Custom hath smoothed it to our throats Well then this bondage is daily increasing and more hard to be prevented by multiplied Acts a Custom creepeth on us which is as another Nature and that which might be easily remedied at first groweth more difficult to be subdued As Diseases looked to at first are easie to be cured but when once they become inveterate the Cure is more desperate so are sins before we are hardened into a Custom Jer. 13.23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil No means will then prevail to work it out of them or bring them to any good the more we sin the more are we enthralled to sin as a Nail the more it is knocked the more it is fastened into the wood A Sinner is often compared to a Slave or Servant now there were two sorts of Servants or Slaves such as were so by Covenant and by their own consent or such as were so by Conquest or Surprizal in War The first similitude is used Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness The other Servant by Conquest is spoken of 2 Pet. 2.19 For of whom a man is overcome of the same also is he brought into bondage Now these Notions I would rank thus every carnal man at his first entrance into a course of Vanity and Sin is a Servant by consent hire or contract for he doth consecrate his Life and his Love his Time and his Care his Actions and Employments to please his Lusts we first willingly and by our own default give up our selves to this course But the customary Sinner by Conquest that hath so cripled and maimed his Faculties that he cannot be at liberty if he would then they grow compleat slaves to their Lusts as Captives in War are servants to their Conquerors for whilst they do voluntarily and ordinarily give up themselves to serve the Devil and their own Corruptions without resistance or crying to Christ for help they are very Bond-slaves and held in