his deare Son You see what the condition of every man is till converted it is said to be under the power of darkness How unspeakeable is the misery of all unregenerate men who are thus the Devils prisoners bound hand and foot that they are not able to shake off any one sinne they are accustomed unto neither are they willing to be delivered They do not mourne and groane after a Redeemer how inlarged therefore should the heart of a godly man be when he shall see himself thus delivered the time was I could not give over my loose and wanton wayes I could not part from my prophane and wicked Companions the time was I hated such as feared God I could not indure any holy strictness any family-duties The time was when the cares of the world did lord it over me so that neither praying or hearing or any holy Ordinances had any influence upon me being so greatly inslaved to those earthly thing but now blessed be God the snare is broken and my soul like a Bird is escaped I can now run with delight in the wayes of God Oh how blessed a deliverance is this to be saved from thy former impieties to be delivered out of thy old blindness and wickedness Seest thou not in what miserable bondage many persons are intangled in by their lust They have some convictions some terrors upon their conscience they cry out oh that they could never fall into such sinnes again and yet upon every temptation hideously relapse again Augustine before his full conversion to God complained of this captivity exceedingly If therefore God hath delivered thee from thy former unregenerate estate if he have made thee a new Creature then know the goodness of God towards thee is more then ever can be comprehended by thee It cannot enter into thy heart to conceive of the fullness thereof But because this deliverance is not compleate and perfect in this life as appeareth Rom. 7. where Paul complaineth of a captivity still he was plunged into he breaketh out at last into that affectionate expression Who will deliver me from the body of this death Oh how blessed and happy will that day be when thou shalt have no more thornes in thy side or rather in thy heart no more Jebusite to disquiet thee but all sinne with the effects thereof shall be wholly dryed up 3. There is a spirituall deliverance in respect of the continuall temptations we meet with in this world to draw us to sinne and to make us turne the back upon God That we may alwayes have Gods protection herein we are taught to pray even as often as for our daily bread that he would deliver us from evi'l Luke 11. 4. and herein the Lord doth vouchsafe more daily deliverance to us then we can possibly apprehend Every condition every mercy every affiction would be a temptation to us to allure us to sinne did not the Lord daily deliver What is it that keepeth thee from the Apostacy of others and so from the wounds and gashes of Conscience which usually fall thereupon but the meer delivering mercy of God Thus you see in how many particulars God doth deliver his people but as the Doctrine is It is not enough for God to deliver once unless he doth it daily continually never withdrawing his arme from under us and the grounds of the necessity of continued mercy are these 1. Because of our utter inability and impotency to continue the same to our selves If the Lord doth bestow such and such deliverances on us leaving us afterwards to our selves that we by our own wisdome and power should preserve our selves Alas This would immediately prove a ruine to us for we can no more continue the deliverance then we could procure it at first he that hath delivered must be the same that doth deliver It s not God that hath delivered and then we who do deliver Humble thy self therefore thankfully under all Gods mercifull dispensations towards thee say O Lord I depend on thee for daily bread for daily grace for daily pardon for daily preservation The same infinite power and wisdome is required to uphold thy mercy as was at first to bring it to thee 2. This continuance of mercy is requisite not only from our naturall imbecillity but also our morall unworthiness So that though the Lord hath delivered once and twice yet we are apt to be so unthankfull and forgetfull that the Lord may deliver no more Oh how often do we forfeit the good mercies that God vouchsafeth us how often have we provoked him to take away his good gifts from us but it is his mercy it is his goodness to continue them unto us Every day thou dost enough to make God take away all he had bestowed upon thee Even as when he had made man who revolted from him and was plunged into obstinate wickedness it is said Gen. 6. It repented him that he made man and it grieved him at the heart an expression to humane capacity to shew how unworthy a Subject man was now become of all that love God had shown to him and maist thou not feare when thou lookest upon thy own barrenness and unworthy dealings with God that God doth repent that ever he thus honoured thee that ever he thus blessed thee that ever he vouchsafed such grace to thee and so take all from thee Take Saul for an instance how many personall favours did the Lord bestow on him but at last God quite forsooke him because of his Hypocrisie ane Rebellion If therefore we consider how forgetfully and wretchedly we walk under Gods mercy we may evidently see that if the goodness of God did not continue them as well as at first bestow them we should quickly be stript of all How many not persons only but Churches for want of the continuance of Gods mercies are of Gardens become a very Wilderness Is God to the Nation of the Jewes as to the Churches of Asia as he was once so that the demerit which is upon us after mercies received our not improving of them for God may provoke God after the good he hath done for us to bring all evill upon us 3. It is necessary the Lord should continue mercies and deliverances as well as at first vouchsafe them to us because our dangers our temptations continue They that renew their disease daily must also renew their Physick They that fall daily need to be raised daily Iterated troubles need iterated deliverances It is true there are some mercies that cannot be iterated any more the benefits of them may but not the mercies themselves Thus the Creation of the world was at first and it would be absurd to pray that God would create it So the Incarnation of Christ this was once done that it cannot be done any more Gods Predestination likewise of his people was from all eternity neither can it be iterated But then there are other mercies which are duely to be
continued yea often to be repeated such as pardon of sinne the daily quicknings and excitings of grace It is true some have of late affirmed that sinne is pardoned from eternity and that we cannot pray for the pardon of it onely we may for the sense and assurance of the pardon But it is absurd to think a sinne should be remitted before committed and therefore as we multiply to offend so God is said to multiply to pardon Do not therefore think it enough that God hath once sanctified thee once justified thee and therefore thou needest not the help and daily succour of Gods grace for if the same grace did not preserve and keep thee which did at first regenerate thee thou wouldst fall into thy old Chaos thou wast once in We do not therefore fall from grace because man of himself if absolutely considered cannot throw himself out of it but because Christ will loose none of his Members and therefore he keepeth them united to him Even as we see it is in regard of the world it is not enough that God did once make it but it is necessary he should conserve and uphold it as Heb. 1. he keepeth up all things by his power hence conservation is called a Creation and they require the same infinite power for the one as as the other Thus it is also in the work of grace in the whole conduct to salvation An infinite power an infinite love must begin continue and at last consummate Thus by these Reasons you see why God that hath delivered doth continue to deliver Use 1. To reprove that unthankfullness and unworthiness which is in most men It is God that daily continueth their mercies to them It 's he that upholds the world He that keeps up the meanes of grace and yet we take these things as if they were so many debts to us How little doth it enter into our hearts to think if God withdraw it if God give but a blast all the world is but as dust before him It is God that hath continued thy health thy strength to thee this day more this week more It 's God continueth thy relations alive had not he done thus all had been broken in pieces before this time Use 2. Doth God thus continue deliverances and mercies then take heed of abusing them to wantonness of not improving them faithfully for God if he continues thy health and life lay it out to the Author thereof if he continueth thy wealth and greatness let not the Devill and sinne have the fruit of it Oh how unjustifiable is it what curses and torments do we deserve if when God continueth our mercies we thereby serve the Devill if the Devill did create thee if the Devill did preserve thee if you did live and move in him then you might pay him out of his own But oh the patience of God that suffereth so many wretched sinners to advance the Devils Kingdome by those good gifts he hath given to them SERM. LXXVII Former Experience should be a sufficient Argument for future Confidence 2 COR. 1. 10. In whom we trust that he will yet deliver In this last Clause we have Pauls confidence in the power and goodness of God for the future bottomed upon his former and present deliverances for were it not the duty of a believer quietly to repose his soul with a firme trusting in the truth and goodness of God he could not live an hour or a day without perpetuall hesitation and anxiety about what might befall him In the words we have 1. His trust professed 2. The matter or object thereof The profession of his confidence is in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom we have hoped Erasmus rendreth in whom we have fixed hope in opposition to that vain moveable and uncertain hope which men have in earthly and transitory things we render it trusting though it be not the same word with that used in the 9. Verse But we told you that faith hath its trusting and hope hath its trusting and these two graces are of so near affinity that they are often put for one another and indeed they both denote some recumbency and resting of the soul upon him whom they trust or hope in So that as we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so also of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Tim. 5. 5. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4. 10. Which words denote that hope doth alwayes carry along with it some affections and cordiall adhesion to God So that as we reject the Popish distinction of fides informis and formata we do also of spes informis and formata because the grace of hope doth sanctifie the soul for its respective operations as well as love doth to its proper actings Concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Favorinus saith it differeth thus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is applyed to the expectation of evill things as well as of God although in the Scripture it is hardly used any where but concerning good things Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is only used of good things the word coming either of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw because the things hoped for do draw and allure the soul towards them Among the Latins sperare is sometimes for timere but that is very abusively spoken You see then whom Paul maketh the object of his hope and trusting even God alone So that we may not place our hope in the wisdome or power of men nor in Angels or Saints no not as instrumentall causes to procure us our good we need For a divine hope must have for the motive of it divine truth and goodness divine power and help as well as assenting faith must have divine revelation and authority Besides second causes though causatively concurring to such effects yet because they have both their esse and operari dependently from God and so do not help in and of themselves it is vain to trust in them 2. There is the object trusted for and that is a temporall deliverance For although God himself and eternall glory be the principall objects of our hope and trust yet temporall mercies may be the secondary and less principall as they relate and conduce to this eternall blessedness for some are only to hope for outward mercies as thereby our everlasting happiness may be advanced Now Paul by trusting in God for future deliverances doth thereby suppose that he shall alwayes be in dangers and that though once or twice delivered yet new temptations will assault him But though they do he is not disheartned The sense he hath had of Gods former mercies doth incourage him for the future for seeing God doth help his people because they are in misery because they are his and he stands engaged in promise to them These Reasons being perpetuall and alwayes the same no wonder if Gods mercies and deliverances likewise be continuall Observe That the
zealous was Paul in desiring this for the Jews We read of a notable expression Epist 3. of John ver 2. There he wisheth Gaius as much health to his body as he had in soul How excellent was his soul that was in better condition than his body SERM. XXIII Of the Name Nature and Preheminence of the Grace of God above all other things 2 COR. 1. 2. Grace be to you and Peace c. THe next thing considerable in these words are the particular mercies prayed for in this Salutation The first whereof and that which is the efficient cause of all other things is Grace The Common-place in Divinity De Gratia Dei of the grace of God is of a very vast extent and most of the Popish Arminian and Socinian errours arise from the mistake of the use of this word in the Scripture but it would be impertinent to grasp that whole controversie I shall not treat any more of it then what may relate to this Text. We may therefore briefly take notice of the use of it to our purpose That the first and most principal signification of it is the favour and mercy of God towards us for it answereth the Hebrew word Chen which comes of a root that signifieth to have mercy So that when the Scripture faith We are justified by grace we are called by grace we are saved by grace The Popish party doth grosly erre taking grace there for something in us wrought by the Spirit of God whereas it is indeed without us even the Attribute of mercy and grace in God So that the meaning is We obtain such glorious priviledges not because of any thing in our selves though never so holy but because of the meer grace and favour of God without us Grace then in the most frequent and principal signification of it denoteth the favour and goodness of God But then In the second place It is used sometimes for the Effects of this Grace For as mercy is sometimes taken for the attribute in God and sometimes for the effects of it So likewise is grace Hence it is that Gods grace is sometimes put for the Gospel and the preaching of the Word This being meerly from his grace that he vouchsafeth such a mercy to his people Act. 20. 24. Tit. 2. 11. Sometimes it is taken for the good success and special assistance that God giveth unto the preachers of it Act. 14. 26. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Yet not I but the grace of God viz. assisting and giving success to my ministerial labours Again It 's applied to those common gifts of Gods Spirit which were so wonderfully vouchsafed in those dayes To speak with tongues to work miracles these are called the grace of God though some would distinguish between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 4. 10. Yea the very function and offices in the Church are called Gods Grace as Paul did his Apostleship Rom. 1. 5. because it's the meer grace of God that hath appointed such Offices in the Church Lastly That which the Roman Church makes the more ordinary sence that indeed is sometimes but seldom to be found in Scripture viz. to signifie those habits and principles of holiness which are with in us There are some indeed who say The Scripture never useth the word Grace in this sense but some places seem to be clear Col. 3. 16. Col. 4. 6. Heb. 13. 9. 2 Pet. 3. 18. And therefore we may truly call that work of God in us Grace so that we do not make it to justifie or save for that is the grace of God without us Observe That the grace of God is to be desired by every one in the chiefest and first place This we should earnestly pray for that whatsoever God would deny us yet that he would give us his grace and favour We are I say to desire it not only above all temporal and earthly comforts above riches honours and long life but even above the sanctification and holiness of our souls which God worketh We are to desire his grace more than grace in our own hearts for this is the effect of that and this alone being imperfect in us could not justifie or save us Let us discover this rich treasure of Gods grace though the Apostle Ephes 2. 5. calls it The exceeding riches of his grace so that we can never speak to the full of it though we had the tongue of men and Angels still there is more in the grace of God than we are able to fathom We must therefore speak and understand as children about it till in Heaven this imperfection be done away And First We must know that God hath several attributes tending to the same thing yet do not ionally differ There is his Goodness whereby he is willing to communicate of his fulness to the creature Thus he was good to Adam making him so glorious a creature There is his Mercy and that is whereby he pitieth his creature being cast into misery There is also his Patience and Long-suffering which is extended to sinners that do for a long time rebell against him when he could if he pleased destroy them every moment in hell And lastly here is this property of Grace whereby he is called a gracious God And this the Scripture doth speak of as the most glorious and comfortable attribute and that doth imply these things 1. That whatsoever good God doth bestow upon us it cometh solely and originally from his meer bounty and good pleasure So that there is nothing in us that may in the least manner either merit with God or move him to be thus gracious So that we can never hear of this word Grace but it should presently humble and debase us it should make us condemn our selves and give all to God For if it be of grace than there was no motive in us God out of his own bowels doth this for us Rom. 1. 5 6. The Apostle speaketh very fully to this If of grace than it is not of works otherwise grace is no more grace So that to acknowledge the grace of God as Pelagians were forced to do and so Papists and Arminians do yet at last to divide between grace and our selves to make us co-workers with it yea to make it effectual this is to take all away really that we had given verbally before So that if it be Gods grace we must not give so much as the least sigh and desire to our selves all cometh meerly from the good pleasure of his own will 2. Grace doth not only thus imply a pure and only original from God himself excluding us but it supposeth also a manifest unworthiness in us and a contrary desert to what God bestoweth upon us Therefore grace in the Scripture language supposeth sinfulness in us that we deserve to be abhorred and cast out of Gods presence Hence justification and pardon of sinne are attributed to the grace of God
one way or other Every Abel will have a Cain every Isaac an Ismael What though you do not suffer from the Pagans or heretiques without yet how greatly do ye suffer from the prophane and ungodly within Every prophane man though he shrowd himself under the name of Christ yet he is of an Antichristian spirit if not doctrinally yet practically and in deed Bernard speaking of the bitter times by Paganish persecution and then of more bitter by hereticall maketh the third and most bitter of all to be in the evil and ungodly manners of those who are within the Church Heu domine saith he qui sunt in Ecclesiâ primi sunt in persecutione primi There is then a suffering for Christ though not to blood and if every godly man do not thus suffer let him fear whether he be not a man pleaser whether he fear not man more then God whether therefore he be not applauded as a wise man as a moderate man because he is not indeed a zealous godly man against sinne in his place The very Heathen could say How is he a good man who is not trouble some to and hated by an evil man Therefore saith our Saviour Wo be to you when all men speak well of you Luk. 6. 26. Some observe the connexion the Apostle useth 1 Pet. 4. 11 12. for having in the 11 verse exhorted to a faithfull and diligent discharge of those Offices we are betrusted with presently exhorts to patience about afflictions because one will necessarily cause the other So Mat. 10. when Christ giveth his Apostles Commission to preach he doth withall admonish them of the hatred they shall meet with Light will be offensive to sore eyes and salt will make wounds to smart Thirdly To suffer for Christs sake is very tedious and grievous to flesh and blood It 's because of those reproaches and many times dangers which accompany the way of Christ that it is such a stumbling block to many They like the Crown of Glory well but they like not the Crown of Thornes If Christs way was a broad way they might have Christ and their honours Christ and their lusts Christ and their advantages then they would be as forward to runne out and meet Christ as they did from Jerusalem crying Hosâ—nna to him Therefore howsoever men have thousands of pretences to keep off from the way of godlinesse and the faithfull owning of Christ they have many wide gates of distinction to go out at when danger is at hand yet it is fear of suffering that keepeth most off their duty They like Christ well till it cometh to be said as she did to Moses Thou art a bloody husband to me So Christ will have thy good name thy estate thy life this makes thee prove an Apostate and turn hypocrite Oh the gulf of misery yea sometimes of despair that this fear of suffering hath put men upon Therefore afflictions for Christs sake are so often called temptations because they will discover whether a man be â—ound for God or not whether they love Christ more then the creatures Oh then pray to God that he leave thee not to this snare to be afraid to suffer for doing what is good This will prove bitter at the latter end Do you not see among Officers how fearfull to punish the drunkard the Sabbath-breaker they shall loose their good word they will do them despite and malice afterwards Art not thou all this while afraid to suffer for Christ He that suffers for doing that which is righteous for punishing offenders he suffers for Christ as is to be shewed Remember then it 's better suffering for Christ which is our Crown and Glory then suffering in Hell for ever because thou wouldst not do the will of God SERM. XLVI The same Doctrine prosecuted shewing the Object for which Christians are to suffer if they would suffer for Christ 2 COR. 1. 5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us c. THe Doctrine that hath in part been treated on is That a true and faithfull owning of Christ is accompanied with sufferings and persecutions Some Particulars have been given in to clear this We proceed to adde more and the first in order shall be That although it is very difficult to flesh and blood to own Christ so farre as to suffer for him yet the Scripture represents it as a most blessed and glorious thing howsoever the world judge it reproachfull I shall not here enlarge my self about the encouragements to suffer when Christ calls for it it is enough at this time in the general to inform That God will not honour every one with persecutions for himself It is a great expression of his grace and favour Hence some Confessors have desired to be Martyrs but God by his providence preserved them they have been greatly humbled and dejected under this as if it were for some special sinne and unworthinesse in them that God would not in that manner dignify them These are not words and meer oratory the Scripture is clear in proclaiming this for a title of favour to be a sufferer for Christ Act. 5. 41. The Apostles rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his Name That they might have shame and reproach for Christ this they rejoyced in as a great matter of honour Who were they that the Lord should so exhalt them So Phil. 1. 29. To you it 's given not only to believe but to suffer By this you see that every one to whom God doth give to believe he doth not also give to suffer for him It 's a gift then and where this is bestowed they ought to rejoyce and to be exceeding glad Yea 1 Pet. 3. 14. They are happy And 1 Pet. 4. 16. Thy are to goorifie God in that behalf If we could believe these Scripture truths so much sinfull fear and pusillanimity in the cause of Christ might not be charged upon us as too often it may be we would not run from a duty accompanied with sufferings as Moses did from the rod turned into a Serpent neither should we with Simon the Cyrenean be compelled to bear the crosse That is observeable 1 Pet. 2. 19. If a man suffer for conscience towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We translate it this is thankworthy But happily that is not so proper for if a man should suffer all the Martyrdomes that have been in his own body yet God is not to thank him he hath not suffered more then he ought to do Neither do I know that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in such a sense Therefore it 's better translated This is a favour this is grace if God bring us to suffer for a good conscience towards him If then thou art to suffer either verbally by mocks and slanders or really by miseries and persecutions set the Crown of Glory to the Crown of Thornes set the honey to the gall set the honour with God to
Gods promise to doe such things for us yet if he had not the supreame power to order and worke all things when he pleaseth but were subordinate to some higher power then we could not trust in him Hence we justly charge the Papists with Idolatry for trusting in the Virgin Mary whom they call their hope in prayer as also in the other Saints For although they would elude by a distinction of trusting in one as the primary efficient cause and in one as a secondary and instrumental cause in which latter sense they onely trust in the Saints as they would perswade us yet that is against the very nature of divine trust which must have for its object onely that which is supreame and omnipotent So that unlesse they will distinguish of a primary God and a secondary God they cannot so distinguish about trusting in the same manner Even as it is with the other act of faith as it giveth a divine assent to any truth The Schoolmen generally say That the Ratio formalis fidei is Revelatio Divina and Suprema veritas So that we cannot with a Divine Faith believe upon any thing but a Divine Testimony Thus it is in this other act of faith which we call trusting It must be a Divine Promise a Divine Power else we cannot put this holy and divine trust in it As therefore the Psalmist said Some put their trust in their horses some in chariots but we will trust in the Name of the Lord Psal 20. 7. Thus let us Some trust in Angels some in Saints some in great men in wise men but we will trust in the Lord. From hence also it is that we do clearly confute the Socinian who denieth the Eternal Deity of Christ For if Christ were not God if he were onely the best of creatures yet as a creature it would be unlawfull to trust in him we should be guilty of great Idolatry to put confidence in him Now it is plainly a duty to trust in Christ as well as in God the Father Romans 15. 12. Though the root of Jesse yet in him shall the Gentiles trust and that is because he is not a meer man but God as well as man Ephesians 1. 12. So they are called The first fruits of Achaia who first trusted in Christ This then is a plain demonstration of the Godhead of Christ because it is our duty to trust in him You see by all these glorious properties in God which are the full reason of our trusting in him that it is not lawfull under any nice and subtil distinctions whatsoever to put our trust any where but in the Lord. Secondly As God is the object in whom we trust So the matter for which we are to trust in him is all the good things we want There is not any one mercy whether for soul or body but we are to trust in God alone for it Now the good things we want empty themselves in two streames The spiritual mercies and the temporal mercies and we are to trust in God for all these There is not a crumme of bread or a drop of drinke but we are to trust and depend on God for it We are not to trust in our labour in our barne and store but are to lie in prayer at the throne of grace every day as Lazarus did at Dives his gate even for a crum of spiritual mercies and they are of many sorts 1. That which is the ultimate and last end of all grace and holinesse here which is Eternal Life and Everlasting Glory The trusting in God for this is that which should keep up our hearts in all the streights we are to meet with 1 Corinth 15. If we had hope onely in this life saith the Apostle we were of all men most miserable So Titus 1. 2. and 3. 7. there is the hope of eternal life The trusting by faith and by hope are of so near union that one may well be brought to confirme the other Now let a Christian be frequently putting forth these vigorous trustings in Christ for everlasting glory what heavenly joyfull and undaunted resolutions will it work in him 2. There are mercies that are the meanes to lead to this end such as Justification and Sanctification of our natures daily remission of sinnes and a daily preservation in the state of grace that we may never fall away For these things we are certainly to trust for at Gods hand We have Gods promise for these things and who dare question whether God be thus able to keep us to salvation or no Thus remission of sinne is by faith in his blood Rom. 3. Yea the life of a godly man as to his spirituals and supernaturals is wholly in this trusting Thus the just you heard liveth by his faith And Paul professeth aloud That the life he did live Galat. 2. 20. though in the flesh was by faith in the Sonne of God Oh that this spiritual truth were received and digested more by the godly Doe you not look more into your selves then up to God Doe you not more live in the thoughts of your owne graces than of Gods promises Truly the right improving of this Doctrine about trusting in God it would be like Solomon's North-winde to blow away the rain to dispell all sinfull sorrow SERM. LXXII What is required in our trusting in God ex parte subjecti And of the excellency of this grace 2 COR. 1. 9. But in the Lord. WE are treating of this choice and necessary duty of trusting in God and severall things have been spoken to acquaint us with the nature thereof we proceed therefore and as we have told you what is required ex parte objecti to cause this trusting in the Lord from the next place let us declare what is ex parte objecti necessary to this duty And for the explicating of that there are these things concurrent to our trusting in the Lord. 1. There must be a serious and powerfull apprehension of our own inability yea and of the weakness of all Creatures to help us or to do good to us for till this foundation be laid that all power wisedome righteousness and whatsoever the Creature can affoard is but a shadow a reed that can do no good at all it is impossible that we should trust in the Lord. So that by this we may see the difficulty and rarity of this grace for how hard a matter is it thus to be affected about all the meanes that are in the world about all the Creatures we do injoy to look upon them but as those Instruments of Musick which cannot sound any longer then they are blown into How difficult to possess our soules with this principle to look upon thy self and all Creatures no otherwise then the poore creple that lay by the Poole side that could not at all help or move it self That do behold all things as Sarahs dead wombe or Ezekiels dry bones unless the Lord quicken and give
especially when we speake of spirituall mercies such as justification and reconciliation with God Aegid Coninck de arteb supernat de spe a Popish Writer maketh a threefold hope or trusting in God One he calleth Pelagian and that is when we rest upon God only because of our own merits and our own strength and this he doth reject as well he may for this is not to trust in God but in our selves A second hope he calleth Lutheran and that is when he trusteth only in the grace of God excluding all merits this also he rejects and thereby also the only hope the Scripture commends to us The third hope he cals the Catholick trusting in God and that is partly upon the grace of God and partly upon our own merits yet wrought also by the grace of God But to think of merits or to speak of merits when we come into the presence of so great and holy a God whose Law we break daily and in all our best duties faile exceedingly is to play the Pharisee and not the Publican who yet only was accepted with God The second way of trusting therefore viz. only in the grace of God excluding all our own strength is that which is approved of by the Word of God So that till we be sound in our judgement about this Point we cannot rightly trust in God In the next place a second main particular to cleare the Doctrine about this trusting is to consider the excellency of their grace that so we may thereby be the more exercised therein For 1. It is many times put for the whole worship of God because he that doth trust in God he will be sure to performe all those other duties God doth require Thus Psal 115. 9 10. when the house of Israel and Aaron are exhorted to trust in the Lord by that is meant the whole worship of God even as to fear God is sometimes also put for the whole service of God The excellency and dignity of the grace appeareth herein 2. It is therefore excellent because the Lord so delighteth to put us upon the daily practice of it Insomuch that whatsoever he doth for his people either in spirituall or temporall mercies they do obtaine it wholely by trusting What is that great way whereby we are justified before God how come we to obtain this blessed priviledge It is only by faith And what is this faith but a trusting and resting upon Christ alone So that the most noble and essentiall consideration in justifying faith is that it doth make the soul rest and depend on the Lord Jesus God would not justifie us by any other way by working by doing but by trusting which doth greatly demonstrate the acceptableness of this grace to God So also for temporall mercies that assertion twice or thrice used The just shall live by faith doth in part relate to those temporall promises which God maketh for the preservation and support of his people and now God will have these performed to such who wait on him who trust on him It is not the just shall live by love by repentance but by faith God therefore would have us wholly depend upon him for every mercy we have hence we are commanded to pray for our daily bread trust not in thy store or treasure trust not in thy labour and skill but be every day at the Throne of grace begging for every mercy thou desirest Oh but what dishonour is there to God in this respect Doth not the rich man look more to his revennues then Gods promise Doth not the Tradesman look more to his custome and his gaines then Gods power yea the labouring man is apt to trust in his health and strength as if he needed not to depend upon God all the while he hath that Sanitas pauperis est patrimonium a poore mans health is his patrimony his freehold and he is apt to make it his god to trust in What excellency then is in this grace when no mercy either spirituall or temporall can be obtained but by the exrecise thereof For the soul you must trust God and the mercies thereof for the body you must trust God and the mercies thereof And observe the deceitfullness of thy heart herein who trusteth in Christ for thy justification and salvation but art full of disquieting cares and feares about thy externall preservation and maintenance Oh foolish and unwise which is greater salvation then rayment and food and yet thou art perswaded God will do the greater but doubteth about the lesser 3. It is excellent because it doth indeare God to us and in a peculiar manner obligeth God to look to us For when the soul can say O Lord I renounce all other helps I trust not in any other support I leave all things to adhere to thee this doth in particular manner ingage God to look upon us as his own and so to defend us Thus David argueth Psal 16. 1. Preserve me O Lord for I trust in thee Psal 7. 1. In thee O Lord I put my trust save me so 1 Chron. 5. 20. it is said of the Sons of Reuben when they were in great distress yet the Hagarens were delivered into their hands because they did put their trust in God It is also attributed unto Hezekiah as a great and glorious honour to him 2 Kings 18. 5. That he trusted in the Lord God of Israel and Verse 7. The Lord was with him and he prospered Therefore the committing of our selves into Gods hands is a speciall way to secure us 4. The excellency of this grace is seen in the difficulty of it and transcendency to flesh and blood for if Aristotle could say homo was magis sensus quam intellectus more sense then understanding putting forth the acts thereof more then of reason we may say much rather he is more reason then faith The difficulty of it maketh the People of God oftner in distracting feares and carking cares then in any other sinnes David who professeth his trust in God yet how often tempted to difidence Asa a good man 2 Chron. 16. 12. is blamed that in his disease he sought not to God but to the Physicians It was lawfull for him to seek to them but because he rested wholly on them and not on God therefore is he thus taken notice of seeing then it s our duty to use meanes and not to expect that God will in a miraculous and immediate manner work all things for us Hence is the great difficulty in this matter so to use them as not to put confidence in them Alas all the Creatures all the second causes by their own power without Gods blessing could do us no good our cloathes would not warme us our food nourish us unless God command it Hence our Saviour saith Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of Gods mouth Matth. 4. 4. It is not then the Creatures it is not the conditions and
there be any afflicted with bitterness as I am And is not this thy case Is not thy house a house of mourning for dead fathers or dead husbands as well as others Is not all this from the preventing mercy of God The second chanel in which these mercies may be discovered is In spiritual things And certainly here we may cry out also That they are more than can be numbred For what sinne what temptations what terrours and troubles of heart what wounds and gashes of soul do any of the godly fall into and thou mayest not also be plunged into the same Who maketh thee to differ Why must not the branch ingraffed in insult over that which is broken off but take heed and tremble Is it not because God may break off those also Oh then with bleeding and melting hearts acknowledge and say O Lord what would have become of me if left to such a passion if forsaken in such a temptation Why is it that I have not the guilt the condemnation that others lie under Is it not because thy goodness did keep me Even as David was preserved in respect of that businesâ— of the men of Keilah he asketh of God Whether they would deliver him into Saul's hands and God telleth him they would certainly do it thereupon David will not commit himself to them It is thus often in respect of thy soul if thou go to such a place if thou art put into such a temptation if placed in such a condition or relation God knoweth that this would prove a snare to thee it would be a ruine to thee Therefore the Lord doth so order by his mercy that thou shalt not come into that condition Divines have one kind of grace that they call Gratia praeveniens which doth prevent us it cometh upon us before we have any thought any will or desire about it As God said He was found of those that sought him not And truly such preventing grace we do not only need at our first conversion but all our life long as much as our daily bread Grace must prevent our mind our will our affections otherwise some sinne some lust or other would immediately fasten upon us Let then the godly soul remember what a deep and vast ocean this is of preventing grace the bottome whereof thou canst never dive into As Paul said By the grace of God I am what I am so saith Austin he might have added By the grace of God I am not what I am not It 's the grace of God that thou art not a withered tree a barren wilderness It is the grace of God keepeth thee from Hypocrisie and from Apostasie what a sinner and evil wretch thou art not it is wholly by the grace of God Thirdly Although the godly do thus judge of preventing mercies as well as of positive mercies yet because we are apt to account of mercies by sense and feeling we have hence it is That the godly are exceedingly-forgetfull many times about preventing mercies It is often said We never prize a mercy till we want it How precious is health to a diseased man ease to a tormented man And so also we never account any evil grievous but while we feel it while it is upon our backs and thereupon we are most sensible of such mercies which do take off this burden from us Thus it is indeed because we judge of all things according to our sense but if we did let judgement work then the godly soul would be likewise greatly enlarged for the keeping of evil as well as removing of it The evil we never felt yet because ready to come upon us had not the mercy of God kept it off is affectionately taken notice of by that soul which delights to search out the works of God towards it The godly ought not be so bruitish as to be taught only by thorns or to be like the horse which must have alwayes the bit and bridle Preventing mercy is as real a mercy as a positive one God is as truly good in keeping of evil from thee as removing of it Shall God therefore lose such of his glory and honour because thou wilt judge only by sense Fourthly That therefore the children of God may know It is their duty to go further in the way of praise to God then usually they do Let them consider these ensuing rules concerning preventing mercies And 1. Perswade thy self of this That whatsoever evil thou hast deserved by thy sinnes and is not brought upon thee look upon this as a preventing mercy and be affected wit it as much as with any positive mercy And truly this very particular may be like a live coal from the Altar to warm and purifie thy heart For hast thou not deserved all the curses threatned in the Law As soon as ever as thou hast sinned may not the Law of God immediately challenge thee take thee by the throat and hale thee to hell Well if so consider this preventing mercy of God that keepeth thee from them Mayest thou not truly say remembring the deserts of thy sinne not onely the God who deliuereth from so great a death but also so great an hell and so great a damnation Were not thy heart like a clod of earth like a stone how greatly wouldst thou be affected in this particular saying It 's the Lords mercy I am not in the grave It 's the Lords mercy I am not roaring in hell for the Law curseth me I have transgressed that there is nothing keepeth off the execution of that dreadfull sentence but the meer mercy of God And therefore if thou wert dead and raised again if damned in hell and yet delivered out Would not thy mouth and heart be filled all over with blessing and praising of God Why not then when God keepeth thee out of this destruction every moment It 's observed as the demonstration of Gods great power and mercy that the waters of the sea being higher than the earth yet they are so checked and bounded by the power of God that they do not overflow the earth This is the meer preventing mercy of God Insomuch that Luther said The Inhabitants of the earth are as wonderfully preserved from destruction by the sea as the people of Israel were in their passage to Canaan when the waters stood like walls on both sides And thus it is in any mercy we enjoy if we consider what the Law threatens how that curseth what we have deserved It 's a wonder of wonders that every houre we doe not fall into hell Therefore if thou findest thy heart not affected with these preventing mercies lay this particular close to thy soul 2. Consider That whatsoever evil doth actually fall upon any other in the world and not on thee this is a preventing mercy Is another sick and not thou Is another poor not thou This is a privative mercy For what reason can there be given of thy difference from others but onely
trusting and their dependance upon God is nothing but their arrogance and their false presumption Such are the confidences that men have for suffering in their heretical and damnable opinions No doubt but such may finde in themselves a resolved and pertinacious frame of heart which they call a trusting in God but because they have no promise made to their errours therefore they have no true faith in God I speak of such opinions as are not consistent with the work of grace and fundamental principles of Religion otherwise if gold and precious stones be built on the foundation though hay and stubble be the superstructure such shall be saved yet so as by fire 3. Presumption is palpably discovered from trusting in God By severing the meanes from the end And this is commonly made the very essence of presumption that it divideth those things which God hath necessarily conjoyned together It is the Scriptures maxim which can never fall to the ground That without holiness no man shall see God Where there is no grace here there shall not be any glory hereafter yet do not men generally presume as if that Text would not prove true otherwise why is it that thou doest not lay all thoughts and endeavours about other things aside and see to the work of grace above all things I may be wealthy and damned I may be learned and damned but I cannot be gracious and damned yet who is there that maketh this his study and inquisition of soul whether this necessary work of grace hath ever yet been wrought in him But 4. This presumption is still the more palpable and gross When men do not onely divide between the true meanes and the end but use false and contrary means And this is the condition of all those who live in the common practice of any gross sinne never reforming of it For these men to trust in Christ to be saved living and dying after that manner is the most absurd and maddest presumption that can be As if thou shouldest think by brimstone to quench the fire upon thy house God indeed doth sometimes work his glorious ends by those means which are contrary but for thee to think to go to Heaven by the way that leadeth to hell argueth thou art bewitched with thy lusts Repent for thou art as yet in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity Lastly This presumption doth powerfully but subtilly work in all those who deny either in whole or in part the grace of God and thinke by their owne strength and merits to obtain the good things they hope for Therefore Pelagians and Papists do by the very genius of their Doctrine teach men to presume when they define their Spes to be Partim è gratiâ Dei partim è meritis proveniens So that pure faith and trusting in God is not taught by Popish principles but presumption and self-confidence is taught by a Law And under this head all those civil and moral men are comprehended who think that for their own righteousness God must bestow such and such mercies upon them a sinne that every man is very prone unto as appeareth by Moses his prohibition of it so often in one Chapter to the Israelites Deut. 9. 4 5 6. Speak not in thy heart saying for my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me to possesse this Land The Pharisee then doth presume as well as the Publican though upon different grounds The second opposite on the contrary is Despair Indeed all diffidence and distrust doth gradually and in part oppose this excellent grace but despair doth fully and totally And this ariseth from these causes 1. Low thoughts of God and his Attributes 2. High thoughts of our own sins and unworthiness Both these commonly go to make the soul wholly distrustfull First Low thoughts of God and his Attributes As if God had not power and strength enough to do what he promised As that Lord who would not believe God could suddenly provide such incredible plenty And this is the reason why God doth represent his Greatness Majesty and Power so often because all the distrustfull thoughts we have do arise because we measure God after the capacity of a man Hence is that expression Zech. 8. 6. when God had promised the restauration of the people of Israel an impossible thing to humane conjectures If it be marvellous in the eyes of the people should it also be marvellous in my eyes saith God As also that full affirmation That with God nothing is impossible yea nothing is hard and difficult to God he doth as easily work extraordinary and miraculous things as he doth ordinary and common things But why do we diffide or despair at any time but because we judg of God according as we would do of men Again Low thoughts about the goodnesse mercy and compassions of God do compell to despair My thoughts as are not your thoughts but as the Heavens do exceed the earth so doth my wayes your wayes saith God in this particular about pardon of sinne Isa 55. 8 9. Narrow apprehensions also about the dignity merit and infinite worth of Christ of his Godhead as well as manhood maketh us to sink under the guilt of our sinnes How could any tormenting feares arise in thee if the love of Christ and the atonement by his bloud be considered in the breadth length and depth of it It was attentive meditation on this infinite subject that made Paul so triumph and be raised above the guilt of his sins his Aegyptian sins were easily drowned in this sea of blood The second cause of our despair and total distrust in God is a preposterous and irregular apprehension about our sinnes That no soul can obtain pardon without repentance without a deep and serious humiliation is without doubt the Scripture-Doctrine but then every contrite soul is to know that there is a spiritual skill and heavenly art required in this sorrow for it If we so look upon sinne as to think it our duty to flie from Christ to runne from the promise that no consolation doth belong to us This is not repentance for sinne but running from one sinne to another As if the Israelites stung with a Serpent would obstinately refuse to look upon the brazen Serpent For the Gospel that vouchsafeth other light that informeth us as soon as ever we have unfeigned sorrow for sinne and are brought low in our own eyes not to stay in that wilderness not to think that we can make any satisfaction by tears or sorrow but immediately to lay hold on Christ and to imbrace those offers of grace which are tendered to all that are poor and contrite in heart Hence it is that the Spirit of Adoption and an Evangelical frame of heart are wonderfully conducing to trust in God as legal terrors and tormenting fears of conscience do greatly shake the foundations of all hope in God Thirdly You are alwayes to remember that
the property of those who are godly to take nothing to themselves but to give all to the grace of God You see here though Paul was so eminent for godlinesse and so admirable for gifts yet he maketh the grace of God to be alone the sole Authour of all spiritual successe This subject the Apostle doth very willingly enlarge himself upon wheresoever he hath occasion Hence in the fore-mentioned place 1 Corinth 15. 10. he saith By the grace of God I am what I am The grace of God made him an holy man The grace of God made him an eminent Apostle he had nothing as a private Christian or as an Officer but by the grace of God and because many may have grace in a common way bestowed upon them that yet abuse it as Judas he addeth This grace was not in vain Yet lest it should be thought that it was his improvement of the grace bestowed that made it so effectual he presently correcteth his expression Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me As it is not the pen but the Writer that is a cause of fair Characters Let us discover this Doctrine And First We see the Apostle rejoycing in the sincerity of his heart and yet acknowledging all to the grace of God so that these two may well stand together to take comfort from our holinesse yet to put our trust in nothing but the grace of God It is true this is a very hard lesson to performe there is required much skill and prudence herein for we are apt to runne into extreames Either through unbelief and peevishnesse we nourish doubts and perplexing thoughts in our selves not taking notice of the grace of God in us Or else if we doe behold it and rejoyce in it we are presently in a secret manner lifted up and confident thereby But we see by the Apostles practice both are consistent together So that the people of God are diligently to labour after this heavenly frame of heart To be in doubts and fears about thy condition is to live in the jaws of hell and to be presuming or carnally confident of thy graces is the next door to a sad and miserable downfall Secondly It is not enough to acknowledge the grace of God in the general but so to set up grace as to give all to it The Apostle maketh an immediate opposition between grace and workes Rom. 11. 6. there cannot be a reconciling of grace and workes together This hath been often attempted but as unhappily as the building up the walls of Jericho again The Pelagian Arminian the Socinian and Papist all these doe acknowledge grace but when we come to the root of the matter it 's nothing at last but the free-will and workes of a man It is his good use of grace that doth determine and make all things effectual not grace it self And this is the rather to be noted because Stapleton would antidote against Calvin's poison as he speaketh from this Text. For whereas Calvin taking notice of the Apostles glorying in the testimony of his conscience concernin his sincerity doth shew that Paul hereby doth not oppose that command Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord because Paul giveth all to the grace of God and resteth alone upon that From this Stapleton would excuse the Papists also because they acknowledge all good workes to come from grace Their merits are founded onely upon Christs merits Even as it doth not derogate from the power of God that he useth second causes in natural things because they are subordinate to him both in their being and operation but it doth illustrate as his bounty so his power the more to make other things powerfull Thus saith he it is not injurious to the grace and merits of Christ if we attribute merit to our workes seeing this cometh onely from Christ but it argueth his fullnesse and rich grace the more that communicateth of it to us So that saith he to put trust in the workes of grace as the proxim and immediate cause but in the grace of God as the chiefe and universal cause is no derogation to the honour and glory of Christ But that of the Apostle must be alwayes remembred If of grace then not of workes otherwise grace is no more grace It is not grace unlesse it be grace every way And therefore to make our workes the second causes to trust in though it be not so high a wickednesse as to exclude Christ throughly yet it doth in part and therefore as in the matter of worship we admit of no primary and secondary worship no more than a primary and secondary God So it is in matter of trusting we must depend only upon Christ not but that holinesse and godly works are necessarily required but not as causes under any subtil distinctions whatsoever These two things premised let us now consider What is that grace which the Apostle doth here exalt against all fleshly wisdome And First As the ground-work of all there is to be understood That grace of God whereby he was called out of that pharisaical estate and condition of enmity against Christ to be a faithfull and ready servant to him This wonderfull grace of God to him doth often melt the heart of Paul he speaketh of it with aggravating particulars as much as may be Thus Galat. 1 15. When it pleased God who called me by his grace to reveale his Sonne in me c. And therefore 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. he acknowledged himself an instance Because the chiefest of sinners of the long-suffering of Christ In Paul's conversion there were no preparations no merits of congruity there was no docible and fitted dispositions Insomuch that the adversaries to Gods grace do acknowledge Paul's conversion to be an extraordinary thing In the midst of his persecuting sury when God might have struck him dead with thunder and lightnings from Heaven and so send him quick as it were to Hell God did visit him with his grace and give him another heart to his own amazement and of all those who heard of it So if you look upon Paul in a single capacity as a private person in the whole course of his life he giveth all to the grace of God Secondly The grace of God which Paul doth also greatly exalt is In the setting of him apart to be an Apostle and an eminent Officer in the Church of God This crooked and rough timber that was onely fit for the fire God doth not onely polish and smooth by grace but advanceth it to be an eminent part in the building notwithstanding all Paul's former unworthinesse God doth not onely by his grace call him but maketh him an honourable vessel in his house This our Apostle doth likewise with great enlargement in many places take great notice of See how emphatically is he affected with this grace of God towards him Ephesians 3. 7 8. Whereof I was made a Minister according to the gift of
complain of such a dull and liveless Ministry yet how little do people think that many times they give the cause so that its Gods punishment upon them in that very thing yea though Ministers be never so faithfull and godly yet as Calvin observeth they cannot go on in their Ministerial work with that vigor and alacrity they ought to do when their hearts are bound up with sorrow and discouragements about their people All cannot attain to Pauls excellency who could have enlarged bowells to that people who had streightened ones towards him SERM. CVII Of the Necessity of a constant Ministry not only for the constituting but to an establishing the Church 2 COR. 1. 15. That you might have a second benefit IN these words we have the End of Pauls purpose to come to them It was wholly spiritual It was not for any advantage any earthly respects but but wholly for their good to encrease and confirm their graces The End is expressed in these words That ye might have a second benefit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some as Chrysostome interpret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea their are some who would have that to be the word in the Original It is no doubt but that much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or joy did follow upon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All spiritual effects and heavenly exercises are apt to breed much joy Hence none have true joy but those that are godly and so by consequence none are blessed but they for Joy is a great ingredient to Happiness Hence Aristotle maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly to rejoyce yet is more consonant to other places of Scripture to read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus Rom. 1. 11. He desired to see them that he might impart to them some spiritual benefit The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is chiefly used in the New Testament for the free grace of God towards us in reference to our Eternal Happiness so that the very name ought to be sweet and precious to such who labour under the sense of their unworthiness and see no power or works of their own any wayes able to save them It is of grace therefore that doth not onely exclude merit but supposeth thee unworthy for such mercies of thy own self It is sometimes in Scripture applyed to such Almes as were freely given for the use of distressed Churches 2 Cor. 8. which is therefore called Grace partly because it is of Gods special goodness to give us such a free and liberal Disposition as the first Verse in that Chapter implyeth I do you to wit saith Paul of the grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia and that was to be liberal to the other afflicted Saints and partly because it cometh from the bountifull disposition of a man to such as are in want In this Text it is to be applyed to spiritual bounty that is to be willing and ready in all serviceableness to promote the spirituall good of others for there are spiritual almes as well as temporal which lieth in reproof in Admonition and frequent Exhortation to what is good Now this Grace or Benefit is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some translate iterated and repeated though it be more than the Second or third time Chrysostome referreth it to his Epistles and his presence for by both these he communicated spiritual benefit unto them But it is most probably and generally referred to his first and second coming whether Paul did come a third time to those Corinthians is disputed by Commentators because of some passages in the 12 and 13 Chapters of this Epistle of which in its time It is enough that by the first grace or benefit we mean the first work upon them by Pauls Ministry when they were converted from their Paganism and planted a Church of Christ And the second benefit was to confirm them in the same Faith and also to quicken them up unto further degrees of Holiness and this was the second Benefit Paul desired to impart unto them For it appeareth that though this Church of Corinth was a garden planted by Paul yet many weeds and some poysonous ones began to grow up amongst them There were both in Doctrine and Manners many things amiss which needed Pauls presence to reforme Observe That it is not enough to be a Church planted and gathered from out of the world at first but there needeth a constant and dayly Ministry to be tilling and dressing of it That Garden which God planted and put Adam into yet was to be dayly dressed and so it is still with the best Churches even those that are of the Apostolical Plantation yet needed the Apostles care and diligent visitations which was one main cause of writing those several Epistles to several Churches They were not written to convert them or make them Churches but to admonish instruct or confirm and comfort as occasion did require and upon this ground it is that though the office of Apostles and Prophets as also the gift of miracles are now ceased because the Church is now planted yet the office of Pastors and the Ordinances Christ hath instituted are perpetual and must be continued to the end of the world So that the opinion of the Socininians about the Ministry as it were only a thing of order and not of Divine Institution is grosly repugnant to Gods Word as also their Doctrine about Baptism That it was but a temporary Ceremony instituted for the beginning of the Church is full of falshood Churches though constituted yet must be dayly watered neither is it enough for a people once to be brought home to the Faith but they need a second and a third yea a continual benefit For though the Apostle haply did come but the second time to these Corinthians yet he appointed Officers in an ordinary residence amongst them as wel as in other Churches which were continually to watch over them The particulars wherein the Ministry is necessary for perfecting work as well as foundation work for progress as well as ingress for consummation as well as imitation are these First To inform against those Errors which false Teachers do easily insinuate into the hearts of people No sooner hath God sowed his field with precious wheat but the envious one commeth and soweth his tares As the April showers that make grass and flowers to come cause also weeds to grow Thus at the same time God is building the Church the Devil and his instruments are raising their Babel No sooner have the Ministers of God with Isaac digged up Wells but the Philistines have been ready to throw their earth and mud therein If then Errors and damnable Heresies may so quickly infect a Church formerly pure no wonder if there be such necessity of Pastors and Guides who are to lead the people into all truth by their Ministry as the spirit of
them perfect stablish strengthen and settle them The Apostle having before spoken of resisting the Devil and of exspecting afflictions because flesh and blood would soon sinck under these burdens he directeth his prayer unto God for them as knowing if they had no better preservers than themselves they were utterly undone Now although by that multiplication of words the Apostle might seem to mean the same thing yet every word hath its peculiar emphasis for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is used of nets when they are to be mended as Mark 1. 19. and thereby is implyed That the work of Grace which we are as it were weaving every day would quickly be all broken did not the Grace of God constantly restore it It is also used of members and parts of the body when broken and set fast again by the skill of the Chirurgion and thus it supposeth how apt every believer is of himself to break all his grace into pieces did not the power of God daily preserve him It sheweth hereby that there is no such thing as perfection in this life The other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sigrifieth firmly to stablish a thing for it is more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which it is derived so that it implyeth God doth as it were bear us up by his hand and support us that we fall not under those temptations we meet with This denoteth the firmness of their condition for although Moses hands did wax weary yet Gods will not The next word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that properly signifieth to confirm inwardly by taking away all that sinful weakness that is apt to arise in us The â—aâ— is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies so to settle as to lay a foundation thus Heb. 1. 10. it is used of Gods laying the foundation of the earth at the beginning denoting that the people of God in the work of Grace have as sure and immoveable a foundation laid as the very heavens and earth have For this confirmation doth much relate to our perseverance that we shall never fall off from that state of savour we are in but that God who hath begun will also finish Hence some contend that these words are to be read in the future tense God will establish and not by way of prayer To amplifie this Doctrine many things are to be taken notice of as First God may be said to establish us two wayes either in the thing it self or else in our knowledge and apprehension These may be separated from each other God doth and will establish his people to their lives end and till they come to the end of their race the greatest temptations and afflictions shall not break their interest in the favour of God but then they may not have certain knowledg they may be tossed up and down with divers fears that they are but hypocrites that they shall never persevere that they shall not be able to hold out to the end Therefore the people of God are to pray for and expect this twofold establishing at Gods hand both that God would preserve the work of grace in their hearts as also assure them hereof and confirm them in a powerfull perswasion of it that is it is in it self sure so it may be to them to which purpose that command is make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not in it self but to their own sense and apprehension and it is of this latter establishing the Text principally speaketh though it necessarily presupposeth the other 2. This effect which God is said to work implyeth what miserable weak and impotent creatures we are as to the work of grace or any assurance by it That as the world cannot enlighten it self if God withdraw the Sun it is wholly in darkness Thus is it with every man though made godly All this spiritual building would fall to the ground again of spiritual thou wouldst become carnal did not God uphold thee and then if thou hadst obtained any assurance about thy condition fears and doubts would presently fill thy heart if God doth not shine into thy soul Thus as the earth without the Heavens would be as it was at first a confused Chaos so is the heart of man without the dayly Influence of Gods grace upon it But this will come in more pertinently upon the next particular in the Division of this Text. 3. We are therefore to consider wherein lieth this establishing work of Gods grace and that doth consist in some things antecedently and something formally by way of intrinsecal constitution For the First Confirmation being properly upon the will and the affections Before this can be done It is necessary that the understanding of a man which is a guide to all the other powers of the soul that it be prepared and formed by God there unto The work of God therefore is to illuminate and inlighten the minde that so thereby the heart of a man may be more settled upon the Promises And for Illumination that doth manifest it self in these Particulars 1. God doth discover unto us our own infirmity and impotency that we are not able in the least measure to confirm our selves We experimentally finde how often purposes and resolutions were upon us to those things that were good how often like Sampson we did suffer our selves to be bound by many obligations and decrees of spirit but alas upon every emergent temptation we did immediately break all again That which Austin did so bitterly complain of in himself viz. the uncertainty and inconstancy of his desires The same may every one finde while left to his own strength It is therefore a special preparatory work of God for our settlement to make us see our own self-emptiness When Peter had confidence of his own spiritual ability in what a sad revolt did it end he that had more than ordinary confidence fell into more than ordinary fear So that it is a great work of God when he fully informeth us that we are nothing and can do nothing Though we have ten thousand Promises set before our eyes yet we are not able to reach forth the hand to lay hold upon any of them 2. Another Object about which we are enlightened preparatorily to our settlement is the acceptableness of the work of Faith That it is his will we should depend wholly upon him that whatsoever burden we feel upon us by our sinnes yet it is the way he taketh delight in that we should wait on him trust in him roll our staggering soules as it were upon him and this is no mean work of God thus to inform and direct a man For what is it that maketh the afflicted sinner for his sinnes be tossed up and down with such fears and doubts is it not because he seeeth nor that it is his duty to cast himself into the armes of Christ he doth
if you ask Have all the sanctified persons of God this sealing Have none the sanctification of the Spirit but they must also have the witnessing of the Spirit I answer this Question because of great practical importance shall God assisting be handled by it self after the description hath been explained That which I shall here take notice of is That sanctification is necessarily presupposed to this sealing A great Prince will not set his seal to dung to make an impression there neither will God to an heart unsanctified For as in matter of Doctrine God will not vouchsafe miracles to confirm that which is a lie neither in practicals will the Spirit of God witnesse to that heart which is not made holy For indeed it should witnesse a lie in such a case informing such they are the sonnes of God when indeed they are the children of the Devil This order of Gods Spirits first sanctifying and then sealing is clear Ephes 1. 13. In whom after ye believed ye were sealed Those eminent Divines who defined faith to be assurance making it the same with the sealing of Gods spirit are gravelled at this Text and therefore make this Objection If faith be assurance be the sealing how doth the Text say After we believed we were sealed To this therefore Piscator answereth not yeelding that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendred Having beleeved as of a thing past but beleeving as in the present but there is too much forcing in this interpretation Others they consider of faith as it hath two parts Illumination of minde and fiducial assurance Now say they the Apostle meaneth by faith the former work of faith and so the meaning is After you were enlightned to know the truth you were confirmed and assured but that opinion making faith justifying to be an assurance that Christ is mine is justly refused It is plain then that when the Spirit of God hath in order of nature for in time they may be both together sanctified a man throughout whereby he is made a new creature then the Spirit of God maketh this glorious stamp upon him then he giveth him this seal as an honourable priviledge whereby he may know himself to be the Lords Even as in antiquity none might have seals but persons of honour and dignity So that the natural and unregenerate person is to stand aloof off thou hast nothing to do in this priviledge thou art not the man whom the great King of Heaven and earth doth purpose thus to honour We proceed in the Description and there we meet with the formal Nature of it wherein it doth essentially consist with the object thereof The Nature of it is In confirming and establishing the heart of a man For this is the chief and usual end of seals to ratifie a thing and to make it no longer uncertain and doubtfull And to this property doth the Scripture chiefly attend For whereas the soul though sanctified is apt to be in daily fears and doubts about Gods favour and grace towards it it fluctuateth up and down having no subsistency the Spirit of God cometh and consolidateth the soul inabling it to rest satisfied in this that God is his God that his sinnes are pardoned that he is become a reconciled Father in Christ And if you say Why do we not need the Spirit of God to do this Cannot we by our graces by our repentance and holy life sufficiently establish our own souls in peace No by no means we need the Spirit of God to comfort as you heard as well as to sanctifie and that for these Reasons First It is very hard for a man whose guilty conscience doth presse him and condemn him daily telling him that he hath deserved at Gods hands to be eternally tormented in hell not to thinke because God may doe thus that therefore he will do so In such terrours and affrights we look more to what we have deserved we look more to what God may do then what he will we are naturally suspicious and think the worst of God even as we doe to man If we have offended a man greatly and it lieth in his power to undo us we are never quiet we cannot but think when ever the opportunity is he will be avenged and therefore we dare not trust him Yea though we have given no just cause if others have taken up an unkind spirit towards us we expect nothing else from them but our ruine when it is in their power Therefore for all Saul's tears and good works to David yet he would never trust him Now although there be no cause for us to have such suspicious thoughts about God for he hath graciously promised that he will receive us insomuch as not to believe him herein is to give more credit to a man whose words many times satisfie us than to God who is truth it self yet the heart being guilty and full of fears doth work in this doubtfull manner about God How hard is it to bring the afflicted sinner to good perswasions about God and that though by promises and other wayes God hath so abundantly provided against such distrust Here then is the reason why we need the sealing of Gods Spirit we cannot perswade our selves but God will doe what he may do and what we have deserved And A second Reason followeth upon the former We can hardly be perswaded that the great and good things which we stand in need of God will ever bestow upon us who are so unworthy of them Can a beggars daughter be perswaded that a great King will marry her But here is a farre greater disproportion What will the great God of Heaven so holy so full of majesty look graciously upon me and not only forgive me my sinnes but advance me to eternal glory These things are very improbable Shall Joseph be freed not only from the prison but promoted to the greatest honour in the Land next to the King Who would have believed it And thus it is here the soul having low and humble thoughts of it self cannot be perswaded that the great God of Heaven will look upon such despicable wretches as they are 3. The way of evangelical confidence with the comfortable effects thereof are wholly supernatural And therefore no wonder if we need the Spirit of God to help us therein Not only holinesse and grace is supernatural but assurance and joy are likewise supernatural As we cannot pray without the Spirit helping our infirmities so neither are we able to call God Father If faith in Christ by which we are justified be supernatural then also is the comfort and peace flowing from the knowledge thereof As the Doctrine of the Gospel is by divine revelation flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto us that Christ is the Sonne of God so neither can flesh and blood enable us to the perswasion of this Mediator as loving me and giving himself for me Certainly if it be the gift of
God to have a dogmatical faith to be kept from heresie it 's no lesse to have this fiducial application with the sense thereof upon our souls Wonder not then if we make it the Spirits worke to have this assurance 4. We need the Spirit to confirm us because the flesh within us is full of objections and bringeth many plausible arguments against it Insomuch that what Bellarmine and other subtil Papists bring as Engines to demolish this foundation are very sutable to the corrupt heart For they think the heart is very deceitfull there is much hypocrisie I may think I do that for God which I do for vain-glory that I am humbled for sinne when worldly motives only afflict me Again flesh doth doth suggest there may be much unknown evil in thee thy heart may be worse than thou takest it to be Though the Sea seeme calme sometimes yet there are dangerous Rocks under the water and thus though outwardly there may appear much tendernesse yet there may be a rock in the bottome Furthermore the flesh may suggest Wilt thou be perswaded of Gods favour to thee in particular Is not this to enter into Gods secrets Is not this to climb up into Heaven in an arrogant manner Yea is not this the way to nourish security in thee and make thee presume of Gods favour though thy iniquities be never so many and grosse Lastly The flesh telleth thee of former sins thou didst once wallow in as also the present failings that thy own soul doth frequently condemn thee for Now are not these very plausible Do they not importune to diffidence And certainly these would overwhelme thee did not the Spirit of God overcome all and support thee against them Yea 5. We need the Spirit of God to seal us because the Devil is very busie and active in destroying this perswasion He knoweth that those who enjoy this priviledge walk with joy peace thankfulnesse with strength and activity in the wayes of God therefore to weaken them herein that their graces may wither he tempteth about their comforts that they may wither thus the Devil as he opposeth the Spirit of God in its holinesse called therefore the unclean spirit so he doth also in its comforting effects and therefore is called the tempter Yea 2 Cor. 2. we reade how active he was to have the incestuous person humbled for his sinnes even swallowed up with too much sorrow And do not many of Gods people feel this experimentally Doe they not see they should sink and fall into all horrour and despair did not the Spirit of God support Little doe the natural men of the world apprehend what the agonies and spiritual conflicts are which a tempted soul endureth in this case Lastly The Spirit of God must seal us because this assurance is not obtained in a natural way as if we had perfectly obeyed the will of God and therefore we merited pardon but it is by the gracious promises of God made to a believer though accompanied with infirmities Indeed if it were thus that we could purge out all sinne from our selves and be perfect in every good work then assurance would naturally follow as the Saints in Heaven because cleansed from all sinne cannot doubt of Gods favour but our establishment is more upon the promises of grace without us than any thing that is within us while we behold our own unworthinesse and are deeply humbled under it yet even then are we inabled to assure our selves of the grace of God towards us SERM. CXXXVI Of the Object Manner and End of the Spirits sealing 2 COR. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us THe next particular considerable in this Description of the Spirits sealing is the Object about which it is conversant and that is said to be the Promises of Grace as belonging to a sanctified person in particular and herein doth the most expresse and efficacious effect of this sealing appear that it particularizeth the Promises of grace what is spoken generally that it doth bring home in a peculiar manner to our own breast What is it to hear of health if it be not thy health What of wealth if not thy wealth So what comfort is it to hear of a Christ if not thy Christ To know there are blessed and precious promises if they doe not belong to thee Doe not the Devils know in the general that Christ is a Saviour that there are excellent promises declared in the Word But they are miserable and wretched howsoever because not applicable unto them We may therefore divide Faith according to the object thereof First Into a general Faith whereby we are carried out to believe the whole word of God upon a divine motive whether it be the historical or comminatory part as well as the promissory Thus whatsoever is revealed in the Scripture though it be but an appendix to any History as that Sauls father had asses though we cannot call it an Article of the faith yet when sufficiently propounded to us then not to believe argueth a wicked and an obstinate spirit because we despise the authority of God and his testimony in that particular though but little Secondly There is a special Faith and that I call The worke of Gods grace for all faith is the gift of God whereby a man is enabled to believe the promissory part in the Scripture whereby he believeth this truth that Jesus Christ is a Saviour to those that believe in him And this the Papists yea and others too make all the faith that is required of us that this is it which doth justifie us but very absurdly Thirdly There is a particular Faith and that is When the Spirit of God doth enable us to receive Christ as our Christ to apply the promises as belonging to us in particular To say with Thomas My Lord my God And with Paul Galat. 2. Who loved me and gave himself for me Such a particular faith is not onely possible but a duty of which much excellent and profitable Discourse might be made but I forbear because I am to treat of it God assisting upon another account Therefore for the present you are to know that this worke of Gods Spirit in confirming and sealing of us is especially manifested in this particular and appropriating way of the promises of grace as our portion Therefore it is said to cause us to call God Father which implieth our peculiar interest and propriety in him Doe not then be discouraged from this Canaan because of the Anakims that are in the way Fear not to call God thy Father though thou findest many discouragements within thee The Devil would not have thee taste of this honey But I proceed and the next particular in the Description is the Manner how the Spirit of God cometh thus to witnesse unto us how we come to be sealed and that is said to be First By the meanes God hath appointed thereunto This is very observable
it is wholsome Therefore do not thou cry out against such men that have the Law hell and damnation so much in their mouths for this is the way to polish and prepare thee for comfort we do not forget the Gospel while we preach so neither are we to be accounted as legall Preachers and not such as preach Christ for hereby we levell the mountain for Christ to come hereby we streighten the camels back that it may go through the eye of the needle yea all those spirituall censures inflicted upon offenders are for comfort if thou art reproved and that sharply and zealously it is for thy comfort yea if thou art for thy scandalous and impenitent waies cast out from Church-communion and denied the seals of comfort yet all this is medicinall and maketh a way for comfort The incestuous person is by Paul cast into spirituall sorrow that so he may partake of spirituall joy and consolation of which blessed effect more in â—â—s time when we come God willing to the next Chapter In the next place let us consider the grounds why Ministers are to promote the comfort of such who are fit subjects for it And first Because they are Ministers of the Gospel and what is that but the glad tidings of pardon of sin of reconciliation and of everlasting happinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is noted to signifie not only glad tidings but the reward also given unto the messengers thereof What then is more suitable to the Ministers of comfort but to bring comfort that we may say as David of Ahimaaz he is a good man and bringeth good tidings If a Minister be a Boanerges a son of thunder it is that he may be a son of consolation It is not contrary to their commission to preach of sinne and of the day of judgement for so Paul did to Felix which made him tremble only we are not to stay here we must not keep you allwaies under this Schoolmaster but bring you at last to Christ Insomuch that all our duties tend to this even to advance the Gospel in the hearts of hearers yea every doctrine of Christ as it is a doctrine after godlinesse so it is also after consolation And therefore if any opinion do properly make against godlinesse we may reject it and so if any do truly make against solid comfort we may refuse that as not being of Christ It is true many hereticall and erroneous persons may pretend to great comforts and ravishments They usually say they never had so much comfort as since they engaged in such waies but then you must remember that the devil may be transformed into an angel of light and as there is a counterfeit pie y so there is also a counterfeit comfort It is not enough then to have comfort but it is to be judged and tried by Gods word Neither may we say this is a comfortable doctrine therefore I will embrace it but first see it be a true Scripture-doctrine and then receive it for such to be sure will also be comfortable 2. We are to help forward the godly mans comfort because the heart of man awakened for sinne is very much indisposed to receive it and the devil he is a vehement opposer of it That the heart of man wounded for sin doth difficultly receive consolation is plain because joy is the fruit of Gods spirit and the spirit of God is given not only to sanctifie us but to vouchsafe consolation also so that as a man hath a dead womb in respect of grace he is not able to have one good thought without Gods spirit so he hath also a dead womb in respect of comfort he is not able to have one comfortable thought unlesse God who is called the God of all consolation infuse it into him and then the devil is a daily opposer of our comforts as well as our graces as he is a tempter to sinne so to unbeleef and discouragements he loveth to keep us as he did the lunatick person about the tombs in thoughts of our hypocrisie and damnation that God doth not love us that he hath cast us off Is it not then necessary to endeavour the comfort of a godly man when it is so greatly gainsaid both within and without 3. Our duty is to perswade to comfort because hereby the heart is more enlarged and quickned unto all godlinesse The joy of the Lord is our strength as Nehemiah said Nehem. 8. 10. It is like oyl to the wheels With what delight and gladnesse doth a joyfull beleever exercise himself in all holihesse with what courage and confidence doth he discharge all the duties required of him The spirit of God did come upon the Prophet when he played upon the harp The more chearfull the more prepared to receive power from God as the drier the paper is the fitter to receive characters whereas upon wet paper none can write As it doth thus enable us to do no lesse also doth it fortifie us to suffer We see with what readinesse and undaunted courage the Martyrs endured the most exquisite torments and why so but because they were filled with unspeakable joy insomuch that their condition was sar better than the most prosperous and flourishing estate of any wicked men They were infeliciter felices and these were feliciter infelices as Austin said So that in promoting holy joy we advance grace and godlinesse also Use first of instruction to the Ministers of the Gospel to answer the main end of their office which is to be comforters not to be Marahs but Naomies Spiritual consolation is the proper fruit of the spirit of Adoption and therefore a pearl highly to be esteemed and that they may do this they must attend to their doctrine and their practise Their doctrine and thus in Popery in stead of building up they destroy comfort the doctrine of uncertainty and doubting about the state of grace the doctrine of satisfaction and merits these are uncomfortable doctrines Indeed some adversaries say the doctrine of absolute predestination and that Christ died but for some only and not all is an uncomfortable doctrine Hence their saying is spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus Melancholicus The Antinomians they also say to preach the Law and repentance thereby as in a way to obtain remission of sins is a method of preaching that destroyeth all comfort but these might easily be confuted if it were our businesse It is a Ministers duty to see the doctrine he preacheth doth not in its own genius and as a proper effect work despair or discouragement And then for their practise they must be carefull that all reproofs admonitions and spiritual censures be so managed that though for the while they may seem bitter yet at the last they will bring much comfort and that though they be in pain for a while yet they shall at last rejoyce to see a manchilde born 2. Use of Exhortation to be such a prepared people as that comfort may
3. Flesh saith our afflictions will never end 4. Flesh would put us upon any means to get out of trouble 5. Flesh only attends to what is troublesome and grievous in afflictions Why a man should so much study to discern betwixt the flesh and spirit within him 1. Because otherwise he will be apt to passe a false sentence upon himself 2. Hereby he may prevent the Devils end in troubling us It is not the natural strength of any man that can carry him through all afflictions 1. No man can bear all afflictions aright in his own strength 2. All opinion's that hold the contrary are injurious to the glory of God 3. There is a great difference betwixt a natural and spiritual bearing of troubles 4. There is a difference likewise betwixt moral and spiritual bearing of afflictions No grace removeth the natural fear of death The difference betwixt a natural and an elicite desire Propositions clearing the truth 1. Man was not made mortal 2. T is sin that maketh death so terrible 3. Christ came into the world to remove this sting of death sinne 4. Yet howsoever nature cannot but tremble at the thoughts of it Of what use the natural fear of death is 1. Hence men do more patiently endure afflictions 2. It keeps men out of many sins 3. It makes a man more thankfull for the mercies of life 4. The natural fear of death is very hardly kept from being sinfull There is a natural fear of death in all but in some more in some lesse When the fear of death is sinfull 1 When it becomes a snare 2. When it is immoderate and disquieting 3. When it excludeth much profitable and seasonable fear 4. When it proceeds from a sinfull cause as from 1. An inordinate love of life 2. The want of love to God 3. A sinfull life 4. Want of faith in Christ The godly are sometimes deceived about Gods dispensations towards them 1. A godly man may sometimes be deceived in his advise to others which he may think is of God when it is not 2. They are deceived when they thinâ— Gods dispensations are to abet some errours which they may be fallen into 3. When they judge of God after outward appearance 4. When they give too much credit to their zeal and affections 5. They may be deceived in the frame of their own hearts Gods people are deceived when they judge according to sense not saith Reasons 1. Because the godly are too hasty in their judgings 2. Because of their feare and anger wherewith they are too passionately transported 3. From the want of spirituall wisdome Rules for the preventing of false judgements concerning Gods dealings with us Two sorts of trust humane and divine Selfe-confidence a great sinne Propositions clearing the nature of self-confidence 1. All Creatures necessitated to trust in something 2. Our trust is corrupted by originall sin 3. Hence our trust is placed upon many false objects 1. Some trust in their wickednesse 2. Humane power and strength 3. Wealth What are those inward things which a man is apt to trust in 1. In his own heart 2. Self-righteousnesse 3. Church-priviledges How even a godly man may be guilty of self-confidence by trusting 1. In his spiritual gifts 2. In his graces Whether Paul speaketh these words in his own person Of the sinfulness of self-confidence which appears 1. From Gods chastising his children so much to prevent it 2. It is a secret sinne 3. 'T is a sinne soon committed 4. 'T is a making the creature a God 5. 'T is a foolish and unprofitable sin God alone is the proper object of our trust Propositions concerning our trusting in God 1. It is wrought by the Spirit of God 2. None but the regenerate can act this grace 3. It is an act of faith 4. It is not God as absolutely but relatively considered that is the object of our trust 1. As he is an infinite true and everlasting God 2. As immutable in his promises 3. As he is omnipotent 2. The matter for which we trust in God is the good thing we want either spiritual or temporal What is required to our trusting in the Lord. 1. A powerfull apprehension of our own and the creatures inability to help us 2. A practicall consideration of Gods greatness and goodness 3. A particular appropriation of God as our God 4. An experimentall knowledge of Gods promises and providences 5. An use of meanes 6. A sound judgement Of the excellency of this grace of trusting in God 1. It is many times put for the whole worship of God 2. The Lord delighteth to put us upon the daily practice of it 3. It indeareth God to us and engageth him for us 4. T is difficult to flesh and blood 5. One of Gods ends in afflicting us is to work this grace 6. It giveth all glory to God 7. It calmes and quiets the spirit God both can and will help his people in their extremitics 1. God raiseth up the naturally dead 2. God raiseth the metaphorically dead and such who are in any trouble either externall or internall Of Gods raising from internall extremities What is implyed in the expression God raiseth from the dead 1. That Gods own Children may be brought into helpless and hopeless conditions 2. That God hath power over all estates whatsoever 3. That our extremities are Gods opportunities The children of God do not only take notice of Gods mercies but their aggravations likewise 1. From their own low condition 2. From their own sinfulness 3. From the times and seasons of Gods mercies 4. Fromothers miseries We should account of privative and preventing mercies as of positive 1. Some mercies suppose evil inflicted others do not 2. Two sorts of evils spiritual and temporal which the mercy of God prevents 3. The godly are oâ—â— forgetfull about these preventing mercies 4. It is therefore their duty to go further in praise and thankfulness for these mercies then usually they do 1 Whatsoever evil is not inflicted that we have deserved is to be acknowledged a preventing mercy 2. Whatsoever evil fals upon others and not upon us 't is a preventing mercy 3. Whatsoever evil God justly may and yet doth not inflict 't is a preventing mercy 4. What evils God brings upon others in a providential way and not upon thee it is of his preventing mercy 5. Whatsoever mans own weakness would cast him into and yet God keeps it off is a preventing mercy Gods continuing his mercies is as necessary to us as his first bestowing them What deliverances God workes for us 1. Temporall 2. Spirituall 1. From wrath to come 2. From the power of sin and Satan 3. From temptations to sin and apostacy Why 't is necessary God should continue his mercies as well as give them to us 1. Because we cannot continue them our selves 2. Because of our unworthiness 3. Because our dangers and temptations continue The experience of former mercies should encourage us to trust in God