unlesse we give him an expected issue It cannot be What shall we then doe The way to stop his wrath is to stand in the gap when a breach is made in the Sea or in a River as long as the breach continues the waters come in upon the Land the way to prevent further inundation is to make up the breach This plague is but a gap a few may yet stand in the gap and stop it you see what Phineas did here alone and it is much what one man may doe therefore let every man for his owne part humble himselfe for his owne sinnes let him turne from them and be zealous with God by prayer by striving and contending with him for there bee but two wayes to stand in the gap one is faithfull and fervent Prayer the other is Zeale against sinne and in defence of that which is good I will say no more of this for I doe but name the point onely remember that except you doe thus this jealousie of GOD shall goe on grow upon us and wax hotter and hotter Now the last point of all is this that the effect of this jealousie if it goes on shall bee utter destruction therefore sayes the Text That I consumed them not in my jealousie as if hee had said else my jealousie should have gone on and that jealousie should have beene confusion It is yet but a plague the Land is yet safe wherein you may see the Lords great patience and long-suffering but if something be not done if this jealousie of his bee suffered to goe on if nothing bee done to prevent its further progresse his wrath will end in utter destruction you know I need not tell you how neare we were to this destruction in Eighty eight the Gunpowder-treason we were brought much nearer the Ax was then laid to the root this was twice I will say thus much unto you take heed of the third time The Lord sayes well let the Tree stand yet a while longer let no more blowes bee yet given it that I may see if it will bring forth any more fruit but as I said and remember it take heed of the third time the Lord hath appointed sinne to destruction and hee expects your execution of it I will put you in remembrance of the story of Ahab and Benhadad It were good that you would reade the whole story 1 Kings 20.26 you know what was Benhadads behaviour to him the LORD delivered him into his hand hee offered him what hee would have hee entred into Covenant with him spared him and sent him away but you shall see what message was sent afterwards Because thou hast spared him that was appointed for destruction therefore shall thy life goe for his life Sin is now in your hands let it not escape execution I doe not speake particularly of punishment that I leave to you to doe according to your wisdome and according to justice according to discretion and observance of all circumstances Onely I say this to you be zealous and remember yea let it remaine with you as an irreversable truth that this jealousie of GODS if it goes on will bee destruction Therefore learne hence to feare Securitie is like a Calme before an Earthquake you know it is said of Laish it was a secure people and you know how they fared They were so secure that when an enemie came against them it was like the shaking of a Fig-tree that hath ripe Figges on it which being shaken the Figges fall into their mouth Be not secure but feare which is both a signe and a meanes of safetie It is true there is a double feare One kinde of feare indeed brings evill on us and that wee shall finde was the feare of Ieroboam who being afraid that by occasion of the peoples going to Ierusalem the Kingdome would returne to the House of David therefore hee falls to indirect policie and out of that feare caused Golden-calves to be set up in Dan and Bethel Indeed a feare that sets us on wrong meanes is unlawfull as that very thing was the destruction of him and of his House for it lost them the Kingdome So Saul had a feare but that feare was his undoing because it set him a worke to use ill meanes for when hee was afraid hee went to the Witch of Endor which was his ruine whereas it may bee if hee had sought to the LORD hee might have obtained helpe But then there is the good feare that I commend to you which is opposite to security that is such a feare as sets you on worke to use good meanes You see David when Zigâ—ag was burnt with fire and his men were readie to stone him what his feare set him on worke to doe to pray to encourage himselfe in the Lord and this feare turn'd away the evill Such a feare was Iehosaphats when hee feared hee humbled himselfe before the LORD by fasting and prayer Let this bee your feare and let it have such an effect among you to use such meanes as shall turne away the Lords wrath And in a word to conclude and it shall be the last word I will speake to you marke it well and harken to it as newes from Heaven as a message from God When Asa came home with that great Victory the Spirit of God came upon Azariah And hee met Asa and said unto him Oh Asa and all Iudah and Benjamin heare mee If you bee with the Lord the Lord will bee with you but if you forsake the Lord the Lord shall also forsake you And this I say to you all If you will be with the Lord the Lord shall be with you and if you forsake the Lord he will reject you But you will say what great newes is there in this Marke it We are apt to thinke that to bee with the LORD is not enough but wee must have other meanes and proppes and helpes No saith hee it is enough for you to sticke close to the Lord and to take no other care for the Lord will be with you who is Almightie and able to defend you Againe we are apt to thinke that though we forsake the Lord yet hee will not forsake us else why are wee so bold in sinne Why are not wee more zealous against sinne Why mourne we not for the abominations that are amongst us But the Prophet answers us for that If you doe forsake the Lord the Lord will also forsake and depart from you Consider it and the Lord give you understanding FINIS THE NEW CREATVRE Or A TRATISE OF SANCTIFICATION Delivered in Nine Sermons upon 2 Cor. 5.17 By the late faithfull and worthy Minister of IESUS CHRIST IOHN PRESTON Doctor in Divinitie Chaplaine in Ordinary to his Majestie Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometime Preacher of Lincolns INNE ROMANS 12.2 Be not conformed to this world but be yee transformed by the renewing of your minde GALATH. 6.15 For in
so unequall and uneven in our wayes we are zealous for a fit and in some particulars but grow cold againe as if we never had beene the men Wee goe on in a good course till wee meete with some crosse and then wee baulke it till wee meet with some advantage and preferment and then we step out of the way to take it Is this to be perfect with God But if wee thought the Lord to be All-sufficient and Almighty we would walke perfectly before him For what is the reason that any man steps out from God It is because he findes something in the Creature which he sees not in God therefore saith God I am Al-sufficient that is let a man looke round about him and consider whatsoever it is that he can desire or need he shall have it in the Lord for he is All-sufficient Why then should not you be perfect with him why will you start from him at any time or upon any occasion And this shall suffice to make it evident that it is a very hard thing to beleeve this indeed that God only is able to doe good and evill Indeed wee care for the favour of Princes and think that they can hurt us or doe us good and therefore wee are so intent about them so busily occupied about them but this would not worke on us so much if we did beleeve that which I have now delivered unto you that God onely is the Authour of good and evill Therefore will wee reason with you and see if wee can plant this principle in you and strengthen your beliefe thereof For it is certaine that all the errours and obliquities wee finde in the lives of men come from this that these common Principles are not throughly beleeved but by halfes and of them we faile in none more than in this for if we did beleeve that God is the cause of all wee should serve him with willing hearts and ready minds in all things It is true we thinke God hath a chiefe hand in good and evill yet we think the Creature can doe somewhat too but consider this one reason If the Creature were able to doe you good or hurt I will be bold to say to you that God were not God and you might bee absolved from worshipping him For this is a principle planted in every mans nature by the Author of Nature that we regard or neglect every Creature more or lesse as they are more or lesse able to doe us hurt now if the Creature could but in part doe us good or hurt wee need not then care to worship the Lord onely for hee onely could not benefit or hurt us but God onely is to bee worshipped therefore hee onely hath power to doe good or hurt For on this ground we worship him alone that he onely is able to doe good or hurt otherwise hee were not a compleat adequate God to the worship that is required Againe if the Creature could doe any thing it might chalenge part in the Deity but it is impossible there should be any more Gods than one Therefore it is the Lord onely that doth good and evill Thus Amos concludes it in his third Chapter Is there any evill in the City that he hath not done And so we may say Is there any good that he hath not done where marke the generalitie Is there any evill that he hath not done Therefore glorifie him in thy life and in all thy wayes For as Daniel told Belshazzar In his hands are all our wayes That is we take not the least step to prosperitie or adversitie through the whole course of our life but it is the Lord that guides our steps Therefore in 2 Cor. 1.3 Paul cals him the God of all comfort exclusively so that no Creature is able to joyne with him in giving the least comfort But you will say to me Is this so Doe not we finde by experience that riches and friends and credit and wisdome and the like doe comfort us And that the want and absence of these doth us hurt Yes but I may give you this double answer First these things are at Gods disposing and command therefore it is not they that doe any thing but the Lord by them It is the hand that brings to passe a thing yet it is not vertually in the hand but in the will of the man that commands it But secondly I answer It is not these things that do you good or hurt but the Lord by them You know when water heates the hand you doe not say the water doth it but the heat that is by the fire in the water When you take a medicine in Beere or Wine it is not the Beere or Wine that cures but the medicine that is taken in that Beere or Wiine So it is the Lord that refreshes and comforts hee wounds and he heales by the creature but the creature doth neither But you will say this ability is borne and bred with the creature and is never separated from it I answer it is very true the Creature hath a fitnesse in it to do us good or hurt but it is not able to put forth that fitnesse or that strength till it be acted by God that is till it be set a worke to doe it by his blessing or cursing For example The bread hath a fitnesse to nourish but if God sayes not to the bread nourish such an one it shall not be able to do it for we live not by bread but by the word of God by his blessing of it and commanding the Creature to do it On the other side take a disease or any Creature that is fit to do us hurt it shall not hurt unlesse the Lord say goe and strike such a wretch bee an instrument of mine to punish him Let an Axe be never so sharpe and keene till the Worke-man take it in his hand and apply it to the worke it shall doe nothing So Gods blessing and cursing doth all for Gods blessing is nothing else but his bidding of the Creature to doe such an one good and his cursing is nothing else but his bidding of a Creature afflict such an one and therfore sometimes men are cheered by the Creature sometimes againe they want that cheering sometimes they have contentment therein and sometimes againe they have not And hence it is that there may be abundance of all things and yet bee no more than as the huske without the graine as the shell without the kernell affording nothing but emptinesse Againe you may have a hundred-fold with persecution that is God can give you more comfort in persecution and the want of every thing than you had in prosperity when you had every thing supplied therefore in Ier. 9.23 see how the Lord reasons Let not the strong man rejoyce in his strength nor the wiseman in his wisdome and why For it is I the Lord which exercise loving kindenesse and
suddenly which is enough to awake a man out of his sleepe of security for let him thus reason If GOD meant to save mee hee would give mee no rest in sinne for whom he intends to save hee afflicts before-hand that they may not perish with the world but those that will goe with the world he suffers to goe That is a terrible saying in the first Booke of Samuel the third Chapter and eleventh verse speaking of Hophni and Phinees saith GOD When I begin I will make an end and this is the sentence of all the wicked It is small comfort that you are free it being with you as with them that be seldome sicke that when they be sicke for the most part die for it When all things goe well with the wicked then the wrath of GOD comes like an Earth-quake which by reason of the winds being inclosed in the bowels of the earth hath a calme preceding it and so there is a calme in mens spirits before the Earth-quake of Gods wrath comes and then it is as a theefe in the night who comes when they be in a dead sleepe and least looke for him After this manner comes the wrath of God on the wicked as it is threatned Prov. 1.27 There shall come on them sudden desolation and destruction shall over-take them as a whirlewind it shall surprize them on a sudden and this may make men to tremble when they consider that sinne is attended with destruction when they sinne either GOD punishes them presently and then there is small cause of joy for the bitternesse is more then the pleasure or else he lets them alone and there is nothing in the world worse than to thrive in sin for then destruction will come suddenly The use then you are to make of it is First to teach you to see what sinne is in that it hath the wrath of God for its Concomitant Wee are apt to make a mocke of sinne we are ready to slight sin and to lay it in the light ballance of Common opinion and not in the ballance of the Sanctuary and so we come to be deceived Therefore this word Revealed must bee marked it intimates that we are backward to take notice of it except the LORD reveales his wrath from heaven and take us in hand to convince us of sin to shew us our corruption in its owne colours for we look on these things by a false light Thinke with your selves therefore what that must be which God punishes with eternall punishment See what it is in the punishment of CHRIT our Surety thinke what that is that brought CHRIST from heaven what that is that cast those Angels into hell to bee bound in chaines of everlasting darknesse Againe see it as you use to see it in the day of Death for then men are commonly awake see how it is then presented if it be not then terrible Againe judge of sin as men enlightned doe look to holy men how they judge of sin And which is without exception see how the Scripture presents sinne with this Concomitant the wrath of God as an evill and bitter thing See the Prophet Ieremie the second Chapter and it is certaine that the judgement of the Scripture is right And let all this humble you Secondly make this use of it learne to adde this to your humiliation As you must labour to see your state to have that corruption of nature which is in you discovered So you must labour for a sense of the wrath of God which if you get not you will never be humbled Labour to see God himselfe in his wrath looke not nakedly on an affliction but see God in it If a man hath a sight of him the Creator it will wholly amaze and humble the Creature Eliah was not moved with the wind that tare the rockes nor with the Earthquake though terrible but when God came though in a soft voice yet the presence of GOD humbled him that made him cover his face with his Mantle There be two kindes of Affliction one is that which the Creature is able to beare the other sort is when GODS hand is in it when they are mingled with his wrath These bee like Arrowes dipped in venome that make a deeper wound and such an one as is incurable when you feele the wrath God in any affliction let it be but a light apprehension in it selfe yet when the LORD shall set it on and mingle it with his wrath it will grow insupportable Iudas before his Treason thought thirtie peeces of silver to be a great matter and that he had got much by it but when God did manifest himselfe and revealed his wrath a little so that he saw God and had a feeling of him as every man shall have sooner or later you see what a condition he was in So it was with Belshazzer It was his feare of GOD when hee saw the Hand it was not the hand but the apprehension of GODS wrath that raised his thoughts and loosed his loynes and made his knees knocke one against the other So Paul when he heard the Word of GOD by false Samuel it cast him on his face he cared not for any thing that men did to him you know how David described his valour but when GOD comes to him that humbles him Consider what it is to have the mighty GOD of Heaven and Earth to be thine Enemie who hath all things at his Command and if hee bee thine Enemie all things shall worke together for thine hurt as every thing shall be for thy good if thou be in favour and covenant with him If thou say But I feele nothing for the present Remember though thou feelest it not for the present yet there is wrath laid up for thee God hath it in store Remember Gods dealing with them that sinned against him Shimei had committed a sinne that in Gods sight deserved Death so did Adonijah so did Saul and his seven sonnes that were hanged for breaking their oath with the Gibeonites You see how long these lay as if God had forgotten them but at length he brings them all to death Hee doth not powre out his wrath on the sudden perhaps thou shalt feele nothing of a long time but thou art condemned and when the Gaole-delivery comes thou shalt be executed for God remembers thy sins Cains sin lay at his doore though he saw it not it was not taken away but continued and it not onely continued and kept awake but it cried day and night unto him untill the crie entered into the eares of the Lord. The crie of sinne is like the crie of an Hireling to whom the just Master when the day is finished payes such wages as hee deserves So a sinner when his time comes is remembred before God though wrath hath beene restrained for a time yet now it shall seize on him Wee should learne by this to humble our selves And lastly if wee finde the wrath of God
let it goe at liberty if it may pacifie and purifie thy heart if thou be much in contemplating thy priviledges in Christ thou shalt finde the sweet of it And so I may say of love and patience and every grace Knowledge of things is like Wâ—ne or Cordials standing on the table thou canst view them and looke on them then and have them presented to thee but if thou feed on them by practise how doe they warme thy spirits and quicken thee and put life into thee if they be digested and distributed into all the parts into all the faculties for that is digesture till they turne to flesh and bloud and spirits as it were then thou shalt finde their sweetnesse even more than any man can expresse who himselfe hath not felt it But now all the question is how shall a man be able to doe this It may be many will be ready to say I could be content to doe it but I am not able I have many good purposes and desires and am willing to practice what I know but I am weake in performance I will onely point to the heads by these meanes thou shalt doe it First thou must seeke to God beseech him to set this Truth at liberty be convinced of thine owne disability in thy selfe that if thou goe about it by thine owne strength thou shalt lose thy labour In his owne strength no man shall be strong it is Gods power must doe it Psal. 119.22 I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart David had this Truth but it was not in his power to set it at liberty therefore he goes to God acknowledgâ—s his owne insufficiencie desires God to enlarge his heart and when he hath set it at liberty the harshnesse will be taken off and thou wilt run freely the way of Gods Commandements The like is in 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are mighty but how Through God to bring downe the strong holds in our hearts these be strong holds in men certaine reasons in the understanding certaine lusts in the will and affections and these cannot be beaten downe by all the wit in the world and all understanding that thou canst learne out of any Morall Writer or the Scriptures themselves but there is a power through God to doe it to bring downe these strong holds to bring all into subjection therefore goe to God beg it earnestly and let him give thee no deniall Secondly as thou must goe to him so thou must do something thy selfe thou must practise thy selfe and the more thou dost so the more thou shalt be set at liberty the more thou settest thy selfe to worke the more ground thou shalt get the more Truth will be enlarged as it is in marble the more you rub it the more it will shine so the more this Truth is used the brighter it will be in our actions the more thou puttest it in practice the more power shalt thou have in thy life as Christ sayes If ye beleeve my sayings yee shall understand my words Therefore if you will have this power be doing have a good Conscience for that is the seale of this Truth How did Paul doe to give this Truth liberty to rule in his life Why saith he I exercise my selfe to keepe a good Conscience that is If I knew any thing that was to be done I set my selfe about it and as the Musitian by often practising his lesson or as one that writes by practising his hand doth increase his skill So in these Truths the more thou dost the more thou mayest doe letting them lye still extinguishes them and for that God often gives men up to a reprobate sense On the other side if thou dost use them doubt not but God will delight to enlarge them As in other Talents labouring to improve them is the way to encrease them Againe adde this to it The Communion of Saints you shall finde a great meanes to enlarge this Truth and to set it at liberty by walking with the wise you will be more wise and what is said of Wisdome may be said of Truth for they are the same Saul when he was among the Prophets had a sparke of the Spirit of Prophecie which though it was but a common action in a wicked man yet this sparke of a naturall and common gift of the Spirit Saul had when he came among the Prophets It is the Apostles direction Provoke one another to love and good workes As one souldier encourageth another and a fast goer stirres up one that is slow so good Company whets Graces On the other side ill Company imprisons the Truth If thou wilt keepe company with them that are not good thou must correspond with them and this will cause thee to choake this Truth for many times thou canst not doe duties without shame because thou canst not hold in with them and with dutie too It is not for nothing that David uses that phrase Psal. 119.115 Away from me yee evill doers for I will keepe the Commandements of my God As if he had said When I goe about to keepe the Commandements of God if I have Company about mee that is not good they will be a barre unto me and as fetters to my soule so that it is true both wayes the company of Saints enlarges Truth the other straitens it Saint Paul and others were good men yet when they were mistaken in that you shall see what a fetter it was When Saint Paul was to goe to Ierusalem to preach the Gospell of CHRIST they at Cesarea wept and wailed desiring to stay him But sayes he What doe you breaking mine heart You may see by that speech they were a great Impediment to him And as CHRIST said to Saint Peter Get thee behind me Satan And as David said to the sonnes of Zerviah 2 Sam. 16.10 What have I to doe with you yee sonnes of Zerviah when they advised him to take off Shemei his head So if you would have the Truth to have liberty take heed of ill company As Iames saith of refraining the Tongue I am 1.26 He that refraineth not his tongue his Religion is in vaine So we may say of Company Hee that lookes not to his Company his Religion is in vaine hee shall finde it so for this Truth will never be at libertie except it be among them among whom it will have its libertie The end of the Sixth Sermon CERTAINE SERMONS VPON HVMILIATION The Seventh SERMON ROMANS 1.19 20. Forasmuch as that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and God-head are clearly seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse WE have purposed still to goe on in this point of Humiliation and then God willing we will proceed
the worke is so farre accepted as it hath an operation on our hearts and affections It is so in every duty as in Prayer when you call on God in private doth God regard the words of a prayer No but ' its working on your hearts ' it s humbling of them ' it s bringing of them into frame and making them perfect with God every day by a thorow renewing of your repentance and this is the doing of the thing Amongst your selves if a servant doth onely make a show of doing a thing it is not regarded but hee that brings the thing to passe is accepted of you and that is it which the Lord requires and accepts in our performances Now we shall see that this Text will helpe us to all that is required in a Fast as will appeare in the particulars Phineas the sonne of Eleazar c. In the former part of the Chapter the disease is set downe and that is Sinne which is indeed the onely disease of the soule illustrated from two consequents First from the wrath of God who as the Text saith was very angry with Israel for they had committed whoredome and joyned with Baal-Peor That was the disease the sin for which they had brought on them Gods wrath And secondly from an effect of that wrath the Plague God struck them with pestilence that is the punishment In this verse is set downe the remedy and that is the turning away of Gods wrath For as the Physitian sayes Morbi curantur contrarijs so it is true in Divinity as the wrath of God was the cause of the Plague so the turning away thereof is the remedy This turning away of his wrath is set forth by the cause of its turning away and that was the zeale of Phineas while hee was zealous for my sake and that is made good by two reasons One is in the latter end of my Text therefore have I not consumed them in my jealousie As if hee had said If Phineas had not beene zealous my jealouâ— should have burned more and more and the jealousie of that should have beene utter destruction The second is Gods owne Testimony set downe before my Text. The Lord himselfe said unto Moses that his wrath was turned away I will say no more for opening the words but in them you shall see these five points lye evidently before you First in that the removall of the Plague is attributed to God and to the turning away of his anger this is clearely deduced That it is God only that doth good and evill for you see his anger brought the Plague on them and the turning away of his anger healed them againe Secondly it is sin that causes Gods anger anger in God hath alway relation to sinne for sinne is the cause of it Thirdly the way to turne away the Lords anger is zeale for his sake Fourthly if there be want of this zeale among us his jealousie shall grow hotter and hotter it shall encrease upon us more and more Fifthly and lastly the issue of this jealousie of his will be utter destruction Wee will begin with the first which is That it is God onely that doth good and evill to every Nation to every Church and Kingdome yea to every particular person As you see here it was not the corruption of the Aire that brought the Plague nor the clearing of it with fâ—ost and wind that turned it away but the cloud of the Lords wrath shed this storme on them and when he was appeased with them there followed health and peace The Lord wounds and the Lord heales For what is the Plague but a sword in the hand of an Angell who drawes it out and puts it into its sheath againe at his Masters appointment And is not there the same reason of all other evils Warre you know is a terrible thing when Enemies come as Bees on a Land but doth not the Lord hisse for them And againe they are driven away as with a breath at his appointment Famine is a leane devouring evill which causes the Land to eate up the inhabitants thereof but is not the Lord the onely cause of it Doth not he make the Heaven as Brasse and the Earth as Iron Doth not he when he will open the windowes of Heaven and unstop the bottels of the clouds and powre outraine unseasonably And is not hee the cause of death which is the journeys end of both the former To which every one of us is subject yet wee consider it not Though we see men fall from the Tree of Life every moment yet wee regard it not This the Lord takes onely to himselfe Psal. 68.20 To the Lord belong the issues from death and therefore let us give to the Lord this great Prerogative of his That he onely doth good and evill and let no man question it You will say who doth question it It is very true we doe not question it in words but if we question it in our deeds it is an argument that our hearts make a doubt of it though our tongues doe not question it Therefore let us examine the matter If wee thinke the Lord onely doth good and evill why then will not we obey him and serve him and please him in all things But provoke him to anger by our words and by our workes as the Prophet speakes Perhaps you will say to me as Saul answered Samuel when he came from the warre of the Amalekites Oh thou blessed of the Lord I have fully kept the Commandement of the Lord but saith Samuel If thou hast done so What meanes the bleating of the Sheepe and the lowing of the Oxen So I say to you if you obey the Lord what meanes so many sinnes amongst us What meanes Fornication and Whoredome which is so frequent What meane those Oathes amongst us for which the Land mournes Not onely greater oathes but smaller oathes which exceed the greater for frequency though the greater exceed them in that they take the Name of God in vaine Againe what meanes the breaches of the Sabbath Of which I will speake a word by the way and that you may know that I doe not blame you for that as a sinne which is no sinne I will make this digression Doe you not think that Sabbaths are to be kept and to be kept holy I will name but two reasons to make it good you shall finde them in Esay 57.30 It is My Holy Day First it is a Holy Day and if it be holy you may doe nothing thereon that is common A Vessell that is sanctified and made holy may not bee imployed to take up common water or used in common services for it is holy So the time of the Sabbath is holy therefore you must not spend it about common actions for if you doe you prophane that which is holy Seeondly it is My Day and if it be My Day rob mee
not of it every houre of that day that you spend in common speeches and actions you rob the Lord of that houre for all the day is his And doe not thinke that men were tied to this observance onely under the Old Testament but know that it continues still for doe but consider with your selves if the Lord should have left it meerely in the power of the Church to appoint a Sabbath day it might have been brought from a week to a moneth and from a moneth to a yeare and so if of meeting together had bin no necessity put upon us by God himseâ—fe where would religion have bin And do you think God would not have provided for his Church better than so Besides why should it be questioned when it is transmitted to us from the most ancient times Iustin Martyr sayes that on the day which we call Sunday the Christians met together to worship God and the people came out of the Countrey for that end and it was a Solemne day Tertullian in his Apologie saith as much and therefore because they spent that day in worshiping God all the Heathen called it Sunday And in all ancient times it was never controverted never called into question Againe doe we not need such a day Therefore the Lord saith Sabbath was made for man as if hee had said I could have spared the Sabbath It is not for my owne sake and for my worship sake but for mans sake that is lest he should forget God and bee a stranger to him which would redound to our own hurt And therefore shall not wee be willing to keepe it when it was for our owne sakes that the Lord appointed it What gainers might wee be in grace and holinesse if wee would sanctifie every Sabbath as we should Should we be losers by it but this is a digression and I speake it by the way But marke it I say if you keepe the Commandements of God What meanes this bleating of the sheepe These acts of disobedience on his owne Day We will goe on in the examination If indeed we thinke that it is the Lord that doth good and evill why are we so inobservant and negligent of him why do we reckon it a wearinesse to serve him why turne wee Religion into formalitie posting over holy duties in a carelesse and negligent maner when we should be carefull and fervent in the same Why is there so little growth in religion so much barrennesse in good workes the price whereof is more than gold and silver In a word Why doe we turne the maine into the by and the by into the maine That is why goe we about all other businesse as our maine and chiefe scope and take in holy duties by the way more to stop the mouth of naturall Conscience as carnall men may doe than for any delight weâ— have in them If we thinke God to be the Author of good and evill why are these things so Every man is ready to professe his faith in the Truth hereof but if wee did beleeve it wee should be more carefull to please the LORD in all things Againe if we thinke that God only doth good and evill why have not wee our eyes on him altogether why doe wee not feare him and nothing els trust in him and in nothing besides depend on him and upon no other In all our calamities and dangers why doe not wee seeke to him as to one that onely can helpe us and heale us You will say we doe depend on God wee trust in God and none but him It is very well if you doe but consider that to trust in God is to part with all for his sake and to have an eye only unto the recompence of reward to be willing to deny our selves in our profits and credits and pleasures to be content to have him alone Thus Saint Paul expresses it 2 Tim. 1.13 Therefore saith he have we suffered these things for we know whom wee have trusted As if he had said we have parted with all we are content to be led from prison to prison we are content with God alone for wee know the power and faithfulnesse of him whom we have trusted Againe to trust in God is then to rest on him when the case is such marke it that if we faile we are undone then to build on him as a sure rocke that is the nature of true holinesse and exact walking when God puts us into an exigent removes from us friends takes away worldly helpes yet in this case to trust him Thus Hester trusted God when she undertooke that dangerous enterprize If I perish I perish when if the Lord had failed her shee had lost her life So Daniel trusted God when he would put himselfe upon him being in such danger for the open profession of his Religion which by death they would have forced him to deny Thus Asa trusted God when hee went with a small number against a great multitude the Text saith of him That he trusted in God Now doe we thus trust him Surely we doe not but when faith and sense come into competition when they meet together on a narrow bridge we are readie to byas our conscience the wrong way to goe aside and decline the blow that is we are ready in such a case though with breach of a good conscience so to trust in God that withall we will keepe a sure foot on some outward probable sensible meanes that if God failes us yet wee may know what to trust to The truth is we doe not leane to the Lord. For what â—â— it to leane to him You know a man is then â—â—id to leane when hee stands not on his ownâ—â—eet but so rests the buâ—ke of his body on a raâ—â—e or staffe or the like that if it faile him he fals downe To rest on God in this manner is to leane to him and did wee thinke that hee had all power to doe good and hurt to the Creature we should thus trust in him but in that we doe it so little and so seldome it it an argument that whatsoever wee professe we doe not indeed beleeve it Last of all to make an end of this examination if we think indeed that the Lord only is able to doe good and evill why do we not that which is a necessary consequent thâ—râ—of which you shall finde in Gen. 17.1 it is Gods speech to Abraham I am God all-sufficient therefore walke before mee and bee perfect Marke that when any man thinkes God to be Al-sufficient that he hath all power in his hands that he is Almighty for so the word signifies that which will necessarily follow on this beliefe is this he will be perfect with the Lord. You will say I hope we are perfect with God But if we be why are our actions so dissonant why doe wee serve God so by halfes and by fits why are we
of chaffe preserv'd from burning Is it not because there is some Corne some Wheate mixed therewith If the Corne be once out will not the Lord as men use to doe after winnowing set the chaffe on fire As women with childe are grieved to be delivered so the Lord stayes till the world be delivered as it were of all his Elect ones of all the Saints of all his holy and zealous ones and then shall be brought forth the Iudgement of the great day The World may cast out these men as the Sea doth Pearles among mire and dirt but they are Pearles notwithstanding God knowes them to be so and wise-men know them to be so yea Pearles excelling other men as much as Iewels doe common stones as much as Lilies and Roses doe Thornes and Bryers among which they grow What 's the reason that Elijah is called the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof but because hee was an holy man that did much for Gods glory that did more advantage the State at home and did more prevaile abroad than all the Chariots and Horsemen And may not we apply this to the zealous among us Therefore when we injury any of them doe not wee cut off the haire from Sampsons head wherein the strength of every Countrey and Nation and every Citie and Towne consists Yea the cutting off of them is like the cutting off of his lockes which the more the grow the more strength a Kingdome hath I say no more but commend it to every man in his place wishing that you would let it be your generall care to encourage true Religion and Zeale the omitting whereof I am perswaded is one of those things which causeth the Lords hand to be stretched forth against us Secondly if it be Zeale that turnes away the LORDS wrath then where is the Zeale that should be among us Are wee not rather fallen into those later times the Apostle speakes of which should have a forme of Religion without the Zeale and Power and Life of it And if Zeale turnes away Gods wrath certainly then this formalitie this overlinesse of Religion this coldnesse without Zeale and Power is it that brings on his wrath It is true and we cannot deny but knowledge abounds amongst us as the waters in the Sea But where is the Salt That is where is that Zeale and holinesse that should season all our knowledge Where is the Fire that should adde practice to our knowledge and make it an acceptable sacrifice to GOD Wee have the light of former Times but not their heat As he complaines Ignis qui in Parentibus fuit calidus in nobis lucidus The Fire which in ancient Times was hot is now onely light We thinke it enough to goe to Church to receive the Sacrament and so to keepe a round as it were to doe as most doe being carried about with the generall course of the World as the Planets are with the rest of the Spheres contrary to that which should bee their proper motion But I beseech you consider it Is this Religion Is this the Power of Godlinesse is this to be Baptized with the Holy Ghost which is as Fire Surely Religion stands not in these outward formalities but in changing the heart in making us New Creatures in mortifying our Lusts and thorowly purging out the love of every corruption Therefore if you will turne away Gods wrath turne your formality into Zeale that is content not your selves with the performance of the duties of Religion externally but get that wherein the power of godlinesse consists else the outside of Duties will not divert Wrath. Againe did Zeale turne away the wrath of the Lord then where are our zealous affections Why are we not zealous for the Lord and zealous against sinne You know Christ died for this end that hee might purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes Titus 2.14 Men doe good actions as a Taske they are glad when they be over but doe you them with much intention much fâ—rvencie much desire be you a people zealous of good workes Therefore in Rom. 12.11 They are put together be fervent in spirit and serving the Lord implying that the Lord respects no service but as it is joyned with fervencie Therefore know that it is not enough to serve the Lord in an ordinary Tract you must mend your pace to heaven it is not enough to goe but you must runne the way of Gods Commandements And as you must be zealous for him so you must be zealous against evill For you must know this and marke it well it is not enough to abstaine from sinne it is not that alone that God will accept but he lookes that you should hate sinne As it is said of Lot his righteous soule was vexed with the uncleane conversation of the Sodomites that is his heart rose against them there was an inward distaste against them the like you shall see in David and Moses You will say I hope I detest sinne and am angry with it It may be so perhaps you are angry with sinne but Zeale you know is an intention of the affection of hatred and it is required that you hate sinne Revel 2.6 This thou hast that thou hatest the worke of the Nicolaitans which I also hate You will say How doe they differ You shall know hatred by this First it is a constant affection it abides with us Anger goes away as all passions doe it is but for a fit for a flash on some occasion Againe hatred is alwayes of generals the sheepe hates all Wolves we hate all Toads all Serpents I say wheresoever there is hatred it turnes to the whole Species Now doe you hate all sinne all kindes of sinne one as well as another Doe you not only abstaine from them but also hate them of what sort soever they bee Lastly Hatred seekes the utter destruction of the thing hated Anger would have but a proportion of Iustice as Aristotle sayes Now is it so with you Doe you seeke the utter destruction of sinne abstaining not onely from grosse sinnes but from all dalliances from the least touch of sinne cleansing your selves from all pollusions of the flesh and spirit If you will be zealous for the Lord then know that this is required that you not onely doe things but that you doe them zealously that you not onely abstaine from sinne but that you hate it Againe if it be Zeale that turnes away the wrath of the Lord then where is our boldnesse our courage our forwardnesse for the Truth Why are we so fearefull and shie of doing the thing that otherwise we thinke meet to bee done For Zeale hath that prâ—pertie among the rest it makes men bold the Zeale of the Apostles was knowne by their boldnesse But you will say A man may be too bold It is very true when the horse runnes up and downe and is at libertie
condition But you will say these are but Notions imaginary Assertions we feele not such things give me that man that hath the sense of this that feeles more sweetnesse in this than Adam did in all his outward Paradise which he had To this we answer First that there is a sense of it though spirituall Grace be a thing that is not exposed to the senses yet there is as true and as quicke a sense as there is of outward and corporall delights because when you are made New Creatures you have a new life and that hath new senses in it It hath a taste hunger and thirst it hath as quicke a sight it hath every thing that the other hath you know the apprehension of all the comforts wee have is not that which stands in the outward senses that is not worthy the name but the apprehension that the will and understanding hath of things it is every mans minde that makes a man to live happie or miserable that is his apprehension of things when thou livest a new life and thy apprehension is altered and changed thou hast as quicke a sense of those spirituall priviledges in Christ of peace of Conscience of joy in the Holy Ghost of all the benefits that rise from his Passion thou wilt have as quicke a sense as ever thou hadst of outward delights Againe if thou wouldest have such a sense let me say this to thee the time is not yet come thou shalt have it and have it in abundance but as yet as it is said We are the sonnes of God but it appeares not what wee shall bee It is true on both sides those worldly men that bragge so much of their present sense that they have and that others want it appeares not yet what either shall be but you are mingled together and there is one common condition to all because this is the time of trial Mark the wise General he doth not like of a Souldier at the first but when he hath tried him and hath suffered both to runne out their course the valiant man and those that are cowards when their course is finished and when the battell is done that is the time of conferring of honours The wise Master doth not reward his servants at the first but hee lets them alone the good servant and the bad till their time be out till the time of their wages come that is the time when hee makes the difference So doth the Lord for this time the Battell is not to the strong that is men have not their reward here for the present time Even as it is upon a Stage both are let alone till they have acted their part there is no alteration but when they come off from the Stage that is the time when the one is commended and the other is discommended So it is with the Sonnes of God and the Sonnes of men God lets you both alone for the time till you be gone off the Stage that is the time that you must looke for the difference therefore be not preposterous in your expectation be not discouraged because you have not such outward contentments because you are not above but below for the present life the time is not yet come for God doth not yet rule the world as he will do he hath as it were left the world to be ruled by others he hath left men to rule now errour comes from the face of the Ruler as the Wise-man saith that is there is that obliquity in the hearts of men those that are in place of government generally That Servants ride on Horse-backe and Princes and Wise-men goe as Servants on foot The Reason is because men rule the world For errour saith Salomon is from the face of the Ruler But now when God shall take all the government into his owne hands when he shall be absolute King in the exercise of his dominion then he will set all straight and not before then Servants shall goe on foot and Princes and Wise-men shall ride on Horse-backe therefore expect not thou it yet the time is not yet come that thou shouldest be on Horse-backe thou must be content to goe on foot yet And therefore though you have not the present sense goe on notwithstanding hold out thy expectation a while though it appeare not yet what thou shalt be yet it will come when thou shalt have the sense of it in abundance Thirdly and lastly though thou have it not fully though the time be deferred till the day of the declaration of the wrath of God on the one hand and of his favour to the Saints on the other yet by being New Creatures you shall have outward comforts in great abundance you shall not fare the worse but much the better for it for the Promise is sure to those that feare the Lord To humility and the feare of God to them is promised Riches and Honour and Life And God performes it in this life though the full harvest bee kept for afterwards though you have but the first fruits of the reward as well as you have but the first fruits of the Spirit yet in this life as you walke more perfectly with him so he will with you and the lesse you walke with him the lesse hee will walke with you that is such an evennesse you shall finde in the wayes of God to you such a measure of Iudgement and mercy as there is evennesse or unevennesse of your hearts as there is so much new or so much old Let us labour to make our wayes more perfect and we shall be more perfect in our outward estate we shall be better in our wealth we shall be blessed better in our name thou shalt bee more cheerefull in thy Spirit thou shalt be blessed in thy wife and in thy children at thy going out and at thy comming in in every thing so that the present wages that you shall have set aside that which is deferred for the future it is exceeding large to the New Creature there is comfort enough in the thing holinesse is reward enough to it selfe if you should have no more If a man be in strength and in health what if you put him into a Cottage what if he be put into prison he can beare it well enough If there were no more but to be made a New Creature it were enough to make your hearts to desire that condition but besides that it brings outward comforts in abundance or if you have not abundance it will make a little instead to you of a great deale So much for this because I have other things to deliver Thirdly are they inseparable Then take heed of challenging the one without the other doe not thinke that you are in Christ if you finde not that New Creature And this Doctrine is of much moment for this is that that we shall all be tried by at the last day and it is that peremptory Sentence
such change wrought in him doth delight in nothing but to doe evill to doe well he hath no pleasure Gods Commandements are burthensome to him therfore the Laws of God are too strait for him that he cannot march in them as David could not march in Sauls Armour for it was too heavie for him A man that is a New Creature doth things with facility and delight But this is not all If thy Soule be fashioned and cast into a new mould thou wilt not onely doe good things readily but well and handsomely to use our common terme when as other men bungle at good workes and know not how to turne their hand unto them They doe them indeed but as the Wiseman saith Prov. 26.7 As the legs of the lame are not equall so is a Parable in a fooles mouth When they come to doe any good Actions it is like a Parable in a fooles mouth the Parable is not fit for his mouth as when a man hath one legge longer than another he is lame so a Parable in a fools mouth is not equall to his mouth the action may be good yet he doâ—h it but lamely it is beyond his reach hee doth not doe actions as hee should but an holy man doth them as a workeman I speake not of doing of them before men but before God who judgeth righteously when he comes to performe an holy duty hee doth it as it is meet hee prayes fervently and consecrates himselfe unto the Lord with delight Hee shewes mercy with cheerefulnesse and every grace hath his peculiar property wherein the goodnesse of it consists as Faith Love and Hope are the concomitants of his actions wherein their excellencie consists whereas other men doe the same duties but not with that affection that they should and they doe it but with a dead heart they are workes of vertue and have the lineaments of true ones but they are dead workes because life is not in them Therefore consider how thou doest things the matter is not so much what thou doest as how thou doest them Againe if thou bee a New Creature thou shalt know it by thy doing of good constantly as a man that doth it naturally In Nature you know the habites and inclinations are close and neere unto us and growing in us therefore if thou doe good in thy constant practice it is a signe thy heart is changed This is the first thing there is a new frame all the bent of the faculties are changed and by this you may know it if you doe good readily with facillity and delight and constantly One thing more observe in this new Frame there is not onely a bending of the Soule to a contrary point as it were but moreover all must be changed as for example Cast any thing into a new mould there is not only one part altered but all so if you be New Creatures you must finde this in your selves that you doe not make choice in the duties of godlinesse but take all and omit nothing You must bee holy in all manner of conversation those words are added in all manner of conversation and they are much to be observed that is in all the turnings of a mans life As if he be a Magistrate hee must be exact in hearing of Causes neither to feare any mans face nor to be moved by any mans favour if hee be an husband his speeches and actions must be holy his speeches must be gratious If thou be a Subject in reverence to the King and respective to others thou must bee holy in all manner of conversation otherwise the frame is not altered this must be of necessity for that which God requires of us is the keepâ—ng of the whole Law as Iames saith Iam. 2.20 where hee speakes of keeping the Law Evangelically For whosoever shall keepe the whole Law and yet faile in one point he is guilty of all Goe thorow the whole Latitude of our obedience if in one part thou wilt favour thy selfe thou art guilty of all In the same Epistle Iam. 1.26 If any man among you seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceives his owne heart that mans Religion is in vaine That which is here said of the tongue may be said of any thing else Doest thou doe thus and thus doest thou sanctifie the Sabbath doest thou goe to God in prayer goe to all particular duties I know not what to name unto you and yet in any of these dost faile consider that the Apostle might as well have said unto thee for that thy Religion is in vaine hee speakes of keeping the Law in an Evangelicall manner a man must set himselfe to keepe every Commandement and if he doe but take liberty in any he is guilty of the whole Take this for a sure rule what God requires of us in the Gospell he gives us strength to performe but if our hearâ—s were not altogether new moulded the worke would be more than our strength therefore of necessity the heart must be altogether new moulded Therefore the Apostle saith and what he saith is common to all the Saints I can doe all things through Christ that strengthneth mee Every man that hath this new frame wrought in him may say so If thou be in Christ thou hast a new frame in thy heart which makes thee able to doe all things through Christ. Consider of this and apply it to your selves for it is a matter of much moment as the Apostle saith We are not ashamed to write unto you of these things againe and againe So it is a point we have touched before yet we will speake of it againe and again Consider with thy selfe whether there be such a generall change in thee or no for the goodnesse of a thing consists in the order else the whole is dissolved as in beauty there are two things wherein it consists the frame and order of it that we say is beautifull when the frame is good and no part is to bee admired above the rest so it is the frame and order of the Soule wherein its beauty consists when the whole frame is right and thou art inabled to doe the whole duties of new obedience Observe Gods dealing in this case when Saul had failed in one thing God cast him off But you will say this was an heard judgement did not David faile many times as well as he It is true but here is the difference Saul had a naturall heart to doe evill although his profession was good yet when he was put to the triall whether he would take the fat sheepe and the oxen he did it yet you must know it was not for that that God cast him off but because the frame of his heart was not good for hee would have done it againe and againe an hundred times over I say the disposition of his heart was evill Balaams eye unto the wages of iniquitie marred all though he kept himselfe aloft and
treasure in him that he is full of all grace Wilt thou goe poore and miserable and naked and in rags having such a full wardrobe there why dost not thou goe and sute thy selfe from top to toe Why doest not thou get grace of all sorts to adorne and beautifie thy selfe withall For all treasures are in him Why doest thou go starved hungry and thirsty drooping all the day If thou hast him he hath fatlings and fined wines he bids thee to a Feast that is there is abundance of comfort in him there be Priviledges there if you consider of them if you will feed on them as a man doth on meat you shall be comforted with them as a man refreshed with wine Consider what is in Christ and make use of it and know there is not only plenty in him but bounty too in him is all fulnesse and why is it in him not for his sake but for ours he hath filled himselfe for us and he is not only full but bountifull he hath an even hand to dispence that goodnesse therefore make use of it Now the second part of this exhortation I told you belongs to them that yet are not in him that they would be content to take the Lord Iesus for their husband for if the being in him be the ground of all salvation it is motive enough to bring you in Now you must know that the Lord offers him to you he is exposed to you if you will but take him You will say in what consists this taking It consists in these two Acts one is a perswasion that the Lord is willing to come to thee to be thy Husband to be thine The second is a resolution on thy part to be his if thou canst be content to give thy selfe up to him to serve him to love him to live no more to thy selfe but to him altogether Now when we exhort men to come into Christ it may be for the first Act you will be content to be perswaded of it that he is willing to take you though there be a difficulty in that yet it may be you will goe so farre but when you come to the second to resolve to give up your selves to him to be his for ever and to serve him in newnesse of life here every man is at a stand here men deale with God as they that were invited to the Marriage they made light of it and went their way one to his Farme another to his Oxen c. So is it here with us for the most part they make light when we offer Christ they goe about their businesse one about this vanity another about that they will not come in and take him and what shall we say to perswade men to come into Christ Indeed it is a dangerous thing to refuse to come in You are the men that are invited and we are messengers sent to invite you every man must apply this to himselfe he must thinke I am the man invited therefore I must consider what answer to give for you shall find of them that were invited and did not come not a man of them shall taste of the Supper not a man of them that was invited must com There were many thousands that were never bidden yea many hundreds that live in the Church were never bidden to the Feast that is Christ was never clearely offered to them but when Christ is propounded to you as you know he hath oft beene this is the very bidding of you to the Supper Take you heed of refusing It may be many others there are that were never bidden but when you have beene bidden take heed not a man of them that have been bidden and refused shall â—aste of the Supper Now you know wee are bid while wee are in this life this is the time of grace but yet when a man refuseth this bidding at this time or at any other time take heed lest he bid you no more he sent no more to them that refused Let them alone and they shall be slaine before me But howsoever our businesse is to compell you to come in that is by strong arguments by reasoning with you by perswading you effectuall to come in Therefore consider these Motives First you shall find rest to your soules Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavie laden and you shall finde rest Matth. 11.28 29. Rest is that which every man would have For Sinne is a wearinesse to the Soule it wearies you with the guilt of it with the taint and corruption of it You shall find rest unto your soules that is if you were in me once you should have your sinnes forgiven you Which David magnified in Psal. 32.1 Blessed is he whose sinne is covered But you will say this is a small mercy you shall have your sinnes forgiven will this move men to come in who cares for forgivenesse of sinnes if we should come and make offer to men that they should be free from crosses and troubles that they shall have present benefit and honours and riches that were a motive indeed to bring men to Christ Thou foole if thy sins be forgiven thee shall not all misery be taken away Is not sinne the first linke of the chaine the first wheele that drawes on all thy miseries If thy sinnes be forgiven all thy miseries shall bee scattered all those clouds shall be dispersed Therefore the Scripture compares Sin to a Cloud What hinders good things from thee but sinne When a mans sins be forgiven him he shall have them in abundance Be of good comfort saith he Thy sinnes be forgiven thee Till then a mans heart is never filled with comfort but as I said it is clouded with many discomforts sorrowes and perplexities therefore they are compared to clouds because they shal be dispersed as clouds when thy sinnes are forgiven thee all thy life after is as a Sun-shine day when all the clouds are scattered Therefore Be of good comfort Againe thou hast boldnesse by it The Innocent is bold as a Lion thou art bold with God For thou commest with boldnesse unto the Throne of Grace and thou hast boldnesse when thou hast to doe with men when trouble and persecution comes then art thou as bold as a Lion when thy sinnes are forgiven thee Againe when thou commest to beare any affliction it is nothing when sinne is forgiven for sinne is the sting of affliction and what is the Serpent when the sting is gone Affliction is nothing death is nothing you see what they were to Saint Paul imprisonment and death were nothing to him because the sting was taken away In a word thou art a blessed man if thy sinnes bee once taken away David saith Blessed is hee whose sinnes are forgiven When David looked round about and considered who was blessed he pitched on this Blessed is the man whose sinne is forgiven If some other had looked about him hee would
same reason why they should not be poore in their spirituall estate For to what end serve riches Riches serve but for this purpose to procure things needfull for us if we want bread or wine or houses or any thing riches will procure them and therefore we prize riches And so likewise there are spirituall riches that will procure things needfull for our soules and if we want them we shall want that that is profitable for us we shall want that that is necessary for our salvation For riches doe but set men a worke to doe us service riches can doe no more than men can doe but these spirituall riches set God a worke to doe us good they are beyond the other as much as the help of God goes beyond the helpe of man when you need any thing If you be rich in Christ if you be rich in grace if you be rich in good workes it is but putting up your request and you shall have it at the hand of God if you want them you shall have whatsoever he is able to doe for you Now if you be out of Christ saith the Text you are poore that is you want these spirituall riches you have no ground to goe and to make your suit to goe for any thing Againe riches stand us in stead in the time of need for why doe men lay up treasures that when dearth comes when there comes a time of need the riches that they have laid up may serve their turne they may have those ready for their use when other men want them Are not these riches for the same purpose Will there not come a day of need will there not come a time of spending when there will be no leasure to gather at the day of death Then all the seed sowen to the spirit all the good workes that we have laid up will be as a treasure and at that time will do us good And that is the difference between the death of a godly man and another when a wicked man comes to the time of need he hath nothing to sustaine him he hath no oile left in his lampe he hath nothing to helpe him up but the godly man hath a treasure that he hath gathered all his life was to lay up a treasure And this my Brethren you shall finde to be a great comfort at that time that when you come to die all the faithfull prayers that you have made all the good workes that you have done all the sincerity that you have shewed in denying your selves in passing by the things that worldly men catch at in doing things that it may be hath brought trouble and slander and disgrace and persecution on you you shall then find it a treasure Take two men when they come to that day the one rich in this world another rich in good workes and consider which of these two conditions you would choose and therefore it is not a small matter to be rich Now when you are in Christ you are rich out of him you are poore and have nothing to stand you in stead in the time of need Againe this a man hath by riches that he is independant he needs not to serve others and therefore you know the proverbe is that a rich man he can live by others and without others and that is it they boast of So it is with all the Saints they may say to all the world they can live without it because they have God to be theirs they have all his treasures open to them they have enough in him for he is all-sufficient though they have but him alone for their portion yet he is enough as he saith to Abraham I am all-sufficient and why there are but two things that a man can desire to be free from evill and to enjoy good saith hee I am thy Buckler to keepe thee from evill and thy exceeding great reward to give good to thee that is thou shalt have enough if thou enjoy me Now if you be out of Christ you shall be poore that is you shall want these riches you want the riches of grace and of good workes that should stand you in stead in the time of need which will fetch any thing in for you when you want it which will make you more independant and stand upon your owne bottomes which is that that every man desires Againe if you be out of Christ you are naked Nakednesse is a want of that which should adorne us which should beautifie us and that is the case of every man out of Christ there is no beauty in him It is the Lord only that cloaths us with beauty As it is said of Saul Weepe for Saul yee Daughters of Ierusalem for hee clothed you with Scarlet and did hang ornaments of gold upon your apparell It may be truly said of Christ that he cloaths us with scarlet and hangs ornaments of gold on our apparell that is it is he that makes us Priests to his Father Now the Priests in the old Law were but a type of us we are the true Priests indeed you know they had Iewels and embroidered garments and so all the Saints have the shining graces of the Spirit which adorne and beautifie them when a man becomes so beautified then his sight is comely his voice is pleasant and his prayers are acceptable This benefit we have by being in Christ that it makes us comely in the sight of the Lord we shall be made beautifull Indeed Salomon in all his Royalty was not so beautifull as one of the Saints It is said the Lilies are much better cloathed than he And why Because that was a cloathing of Gods own work this is the clothing of Nature but the cloathing of Grace goes beyond the clothing of Nature If the clothing of Nature be beyond that of Salomon as indeed it is for naturall excellencie surely the cloathing of Grace goes beyond that this you shall have by Christ when you come to him you come to a rich Wardrobe where you may sute your selves from top to tooe that you need want nothing and by the way that use you may make of it when you come to him where there are garments of all sorts where there is change of rayment why should you suffer your soules to be naked in any part I know you reckon it undecent for a man to be unevenly cloathed to have some garments rich and precious and to have some vâ—le and base and why will you suffer your soules then to goe so unequally clad It may be you have graces in one kind but you want others if you come in to him it is he that cloaths you you are naked without him this benefit you shall have by him you shall be cloathed and be made beautifull you shall have that glorious attire that will make you glorious within which will make you comely in the sight of God if not you shall be naked and therefore you shall be rejected
be Wine Christ saith he will not drinke of the fruit of the Vine by which he meanes the very wine which was before in the Sacrament and therefore certainly they finde nothing that affirmes it Besides if it were the meaning of Christ This is my body what is the reason the Disciples never asked any question about it What is the reason the Fathers that followed in the first times spake not of such a thing I need not trouble you with that Now you shall finde all along from the first that the Fathers make no such mention of that but not to stand to presse this further because I see the time passeth and this thing I intend not to stand on You see therefore the falsenesse of this opinion that this Communion of the bloud of Christ and of the body of Christ should be through any reall corporall Transubstantiation But what is it then We are to distinguish betweene the inward and the outward action there need no more but that with the outward action with the mouth of the body we take the bread and wine and with the inward action that is by faith wee take the very body and bloud of Christ these we distinguish these they confound But I say we agree in the thing we say Christ is communicated to us in the Sacrament as truly and really as they only there is difference in the manner we say it is spiritually they say it is corporally For what is the Sacrament to open it to you and so I will come to make some use to you This Sacrament is nothing else but the Seale of the Gospell of the new Covenant and it is indeed nothing else but a visible Gospell for what is the Gospell the Gospell is but an offer of Christ to all that will take him for remission of sinnes now the same thing which the Gospell preacheth to the eare the same the Sacrament preacheth to the eye that is in the Sacrament there is an offer of Christ to us Take and eat that is take Christ whose body was broken and whose bloud was shed for you take him for remission of sinnes I say the same is done only the Gospell presents it to us under audible words and the Sacrament presents it to us under visible signes this is all the difference If we would know what the Sacrament is consider what the Gospell is and the Covenant and you shall know what this is for it is but a Scale but a memoriall of the Gospell now what is this Gospell It is nothing but this when God looked on mankinde as fallen in Adam he tooke a resolution in himselfe to recover them againe by giving his Sonne to them Now this must be manifested to men therefore he sends his messengers to declare to the sonnes of men to let them know their estate by nature and to tell them that he hath given them his Sonne to save them from their â—innes and to reconcile them to himselfe to give them title to the kingdome from the hope of which they were fallen this is one part of the Gospell this promise which he hath made which I say is nothing else but a meere office of Christ. But there is another part which is the condition required on our part when Christ is thus given you must serve him and love him and obey him and turne from all your evill wayes you must be his as he is yours now when this covenant and agreement is made betweene us he puts his Seale to it this Sacrament of the Lords Supper As Iacob and Laban when they had made an agreement one with another that they should not hurt one another they pitched stones upon an heape This shall be a witnesse betweene us that is if either of us breake the bargaine let this heape witnesse that there was such a covenant made And as God himselfe did when he made a covenant with Noah that the waters should no more overflow the earth he set his bow in the clouds and that was a witnesse that when I see the Bow in the cloud if I goe about to drowne the earth againe with water let this witnesse against me So in the Passeover when he made a promise that the destroying Angell should spare them he commands them that they should sprinkle the doore-cheekes with bloud that when he sees the bloud that witnesse might secure them that the Lord would remember what he had promised when hee had seene that And as among men when a man conveyes either lands or money to another man they use to confirme the bargaine with seales or with some signe or memoriall that when they forget the bargaine or deny it or goe about to breake it it may be said to them This is your hand and seale the thing is done you have past it it cannot be recalled if you doe this will witnesse against you So the Lord here when he hath made his Covenant with us I will give you my Sonne And you againe shall give your selves up to him he puts his hand and seale to it as it were he addes this Sacrament that will be a witnesse against him if he should go about to breake his covenant as it is a witnesse against us if we breake the Covenant of faith and repentance that is required on our part You see therefore what the Sacrament is it is nothing but the Seale of the Gospell presenting that to the eye which the Gospell presents to the eare for it presents God as it were he comes with Christ in his hand saying this to us This is my Son his body is broken for you and his bloud shed for you take Him let Him be yours only remember that you serve him that you love him that you obey him againe and let this Sacrament be a signe and a witnesse betweene us so that as the Gospell hath two parts one is a relation of all that Christ hath done and another is the giving and offering Christ to us so in this Sacrament there is a representing of Christ he was crucified his body was broken his bloud was shed and a deed of gift is delivered of Christ to us Take and eat And therefore know that it is not a bare signe but it is a signe of the Covenant and there is a difference betweene those two to say the Sacrament is a signe of Christ and a signe of the Covenant even as there is a great difference betweene the wax that only bears the impression of an image stamped upon it and betweene that which is a seale to a Deed that is a signe of the covenant or bargaine and agreement for that gives interest into the thing that gives Title to the thing that conveyes the thing to us that binds the owner perpetually to the performance of the thing so the Sacrament is not a naked signe representing this act of Christ but it gives us interest not only into some benefits no he saith not you shall have
remission of sinnes or you shall have adoption but he saith Take this is my body By body is meant whole Christ by a Synecdoche we have Christ and all things else What use are we to make of this Surely it is of great use many wayes First we must make this use of it which is the maine end of the Sacrament to confirme our faith in the assurance of the forgivenesse of our sinnes as likewise to renew our Covenant and the Condition required on our part when God hath said he is willing to pardon our sinnes if he had but barely said it it had beene enough God cannot lye But lest it should not be enough he hath not only said it but he hath sworne it Hebr. 6. He hath sworne by himselfe that by two immutable things we might have strong consolation Being willing saith the Apostle to shew to the heires of Promise the stablenesse of his Councell he bound himselfe with an oath but yet lest that should not be enough he hath added seales to it he hath given the inward seale of the Spirit and the outward seale of the Sacrament as if he should say I have promised to forgive you your sinnes let the Sacrament witnesse against me if I performe it not Here by the way observe how difficult a thing it is for us to beleeve you may thinke it an easie thing when you are in health when you are well but when death comes when temptation comes when trouble of conscience comes I say you shall finde it a difficult thing you shall finde a need of all these helpes for certainly God sweares not in vaine he would not have bound himselfe with an oath to be ready to forgive sinnes if there were not exceeding need of such helpes to confirme us and therefore you have need to set your selves more diligently about it make this use of the Sacrament labour to confirme your selves in this assurance So that as the Apostle saith You may have strong consolation that is when the temptations of Satan shall assault you with objections to the contrary you may be strong and not shaken And why should you be doubtfull if we should a little reason with you that you may receive the fruit of this for why should you feare it For first the Lord professeth I would not the death of a sinner as I live And why will you die oh you house of Israel What is the meaning of this but to shew that the Lord hath an exceeding great desire earnestly longs to save the soules of men Indeed he saith not that he will give every one grace to come in but if he doe As I live saith the Lord I will not his death that is I am ready to forgive him Besides this consider what a man is ready to doe consider how tender-hearted fathers and mothers are to their children if we finde so much mercy there consider how much there is in God that mercy that is in us is but a drop to the Ocean it is but a beame to the fulnesse that is in him If you that are evill can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father doe it Againe consider if the Lord were not ready to shew mercy to you that Christ should not be of none effect that is the bloud of Christ should be shed in vaine And doe you thinke the Lord would send his Sonne to suffer death and to suffer it in vaine and that should be in vaine if he should not be ready to receive men to mercie when they come to seeke it at his hands besides if the Lord should not doe this no flesh should be saved Psal. 130.1 saith the Psalmist there If thou Lord shouldest marke all that is done amisse who could stand The meaning is this if the Lord should not be ready to doe this which he hath given to the Sacrament to confirme namely to forgive sinnes if he should not be ready to doe it if he should mark straitly what is done amisse who could stand that is who should be saved Now certainly the Lord hath made man for that purpose many shall be saved none were made for damnation Besides there is another argument There is mercy with thee that thou mightest be feared Feare is taken for the worship of God that is if the Lord should not receive men none would worship him none would serve him when there is no hope take away all hope take away all endeavour If this will not perswade you consider what the Lord hath done for others how many thousands of others have had their sinnes forgiven and then thinke had he mercy for such and such and hath he not mercy enough for me Hath not Christ taken thy nature as well as theirs If all this will not perswade you consider how mercifull Christ was in the dayes of his flesh he was exceeding gentle easie to be entreated you shall never finde that there was any that asked at his hands but he granted it And thinke you that he is lesse pitifull now to mens soules than he was to their bodies Doe you thinke that now he is in heaven he hath laid aside his mercifull disposition No Hebr. 4. We have a mercifull high Priest that is touched with our infirmities that is ready to forgive Oh but my sinnes are exceeding great what though they be is not the Lords mercy exceeding is it not like the mighty Sea that drownes mountaines aswell as mole-hils My sins are of divers sorts what if they be in the Lord there is multitudes of mercies as many as thou hast sinnes I but they have oft beene repeated I have oft fallen into them againe and againe What if thou hast Is not his mercies renewed every morning And Zachary 15.1 There is a fountaine opened for the house of Iudah and Ierusalem to wash in Not a cisterne but a fountaine that is as there is a spring of sinne in us so there is a spring of mercy in God there is no end of his mercy therefore doubt not in regard of that But againe I am unfit if I were fit and ready for this I might receive fruit from the Sacrament but I am unfit Why If thou thought's thy selfe fit thou shouldest not have it even therefore because thou feelest thy selfe unfit the rather thou shalt be received to mercy the Lord lookes for this aâ— thy hands that we find and feele such â—â—fiâ—resse in our selves the more we are humbled the lesse we find in our selves the more ready the Lord is to receive us to mercy Besides this very unfitnesse I would aske thee but what iâ— is Is it not sinne If all sinnes be forgiven if the pardon be generall then it is contained among the rest and shall not be any impediment And therefore make this use when you come to the Sacrament thinke not that God is backward to forgive that he will not be as good as his word certainly he will and know this
thankfull was he how was he affected how would a man be affected in such a case So I say that is our condition we have cause to looke for nothing but death thereupon comes the Gospell that comes and offers life that overcomes with kindnesse as it were the Lord comes and tels us Well notwithstanding all this you shall be received to mercy goe Take this is my body which is given for you I say this would move an ingenious disposition You know Mary Magdalen was moved with this when she was such a sinner and saw that God had received her in that manner that melted her heart so that she watred his feet with her teares So should we be affected if we did seriously consider the greatnesse of CHRISTS love I will give you my body and my bloud this is a great thing if we were able to consider it aright that the Lord should give us his body and his bloud There is no love like this Hee hath loved me saith Paul and hath given himselfe for mee And this is that indeed which should bee the most effectuall motive of all others that there is a pardon that Christ still makes offer of to you indeed there is nothing else brings us into Christ but this other things may prepare us but nothing brings us in but this You know a Pirate as long as a proclamation of rebellion is out against him will not come in but a pardon being promised and advancement annexed to it that if any thing will bring him in The theefe runnes away as long as he is pursued with Hue and Crie but the promise of pardon makes him returne back So I say it is not the Law that brings you in that may prepare you but it is this Gospell for as I told you the Sacrament preacheth the Gospell to the eye as we doe to the eare and when mercy is promised when a pardon is promised a generall pardon without exception of persons or sinnes my thinkes this should affect you and bring you in As it is said Ier. 3. Saith the Lord If one of you have put away his wife will he returne to her againe No but you have played the harlot in many places and many times and yet returne to me saith the Lord And so I may say to every man that hears me though thy sins be never so great like that sin of Idolatry like that sin of playing the Harlot though that were frequently committed though it were done oft many times yet returne saith the Lord if thou wilt come in thou shalt be pardoned and not so only but whosoever receiveth me saith Christ shall be made the sonne of God Consider this be affected with it let it not be in vaine unto you when you heare those patheticall speeches 1 Iohn He came to his owne and his owne received him not And againe Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thee c. I say when you heare these things it may be you thinke with your selves these were rebellious people to use Christ thus you thinke if it had beene the case if you had beene there among them you would not have done it Well I say it is the case of every man that continues in any knowne sin Christ offers himselfe we make offer of him when we preach the Gospell in the Sacrament he is offered he is made like a common dole all may come that will and certainly all that hunger doe come but when thou goest on still in thy sinnes thou art one of them to whom Christ is come and thou wilt not receive him thou art one of them whom he would gather and thou wilt not No but thou wilt goe on thou takest the Grace of GOD in vaine thou tramplest the bloud of CHRIST IESUS under-foot as a common thing thou doest what thou canst that the death of CHRIST should be of no effect thou recompencest to the Lord evill for good doest thou thinke that the LORD will beare this at thy hands No surely he will be revenged on such a man on such a people as this But you will say it is an hard thing to doe this that you exhort us to And therefore that I may not onely shew you what the duty is without affording you some helpe to doe it we will adde some things that may invite you to come in And take Christ thus offered in the Sacrament and which is continually offered by and in the Gospell And what is it that should invite you But two things to goe no furâ—her one is the misery out of Christ the second is the happinesse you shall have by him And that is the businesse we have principally to doe at this time that we might invite you to take the body and bloud of Christ that is to take the Lord himselfe who is offered effectually and freely to you He makes proclamation to all that will come and take of the waters of life freely Now if we consider what should invite the sons of men to come in these two things will doe it their misery out of Christ and their happinesse by him As the Prodigall what did invite him to come home The misery he was in he saw he could not live he could not get huskes to sustaine him On the otherside in his fathers house there was bread enough those two together wrought on him and brought him home So we when we invite men to the marâ—iage of â—he Kings Sonne that is to marry the Sonne himselfe What should we say to invite them We bring them to consider on the one side I cannot live without Christ I am undone I perish if I doe Againe on the otherside by matching with him I shall have all by Grace that he hath by Nature I shall be a son of God a King and heire of all things I shall have all that Christ hath I say these two should invite us to come in and therefore we will doe these two First shew you the misery you are in out of Christ Iohn 3.18 saith the Evangelist there He that beleeves not in Christ is condemned alreadie Marke he needs not a new condemnation but he that beleeves not in Christ is condemned already He that hath not the Sonne hath not life Is not this misery enough to be in a state of condemnation Iohn 5. Hee that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him And what is that wrath of God If the wrath of a King be a messenger of Death what think you of the wrath of God Who knowes the power of his wrath Rom. 9. What if he will to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne suffer with patience the vessels of wrath appointed to destruction that is when the Lord shall come to execute his wrath on evill men he will use all the power he hath to execute the fiercenesse of his wrath on them And therefore it is a terrible thing to be subject to the wrath of God But
Christ which goes farre beyond the pompe and plenty and abundance of any other Kingdome But besides this That you shall have the liberty the plenty and abundance of Kings you shall likewise have the power of Kings as the Apostle saith The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power that is you shall not onely say I wish I could live a holy life as others doe I wish I could mortifie such and such lusts I wish I could abstaine from such sinnes and doe such duties but you shall have power and ability to doe them I am able to doe all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthens me Againe besides this you shall have the victory of Kings you shall be overcome of nothing to be in disgrace to be in Prison is not to be overcome But to be diverted from a mans way to be put besides his intention to fall from a mans stedfastnesse this is to be overcome Thus saith the Apostle We are in poverty but not overcome Such Kings were all the Apostles they marched as Kings in the world they triumphed over all the oppositions they found they tread under foot Satan and the power of the Enemie Againe besides all this you shall have the glory of Kings For what are you when you come to Christ but sonnes of God heires apparant in Psal. 45. Princes in all Lands others are but Princes in their owne dominion but he will make you Princes in all Lands But you will say we see no such things No but Eccles. 10. You are Princes though you walke on foot as servants and they are but servants although they ride on horse-backe like Princes Therefore 1 Ioh. 3. You are the sons of God but it appeares not yet what you shall be When we have acted our part and are gone off the stage when the part that we have sustained shall be taken from us and them then they shall appeare that they are servants and that those that are come into Christ are Princes You will say This were a goodly thing if it were a reall Kingdome but these are imaginary things I answer it is not so the kingdome of Christ is as reall as these outward externall kingdoms are and why should it be worse esteemed because it consists not in outward things for what is the body but the sheath the sachell the shell of the soule it is the soule that is the man the perfecting of the soule is perfecting of the man Therefore the kingdome that is spirituall must needs be beyond that which is outward and corporall especially such a kingdome as this that consists not in the titles of authority but is such a kingdome as the wise Philosopher speakes of saith he Some nature hath made Kings as the Eagle the king of birds the Lion the king of beasts there is an excellencie in some and those Nature hath made Kings I say such Kings Christ will make you for when the Kingdome of Grace comes into the heart it puts a Royall disposition into you it makes you excell other men as much as Eagles excell other birds as much as Lions excell other beasts as much as Lilies exceed other flowers such a Kingdome you shall have if you will come into Christ you shall have the liberty of Kings the abundance and plenty of Kings the power of Kings the victory of Kings and the glory of Kings And this is the fourth thing you shall have by him if you will come in and take him But is this all you shall have by him No You shall not have an empty kingdom but you shall have riches with it Christ will make you rich and Riches you know is that which all the world seekes after In Revel 3. I counsell thee come and buy gold tried by the fire that thou mayest be rich And Revel 2. to the Church of Smerna I know thy poverty but thou art rich Luke 12. Such are those that are rich in the world and not rich towards God So that there is another kinde of Riches the Riches that Christ gives And what are those Riches are but a Metaphor that is you shall have abundance of good things for if we have much if it be drosse it is not Riches if we have gold if we have little it is not riches but when there is that which is precious and abundance of it then it is said to be Riches I say you shall have abundance of good things by Christ. But you will say what are those First you shall be made rich in all graces in faith in love in patience in temperance in meeknesse these are riches these graces you shall have from him that shall make you ready to every good worke as you have it 2 Tim. 2. You shall be vessels of honour prepared for every good worke It is a Metaphor taken from vessels that as you would take any vessell as a Salt or a Spoone or a Cup they are fit and ready for your service that they are applyed to So if you would know what you shall have by these Graces when we tell you shall have Grace they shall fashion and fit your hearts as vessels are fitted for the doing of all the duties of new obedience this you shall have by grace and without these graces you are able to do nothing as without the faculty of hearing without the faculty of seeing without the faculty of memory you are not able to doe any of these but with them you are able to doe them with facility without wearinesse A man that hath the faculty of seeing sees easily the eye is not weary of seeing nor the eare of hearing This benefit you shall have you shall be made rich in these graces that shall make you ready to every good work it shall fill your lives with the fruits of righteousnesse As when a tree is full of sap it will soone bee filled with blossomes and with fruite So will you when you are rich in grace therefore the Saints are said to be rich in all speech Why For they were rich in knowledge first and every grace that is the way to make you rich to be rich in grace But is this all No you shall likewise be rich in good works as Christ saith Iohn 15. Without me you can doe nothing but by me you shall be able to doe all things But you will say what are these riches worth to bee rich in grace and to bee rich in good workes They are much worth every manner of way for first why doe you prize riches but because they can procure any thing that you need If you need Wine if you need Bread if you need apparell if you need convenient houses riches you know will procure them of the hands of those that have them when you want them So these riches will procure at the hands of God what you need If you need counsell in difficult cases if you need
Master you must take him for your husband so as to bee divorced from all other lovers for this know that Christ and good fellowship that Christ and fornication Christ and swearing Christ and ambition Christ and serving your selves and the times will not stand together you must be divorced from all these If you will have Christ you must take him as a husband to be to him a love to love him to have your wils subject to his will you must take him for better for worse you must take him with all variety of conditions denying your selves and taking up your crosse and following him if you take him thus you shall have him and when you shall have him you shall have all things with him As Christ saith to his father We are one thou in mee and I in thee and then all mine are thine and thine are mine So wee may say every one that takes Christ is made one with him all Christs is yours and yours is his that is hee takes your names hee takes your debts and you beare his name and have interest in all that is his what he hath by nature you have by grace and when you have him once then you may bee bold to come and take these Elements of Bread and Wine but if you have not him then know that you are but intruders upon the Lords Table for his Table is provided for his friends and if his enemies and strangers come in and intrude on it hee will not take it at your hands but command you to be bound hand and foote and to bee cast out I say consider therefore the offers of Christ are large you that are to receive the Sacrament at this time or at any other time I say consider it if you have Christ himselfe then you may boldly come if you have not the Lord you have nothing to doe with these And know if it was such a fearefull thing to touch the Arke which was but a type of Christ and had but a legall holinesse in it that God struck Vzziah with death because he was so bold as to doe it If it were so dangerous a thing to meddle with common fire as we see in Nabab and Abihu that was but a type of this what will it be when wee shall dare to take the body of the Lord Iesus not being worthily prepared Hee is the substance there is the holynesse of which that was but a type therefore take heed of medling with them except you have taken him indeed except you have changed your hearts except you be new Creatures except you have the Lord himselfe you may not meddle with the Bread and Wine the Sacrament of his body and bloud and so I end FINIS THE TABLE A Abilitie MEN excuse their sin from want of Ability Part 1 Page 223 Ability of Christ to sanctifie us 2 31 Accusing Conscience corrupt in the office of Accusing 1 56 Actions Corruption in our Actions 1 73 Actions of carnall men 1 153 Actions of naturall men defective in two things 1 159 Intention of Action in zeale 1 285 Activenesse Activenesse of conscience corrupted 1 56 Adam God just in requiring of us according to that he gave to Adam 1 38 Adams sinne charged on us ibid. Two conditions of Adam 2 38 Our condition in Christ better than it was in Adam 2 154 See Borne Affections Affections corrupted 1 63 Affections must be wrought upon in the performance of duties 1 251 God esteemes us according to our Affections 1 67 What should draw our Affections to God 1 265 Zeale a stirring up of the Affections 1 285 Want of Affections to God argues want of zeale 1 289 Worke of the Spirit upon the Affections 2 12 Afflictions Forgivenesse of sinnes takes the sting out of Afflictions 2 188 Altered Nature cannot be Altered 2 97 Custome hardly Altered 2 123 Alike All sinnes not Alike 1 275 All. Carnall men doe many duties but not All 1 159 Anger Difference betweene hatred and Anger 1 290 Zeale for the Church acceptable to God when hee is Angrie with it 1 293 Apparell Apparell one benefit by Christ 3 93 What that Apparell is 3 94 How to make use of this Apparell 3 97 Apprehesion The Apprehension makes happie or miserable 1 241 Assurance Assurance encreased by humiliation 1 31 Authoritie To preach with Authoritie what 2 163 B Baptisme BAptisme tends to sanctification 2 21 Beleever Beleeving Difference betweene temporarie and true Beleevers 2 47 Beleeving difficult 3 19 Blindnesse Blindnesse of mans understanding 1 44 Why mans understanding is Blinde ibid. Boldnesse Excesse of Boldnesse how prevedted 1 291 Forgivenesse of sin causeth Boldnesse 2 188 Bondage Spirit of Bondage an help against sinfull excuses 1 108 Spirit of Bondage how it works 1 109 Borne Those that are saved by the second Adam are Borne of him 2 18 Burthen Sinne in what respect a Burthen 2 190 Businesse Too much Businesse a great impediment 1 207 C Causes GOd workes by second Causes 1 263 Change How to know we are Changed 2 109 To give God the praise of our Change 2 144 Christ. What keepes men from Christ 1 11.2 23 What makes us prize Christ 1 81 End of our ingraffing into Christ 2 19 Sanctification by the bloud of Christ 2 21 How to take Christ 2 73 What should move us to love Christ 2 156 Before we are new Creatures we are in Christ 2 169 To be in Christ what 2 171 Priviledges of being in Christ 2 174 See Righteous Church Pillars of the Church 1 286 Want of zeale for the Church 1 292 Danger of wronging the Church 1 293 Directions what we must doe for the Church 1 294 Circumstance Consideration of Circumstances helpe Humiliation 1 28 Circumstances aggravating sinne 1 89 Civill Difference betweene prophane and Civill men 1 127 Clearenesse Clearenesse of conscience corrupted 1 55 Cloud Sin like a stormie Cloud 1 174 Coldnesse Coldnesse provokes God as much as sinne 1 284 Combate Combate to be expected of Christians 2 137 Difference of the Combate in Christians and others 2 138 Comfort Comfort the end of the Scriptures 1 2 Sanctification for our Comfort 2 89 Comfort from the change of Nature 2 121 Comming The end of Christs Comming 1.20.2 20 Compell The Spirit Compels men to come in 2 7 Communion Communion of Saints sets the truth at liberty 1 174 Communication Communication of the body and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament 3 2 See Truth Condemnation Imprisoning Truth brings great Condemnation 1 136 God just in the Condemnation of men 1 234 Conflict Conflict in carnall men 1 153 Conflict in wicked men failing in foure things 1 60 Content He that trusts in God is Content with him only 1 258 Conscience Conscience corrupted by nature 1 45 Wherein Conscience is corrupted 1 55.56 Signe of a good Conscience 1 57 Conscience in naturall men may doe many things 1 152 Conscience good in two respects 1 156 Contrary Contrariety Contrariety of
successe in doubtfull businesse if you need health when you are sicke these riches will fetch them in for you as they did to Hezekias when he was sicke Lord thou knowest that I have served thee with a perfect heart And what then Therefore give me health and hee prevailed it will bring you friendship when you need it from your enemies that can hurt you and are ready to doe you hurt as Iacob you know what a feare he was in of Esau but when hee went to God hee prevailed with him When you are in the jawes of death and would have life this will procure it at Gods hands as it oft did to David Psal. 116. When the snares of death had compassed me about I sought unto thee and thou deliveredst me I say this you shall have by these riches whatsoever you want it will fetch in to you For as it is said sin lyes at the doore to doe you hurt at one time or another So you may say of grace of the good workes you have done they will doe you good one time or another for as it was with Cornelius his prayer and his good workes came into remembrance before the Lord when it may be himselfe had forgotten them So I say God will remember all these and as ye therefore reckon riches precious because they will set men a worke to doe you service to doe you kindnesses and Riches can doe no more than men can doe and they are precious because they set men a worke these set God a worke and they will do as much for you as God can doe Now these are riches indeed as farre exceeding the others as the helpe and power of God doth exceed the helpe and power of man because they set God a worke they will fetch from the Lord whatsoever you have need of But besides this I say they can doe much for you every manner of way Another property of riches is to make a man undependant to make him stand on his bottome as rich men say I can live by you and without you So those that are rich in grace and good workes they may say to the world and to the shop of vanity in it as Paul saith They are drosse I have better things provided I can live by you and without you this you shall have by Christ and there is no way to have independance but this but besides this is our comfort beyond all that these riches will stand you instead in the day of dearth For why doe men gather treasure but for a day of dearth for a time of poverty for a time of necessity for hee saith then my treasure will stand me in stead I say such treasure is this that you have by Christ when death comes which is a time of spending and not of gathering then this treasure shall stand by you to sustaine you to comfort you to uphold you all this you shall have by these riches that Christ gives you and this is a small thing Take two men when death comes when the time of need comes take one that is rich to the world and another that is rich to God and rich in good workes now by good workes by the way know that I meane not almes-deeds onely for that is the errour of Papists but by good workes I meane also the laying up of many faithfull prayers the keeping of simplicity and sincerity in all our conversation the keeping of a cleare conscience to God and men the serving of God with a perfect heart these are the riches I say Take two men the one rich in these kinde of riches another that is rich to the world when these two die which of the two riches would you chuse I say this is a thing that may win you to come in to Christ he will make you rich you shall have treasures layd up you shall bee rich in grace and in all good workes But is this all No you shall be rich in all kinds of blessings in all kinds of comforts in all kinds of priviledges it may bee this will winne you more In 1 Cor. 3.23 Paul is yours and Apollos is yours the world life death things present and things to come they are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Marke there is nothing but a Catalogue an Inventory of a Christians riches saith hee Paul and Apollos What are these all the gifts and learning that they have it is for your sakes they are your servants they are but men that watch over you for your salvation all the excellent gifts that God hath given to the sonnes of men they are but your riches But is this all No the world is yours and all in it You will say we finde not this for who hath the world at will Who amongst the Saints Though you have not yet the misery that you finde in the world the want of wealth as well as the enjoying of it is yours that is it tends to your advantage all is but for you As in the field of wheat we may sow all is for the wheates sake the soyle is for the wheate the Husbandman is for the wheate the stalk the eare the dew the barne the threshing all is to serve the wheate so wee may say of a Christian in this world The world it selfe that is the field is but for the wheate for Christians the Husband-men Paul and Apollos and Cephas are but for you And if you object but alas wee have many bitter â—â—ormes and afflictions for all you make these promises unto us It is very true but all these are for the wheate as you know the wheate must have a summer and a winter it must have frost and snow it must have wet and drie or else it will not ripen no more will you you must have weale and woe you must have affliction as well as prosperity but this is for your comfort all is for you the world is yours Is this all No life is yours death is yours that is this life is nothing but a fitting a preparing a squaring of you for a better life for eternity Why But death is terrible No it is your advantage for you shall dye just then when it is best for you death shall serve but as a servant for your advantage That as a man would have a tree that should grow he lops it just in the time and season but trees that hee would have destroyed he cuts them at any time All the Saints have this comfort that death comes for their advantage God cuts them not downe he lops them not he puts not in the sickle till they be just ripe for death is theirs and lest this should not be enough he saith things present and things to come are yours Men will say you promise for eternity indeed but what doe ye for the present Why godlinesse hath the promise of the present life Yea but if it be well