and word of Christ no Decree of God shall ever hurt him 2. Though the Decree of God be as determinate in other matters as in that of Salvation and Damnation yet no man rests upon that God hath fixed the period of every mans life His days are determined Job 14.5 the number of his months is with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Now will any man neglect his meals because God hath determined his days Will he say If I eat and drink I shall live never the longer if I never eat more I shall not dye a day the sooner There is no man so bereft of sense as to leave his life upon the decree of God without using means to preserve it for 3. The Decree is not only of the end but also of the means Faith and obedience are as much decreed by God as eternal life Hence ye read of being chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thess 2.13 And the Apostle to the Ephesians says God hath chosen us in him viz. Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy Ephes 1.4 Holiness is as much decreed as happiness There is no such thing in all the Scripture as Election to Salvation separate from faith and holiness The means and the end go together the Scripture is not made up only of promises for the incouragement of hope but of directions for the furtherance of holiness And therefore 4. Though the Kingdom of Heaven be prepared by the Decree Matt. 29.34 yet it must be sought by an early diligence in duty Though it is Gods good pleasure to give it Luk. 12.32 Matt. 6.33 yet it must be our work to seek it though it be designed for us yet it must suffer violence by us and we must take it by force Matt. 11.12 or we shall never injoy it notwithstanding Gods choice and Christs purchase The land of Canaan a type of Heaven was a land of Promise but yet they cannot possess upon the promise without fighting their way to the inheritance 5. In the day of Judgment God will not proceed with men upon Election and Reprobation but upon their obedience or disobedience to his Law He will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour Rom. 2.7 8.9 and immortality eternal life But to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath It is said God will judge the world in righteousness Acts 17.31 Now righteousness in judgment is to distribute to every one according to his works God will vindicate the justice of his proceedings in that day by making the Word the rule of his Judgment to all that are under it John 12.48 And every mans Conscience a witness in the case Rom. 2.15 Let no man therefore deceive himself by groundless conclusions about the secret Decrees of God and so indulge himself in a sinful neglect of duty to the eternal ruine of his Soul Object 2. Another stumbling-block that lies in the way of young ones to hinder their taking up the Yoke of Christ is this That early Religion seldom comes to any thing They that mind Religion young seldom hold out long A young Saint and an old Devil * Angelicus juvenis senibus satanizat in annis Answ The design of the Devil and wicked men in this Objection is to decry early holiness as if it were time enough to seek after God and grace when we are dropping into the grave Now to such I would say three things Answ 1. This Objection is founded upon a notorious falshood for it supposes that true grace is utterly loosable that a Child of God may perish for ever which the Scripture doth expresly consute Where the seed of God is once sowed in the heart it never dies it is never lost nor plucked up it remains in him 1 John 3.9 Solomon says Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 So that this Proverb of a young Saint and an old Devil is none of Solomon's 2. It is true that where a profession of Religion is taken up in Hypocrisie it commonly ends in Apostasie So that it may be said A young Hypocrite and an old Apostate But where do you find that any that truly feared God did ever depart from him Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth 1 Kings 18.12 2 Kings 22.2 and as he began with God so he ended Josiah was good betimes at eight years old and he held it to the last He turned not aside to the right hand or to the left David was a young Convert and he died an old Saint Psal 71.5 Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth there is his beginning My flesh and my heart faileth Psal 73.26 but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever there is his ending I might instance in Samuel Jeremy John Timothy c. these began with God in their youth took up the Yoke betimes and so they continued all their days He that chuses God for his chief good and highest Lord at first finds so much happiness in him that he will never leave him at last Besides the Covenant of God is sure and one branch of it is I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 3. Should not the great uncertainty of life silence this Objection We have no security for another day much less that we shall live till the keepers of the house tremble and the grinders cease and they that look out of the windows be darkened c. As Solomon elegantly describes old age Eccles 12.3 Our candle may blow out as well as burn out One dies in full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistned with marrow Job 21.23 24. And shall we be afraid of taking up the Yoke of Christ too soon Or suppose you should live to old age yet such as turn their backs upon Christ while they are young it is rare if ever they come to take up the Yoke of Christ when they are old as a young Saint will never leave Christ so an old Sinner will hardly ever embrace him Or if he would it may be too late his season of grace may be past It is storied of Hannibal Plutarch that when he could have taken Rome he would not and when he would have taken it he could not And is it not the case of many When they may find Christ they will not seek him and when they would seek Christ they cannot find him when they may have mercy they don't prize it and when they would have mercy they can't obtain it He that in his youth reckons it too early
THE GOOD of EARLY OBEDIENCE OR The advantage of bearing the Yoke of Christ betimes DISCOVERED In part in two Anniversary SERMONS one whereof was Preached on May-day 1681. And the other on the same day in the Year 1682. And afterwards inlarged and now published for common benefit By MATTHEW MEAD Mat. 11.29 Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls Ver. 30. For my Yoke is easie and my burden is light LONDON Printed for Nath. Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey near the Church 1683. To the Right Honourable the Lady Diana Alington the Blessings of the upper and nether Springs be multiplyed Madam WHere great Debts are contracted by insolvent persons it is usual to compound for a little rather then lose the whole The many great and undeserved favours you have conferred upon me have so far outdone not only my power to merit but my capacity to requite that unless your Honour will admit me to some small composition and so to pay as I am able by a grateful acknowledgment I must always be in arrearage to your Nobleness being no other way solvent then by hearty resentment I know Madam it is no pleasure to you to hear of your name from the house-top who have so carefully kept secret the works of your Right hand from the knowledge of your Left Let them therefore stand recorded in the Prayers of your Favourites and more durably in the notices of God until that day comes that shall both reveal them and reward them For the time of divulging such matters to the world as Mr. Ambrose said in an Epistle to your Honourable Grandfather will be best at the end of it and best done by him who shall render to every one according to his works Mat. 16.27 In the mean time being importuned to make this discourse publick to whom should I Dedicate it but to your Honour That you may not altogether miscarry in the purchase who have bid so high for the unprofitable respects of one made very inconsiderable by the present complexion of times and providences but much more by his own personal unworthyness The thing Madam which this treatise hath in design is to vindicate and promote if God will speed it to that purpose Obedience to the great Redeemer of the world in all especially in young ones in a true and timely subjection to his Yoke It being the great and open sin of the present day to profess him in word but in works to deny him by such as the Holy Ghost brands with the infamous Character of abominable disobedient Tit. 1.16 and to every good work void of judgment Never was that of the Prophet more verified then by the children of this Generation Isa 53.3 He is despised and rejected of men Not only by Jews Heathens and Mahometans but which is more sad even by Christians if they deserve that name almost of all sorts It is not only the sin of the poor that they are foolish Jer. 5.4 and have not known the way of the Lord but of the great men also who though they have known the judgment of their God yet they have altogether broken the Yoke and burst the bonds The wise slight Religion as a foolish thing The Nobles of the Earth think themselves degraded by stouping to this yoke The Rich men that should count all things dung for Christ â—â—il 3.8 do prefer the dung and dross of the earth before this Pearl of price The Voluptuary will not be perswaded to leave his swinish delights for all the pleasures of Godliness Oh how few are the sincere followers of the Blessed Jesus This is and ought to be for a lamentation Our lot is cast in a very brutish age wherein reason is buryed in sense judgment extinguished in appetite and wickedness reigns with reputation He who dares not be profane is a coward and that is but a dull soul that cannt burlesque the sacred Scripture and make a jest in Bible Or if he skills not to direct the poysonous arrow of a spiteful tongue at the Religion and Worship of Jesus Christ he is no ingenuous Archer So that our times are much of the complexion of those which Seneca unmasking the face of their corrupt State doth thus decypher The news of Rome take thus the Walls are ruined the Temples not visited the Priests are fled the Treasuries robbed old men are dead young men are mad Vices are Lords over all The Dictator faults the Consul the Consul chides the Censor the Censor blames the Proetor and because no man will acknowledge himself in fault we have no hope of better times Madam what an honour is it to you when the days are thus evil to be devoted in heart and soul to Jesus Christ It is recorded to the everlasting renown of Josiah that good Prince 2 Chron. 34 3. that while he was young he began to seek after the God of his Father So did your Honour Goodness is no diminution to greatness On the other hand it is charged as a reproach upon the Nobles of Judah Nehem. 3. â— That they put not their necks to the work of the Lord. Greatness gives no immunity from service Nay the higher God hath exalted you the more you become a Debtor to his goodness The God in whose hand thy breath is Dan. 5.23 and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified was a sad charge brought against one greater then your Honour It is the standing law of Heaven Luk. 12.48 To whomsoever much is given of them much shall be required Where your Honour allows the greatest wages there you expect the greatest fidelity and service and so doth the great God Wherefore Madam let holiness to the Lord be written upon all your Honour and all your enjoyments whatever is intrusted with you ought to be devoted to him or it can never be rightly injoyed nor duly improved God hath honoured you to be the fruitful mother of hopeful children but remember Madam that as they derive honour from your loyns in regard of your Station in this world so they derive guilt and pollution upon another account And what is worldly honour stained with a damning guilt which makes them children of wrath even as others Eph. 2.3 There is a nobility that is Divine and of a Heavenly Original which hath Religion for the Root and God for the top of the Kin. In comparison of which all other Nobility is but an empty shadow and all worldly grandure but as those apples that grow upon the banks of the dead Sea which under a tempting outside contain nought but dust This honour derives not from the first birth but the second and is peculiar to them only who are born not of blood Joh. 1.13 nor of the will of the Flesh nor of the will of man but of God Would your Honour have those pleasant
branches thus inobled I know it is the matter of your Prayers and let me beg you to joyn thereunto your utmost indeavours by a strict and pious education the common want of which hath stained the present age with as debauched a Nobility and Gentry as ever any time brought forth And Madam if to all this you shall add the winning motive of your own example so walking in all the Precepts of Christ and in all the virtues of the Holy Spirit that they may be won into the ways of God by the beauty of your feet O what an honour and rejoycing would this be to you in the near approaching day of Christ Jesus How many children have been brought into love with the ways of God by the holy example of Godly Parents And many more have perished by the contrary who are now cursing the Parents that begat them and the loyns that brought them forth I no way doubt of your Honours ready acceptance of this Present how mean soever it be Seeing it is a great bravery of mind as well to accept little kindnesses from them that have no better within their reach as to confer great ones For as by the latter you oblige love so by the former you incourage duty Thus the full Sea stocks Clouds richly while they pay again but by drops We have a pattern of it in God himself who as he gives the greatest Boons so he doth not disdain the least returns though they are made in Mites Luk. 21.2 3. Goats hair and Rams skins are as acceptable an Offering from them that were no better provided for the building the Tabernacle Exod. 23.4 5. as Purple and Scarlet so as it came from a willing heart Madam it is for the compleating the Temple of God in your soul that this Offering is made and though it is neither Purple nor Scarlet yet such as it is it comes from as willing a mind as ever Israelite offered from him that brought Gold and Silver to him that brought Goats hair and Rams skins And if your Honour be dispositioned like my Master you will accept of payment in Mites where it is the utmost and the All that is within the reach of a short arm But though it cannot reach so far as I would Prayer can For how incapable soever we are of other offices of respect and gratitude yet in Prayers and good wishes we stand next to immensity and infiniteness And it is nothing less then the great things of both worlds summed up in the blessed injoyment of God himself here much and hereafter much more that can be an answer to his Prayers who without ceasing bows the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for this Blessing for you Madam and your Honourable and Honoured Relations as becomes Stepney Novemb. 15th 1682. Madam Your Honours highly obliged and humbly devoted Servant Matthew Mead. The Epistle to the READER Good Reader THough thy concern lies not much in knowing the reason of the publication of this Treatise yet it may not be amiss to give thee this short account of it That in April 1674 A Gentleman who was till then a stranger to me came with an earnest request that I would undertake the Preaching of a Sermon yearly on every May-day to the younger people I desiring to know his reason why to them rather then to others and why on that day rather then upon any other he told me that it had often been the grief of his Soul to behold the vitious and debauched practises of Youth on that day of liberty And did hope that many might be induced either by their own inclinations or by the counsels of their Parents or Masters rather to spend their time in hearing a Sermon then in drinking and gaming c. by which means many might be converted and saved The design being so honest and the reason so cogent I was perswaded to comply with it and began upon the following May Day and so it hath been continued ever since and I may say it not in any boast but to the praise of the glory of the grace of God with great success On May-day 1680 I took the Scripture here insisted on for the subject of my discourse and having then shewed the great advantage of bearing the Yoke of vfflictions and also the Yoke of the Spirit in conviction of sin in youth I did promise God granting life and liberty to treat of the Yoke of Christ in conversion in the next Anniversary course But before that day came I was much sollicited both by young and old they best know why to make publick the first Sermon which I had so Preached and it was fairly transcribed and sent to me by several hands for that end which yet I judged very improper but to answer their importunity I did promise that when I had finished the subject I would comply with their desires And therefore finding that I could not compass my design in the second May-day course I did for some Lords days following insist on the same subject till I had finished it And that thou hadst it no sooner the Bookseller is accountable and not I. However if it may be of any advantage to thy soul in breaking off the yoke of sin and lust and bringing thee under the yoke of Christ it comes in good time and to good purpose And when thou findest this benefit by it then pray for him that loves thy soul and desires thy Salvation and therein is November 15. 1682. Thy Real Friend Matthew Mead. THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. SOmewhat praeliminary The Yoke explained What it is Litterally taken what taken Metaphorically CHAP. II. Afflictions called a Yoke in what sense they are good and for whom CHAP. III. Shewing the difference between the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ What the Spirits Yoke is Why convictions are compared to a Yoke Why sinners must come under the Yoke of the Spirit Why it is good to come under it betimes CHAP. IV. Contains some counsels and directions to persons of several Denominations with respect to the Yoke of the Spirit CHAP. V. The chief Doctrine propounded Christ hath his Yoke Wherein it consists The nature and properties of this Yoke VVhy the commands of Christ called a Yoke CHAP. VI. Holdeth forth the reasons of the Doctrine CHAP. VII Holdeth forth the last reason viz. from the good of obedience It is a necessary good a profitable good an honourable good a comfortable good CHAP. VIII Answers some objections against Early Obedience CHAP. IX More objections against Early Obedience answered CHAP. X. Wherein the reasons of slighting Christ are inquired into the evil of it aggravated CHAP. XI Wherein the Tryal of our state is pressed with seven reasons for it CHAP. XII Several rules for the knowledge of our estate are laid down both negatively and affirmatively CHAP. XIII Sheweth the truth of our subjection to Christ by such things as are necessarily antecedent to it
in the dust Lamen 3.28 29. Secondly Affliction is inlightening It is good for discovery There are many excellent Lessons learned in the School of affliction 1. It discovers a man to himself and makes him see what a poor frail inconsiderable thing he is according to that of David Psal 9.20 Put them in fear O Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ager fuit doluit calamitosus fuit that they may know themselves to be but men To be but enosh poor weak and miserable men Affliction makes us know our selves Caligula and Domitian two Roman Emperours in their prosperity would be Gods but when it thundred they were so terrified that then they knew they were but men Prosperity makes a man a Stranger to himself no man knows that pride that impatience that lust that unbelief that frowardness that is in his heart till affliction comes to search him God led Israel forty years in the Wilderness to know what was in their hearts that is to make them know Deut. 8.2 2. It is a means to discover the vileness of sin to the soul When the Patriarchs were distressed and in adversity then they saw and never till then the greatness of their sin in selling their Brother Gen. 42.21 If they be bound in Fetters and holden in Cords of affliction then he shews them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded Job 36.8 9. Nothing discovers the vileness of sin more than the sufferings of Christ and the afflictions of the Creature 3. God by affliction discovers himself to the soul In the Word we hear of God but in affliction we see him I have heard of thee says Job by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye sees thee Job 42.5 It is said of Manasseh 2 Chron. 33.13 Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God Then When was that When he was caught among the Thorns and bound with Fetters and carried to Babylon till then he knew not the Lord. Thirdly Affliction is good as it is preparatory to Grace and Conversion What excellent Vessels have been formed by the hand of the Former of all things in the Furnace of afflictions It is preparatory to conversion several ways 1. In that it makes us more serious When we are out of the noise of worldly allurements then conscience is apt to reflect and make us bethink our selves If they shall bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried captive 2 King 8.47 When was it that the Prodigal came to himself but when he was pinched and almost pined with Famine Luke 15.16 17. 2. It is a means to reduce our wanderings Man is a stragling Creature very prone to wander from God and lose himself He is never weary of following his sins till God hedges up his way with Thorns God hath two Hedges which the Scripture mentions The Hedge of protection Job 1.10 Isai 5.5 and The Hedge of affliction Hos 2.6 I will hedge up her way with Thorns The Hedge of protection is to keep his people from danger the Hedge of affliction is to stop them that wander The one is to fence his people from suffering the other is to stop Sinners in the way of sinning and to put them upon returning So when God had hedged up Israel's way with Thorns then She resolves to return I will return to my first Husband for then was it better with me than now Hos 2.6 7. So the Sâ—pâ—â—agint render it in Job 33.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. It opens the ear to Discipline Job 36.8 10. If they be held in the Cords of affliction Then he opens their ear to Discipline There is the outward ear of the senses and the inward ear of the soul the outward ear is seldom stopped but the inward is often and that is the ear intended here the ear of the heart this is naturally stopped against the counsels of God Pride ignorance unbelief impenitency love of sin prejudices and sensual delights are the Ear-Wax that so stop the Sinners ear that he will not hear the voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely Psal 58.5 Till the ear be unstopped there is no receiving the word therefore God puts the end of his Rod into the ear as Christ did his finger into the deaf mans Mark 7.33 and so unstops it and opens it to Discipline And thus the Rod makes entrance for the word 4. It makes way for convictions to stick and abide upon the heart These are very often stifled in prosperity The noise of the Timbrel and the Harp drown the voice of conscience Man is naturally like the wild Ass Jer. 2.24 which the Prophet says is used to the Wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away they that seek her will not weary themselves in her month they shall find her that is when She is great with young so big and near her time and full of pain that She can hardly stir So the Sinner though stiff and stubborn untractable and unteachable and like the wild Ass snuffs at any that shall reprove him refuses to hear yet in his month he may be found if God brings him into straits and distresses this tames him this was the month in which the consciences of Joseph's Brethren found them when they were in distress themselves then conscience smote them for the wickedness done to Joseph Gen. 42.21 We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us 5. It stirs up the heart to pray and seek after God They that never pray will pray in affliction The Heathen Mariners call every man upon his God when they are in a Storm Jon. 1.5 Sea-men for the most part are none of the devoutest sort not given much to praying they will swear twice where they pray once yea ten oaths to one prayer and yet Storms and Tempests make them run to God They that go down to the Sea in Ships they cry to the Lord in their trouble Psal 107.23 28. And hence comes that Proverb He that can't pray let him go to Sea When the Storm brings them to their wits end ver 27. then they 'll cry to God when they can no longer help themselves then they come to God for help As extremity is Gods opportunity so it is the time of mans importunity At other times we are lame in Duty but the Rod makes us find our legs and then we run to God Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastening was upon them 2 Sam. 14.29 30 31. Isai 26.16 Joab would not come to Absolom at his Call but when he set his Barly-Field on fire then he came Christ had never heard of many if their necessities had not brought them when Palsies Possessions Feavers c. came upon them
then they came to him 6. It teaches them to see the emptiness of the Creature and what a vain thing the World is In our ease and prosperity we are apt to surfeit by excess in sensual fruitions The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life are the young mans Trinity Hence that of the Apostle 1 John 2.14 15 16. I write to you young men though the expression there hath a spiritual sense and what doth he write unto them Love not the world nor the things that are in the world for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life is not of the Father This is a rare Lesson for young men but how seldome do any learn it till they come into the School of affliction How have I known many young ones wholly given to pride and pleasure but when God hath brought them under the Rod fetter'd them with afflictions made their Bed upon the Brink of the Grave O how have they then cryed out of their follies their mispending precious time their neglecting God and their souls their regarding lying vanities and so forsaking their own mercies and what strong resolutions have they then made never to return to these follies again And these things are great Preparatories to conversion Now then if afflictions obviate those evils which through the corruption of our Natures are occasioned by prosperity if they are inlightening and helpful to great discoveries and if they are preparatory to Grace and conversion then surely it must be good for a man to bear the Yoke of affliction betimes CHAP. III. Shewing the difference between the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ What the Spirits Yoke is Why convictions are compared to a Yoke Why Sinners must come under the Yoke of the Spirit Why it is good to come under it betimes THE next sense in which I am to speak of this Yoke is that of conviction of sin to make way to the last Notion of it which more especially design to insist upon and that is the Yoke of Gospel obedience and subjection the one is the Yoke of the Spirit the other is the Yoke of Christ These two are not the same but very different Yokes especially in these four things First The Yoke of the Spirit is grievous the Yoke of Christ is not grievous 1 John 5.3 the Yoke of the Spirit is very heavy the Yoke of Christ is very light Matth. 11.30 Secondly It is the heaviness of the Spirits Yoke which makes Christ's Yoke easie It is not easie to all no they that never felt the Spirits Yoke to them Christ's Yoke is a burthen And therefore when Christ says My Yoke is easie it points to them whom he calls to come and take it up and who are they Why the heavy laden and weary ver 28. They who are wearied by the Spirits Yoke shall thereby find ease under Christ's Yoke Thirdly The Yoke of the Spirit is but for a time and then to be taken off and never put on again but the Yoke of Christ is always to be kept on never to be put off the soul is under a perpetual obligation to Duty and obedience to Christ Jesus Fourthly The Yoke of the Spirit is to prepare us for the Yoke of Christ for Christ's Yoke can never be put on till the Spirit by his Yoke hath fitted the neck for it The soul will never obey Christ till it be conquered to Christ and that will never be till the Spirit in conviction put his Yoke and Fetters upon it I shall now speak somewhat of the Spirits Yoke and if ever the Lord give such another Call to this Work then I shall speak of Christ's Yoke more largely And in speaking of the Yoke of the Spirit in conviction I would insist a little upon these four things First That the Spirit hath his Yoke Secondly Why the convictions of the Spirit upon the soul of a Sinner are compared to a Yoke Thirdly Every Sinner that shall be saved must come under this Yoke of the Spirit Fourthly Therefore it is good to come under it betimes and why First That the Spirit hath his Yoke There is such a thing upon the consciences of Sinners at one time or other as the Yoke of the Spirit As the Spirit hath his joys and comforts so he hath his Yokes and Bonds as he hath a liberty which he brings some into so he hath a thraldom which he brings some under And it is first bondage and then liberty He is a Spirit of liberty to none but to whom he is first a Spirit of bondage The Spirits Yoke described And if you ask me What this Yoke of the Spirit is It is that state he brings the Sinner into and holds him in before his conversion to prepare him for his conversion and that is a state of sensibleness of sin and wrath which flows from the convincing work of the Spirit The Spirit of the Lord whereever he comes to work a saving change doth first put his Yoke upon the Sinners neck that is he doth convince the soul of the evil of sin and of its liableness to the wrath of God and so fills it with fear and horrour so that the poor Creature looks upon it self as utterly lost and undone so long as it abides in that state This is the Spirits Yoke It is called so in Scripture Lam. 1.14 The Yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand they are wreathed and come upon my neck the Lord hath delivered me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up Into their hands that is into the hands of sin and she was not able to rise up from under them Prov. 5.22 and why Because the Spirit had bound them upon her as a Yoke Secondly Why are the convictions of the Spirit compared to a Yoke First A Yoke is very heavy and burdensome So is sin when once the conscience is truly convinced of it Mine inquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 And therefore a soul under the sense of sin is said to be heavy laden Matth 11.28 Secondly A Yoke bows the Back by reason of its weight Hence is that expression of the kindness of God to Israel Lev. 26.13 I have broken the Bonds of your Yoke and made you go upright implying that the Yoke causes a man to bow and stoop under it so doth conviction of sin it bows the soul under it I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Psal 38.6 Thirdly A Yoke is a galling wounding thing so is conviction O how it wounds with the sense of sin and dread of wrath Prov. 18.14 and a wounded Spirit who can bear Foarthly A Yoke is a taming thing It tames the wildest Beast so conviction tames the most unruly Sinner though he be never so raging
they be thus sinfully sleighted Thirdly It is a Duty to pray over what we hear and to beg success upon the Word for the ends whereto God sends it And is not this in the power of every natural man There is no man of reason but hath praying abilities many indeed have their excuses they cannot pray but this is but to shift off Duty and to excuse one sin by another You never saw a hungry Beggar but could pray nor a Child of five years old but when the Rod is at his Back can pray and cannot the Sinner cry to God When you go to hear can you not pray that God would open your eyes to see the wonders of his Law Psal 119.18 Cannot you beg of God that the Word may take hold of your heart and pull down all the strong Holds there Can you not plead with him that he would send his Spirit to accompany the Word to your heart that sin may be discovered and your hard heart broken and that you may be made to see the need of Christ and so brought to believe in him for pardon and salvation These are no other than what every natural man hath power to perform by the same assistance with which he lives and moves and who knows what God may do in a way of Grace and mercy when the Sinner is found thus doing I do not dare not say with the Papists and Arminians That if we use our natural power to do our utmost God is bound ex congruo to give Grace but yet this I may say That such is the goodness of God that he seldom if ever fails to give Grace to that man that doth to the utmost of his abilities in the use of means endeavour to obtain it nor had ever any cause to complain upon this account And therefore let young ones hearken to this counsel and as you love your souls do what in you lyes in the use of all Gods appointed means to come under the Spirits Yoke For consider First You can never be brought from under the Yoke of sin and lust but by coming under this Yoke Till you are weary of sin you will never forsake it and you will never be weary of sin till the Spirit of bondage hath made it a burthen to you Secondly You can never see the need you have of Jesus Christ till you are brought under the Yoke of the Spirit and till you do see your need of him you will never hunger nor thirst after him and so you will be excluded from all benefit by his righteousness and then you must perish For the Scripture discovers no way of escaping wrath to come but by being convinced by the Holy Ghost first of sin and then of righteousness Thirdly You can never take upon you Christ's Yoke which is the great command of the Gospel Matth. 11.29 unless you have been first under this There is as I said before the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ the Yoke of the Spirit is in conviction of sin the Yoke of Christ is in obedience and the one is preparatory to the other you can never submit to Christs Yoke until the Spirits Yoke have fitted the neck to it and so it becomes easie My Yoke is easie Matth. 11.30 It is not easie to the sinner that is at ease but to the weary soul it is Then any Yoke but the Yoke of lust any burthen to be delivered from the burthen of sin and guilt But who will walk in the narrow way that never entred in at the strait Gate Who will account subjection to Christ freedom until he hath first been wearied under the slavery of sins Dominion And this is a fruit of the convincing work of the Spirit And will you not come under his Yoke But when It must be done out of hand delay in this matter is very dangerous 1. In regard of the indisposition it works unto The longer sin hath possession the more it will strengthen it self and harden the heart against conviction and the harder the heart the greater the danger for growing hardness improves it self into a judgment Hardness persisted in provokes to hardening 2. In regard of the uncertainty of our duration Who knows how few hours there are between him and eternity You that refuse the Yoke of the Spirit as a work fit for riper years 'pray what security have you for the number of your years Hath God said you shall not dye next sickness or next Voyage to Sea or the next time you go to Bed or walk abroad An hundred dye young to one that lives long and is it not then an hundred to one but you may And how if you should dye in an unconvinced and unconverted state Consider what your eternal condition must then be O be willing therefore to come under this Yoke of the Spirit betimes 3. Here 's matter of instruction to such as are at present under the Spirits Yoke made sensible of sin and of their lost state and cry out of Hell and wrath c. First Take heed of discouragement To mourn under this condition that is a duty but to be discouraged and despond that is a sin For it obstructs the soul in that which is its duty it benumns and weakens the workking hand The Spirit of the Lord hath no hand in this he sets sin home upon the heart to humble us and break us and lay us low but not to bring us to discouragement and despair unless it be in our selves and therefore that is the print of the Devils foot It is one of his subtilties to rivet his temptations into our convictions When the Spirit of the Lord discovers sin in its guilt and filth to out us of our selves and shew us our need of mercy then he labours to sink us down under the despair of mercy therefore let not thy sense of sin cause thee to draw false Conclusions which in this Case is too common For though thy Case be dark it is not desperate though it is uncomfortable it is not incurable though it is sad yet it is not singular For First This is the way of God with all Sinners to whom he hath a purpose to shew mercy The Wilderness is the way to the Land of promise I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and there speak comfortably to her Hos 2.14 Secondly This lays thee under the Promise For that promises are not made to Sinners in their sins but to Sinners made sensible of their sins so that though thou art a Prisoner in a Pit where there is no water Ezek. 9.11 yet thou art a Prisoner of hope ver 12. God invites such as thou art the tenders of Christ and Grace have a peculiar respect to thy condition Thirdly This is that which prepares the way of the Lord into the heart He comes not till the mountains be laid low Luke 3.4 5. and the way prepared for him and nothing doth this
quenched there he never strives again Where it is quenched but partially and gradually it is a very hard thing to kindle it again as you may see Cant. 5.6 but where it is totally quenched it can be kindled no more Alas who should kindle it The Saints can't Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn as Eliphaz said to Job in another case Job 5.1 Could the wise Virgins kindle the foolish Virgins lamps when they were gone out no they could not Give us of your oyl for our lamps are gone out Mat. 25.8 but alas they had none to spare Not so lest there be not enough for us and you v. 9. Can the sinner himself kindle it no that is impossible he can quench it but he cannot kindle it He may sin away the Spirits motions but he can never recover them again That is plain in Prov. 1.24 25. Because I called and you refused I stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel c. Here is the Spirit quenched and see how they strive to light it again but in vain Vers 28. They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me The sinner you see can quench the Spirit but he cannot kindle it Can the Ordinances kindle it again no neither Alas how should they when they have no life in themselves but what the Spirit puts into them Pray mind if you at any time quench the Spirit in your selves you do thereby quench it in all the Ordinances and then though the Word be otherwise the word of life yet it is but a dead letter when the Spirit is quenched None can kindle it again but God and he will not Where the sinner doth once totally extinguish it God will never light it again Thirdly If it once come to this you can never come to Christ never take up his Yoke For this is a work that can never be done without the help of the Spirit If he must help the Believers infirmities then sure he must cure the Sinners obstinacies there is a yoke to be broke off as well as a yoke to be put on corrupt habits to be extirpated or obedience to Christ can never be owned And this is a work that none but the Spirit of God can effect The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Isa 10.27 Though that be spoken of the Assyrians yoke yet it is typical of sins yoke which none can free thee from but the Spirit of Christ and therefore if the Spirit depart thou art undone there is no possibility of conversion to Christ thou art given up to a perpetual vassalage to sin and lust and to an hardned refusal of all the counsels of God and of all the ways of life So that upon all these accounts it is highly reasonable that every one of you should stoop to the Yoke of Christ betimes The Spirit of the Lord calls you to this the end of all his motions and strivings is to bring you to this And how little while he may strive you don 't know And if he once give over striving the work can never be done Here then you see the reason why every one should take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth because of the Call of God God the Father calls who made thee God the Son calls who redeemed thee God the Spirit calls who was sent to counsel and guide thee to regenerate and change thee to sanctifie and make thee meet for Glory And shall not the Call of God be obeyed This one thing will make it appear to be the most reasonable thing in the world viz. The Covenant you are entred into are not you entred into a Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost What is your Baptism but a token and pledge of it Hereby God hath owned you for his and hereby you are ingaged to be the Lord's And shall God take me into Covenant and shall I refuse to take up Christs Yoke This is that will destroy your Covenant-interest God expects that so soon as you come to years of understanding to know your interest and duty you should renew the Covenant of God upon your own Souls and take hold of it for your selves as your Parents did for you before Now wherein doth your personal entring into Covenant with God chiefly consist but in your taking up the Yoke of Christ Sure therefore this should be done betimes if you refuse this ye renounce your Covenant with God you cast your selves out by your unbelief and then God will cast you out Rom. 11.20 Because of unbelief they were broken off Secondly Consider what this Call is When you are called to take up the Yoke of Christ you are called from a state of sin and misery to a state of true blessedness from the vilest slavery and drudgery in the world to a work of the highest pleasure and delight Prov. 3.17 No greater pleasure than in duty and obedience where the heart is right with God You are called to holiness 1 Thess 4.7 God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness And a life of holiness is the most desirable life in the world it is the life of God it is that life in which only a man can have communion with God for a man must partake of the nature and life of God that would have fellowship with God contrary natures can have no communion He will not take the wicked by the hand * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8.20 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 It is not meant only of seeing God in Heaven but in this world also for there is a seeing of God fiducially as well as beatifically Mat. 5.8 Heb. 11.27 and the one is as necessary to the present state as the other is to a state of Glory And he that doth not see God in this world shall never see him in the next Now that which fits for present Vision and Communion is holiness And your holiness lies in taking up the Yoke of Christ and conforming to the Law and Will of Christ This is that which you are called to Nay when you are called to take up Christ's Yoke you are therein called to partake of the glory and blessedness of Christ in Heaven For though this Call of God begins in Grace yet it ends in Glory There is a twofold end of Gods Call with respect to sinners the near and proximate end is the conversion of sinners to Christ and a life of obedience the remote and ultimate end is the bringing those to glory who are thus brought home by grace and therefore the Call of God is said to be to glory 1 Thess 2.12 who hath called you to his kingdom and glory And 2 Pet. 1.3 called us to glory and virtue To virtue as the means to glory as
chief end of our being as creatures and as new creatures Creation Redemption Regeneration all bespeak us to this and do fit us for this This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise Isai 43.21 If God hath formed us for himself then we are to live only to himself Whether we live says the Apostle we live to the Lord Rom. 14.8 And what is it to live to the Lord but to take up the Yoke of Christ making Religion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief business of our life First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness Mat. 6.33 Nothing can be of equal moment with this All other work is but industrious idleness and all labour but painful trifling while this is neglected O how busie and solicitous are most men about present things and yet how unconcerned about the service of Christ and the salvation of their Souls Which is as if a man that were shot through should mind to have the rent in his garment mended but neglect to gett he wound cured in his body And yet thus brutish and besotted are the most of men serious in trifles but trifling in serious matters busie like Domitian in catching flies but little concerned about Soul-concernments Reas 6. This is the fittest and most proper season of Religion there is no time like youth The life of man consists of three parts Infancy Youth and Old age and of all this is the most proper and therefore the duty here is not commended to the first part of life for Infancy is too soon to know God when we cannot know our selves nor is it commended to the third for Old age is too late to serve God when we cannot serve our selves but it is commended to the time of Youth that being the most proper season for service and obedience In infancy we are too young to obey being but in our imperfect beginnings in age we are too old to obey being in our droops and declinings youth therefore is the fittest time Hence that of Solomon Remember thy Creator that is love and serve him for words of knowledge imply affection and practice in the days of thy youth in the Hebrew it is in the days of thy choice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 12.1 Youth is called the day of a mans choice either because it is the choicest time of a mans life for any imployment and service or because it is that time which every one would chuse to live in infancy is a burden and old age is a greater we long to grow up that we may injoy our selves but we fear to grow old lest we should be deprived of our selves Desire is the fruit of love and yet there is one thing which all desire but none love and that is old age all desire to live to it and yet no man takes pleasure in it Or because it is a time wherein a man makes his choice every one then chuses his condition of life for the future Infancy is too early to make a choice for want of judgment to distinguish Old age is too late to make a choice for want of time and strength to pursue no time therefore to chuse either for this world or the next either for our outward estate or for our spiritual advantage and comfort like our youth Reas 7. Because of the danger of delays It is very dangerous to defer so great and concerning a matter as your subjection to Jesus Christ is and that First Whether ye look to the indisposition that delays work to The longer sin hath possession the faster it will rivet it self to the Soul and so strengthen it self and harden the heart against conversion and therefore he that is unwilling to be subject to Christ to day will be more unwilling to morrow Or Secondly Whether ye look to the uncertain duration of life it is not only short at best but uncertain no man knows either how or where or when he shall dye I am old saith Isaac and know not the day of my death Gen. 27.2 He hath no security of living another day the body is subject to above three hundred diseases and to as many thousand casualties One hour may dispatch thee into another world as well as a year a tile from the house may be as mortal as a disease a flye a hair or a raisin-stone may end thy days as certainly as a Plague or Feaver One dyes eating another drinking another laughing another weeping another walking another praying another cursing and swearing one dyes at an Ordinance of God another at a Play-house one of the Devils great Ordinances One dyes at Sea another at shore One asking a Sea-man where his father dyed saith he at Sea and where dyed your Grandfather says he at Sea I wonder then said he why you will venture to go to Sea The Sea-man asked him Where dyed your father He answered In his bed and where dyed your Grandfather He answered In his bed too why then said the Sea-man I wonder you will venture to go to bed There is death in the bed as well as on board Death will find a man where-ever he is and how can a man that seriously considers the uncertainty of life delay closing with the Call of God one moment lest death surprize him in an unconverted condition Would any of you be willing to go out of the world in a state of enmity to God and to launch into Eternity in an unpardoned state Hath God ever told you you shall live to old age that you dare defer your conversion till then Hath God said you shall not dye next sickness or the next voyage you take or the next time you go out of doors Do not you see twenty dye young to one that lives to old age And why may not you If God had told you that so many years you shall continue in the world this might be a temptation to you to entertain your lusts a little longer and put off the thoughts of turning to God till hereafter but God hath in his Wisdom hid from us our last day Ideò latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes that we might thereby be stirred up to watch every day and do the great work out of hand for which we came into the world Thirdly It is very dangerous if you consider the shortness and uncertainty of the day of grace the time of life is short but the day of grace may be shorter it is the counsel of our Lord Joh. 12.35 Yet a little while the light is with you walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you The words imply three things 1. That the season of Grace is but short it continues but for a little while 2. That it is a great Duty to improve it while we have it Walk while you have the light 3. They that have it and do not improve it may soon be deprived of it Lest darkness come upon
the case is not the same for we are bound to answer Gods precepts but he is not bound to answer our requests and yet we make him tarry our sinful leisure in the business of duty though we think much to tarry his holy leisure in the case of mercy Secondly It is down-right disobedience he that delays a duty transgresses the precept and slights the divine Authority The season is as much a part of the command as the thing commanded If God says return ye now every one from his evil way Jer. 18.11 the now is as much a duty as the returning If the Father says to his Son go work to day in my vineyard Matt. 21.28 it is flat disobedience to defer it till to morrow for the time of working is as much a duty as the work it self Thirdly It is the highest ingratitude for Christ did not adjourn his love to us one day his heart was to us from everlasting I was set up from everlasting rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth and my delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.23.31 He gave himself in the Covenant of Redemption to dye for sin and redeem sinners from the first day that sin entred And therefore he is said to be a lamh slain from the foundadation of the world Revel 13.8 Though he came not to dye actually till the fullness of time Galat. 4.4 yet in the decree of God the Father and in the consent of God the Son he was a Saviour from the beginning and his Blood was as efficacious to Salvation before ever it was shed as after he was a Saviour and Redeemer from the first entrance of sin Adam Noah Abraham and all the Saints that lived before his Incarnation were saved by his Blood as well as we His love bears date from everlasting and it breaks forth very early in the overt acts of it to particular persons Christ begins with sinners betimes who knows how soon puts upon many of them a federal holiness betimes seals them for his betimes puts his spirits into them betimes and calls them to an actual close with him betimes it is hard to say how soon but it appears to be very early in that many have been converted from their very childhood as Samuel and Timothy and others O the earliness of the love of Christ and shall we adjourn our obedience as if we were afraid of closing with him too soon he took up our burden betimes and shall we delay the taking up his Yoke for the last work of our lives This is great ingratitude Fourthly It is manifest injustice and a fraudulent detaining of Christs right For whose you are his your strength and service is and are ye not the Lords hath he not redeemed you and that both by price at the hands of God and by power out of the hands of Satan ye are the redeemed of the Lord and therefore you are his your time is his your gifts and parts are his your affections are his your estates are his your strength is his your youth is his your body and soul are his your all is his and therefore not to give up your selves body and soul to him not to love and fear and serve him is a crying injustice Nay to delay it one day one moment is to deny him his right Many boast of their honesty they are just to all and wrong none yes you wrong your redeemer you are unjust to Jesus Christ and that is the highest injustice in the world To delay any man in that which is his right is a great sin the wages of the hireling must be paid at the day and it must be done before the sun be set Deut. 24.14 15. It is a maxim in the Law minus solvit qui minus tempore solvit not to pay at the time is to pay the less because there is so much advantage for improvement lost Is it such a sin to detain a servants right what is it then to detain our Lords right must we not withhold wages for a servants work till the sun be set and yet dare we withhold doing our Lords work till the sun of our lives is setting O what base injustice is this Fifthly It is altogether unreasonable there is no man living can give a reason to excuse him from this duty You cannot say it is the wrong way to Heaven for it is the way the Lord Christ hath directed and chalked out You cannot say it is a needless Yoke for there is no Salvation without taking it upon you You cannot say it is a dangerous Yoke for it hath salvation certainly intailed upon it You cannot say it is a fruitless Yoke Matt. 11.28 for it yields perfect peace and lasting joy to all that come under it You cannot say it is an impossible Yoke for as you have the command of Christ to undertake it so you have the promise of Christ to help and inable you to bear it So that you cannot give one reason why you should neglect it and therefore he that refuses to take it up is without excuse Whoever remains graceless in a day of Grace will be found speechless in the Day of Judgement Matt. 22.12 Sixthly It is downright madness for you refuse Heaven because you will not be holy You will rather lose the eternal injoyment of God than be made like God You will rather chuse to perish under the wrath of Christ than you will consent to come under the Yoke of Christ You will be contented to be damned so you may go a pleasant way to Hell And is not this madness to the height to chuse rather to perish eternally than be tied to love and serve your maker and redeemer O what a base and low opinion have you of God and Heaven how can ye degrade and dishonour him more If a man should publish it as his opinion that darkness is better than light that Hell is rather to be chosen than Heaven that he had rather be in an everlasting society with Devils and damned Spirits than with God and Christ in the glory above what would you say of such a one but that he talked like a mad man why then reflect upon your selves a little for mutato nomine do teâ— Fabula narratur you that prefer the pleasures of sin to the service of Christ that will renounce your part in God and Christ and eternal happiness to satisfie a base lust that will stake your Souls for a few minutes of sinful delights can any man be guilty of greater madness do ye know what ye do or what ye speak when ye say in your hearts this lust shall reign but Christ shall not reign let us break his bonds Psal 2.3 and cast his cords far away from us this is treason against the Crown of Heaven your Blood Luk. 19.27 your Life your Soul must go for this Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them out and
be deceived judgment ought not to be pronounced but upon a full hearing and a through debate ad pauca respicit qui cito pronunciat it is not judgment but fond opinion that is passed upon a matter without hearing all that is fit to be said about it therefore so great a matter as this is should not be determined but upon mature deliberation As it is said of counsel omne consilium in festinatione captum stultitia est all counsel taken in hast is folly The same may be said of judging our selves all hasty precipitate judgment is folly the way to come to a rational certainty is to make a full inquiry Hypocrites and carnal sinners overlook what is evil and judge by any good they find and weak Christians overlook what is good and judge themselves by the evil that is discovered this is judgement upon hearing but of one side and he that doth so is an unjust Judge though he should happen to pass a just judgment * Qui aliquid statuerit alterâ parte inauditâ aequum licet statuerit haud aequus est there must be a searching out the case that neither sin may be passed by on the one hand nor grace overlooked on the other Rule 2. Another thing in this inquiry is the light of the spirit this is very necessary in such a work Solomon says The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 But the spirit of the Lord is the light of this candle without which he cannot see into the inward parts of the belly It is this that brings to light the hidden things of darkness and makes manifest the counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4.5 What is the meaning of that Prayer of David Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me He doth hereby beg for such a measure of the spirits light and aid which searcheth all things 1 Cor. â—2 10 as may enable him to such a search of his heart whereby he may be fully assured of the goodness of his estate You will never be able to come to a true knowledge of your state and heart but by the spirits light and help Rule 3. Another means is frequent and repeated tryals It is not enough for a man that would be satisfied of his spiritual condition to bring his heart to the touchstone now and then it must be done often according to the variety of conditions occasions and temptations In our Law a man can be but once tryed for one fact because his life shall not be always in hazard But in spiritual matters the oftner we are brought to the bar the better frequent tryals do not hazard our case but tend to put it out of hazard How should a man know much of his spiritual state that seldom converseth with his own heart It was a good rule Tecum habita A mans business lies most within doors and therefore he should often descend into himself Davids counsel is Commune with your own heart upon your bed Psal 4.4 The word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak to your own heart the expression is not limited and therefore may take in all those ways of speaking by which a man may keep up a secret inward and profitable communion with his own soul And this is advised to be done upon the bed which notes Retiredness and Frequency First Retiredness In the bed a man is retired from the distracting noises and hurries of the World * Nox tempus accomodum est rebus considerandis diligentius examinandis tum enim animus sedatior esse solet Moller in Loc. and so is at leisure for the work Secondly Frequency As oft as a man lies down upon his bed he should go down into his heart and call himself to account every night where his heart has been and what it hath done every day Rule 4. Try till the matter be fully determined and you come to a rational and well grounded satisfaction in your selves that so you may have an answer in readiness to put all doubts and scruples to silence Rule 5. Another way is by observing and fixing upon the fittest seasons There is a time for every thing there is a time to try and a time to trust without tryal a time to look inward and a time when it is more proper to look upward Every time is not a fit season for this work sometimes the Soul is beclouded tempted deserted defiled by new sins and these are times wherein it is set against it self and now all is naught all is Hypocrisie praejudicium tollit judicium it is commonly seen so When Heman is under the hiding of God how is judgment blinded and all Grace is hid If David be under a cloud presently he is cast off He that looks upon his face in a broken glass will appear a most deformed creature As he that walks in a dark night is apt to think every bush a Thief he fansies nothing but objects of fear and terrour so it is in this case And therefore in such a condition it is better to call uppn the Soul as David did to trust and wait Multiply direct acts of Faith more and reflect less It is an excellent piece of wisdom to take the proper season for every duty Rule 6. If upon good evidence thou art able to prove the sincerity of thy heart to Christ don't question the goodness of thy state because of the Hypocrites carnal confidence The foolish Virgins thought their Oyl as good as that of the wise but the Oyl of the wise Virgins was of the right kind notwithstanding that Many a corrupt Judge passes a wrong sentence but a righteous Judge that guides himself by evidence and Law may do right for all that Many a man may be rich in a Dream but what then may not therefore a waking man know what his Estate is or whether it be his or not The Turk is confident of his Religion the Jew as confident of his the Papist is certain of his to an infallibility and yet this doth not hinder but that a Protestant may certainly know that he is in the true way and that they are wofully deceived and given up to believe lies Rule 7. Be sure to make use of a right rule to judge by for Rectum est index sui obliqui No man can make a true judgment but by a right rule if that be crooked or false the judgment that is made by it must needs be wrong If the touchstone be not right you can never judge of the metal Before I shew you which is the true rule let me warn you against some false rules which many try and deceive themselves by First Some measure themselves by themselves such the Apostle speaks of 2 Corinth 10.12 They measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves
them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his name What or who can be too hard for such as walk in the ways and worship of Christ with the strength of Christ Now the Lord Christ helps two ways 1. By his powerful intercession he is ever praying and pleading for you Heb. 7.25 2. By his Almighty Spirit for how are your sins mortified but by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 And how are your hearts quickened in duty but by the Spirit Joh. 6.63 And how are you guided in the ways of God but by the Spirit Joh. 16.13 And how are you taught but by the Spirit 1 Joh. 2.27 And who upholds you in your course but the Spirit Psal 51.12 Besides the grace the Spirit works in you at first you have spiritual incomes and supplies of the Spirit daily Phil. 1.19 And is not the Believers help then greater than his work now it was not so under the Law there was great service but little assistance but now the Christians help is greater then his work Phil. 2.13 for it is God that works in you to will and to do The works of Gospel Obedience are more sublime more spiritual and therefore more difficult than any of the works of the Law but so far as we have Communion with the power and strength of the Spirit to actuate and inable us they are all easy and pleasant Gospel duties may be difficult in respect of divine imposition but they are easy in regard of divine cooperation The Father sets the Child a Copy and bids it write the Child knows not how but yet takes the Pen and then the Father guides the hand and the Child writes after the Copy Lord sayes Austin give what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt 4. The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke appears in this that under this yoke though the weakness of your obedience is great yet the truth of your obedience is accepted God looks at truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 O the many weaknesses that God passes by in his people where he finds the heart and affection true to him though there be much commanded yet the least you do is accepted Were it not for this there could be no serving him If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities who could stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.3 4. God will not take advantage of your fallings and infirmities I will spare them as a man spares his son that serves him Mal. 3.17 O what a sweetness must this put into service how easie must it needs make the yoke of Christ when the least we do is accepted as a handful of goats hair was for the Temple when it came from a willing heart What reason therefore have we to bless the Lord that ever inclined our hearts to stoop to the yoke of Christ The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke is evident in this that herein true liberty consists This may seem a Paradox for sinners do therefore indulge themselves in their lusts because there is liberty and they therefore refuse Christs yoke because it abridges their liberty they cannot live as they list Now you must know there is a twofold liberty 1. A carnal liberty wherein a corrupt base heart takes a latitude to it self to live and act according to its own vitious inclinations without any restraint or controul Indeed the yoke of Christ is an enemy to this liberty and it were not worth the taking up if it should not for this liberty is only the licentiousness of lust and no man such a slave as he that is thus at liberty He is a servant to corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 Under the devils rule led captive by him at his will 1 Tim. 2.26 He is held in the chains of Hell and will you call this liberty are not the Saints at liberty in Heaven and yet there is none of this liberty there will ye call this liberty to be loaded with the guilt of sin to be bound over to damnation to be vexed daily with an accusing Conscience to have all the threats of the word lye against thee to have wrath hanging over thy head every moment and God ready to throw thee into Hell is this liberty when thou art in such a dreadful case that thou darest not think of dying for fear of hell and damnation better be the veryest gally slave in the world then thus at liberty But then 2. There is a Spiritual liberty which is wrought out for us by Christ the purchase of his blood John 8.36 If the son make you free then are ye free indeed And he that partakes of this liberty may well be said to be free indeed for he is freed from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.10 He is freed from the condemning power of sin Rom. 8.1 He is freed from the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 And he is freed from the dominion of sin Rom. 6.14 And a man never enjoyes this liberty till he comes under the yoke of Christ and is there not reason to bless God for drawing the heart to Christ 6. The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke appears in this that the longer you are under it the easier you will find it I will make it out in three things 1. The longer you wear it the lighter it will be it is not so in other matters A little burden in tract of time is heavy and the longer it lyes the heavyer it is because of a wast of strength by long bearing but Christs burden the longer it is born the lighter it is because though the burden is not diminished yet your strength is increased Psal 84.7 Job 17.9 They go from strength to strength He that hath clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger And as spiritual strength increases so spiritual difficulties must needs abate 2. The more progress you make in obedience the greater testimony you shall have from conscience of the uprightness of your hearts with God and you can't imagine unless you ever felt it what peace this brings in 2 Cor. 1.12 Nothing gives conscience that advantage to witness aloud to our case as godly sincerity in our obedience to Christ 3. Much obedience brings in much comfort The more seed the more sheaves that Christian is likest to injoy most comfort that walks most close with God in the way of obedience He hath comfort in the most difficult duties even in his sufferings for Christ and they are the most pinching part of his Yoke And yet as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 And therefore Christ bids us rejoyce even in persecution Matth. 5.11 12. He hath comfort in the worst of times To the upright there ariseth light in darkness Psal 112.4 When the figtree doth not blossom Hab. 3.18 yet then he can joy in the God of his salvation CHAP. XVI Directs our obedience as to principles matter
salvation of others then we ought not to count our lives dear IV. When external duties are commanded internal obedience is therein required and chiefly intended For every precept is given to the whole man and therefore binds the inward man as well as the outward or else we are obliged to be hypocrites and seem what we are not When we are commanded to repent to hear to pray to do good works they are not the outward acts only that Christ calls for but the inward graces and affections And therefore you never obey the precept whatever duties you perform unless they be done in spirit and truth V. Observe the station and condition God hath set thee in and the circumstances thou art under and attend to the duties thereof For that which is the duty of one may not be the duty of another and that which is a great duty at one time may be no duty at another One man may be a Magistrate another a Minister and so may be obliged to those duties which are no duties to another VI. Lastly whatever duties conduce most to Gods glory whatever have the greatest tendency to our own salvation and the salvation of others whatever may put the greatest honour upon religion and render it lovely among men and put to silence the ignorance of the foolish 1 Pet. 2.15 in these things lye the proper acts and exercises of obedience And therefore these are the works chiefly to be attended to by all that are under the Yoke of Christ but we must not so be concerned in the greatest as to neglect the least Qui minima spernit paulatim decidit Spiritual decays begin in the neglect of lesser duties Remember that of Christ to the hypocritical Pharisees These ye ought to have done and not to leave the other undone Matt. 23.23 And that in Matt. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven 3. If you would carry it becomingly under the Yoke of Christ as you must look that the principles of your obedience be right and that the matter of your obedience be in right exercises so you must see to the manner of your obedience It is not the bare doing what God commands that is obedience unless it be done in a right manner Most men miscarry herein taking up in a bare performance of duty and resting in opere operato in the work done Like the blind Papists that bead out their devotions and serve God by tale How few watch over their hearts in duty or look to the frame of their spirits in obedience whereas this is the great thing God looks at And therefore the precept doth not only direct in the matter to be done but also in the manner of doing not only what but how Take heed how ye hear Luke 8.18 Take heed ye do not your alms before men Matt. 6.1 Now what doth our Lord Christ mean by these take heeds but to shew us how possible it is for a man to miscarry in the very doing of duty if he do not make as much conscience and shew as much care in the manner of doing as in the matter to be done Malum ex quolibet defectu Tho all requisites must concur to make an action morally good yet any defect makes a good thing evil And therefore in all instances of obedience the manner is carefully to be attended to For 1. This is the great distinguishing character between a true believer and an hypocrite It is not in the matter done but in the manner of doing both may be ingaged in one and the same duty and yet it may be an act of grace in one and an act of sin in the other The good man prays so doth the hypocrite but the one prayes with faith and fervency the other draws nigh to God with his lips when the heart is far from him Matt. 15.8 The good man serves God so doth the hypocrite but the one brings the male of the flock Mal. 1.13 the other brings the torn and the lame and the sick The one serves him deceitfully the other acceptably Heb. 12.28 2. A duty that is materially good may be formally evil by failing in a right maner Good becomes evil and duty is turned into sin by an undue manner of performance It is iniquity even the solemn meeeting Isa 1.13 3. It makes God disown his own appointments and reject the very performances which the precept makes a duty When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Isa 1.12 It was Gods requirement as you may see Deut. 12.5 To the place which the Lord your God shall choose to put his name there to his habitation shall ye seek and thither ye shall come So that they had the command of God for treading his Courts and yet here God rejects his own appointments Who hath required this at your hand Though God required it yet not of such as they were nor in such a manner as they appeared So in v. 13. Bring no more vain oblations incense is an abomination to me But were not these oblations and incense of Gods own institution Yes but because they were feignedly performed therefore they were not accepted and so became vain and abominable But there is a farther hint in the words for oblations were from the people incense was from the priests so that when he saies their oblations are vain and incense an abomination he doth therein reject the specious worship and services both of priests and people He that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swines blood Lev. 11.7 and he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol Isai 66.3 And if God rejects that worship which he himself appointed and so was right for the matter because not done in a right manner what shall become of that worship which is neither right for matter nor manner where the commandments of God are made of none effect by the traditions of men this Matt. 15.6 wherever it is renders the worship of God vain for so the Lord Christ himself hath determined the case Matth. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men O that our superstitious will-worshippers would consider this who have to use the Phrophets phrase the broth of abominable things in their vessels Isa 65.4 and as ever they would avoid the devils meat let them shun feeding upon his broth For little innovations in the worship of God open a door for the gradual entrance of the most abominable idolatries And so the house of prayer becomes by degrees a den of thieves Matt. 21.13 4 A man may lay himself under great vengeance and judgement from God in the doing the very thing which God commands for want of a right manner Cursed be the deceiver that hath a male in his flock and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing Mal.
be in this case For nothing can innoble and inrich you like this Have you no friends this makes God your friend Are you of a low extract this shews you to be born of God Is your education mean why hereby you are taught of God Have you none to leave you an inheritance why God is your inheritance Though you have neither house nor harbour yet this secures you an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 O what a comfortable thing it is to see the see of the poor to fear the Lord it makes them rich in their poverty I know thy poverty but thou art rich Rev. 2.9 It gives you a preference in the esteem of God to the greatest sinners on earth The Righteous is more excellent then his Neighbour Prov. 12.26 Suppose you come out of the loyns of a rich Parentage VVhat an advantage may this be for you have nothing to mind but your soul and your Salvation others are forced to spend much of their youth in learning a calling whereby to get bread but your Parents have laid up a plentiful estate for you so that your work should be to mind God You have that time and leisure that others have not it may be said of you as God said to Israel I have given you a land for which ye did not labour houses that ye builded not and Vineyards that ye planted not And what follows Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Josh 24.13 14. This sanctifies all your enjoyments and makes them Blessings indeed without this they are but fewel to your lusts and so become a curse and a snare This then is one great advantage of Christs yoke 2. It is your subjection that proves your relation to Christ Mal. 1.6 If I be a master where is my fear The question implyes that whatever men pretend the authority of God is no farther own'd then as his will is obeyed Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things I say Luk. 6.46 and Matt. 12.50 He that doth the will of my father the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Relations are not empty Titles though they are minimae entitatis yet they are maximae efficaciae They have a mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and affection to each other Obedience is the filling up of your relation to Christ Now whom do ye obey who hath your subjection whose will do ye do If ye call God father and live in sin ye blaspheme his holy name you lay the devils brats at his door If you say our Father you must say Thy will be done and labour to do it 3. Your subjection to Christ is your proper qualification for glory Heb. 5.9 Submit to him here and reign with him for ever And your obedience to Christ dont give you a right to blessedness that comes in by faith but it disposes and qualifies for blessedness a great advantage therefore 3. Consider the disadvantage of not taking up Christs yoke 1. This spoils all your duties If the heart be not subjected to Christ no duty can please God No obedience no audience If we will not hear God he will not hear us Quantum a praeceptis tantum ab auribus dei longe samus He that turns away his ear from hearing the law his Prayer shall be abomination prov 28.9 If his arguments can't prevail with us nor shall ours with him What is the great argument you are wont to use in pleading with God it is the blood of Jesus Heb. 10.19 We have boldness by the blood of Jesus and Ephes 3.12 We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Now this is the argument God uses with you Phil. 2.1 If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any bowels and mercies If Gods beseeching you by the bowels and blood of Christ can't prevail with you to duty why should your pleading then with God prevail with him for mercy for his blood was shed to redeem us to obedience as well as to be the price of mercies 2. It renders all your hopes vain The hope of a goodman shall never be frustrate it shall be finished but never be disappointed His hope ends in the fruition of the good hoped for It is a living hope But the hope of the sinner is a dying soul-undoing hope that will certainly fail at last and needs it must For 1. It is a hope that hath no foundation 1. None in the soul what is the foundation of hope there I will give you it in two Scriptures One is 1 Pet. 1.3 Begotten us again to a lively hope Their regeneration is made the ground of hope The other is Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory There Union to Christ is made the ground of hope So that where-ever there is a union to Christ by faith and a change of state by Regenerating grace that man hath a foundation of hope in himself No other man hath or can have 2. His hope hath no foundation in the word for that gives no countenance nor incouragement to hope in a state of disobedience that tells you that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 it tells you that without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord. Heb. 12.14 and therefore for a man to hope for Heaven in a state of sin is to hope that the word of God is not true or that God will not do as he saith and how vain is that hope 2. It is a hope that sets Gods attributes at variance It sets mercy against justice his goodness against his truth and righteousness God is as righteous as good as just as he is merciful and for an unsanctified man to hope in the mercy of God is to set his attributes at variance for if he shew mercy to such as live and dye in their opposition to Christ he can't be a just and righteous God 3. It is a hope that gives the lye to Christ For he hath with the most solemn asseveration averred that no man shall or can see the Kingdom of God unless he be regenerate Joh. 3.3 he hath said the gate is strait Mat. 7.14 and the way narrow that leads to life and but few find it Now for a man to hope for Heaven without being born again to hope to be saved in the broad way is to hope that Christ will prove a false Prophet 4. It is a hope that layes no stress upon any lust to subdue and weaken it That hope that is right and genuine purifies the heart 1 Joh. 3.3 But cursed is that hope that cherishes men in their Lusts and cursed be those lusts that frustrate a mans hope 3. It renders all that Christ hath done about the purchasing Salvation as to you vain and to no purpose What a blessed work hath Christ undertaken what great things hath he done what great things hath he suffered but if a man