there we may sing as prisoners of hope Zech. 9. 12. It is an helmet to receive all Blows securing the head from hurt Ephes. 6. 17. It is an anchor to keep the Soul steady in a tempestuous season Heb. 6. 19. Great is the patience of Hope 1 Thes. 1. 3. It bespeaks a troubled Soul as Psal. 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God There is little comfort for a Christian in this world if the hope of eternal life be cut off 1 Cor. 15. 19. First The usual Effects of this Hope when it is in any other Power are these 1. Hope of Glory and an earnest expectation of the coming of Christ are joyned together and indeed they are almost the same Waiting for his Coming looking for and hastning to the Coming of the Day of the Lord Christ was called the hope of Israel Acts 28. 20. Because our Fathers looked for his first Coming and so he is now called the Hope of Glory because the Saints do so earnestly look for his second Coming 1 Cor. 17. 2 Pet. 3. 12. 2. This Hope and Prayer go together The Schools tell us that Petitio is Interpretativa spei we cannot better express our Hopes than by wishing Praying and earnest breathing after what we Hope for Would you know whether you shall enter into Glory and be Eternally Saved If you have the Spirit of Prayer you will certainly be Saved But mistake not the gift of Prayer which may be nothing but words for the grace of Prayer that lies in the inward earnestness of the heart sometimes in Groans that are unutterable If you can pray inwardly in the frame of your Hearts with Fervency and Affection in the Name of Christ this is Praying in the Holy Ghost let your words be never so few and your expressions never so broken and imperfect if the desire of your Souls be after Christ it is laid down as an infallible Mark of your title to Heaven Gal. 4. 6 7. Because you are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore we are no more servants but Sons and if sons then heirs of God through Christ. The Spirit of Prayer is a convincing Evidence to those that have it or else the Spirit of God would miss of his end if he did not assure us by that assuring act which is put forth for that very purpose Therefore be much in Prayer If you are not in that measure of lively Hope as you would be much in Prayer for Hope Saints can't but Pray much under Hope Hope invites to Prayer and disposes to it if it be but to tell God what we Hope for which we cannot do but under some present renewed Acts of Hope which possibly we may not perceive in our selves Yet however Pray under all your despondencies for Hope that God would raise it and kindle it in you Though you pray but faintly weakly through fear and diffidence yet pray on God usually comes in with strengthning Grace in the time of Prayer He saith to the fearful Soul Fear not there is a sudden reviving a shedding abroad of the Love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost We may be under dismal apprehensions of of the Wrath of God in the beginning of Prayer and yet conclude with rejoying and triumphing in his Grace towards us There are many instances of this in the Psalms Faith if it be right knows not how to conclude a Prayer till it hath taken some hold of Christ for relief we cannot say Amen till then we cannot come to the conclusion till then and then the Soul rises up in a comfortable frame under some Hope of Mercy Thus Hope is raised nourished and increased in us by earnest fervent Prayer 3. Hope of Glory and Mortification of Sin go together He that hath this hope saith the Apostle purifies himself as God is pure 1 Joh. 1. 3. Every Sin in any measure Mortified brings on a further degree of Glory upon us and leaves a deeper impression of the Image of God upon the Soul you resemble him more which brings you nearer to your Heavenly State when you shall be exactly like him 4. Hope of Glory and Chearfulness under all outward Afflictions go together 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. We faint not because of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory You should always hold fast the rejoycing of your hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 6. Gird up the loyns of your mind be sober and hope unto the End for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. We are often assaulted by Temptations outward Afflictions and inward Desertions are ready to sink our hope We say sometimes as the Church did Lament 3. 18. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Our hopes seems to be plucked up even by the roots as a tree that is removed Job 19. 10. yet revives again and springs up as God turns his face towards us filling us with joy and peace in believing then we abound in hope tbrough the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Directions how to get under the Power of this Cristian Hope for a Power it hath and it is nothing to us till we come under that Power 1. Labour to understand your Hopes What it is you look for from Christ how great the inheritance is A Minor under Age who is born to a great Estate is little affected with it till he comes to know what he is Heir to what Houses Mannors and Lordships belong to him then he counts himself rich indeed The Apostle prays for this Ephes. 1. 17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints Did you know what a rich Glorious Inheritance is reserved for you this would mightily raise quicken strengthen your Hope You would count your Hope something then and rejoyce more in it That is the First Direction Labour to understand your Hopes Read over the Inventory of God's Gifts bequeathed to you in the Covenant of Grace till you can say This is mine and that is mine and all is mine through Christ. 2. Call over former experiences What God hath already done for you Experience begets Hope as in Jacob Gen. 32. 10 11 12. With my staff did I come over this Jordan and now I am become two Bands Lord I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies deliver me from the hand of my Brother Esau Thou that hast done such great things for me go on and deliver me Be not afraid of present danger but remember what the Lord hath done for you suppress
is Let me tell you the wisest among you cannot comprehend God you cannot know him to Perfection but the weakest among you may be made to Believe what you can't Comprehend If there be any Atheists or Scepticks here who either deny or doubt of the Being of a God let them be persuaded for once to make trial of Christ to cast themselves upon the Infinite Almighty Incomprehensible God held forth by Christ in the Gospel We stand in need of that which none can do for us but an Infinite God let us not then be startled when we hear of such a God but get under the shadow of the Almighty as fast as we can then we shall count our selves safe to Eternity We may as soon comprehend the Trinity of Persons as the Infinite Essence of God both are alike incomprehensible Three finite Persons have each of them an Essence numerically different from each other but the Three Persons in the Trinity have but one and the same numerical Essence of the Godhead among them all else there would not be One only God but as many Gods as Persons From what hath been said it appears that God in Christ is the true God God indeed Which is the first thing implyed in a saving-knowledge of God The second is this viz. CHAP. V. God in Christ the ONLY True God 2. WHat it is to know him as the only true God They know not God aright who do not know that there is and can be but One only God none like him this takes us off from all Idolatry and directs our Worship to the true object of all Divine Worship This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17. 3. The Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4. I even I am he and there is no God with me i. e. none besides me none equal to me Deut. 32. 39. Who is God save the Lord Who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. We are strictly commanded to have no other gods before him Exod. 20. 3. Because there is none other God but one To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 4 6. There is one God and one Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. To Worship many gods as the Heathens did is to Blaspheme them all to ascribe Impotency and Insufficiency to them one hand is too weak where many are required there can be but one infinite Supreme God What we ascribe to other gods we detract from the true God we are commanded to Love God with all our hearts soul and strength Luke 10. 27. If all be due unto one God What remains for any other We never truly rely upon God when we put confidence in any thing else He only is my rock and my salvation my soul wait thou upon God Psal. 62. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal. 77. 25. God is one there is none like him therefore to be worshiped with a peculiar singular Worship appropriated to him only which for the height and spirituality of it belongs to him and to none else he will not give his Glory to another There is a Glory belonging to God that is truly Divine that is too much and too great to be ascribed unto any Creature When we come before the Lord if our hearts are not enlarged and extended to a further Degree of Zeal and Fervency deriving some elevation more than ordinary from the greatness and excellency of the object that inflames our Devotions makes us to be otherwise affected towards God than we find our selves to be towards other things we are not under a true sense of the Greatness and Majesty of God neither do we know him as we ought to know him they who know God in Christ do love him more fear him more rejoyce in him more than we do in other things they are carried out in an extraordinary manner towards him from the high apprehensions they have of his glorious Majesty What made the Angels and Elders Rev. 5. 12. ad finem raise their Note so high in that Doxology but because they thought him worthy of the highest Honour more worthy than all Creatures in Heaven or Earth So Rev. 4. 8. ad finem There is that in God that calls for the highest Adoration and Worship Thou art worthy i. e. It is most decent fit and convenient to pay this just Reveretce to the great God 'T is highly rational the worth and excellency of the Object calls for it 't is injustice towards God to rob him of his Glory by not rendring to him the Praises due unto his Name How was Paul affected with the consideration of God in Christ Jesus 1. Tim. 1. 17. We shall be apt to come in a slight common Spirit to the worship of God till we apprehend it to be a special peculiar Service of a higher Nature requiring more intenseness of Spirit more zeal and ardency of Affection then we exert and put forth upon any other occasion because we have to do with God who is above all If your Hearts are not now fixed upon God wholly taken up with serious thoughts of God Trembling at his Word You do not behave your selves wisely in the House of God This one only true God is known by this distinguishing Character as the Father of Jesus Christ to be convinced of the truth of a Deity and of the Mystery of Christ's Incarnation holding forth this God unto us are the Two points upon which all our Religion hangs every Gospel-truth hath relation to both these depending upon 'em and naturally flowing from them Since we all profess our selves to be Worshippers of God it highly concerns us to know that true God and that this God is but one even he who hath appeared in Christ Jesus To Worship God out of Christ is to Woiship as the Heathens do in plain English 't is to Worship the Devil 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God I would not you should have fellowship with devils I am afraid there is a great deal of Heathenish Worship among us the Devil carries away all that Worship that is not directed to God in Christ. There is no other medium of Worship but Christ 't is not the intention of Worshipping the True God in or by an Image that will justifie Image-worship from being down-right Idolatry We may be mistaken in Worshipping one God if that prove a False one Nay if we intend the True God yet as represented by that which by nature is no God Gal. 4. 8. 't is a false object of Worship All Creatures but the Devil do pay a Worship to something which they call God he only is a constant Blasphemer though he be no Atheist yet
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
Name comes with authority commands a due respect from us Since we are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. Justified by his Blood saved from Wrath through him reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10. We may conclude from all that has passed between God and Christ concerning our Salvation that God is our God Christ has made him so When we know who is our God what he will be unto us and do for us we may enter into rest for ever rejoycing in his Salvation Two things prove God to be ours 1. His giving himself to us in a Promise 2. Our receiving him in that Promise by Faith which holds him fast will not let him go neither will God wrest himself out of the hand of our Faith for that would be to recede from his own Promise to deny himself no he will approve himself to be every way ours taking a universal Care of us and providing eternally for us causing his fulness to flow in upon our Souls more and more every day Jer. 17. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green nor shall cease from yeilding fruit CHAP. VII Some further Evidences of God's being OVR God 1. LOOK into your own hearts for this see what impressions of his Love and Fear you can find there what measure of the Spirit of his Son breathing in you examine prove your own selves that you may know whether Christ be in you of a truth he who has God for his God his heart is much set upon Christ who has brought this about and by a Spirit of Adoption made it known to us that God is our Father the Spirit does not tell us this only by an external Declaration of it in the word but by an internal operation or breathing in our hearts as the Spirit of the Son inclining us to go to God as Children of our Heavenly Father We know God to be our Father by a Divine Instinct the spirit of the Son leads us naturally to our Heavenly Father the Spirit of the Son knows no other Father but God and God acts as a Father towards all in whom he sees the Spirit of his Son when we are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit we stand in the same relation to God the Father as Christ our elder Brother does then it is I and the children which thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. All Children of the same Father I the first born and these my Brethren Being partakers of the Divine Nature that Nature tells us who is our Heavenly Father we need not say with Philip shew us the Father we shall see the Father in the Son and move towards him in the Spirit of the Son feeling in our selves such childlike affections towards God as will make us call him Father We must be clear in the actings of our Faith upon Christ before we can apprehend God to be our Father still remembring that it 's the Father of Christ who is our Father 2. By that inward satisfaction and rest we find in our selves under this new Covenant-relation to God he that believes doth enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Soul take thine ease a Child of God may truly say so upon our believing in Christ there is a secret shedding abroad of that love of God in the Soul when we turn to God God turns about to us looks pleasingly upon us we tast and see that God is gracious this is the sinners welcome into a state of Grace he sees it much better with him than before 3. By the confidence we put in him for help and comfort in all our times of need The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23. 1. We see that in God that answers all our fears do we want strength the Lord is our strength would a rock or fortress stand us in any stead God is both would a Buckler a high Tower the Lord is all this to a Believer and Faith understands as much Psal. 18. 1 2. And therefore is confident in God knows that every Promise will be established God will act like a God towards us like a God to Israel as 1 Chron. 17 24 25. We may safely trust in him Dan. 3. 17. Our God is the God of Salvation Psal. 68. 20. Isa. 41. 10. We should apply to him for help upon all occasions Isa. 8. 19. And let others have a care of medling with the people of God to their hurt Jer. 2. 3. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. They are sensible how God stands engaged to them and they to God God promises to do great things for them and they promise to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes Deut. 26. 16. ad finem Not to do this is to deny God Josh. 24. 27. You say he is your God don't unsay it again by your wilful Disobedience When God owns any for his people he makes them to own him for their God he works answerable Dispositions in their hearts towards himself as he avouches them to be his people so they avouch him to be their God Hos. 2. 23. I will say i. e. I will make them my people Dei dicere est efficere our saying is to believe and obey when we disobey God we disown him we set up something else for our God we say unto God Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 4. By his appearing for us against all our sworn Enemies as he did for Israel of old bringing them out of Egypt with a Mighty hand when things come to extremities between God and his People he will then save them because he is their God Psalm 3. 7. For his own name sake Isa. 43. 25. David knew the strength of the Argument Psal. 119. 94. Though God may severely Chastise his people yet he will not take away his Loving kindness utterly from them he will not make an utter end of them God cannot do this Hos. 11. 8. 5. By our zealous appearing for God upon all occasions The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits Dan. 11. 32. 6. The Apostle Phil. 3. 3. when he would prove himself and the Philippians to be the peculiar people of God to belong to him indeed he gives Three Signs of it viz. Worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus have no confidence in the flesh They who say God is their God from a true saving Knowledg of God in Christ they believe there is no other God that he is the only true God Who is God save the Lord who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. Above all gods 2 Chron. 2. 5. And him only will they serve Mat. 4. 10. He is their guide unto death Psal. 48. 14. They
manifest by the Scriptures Rom. 16. 25 26. That no man knows this but by a Scripture-light appears by these Texts Act. 2. 37. Men and brethren what shall we do They knew not what to do Sirs what must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. and 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit When we were yet without strength and could do nothing to help our selves in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. This outward revelation in the letter of the Scripture 3. Obs. of God's intended Grace towards Sinners is little regarded by the generality of men they cast the Word of God behind their backs and count the Doctrine of the Cross foolishness There are Two Causes of this 1. They are not convinced of their lost Estate Rev. 3. 17. The whole need not a physician Mat. 9. 12. 2. When they are convinced I mean when they are under the highest degree of Conviction that a natural man is capable of yet they can't reach the mystery of the Gospel 't is foolishness to them nay the more they are Convinced of the sinfulness of sin the further they see into the horrid nature of it the more improbable nay impossible does it seem to them that ever their sins should be pardoned 'T is an easier matter to convince them of sin than it is under that Conviction to perswade them to believe in Christ for the pardon of sin there is something in Nature that helps forward the Conviction of sin natural Conscience joyns with the Law to accuse for sin but there is nothing in Nature that does any way promote our belief of the Gospel the first is a common work of the Spirit this latter a special saving work Therefore 4. Obs. Besides the written word which God has put into every man's hand who lives under the outward light of the Gospel God ordained and appointed Ministers to go up and down as his Embassadors to beseech and intreat sinners to be reconciled unto God and put them in mind of what is written in the Word to exhort them to read it to hear it to consider seriously of it God sends his Ministers to discourse them to expostulate the case with them so unwilling is God that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and live If any object Why may not the written word suffice without the Ministry to bring men to the knowledge of Salvation I answer All cannot read therefore they must be spoken to and instructed by Preaching Besides 'T is not for us to prescribe unto God what means he should use to fit us for Heaven he hath appointed this Ordinance of Preaching It preased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. Therefore let it not displease us Besides should God speak to us immediately in his own voice we should not be able to bear it as they Deut. 5. 25 26 27. Therefore he speaks in our voice and language to us that he may more secretly and silently convey himself to our hearts by the ministry of man speaking in his Name and uttering his words which are capable of more of the Spirit of God than our hearts can well bear the Word of God and the Spirit of God do perfectly agree but it is not so between the Spirit of God and our hearts the Spirit enters not without opposition therefore to avoid all clamour abroad and noise in the streets God chuses this more soft easie way by putting his power into the word preached by man so making it effectual to what degree he pleases Thus God gets within us ere we are aware his word spoken by man comes home to our hearts with power in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit shewing us the way of Salvation Having thus led you to the Text by these things that are impli'd in it and must be first supposed in order to a right understanding of the words read to you which I shall now speak more directly to 1. As relating to John's Ministry in particular The words of the Text are part of that Prophecy which Zacharias uttered when he was filled with the Holy-Ghost vers 67. Concerning Christ and concerning John he begins with Christ great things he speaks of him lays open the whole mystery of the Gospel and of the Churches Salvation by Christ. Then in the same breath continuing his Discourse he makes a sudden Transition and directs his Speech to the Infant John then present as I suppose And thou child shalt be called and here is a description of his Person and thou child And of his Office shalt be called a Prophet of the highest John was to teach them the way of Salvation to tell them the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and to call them to Faith and Repentance in order to the remission of sin The time of John's Ministry was a middle state between the Law and Gospel between Moses and Christ he is preferred before all the Prophets Mat. 11. 11. And yet as to clearness of light inferior to the Apostles and Gospel-Ministers in the renewed state of the Church though he knew more than all that were before him yet he saw less than they who came after him This John is the voice of one crying in the wilderness exhorting the people to believe on him that should come after him Acts 19. 4. Christ as Man was six Months younger than John came a little after into the world and a little after him into the Ministry it was meet it should be so John being his fore-runner a Messenger sent before to prepare the way Mark begins his Gospel from the Ministry of John because then the Judaical worship began to cease The Law and the Prophets were until John Luk. 16. 16. i. e. All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John Mat. 11. 13. They spoke of the Messiah to come John shews he is already come in the flesh points to him Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world John 1. 29. Therefore John's Ministry is called the beginning in the Gospel of Jesus Christ Mark 1. 1. This Gospel-Administration we are now under began in John the Baptist who brought that New-Testament Ordinance of Baptism into the Church Thus much of that which peculiarly relates to John I am now come to that which relates 2. To a Gospel Ministry in general and shall shew you from this Text what it is what you are to expect from it what you should aim at in your attendance upon it which is briefly this viz. The knowledge of Salvation for the remission of sin this is that which we are sent to teach and which you come hither to learn if you propose to your selves any other end than his you are not like
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
him no seeing of him but as the Soul moves towards him in the Light of Faith God shines in our hearts saith the Scripture the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ and this Light of knowledge is Faith When we Believe we know Christ we See him we Come to him we Rely upon him Rejoyce in him we Love and Obey him all the actings of the Soul towards Christ they are from Faith representing him to us out of the Word And when we believe the Report of the Gospel concerning him we are persuaded and must be persuaded of the Truth of that which by a present Act of Faith we do Believe There goes no more to your knowledge persuasion and satisfaction than real Believing Faith in its own Nature is all Evidence though Flesh and Blood do contradict this Evidence seek to cast clouds over it yet those doubts that arise they come not from Faith but Unbelief that accompanies it more or less in every act we perform The more Faith the more Hope the more Unbelief the less Hope Hope will be in a proportion to the degree of our Faith The Spirit works Faith in us and then shews us Christ in the Light of it Christ is let into the Soul by Faith there he is and there he dwells transforming us into his own Image by our Faith in him As Faith works by Love so the Spirit works by Faith I mean by our Faith in him The Spirit knows how to improve our Faith in Christ to draw arguments from thence to bring us to any thing which the Gospel calls for I am persuaded I speak to many who have Christ within them who would not quit their Interest in him for Ten thousand Worlds if so you must fetch the reason of this from your Hope in Christ What! Not part with Christ upon any terms and yet Hope for nothing from him not part with Christ upon any terms and yet get nothing by him He doth not offer himself to you upon these terms but that ye may be enriched by him in all things You dishonour Christ and forget your Faith when you don 't Hope for great things from him I Beseech you Sirs Bethink your selves a little of your standing in Christ what hold you have taken of Eternal life in him and don't after all say I have no Hope Neither would I have you content your selves in bare saying you have Hope But stir it up act it shew it rejoyce in it daily Hope to the end that others may see how happy you count your selves in Jesus Christ tell every one you meet That Christ in you is your hope of Glory We often Preach and Hear of Faith and Hope but we practice those Graces at leasure Sermons of Faith and Hope don't beget these Graces in us nor draw them out into act Pray consider of this were our hearts changed under the Preaching of the Word into a frame suitable to it this would be a token for good unto us that the Lord is indeed among us If Sermons of Hope did end in lively actings of Hope we should all go home Rejoycing Blessing and Praising of God for his abundant Mercy towards us Great Hopes can't easily be forgotten we naturally run into our Hopes we are fond of them they present themselves to our Thoughts continually have easy access to us they take up our Minds daily making pleasing representations to us of the Good that is coming towards us I would leave you under the Contemplation of these things Did we converse more with our Hopes of Heaven and Glory this would keep sorrow from our hearts and cause us always to rejoyce in the Lord. Here is a present Cordial for the Poorest the most Afflicted and Disconsolate Soul How uncomfortable soever your present circumstances may be if you would get up into this Hope what happy Men and Women would you be you would count your selves happy and be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory None of your wants would pinch you you would be lifted up above the afflicting sense and smart of any outward Cross that may now lye heavy upon you All your Afflictions would be light if compared to this Eternal weight of Glory which weighs down all troubles and doth wonderfully alleviate and moderate all your Griefs You may be AS sorrowful in the Judgment of others and yet always rejoycing in your own Spirits from the Power of Hope It may be some will say How can this be Were we never so high in these Hopes yet we should grow weary and restless under them because all is put off to the Resurrection till the Coming of Christ and who can tell when that will be Hope deferred makes the heart sick we may faint under our desires before they come to pass Prov. 13. 10. I Answer In worldly hope it is so worldly hope is not so strengthned is not so established hath not that overcoming Power and Virtue in it as this Christian Hope hath for these Two Reasons 1. Because of the firm Assurance we have of the certain Accomplishment of our Hopes which cannot be said of any outward humane worldly hope As Christians we know our hope will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. comp with Rom. 8. 38 39. A Christian knows his Hope is founded upon immutable Promises and this doth strangely animate the Power of a Christian Hope 2. We cannot flag in our Christian Hope because of the present satisfaction it gives us Wordly Hope is but a lank thing promises fair but hath little present influence upon the minds of men to give them any real satisfaction but a Christian Hope doth give present satisfaction There is always something in hand some pledges some earnest of all that is to follow and this is sufficient for our present occasions to serve the turn till we have finished our Pilgrimage here below They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with eagles wings they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa. 40. 31. There is a strange Strength and Virtue in a Christian Hope The Hope of a Christian is a feeding Hope a Soul-satisfying Hope there is no languishing under it it feeds upon the present overflowings of the Promise Tho the thing it self is not yet brought forth out of the Promises yet the Actings of Faith and Hope do cause a strange present overflowing from the Promise that drops into the heart like Oil to refresh it I say the Promises are continually dropping in fresh Comforts giving us fresh Tastes of the Love and Goodness of God Now under this satisfaction our expectation is raised and this again heightens our present satisfaction we have enough now are full are rich have all our hearts can now hold and yet we do see more a coming with a further Capacity Skill and Wisdom to improve it I shall see him but not now Numb 24. 17.
you find yonr Hopes sinking then look to your Faith for the fault lies there raise that and Hope will quickly recover it self By often proving and examining our selves about our Interest in Christ we come to know it more perfectly to be assured of it Want of Assurance doth come from the want of Light in the Understanding hence that Phrase Col. 2. 2. The full assurance of understanding When we have intire satisfaction in our Judgment and Understandings that things are so and so we know that Christ is in us of a truth We had need make good proof of this for all depends upon it It is a Truth Saints are apt to question when a good Work is begun in them which they and others take to be Conversion and which indeed is so yet the Devil labours to persuade them otherwise puts in many Exceptions Tho he knows he cannot overthrow their state yet such is his Malice he would rob them of the comfort of it and hide it from them if he can He seeks to blind the minds of men to keep out the Light of the Gospel from shining in upon us and when it doth shine in he raises all the Mists and Fogs he can to obscure it he would fain turn day into night and draw a Cloud over that Day-star that is risen in our hearts and therefore we had need have recourse to Christ within us We should often have recourse to Christ within us look well upon him and consider him comparing Christ in our hearts with Christ in the Word for we may take a false Christ into our hearts an Idol instead of the true Christ as the Galatians chap. 1. 6. They had another Gospel quite different from what Paul preached to them There was no such Christ no such Gospel as they fancied to themselves They had a wrong notion of things thought they must join something to Christ did not stick to say Unless they were circumcised they could not be saved Christ himself could not save them without Circumcision We should examine our selves about this Whether our sole dependance be upon Christ or whether we join any thing with him in Justification piecing up a Righteousness partly from Christ and partly from our selves I am not against Works of Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but if we do not warily and wisely distinguish between Faith as Justifying and Faith as it orders and governs the Life according to the Rule of Gospel-Obedience we shall run into endless Disputes and never understand one another Therefore I say let us consider whether or no we rely upon Christ and his Righteousness for our Justification in the sight of God We should examine the Principle by which we are carried out to holiness of life afterward We may know this by searching our hearts and putting close Questions to our selves Whether our whole Trust and Confidence be reposed in him alone Whether we desire to be found in him not having on our own righteousness If we are clear in this and can say from the bottom of our hearts None but Christ None but Christ is the stay and prop of our Souls we have nothing else to trust in or rely upon then all our Hope of Eternal Life must needs flow from him and be grounded upon him only Here we fix and are immoveable from the Hope of the Gospel all our days Secondly By imploring the help of the Spirit to shew us those things of Christ which we read and hear from the Word Without this all our Reasonings and Considerations of Gospel Mysteries will come to little we shall not have one right thought of him We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. As of our selves i. e. not by our own Wit Parts and Learning He speaks this chiefly of Ministers And if They stand in need of help from God to guide their Thoughts and Meditations of Christ certainly private Christians do The Spirit shall teach you all things Joh. 14. 26. He will guide you into all truth John 16. 13. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you v. 15. And therefore when you set your selves to think of any Gospel-Truth be sure you look up to God to enlighten you and to give you good Understanding of that Truth as it is in Jesus or else all your Reading Hearing Studying Discourse and Thinking will come to nothing The Help of the Spirit lies in Two Things 1. In Teaching 2. In Testifying 1. In Teaching The Teaching of the Spirit and the Testimony of the Spirit are Two Things We are Taught that we may Believe but we are sealed after we believe Ephes. 1. 13. For the Spirit bears witness not only to the Truth of the Word but to the Truth of a Work of Grace in our hearts and that must be wrought before the Spirit can witness to it and therefore Sealing comes after Anointing and is distinguished from it 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. He that anoints us is God who also hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Who also hath sealed us he speaks of it as a distinct thing as a further work of God upon the Soul first Anointing then also Sealing giving us the Earnest There seems to be some difference between these Two Phrases Sealing and giving Earnest who also hath Sealed us and given us the Earnest of his Spirit in our hearts Sealing implies bare Assurance but the Earnest so assures us as to put part of the Inheritance into our hand An Earnest is something in hand but Sealing is a demonstrative Evidence of the Truth and Certainty of a Thing to the Understanding only 't is all Intellectual I shall first shew you How we are led to the Knowledge of Christ in us by the Teaching of the Spirit and then shew How we are confirmed in that Knowledg by the Testimony of the Spirit and both in order to the raising and strengthning our Hope 1. The Spirit shews us Christ within formed in our hearts then teaches us to argue from Christ within us Consider that Scripture Rom. 8. from 10. to 17. and see what work Paul makes of it how he argues from Christ within If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness If the Spirit be in you then you are assured of the resurrection of the body If the Spirit of Christ be in you then you are led by the Spirit then you know that you are the children of God and if children then heirs joint-heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together So you see he argues up to a lively Hope of Glory as if he had said All this doth naturally follow from Christ being in you He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 12. Believers may have Christ and may have life in him and by him and yet not know that they have it These things have I written to you v.
way concerned in his Hope it is impossible to leave himself quite out of his Hope If Christ in you be your hope of Glory Then look upon him as the only sure bottom and foundation of all your Hopes you will prize him the more We naturally love and esteem that which gives us hope of any goood coming towards us The Reason why Christ is so little regarded so lightly set by is because men are afraid they shall be losers by him Go and sell all and follow me this is an hard saying to such as understand not the gain of Godliness the excellency of Christ that he is able to do more for them than all the World can Paul was so persuaded Rom. 8. 37. Nothing could separate him from the Love of God in Christ Jesus Neither life nor death nor all evils that it was possible for men and devils to bring upon him In all these things saith he we are more than conquerors As if he had said we are so far from being losers that we are great gainers come off with advantage Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God who also causes us to triumph in Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. Thus he overcomes the world who believes Jesus is the Son of God 1 John 5. 4 5. Quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one Eph. 6. 16. Overcomes by the blood of the Lamb Rev. 12. 11. But after all this If any should Object and say We cannot rejoyce in this Hope of Glory by Christ we cannot bring our hearts under the Power of this Hope as you have been persuading us to do I Answer You cannot but God can God by his Spirit of Power can do this in you and upon you We have a cloud of Witnesses to this in all those Saints in former Ages who have gone Triumphing to Heaven in a Joyful Hope and Expectation of Eternal Glory and you will find it so in your selves when the Spirit of God comes upon you as a Spirit of Power Let me tell you The impressions of the Spirit are strange things till you come under them then you feel the powerful effects of them in your own Souls will see that done which you thought could never have been done find that made easy to you which you thought was impossible And thus it will be when you are begotten again to a lively Hope Many Professors have a dead Hope of Eternal Life and Glory which make no impression upon them but a lively Hope hath lively Effects that will be felt It may be you will further Object and say It is true there are some who have this Hope and this Joy But may not all this be a Delusion upon false Grounds All I shall say in Answer is this I wish you would make the same Objections against your Worldly Hopes as you do against this Christian Hope I am sure you have more cause How prone are men to Object against the Hope of the Gospel And how willing are men to be flattering themselves with all Worldly Hopes they follow them are mightily pleased with them they all run well and are well founded But this Hope of Glory by Jesus Christ that is an ignote thing they know not what to make of it Look to it Those who are willing to nourish vain Hopes now will have Hope little enough ere long they will be Punished with Everlasting Despair in Hell But alas with what confidence and security do Men Hope in the Creature but with what trepidation and doubtfulness do some Trembling Souls Hope in Christ Methinks their Reason might instruct their Faith to argue otherwise from Gospel Principles the consequence of which Sanctifi'd Reason may discern and ought to attend unto You find a Thousand Instances in every Age of such whose Worldly Hopes have disappointed them and made them ashamed But never since the World began could there be one Instance produced of any Believer whose Hope in Christ hath made him ashamed It is strange that we should rejoyce so much under that Hope which seldom or never answers our expectation and be so much cast down and dispirited under those Hopes of Glory that never fail I wish you would but ask your selves the Reason of this It is a sign we are rather Carnal than Spiritual and savour more the things of this Earth than the things of Heaven It is a shame to think how little Influence this Hope of Glory hath upon us We usually count our selves the better for our Hopes but it seems the Hope of Glory adds little to us we lay it by as that which speaks of something to come a great while hence in another world we know not when we cannot get our minds to attend to it and look for the accomplishment of it And thus we bereave our selves of much good by suffering our Hope to languish as it will do if we don't take comfort in it and daily solace our selves with the thoughts of it To think of our Hopes is enough to revive us at any time especially when we count them sure and certain I know not whence it is but you may observe many Christians to be more in the Exercise of Faith and Love than of Hope We reverence the Word and dare not disbelieve that when we are under little or no Hope of what is promised to us in the Word A little Fear drowns our Hope We believe the Truth of the Promises but in modesty suspend the application of them to our selves as if it were a piece of Humility to Believe much and Hope but little God is good and gracious and faithful saith the drooping Soul here is Faith But I am unworthy I am less than the least of all his mercies unfit to receive any thing at his hand Thus by sinking our Hope we do insensibly weaken our Faith for a weak Faith doth always follow a languid Hope the Promises will grow out of credit with us when in an affected Despondency we humour our selves too much in refusing our own Mercies It would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word and say Because you will not have this or that Mercy you shall not have it because you will not have life by applying this and that Promise to your selves I reverse it call it in declare you shall never have that Mercy I say it would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word when in a froward sullen fit of Despondency It is a slight to his rich Grace to be so shy of it to take but little when much is offered Express then the greatness of your Faith by the greatness of your Hope As God hath abounded yea superabounded in his Grace towards you so do you abound more and more in your Hope in him Faith is but a Notion a mere empty Speculation when the good things of the Promise are not brought down to our selves by a lively Hope that
never assented to before it is not a meer Speculation only but proceeds from the Judgment of a practical understanding about a matter that meerly concerns himself telling him that something must be done in the case Those in the Acts when convinced cry out Men and brethren what shall we do they knew something was to be done they bestir themselves under their convictions What shall we say of those who sit still under a profession of Faith and do nothing Let them say what they will they are not convinced they do not indeed believe though they read and hear the Scriptures and own their Divine Authority what then if the Spirit come not along with the word there is that cursed Principle of unbelief in their hearts that will be too hard for the Word and the Minister to they will put the Word from them and if the Minister come up close to them and say Thou art the man they will fly in his face too because he does not Prophesy good to them CHAP. II. The Preacher's Power of binding and loosing I Have one thing more about a Gospel Ministry which I would mind you of and bring into practice I see a necessity of it to awaken Professors in this declining Age where Religion seems to have lost its Primitive Glory and that powerful Influence that formerly it had upon the minds of men who stood more in awe of their Religion than we do now gave another-gates account of it to their own Conscience than I fear many now-a-days can do I conceive it belongs to the Office of a Gospel Minister not only to declare the way of Salvation by Christ and shew how remission of sin is to be had but also to bind or loose their Hearers as they do either come up to the Word or reject it and this done Authoritatively in the Name of Christ according to Scripture-rule is a real discharge or a real Condemnation of that person who falls under such a Sentence I don't speak of binding and loosing as 't is an Act of Church-Discipline in casting Offenders out of the Church and receiving them into it again upon their Repentance for so it is in use among us and in that sense only we generally take it But I conceive there is a binding and loosing mentioned in Scripture distinct from all Church-Censures in a way of Discipline and is always to follow the Preaching of the Doctrine of the Gospel loosing those from their sins who do believe it and binding their sins upon them who believe it not and this I take to be an essential part of a Gospel Ministry Where Ministers do perceive in any of their Hearers a visible contempt of the grace that is offered in the Gospel they ought to be is readiness to avenge all such Disobedience 2 Cor. 10. 6. by binding their sins upon them pronouncing such persons to abide under the wrath of God 'till they do by Faith embrace a Promise of Pardon Those two places viz. Mat. 16. 19. Joh. 20. 23. relate to the Doctrine of the Gospel shewing what follows upon it and also do confirm the Authority of it for the comfort of those who believe it and for the terror of those who reject it That place Mat. 18. 18. relates to the Discipline of the Church in all publick Censures pass'd upon impenitent Offenders So that he who acknowledges his Fault and repents of it being admonish'd by the Church is absolved not only by man but by God and taken into the Communion of the Church again The Church of Rome admits of binding and loosing in the latter sense but they engross it all to themselves and apply it wholly to their Sacrament of Penance The Council of Trent Anathematizes those who allow the power of binding and loosing in any sense to the ordinary Preachers of the Gospel but Calvin is expresly against them Non separanda est says he haec potestas remittendi Peccata à docendi officio i. e. The power of binding and loosing must not be separated from the office of an ordinary Gospel Minister There be other Scriptures to confirm this as 2 Cor. 5. 19. Luk. 4. 18. The sum of the Gospel is to preach deliverance to captives So Luk. 24. 47. and Luk. 10. 5 6 9 10 11 12. vide I am not for Popish Absolutions but I think it the Duty of Ministers to tell their People whom God will save and whom he will not whose sins are and whose are not remitted to them and to do this Authoritatively by a particular Application that may reach the persons themselves whom they most suspect ay and privately to tell them by name that they are the persons they meant warning them to consider their danger lest sudden Destruction from the Lord do come upon them 'T is evident that general Preaching does little good without this men shift it off and distinguish themselves out of the power of Religion think their Profession secures them from all that is threatned in the word and denounced against the Prophane and Ungodly Doctrines and Exhortations won't do without this particular Application of the blessing to whom it belongs and of the curse of God to them over whose Heads it certainly hangs we must do our Duty herein there be some weak ones who can't speak peace to themselves we must speak it to them in the Name of the Lord there be others who won't speak Terror to themselves but go on in their wickedness and bless themselves I say it is out Duty to curse them in the Name of the Lord and plainly tell them that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. 1 Cor. 6. 9. Eph. 5. 5. There are too too many now-a days who count hearing the word a very indifferent thing They can come to it and they can forbear 't is all one to them which they do they are not much concerned either way when they come they think hearing the word if it does them no good 't will do them no harm But there is a great mistake here let me tell you there is a blessing or a curse at the end of every Sermon you hear and one or 'tother will certainly light upon you Scoffers may puff at the Judgments of God and say that Ministers take too much upon them in passing such a peremptory Sentence on them what care they what men say ay but know who ever thou art so Sermon-proof in your own opinion that the Minister shall never take hold of thee I say thou art by those very words those binding words pronounced against thee in the Name of the Lord by a Minister of the Gospel as surely Condemned already as if thou were already in Hell the wrath of God will certainly come upon you unless you repent and so I leave you think of it at leisure If we do not our Duty who have these Keys committed to us we shall be questioned at the last day for not shutting
this man or that woman out of the Kingdom of Heaven whom we saw walking so disorderly under so visible a neglect of their own Salvation Obj. This way of Preaching may grieve the Saints Ans. What! to hear that impenitent unbelieving Sinners remaining so shall never enter into Heaven if this grieve them they must be grieved we can't help it better they grieved than others eternally Damn'd for want of such an awakening word Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth if so I desire never to be friends with you upon other terms Brethren What we do of this kind errante clave affects no man's Conscience But if you find that you are the persons to whom God intends Comfort you ought to receive it if the persons to whom the Curse belongs you ought to apply it to your selves and to tremble under it for what is bound on Earth is bound in Heaven The Curse will certainly come upon you if you repent not you may reverse the Sentence we pass by a speedy turning to God before you dye else 't will be confirmed against you at the last Day to your eternal Destruction by an irreversible Sentence You will frequently find it may be not presently that as you are bound or loosed by the Preachers of the Gospel so suitable impressions of God's Love or Anger are made upon your Souls even in this World God does this to keep up the Authority of his Ministers that they may effectually comfort Believers and as effectually terrifie Unbelievers therefore if we are bold against some 2 Cor. 10. 2. and do use sharpness according to the power which the Lord Jesus has given us for your edification 2 Cor. 13. 10. For that we aim at in all these denunciations of God's wrath against the impenitent 1 Cor. 5. 5. I say if we come with a Rod and seem not so kind and gentle to you as you would have us 1 Cor. 4. 21. If at any time we are found unto you such as ye would not 't is because we do not find you such as we would 2 Cor. 12. 20. The Sum of All. This Phrase of giving the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven is Metaphorical from one who has the Supreme Power in a House or City so Eliakim as Chief Governour of the King's Houshold had the keys of the house laid upon his shoulder Isa. 22. 22. Prefiguring the Kingdom of Christ who gives the Keys i. e. the Power of binding and loosing here on Earth to his Ministers Q. How can the power of Remitting Sin which belongs to God only Mark 2. 7. be ascribed to men A. Christ in Commanding the Apostles and in them all Ministers to remit Sin does not transfer upon them that which is his own peculiar Prerogative i. e. he does not resign to them his Power of forgiving Sin but only Commands them in his Name to testifie to their hearers that the Sins of all those who Believe in Jesus are Pardoned and to pronounce them Pardoned by God So that Ministers are not the Authors of Forgiveness but only God's witnesses testifying his Grace towards Repenting Believing Sinners Nothing makes more for our comfort than to know that our Sins are Pardoned and to this end God hath appointed his Ministers in his Name to tell Believers so and to declare unto all that they who Believe shall be Saved and have all their Sins remitted to them for Christ's sake Thus I have shewed you what is implied in this Text And till men are wrought up by the Preaching of the Gospel to a real conviction of these Truths viz. 1. That all men are Sinners by Nature and under Condemnation by Law 2. That there is no Salvation to be expected or hoped for without a full and free Remission of all their Sins 3. That this Remission of Sin can never be obtained till full satisfaction be first given to the Law and Justice of God for all our Offences and Trespasses against him 4. That none but Christ is able to make this satisfaction for Sin 5. That in order hereunto i. e. for the effecting and compleating this satisfaction the Son of God took our flesh upon him and Dyed in that Flesh for us shed his Blood for the Remission of our Sins 6. That all who come unto this Jesus casting themselves by Faith upon him shall certainly find Mercy shall have all their sins Pardoned and shall be Eternally Saved Till we can prevail with our hearers to own and acknowledge these Generals 't is impossible they should Believe in the Lord Jesus to the saving of their Souls That Faith that is saving does necessarily presuppose and include in it a real assent unto and full conviction of all the forementionned Truths Possibly some will say We know all this already have heard these things over and over it may be so but pray hear them over once more and consider them well in the light of this Text that tells you plainly there is no other way of Salvation Sometimes it pleases God by one Text set home by the Spirit upon our hearts to lead us into a more serious consideration of many other Truths relating to it which we formerly gathered out of the letter of the Word without any application of the matter contained in them to our selves We who are Ministers must insist upon these things we have nothing else to say to Sinners till they are convinced of these truths this is the first opening of the Gospel we cannot proceed one step farther till some credit be given to these first Principles of the Christian Religion I hope you who are here present and do frequent this Assembly do attend upon the Ministry of the Word under a real conviction of these truths Therefore give me leave to put One question to you to every one of you to your Consciences I put it viz. Whether you have answered this Conviction by your personal Coming to Christ and actual casting your selves upon him for the Pardon of all your Sins If this be not yet done I am sure you cannot Answer it to God nor your own Consciences Pray consult your convictions and shew your selves men To say no more Two things I shall speak to from this Text viz. 1. What Remission of Sin is 2. How Salvation consists in the Remission of Sin CHAP. III. I. What Remission of Sin is I Intend to speak distinctly to these Two Heads yet not so distinctly neither but I may now and then run them both together in my Discourse which cannot well be avoided in truths of so near an affinity to each other as these are I begin with the first viz. Remission of Sin What are we to understand by that Remission of Sin implies our justification It can signifie nothing less in Mark 1. 4. and Mat. 26. 28. They who labour most to find a difference are very much put to it to make it out They say that imputation of Righteousness is distinct from Remission of
put no other sense upon any Scripture that is not consistent with and agreeable to this great fundamental Principle keeping close to the just analogy of Faith in all your tenents and opinions I know there are other things to be considered besides Remission of Sin but be sure you begin here don't suppose that some previous qualifications in your selves are required to incline God to pardon your sins for this will carry you unavoidably into a self-righteousness and then Christ will profit you nothing We are not pardon'd because we repent and lead holy lives but we repent and lead holy lives because we are fully Pardoned for Christ's sake Shut all self-righteousness out of your justification and take all that is Christ's into it both his active and passive Obedience though I had rather joyn them together as the Scriptures do and say That by the obedience of one man many are made righteous i. e. by the Obedience of Christ in Suffering and doing all that the Law required And in the Application of this Grace to us 't is clear to me that upon the Remission of all our Sins Righteousness is imputed to us and this is that which the Apostle calls Righteousness without works Rom. 4. 6 7 8. The Righteousness of works so far as it can be attained in this life is but an effect of the Righteousness of Faith You know not the right way of Salvation till you know how to obtain the Pardon of all your Sins then you will see how Christ is become your Righteousness Let us not be too curious in placing one part of our Justification upon his Passive and another part upon his Active Obedience Let us be sure to place all upon Christ and then we are right the Spirit does not reveal the whole Mystery of Christ at once to Believers there is a great deal of Christ to be learned by those who are Justified and Pardoned even after they are in a state of Grace Let us believe Christ to be our Righteousness and leave it to him to make out the way and manner of his being so Our terms and distinctions applied to the fundamental Points of Religion have occasioned many mistakes about them Let us therefore attend more strictly to the simplicity of our own Faith and not call in our Reason to prompt our Faith but rather submit our Reason to the instructions of Faith I would have all Christians study their own Faith more and dwell more in the light of it then they will be more familiarly acquainted with it and better understand themselves in every act of Faith they put forth Let us give our Faith time to act to open it self further to us and our selves time to take in the full sense of our Faith Generally our acts of Faith are too short sudden and transient We make a formal profession of Faith and say We believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin but don't so well weigh and consider what we say or what we belâ—eve we turn off presently to something else as if we had done with our Faith when the Mystery of it is not half apprehended by us We should attend to it ponder it well in our minds look round it this is the way to keep up a presence of mind in us about what we Believe One act of Faith attended to will fill us with such thoughts and apprehensions of the Love of Christ that will furnish us with matter of discourse for many days But I don't find Professors so much concerned in their own Faith so much affected with it as they should they pass it over as a plain ordinary piece of Religion and having once declared they believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin they have no more to do with him Whereas the Mystery of Faith should be studied all our lives long we should pray as Paul did Eph â— â—7 c. vide That we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Faith has more in it than most People are aware of 't is not so easy a matter to know comprehend and remember what is contained in an act of Saving-Faith we should discourse more with our own Faith look into all particulars search to the bottom by gathering up more and more of the unsearcheable riches of Christ. He that would judge of a curious piece of Workmanship brings it to the light views it round in every part till he has gathered up all the excellencies of it into his mind then he can speak knowingly in the praise and commendation of such a thing having made observations before of all that was admirable in it So you should sit down and consider the consequence of an act of Faith upon Christ for Justification and Pardon what depends upon it what you gain by it what you expect from it all is yours if Christ be yours therefore be persuaded to enter into your Chambers and Closets sit down with a Bible in your hands stir up your Faith consider the state of a Believer and then gather up what makes for your comfort out of the Word of God O how would your Faces shine you would be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by Believing there is not that Joy among Believers because they don't think enough of what they Believe Do you Believe in Christ for the Remission of Sin Then there is a great deal in Christ a great deal in Sin a great deal in the actings of thy own Soul under this Faith to be considered of The knowledge experience and evidence of Faith are things that should be particularly examined and seriously thought of There is a full business in Faith enough to imploy a gracious Soul all his days Faith fills the mind with deep apprehensions of our own great concernments in Christ Jesus Were we wise indeed unto Salvation we should think of nothing oftner than of what we believe there may be Faith and there may be Truth in the heart and yet these Two may not be sufficiently mingled together therefore we should often apply our Faith to the Word that what it does not see at one time it may see at another what it does not reach by one act it may take in by the next The oftner Faith looks into the Word the more distinctly does it gather up the full sense of the Word it dwells in us in more Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding Did we take this course we should quickly find the benefit of it out of our Bellies would flow Rivers of living water we should be more skilful in the word of Righteousness more expert Believers ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us Believers have much to say in defence of Christ the Gospel and their own Profession and the more they study the point the more ready are they to give an answer to them who ask them any questions about their Religion they keep
must be preserved inviolable to every one Pray see you don't invade God's property which you cannot do without manifest injustice to God and wrong to your selves we are depending Creatures because we are Creatures our being well-being our safety comfort and sufficiency lyes in another and not in our selves A Creature separated and cut off from all Divine influences must needs wither away and sink into nothing God hath bought you have a care of selling your selves away from him into other hands of alienating your selves from God as if you could shift well enough without him have a care of living to your selves of bringing forth fruit to your selves Hos. 10. 1. All that you are and have is God's and all that you do should be for God 'T is a rule in Civil Law quodcunque per servum adquiritur id Domino adquiri Whatever a Servant gets he gets to and for his Master and that a Servant running away from his Master does furtum sui facere he steals away himself he takes away that which is none of his own a Servant was reckoned among the Goods Utensils and Possessions of his Master he had nothing at his own disposal all was his Masters and for his use So are all Believers vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the master's use prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2. 21. Whos 's they are and whom they serve Acts 27. 23. Did we better consider whose we are we should quickly see whom we ought to serve They live without God indeed who cast him off will not be governed by him but resolve to live as they list to speak and act as they please our lips are our own Psal. 12. 4. Our hands our strength our estates are our own who is Lord over us I shall from this Text shew you whose you are to whom you belong who is your Lord and Master to whom you are accountable for every thing done in the Body even to him who hath bought you and hath the first right to every thing that is your his servants must serve him Rev. 22. 3. That I may the better clear up the interest and right that God hath in you and the Service and Duty you owe to him as your Lord and Master I shall cast all I have to say from this Text under these following heads viz. 1. Who are they who are said to be bought 2. Who was the Buyer 3. What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption 4. Who set the price of our Redemption so high 5. To whom was the price paid 6. For whom and to what end was it paid 7. How by the Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer First Who are they who are said to be bought Ye are bought i. e. The believing Corinthians and all other Believers whose hearts God has drawn to close in with Christ by a true saving Faith as their only Redeemer and Saviour Till Faith be wrought in us we can have no sure evidence that we are among God's Redeemed ones 't is Faith only that tells us this from the word of God ye are bought this implies that we were sold under sin reduced to a miserable state of Bondage by our Apostacy from God which none could deliver us from but Jesus Christ our mighty Redeemer and Saviour Secondly Who was the Buyer Christ our Redeemer who was God and Man The right of Redemption among the Jews lay in the next Kinsman who was to purchase the Widow's land and to marry her person Deut. 25. 5. comp with Ruth 4. 3 4. That Christ might claim kindred with us in order to a Marriage afterwards to be compleated he took part of our flesh Heb. 2. 14. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. I am willing to take it up lo I come to dye in that Body for all the Elect that having overcome death I may be Married to them and become their Head and Husband had an Angel offered himself supposing him otherwise qualified he could not have been our Redeemer because he must be akin to us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh who undertakes that Office therefore I say Christ took up that Body prepared of the Father died in it rose in it ascended into Heaven in it is now glorified in it to shew what he intended to bring fallen Man unto as many as should believe in him Thirdly What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption Viz. His own Blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Pretium pretiorum the greatest price that ever was paid for any thing that ever was bought all the Gold and Silver in the World heaped together is not to be compared to the value of the Blood of Christ by this you see the great love of Christ to the Souls of Men who in themselves were hopeless and helpless could do nothing towards the Redemption of their own Souls but Christ being God and Man pours out his Soul as man and takes it up again as God when he had done his work that we might have a sure ground for our Faith and Hope to rest upon not doubting but as Christ raised himself from the dead so he will also raise us at the last day who dye in him that we may live by him with him and upon him for ever who is the Resurrection and the life as his death is imputed to us and spiritually acted over upon us in the mortification of sin so is his life actually communicated in some degree to all Believers here by the same spirit that dwells in him and in them and this eternal spirit of life in Christ will never cease working higher and higher in the mystical Body of Christ diffusing it self more abundantly through all the Members till Mortallity be quite swallowed up of life this will be more manifest when Christ who is our life shall appear You see that God went not out of himself for a Mediator but appointed the Second person of the Trinity to that Office that the whole transaction between God and Man might go through his hands who is both God and Man Fourthly Who set he price of our Redemption so high 1. God the Father who also found out this Ransom he knew the whole world could not raise it it must come out of the Treasury of Heaven God himself was at the charge of our Redemption and whatever it cost him was resolved to effect it and therefore he spared not his own Son but parts with the greatest Jewel in the Crown of Heaven to buy off sinful man from that Thraldom and Bondage he was involved in and could never have extricated himself out of 2. The Law sets the price by consequence not that the Law provides a Mediator the Law seeks its own satisfaction in saving and damning men it promises Salvation upon our perfect Obedience and all who come short of that it threatens with eternal Damnation Cursed is every one
just consequences of our Faith we have not always that presence of mind cannot so soon recollect our selves as to be always under the light of that demonstration that Faith well studied and acted can and does sometimes make of our Adoption and then the Spirit comes in and helps us under our present Temptations gives such an unquestionable Testimony of the truth of that which we were in some suspence about that we can doubt no more but are setled and established in our belief of it so that when the Soul is clouded when Faith is not so ready and prompt as formerly to make clear aud evident proof of our Adoption cannot set before us so plainly the reasons and grounds of it the Spirit 's Testimony puts the matter out of doubt and makes us not only to know but to feel that we are the true Children of God by that Childlike disposition towards God and our Heavenly Father which we find in our selves If you observe how the Children of God come out of their doubts about their Adoption you 'll find it to be this way the same Scriptures and spiritual reasons that Faith alone cannot set home at one time do suddainly enter and prevail at another time we see that in them now that convinces us which we could not see before and this is from the testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirit our Spirit was alone before labouring to perswade and convince but could not then in comes the Spirit and gives such a corroborating Testimony with our Spirit that in the mouth of these two Witnesses the truth is confirmed and cleared up to our full satisfaction Worldly men boast of their being the Children of God tho they do the works of the Devil this is from their own Spirit not from God's As we are to attend to the witness of the Spirit so we should 2. Apply our selves often to God as our Father say Our father which art in heaven from the instinct of the Divine Nature in us we cannot be beaten out of it but that God is our Father Doubtless thou art our father tho Abraham be ignorant of us Isa. 63. 16. We don't doubt of that we will lie at thy feet and commit our selves to thy care not questioning thy love to us A woman may forget her sucking child and not have compassion on the son of her womb yet thou wilt not forget us Isa. 49. 15 16. Therefore cry Abba Father he is not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also the believing Gentiles may in their several Languages cry Father with as much confidence as the Jews cryed Abba if you from your hearts own God as your Father he will answer to that name and call you his Children make the Tryal when you will in uprightness of heart you will find his Fatherly Bowels will earn towards you he has stiled himself your Heavenly Father and your naming that word in Faith will have a secret influence upon your Souls and let in a sense of his Fatherly love to you and make you pray like his Children the more you do express a willingness to have God for your Father counting your selves happy in that relation the more willing is God to own you for his Children here is a poor Soul says God who counts himself utterly undone if I do not become a Father to him he has cast himself down at my Feet I cannot contain my self any longer from owning him as my dear Child I must tell him so Son Daughter be of good cheer I am thy Father and will be a Father to thee for ever all that I have is thine This is the highest degree of comfort we are capable of in this World to live under a clear manifestation of the love of God to us in Christ Jesus Obj. I can sometimes call God Father and do think my self to be his Child yet I am afraid he won't own me because I have been a rebellious Child I have sinned greatly against him and am afraid to come into his presence Ans. So it was with the Prodigal Luk. 15. 21. But his Father instead of taking notice of his former Miscarriages sets himself to give him all the demonstrations of his love immaginable in the highest expressions of his kindness to him v. 22 23 24. And so does God carry it towards a returning Sinner But if after all doubts still remain you are still under a secret Trepidation in your own mind that you shall not be accepted of the Father that he will not own you for his Child Then 3. Consider your alliance to Christ apply to him as your elder Brother A brother is born for the day of adversity Prov. 17. 17. Never was there such a Brother as Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 2. 11. Tho he be so infinitely above us being the only Natural Son of God his first-born yet Believers by the Grace of Adoption are called his first-born too Heb. 12. 23. Being mystically joyned to Christ the natural Son of God Adam in his innocency was never so joyned in that nearness to God the priviledge of the first-born under the Law belongs to Believers now who are therefore made Priests unto God The Foundation of our Adoption lies in our Alliance to Christ our elder Brother who is able to bring us into and to fix us in that relation to God Because 1. He hath a great interest with the Father as his well-beloved Son you may think your selves not beloved but you cannot think so of Christ who is the express Image of the Father if Christ be so like the Father and the Saints so like Christ then stand before God in the Image of Christ and you will find every cast of God's Eye upon his Son Christ will reach your hearts Christ in you draws the eye and the heart of God towards you for all the acts of love and complacency that God puts forth towards the Person of the Son do extend themselves to all the operations of the Spirit of the Son in the hearts of Believers let me tell you God cannot disown you but he must disown Christ in whom you are and who is in you let God look either upon Christ or upon Believers he still sees them both together one in another John 17. 21 22 23. Then keep close to Christ go to the Father in his name to his Father and your Father if not to your Father yet go as to his Father when Faith cannot act one way yet it may do the same thing another way when it cannot enter in at one door it may enter in at the other door of the same House what can't be proved by one medium may be proved by another the Devil can never so block up all ways of access to God but Faith will break through somewhere 't will either find a way or make a way 2. Because he is a merciful and faithful High Priest Heb. 2. 5. Every
way fitted for the Office of a Mediator touched with the feeling of our Infirmities in all points tempted as we are Heb. 4. 15. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. i. e. Framed to such a temper that Christ through our nature might best express God's love to man Christ acted over the life of God in man's nature therefore it was necessary that the humane Nature of Christ should be adapted and suited to the Divine Nature which was done three ways viz. First By the perfection of it being free from all contagion of sin by a miraculous conception the Holy Ghost over-shadowing the Virgin Mary and separating humane Nature in the first conception of Christ from original sin that descends down upon it in all who come into the World by natural Generation Secondly By the Hypostatical union of the humane Nature to the Divine in the second Person of the Trinity which eternally secures our humane Nature in Christ from all possibility of the least defection puts it quite out of the power of the Devil any way to corrupt or vitiate it by all his subtil contrivances and temptations by which he did vainly attempt such a thing perfect Nature in the first Adam I don't say could not but did not preserve it self Adam did not fall for want of light and knowledge no he could never have fallen unless he would 't was from the mutability of his Will that he fell but the humane Nature of Christ the second Adam being under the Government of a Divine immutable Will can never fall hence it is that our standing in Christ is secured to eternity Thirdly By the pouring out of the Spirit without measure upon him that so strengthned all his humane Faculties that 't was impossible the Devil should ever impose upon him such an overflowing fulness of the Spirit leaves no room for any carnal impression to be made upon him his humane Nature received such a Divine tincture from the essence of the Godhead so powerfully influencing his Manhood that the Devil found nothing in him to work upon he met with God in every thought in every word in every Action of Christ in every motion and affection of his heart and finding one so much greater than himself continually aiding and strengthning the Man Christ he despairs of Victory and leaves him The Devil was not mistaken in the Nature of the Man Christ which was really humane but he was mistaken in the Person of Christ which was solely Divine such a Person in such a Nature he never thought to meet with that which posed the Devil was the Person of Christ he might know him to be God and yet apply himself to him as Man that he is sure he was he could not conceive how humane Nature could subsist but in a humane Person and as such a Person he set upon him but found it hard to kick against the pricks such a mighty Man he never grapled with before he was so shamefully foyled in this encounter that he never durst look Christ in the face afterwards he came behind him often like a Coward in disguise and by his wicked Instruments annoyed him all he could but durst not send him a second Challenge to fight it out with him once more hand to hand no he had enough of that already now he foams and rages at a distance throws his fiery darts here and there strikes at the Image of Christ in the Saints where ever he sees it but dares not come up to his Person face to face the great thing that the Devil dreads in the second coming of Christ he knows that is the time of his torment Therefore having such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens Heb. 8. 1. who is not ashamed to call us Brethren let us not be ashamed to call God Father Christ will bear us out in it the Children of God as such are not known to the World 1 John 3. 1. Have hard usage from the World 2 Cor. 48. 9 10. Yet God knows them is kind to them and tender of them Isa. 54. 11. Behold now we are the sons of God 1 John 3. 2. Now under all our infirmities and afflictions God is with us in the fire and in the water he has a great love to and very high esteem of all his Children since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee Isa. 43. 2 3 4. He will by no means take away his loving kindness utterly from them Psal. 89 32 33. Deut. 8. 5. We are apt to think otherwise Isa. 49. 14. Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me We shall be apt to entertain hard thoughts of God upon all occasions if we live not under the daily sense of our Adoption in which we see the Fatherly love of God flowing down so strongly towards us through Christ that we cannot but greatly rejoyce in it THE NECESSITY OF Preaching CHRIST I COR. I. 23 24. But we preach Christ crucified c. THE design of the Apostle here is to vindicate the Doctrine of our Salvation by Christ from all those Aspersions that were cast upon it both by the Jews and Gentiles the Gospel then was as much cry'd down by some as it was cry'd up by others The Apostle tells you who were for it and who were against it he divides all men into two ranks viz. The Called and Uncalled the Converted and Unconverted he tells you that they who were effectually Called and Converted were for the Gospel but the Uncalled and Unconverted were against it and as it was then so it is now Hence note Obs. That all unregenerate Persons whether Jews or Gentiles will have a fling at the Gospel 't is contrary to them and they are as contrary to it they can't reach the Mystery of it and therefore do slight and contemn it but all who are effectually called and savingly enlightned do highly prize it they see much of the Power and Wisdom of God in that excellent contrivance of Man's Salvation by Christ they desire to know nothing but Christ and him Crucified Let us have a care we do not darken the evidence of our Conversion by a Spirit of opposition to the Gospel in the main fundamental points of it I shall do little else in this Exercise but open the terms of the text observing some things by the way But we preach Christ crucified c. He shews the matter and manner of his Preaching in this Chapter what he Preached and how 1. The matter of his Preaching or what he Preached viz. The Gospel v. 17. The Cross v. 18. Or Christ Crucified v. 23. 2. The manner of his Preaching v. 17. Not with Wisdom of words So 1 Cor. 2. 4. vide Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block they were offended at Christ's low mean humble state in the flesh they did not look for any great matter from such
with all manner of Salvation not only from Hell but from the power of sin that they may live no longer therein Paul knew no other way of Salvation according to his Gospel they that do must invent another Gospel to support their New Divinity I see no ground in Scripture for those preparatory Works that some urge as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ because Faith brings all along with it viz. Conviction of Sin Humiliation Repentance c. Faith never comes to Christ but it shews us a reason why and that reason is drawn from our lost undone Condition by Nature which true Faith is never without some knowledge and sense of and therefore sends us to Christ for help By Nature all men are equally indisposed to Faith counting the Gospel foolishness when their time of their Coversion comes whether prepared or unprepared whatever their present practice or frame is whether legally Convinced or Unconvinced sitting in gross darkness and unbelief the Power of God by the Preaching of the Gospel works a convincing saving Faith in all those who are ordained unto life God calls one and not another of his meer good Pleasure being not moved thereunto by any thing in us that may render one man more capable of Conversion than another sometimes they who in an eye of reason seem furthest off from the Kingdom of God and are most unlikely to be Converted them doth God call by his Grace even Publicans and Harlots Before the stricter sort of formal Professors who notwithstanding their Preparations and seeming fitness for Conversion are left behind in their Natural State when others who sought not after God are found of him and brought into a state of Grace God doth this to shew that the Battel is not to the strong nor the Race to the swift not of him that runeth but of God that sheweth mercy to whom he will Rom. 9. 15 16. Many may outrun others in their acquired Qualifications and yet not so run as to obtain the prize 1 Cor. 9. 24. We are like to make but a sorry Market of it unless we come without Money many have been too rich too well qualified in their own opinion for Christ but none were ever too poor and wretched for Christ whose hearts were stirred up by the Preaching of the Word to come unto him and cast themselves upon him There is nothing required by way of Preparation as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ but hearing the Word let the Hearer be who he will never so unprepared if he belong to God the Word will one time or other make it 's own way to the heart of that man and work Faith in him there is no resisting the Wisdom of the Holy-Ghost The Doctrine of Faith and the Doctrine of Good Works are both very sound Christian Doctrines agreeing very well in their proper place and order As no man can enter into a state of Grace by good Works so no man can conclude himself to be in a state of Grace without Good works 't is one thing to prove that I am already in a state of Grace another thing to shew how a Sinner may now enter into a state of Grace and what is first to be done in order thereunto 'T is not said he that worketh but he that believeth shall be saved and 't is the work of God that we believe and none but God can bring over the heart of a Sinner to trust in Christ and under such a Faith 't is impossible not to lead a holy life We had need be clear and distinct in our Conceptions of these things since our Salvation depends upon our right understanding this Point I say we had need consider what we mean and how we express our selves lest instead of trusting in Christ we trust in our selves and drop the Gospel whilst we seem to maintain it If any scoff at this Doctrine and count it foolishness I will only say that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by THOMAS COCKERIL at the Three Legs ever-against the Stocks-Market HIstorical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Never Printed before Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament November the 3 d. 1640. To the End of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection With Alphabetical Tables By John Rushworth late of Lincolns-Inn Esq Fitted for the Press in his Life-time The Works of the late Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. In 2 Vol. Fol. A Demonstration of the First Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalipse Together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the Fourth Beast in the 7 th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D D. The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate of several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Speculum Theologia in Christo or a view of some Divine Truths which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esquire in 4 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Succinct and Seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Nature Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors Written some Months since and now made publick both for the healing and prevention of the Sins and Calamities which have broken in this way upon the Churches of Christ to the great scandal of Religion hardening of the Wicked and obstruction of Reformation Whereunto are subjoyned by way of Appendix I. Vindiciarum Vindex Being a Succinct but full Answer to Mr. Philip Cary's Weak Impertinent Exceptions to my Vindiciae Legis Faderis II. A Synopsis of Ancient and Modern Antinomian-Errors with Scriptural Arguments and Reasons against them III. A Sermon composed for the preventing and healing of Rents and Divisions of the Church by John Flavel Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon With an Epistle of several Divines relating to Dr. Crisp's Works A Discourse concerning Liturgys by the late Learned Divine Mr. David Clarkson Precious Faith considered in its nature working and growth by Edward Polhil Esq c. in 4 to Geography Rectified or a description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bays Capes Forts their Ancient and Present Names Inhabitants Situations Histories Customs Governments c. And also their Commodities Coyns Weights and Measures compared with those of London Illustrated with above sixty new Maps The whole work performed according to the accurate Discoveries of Modern Authors The Third Edition Enlarged in 4 to The right use of an