6. In that its joy is full when it comes to know that it hath by Faith received Jesus Christ FOr the further discovery therefore of this joy and Faith wherein this willingness to beleeve and love of Christ appears I shall name these six particulars First Wherever there is true Faith in any measure the Soul doth love to hear the Doctrine of faith of Jesus Christ Of al truths that is most pleasing And most pleasing not only because it 's most profitable but because it 's most self-denying If so be the Soul would make its choice or call for any thing out of the Book of God before another it should be for somthing that laies open Christ and presseth beleeving on him How beautifull are the Feet of them that bring glad tidings Rom. 10.15 How beautifull that is they are as lovely as can be Nay so lovely as no words are able to express How beautifull The Apostle Paul did desire to know nothing among the Corinthians but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 that is he desired to make nothing else known And look what it was in him preaching so in every Beleever In Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the power of his Death and the vertue of his Resurrection These things a man loves and he loves to hear spoken of and discoursed of Evil men therefore do love corrupt words and unsavory language Beleevers they love to hear of Jesus Christ His name is sweet and precious Not only to hear of him as a story but as a person whereof there is need and of whom there is use and absolute necessity unto salvation First I say the heart loves to hear of Jesus Christ Acts 13.42 When the Apostle had preached in the name of Christ all that were good came to him and prayed him to preach that over the next Sabbath day or as it is in some translations between this and the next Sabbath day as the word may well be rendred And he did as you may read there As in John 6. they cryed out ever more give us this bread so the poor Soul desires to hear of that again and again When Lidia heard Paul preach Jesus Christ she attended as one that would not lose a fillable nor a word of what was spoken concerning jesus Christ Acts 16.14 How heautifull as I said before are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace It is good to love the Law of God which teacheth a man his duty like one that is carefull to do his masters will Psal 1.2 He meditates therein day and night But it 's a better sign for a man to love the Gospel of Jesus Christ the glad tidings of him As I shal shew you if I come to it that there is not only as great honor given unto God thereby but thereby a man if more humbled and abased in himself and made nothing than by all that obedience which the Law requires or by all that sense of misery that the Law works in us because we have not done our duty A man hath meaner thoughts of himself when he thinks he must beleeve or he cannot be saved than he hath when he thinks if he be called to an account he must needs perish because he hath transgressed Gods Law The soul loves that law which shews its own face in a glass with al its spots upon it But it loves that glass better in which it beholds the face of God For thereby it is transformed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. last Out of a spirit of indignation and wrath against a mans selfe and sin a man is glad to heare any thing that can be against himself and his sin But out of a love of Christ and out of the love of greater excellencies in Christ then is in a mans self a man is glad to heare rather of Christ then of himself his name is as ointment powred forth Cant. 1.3 There is nothing in the scripture but what is sweet and as hony But the Gospel is as the hony-comb The whole scripture is as a sugared cup But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is as the bottom of that cup. Secondly Where ever there is true faith there is a desire and longing after Faith and Jesus Christ As new borne babes as the Text saith in 1. Pet. 2.3 A desire formally O Lord said the Disciples unto Jesus Christ increase our faith O Lord that we may receive our sight For its faith alone that makes us see the things freely given us of God and to know the treasury of grace and mercy which doth and hath lain hid from eternity And so there is also a vertual desire after Christ in al beleevers They long after the meanes whereby faith is wrought If you have rasted how good the Lord is As new borne babes you wil desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby Though that a Child cannot distinguish rationally between the Milk of the breast and that which is sugared It cannot tel that this is the one and this is the other But it hath a tast by which it can and nothing pleaseth but the mothers breast The Child cannot ask for it nor describe it but you may know it loves it because it is stilled with it and quieted with it So may be the case of many a Christian He may not be able by reason or by discourse or argument to make out the desirableness of Jesus Christ above al other things the excellencies of Jesus Christ above al other waies There may be Rhetorick put upon al other things beyond al that which he can see through or put upon the things of Jesus Christ But you wil find his heart quieted with nothing but Jesus Christ Let him pray with never so much in largedness and affections let him hear with never so much understanding and live with never so much unblameableness in the world yet al this is nothing his heart is unquiet because it is not according to what the law requires And if he sees no fault in it yet there is fault which the pure eyes of God behold when he comes to look it through and through And he hath no peace but when he comes to beleeve in Jesus Christ and receive peace from him What is there in al the meanes of salvation which thou longest after What is it which thou wouldest carry home with thee Is it somthing that may draw Jesus Christ nearer to thee and make him more lovely to thee So much thou mayest conceive of hope of thy state of Salvation The Love of Jesus Chrst is described by this that nothing gives the heart so much quiet and in nothing is the heart so much taken up and contented as it is with this that Jesus Christ is the Mediator and undertaker and is the surety and doth al with the father And that It doth do al with the father by him The heart being pleased and contented argues
But now saith the Apostle whereas you say it is not for you because you know not how to beleeve it and close with it saith he you have this both given to you that you shall imbrace it and confess it With the mouth man confesseth it and you shall with the heart submit to it With the heart man beleeves unto salvation Why do you say it is not for you You are in misery by the corruption and depravation of your understanding and will But saith Faith both shall be taken away If that be the meaning of the place as I conceive it is But if it be meant of doubting as some conceive Who shal escape the pit and therfore who shal ascend c. Faith tels a man Never be disquieted because of that for Christ came down and is ascended He came down and descended and revealed the will of his Father to us When the Soul is going towards Jesus Christ then this Faith perswades it so far as that it puts it into a resolution I said I would go said the Prodigall In 2 Cor. 5.15 We thus judg saith the Apostle A Judgment is a Sentence past after all is heard that can be said on both sides A Judgment is the last act of the understanding after which there is no appeal not debate Faith saith I will hear no more doubts nor assent to any doubts suspcions nor fears And when the Soul is ready to give over that work then the work of Faith saith If you withdraw your selves the Lord will have no pleasure in you Heb. 10.38 What though things go hard yet you may live by your Faith And as faith reveals the things that cannot be known by nature So as it is a Perswader it brings to mind such things which the Soul knew not before Such things which are suitable to its case and its present condition And that is the third thing whereby faith receives It doth perswade and invite and excite a man that seeing there is so much to be had in Christ that we would not suffer it to lie stil and to be unused There is another thing that the understanding doth Fourthly It keeps the thoughts of these things thus revealed It lets them not go out of mind but sets them continually before a mans face As the understanding doth put a man to go to Christ and to him only So it keeps Christ and the things of him in mind It 's as the Glass to set them alwaies before the face As David saith in Psal 51.3 that his sin was ever before him that is he could be in no Ordinance but his Conscience troubled him And he could be in no company but it administred cause of fear to him His sin was alwaies dogging him accusing him and opposing him So Faith sets Jesus Christ in his benefits before the soul in whatever condition a man is Therefore you shall find in the Scripture that it is all one to beleeve and to think upon God I thought upon thee in the night season and I set thy loving kindness alwaies before my face Psal 119.55 In Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator It 's not the bare having God in our memory but it is beleeving that will save us from wrath to come But beleeving is called Remembrance there And on the contrary side in Heb. 2.1 Unbelief is called a Letting escape Take heed least you let slip the things which you have heard And in Matth. 13.4 those that did not beleeve are said to have the word of God piekt up our of their heart As the Fowls of the Heavens do pick up the seed that is sowen by the hand of the sower and are not converted by the Word And Unbeleevers are called such as forget God Mark it There are Two waies of keeping things in mind One is by a Similitude or Image or Picture of it Now to keep Spiritual things in a mans mind thus is either but Natural Knowledg or Superstitious against the Second Commandment which forbids a man to make any graven Image of what God hath done thereby to keep a man in thoughts of what God hath required There is another way of keeping things in mind and that is by the presence of the things themselves Now this is the way by which Faith keeps a man and the things of Jesus Christ which is by way of Intuitive knowledg Or it keeps things in a mans knowledg by the presence of the things themselves And that is the ground why that Faith doth cause so firm an assent and is so strong a perswader because I say the things themselves are made present unto the soul In Psal 16.7 My Reins saith he instructs me in the night In the night when others sleep or in the night when I am free to consider and awaking then thy Promises saith he they come into my mind As Faith will not take any slight denial for answer but doth convince the false reasonings that are in us so it wil slip no time nor opportunity of winning us It doth continually beliege the Soul as I may say The strongest Fort may be taken in by a long Siege when the Enemies rise not from before it but are continually battering it Now Faith doth as it were batter the Unbelief and the Reasonings of our heart with continual arguments to the contrary Saith Faith to the Soul You say thus but hearken to what the Word saith you speak words of death but God speaks peace to his people And you shal find by experience which I shal leave as the proof of this point that that word which a man hath often times forgotten and which he seems to have lost the operation whereof is ceased yet a year or two yea seven years after it comes to work upon a man again and works him to that very thing which all this whil he stood against Especially when the time of a mans conversion is come it 's with him as it is with a Woman in her time of travell that one throw comes upon the neck of another until she be delivered and sees the Fruit of her womb So there comes one argument upon another And if one thought comes and saith This is not for me There comes another and bids him take heed that he puts not the loving kindness of God from him and so it leaves him not till he be conquered And that is the fourth thing to help a man to receive CHAP. VIII A fifth work of Faith as it is an Act of the Vnderstanding is to assure and certifie a man of the things already received Fifthly Faith helps a man to receive of Jesus Christ by making known to him the things freely given of God by making known and assuring and certifying him of the thing freely bestowed 1 Cor. 2. As Faith tels a man what Christ hath and what Christ will do So it informes a man what he hath received from Christ though that we come to know our particular state by experience We
vers 21. It s said That he was not rich towards God What need you saiâ—â— our Lord take care for much when you haâ—◠〈◊〉 much time to live Take care for death and for eternity else after al your labor you shal meet with nothing but eternal misery I say the words of the Text are an answer to a harmless motion as one would think made by one that was a follower of him His motion was that Christ would do him right and arbitrate the business of difference between him and his brother about that estate which belonged to him by Inheritance As Christ refuseth the office in the 14. vers for he came into the world to help mens Souls and not to be a Judg so he therefore warns him of covetousness which would bring forth bitterness in the latter end which would make him die like a fool and hinder him from being rich towards God Al a mans riches cannot preserve his life one day and if he be not rich in God he shal die like a fool for ever and perish The Point that I shall insist upon is this Doct. That it 's the Duty of all men as they would attain to eternal life to take heed and beware of Covetousness It s the duty of all for upon one mans speaking unto Christ about his inheritance he turns his speech unto all He said unto them That is to al the Company at the thirteenth verse And it is a duty as they would attain to eternal life for to that end Jesus Christ bids them to beware of Covetousness that they might not die as a Pool doth as you have it in verse 20. Mens inordinate desires after the lawful things of this life do as well hinder them from Heaven as if they were sinfull things or gross prophaness for in the following verses of this Chapter you have the Anatomizing of a man that was dead and gone to Hell for he died like a Fool And it sheweth the Disease and Cause of the misery he was found not to live in any gross sin but only in this that he was Covetous And because the HEED cannot be too great therefore he useth two words Take heed and beware a double Caution because there is a great and double danger or as it is in the Greek See or watch to it and guard your selves against it A similitude either taken as some do conceive from mens going into the fields to gather wholsome Herbs who are very carefull least they should gather any thing that is poysonous And when they have made a confection they set it up carefully least any poyson should come into it The poyson of al a mans Spirit Duties is Covetousness And therefore he bids them to beware of it Or else it s taken from Souldiers for one of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beware is properly a Military word As if he should have said stand Sentinell have your eyes open look this way and that way be Circumspect least the love of the world get into you fence your selves with al the whol Armor of God else you wil not be able to keep your selves from it They should do as Souldiers who do not only set Sentinels to look out but do set a Guard that they may keep the place that is in danger of the Enemy That which I shal do in the explication of the Point is to shew you I. What Covetousness is II. The Reasons why you should be so watchfull against it and heedful of it I. What Covetousness is for the great difficulty of the Point lies in the explication of what Covetousness is which may be taken two waies Either as it is a general Or as it is a special sin In generall or as it is a general sin and so it goes in a double Notion First It is a minding of Earthly things as the Apostle expresseth it in Phil. 3.19 It 's taken in generall for that evil frame of heart whereby a man when he hath once sinned desires to commit the same or another And so it is taken in Isa 57.17 For the Iniquity of his Covetousness was I wrath and I did hide my self The Hebrew word signifies any kind of desire whatsoever Not only after Riches as Covetousness is but after any thing that is unlawfull And it 's probable yea more than probable that the Holy Ghost doth so take it because he saith they did go on in the way of their own heart that is they did what they listed the more they sinned the more they had a mind to sin And the Apostle in Ephes 4.19 saith concerning some men that they did commit all sin with greediness In the Greek it is with Covetousness the Apostle there only speaks concerning the boundless appetite that is in men to do as much as they can against God The grossest sins that are contentfull and pleasurable are gainfull to them so that in the Scripture Covetousness somtimes signifies that desire of men to commit sin after they have once committed it and are left by God to take pleasure and contentment in it Secondly As it 's a general sin in that sense so also as it is an uncontentedness with a mans outward condition I say it is an uncontentedness in Heb. 13.5 it 's said Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as you have Uncontentedness is less than discontent For he is uncontented who is not well pleased But he is discontented who frets murmurs repines that thinks much of Gods distributions and that envies another that hath more than himself So you have it laid down in Psalm 37.1 Fret not thy self because of the wicked And by the Prophet Isaiah in Chap. 8. verse 21. where he brings in men which cannot have that liberty from their Enemies which they desire They do rage against God They do curse their Ring and their God and look upwards As a Dropsie is a thirst which is not to be quenched Drink and you are still dry So there is an evill frame of heart in men to be unsatisfied with any thing that God doth for them and that is called Covetousness Because that Covetousness is an uncontentedness with a mans outward Condition or a desire of more therefore it 's a breach of all the Commandments of the second Table by which mens outward Conditions are ordered As it is wel observed that as the first Commandment hath an influence into all the Commandments of the first Table The Love of God being the Sum of that So the last Commandment which forbids to Covet hath an influence into all the Duties of the second Table As for example In 1 Thes 4.6 the Apostle doth there call Adultery or mens lusting after their Neighbors Wives Covetousness when a man Commits Adultery he is there said to be Covetous Let no man go beyond or defraud his Brother Defraud But the word in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covet to be covetous You have it
the more sinfulness there is in any sin the more there is of the heart in it Therefore Originall Corruption is greater than actuall sins Now Covetousness doth take up the heart As I shall shew you more by and by REASON II. Secondly The greatness of this sin appears in this that it is a sin that doth over-spread the whol man It rests not in any one part or faculty of the Soul but it doth over-spread the whole and that not only by infusion but by formall in-dwelling That is Not only doth it work upon the Soul but the whol Soul is the seat of it And therefore you shall sometimes find that it is described by the mind that it over-spreads the understanding And therefore in Phillip 3.19 they are said to mind Earthly things And sometimes by the Wil that it overspreads the wil in 1 Joh. 2.15 Men are said so to love the World as that they cannot love God himself If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him As Appetite and desire is in every part of a man There is no part of a man but hath an appetite and desire in it to its own Object So in no part of the Soul but also may be discontent which is Covetousness So that its a sin which infects from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot and there is no part free Of al the Graces that God hath bestowed upon men there are but two that are principally observed to be diffused through the the whole Soul And they are Faith and Prudence And therefore they are the most excellent Graces because they have the greatest command Of all sins there is none that have more of the old Man than Covetousness hath because it hath not only the affective part the Wil but the Consultative part the Understanding REASON III. Thirdly Covetousness appears to be a very great sin and very sinful in this that it 's directly opposite unto the common nature of Godliness and Religion Some Vices are opposite to one particular Vertue But Covetousness is opposite unto all in it 's common nature And therefore hath the greatest contrariety in it for this is the common nature of all Religion to be Heavenly and Holy And this is the Aspect or consideration of Covetousness to make a man Earthly Therefore it 's said by God himself in 1 John 2.15 That if a man loves the World the love of the Father is not in him It might have been truly said that if a man love any sin he loves not God but God will rather put that note upon the love of the World rather than upon any thing The Character is put upon Covetousness because its the most diametrically opposite unto Grace of any sin To open this a little Those things differ most which differ in kind As there is therefore an infinite and unconceivable difference and one that cannot be made up between God and us because he is of himself and we are Creatures It 's impossible that ever we should come to be Gods or God to become what we are because God and we are not of the same kind He is of himself and we are of him More plainly There is a greater difference you know between Gold and the Heavens than there is between Gold and the Earth because Gold is but a refined part of the Earth but the Heavens are of another kind of Being and Creation Things which differ in their kind differ most But now the very kind of Religion and Covetousness differs For what is Religion but a Heavenly and supernaturall thing And what is Grace but a spiritual blessing that comes down from above but Covetousness fastens a mans Soul to earthly and base things And upon this ground it is called Idolatry in Col. 3.5 Covetousness which is Idolatry It 's called so upon this ground because as the fear and love and honor of God is the Ground of all obedience so the taking of the things of this life into our choice esteem and care is the putting out and the extinguishing and eradicating of all service unto God That a man doth take for his God which he chooseth before all other things When therefore a mans heart is so set that he must have riches and the things of this life he sets up that for his God and denies obedience in whol to the true God I say Covetousness is opposite to all Religion REASON IV. Fourthly The sinfulness of it appears in this That it is the Womb and Seed of all sin Therefore in 1 John 2.16 you have it as one of the Generals or Commanders of all the sins in the world All sins are summed up either into The Lusts of the Flesh that is Luxury and pleasure The Lusts of the Eye that is Worldliness or Riches Or the Pride of life that is Honor. In 1 Tim. 6.10 The love of Money is the root of al Evill The root partly because the Devil doth ingraft every sin upon that as the stock of it and partly because it doth vertually contain al sin in it From thence Cain murders Judas betraies Christ Achan steals the Babilonish Garment Demas Apostatizeth from Religion Demas saith the Apostle hath forsaken us and cleaves unto this present World in 2 Tim. 4.10 Therefore you shal find what the Companions of Covetousness are in Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murder c. And that you may not think it was the singular case of the corrupt Heathens you shall observe that wherever the Apostle speaks of Covetousnes he speaks of it as being accompanied with those sins In 1 Cor. 5.11 If any man be called a Brother who is a Fornicator a Drunkard Covetous an Idolator c. In 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Among Fornicators Idolaters effeminate persons and Theeves there are Covetous persons and Drunkards reckoned up In Colos 3.5 Fornication uncleanness inordinate affections evill Concupiscence Covetousness which is Idolatry And that the Apostle may not seem to be in a heat or passion when he doth thus describe the Companions of Covetousness you shall find that in Mark 7.22 our Lord himself saith as much From the hearts of men arise Theft Adultery and Covetousness c. And it 's worth observation That when the Evangelist Matthew doth repeat those words he leaves out Covetousness But when Mark came to add unto that which Matthew wrote which was the manner of the Evangelists to add unto others he puts in Covetousness Because whoever is Covetous hath the root of all these in him and not because whoever is Covetous doth all these things You shall find therefore in the Scripture that the way which Satan takes to destroy men is expresly set out by this of Covetousness In 2 Cor. 2.11 The Apostle speaks of the Devices of Satan And he sets forth the cunning of Satan in the beginning of the verse that he makes advantage of us
And as the earth first receives the seed before it brings forth meat for him by whom it is dressed Heb. 6.7 And as the Disciplesare first bid to attend the Passover and then to receive the Holy Ghost and then to go abroad and to distribute unto the Nations the knowledge of Christ So Faith first receives from Christ and according as it receives from him So it stirs up every Grace and Faculty to its work I say Faith receives first In Col. 2.6 As ye have received the Lord Jesus Christ so walk in him As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is suitably to our receiving of Christ We beleeve therefore have we spoken 2 Cor. 4.13 Now that which is said concerning faiths opening the mouths of the Apostles to declare for certain the truth of that Doctrine which they were experienced in So I may say concerning any other Duty When as Faith hath received the certainty of the word of God then it cals upon the understanding not to dispute When as Faith hath received Jesus Christ then it cals upon the will and saith forsake all other things and cleave unto him for you have enough in him He is a Mine and a Field wherein there is a Treasure and you shal need nothing while you have him And from this three-fold Demonstration I suppose it will appear that Faith is a receiving And beloved think not much that I stand long upon this for it is not rivited in our thoughts We live not as if it were so CHAP. II. Application Beleeve that to Receive is the principal Vse of Faith USE BEleeve then this is the principal use of Faith To Receive to be like a Bucket to draw water of life and salvation out of the Well A spunge as I may expressit to suck in and draw of the fulness of Jesus Christ That Faith is best which is most receptive That is the thing I do intend That is best us'd which is us'd to this end to receive The excelency of Faith doth not lie in it self but in its object In what it doth bring in For there is more vertue in the Act of any Grace whatever He that knows a thing doth it because of the evidence of reason But he that beleeveth knows it not Only he believs because he thinks that he that speaks speaks true Faith degrades a man from the use of his reason and makes him although far more excellent in his knowledg yet to see in the light of God It is so because he saith so As a man that hath but little stock but hath goods coming in by his trade Such a trade is Faith It 's a weak and a feeble Grace as I may call it of it self but it is that which doth receive and fetch in much from Jesus Christ As the way of some mans living is not upon any thing he hath of his own but he is a Receiver to some noble and great man and all his rents and Estate passeth through his hands and so he comes to have a feeling of it and to be inriched Through the hand of Faith al the Treasury of grace and mercy cometh Do not therefore my beloved think it enough that you do by Faith secure your selves from the fear of Hell and say I do beleeve and therefore I shall not perish but have everlasting life Do not think it enough that by Faith you order your conversation aright for although it be true that no grace makes cleaner work in a mans conversation than Faith doth it purifies even as God is pure of all that Niter and Soap which God hath given to wash in there is none so scouring as Faith is if I may use that expression it will fetch out any spot and any defilement But although Faith be of excellent use to order a mans conversation yet do not think you have made sufficient use of your Faith when you have used it to that end but use it to receive As the use of a purse is to put money in And the use of an Iron Chest is to lodge money in So the end of Faith is to receive You are often times checking your selves that you are not contented with what you have for you have more than you deserve And that is true But it is not more than you ought to receive For Faith must have its perfect work and its perfect work is this that it doth look upon all Ordinances as bags that are filled out of which it 's to receive according as Jesus Christ hath laid up and treasured up of himself in them After every duty enquire therfore what thy Faith hath gotten how thy talent of Faith hath gained Be not contented that thou hast the same confidence that thou hadst thou must either have more confidence or further of the spirit of Christ by that confidence Before thou dost go to any Duty or to any Ordinance charge thy self as the Master or Merchant doth charge his Servant that goes out to receive money Go to such a place and receive and return not else Importune and be not satisfied with any answer untill you have received such a sum As men are lost in the world and are of little use they are in vain but ciphers because they are not put to that work to which their Genius and disposition tends One man is made a Preacher that is much fitter for another calling And another goes into the world that is fitter for another politick imployment The World is out of order because men are not put to that use which God hath fitted men for So the Grace of Faith is out of order and of little use because it is not put to its proper work viz. to receive Put your Faith to that and you will thrive and not otherwise They profited not because they did not mix the word with Faith Heb. 4.2 And what is said of hearing the word may be said of Praying or receiving the Lords Supper Meditation or any other Ordinance whatsoever They profited not That is they got no more because it was not mixed with Faith Things are said to be mixed not when they are one in another in a common vessel but when they are beaten together that they make but one body and substance So Faith is mingled with the word when there is not only a believing in the Gross and a taking for granted that that is true which is received but when unto every word there goes an assent and a closing of heart unto every word That is true saith the soul in such a case When as it hears the heart is desperately wicked and that none can go to the bottom of it And when it hears by and by that concerning such an heart that there is hope the Soul saith that is true When every thing is mingled with Faith then it profits Let me I beseech you my beloved speak a little to you freely Why do you suffer your Faith to be Idle Why do you busie it about
the other If we should say the Will is the subject of Faith because Faith is a Grace and from it a man is denominated good which a man is not from any habit of the understanding yet still we say faith hath a work upon the understanding And if we say Faith is in the understanding yet we say it hath a work upon the Will in making it to delight in that which the understanding presents unto it There is an acurateness in determining which faculty faith is in but we need not stand upon that because there is somthing that this work of faith doth in both And if we look into the Scripture we shall find it speaks as it is an act of the understanding By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many Isay 53.11 And they that are taught of God come unto him John 6.45 and somtimes faith is described by a confidence and trust of our selves upon God through Christ But when faith is described by an act of the understanding you are to suppose allwaies that there goes an act of the Will with it And when Faith is described by an act of the Will you must alwaies suppose that there goes an act of the understanding also For they only that know the name of God trust in him Psal 9.10 Whether the Understanding or the Will be first wrought upon I shal not speak to now somthing peradventure may fall in before I have done this point But I shall now fal upon the Understanding because men have suffered their light to be put out and while they cry out against a bare notionall knowledg of the things of God they have lost the knowledg of it Faith I say is an act of receiving And by Faith as it is an understanding act I shall open that in some particulars First Faith doth the office of an Informer or it brings in news tidings into the Soul of what good is to be had in Jesus Christ It is as it were an Invoice or bill of lading or advice of what commodities advantages Jesus Christ is ful of As Merchants you know have their Factors abroad to inform them what wares and commodities are to be had in several Countries and what goes off and bears price Or as there are particulars and surveys given of Land unto purchasers that they may know every thing they deal for So Faith now as it is in the understanding it gives in a particular unto the Soul of what Christ is appointed to do and hath received to give unto poor sinners And hence it is in the Scripture called a teaching Joh. 6.44 45. No man saith the Text can come unto me except the Father draws him as it is written They shâ—ll be all taught of God Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father comes unto me And in Eph. 1.18 It 's called an opening of the Eyes to take in that which is to be received For this cause saith Paul I bow my knees unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that the eyes of your mind being enlightned yee may know what is the hope of your calling c. And it is called a revealing and making known of the Mystery Eph. 3.4 5. Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed As the Apostle quotes the words of Isaiah in Rom. 10.17 and beloved the things which faith doth reveal cannot be known otherwise 1 Cor. 2.7 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor is the heart of man able to conceive what God hath laid up for them that love him But we have this mind of Christ whereby we know him we have the knowledg of the deep things of God It is hidden wisdom not to be found out by man in ver 9. and 14. the Natural man cannot discern it As weak eyes cannot look upon the light Or as some small prints cannot be read by some tender eyes There is in all ordinary things which faith believes and receives some extraordinary things As for example By faith a man knows the world was made of nothing Heb. 11.3 But his Faith rests not there but he looks upon all the promises of God as being made by God that hath such power to perform them and rests upon them accordingly He looks upon all as comming through the merits of Jesus Christ Eph. 3.19 He looks upon things as passing knowledg I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you may comprehend what passeth knowledg And as Faith will reveal and tell a man nothing that is ordinary but wonders so it informs a man certainly It brings nothing that is liable to a falshood or a question It cannot but come to pass which Faith reveals because Faith hath alwaies the Word and Truth of God for its Object It will speak nothing but what it hath from Gods own mouth and the words of his mouth are as pure as Silver seven times tryed in the fire in which there is no dross at all Unto this end that Faith may make the soul to know what is to be had and to be gotten by Jesus Christ It doth particularly set before us the benefits of Jesus Christ or the End of God the Father in giving Christ He is Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption It reveals them as those things that are to be attained unto by us And upon this is speaks unto the Soul as the Patriarch did unto his Son when there was a Famine in the Land There is Corn in Egypt why do you not go thither So Faith tells a man what he should pray for and look for and it saith unto him Thou art troubled because thy heart is barren but is there not fruitfulness in Jesus Christ And though thy Understanding be dim and cannot see the bottom of things yet is there not light shining in him Whatever a Soul needs there is a supply of in Jesus Christ and Faith informs a man of so much It makes known both the power and love of God the Father in his person and the holiness of Christ and his satisfaction and purchase and the state to which he is risen These things are necessary to be known and without them no man can receive any thing at the hand of Christ he must know Jesus Christ to be God 1 John 5.20 This is the true God and eternal Life And until a man doth thus know him he hath no understanding as the Apostle speaks there We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true and this is the true God and eternal Life Faith upon Christ is the greatest Idolatry and Superstition that can be till the soul be cleer in this and the greatest folly for a man to commit himself to Christ if he were not God You must also know the Satisfaction of Christ For this indeed is that which troubles
concernment only but as the things which cannot be otherwise And therefore it works a firm assent in the soul so as nothing can make it think otherwise Nothing can make it question whether these things be not to be had in Christ which it doth reveal And so you have it in John 3.33 He that doth beleeve sets to his Seal that God is true He sets to his Seal It 's a further confirmation you know in Law for a man to set to his seal before witness than it is for a man to pass his promise When the Seal is set there is no plea as wel as no going back That is the fullest confirmation such a confirmation as Amen and such a ful assent doth faith work in the Soul concerning what it knows of Jesus Christ So that Faith wil say It 's true and it cannot be questioned and it is undoubted It is worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle saith in another case And let the cunning and subtilty of Satan be what it will be yet he holds that sure which is spoken concerning the promises And hence in all the troubles in the minds of the Saints their trouble is not so much for any thing as this that there being such things to be had that they have no share nor portion in them as they fear For the setting forth of this firm assent In Bsay 53.1 Who saith the Text hath beleeved our report and that word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beleeved is of such a conjugation in the Hebrew Tongue as maketh a thing out to be true It gives it a being that is it makes the thing as reall as if the thing revealed were revealed unto sense and to be taken notice of by the eye or ear or the like And in Rom. 4.21 it is said that Abraham because he had the promise of God was fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able to perform He was fully perswaded Where true faith is there is not alwaies such a ful perswasion that a man shal be saved but where true faith is there is a fulness of perswasion that the things revealed shall be accomplished But yet not such a fulness as no further degree can be added to it but such a fulness as there is no doubt nor fear of the contrary As full assurance is opposite to an opinion whereas an opinion is nothing else but an assenting to a thing with fear that it may be otherwise than it seems to be In opposition to an opinion Faith is a full perswasion though it 's not a ful assurance as it notes perfection As for example He that sees a color may be so certain as he cannot be deceived and yet he may see it more cleerly than he doth So a man may have more of the Grace of the faith of assent yet that further degree doth not adde any further certainty of the object but only of the degree of beleeving Joh. 10.3 Isa 55.3 And therefore in the Scripture Faith is somtimes called seeing and somtimes tasting Tast and see how good the Lord is And somtimes hearing My sheep hear my voice And hear and your Souls shall live As reason perswades the understanding in ordinary and natuarll things and that Reason most which is demonstrative So Faith perswades the Soul in things that are revealed and though that the things themselves do not appear yet because God saith they are so it doth as verily beleeve them as if they saw them with their eyes or felt them with their hands or were partakers of them by any sense And herein lies a very great difference between the people of God Beleevers and others To others the great things of the Gospel seem to be as a strange thing yea as foolishness as the Apostle saith And as the Apostle doth intimate in another place when he useth this phrase Why should it seem strange and incredible to you that God should raise up the dead All that the Gospell saith till faith hath this work is not only counted as a fable that is the Phrase of the Apostle when he speaks of them that preach Fables such things as are devices for some further end and because there are such things but only used as a piece of Rhetorick to perswade men to another thing As there is no disputing against sense A man feels it to be hot and nothing can make him say it is cold when he tasts the thing that is sweet nothing can make him say it is bitter So nothing can make a man that beleeves beleeve the things that are revealed to be otherwise That is the meaning of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.15 That the spiritual man is judged of none He may be censured of men for to be a fool and by his own heart and by Satan What do you beleeve that God wil part with such things unto such a one as you are Is it reason that the Lord of life should die be made a curse for you But though he may be judged yet he cannot be cast in his judgment he cannot be perswaded to the contrary from what he receives from the judgment of Faith in the Word of God The spirituall man judgeth all things and he himself is judged of none There is a Judgment of censure and a Judgment of conviction By a Judgment of censure a Beleever may be condemned of others and condemned and checkt by his own carnall heart As Sarah laughed when she heard the news of having a child in her old age in whom all the generations of the World should be blessed So a man is ready to laugh at himself for beleeving things which the Gospell requires which are so much above reason I say a man may censure himself and be censured by others But with the Judgment of Conviction he cannon be Judged The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle useth signifies such a kind of Judgment which a man makes of a thing when he hath tri'd it in al the most exquisite waies that possibly may be used Such a kind of knowledg as a man hath of the matter which he hath gotten out of the confession of another by torments and tortures Do what you wil unto a Godly man and a Beleever yet still he holds that God is good and that there are such things in Jesus Christ which the Gospell reveals Do what you will Torture him with temptations yet when he is himself he holds that You may see this to be the nature of common Faith Men that have but a common historical faith yet they beleeve so firmly as nothing can make them denie Christ As we see by experience of many among the Turks who have nothing but this Faith yet when they have liberty offered them from those torments upon refusing to own Jesus Christ to be God yet they refuse that liberty Specially you shall sind those that have strong faith they will hold the conclusion when they cannot answer the
reason As Job said unto his friends Job 27.5 He would hold his Integrity till he died Let them say what they would of Gods dealing with good men and bad men yet he would hold his own Thou knowest there is no Iniquity in my hand saith he So when a Godly man knows not what to say yet he saith this is the word of God that remaines Faithfull and this is certainly true concerning Jesus Christ and cannot be questioned Nay take those that have weak Faith As the Needle that is touched with the Load-stone though it may be jogged yet it wil turn again to the North. So though a weak Faith should forget it self yet it will recant and retract and recover it self again to the acknowledgment of the Truth I shall say no more of this but only thus much That as he that hath drunk in an Opinion is so prejudiced against the contrary that he will not hear nor credit whatever is said against it So doth Faith prejudice the Soul against any ill reports or falshoods that can be raised of Jesus Christ or the Promises Thirdly As Faith doth this as it is an act of the Understanding So it doth perswade and lay arguments before the Will that it should go unto Jesus Christ for all these things which are revealed to be had in him As Jacob in Gen. 42.1 2. saith to his Children Why stand you here when there is Corn in Egypt Go down thither So doth this Faith speak unto the Soul of a man Why do you sit weeping and mourning and lamenting your condition What is it you want If it be either Grace or Comfort you may have it in Jesus Christ As the Angel did check Hagar for weeping so as she did because she was athirst in the Wilderness when there was a Well hard by So doth Faith check the Soul when it lies moaning and complaining and doth not put it self upon the Lord Jesus Christ for a supply What would you have saith Faith If what you would have were not to be had not to be had any where or upon a rate that you could not give then you might sit down sadly But when it is but Take and Eat when it is but stretching forth the hand and take of the Word of Life Why do you not beleeve As Jesus Christ said upbraiding his Disciples of their Unbelief Why is it thus with you You are troubled with an heart of Unbelief because it is dull and because it is dead and because you are hurried with temptations and you would fain be quick and beleeving and be at peace and quiet Now go unto Jesus Christ Thus Faith cals upon a man Psal 16.7 saith David I bless the Lord who hath given me Counsell Now God Counsels the Soul thus by the Revelation of his Word unto a man through Faith In John 6.44 45. Faith is called a going unto Jesus Christ And as Joab learned the Woman how to go unto King David in the behalf of Absalom So Faith learns the heart how to go and speak unto God in the behalf of it self And this the light which is in his mind cannot but do For you must know that the Understanding doth naturally work by way of perswasion upon the will As Achan said he saw the Babilonish garment and coveted it with the lust of his soul so the light that is in the soul by faith doth stir up a man much more to get it The seeing of things by the understanding cals upon it and provokes it to apply it to it self We heard the King of Israel is a merciful King and therefore we say to him let thy servants live So the soul upon the report which the understanding makes unto it goes unto Jesus Christ and saith we have heard that with thee is Grace and that thou wilt impute thy righteousness and take my sins upon thy account and that the spirit shal be shed abroad in the heart of them that come to thee And therefore it goes unto him Therefore saith the Text in John 6.45 Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father comes unto me That is there is none but do come There is indeed a perswasion which the word makes which may be resisted but the perswasion of true Faith cannot There is such a Sicada and Rhetorick and such an Emphasis and such an aptness in all that faith doth reveal unto a man that as it is said in Matth. 22.8 it doth compell a man to come in Which compulsion there is not meant of an externall violence but of the constraint of the word of God to whom it comes savingly And because of this perswasion it is that the sin of Unbelief of living out of Jesus Christ is so exceeding great where the Gospell comes because men are wooed and intreated and pressed by the best and strongest arguments And therefore there can be nothing else but a pure hatred and not desirous of the things of Jesus Christ which keeps a man from it And that I may set forth this a little more cleerly unto your understanding You shall find in the Scripture that faith is said to give a kind of reason unto a man and to take from him that folly and unreasonableness whereby he stands in the way of his own good and cannot see what is good for himself 2 Thes 3.1.2 Pray saith he that the word of the Lord may have free course and that we may be freed from unreasonable men for all men have not Faith Unbeleevers are unreasonable And on the contrary Faith brings a man to his reason That when the word comes an Unbeleever stops it and saith this Doctrine shall not be preached and this is not the way of life and counts himself as Paul saith unworthy of eternall life by contradicting it Now a Godly man grows wise and saith speak this word and whatever is hid and concealed yet hide not this word of God He goes and sels all as it is in Matth. 13. that he may buy this pearl And as Faith gives a reason to a man so when a man is careless Faith cals upon him Isa 55.3 Hear and live Will you lose your souls and your eternal good by losing the opportunity What should you mind but the thing you are about Hear what Jesus Christ is and what he hath done and what he hath Is there any thing like unto pardon and like unto Union with himself And when a man saith It is true these things are But not for me Faith answers the things are near unto you in thy mouth and in thy heart Rom. 10.6 7 8. Do not say who shall ascend or who shall descend c. The meaning of it is this That whereas the Law doth require of a man duty and gives him no power to perform it the Gospell gives him as well a power as it doth make known his duty Those things are impossible unto us which are far off either in the Heavens or in the depths
say we do beleeve because we find a deniall of our selves and a loathing of our righteousness and a prizing of Jesus Christ yet because this that we find in our selves doth arise from comparing of our selves with the word of God therefore it is ascribed unto Faith My meaning is this It is as well an act of divine faith for a man to conclude that he shall be saved as it is an act of divine faith for to assert that he that beleeves shal be saved This That I shal be saved Matth. 16.16 ariseth as wel from that word which opens the nature of faith which I find to be in my heart As this doth arise from the word that there is none that beleeves shal perish but have everlasting life 1 Cor. 2.12 The Spirit of God is given us that we may know the things freely given us And this Spirit of God is the spirit of faith as the Apostle cals it in another place The sum of the point is this That the spirit of God doth by this Grace or this act of the understanding make a man to see that he hath already in possession that a great deal is paid down that he hath received before hand There is a pledg in his bosom The Staff and the Jewels are left with him which Jesus Christ will own It tels him thus much when he stands saying in himself Alas saith he Why should I go Or why should I if I do go to Christ think I should receive much from him It tels him you have received somthing and he will give more that which you have is but as the morning Star which ariseth before Sun shines You shall be sure you shall have these things because when you knew not he put such and such things under your pillow when you thought not and sought not yet these things are done Making known to a man that he hath received doth strengthen him to receive more For what he hath received is given as a pawn and pledg by God on his part and it 's a Motive and ingagement on our part to go unto him for more As God will not leave his work imperfect so we are bound to seek the perfection of it There is a marvellous boldness and freeness Nay that I may use the word of the Scripture the Mouth is opened exceeding wide upon this in asking things at the hand of God It will go unto him and say Lord thou hast given me a penny therefore give me a pound Thou hast given me a little and therefore give me much And this is strong perswasion with God for he cannot deny himself He will never begin but make an end As a man that hath received somthing in part of payment doth not only live upon what he received but he pleads his receits in Law And he is inabled to follow the law by what he hath received He urgeth the debt the stronger upon the Debtor by shewing him what he hath received Thus when the Soul knows what it hath received by Faith it goes and saith unto God after this manner Didst thou not do this for me Didst thou not when thou didst for me at my first conversion tell me that these were but some of the Grapes of the vintage that I should have That they were but only to satisfie my longing and were not all my portion Hast thou not by these things allured me to follow thee Thou requirest of me not to leave the things I have put my hand unto The Lord will not do so much more What is this little to thy fulness What is my little but only a pawn of more There is a great straitness in the Soul till it comes to have this act of faith The Soul doth take sparingly like one that steals rather than one that doth receive his own untill it comes to have this act of Faith There is a kind of modesty and sparingness It thinks it much to have a little Although that assurance keeps the Soul modest and humble because God gives it all in the name of Christ It 's not for us but for his sake that any thing is given us Yet assurance knows no bounds and acknowledgeth no limits in receiving but binds a man to take as much as he can or as his present state doth require The least degree of Faith doth give a man a capacity to receive somewhat from Christ and this degree of faith doth give a man a capacity to receive it as his own I beseech you by the way think of this you that nourish your doubts and that make much of your fears that raise up this spirit continually in your hearts You know not what you should get if you were quiet and what you loose by your doubts The assurance of your heart by faith is the inlarging of your heart to receive and it is the key to Gods treasure where al his good things lie Consider therefore and try whether you have faith and if there be in your understanding an indeavor to know more of the Mysteries of Christ If you are going every day into a fuller and larger knowledg of the things he hath done for you you are every day looking into the Ark into the richest promises that you may see their extent You have your Conscience continually telling you that these and these things are to be had in Jesus Christ and you sit mourning for want of them and therefore go and receive them Do you find a Jealousie least you build upon the sand When you see a sign the straighter it is the better it is the more narrow it is the sweeter it is and you put your selves upon the triall because you would not be deceived in your selves Therefore because your understanding is so praying and craving and prying into the deep things of God you may know your understanding is true or your faith is true There is one thing more which indeed should have been the first in regard of order of nature but I place it here because it is last known And that is this CHAP. IX A sixt work of Faith as it is an act of the Vnderstanding is a receiving of Jesus Christ and his benefits An Objection answered Application SIxtly That the very being wrought upon is a receiving of Jesus Christ and his benefits Or thus the first impression and infusion of the light of Faith before ever we have by the power of that faith made any of the aforenamed acts is an instituting of us into all that we have and all that Jesus Christ hath We are first made to beleeve and know We have an eye of faith given to us and then we see with that eye Then faith becomes an Intelligencer as you have heard and a perswader and makes a man give his firm assent This very power to beleeve this making the Soul to take the testimony of God by Christ that is that which gives us all A man may be said to receive when he
is under this work As the wax is said to receive the impression when the Seal is put upon it Or as the ground receives the seed when it 's cast into it As the Air is first inlightened and then scatters light abroad Object How can this be counted a receiving The very giving a power cannot be a receiving Answ To that I Answer in a word or two That this giving us power doth comprehend within it two things First Gods working Secondly The Answer or Effect of that work As a Workman that makes a piece of plate or any other piece of mettal that is ductile or that may be beaten forth his hammering of it makes it of that fashion or Image So Gods working upon a man to receive makes him to receive And the truth of it is my beloved That this doth alter our state For though we are distinguished from men unregenerate by beleeving yet our beleeving is distinguished by this working of the spirit And though there be phrases in the scripture which speak of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith yet that whereby Christ comes to dwell and take possession of us is his Spirit We have more security of our perseverance and continuance in the state of Grace from this that we are laid hold on by the Spirit and wrought thereunto as saith the Apostle and are apprehended Then we have from this that we do apprehend and lay hold upon Christ Thy apprehension were nothing were it not for this that thou art made to do this by him that alters and changeth not And I speak this to this very end That though this work be never without a work of ours following of it yet notwithstanding the frame and habit of the soul the dispolition temper which we are cast into by the Spirit through the word is unto a man a better ground when he cannot act faith or when he doth act faith it is a better ground than any thing else It is a ground when he cannot and a better ground than any thing else For Mark it Thy acting doth but flow from this work and cannot be made out to be good further than this is in thee As we say in al other duties The Lord looks to the heart It is not the gifts but the will with which we do any thing that God takes pleasure in So I say here It 's not any thing that I have mentioned concerning faith But it is that spirit of faith so the Apostle cals it also that frame of faith An heart cast into that mould which makes al your acts to be accepted If upon any act of ours though those acts were inabled unto by Grace our salvation did depend it might be hazardous But it cannot be hazarded There is no possibility of falling away because the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Son and of the Father doth work and hath wrought us hereunto to beleeve upon him and will maintain that work As a child if I may so express it because born of such Parents hath a right unto the Estate though it cannot plead nor speak to it self It is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone So art thou one Spirit with Jesus Christ when thou art thus shaped and made to give up thy self when thou hast a tendency of spirit to God in all thy hopes when they heart and all within thee is unto Jesus Christ and thou takest all from him as he shall please to give it thee USE If Faith as it is thus in the understanding be a receiving or there may be so much gotten from Jesus Christ by the understanding and knowledg of him then I beseech you look unto the understanding There is a double reason that lies in the Text and in the Point that I have in hand By it you do receive as by a hand And in it is laid up as in an house or barn or treasure rich things from Jesus Christ It is his Cabinet and your Honor or it is your Treasure-house You have nothing to lay up the things of Jesus Christ in or you will not know where to lay them up if you have not a mind to know him Take heed to your understanding take heed what you beleeve Errors in the understanding hinder you from the getting of faith We live in the last and worst Age of the world wherein men make no Covenant with their understanding Job said that he would do so with his eyes that he might not look upon a Maid Yet that was lawfull But there was a snare laid in it Men keep not their thoughts from any thing that may be said pro and con against the Gospel of Jesus Christ So full of Adultery and unchastity are the minds of most that there is scarce any room for Jesus Christ to lodg in Let me but tel you thus much that so much as you are stuft with the things that are not according unto truth so much you keep out the things of the Lord Jesus If you do not beleeve the truth you may be damned So the Text saith in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians 2.12 That they all might be damned that beleeve not the truth That word All is put in to shew both how great the punishment is of those that do not beleeve As a fire grows hot by having much timber So the wrath of God is hot against such kind of Men It 's an increase of coles upon them God puts in All there because he would have men know how exceedingly he is provoked and that he will do nothing for them When Princes see whole Counties and Cities in a mutiny they take out one or two to punish and not al. And to shew you that if God do not damn you for receiving the truth yet you will be damnified for not receiving the truth That is you will be hindred Take heed that you miss not of receiving a full reward Why what will hinder them He reckons up the Errors of those times which are rank now as they were then that men do not abide in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ In 2 Joh. 10. If any man come unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not Nor bid him God speed for this wil hinder your of receiving a full reward And as the Apostle saith in the Corinthians You shall be saved it may be but as it were by fire it will cost you many an heart breaking and many a frown from God and many a sob and sigh when God opens your eyes that you should be so careless of letting things into your understanding which he hath made a place and treasure for himself Look you therefore unto your understandings Me thinks this should make a man very cautious yea very obstinate against Errors when he once understands that he must sustain so great a loss and be hindred from so great a gain by it As a man somtimes saith unto his friends If it were not for you I might
discovery of God in nature yet you cannot thence conclude that therefore God will do such things or that such things shall be done by God for us as Faith doth beleeve Again Compare earthly things and heavenly things together Though that earthly things may serve to give you some resemblance of heavenly though that similitude may set out things revealed and keep them in memory yet these similitudes do not prove these things to be nor can shew them in their own nature And therefore you shall find that Nicodemus was partly ignorant of regeneration though that Christ had told him of it under an earthly similitude of being born again That similitude did rather make the thing hard than easie And our Lord adds that If I have spoken unto you of earthly things and you beleeve not how wil you beleeve if I tel you of heavenly Joh. 3.12 That is there are some things to be beleeved in reference unto salvation that there are no things in the earth to be compared to them Therefore if you will not beleeve but by similitude you wil not beleeve them You shall see what I aim at beloved The knowledg or faith of unregenerate men may be reduced Either unto discourse knowledg or unto fancy which is all one Unto the congruity that is between things that are earthly and unto heavenly I say you may either reduce it into discourse As for example Men reason thus First by way of causality that if there be kindness in men then much more in God that gave it Secondly by way of eminency there is much more in the Fountain than in the streams that are derived from it Thirdly By way of negation If so be that this be not fit for a man to do if man wil not be unjust or forgetfull of the service that is done unto him then God will not forget the labor of our love and the work of our faith c. Now such a kind of conclusion as this is is not faith I beseech you mark it It is not faith because the conclusion is drawn only from a naturall principle from that knowledg which we have of God by nature This knowledg by discourse is naturall and therefore this cannot be true faith I shall only give you this for a proof of it which is in James 2.19 The Devils do beleeve and tremble They properly do not beleeve as is apparent by this because their Faith hath not those effects which true faith hath But they are said to beleeve because they have experience in themselves of the truth of the word of God They find that true to their cost which God hath threatned It is made good upon them which God hath written in the word And again they see by experience that many whom they have tempted are gone to Heaven and therefore they know that God will not fail nor break his word Their Faith being raised only from their experience that credit which they give to God being only from what they feel see is not good Now al the faith in unregenerate men is of the same sort with this faith of the Devils for there is no more in the Child than there is in the Parent In John 8.44 They are of their Father the Devill because they go no further than he is a pattern to them in As the Children of the first Adam are like unto him so all the Children of the Devill are like unto him And therefore as you may thus reduce or analize their Faith unto light or discourse so that faith which unregerate men have is taken from the similitude which earthly things have with Heavenly They look upon Heavenly things through Earthly as through a glass and no further than that do they see Matth. 13.11 To you saith God it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God but unto these in parables that in seeing they might not see and in bearing they might not understand Here you find a difference between the knowledg of the Mystery and the knowledg which men have by parables Parables are nothing else but only the comparing of one thing with another One thing set out by another To have no more knowledg therefore of Heavenly things than Earthly doth administer is for a man to have his eyes blinded Yea it is a Seal of the eternall wrath of God Least he should be converted and healed by me If it may be yet more plainly to express my self As in the worship of God an Image or representation made by man cannot help a man at all in the worship of God So neither can the Image of Heavenly things in Earthly similitudes give us life and salvation You know that there are Innate principles Notions which are in every man by nature of a Judgment and of a God Look what those principles are unto natural things such a kind of innate principle is Faith unto the new Creature which makes known the things of God by Jesus Christ It 's not raised by discourse It comes not in by discourse it is infused It lies there and from thence it sends forth its light into the Soul You find the Apostle in the Epistle to the Corinthians blaming the Teachers there because they teached in the wisdom of words and he tels them that it was the means to make â—he faith of their hearts to consist in man and not in the power of God His meaning is this they heard the Gospel preached Eloquently and Rhetorically They looked upon Heaven as upon a Paradise or garden of pleasure They looked upon Communion with God but only as friendship of one with his Friend The things of Christ were set out only by Earthly things as in a Map All the Glory of Heavenly things were put upon them only by the resemblances which they had unto these Earthly things If so be it be so good to be rich and so good to have pleasures here then what is it to have good for ever and the like The Apostle tels them that al this would never make them Christians for their Faith must be in God and this would keep them stil in the wisdom of man I shal conclude this Point thus That as a man that knows a man only by his cloaths takes another for him that is cloathed like him So a man that hath the knowledg of these things only by Earthly things loseth his knowledg or his fancy of them as his fancy alters Secondly The second is this Wherever this saving light in the understanding is there it 's joyned with love in the Will that is the heart doth choose embrace take pleasure and contentment in it that is it so takes pleasure as that it would rather have the truth than any thing though somtimes in a passion it may as wel quarrel with that truth as it doth at other times quarrel with a lust But that I shall speak more unto when I come to speak of the Acts of Faith as it is
in the Wil which now I shall betake my self unto CHAP. XI Faith receives Christ also as it is an act of the Will And here it hath a fivefold act 1. A pious affection 2. An approving of the assent of the understanding to the â—…th of the Promise 3. A giving up it self to Jesus Christ 4. A resting upon Jesus Christ 5. An application to it self of what is in Jesus Christ A Caution Application FAith doth not only receive as it is an act in the understanding but as it is an act in the Will There are five severall waies whereby Faith as it is in the Will doth receive Jesus Christ and his fulness A fivefold act Faith doth as it is in the Will put forth to the getting in of what is promised concerning Jesus Christ and his benefits First There is a pious affection Or it works a kind of liking of and love unto Christ and the things of him as good and desirable and real That is the first thing That whereas before the Soul looked upon him as an Enemy or as one that was exceeding hard and austere and it may be as one that did but delude and mock and intended not to give what he spake of and revealed Now the soul begins to have better thoughts of God and to think that he is kind and reall And whereas before it looked upon the things of Christ as of no value and cared not for the knowledg of them now it sels all to buy that Field wherein they are it looked before upon communion with God as not to be desired in comparison or competition with the pleasures of sin His favor and good will with the will of the flesh he would have but would rather leave God than leave his lusts Whereas before he had no mind to mortification or deniall of himself in any thing now there begins to be some liking of the things of Christ and some kind of contentment to be so In Psal 16.7 My reins instruct me saith he in the night season It 's a Psalme which is a profession of Christ and a Picture of one that is made after Christ You may see in that how Christ suffered for us and how we ought to be whatever our afflictions or sufferings be for his name sake Now saith David as one that is drawn after Christ My reins instructed me in the night season The Reins are the seat of the affections and desires They instructed him that is they perswaded him and they began to work him into a better opinion of the waies of God than before he had Then I could say saith he The Lord is my portion and my Lot is fallen in a good ground and now God and troubles God and afflictions are exceeding desirable together let the afflictions be never so hard In Rom. 4.20 it 's said that Abraham did beleeve and gave Glory to God What is it to give Glory to God It is to give a praise and commendation of his works unto him which is to set out the Attributes lively which he hath put forth in any thing towards us But saith he he gave Glory unto God that is he commended God and spake well of him and surely he said within himself he would never have spoken that I should have had a Child and not have done it and he would not have made me beleeve that all the Generations of the world should be blessed in him that should come from me unless somthing above nature should be done for the bringing forth of him He had a good opinion of God Marke it Though there hath been no parley no agreement nor match made between parties yet we discern love between them upon their commending one another So when the Soul begins to commend God and cannot tel how to think so and so of God as Unbelief suggests then he begins to love and that indeed is a beginning of Faith The Papists tell us that Faith is unformed and as a body without a soul untill there be love That is an error For the formall act of Faith is in the understanding to assent which is not comptiable unto the will and affections But in this sense much might be said concerning love Though it gives not a Philosophicall yet it gives a divine being unto Faith that is it puts an excellency upon it Whatever comes from Love unto God is thereby you know made more acceptable unto God And this love or desire of God is necessary both to make a mans understanding captivated unto the mind of God to make the things revealed to become easie unto him We easily beleeve that shall be which we would have be and that man that gets our love gets our trust That therefore is the first thing which Faith doth in the will it begets a pious affection and liking of the goodness in God and the goodness that is in the things which are promised by him unto us It 's not saith the Soul I perceive now such a hardness and such an ill condition to be married to Jesus Christ as I thought of before It 's not a way that brings with it so many inconveniencies as my heart supgested to me But Secondly As Faith is in the Wil it doth approve and allow of that aslent and credit which the understanding hath given unto the truth of the promises I say it doth approve and allow of that assent which the understanding hath given unto the promises The understanding saith I do verily that these things are true you do wel saith the Wil hold you there hold fast that word that is a word worthy of all acceptation receive that rather than any thing As a Steward lets a Lease unto a Tenant and afterwards brings it to the Grand-Lord and he takes cognizance of it and gives consent to it So the understanding brings the promise to the Soul and saith I have beleeved these things to be true and that they shall be accomplished They are above Sense and Reason But I cannot but think buâ— they shall be They are better than all things else Now doth the Will give up it self fully unto the liking and ratifying of this act You have it I conceive fully proved in Phillip 3.3 We are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh We rejoyce faith he and have no confidence in the flesh the Apostle is there proving that a man cannot be saved by the works of the Law but only by being found in Christ Concerning this saith he we do rejoyce As if he should have said we are glad with all our hearts that we shall not go to Heaven by doing but by beleeving and not upon out own Legs but in the Arms of Christ It doth us good to the heart that there is no duty nor service that shall be accepted but only the Lord Jesus Christ It is not our salvation alone which makes our hearts cheerfull but it
follows for the most part and other things are but by the by which he does So David was so much in Prayer that he saies he was Prayer And so Paul Acts 9. as soon as ever he began to beleeve he began to pray And as a Believer does pray so he praies upon the same tearms of Grace that he is a Receiver that is thus He is a Receiver for another he receives nothing as his own primarily and originally but as it is a gift and trust put into his hands by Jesus Christ to use for the services to which he hath appointed him He goes therefore to God not as one that is the Principal but as one that is a Receiver for another He goes with a Spirit that speaks after this manner to the Lord It is not for my self alone I am but the Messenger of Jesus Christ he sent me Jesus Christ hath undertaken for me and will see it made good to me and I shal have it Thirdly He that hath this Faith as it is a Receiving is unsatisfied with whatever he gets at any one time till he hath come to get all which the Promise is engaged for and to him And the reason of it is this Therefore he is unsatisfied because he hath much to receive and that which he hath received does but enlarge his capacity for more and encourages him that he shal have it as it is due Even as meat gets a stomach to meat so receiving gets an appetite to receiving As presumptuous persons wil find somthing or other to encourage themselves by so Faith upon one respect or other will ever be looking for and after somthing from Jesus Christ upon one account or other it wil be stil demanding Art thou therefore applying to thy self the things that are promised Art thou challenging from God more than thou hast urging him upon his Word that thou hast not so much as thou dost hope in him for Is what thou hast received as a tast that makes thy affections run out after more Then know that thy Faith is indeed a receiving Faith a Faith of the Son of God Fourthly This Faith as it is Receiving will take hold of every insinuation and intimation lay up every word that does give hope and works up it self by smal grounds as one would think to great expectations from Jesus Christ As a man that is trading takes notice of every thing that is said or spoken hopefully of getting more than he hath As there are some spirits that are ever growing upon one give them once and they wil come again Or as some Children that when they have received somthing from their Parents they have their Eyes continually upon them looking for more Such is the frame of the Spirit of one that beleeves as it is a receiving Faith makes a man to do so And therefore you shal find by experience that words spoken by the by often times in a Sermon yet are the great encouragements and hearteners and supporters of the hearts of Godly People Faith is of that having craving growing nature that if it can but get a word it will make a great matter of it sin makes us greedy of occasions to it As a word or a sillable hath great provocation in it unto sin so hath a word that is spoken but by the by a great efficacy upon the hearts of them that beleeve Thou complainest thou hast not what thou didst look for because thou dost complain it is a sign of thy Faith Thou wouldest have that which thou hast not and Faith is a receiving Then seeing both Understanding and Wil stretch forth their hands to receive the things of Jesus Christ Beleevers they have a rich and plentifull Condition Their hands it 's true are full of work they have much to do but they have much to get in too What they have a mind to they shal have and what they know or is revealed to be in the hand of God to do shall be done for them Their Understandings and Wills let them be extended and enlarged they shall both of them be filled full Psal 145.19 He will fulfill the desires of them that trust in him CHAP. XIIII Further Application of the Point This shews a necessity of Faith An Objection from 2 Tim. 2.13 Answered An Objection from the difficulty of Beleeving answered Incourage your selves to Beleeve And to that end 1. Consider the many and glorious things that are to be Received 2. Be convinced that you cannot live without these things which Faith helps to 3. Consider these things are to be bad only by Beleeving 4. Lay the command of God upon your Souls Severall Objections answered USE NOw I goe to another Use If Faith be a Receiving then if you would have Christ or any thing of his you must beleeve If you would have Christ or any thing of his I say you must beleeve The Use lies upon this that Faith is not only a Receiver but the only Receiver which God hath appointed and substituted There are other Graces which God gives besides Faith but he gives this vertue to none of laying hold and Receiving but only unto Faith Love that doth joyn the Soul to Christ and unites it but Faith receives and takes of the fulness that is in Jesus Christ In Jam. 1.7 saith James Let not such a man think that is such a one who asks not in faith but wavers that he shall receive any thing at the hand of the Lord. This wavering the Apostle doth oppose unto Faith And yet he that hath this true Faith may have this wavering in some particular acts though not in the frame of his spirit As in Matth. 14.31 Christ speaks unto Peter and tels him he was one of little Faith and asks him why he doubted And the word that he doth use there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a being between two opinions a halting as it were or an uncertainty of mind not knowing what to do whether to receive Christ or not to receive him or whether not to receive Christ or to receive him In particular acts there may be I say wavering in a man that hath true Faith But while he is so let him not think that he shal receive any thing at the hands of God We are wont to set other things besides Faith to be our Receiver As the Papists so do we put good works unto the work of Faith They think by good words we do apply Jesus Christ and his benefits Mark it Though there be much due unto thee from the Promise though thou hast God ingaged to thee deeply yet wil not God give thee any thing by the hand of any other Grace but only Faith God wil pay what he ows but he wil pay it through beleeving Therefore the Text runs expresly He that beleeves not shall be damned Mark 16.16 that is all he must look for at the hand of God He could not do any great work saith the Text among them because of
should make her self to be by and by the But of persecution All would forsake her and she must take up the Cross she must leave that way of Worship which had been in use among her Fore-fathers nay she must beleeve upon him to save her that could not save himself Whatever prejudices there were the Lord took them from her she was not able to break one of these bars nor to lay down one of these thoughts And therefore there is no other preparation required unto Faith than what comes from the Spirit of Faith As may appear by this If there be any preparation required of us we shal never know where to get or find it For if we shal run unto this Grace and that Grace there must be a preparation unto that for that is Grace and unto that preparation there must be a preparation for that is grace And where will you find it Go to thy Understanding and there it is not and unto thy Will and there it is not and unto the Conscience and there it is not You will find that it cannot be formed by any principle in us but by the spirit of Faith But as Faith is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 so we can beleeve of our selves and we cannot but through him beleeve We resist but he overcomes our resistance We have no good will but he works in us to will and to do Phil. 2.13 Therefore the Apostle saith that we are made to beleeve in Eph. 1.18 19. as Jesus Christ was raised from the Dead It was impossible that Jesus Christ should be held in the Chains of Death and it 's impossible that the Soul should be held in the chains of Unbelief when God comes to work Faith that as the Apostle faith 2 Pet. 1. last No Prophecy came in the old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost The same word which the Apostle Peter speaks of Prophets that they cannot but speak what they receive from the Lord So neither can that heart but beleeve unto Salvation which God works upon And this takes not from the freedom of man nor from the liberty of his will For this necessitates a good will unto him And if it did not truly it were better for us to want our wills than for God to want his will And it 's better for us to be saved in a way which we understand not how it should stand with our liberty than to be left to our liberty to choose the way of our Salvation But that is but by the way Faith is a receiving and we receive this power from the Lord himself to receive We are passive in it II. But Secondly which is a thing that I do a great deal more aim at In that act of Faith wherunto we are enabled by God we act as little as possibly can be there is as little done by us as may be as little a touch as I may say as is imaginable The grace of Faith is usually at the first but as a grain of Mustard seed But suppose it to be given at first Conversion in what degrees you please unto ten degrees yet that grace acts us or takes as little hold on us as possibly may be The Spirit doth take fast hold of us and we by Faith take fast hold of Christ but though the hold be fast yet the hold is but little which Faith takes on us Suppose a man that hangs sure but hangs but by one hand and by one finger or suppose a thing that is joyned and glued fast unto another but it is joyned only by the edge so that the fastness ariseth from the Sement and glue and the firmness of that and not from the hold which the other thing hath of it Or it may be this ruay set it forth more plainly to your understanding as the hand of a Child in the hand of the Master who teacheth him to write The Childs hand doth as little as can be though it makes every Letter yet the Childs hand makes it by the skil and direction and power of the Master So there is that of God which makes us to beleeve God doth use the Understanding and he doth use the Will in the Work of Faith but as little as may be though it be we that do beleeve yet we do no more than submit our selves to the work of the Lord. The Understanding and Will must be used that so Faith may be our act but he doth neither use the Will nor the Understanding but barely to give it a just denomination of our act If Faith be not our act then we are not quickned nor saved by it but it hath no more from us than what may barely give it that denomination we contribute no more than what may justly denominate the action to be ours And this will appear I conceive if you do but consider First The Opposition which is in us unto beleeving even in the very instant when we do beleeve I say there is an opposition to us in beleeving even in the very instant when we do beleeve as much opposition made to Faith as possibly we can make either by the malice in us or by the assistance and temptation of Satan No man can come to me saith the Text John 6.44 45. that is Beleeve except the Father draws him Drawing imports withdrawing or drawing backwards from a thing While God plucks we pluck and while he draws we draw back He draws by teaching us for so the Text expounds it in John 6. Ye shal al be taught of God God convinceth us that there is no safety in that condition wherein we are That there is no hope in any but only in himself that the longer we delay the more unfit we be the more our hearts will be hardned the more his wrath will be provoked While God is doing of these Acts and others the Understanding the Reasoning is quite contrary all the Reason in us and all the prejudice that possibly can be and all the objections that can be made are made against Jesus Christ and against our going to him in our effectual Calling God is putting in those perswasions which may prevail with us and the Understanding doth give forth cross answers There is no man comes but God draws and there is no man that God draws but he doth withdraw even while God draws Matth. 14.31 Why did'st thou doubt saith he O thou of little faith The word that is translated Doubting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie the minds being in divers stations the word signifies I say the mind to be in divers stations As the Sea when it is tossed hither and thither As the Mind when it is hurried up and down with divers unsetled apprehensions and affections As one thought comes and saith Go to Christ another comes and saith As you love your life do not go At another time the soul resolves it will
mainly make the life of faith to be meane 1. Because its a life of dependance A man lives not of himself nor on his own but he lives upon another He eates not his own bread as I may so speak nor wears his own cloaths but what is given him And not only so but. 2. In the second place A man receives not only by faith but from hand to mouth Suppose al a man had was given him but he did receive it at once and so became master of it himself for his use and dispose of it then there were some honour in it you know The Prodigal you know prays that he may live no longer at his fathers hand but that he may have his portion and live like a man of honor upon his own But through faith we receive no more then we have need of and we have no more then we need We are fain to go to God for every penny and morsel The life of faith is often seen in prayer It is al one as I often shewed you in the scripture for a man to beleeve upon God and for a man to pray to God and for a man to live upon begging and to have no more then every day he can get as an alms or as a favor That is such a kind of life as takes away al glory and al confidence in a mans self Object But you wil say unto me That this is enough to discourage a man from any way looking after that life of faith because it is so meane Answ I answer to that in a word That there is no reason it should discourage For it is better for us a great deal considering what we are to have in this way then any other For First God wil look better to us then we can look to our selves As a bird in the Cage is more tendered and better provided for then she could be if she had her liberty in the wild waste flying up and down in the vast wilderness We live upon God but we live upon one that is bountiful and liberal and one that hath enough and one that thinks nothing too much to give to us Were our estate in our own hands we would quickly spend it or ingage and morgage it and bring our selves under wrath which now the Lord prevents Such a kind of living upon God by faith is exceeding Glorious unto God For upon this account he hath Glory that he doth provide for us al things that do belong unto life and Godliness Yea. Secondly There is a great deal of sweetness in this life As a bit you know from a Princes hand at his table hath more sweetness in it then a whole dish What ever provision we could make for our selves could not carry that refreshing to the heart which the least thing doth which we receive from God by Christ through faith For it carrys this with it The love of God in Christ the favor and loving kindness of God his wisdom which cuts out this portion for me who knows what is better for us then we can chose for our selves Lastly to say no more Though the life of faith be meane in it self yet this should encourage to it because it is so meane therefore pride is hid from your eyes There is nothing that hinders a man more from receiving from God then pride doth Jam. 4.6 He gives grace to the humble but he resists the proud There is nothing more burdensom to a Beleever than pride of heart is Pride of heart is unto the Soul of a Beleever like the swelling of a Joynt which puts to extream pain Saith the Soul in it self I have nothing and can do nothing and am nothing and yet notwithstanding I am lifted up as if I wanted in no kind As you know it is said concerning the Church of Laodicea To be poor and yet proud To borrow and yet to carry it as if we were beholden to none is as great wickedness as possibly can be before the Lord. Because all this is hindred by Faith therefore it is a great encouragement to the Life of Faith though it be a mean Life in comparison CHAP. XX. Application The Reason why Beleevers are tempted to Pride Where there is true Faith there is humility of Spirit And that is manifested in four Particulars 1 In Modesty 2 In a Sense of its own Condition before Grace 3 In an acknowledgment of all that is in a man to be from God 4 In making a man wary and faithful in the use of what he hath received USE ALL that I shall say by way of Use and so pass on unto the next is this First You may from hence see the Reason why Beleevers are so much tempted unto Pride unto Pride in thinking of themselves otherwise than is meet as the Apostle speaks unto Pride in neglecting good works as necessary unto the attaining and perfecting of Eternal Life As some that are well born and descended cannot endure to fal unto mean imployment So doth the Devil labor to put it into the hearts of Beleevers that they need not be so careful in Duty nor so strict and exact in the performance of the Law for they are the Sons of God and born unto Eternal Life as their Inheritance Now the Reason why the Devil doth labor to stir the Saints to this is Because that Pride is the most contrary unto the Life of Faith and the condition we are put into through beleeving For to see as I said now a Beggar Proud or a Servant Reign to see an Alms man who is cloathed of meer Mercy to jet and strut as if he were cloathed in Gold of his own is the most uncomly sight in the World And so uncomly do we behave our selves in the sight of God when because of the state we are in we grow proud For what have you to be proud of For there is nothing that you have but what you have received And again Hence it doth appear that where ever there is true Faith there wil be humbleness of Spirit For the Spirit is suited to the condition and life which Faith brings in from Christ but it empties the Soul of it self according as it doth bring in So much a meaner opinion a man grows into of himself as he grows more into the enjoyment of Christ There is this temper of heart in a Beleever that as he rejoyceth in this that he hath much in Gods hands to receive so also he doth walk humbly As the Apostle speaks in Phil. 2.12 13. He works out his Salvation with fear and trembling Why Because it is God that worketh in him both to will and to do And if a man would make a Judgment of himself whether he be in the Faith or not if he would discern whether he hath received Jesus Christ unto the Salvation of his Soul or not he may know it by this as soon as by any thing Doth thy Spirit grow more humble Art thou more vile
but him for when the soul hath had some experiences of God if so be that al the delights and pleasures that are in sin nay that are in holiness were set before it it would choose rather to live upon Jesus Christ then that way As the good man said when he saw David come home let him take al now the Lord my King is safe So the soul can say I have enough in him though I have nothing else and let al other things be what they wil yet through him I shal stand But at the first the Act of faith is only willing I suppose And therefore you shal find beleevers to be alwayes described that way John 8.56 Abraham saw my day afarre of He saw it by faith That is the spiritual optick which makes things farre of to be neere He saw my day afarre off and was glad As a man that sees the shoare many Leagues off at Sea where the shoare looks like a cloud One would have thought it would have made the heart of Abraham sad that the day of Christ was so farr off For hope that is deferred is the breaking of the heart saith Solomon What joy do you think would the day of Christ have been had it come upon Abraham who when he saw the breaking of it so many thousand yeares off was filled with Joy But where ever there is a sight of Christ there is joy and gladness That I bring it for Though it be at never so great a distance and never so weak a sight When the power of the Lord Jesus Christ doth prevaile it makes his people willing As it is in Psal 110.3 Therefore the Apostle saith that with the mouth a man doth confess but with the heart a man doth beleeve unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 With the heart As we use to say I am glad of it with al my heart Or you have my heart So now doth the soul say unto Jesus Christ in beleeving He is taken with the object of faith and is rejoyced So it is in Phil. 3.3 We are the Circumcision who rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Mark it The Ministers by whom the Gospel is brought unto men are beautiful unto beleevers Rom. 10.15 How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings His meaning is As beauty wins takes affections so are our affections carried strongly unto those who are the messengers of good things by Jesus Christ If you have judged me faithful said Lydia then come into my house And if you be worthy said our Lord though you have no cloaths on your back nor penny in your purse yet you wil be welcome to them And the word of Faith which is the instrument of Faith that is now received also by a Beleever Matth. 13.44 45 46. The kingdom of God is like a man that found a Treasure in the field and he went and sold all that he might be partaker of it Every act of Faith it is done with joy and delight Therefore Faith in the generall is said to work by love and to be unfeigned 1 Tim 1.5 Out of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned Why because it is hearty there is an affection and an affection that is real where there is true Faith 1 Thes 1.5 You received the word of God in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost And therefore you are elected of God It is therefore by cheerfulness and readiness in believing that true Faith is distinguished in Acts 2.41 As many as gladly received the word were baptized They gladly received is a note of distinction from the rest of the Auditory who received it but not with joy and gladness By it I say true Faith is distinguished and distinguished from the Faith that is in the Devils and in wicked men who are the Children of him and from that which doth arise from conviction A man may beleeve through conviction as the Devils do who finding something to be true which God hath spoken their own experience being a witness to them that God hath not failed of his word they do therfore collect that what he hath said besides shal be brought to pass But that which they do beleeve they would not beleeve There is the like Faith in the Children of Satan For as there is the same Grace in the head Christ and in his members so there is the same sinfulness and evill that is in Satan the head and Prince of wicked men in wicked men themselves While wicked men live under the preaching of the word of God they come to be convinced that there is no way of salvation but by Christ nor any course to get eternall life but by going unto him But this they like not but secretly wish that there were some other way which is evident and apparent because their hearts do withdraw through unbeliefe and depart from the living God As the Apostle speaks in Heb. 3.12 There is a going unto Christ by men as a man goes unto an enemy and sues for some favor that is in his hand to do him which he can receive no where else but yet it troubles him So now they go unto Christ but they had rather be in hard and costly working If fasting and prayer and giving all their goods to the poor would help them they would rather do it than go to Jesus Christ As wicked men do pray in afflictions but it is because they are driven to it so do they beleeve in Jesus Christ because they know no way else to go or to find relief unto themselves He that is a Beleever doth choose Jesus Christ as his way He doth choose him I say as his way or rather thus he doth like that way and approve that way Object But you wil say This can be no sign because those that were but temporary and fell away did receive the word of God with joy in Math. 13.20 Answ 1. But you must know that their receiving was not of al but of some truths of the Gospel And Secondly It was not sincere They received not the truth for the love of it for then they should have been saved 2 Thes 2.10 but they received it out of love of their lusts So far they did receive the Gospell as it might free them from Hel but not as it might sanctifie or take away from them the love of this present World for when persecution came they were by and by offended CHAP. XXII Faith accompanied with joy and delight and that 1. As an Act of the Vnderstanding 2. As an Act of the Will BUt now I shall come to speak of Faith in this point more particularly As it is a willing receiving of Jesus Christ a Receiving of him kindly and gratefully And that I may speak of it distinctly to you There is you must know a love that is ever joyned with Faith Faith works by love And that love is set upon Jesus Christ singly and alone for his
ever Jesus Christ comes he comes as a King he will be Lord or nothing As Kings when they come into private mens houses command all their servants as their own and use every roome as if they that owed them had nothing to do with them They take all power out of their hands for the present and use nothing but what they bring with them and that which is of their own providing So when Jesus Christ is come into the Soul he will have every thought after his mind and not give a man leave so much as to look after any other thing than himself Men look not for such a kind of thing as this is by Christ and therefore they are not able to endure it Men look for ease and not to be kept to their duty and they look for peace and not for to be under the reproof and corrections and instructions of the Lord. And men look to have their good will accepted and that Jesus Christ will be served with nothing of what is ours but of what he gives Or rather thus when Jesus Christ comes unto men he brings trouble Behold a Sword He changeth men from what they were and takes them off from the practises wherein they walked which they thought were good As when Jesus Christ came he nulled all the services of the Jews which they thought were exceeding Glorious Now Jesus Christ comes and sets the ax at the root of the Tree and saith If we will not bring forth Fruit we shall be cut down Now the Soul looks not for any such thing as this What are the expectations of men by Jesus Christ but only that Jesus Christ should be a Chariot that Jesus Christ should give him his hand to sit by him in Heaven Men look that Jesus Christ should come with his Arms ready to receive them and his Bosom to lay them in They look for nothing but what may make their lives more free and their Spirits more quiet than they were before You will be mistaken in receiving Christ If you have peace with him you shall have trouble You shall be a King and reign but he will be a King and reign over you He will be served by you but you shall take all from his Treasure that you may say only as David did Of thy own do I serve thee Now this being contrary to mens apprehensions they are not willing to it and being not willing to it they are not believing If Jesus Christ be not received according to that Glory which he hath and which doth belong to him Make as much of him as you will yet still it will not be salvation to you We saw his Glory saith the Apostle when he preached as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God John 1.14 As that is it was no other Glory and can be counted no other Glory but what belongs unto God himself Now as Jesus Christ is preached and known so he must be received by the hearers There is nothing that is worship and honor unto God nothing that will make us happy but what is done unto God and Christ as such The Apostle makes this in 1 Thes 2.13 to be a sign of the effectuall calling and conversion of the Thessalonians That they received the word not as the word of man but as it was indeed the word of God As the word must be received as Gods word indeed so must Jesus Christ be received as he is indeed Look therefore what Jesus Christ must be that he may be the Author of salvation you must receive him as such if your Faith be saving It was necessary if he would save us that he should be God and Man that he should be the head of al things that he should be holy and separate from sinners Do you now receive him by Faith as such a one Doth your Faith close with him gladly under these respects It is not enough to saving Faith that you do not deny him to be thus but he must be owned by you to be thus I say he must be owned by you A man may under one consideration be wonderfull kind and respectfull to a Person when under another consideration he will shew no respect to him As for example They said unto Lot that he came in among them to sojourn and would have Lorded it over them That is as if they should have said If Lot will live among us and take his being with us as an ordinary Person he may But if he thinks all things must be as he wil If he will trouble himself with our matters and order al things according to his Will and be our Governor we wil have nothing to do with him Therefore the Apostle faith of some men that they love him not as a Lord 1 Cor. 16.22 If a man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed They love him as Christ for so he is anointed and as Jesus for so he is a Savior But this Lord being added makes their hearts to rise against him and against the precious oinment and Graces that are in him And so you shal find in Jude 4. He saith there are some that do deny the Lord. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used for a Lord is a Master of a family If Jesus Christ will come and he wil have all our time and strength and not only that but the things that are done must be after his order and according to his mind Our wisdome and reason must not direct us in the things that we do though they be materially good If so the Text saith They deny him that is They profess they will not have such a one to rule over them And thus if you compare it carefully in Luke 20. from 9. to 17. verse with Math. 21. where the same parable is repeated though those that had the Vineyards let out to them were angry with the servants yet they used them not so il as they used the Son And why did they use him so ill It was only because he was the heir and would have ruled over them We will not say they have this man rule over us And therefore as Persons are wont to enquire what the quality and disposition of those are with whom they desire to marry before they make any treaty or Covenant with them A wise Man or Woman first sits down and consider whether they can like a Man or Woman of such a Spirit and behavior Suppose him to be dull and harsh and contrary to her desire So first get the knowledg of Jesus Christ as he is one that saves and then examine your selves how you can submit unto him that you may judg whether your Faith be true or not Can you submit unto Christ as God having all things of himself and having an absolute dependance on him for all Can you receive him as your Lord and head and therefore say as John did he must increase but I must decrease he must reign and
and a good Conscience or Faith especially 1 Tim. 1.19 From this knowledg a man may be so established in the profession of Jesus Christ as that he may be able to instruct others to answer all arguments that shall be brought against this profession and to endure much even as the Heathen Philosophers that would rather die the cruellest death than leave any one principle of their learning and profession which they had received So a man may see so great a reason for the things of Jesus Christ that a man shal not dare to part with the least beam of it for the greatest afflictions in the world or to avoid the greatest misery But yet notwithstanding all this a man may be without saving Faith It may be thus received into a mans mind and judgment and yet not be a faith that wil bring him life and Salvation at the last For I beseech you consider it A man may thus receive Jesus Christ by a common gift of the spirit though he hath no Grace In Rom. 2.20 The Apostle saith of those that were not Jews in the Circumcision of the heart that they had a forme of knowledg and did delight themselves in the Law compared with the last verse And if you look into Rom. 6.17 You shal find that besides the forme of Doctrine unto a mans Salvation there is required his being delivered up unto it But saith he you have obeyed from the heart the forme of Doctrine whereunto you were delivered DELIVERED that is cast in the shape and conformed unto it so as that what you know hath authority and power over you As we say a man is delivered into such a ones hand when he is made sure of so as he cannot escape A man must through obedience come under the power of that which he knows or his knowledg is not saving Yea notwithstanding al this kind of knowledg and this judgment and understanding of Jesus Christ a man may have no affection nor love unto him at al. In John 2.25 It is said that many beleeved upon Christ but yet he saith they were such as he did not dare to trust himself with al. That is they would have betrayed him and for their own advantage would have put him into the hands of his enemies 2 Tim. 3.5 They have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof in their lives That is a man may know much and know it exactly and yet the things known have no power to order their affection or to subdue their corruption Or as some do understand the Power in opposition to the Form They do not value the things as they are in themselves Al their esteem reacheth no further then the order and rank that these things beare in the matters of the world As for example A man in casting up an accompt may value a counter a pound or a thousand pound only because it is so in reckoning So a man may value Jesus Christ at a great reckoning as one that contains al the doctrine that belongs unto Salvation and yet notwithstanding unto a mans self Christ may be but a brass Counter and as one that hath no value in himself That is al I shal leave concerning this point That Jesus Christ is received only into the fancy when a man knows not Christ in himself but his apprehension is formed only into the Metaphors and figurative speeches in the scripture of him And when they know him only as he is the main point of Doctrine in religion but his heart is not taken with himself There are some who go yet further And they are such who take Jesus Christ into their understanding But it is into the reasoning part of them as I may so speak that is so far as they are convinced by demonstrations and evidences and undenyable arguments so far they receive Jesus Christ True faith goes by testimony and that is the argument and cheife ground of it A man may receive the word of God to be true upon the same ground that he may receive any other writing or book which teacheth a man whether it be the knowledg of Countries or of the hevens or any other art whatsoever In the scripture Isay a man shal find the same things to perswade him which he finds in other books A man beleeves other Books to be true because it hath good report because it is antient And the parts agree And they interfere not nor contradict one another They have experience that the things there said comes to pass the like things have been done which they report And so a man upon the antiquity of the scripture and the agreement of the scripture and upon the equity that is in the command of the scripture comes to think that the scriptures are true But now the Spirit of God joyning with these and sitting upon these I say These common arguments withal sciences the spirit of God improving al these may work upon men very much But if so be that men go no further then these there is not faith in Jesus Christ neither For I beseech you mark it Al faith it is an act so far as it is saving it is a willing receiving of Jesus Christ But these demonstrations and arguments they do compel the understanding The understanding cannot but consent unto them and it is irresistibly do what it can bowed to give consent according to the same and that is an argument that it is not saving As a man who yields obedience not because he loves the Governor but because he knows not how to help himself or to do otherwise being conquered So these evidences and strong reasons they leade a man captive and a man consents in his understanding although the heart be against them a man may joyn together with them and yet notwithstanding they be things which his heart doth most of al abhorre therefore they cannot be saving Mistake me not beloved There is nothing so carefull of having a good evidence as Faith is It is the most secure Grace of trusting unto that possibly can be It will take nothing but what is increated for its ground It will either have a testimony from God that cannot err or else it wil not receive But though Faith may look after the cleerest evidence yet it looks not after an evidence arising from the things themselves but from the word of God Not from the Matter but from Gods report If God wil say it let the thing be never so obscure and contrary to sense or reason yet Faith will receive it But that which I now intend in this is That even as the Devils they do beleeve the Text saith in Jam. 2.19 but they do it because they have experience that the things which God hath spoken come to pass as I have shewed heretofore They are convinced by what they have seen and found that what they yet see not accomplished shal be in Gods own time And so there is a Faith also among
That men may be brought to beleeve we teach them that the nature of God is good and kind and merciful But it is only to these ends and in this sense Partly to shew them that God is not moved by any thing out of himself But not to shew them that he were not God by nature unless he took their cause to heart And partly it is to shew them how his wil hath set his nature on work for them and of his grace he hath laid a law upon himself that as he is holy he should keep his word And as he would be acknowledged to be powerful so he should work for us and as he would have the glory of his Justice so he should save And therefore Christ useth these titles Father and Holy Father as it is in John 17.11.21 But this is the first thing When men wil beleeve no more then can be deduced out of those principles which they have of the knowledg of God in them by nature when as the things that God hath promised by Josus Christ are those things which his nature wil make good but they are those things only which his wil hath given to us II. And again Men do receive Jesus Christ into their reason only when as they wil beleeve no more then can be demonstrated and evidently concluded from the scriptures themselves Concluded from the scripture every thing must be demonstratively or by just consequence and it is beleeved savingly But though it must be concluded justly yet it is not necessary that it should be demonstrative unto our faith A conclusion is then demonstrative mark it when it is as clear and evident as the principle is whence it is drawn I say when it is as cleer As for example In 2 Cor. 5.15 Saith the Apostle If Christ died for al then were al dead This is the conclusion Then were al dead and this is as demonstrative and as cleer as this That Christ died For he died for them and in their stead and he needed not to die for them and in their stead if they had not been lyable to death themselves But al matters of faith al matters that shal be done for us by Jesus Christ shal not be thus cleerly demonstrated That is the thing in hand For the proofe of it Consider with your selves that it is the self same faith whereby a man doth beleeve his own Salvation and doth beleeve the truth of the promises The faith of assurance it is a divine faith as wel as the faith of assent is unto what God hath revealed A man that makes this discourse Mark 16.16 He that doth beleeve shal be saved takes that upon the word of God which cannot be denyed But I have true faith faith he and therefore I shal be saved This conclusion now is as divine because drawn from that proposition as that proposition is That he that beleeves shal be saved But it is not as demonstrative and cleere It is as true I say but not as cleere Then you see that more is to be beleeved then can be cleerly demonstrated The scriptures are like a treasure or womb which containe more things in them then the word at the first face and looking upon can make known unto the mind of a man I would but only instance in one thing more Math. 22.32 which I spake of just now Christ goes about to prove the resurrection of the dead from this that God said he wil be the God of Abraham Isaack and Jacob. That he wil be their God that is cleere From thence he concludes therefore that the dead shal rise This is as certaine but it is not so cleere unless God first explains what it is to be a God unto one It is required of Faith in this promise I will be thy God to expect as much as God can do for one though it be not expressed That is the thing that I aim at Matters of favors are to be alwaies inlarged and promises are to be interpreted in the extensivest and largest sense And you have this proof of it because when God saith he will be ones God and gives him this promise he is bound to beleeve that God will do as much for him as he can though those words do not express it Therfore saith Christ in Math. 22.29 You err not knowing the Scripture and the power of God You think the Scriptures contain no more in them than what the words do at first sight and in their view tender to you You must saith he interpret the scripture according to Gods power and know where he hath said he will be a God unto a man there he hath ingaged all his power to do for a man or else you err You err not knowing the Scripture and the power of God However the words of scripture are used to direct and limit the sense of our Faith or the hope of our Faith yet they are not given to limit and bound the goodness of God The goodness of God and the love which he bears and the good that he will do is far greater because it is infinite than words taken from men can set forth There are some that go yet further in their entertainment of Jesus Christ and they put him into their affections They that hold that mans Will must have the casting voice in the matters of his conversion and salvation use this distinction They fay the Will may be wrought upon quo ad affectum but not quo ad effectum God by means doth effect the Will But that the Wil should be throughly effected and brought over unto the things that God would have it that ariseth from a mans own self The distinction is good and serviceable to the point in hand though it be applied by them But it hath this truth in it That a man may have his affections stirred and stirred under the means with the things which do belong unto eternal life and yet notwithstanding have his heart ful of lusts and his wil stand in the same firmness stiffness and stubborness against the things of Jesus Christ as if he had no such kind of affections Let me but instance in this one particular Suppose a man to be taken or delighted with a Jewel that is worth millions but the delight that he hath in it is but as the delight which belongs unto a thing worth but twenty pounds So there may be a delight in Jesus Christ but not suitable to the worth and excellencies of him Suppose yet further Suppose a man should make shew of love unto a man as I said in the beginning of the point but yet should lodg him among vile persons whom he loaths no man will say this mans affections are good So when as Jesus Christ shal be lodged with the Devil and with thy lusts and corruptions With one breath thou art for him and with another thou art for them When thy sins reign and live in thy heart taking their pleasures
well a prayer in actions as in desires or any other way A man may be said to have a desire after much or abundance two waies Either whenas he desires to have that which he hath not and in that respect it may be a poor mans sin as well as the rich Or else when a man is content with that which he hath but is not willing to lay it forth as God assigns him when he would have that whereof he is possessed and not part with it or lay it out to such uses which God assigns him Mark it Though a man counts he hath enough and desires no more yet if he be not willing to part with that which he hath when God commands him he is Covetous In Eccles 6.2 saith he I have seen this evill under the Sun that God hath given to a man riches that he wants nothing and yet God gives him not power to eat thereof This is an evil Disease You may be covetous because you wil not give forth of that which you have In 1 Tim. 6.17 18. The Apostle opposeth unto Covetousness Distribution unto those that are in necessity He exhorts rich men that they would as a fruit of their trusting in the Lord Be ready to distribute When men are not ready they are then the Servants of the World because they have not a heart to dispose of the world but are disposed and ordered by it And let me take in that which I said in the general explication of it and that is this That it is a desire arising from uncontent or discontent though that a man may by Lawful means get more That a man may be covetous in the use of lawful means to increase his Estate or though he do but desire by lawful means to have his Estate increased A man may be covetous in the use of a lawfull Calling It is true indeed that Covetousness is in the Scripture set forth by the unlawfull waies that men take to get riches So the Apostle saith concerning the Ministers in 1 Tit. 1.11 that did preach strange things for filthy lucre's sake And as it 's said they do make hast to be rich and they do oppress their Brethren and defraud But preaching strange things and oppression and defrauding are rather effects than formal Acts of Covetousness Covetousness may bring some men to those Acts but a man may be covetous that useth none of them And the Reason is apparent because Covetousness lies in a discontentedness dis-satisfaction or uncontentedness of mind with Gods portion or taking care for a man I wil not hold you longer here because I shall speak in the use of tryal and Examination of the nature of Covetousness CHAP. II. Two Reasons of the Doctrine I. The Greatness II. The Dangerousness of this sin The Greatness in five things 1. A spirituall sin 2. Overspreading the whol man 3. Directly opposite to the common nature of Godliness and Religion 4. The Womb and Seed of all sin the Root and Cause A Sin may be the Cause of Sin four waies As it is the Cause of Gods withdrawing As one sin inclines the heart to another As it administers matter to another As it is a Parent and Ruler over other sins 5. The sinfulness of this sin appears in the baseness of it SEcondly And therefore in the second place Consider the Reasons why you ought to take heed and beware of Covetousness In Ephes 5.3 saith the Apostle Let not Covetousness be once named among you as becometh Saints Let it not be once named That is Let it be unknown unpractised as those things we are most ignorant of which we know not the name of Let it be abominable to you for you know they would not have the name of those things in their mouths which were an abomination in Psal 16. ver 4. And unless it be thus saith he you carry not your selves as becomes Religion In Heb. 13.5 saith he Let your Conversation be without Covetousness Covetousness your whol course of life in every turning and winding of it whether you be young or old whether you be single or married persons In whatever case you be saith he yet be not covetous They were in troubles yet it was a great deal worse for them to be in Covetousness than to be in wants They wanted all things for they were scattered up and down like Chaff before the Wind but yet then God would not allow them to be discontented with their Estate and Condition but to count that best wherein they were The word is well translated Be without Covetousness But it signifies be without the love of Money or Silver And I say it 's well translated be without Covetousness because as money doth answer unto all things so in the forbidding of a man to desire Money he forbids him to desire any thing which God hath not yet given him But be content with that which you have They might say that that which they have is less than nothing it 's worse than nothing yet be contented We live among a People whose Language we know not we have lost the Estate to which we are born yet be contented We know not when it wil be otherwise yet be contented That which is your present state you must make the best of but be not unsatisfied And there is a great deal of reason for this if you consider these Reasons I. The greatness of the sin II. Or the danger of the sin or the hardness to avoid it and to be cured of it I. If you consider the greatness of the sin of Covetousness I shal instance in five things REASON I. First It is a spirituall sin A spirituall sin as the Schools expresse it is such as may be committed though there be no external or outward Act done It 's such a sin as a man may commit though he breaks not forth into any externall Act or Act of injustice It 's a heart sin that is bred and born there In Math. 15.19 From the heart comes Covetousness It 's a sin that is purely spirituall as Unbelief is for it lies in an inordinateness of affection or Lust As the sins of the Devils are Spirituall Wickedness They are set forth by this in Eph. 6.12 That they are spirituall wickedness because they do not only arise from Malice against God from an inward opposition to his Holiness and Glory but because they are so done by themselves as the Acts only of the understanding and the Wil are in us There may be an Act of the Understanding and an Act of the Will suppose it be an abhorrence or hatred of God and yet there not be an ill word spoken or a gross outward sin committed So such a sin 〈◊〉 Covetousness This sets forth the sinfulness of Covetousness that it 's a spirituall wickedness It 's bred in the Heart it comes from thence and it lives there The more there is of the heart in a sin the greater the sin is I say
the deceitful lusts Look what Paul saith there concerning al sin that the scripture saith concerning this one sin of Covetousness In Math. 13.22 The deceitfulness of riches Covetousness wil plead Conscience of a mans calling Care of Gods command to provide for a mans family Yea the Glory of God I would have more saith a man that so I may do more service and good Saul did save the Cattel but it s said It was for sacrifice Covetousness wil put a man upon al duties of morality and civility The covetous man whom God abhors saith the Psalmist In Psal 10.10 He doth crouch and humble himself that is he is as sweet and loving and affable and courteous and as seemingly ready to do any office and service for one as any can be Nay it wil put upon any spiritual duties Artaxerxes was a great friend to the reformation of the Church of the Jews But it was out of Covetousness In 2. Kings 6.10 And Ezra 7.23 That so they may pray for the life of the King and of his children and that no wrath may come upon him nor his Realme Hewould give a toleration to those poore banished ones that they might go to their own Country and set up the religion of their Fathers It wil make a man keep a good Minister in his house In Judges 17.13 I have a good Levite saith Micaiah and now I know that God wil bless me saith he It wil make a man not fail to heare the best sermons In John 6.26 Ye follow me not for the Miracles that is not for the discovery of God by me in working of Miracles and that you may see in me more then a bare man as my Miracles do discover me to be but ye follow me for the Loaves That people did go after Christ the best of Preachers a great many miles and did run the reproach of the people of those times What made them to be the first at Church but because they thought God would the better provide for them in 2 Tim. 3.2.5 Those that are covetous at the second verse have a form of Godliness A form of Godliness is nothing but the picture of a thing to the life when a thing is so like another by Art as that it can scarce be known then it is said to be a form Jesus Christ is said to be in the form of God because he was as like God as could be And in the form of a Servant because you would rather have thought him to be born to misery than to be Lord of life Covetousness wil have a form of Godliness He will do the same duties that any Godly man in the world doth Fasting and praier is an extraordinary duty a great affliction of the flesh it 's a duty of the greatest seeming holiness that can be yet in Isaiah 57.17 the Reason why they fasted so often was but for Covetousness that they might put a greater face and a fairer shew upon their persecuting the Brethren who did differ from them When they had a mind to fall upon their Brethren for that which they should have born with them in then they call for a fast like the Crocodiles cry that is only to get a prey So like as a man may be to a Godly man so like will Covetousness make a man be to him If a Godly man praies so will he And if a Godly man forbears outward acts of gross sins so will he If a Godly man suffers so will he When God commends Job that there was not a man like him saith the Devill it is nothing for a man to do as he when he hath so good wages for his work Have you not given him much Riches and Honor and many Children in the world And as it doth thus deceitfully cheat a man and is hardly to be avoided because it seizeth upon all if they look not to it So that you may see Secondly That it is hard to be Cured And therefore in the Scripture you shal find if you observe it as many Arguments nay more Arguments against Covetousness than against any sin except it be Unbelief In Matth. 6. Jesus Christ spends a whol Sermon almost against it He doth so in Matth. 15. He doth so when he comes to speak to his Disciples of the ruine of Jerusalem He doth so when he speaks of the Hearers Look through the Gospel and the Epistles and you shall find that there are more Arguments against Covetousness than any thing but Unbelief And wherefore but because it 's a hard thing to cure it And that you may further see that it 's hard to be cured confider how it deals with a man The Scripture useth divers words to this purpose somtimes it saith it doth divide a man So the word usually is which in the Scripture is translated Care The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Care signifies division of spirit It separates a mans heart from God It makes a man a Beast To have a heart and a heart and not to walk perfectly with him It makes a man take Religion by the very throat in Matth. 13.22 for it did choak the word And in Luke 12.29 saith the Text Be not of a doubtfull mind The word in the Greek is Be not like unto Meteors As Meteors and exhalations that are drawn from the Earth that hangs between the Earth and the stars so wil Covetousness make a man that he shall not be totally profane nor throughly holy neither in the upper region nor in the lower region upon the dust He hath a spirit that is mingled and therefore is on all sides but hearty for nothing that is good or for salvation Nay it goes further in Luke 21.34 Take heed least your heart be overcharged with Gluttony and Drunkenness and the Cares of this life Christ doth joyn Covetousness with Gluttony and Drunkenness because it hath the like effects upon the Soul of a man that they have upon the body of a man When a man hath drunk extraordinarily his understanding is sensless and so is a man made by the Cares of this world Be not overcharged The word signifies Made heavy His spirit is like lead he hath no spirit in any thing that he doth for God further than he is acted by the world Of a meer spirituall duty he hath no more feeling than a stone hath If there be not Rhetorick in praier and Invention in Sermons it 's not food to him Nothing that is spirituall affects him but his heart is like a stone It 's a strange speech in Luke 18.27 to this purpose when Christ said It was as hard for a rich man to be saved as for a Camell to go through the eye of a needle And they said then none of them can be saved saith Christ The things which are impossible with men are possible with God Are possible with God That word I would insist upon a little There are some things that the Scripture saith are easie unto God Do
as a man may not drink all he can bear nor eat all his stomack requires but rise with an appetite No more must a man in the things of the world do all he can This is gathered from the Conjunction of those two together Covetousness and Drunkenness In things that are not good in themselves but profitable only in some way to an end there must be a measure in the use of them As a Builder doth not lay all the stones he can in the House but so many as the foundation will bear least he over laies it The end of a mans Calling is only this that he may exercise himself the more freely in the waies of God As I have often said It is the laying of the soyl ground fallow that the rankness and sourness of it may be removed obstacles that are in the flesh unto the holy duties may be taken away The end of Riches is only that a man may do the work that God sets him and cals him to do and therefore beyond that he ought not to ingage himself in the world nor to desire riches But this is by the way for I reserve other Cases to another place That shews that men beleeve there is no Snare in riches because they put themselves upon the occasions and temptations of Covetousness Secondly There is another sign which is this Because men place their happiness in riches which appear by this Mens desires are more easily stirred more vehemently set on and hardlier taken off from the things of the world of this life than from any thing To duties men are drawn hardly are soon weary are easily discouraged but are not so in seeking after the things of this life When men have gotten riches then they count themselves happy Therefore it is that when they lose or want them they count themselves to be in a most deplorable sad condition No man counts himself to be unhappy in the want of that which would not Make him in his own opinion Therefore when men think al is gone when the world is gone frowns upon you It 's a sign they make the world their God and do not think it a Snare To perswade you therefore to the believing of this that it 's a snare or that there is a snare in it I shall only remove in a word or two the ground of that perswasion 1. Men think if they had more of the world they could do more for God more good than they do As Absalom said if he were King he would do Justice And relieve the oppressed break the bonds free men from taxes that his Father laid upon them So men think that if they were but as rich as another man they would distribute to the Saints Cloath the naked feed the hungry their houses should be like the house of Caius an Inn for them They would serve God more freely This now doth suppose that there is an help in abundance and not a hook I beseech you my Beloved consider it when men have had abundance though they have been put in mind and cautionated continually that therefore they have it that they may serve God in the abundance of all things they have found their hearts straigter and their hands weaker than when they were in poverty or in a mean condition Take heed saith God unto the people of Israel and he reads them that lesson every morning that they took a Journey into the land Canaan least when you come into the land of Canaan that you do forget the Lord your God and not keep his Statutes and Judgments to do them Yet notwithstanding for all this when as they were come into the land as it 's said in the Book of Deuteronomy they did not serve the Lord their God in the abundance of all things but they served themselves and their own lusts Had you been by the self same people when they were in the captivity of Babylon you might have heard them groaning and sighing out for deliverance Thus Deliver us and we will serve thee our strange Gods shall be put away from us we wil build Thy Altar and none else we will offer unto thee the fat of the Calf of the Steer but when they came into the land as we have shewed out of Nehemiah and Ezra they did delight themselves in the fatness of the land and forgat the Commandments of the Lord. I beseech you my Beloved consider it A man is to content himself with the doing of that good though it be never so little which God cals him to do That Servant honors his Master as wel that continually waits upon him and goes whither he goes as he that doth in the house the greatest drudgery God doth not call a man to all that he thinks he could do or it may be that he hath abilities to do A man is called to no more than God puts him upon and puts himself forth unto As for example A man may have able gifts but that is not enough to make him a Minister nor a Magistrate A man may do the work of other callings but that is not enough to make him put himself into them til God saith Do this He must do that which God puts into his hand let it be what it wil be We are often times ready to think that we should do God more service in any condition than in that wherein we are Like foolish children at School that think they shall gain more by going into a new Book than by going on in the old though the Master knows the best way to make them understand is to keep them where they are It shews our discontent through Pride and our listlesness to do the work of God that makes us say If I had this I would do thus and if I had that I would do so Do that which is in thy hand Therfore that is no ground at all for a man to desire more because he thinks he should do more 2. Another Reason that perswades men to look after the things of this life is because they think that if they had abundance of the things of this life they should escape many evils which now they meet withall But now I shall answer nothing more than the words that follows my Text A mans life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth You shall live never a whit the better nor have any thing the more to live upon for abundance Your life that is the safety of it that lies not in abundance for riches are an allurement unto those that are the sons of violence The Comfort of your life lies not in abundance for abundance brings forth care and sorrow The more you have the more your heart will be divided into solicitousness about them If abundance is not able to continue your life for as Christ sheweth that your life depends upon the word of God This night thy Soul shall depart from thee much less can you help
they thought the word of God dot worthy enduring the troules that it brought but the thorny ground the Covetous groud that came under Persecution Now how can it be a sign of Covetousness if they endure Persecution This is the Objection Answ First the meaning is not that they will endure any kind of Persecution but such Persecution as is against the plain and cleer points of Religion For that which the High-way ground regards not the Principles of Godliness that the other grounds suffered for and stood to But those were the Principles of Religion converting points for the Text in Matth. 13. speaks of converting points of Religion Such points which distinguish regeneracy and unregeneracy One sort of people minded not these things The other rather suffered for them than that they would part with them Rather than Demas would say the Gospel was a lie and that Jesus Christ was not God he would die presently That was so rooted in his Conscience that he would have thought himself unhappy to have given any check to it They did not come down right upon him but by cunning waies the Devil â—â—kes men by crast and not by fair strength However Demas did not love his life in this Case yet he loved his riches better than his life He cries better live not and be not than be in want When he was with Paul there was no great hazard run for it is said that Onesiphorus enquired him out and was not ashamed to walk with Paul when he had chains about him Now if men might go to men in Prison and walk up down with them in the streets there was not much hazard and danger That Demas could bear But when he must part with all the Text saith He cleaves to this present world That is such a kind of cleaving as is in the heart of God unto Christ and his people for by that word the heart of God is set out in the Scripture It signifies content and rest and ful delight and satisfaction in a thing Demas his heart was thus swallowed up in the things of this life And therefore though he could have lost his life at the first rather than to have denied the Principles of Religion yet he would rather have lost his life than endured want If when God cals for all you would spare some you are Covetous And say not that great degrees of Grace is required unto this for when the wil of God is shewed and determinately known a Saint sits down under it and quels al motions against it When a Godly man sees God wil have al he saith Thy wil be done Especially is a Godly man ready in the things of this life because at Conversion there is a mean esteem in him of the things of this life he looks not for things that are temporal but for what is eternal It is in the nature of a Beast to look after grass and the fields to live in the Air So for a Christian to have a mean esteem of this world either for his end or means He slights it for means and despiseth it 〈◊〉 his ends Look what you are when God takes away the things of this world Are your hearts in a quietness and composedness Again A man is then Covetous when he takes al opportunities of getting Again When a man is having and craving in his spirit when his praiers savors of the world like a vapor out of a Dungeon when his affections are strong in the matters of this life A mans Covetousness is not cured when his desires are hot Object Is it not lawfull for a man to desire more than he hath or so much as may Act all his parts and abilities in him Whether a mans observing what abilities he hath for publique service may not desire such a portion of this life as may Act him therein Answ Oftentimes it is not so much the love of a mans work as the love of a mans waies A man thinks he desires to love God when he loves the world The world is not worth the having You are in the world for Heaven When your thoughts are bowed down be afraid of that Trade not with those thoughts Remember Christs words Take heed and beware of Covetousness Arise ye dead and come to Judgment There is a Snare in your Calling you may be Covetous in desiring nothing but your due As this young man in my Text. FINIS Scriptures Opened in the Book of John 1.12 And Luke 12.15 Chap. Vers Page Genesis 4 14 229 42 1,2 48 Joshua 3 21 109 7 21 98 Judges 17 13 236 1 Samuel 15 23 263 1 Kings 1 17 152 2 Chronicles 30 8 125 Bzra 7 23 236 Job 27 5 46 34 36 164 Psalms 1 2 156 4 7,8 244 8 2 171 9 10 37,41 10 3 236 15 1 140 16 4 222  7 48,53   71 19 1 110 36 18 33 37 1 75,215  4 257  25 246 44 3 140 49 7 255 51 3 52 50 6,7 162 73 15 147  24 152 84 11 14 109 4 89 110 3 148 119 55 52 127 2 247 145 19 91 Proverbs 3 5 117   132 13 12 165 14 15 41 21 15 151 28 20,21 260 30 2 277 Ecclesiastes 12 1 52 Solomons Song 1 3 157 Isaiah 8 21 215 50 10 75   118 53 1 44  11 37   108 55 1 5  3 45,50 57 17 214   229   237 Jeremiah 32 40 167 Ezekiel 33 31 276 36 31 22 Hosea 6 6 250 Amos 8 5 276 Matthew 4 9 244 5 42 103 6 30 127  32 232  33 101   242 2 26 127 9 29 19,93 10 8 33  14 144  41 144 11 27 188 12 20 121 13 4 52  7 234  11 68  20 150   207  22 229   236   238  44 to 46    149   163  58 93 14 31 93   116 15 19 224  23 to 28    24 16 16 55  17 201 19 12 35 21 22 25  30,31 83 22 4 82  8 49  22 205  29 206  32 198 23 25 17 27 43 131 Mark 4 10 273 7 22 228 14 15 208 16 16 20,93   205 Luke 2 21 245 3 14 228 8 14 229 12 13 211  14 212  20 213  21 212  29 238  48 26 14 18 176 16 22,28    182 17 5 7,110   133 18 27 239 19 5,6 145 20 9 to 17    144   176 21 34 234   239   251 John 1 11 6,82   111   131  14 174  16 5,14   20,26 2 25 193 3 12 66  19 170  21 76   109  33 44 5 19 198  40 111  44 132 6 26 236  27 247  37 122   183 Â