a glass the glory of the Lord wee are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 In nature the meat is digested into the nature of the eater Here the eater is turned into the nature of the meat The contemplation of his Glory makes you glorious They will bee 5. Soul-winning Thoughts Love you know is of an attractive nature Amor amoris Magnes Nothing wins more than Love Love is the Loadstone to draw Love again As the Sun shining upon a Glasse begets a reflection of the beams back again so the love of God shed abroad in our hearts begets a reflection of love back again toward God You see Mary Much was forgiven her shee had tasted of much love from God and shee returned much love again to him Shee loved much The Power of God doth shake the heart The Majesty of God doth dread the heart The Justice of God doth awe the heart But it is the Mercy of God the Love of God which doth perswade win and draw the heart Nothing wins a mans heart to God but his Love The fear of God dread of God may bring a mans feet into his wayes but it is the Love of God which brings his Heart into his wayes They are 6. Soul-quickening 7. Soul-comforting thoughts Oh then that wee were but wise to improve this Doctrin this truth to the good of our souls I tell thee Christian if thou wouldest give this truth but scope in thy heart it would help thee and relieve thee of all the burdens under which thou groanest 1. Dost thou labour under a proud heart this would humble thee 2. Dost thou labour under a dejected heart this would raise thee 3. Under a dark heart this would comfort revive thee 4. Under a dead heart this would quicken thee and put the Spirit of Heaven into thee whiles thou art on earth 5. Under an hard heart this would break thee Nay this would melt thee dissolve thee into waters I say the more thou gets up with Elijah into this Chariot of love the more would the mantle of sin and corruption depart from thee 6. Under a worldly heart This would dead thy heart for ever to the World and set thee all on flame with the fire of heavenly affections I am confident of it whatever a Christian desires to injoy whatever a Christian desires to bee rid of if hee can but dwell upon this truth and bee able to manage it Hee shall have it more fully hee shall have it more quickly than any other way Wouldest thou bee rid of a proud heart wouldest thou have an humble heart wouldest bee rid of a dead heart and desirest a quick heart wouldest bee rid of an hard heart and have a broken heart wouldest bee rid of an unbeleeving of a doubting of a dejected heart and wouldest bee mighty in Faith full of comfort Why do but let thy soul bee carried captive with this Truth bee but content this Truth should master thee bee but willing to entertain it beleeve it imbrace it I am confident on it all this will bee done I may set down a probatum est to it Oh! That wee were wise to manage this Truth There are many look upon this but as a pleasant dream a Chimera a fiction And some beleeve it but slightly there wants depth of earth And some there are poor souls to whom the comfort of this truth belongs who think this is too good news for them They think if they should own it it would bee but too great a sale for too small a Boat rather overturn them than do them good rather ruine them than help them And therefore they must feed upon black thoughts upon Hell upon justice upon sin upon their corruptions Ah! Poor souls Satan deludes you you take a way to undo your selves Either to discourage you to say there is no hope or else to break you that you shall never bee able to do God service Look as long as you will into Hell pry as long as you will into the dark vaults of your souls rake as long as you will into the kennel of your hearts You shall finde nothing in Hell but Hell in your hearts but sin and having found it run from him That man looks too much on sin who shutteth his eyes from a mutual interview of love between God and his soul And hither you must come at last Free-Grace must bee owned Free-Mercy must bee acknowledged and advanced by you if ever you would bee saved if ever you would bee comforted You mâ—y think what you will but sure I am 1. There are no Christians more chearfull 2. None are more thankfull 3. None are more humble 4. None are more beleeving 5. None are more active 6. None are more couragious 7. None more serviceable and usefull toward God and men than they who lye continually at the breast of the promise than they who set up Gods Free-Grace and own that good which God makes out to them Thou mayest bee a Christian but thou wilt bee a sad Christian an uncomfortable Christian a dark Christian a deserted Christian a dead Christian an unserviceable Christian if thou dost go on to feed upon black thoughts and wilt not own that comfort which Christ tenders imbrace that good which Christ speaks and beleeve the Riches of his Grace and Mercy to poor sinners Do but sit down and from the sight and sense of thine own unworthiness take but occasion to advance Free-Grace and Mercy Let there bee place for that to come in Let those thoughts finde entertainment And thou shalt quickly finde a strange change in thy spirit 1. Thou who couldest not mourn before shall now bee able to poure our tears as if thou wert all turned to water 2. Thou who before couldest not beleeve couldest not bee comforted wilt even think it a wonder that ever thy heart should bee so dark so doubtful 3. Thou who before wast dead shalt now finde a spirit of life come into thee and make thee active in the work of the Lord. Make but the Experiment and thou wilt converse more with the promise with the Love of Christ with the Free-Grace of God whiles thou livest if you would but remove your unbelief But who shall remove this stone God alone must do it But if this were done this truth would let in a flood of mercy upon you and even sink and over-whelm you in a Sea of mercy and glory where now you go drooping and hang down your heads because you will not own that portion which Christ hath left you nor that comfort which Christ doth tender and speak to you 4. Direction to them of the Church 4. Direction to them of the Church 4. Labour for a reciprocall affection a mutual taking between Christ and us Is Christs heart taken with you Oh! let your hearts bee taken with him Doth Christ love you Oh! do you love Christ Are you
our performances Faith is the salt that seasons all p. 167 168. 2 Branch of the Exhortation to those that have Faith to exercise Faith 1 In matter of Justification under the guilt of sin trust in God for pardon of sin p. 169. 2 Trust in him for sanctification 3 Trust in him for Mortification of thy Lusts five Scriptures to incourage us 170. 4 Exercise Faith in case of difficulties Ibid. 5 Exercise Faith in case of desertion p. 171. 6 In case of Calamity Nationall or personal p. 172. 3 Branch of the exhortation let us grow up in trust Ibid. Incouragements 1 The more Faith the more in love and favour with God p. 173. 2 The more Faith Grace more love of God more Patience Courage Obedience 3 The more spiritual comfort 4 The more strength to prevail with God Ibid. Means for the begetting of Faith 1 Keep close to Faith-begetting Ordinances 1 Word p. 174. 2 Prayer p. 174 175. 2 Have much to do with Faith-begetting company Faith-begetting Conference p. 175. 3 Cherish Faith-begetting considerations 1 Thoughts of our selves p. 175. 2 Of God cherish especially three thoughts p. 176. Two doubts keep men off from beleeving Ibid. Wee must do as those Lepers 2 King 7.3 4. p. 177. 12 Means for increasing Faith A conclusion p. 178. 179. With the doctrin of Works p. 180 181. The Contents of The slownesse of Heart to believe JOHN 1.50 Jesus answered and said unto him because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these PArts of the Chapter p. 185 186. Parts of the Text. 187. 1 Question arising out of the words p. 187. Answered Ibid. and p. 188. 2 Question for unfoulding of the words answered p. 188. Doctrins from the scope of the Text. 1 Doct. The eyes of Christ run through the world and behold the evil and the good Three Uses made of it p. 189. 2 Doct. Such is the goodnesse of God that hee commends us for that which is his own Two Uses made of this p. 189. Doctrins the Text more fully holds forth First That slownesse of heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive unto God Secondly It is very pleasing unto God when we will beleeve in him upon small Revelation Thirdly God will reveal great things to them who do so beleeve in him The first Doctrin cleared p. 190 191. That we are slow of heart to beleeve demonstrated in five particulars The 1 Greatnesse of that power put forth in the working Faith p. 191 192. 2 The complaints of sinners when they come first to beleeve p. 192 193. 3 Rhetorick work God useth to a poor humbled cast down sinner to bring him to beleeve p. 193. 4 Way God takes to confirm the covenant of mercy to beleevers p. 194. 5 Complaints of the Preacher p. 195. Grounds of the slownesse of heart to beleeve First From Satan who hath two stratagems p. 195 196 197. Secondly From themselves 1 From ignorance p. 197. 2 Pride 3 Too much tendernesse p. 198 199. 4 Doubt of Gods will p. 200. 5 Some rest on this side Christ p. 200 201. 3 Ground why wee are slow of heart to beleeve is taken from others p. 202. 1 Wee look upon their height p. 203. 2 Upon others depths p. 204. 205. 206. Three Reasons why this frame of spirit is so offensive to God 1 It argues and speaks a corrupt heart p. 207. 2 As much as in it lyes it makes void all the stupendious things of God p. 107. in particular 1 The great counsel of God 2 The thoughts of his mercy 3 The purposes of Gods mercy to thee p. 20. 4 Frustrates the expectation of God p. 209. 5 Gods end in sending Christ 6 The death of Christ 7 The promises of God to Christ p. 209. 3 Reason this keeps a man in an unserviceable condition both to God and Man p. 210 211. Use See how Satan doth delude their souls whom hee perswades not to beleeve is a vertue is a thing pleasing unto God p. 212. Reasonings of poor souls why they must not beleeve p. 213. 2 Use of Exhortation to three things 1 To bee convinced of the greatnesse of the sin 1 You wrong God 2 You gratify Satan Satan hath two glasses to discover sin p. 215. Quest How shall I know when God and when Satan discovers sin p. 216. A sinful looking on sin in seven particulars p. 217. 3 You injure your selves in three particulers 2 Be humbled for it p. 219. 3 Be quickned to beleeve p. 219 220. Consider 1 It is Gods command and that is first a sufficient warrant 2 It is sufficient security p. 220. 2 Consider you can do God no greater pleasure than to come in and beleeve in him p. 221. Faith a weapon to be weilded against seven charges of Satan p. 221 222. THE CONTENTS OF HYPOCRISY ISAIAH 58.2 THe World divided into four ranks of men p. 26 Those that are in the pale of the Church ranked in three sorts ibid. Those that are pretenders for Heaven into two sorts of which are the 1 Formal Christian ibid. 2 Upright and sincere Christian ibid. The Text opened ibid. Doct. That it is possible for a man to do much in the wayes of God even to abound in all outward performances and yet bee false at heart and have an unsound spirit here and miss of Heaven hereafter p. 263 The Doctrin proved and cleared by diverse Particulars as The first Particular is 1 Hee may hear the Word p. 265 2 May abound in hearing ibid. 3 May hear with affection ibid. Four kindes of affections that a Formalist may hear with 1 With affection of wonder and astonishment p. 266 2 Affection of fear and trembling ibid. 3 With delight and some kinde of love ibid. 4 With affection of Joy ibid. Secondly A man may not only hope but pray too nay make many Prayers ibid. And hee may joyn fasting to prayer ibid. Thirdly A man may seem to bee humbled to mourn and to weep for sin and yet bee unsound p. 267 There are four sorts of tears ibid. 1 Tears of Anger ibid. 2 Tears of desparation such as are the damned in Hell ibid. 3 Tears of compassion ibid. 4 Tears of Godly-sorrow ibid. Fourthly A man may seem to do much walk in many wayes of duty in outward shew of obedience to the letter of command ibid. Fifthly A man may cast up his vomit disgorge himself of all his old wayes p. 268 Hee may leave sin either 1 Out of fear of evil ibid. 2 Out of a wearinesse of it ibid. 3 Out of love of some contrary sin ibid. 4 Out of want of fit Instruments and means to compass his sin ibid. Sixthly A man may accompany himself with the People of God ibid. Seventhly A man may not only do but suffer too and yet bee unsound ibid. Reasons are 1 Reas Because no unsound spirit hath any thing in it which is essential to a
thus taken with it and given you the grounds and reasons of it I will now descend to application If so bee that the Heart of Jesus Christ be taken with his Church and People Then from hence wee may deduce these Consectaries 1. Consectary 1. This then may bee a ground for us to expect and hence our Faith may bee strengthened in the expectation that Christ will yet do more for his Church and People than yet hee hath done Indeed hee hath done much for our Nation for our English Sion Hee might have ruined us for a Generation of such as provoked him Wee have been a Provocation of his Anger to this day Hee might have suffered our carkasses to have fallen in the Wilderness and kept our posterity to have entered into Canaan Wee have looked toward Egypt toward Babylon Hee might have laid the foundation of purer times in our bloud raised up a purer Church upon the ruines of us But God hath seemed to over-look our great unworthiness And to the terror of our enemies and even to the astonishment and wonder of us all hath begun set forth and gone forward in a way of mercy such wayes as have been untrodden in former times And that which God hath given us in hand is an earnest of what wee have in hope that wee have in possession bids us but look to what wee have in promise And expect the performance of it because God loves the Church the Heart of Christ is taken with the Church Hee loves his Church and therefore hee will purifie his Church aad take away her dross and tinne Hee loves his Church and therefore will hee reform his Church Hee loves his Church and therefore will hee take away whatsoever doth offend all soul-burthens all conscience-burthens which oppress the spirits of his own People 1. The Church is his Fold and hee will destroy the Wolves which have gotten in to devoure the sheep 2. The Church is his Field and hee will weed out the Tares and binde them in bundles to burn them 3. The Church is his House and hee will sweep it 4. It is his Flore and hee will fanne and blow away the chaff That love which made him ingage himself to his Church in precious promises will not suffer him to rest till hee hath made good those promises to it That love which moved him to begin will not suffer him to rest till hee hath made an end You see in Ezek. 37.27 the whole Chapter is but an addition of Mercy to Mercy When God begins to go forth towards a people in a way of mercy hee knows no stop hee can make no end I will do this and also this as you see in that Chapter God adds Mercy to Mercy And the reason is because Free-love begins and that knows no end The proceedings of Gods Mercy towards his Church and People do arise from himself his own Free-Grace His Justice is from us but his Mercy is from himself If when hee threatned to punish Israel hee saith hee will adde Judgement to Judgement This and this also will I do Amos 4.12 How much more then when hee promiseth to shew Mercy to Israel will hee adde Mercy to Mercy God hath Also's of Mercy as well as of Judgement See in Ezek. 37.27 My Tabernacle also shall bee c. Well then Is the Heart of Christ taken with his Church and People Then will wee with confidence beleeve and with patience wait and expect that Christ will yet do more for his Church and People than ever hee hath done because hee loves them Let us but joyn Supplication with Expectation Praying with Waiting and wee shall see it to the joy of our hearts I never read that ever God bestowed any great Mercy and deliverance upon his Church and People but he first stirred up the hearts of his people mightily to pray unto him And never did God mightily stir up the hearts of his People to seek him but hee wrought some great Mercy and deliverance for them God loves to make his People as thankful as they were prayerful As happy Injoyers as they were humble Seekers When Trouble sends us to Prayer then Deliverance shall send us to Praises Let us then joyn our Supplications to our Expectations Times of great Expectations should bee times of Great Supplications whether they bee 1. Expectations of Hope the Object whereof is Good 2. Or Expectations of Fear the Object whereof is Evil. 3. Or Mixed Expectations between Hope and Fear as our times are they are times of Expectation and therefore they ought to bee times of Supplication Wee are now big with Expectation let us now bee mighty in Supplication Great Stones are not to bee turned over without great strength Great Mercies are not to bee gotten without great strivings The Man-child of Deliverance is not to bee brought forth without pangs Let us then bee mighty in Prayer That will make all our present throws and pangs subservient to deliverance And then let us stand still and wait 1. Wait for performance of Promises 2. Wait for performance of Prayers There are many thousand Prayers registred in Gods-book and many thousand Tears put up in Gods-bottle Let us wait when all these shall come down upon our heads in a warm shower of Mercy Wait when the great revenew of Prayers will come in The longer the stay the greater will bee the harvest Wee say great Engines move slowly Magnarum rerum tarda molimina Smal things they are quickly wheeled about but great Mercies they are long in conception long in the womb and long in the birth This is all our comfort God will not bring to the birth and afterward not bring forth nor will hee bring forth and afterward shut the womb again as hee saith Isa 66.9 Hee is Alpha and Omega the Beginner and the Finisher where hee laies the foundation there hee will lay the roof upon it 2. Consectary If the Heart of Christ bee once taken with his Church and People Then hee will never take his heart off from them His heart once taken shall never bee taken off Men may love to day and hate to morrow but God cannot whom hee loves once hee loves to the end even to all eternity As there was nothing in us that was the ground of his planting his love upon us so there is nothing that shall bee able to over-turn the thoughts of his love when once they are fixed on us Indeed our behaviour may bee such as may cause God to bee angry with us and correct us sharply yea and make us to know wee had better never to have tryed conclusions with him But there is nothing shall cause him to hate us and cast us off Hee may correct his Spouse but hee will not divorce her The Israelites were so hard-hearted that for every trivial fact they would put away their Wives But the Lord hates putting away Mal. 2.16 If sin fore-seen were not able to hinder him from planting
shall bee of Christ of his beauties his love c. because Christ is in thy heart What the heart is taken withall the Tongue will discourse on 1. And indeed wee cannot have a fuller Subject to discourse on Other Subjects they are empty subjects quickly barren Talk of what you will you will bee quickly at an end The bottome of other things are quickly sounded But Christ is a full Subject Whatever you fall upon is fulness in Christ An everlasting spring which affordeth fresh supplies of matter New and unconceiveable discoveries do arise afresh to bee matter of supply to all eternity 2. You cannot have a sweeter subject Christ is All-sweet A Rose without prickles A Rose for sweetness without prickles for content And nothing is so but Christ All the things of the world since the fall have been Roses beset with thorns Though there bee many sweets in the World yet they are not all-sweet they are beset with thorns crosses with comforts and afflictions with affections Christ is All-sweet and nothing but sweet Tota pulchra as hee said of his Spouse Thou art all-fair Beauty without spot Sweet without prickles Hee is a Garden full of flowers full of sweets You can light of none but you may lade your thighs and go home satisfied 3. You cannot have a more delightfull subject Christ is the delight of all both in Heaven and Earth Hee is Gods delight his heart is taken with him hee lies in his bosome And his Son in whom hee is wel pleased hee is the delight of the Angels whose delight it is to study Christ and desire to learn and hear further discoveries of Christ by his Church as Peter hath it 1 Pet. 1.12 4. You cannot have a more profitable subject A subject which in conversing upon wee are transformed into his Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 into the glory of him who is the subject of the discourse Have you not been kindled with heavenly fire have not your hearts burned in the converses of him as well as in the converses with him Indeed wee cannot converse of him aright but in some measure wee converse with him Doth it not sometimes fetch up your souls to glory and leave you in Heaven Do you not finde it profitable to quicken you to raise you to comfort you to inflame you to humble you to melt you to transform you Doth not a discourse of his love quicken you when you are dead comfort you when you are dejected raise you when faln humble you when proud inflame you when cold Inlarge you when straitned and pent within your selves Oh! That such worthless subjects should so often take up our Tongues and Thoughts And Christ so full so sweet so delightfull so profitable a subject which shall bee matter for our souls discourse to all Eternity shall bee thrown aside as if not worth taking up You whose hearts are taken with Christ declare it to your own comfort and the good of others In this let your thoughts bee taken up with him let your discourses bee more of him shew your selves to love him by thinking Christ speaking Christ living Christ more 6. Sign An heart taken with Christ thirsts after communion with and nearer conjunction to Christ You know whatever your hearts are taken withall you desire and thirst after communion and converses withall So it is here betwixt Christ and the soul The soul taken with Christ longs to bee with him and thirsts after communion with him 1. In Grace here 2. In Glory hereafter 1. In Grace here Oh! How the soul once taken with Christ desires converses with him in prayer in hearing in meditation Isa 26.8 9. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within mee will I seek thee early And this is the Genius of a soul taken with Christ that duty doth not content him if hee finde not Christ in duty If the end of a duty have left him on this side Christ it hath left him so far short of comfort Others indeed though they do a duty yet as their hearts seek not Christ in the duty so their souls can rest content without him when the duty is done but it is otherwise with a right-born-soul 'T was the speech of Bradford that hee could never leave a duty till hee had found communion with Christ in the duty till hee had brought his heart into a duty-frame Hee could not leave confession till hee had found his heart touched broken and humbled for sin nor Petition till hee had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired and carried out after them nor could hee leave thanksgiving till hee had found his spirit inlarged and his soul quickened in the return of praises And it was the happiness of Bernard a Heaven upon Earth that hee saith of himself I never went from thee without thee Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Coelum extra Coelum Hee found God in every duty hee had communion with God in every prayer which indeed is Heaven on this side Heaven Thus hee whose heart is taken with Christ thirsts after communion with him and no duty contents him wherein hee hath not found either his quickening or his comforting-presence either communion with his Grace or communion with his comfort 2. As hee thirsts after communion with him here in Grace so doth hee desire communion with him in Glory To bee with the Lord as the Apostle Whiles the soul is here it sees the distance too great betwixt Christ and it that shee cannot injoy that sweet communion with him As the Apostle saith Whiles wee are present in the flesh wee are absent from the Lord. And therefore the soul breaths after him desires to bee with him Cupio dissolvi saith the Apostle I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ The like of David Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God When shall I come and appear before God! Hee had tasted the sweetness of Christ and did not fear the bitterness of death Vitam in Patientia mortem in Desiderio Hee had Life in Patience Death in Desire because by death hee should bee carried to more sweet and intimate conjunction with Christ It was the speech of Augustine Lord I will dye that I may injoy thee Eja Domine mortar ut te videam nolo vivere Volo mori I will not live but I will dye I desire to dye that I may see Christ and refuse to live that I may live with Christ And this disposition you see in the Spouse here Her heart being taken with Christ shee could not brook the distance betwixt Christ and her and therefore cryes out Cant. 8.1 Make haste make haste my beloved Though in one sense it is true hee that beleeves makes not haste
yet here hee that beleeves most and loves most makes most haste The more the soul beleeves and the more the heart is taken with Christ the greater are the desires to bee with him Till Simeon had gotten Christ into his armes hee was unwilling to dye but after hee had Christ in his armes Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Indeed here are but the Espousals between Christ and the soul Some Broken-Rings Contracts Espousals betwixt Christ and us But then is the great Marriage-day the Solemnization of our Nuptials to all eternity Here wee do see him but dimly and darkly at the best and there are oftentimes clouds come in and interpose themselves between Christ and us but then wee shall see him face to face and never shall there cloud come between Christ and us to all eternity There wee shall see him in his Glory his full discoveries Here wee injoy him but in part The distance is great betwixt him and us All which distance doth arise from that within us Were it not for sin wee might bee in Glory even in Grace But then wee shall injoy him in fulness Heaven is the place which God hath intended to set forth himself to his People in his Glory to all eternity Where there shall bee no fears no sin never smoak of distrustfull thoughts shall arise more Where there shall bee no sorrow no tears All sighing and sobbing shall pass away and nothing but joy shall keep the house Wee are now the Sons of God But it doth not yet appear what wee shall bee for wee shall see him as hee is 7. Sign A heart taken with Christ thinks nothing too much to do nothing â—â—o much to suffer for Christ You know Love cannot bee posed Wee say there is no difficultie in Love Things impossible to others are easie to them who love And things burthensome to others delightfull to them who love If once thy heart bee taken with Christ thou wilt think nothing too much to do nothing too much to suffer for him As Christ thought nothing too much for us because his heart was taken with us neither shall wee think any thing too much for Christ Wee read how prodigal the Saints have been of their Riches their Blood their Lives for Christ because they loved him 1. They have not accounted their estates too dear for him Heb. 10.34 They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods 2. They have not accounted their lives too dear Rev. 12.11 They loved not their lives to death for him If they must dig in Mines or be cast to bee devoured by Wild-Beasts for Christ as it was the usual sentence of Christians Christiani ad nâ— talla ad Ecstias in the primitive times they were willing to do and suffer it See this in the Virgin of whom Basil speaks who was condemned to death because shee would not worship Idols And the like of old Polycarp and others This is certain A soul taken with Christ knows no difficulty in its love It loves him with an unlimited an uncircumscribed love which no duty no difficulty can pose 8. Sign A heart taken with Christ is exceedingly cast down with the withdrawings and absence of Christ The comforts of the soul are laid up in Christ and when hee is gone all is gone Comfort gone Joy gone the Heart gone with him As Mephibosheth said Take all now my Lord is come back so the soul saith Take all take the World take Riches take Heaven and Glory so far as Heaven and thou are two things That my Lord may return with my soul Datkness is terrible to the soul and this is thick darkness and therefore saith with Absolom let mee see his face mea non prosunt sine te nothing besides thee can either satisfie or profit mee 9. Sign A heart taken with Christ is fully content and satisfied with the injoyments and possession of Christ The possession of the thing beloved doth content the soul so far as there is satisfaction and contentment with it The reason why wee do not meet with full contentments and satisfactions here in the possession or our loves is because they want of fulness But now it is not so with Christ Hee is able to brim the soul to satisfie the spirit to answer all the desires of the heart and therefore the heart taken with him needs must rest satisfied and contented with him Such a gulf of desire is in the soul of men that if God should cast in a thousand worlds there would bee no contentment except Christ bee cast in And Christ is so full contentment that if God bestow him they will neither need nor desire any more And thus much shall serve for the use of tryal wee will now come to an use of Exhortation and conclude this Use of Exhortation 1. To them of his Church 2. To them who are not of the Church 1. To them of his Church Is it so that the heart of Christ is so much taken with his Church and People 1. Direction to them of the Church 1. Walk suitably to this love Dignities and suitable walkings to dignities must go together Now this suitable walking wee will express in these five things 1. Walk chearfully 2. Walk thankfully 3. Walk humbly 4. Walk watchfully 5. Walk obediently 1. Walk chearfully Walk as Heirs of such a Mercy Here is a truth speaks comfort when all the world speaks nothing but terrour 2. Direction to them of the Church 2. Beware of abusing this love Precious things are committed to us by a word of Caution This is a precious Truth and therefore let mee adde to it this word of Caution Beware of abusing this Love of Christ Christs Love are his bowels and hee will never indure to have his bowels injured his love abused You know a man will not have his Love injured the abuse of his power of his wisdome greatness doth not touch a man so nearly as the abuse of his Love This is an injury men cannot indure So to speak after the manner of men Christ can least indure his Love should bee abused There is no abuse like it Therefore beware of it Now this Love of Christ is injured these wayes and beware 1. When wee slight the intreaties reject the tenders cast aside the offers and beseeches of his Love When love stoops to you when the mercy and goodness of Christ doth as it were come on its knees to you and intreats you to do this or not to do that And yet you will stop your ears pull back your shoulder slight the intreaties This is an abuse 2. When the Love of Christ doth slacken our hearts to duty loosen our ingagements makes us more remiss to or in service This is to abuse his Love Wee should reason from Mercy to Duty and not from Mercy to Liberty Abundance of Grace calls in for abundance of Duty The Love of Christ should constrain us as
of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and stay or lean upon his God and Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is staid on thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because hee trusteth in thee which word in the matter of Justification designeth that Act whereby finding and feeling our own weakness as unable to support our selves wee do lean and rest on Christ as David Psal 28.7 The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trusted in him and I am helped c. And to these words in the Old Testament wee may adde those forms of words in the New and so wee shall finde that what in the Old is expressed by some one of these words is in the New expressed by beleeving in and upon To instance in a few We trust in the name of his Holiness saith the Old Testament Psal 33.21 and He that believeth in his name saith the New John 1.12 13. Trust in the Lord with thy whole heart saith the Old Prov. 3.5 If thou believest with thy whole heart saith the New Acts 8.34 37. In thee O Lord have I trusted let me not be confounded saith the Old Psal 31.1 25.2 and He that believeth on him shall not be ashamed saith the New Rom. 10.11 So that you see that to Trust and to Believe are Synonima import the same things though they differ in name yet not in nature He that Trusteth Believeth and he that Believeth Trusteth In which sense we have the phrases of believing in or upon 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded Where by believing on him cannot be meant any thing but a laying and building our selves upon Christ as the foundation that we may be made a spiritual house as you have it in Verse 4 5. the like we have Rom. 10.10.11 He that believeth on him and so 2 Tim. 1.12 For I know in whom I have believed c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence it is apparent that to believe in God is as much as to commit our selves to his trust for so it there followeth I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him or deposited with him or delivered up unto his keeping to that day that is his soul to everlasting life So that we see that to believe in Christ is with confidence and trust to rely upon him And thus much for the formal act of faith 2. For the formal object of faith and that not of faith at large for so the word of God is the objectum adaequatum of it but as it is particularly justifying faith quatenus justificat as it properly justifieth which is not the believing of every truth of God but that onely which by way of eminency is called The Truth that is Christ himself with all his merits John 14.6 and so here in the Text He that believeth in him Hence justifying faith is often called the Faith of Christ because he is the proper object of it Rom. 3 22 26. Gal. 2.16.20 And faith in Christ Acts 20.21 and Faith in the blood of Christ Whence I thus argue That Object to the Belief of which justification and salvation is promised that is the Object of justifying faith But to believe in Christ is Justification and Salvation promised Therefore Christ is the object of justifying faith Thus as briefly as I could having shewed what is the formal both act and object of justifying faith I shall now lay down this one Conclusion Doct. That the great thing which is required at our hands for Justification and Salvation is beleeving in Christ Hee that beleeves shall bee saved In the prosecution of this wee will shew 1 What Faith is 2 That Faith is the great requisite 3 Why God hath made choice of this to bee the instrument of Justification 4 How Faith doth justifie whether formally or instrumentally 5 What bee the Royalties of Faith 1 What Faith is For the first What Faith is Wee will not define the habit of Faith but the Act of Faith nor every Act but that only which justifieth Now according to the diversity of opinions herein such is the diversity of Definitions They who hold the Assent to bee the Act of Justifying Faith define it to bee a firm and willing Assent to the truth of God in generall and to this truth in particular that Christ is the Messiah and Saviour of the World They who hold it to bee a receiving of Christ define it to bee such an Act as whereby wee receive Christ in all his offices But not to trouble you with these That which I will give you is this Definition Faith is an Act of a regenerate person whereby knowing and assenting unto the Promises of God and to this Truth in particular that Christ is the Messiah or Saviour of the World doth rest upon him for Justification Sanctification and consequently for Salvation Now to explain this Definition 1 I say that Faith is an Act for wee speak not of Faith in actu primo as an habit infused and implanted in us but in actu secundo as an Act whereby wee are justified for wee are not justified by Faith as an habit or as a grace inherent in us but as I said by Faith as an Act as it goeth over to Christ as wee see here the Promise is not made to the Habit but to the Act of Faith Hee that beleeveth c. That is the first I call it an Act 2 The subject person so it is said to bee an Act of a regenerate person a man universally sanctified regenerated and born again for take Faith which way you please for the Act or for the Habit neither of them are before Regeneration 1 The Act of Faith that is not before the Habit of Faith a thing must bee in esse before it can bee in operari there must bee a Habit of Faith within before there can bee the exercise of Faith without 2 And this Habit of Faith is not infused before other graces it being part of our inherent Sanctification as infidelity is a part of our corruption nor is it again infused alone but together with the rest of the graces of Gods Spirit by which wee are regenerated So that Faith is an Act of a regenerated soul A man cannot beleeve till his understanding bee enlightened and his will changed and this is not before Grace Again to beleeve is an Act of a living man not of a soul dead in sin and therefore the soul must first bee indued with the life of Grace before it can perform this living action Indeed we are said to be sanctified by Faith and so it might seem that our Sanctification were a fruit of Faith an effect of Faith but wee are not to understand this as meant of the first work of Sanctification which is not acquired or put forth
by us but infused by God together with Faith as being a part of it But it is meant of the second or further work of Sanctification and so Faith sanctifieth us as it lends a hand to help forward and to perfect our Sanctification for so Faith doth strengthen and increase Grace in us by drawing down strength and life from Christ daily and in this sense as to their bene or melius esse all our graces have a kind of dependance upon Faith as a Mediatory grace as I may say as our Mediatour to our Mediatour in fetching down influence and strength for the strengthening and increasing of grace in us And therefore by the way it may bee a good Admonition to you when you finde any weakness in your love patience or in any other grace still to strengthen and increase Faith whereby you may draw down from Christ strength to all the rest 3 The third thing in the definition expresseth what this formall act is and here wee have 1 The essentiale Antecedens 2 The essentiale constituens 1 The essentiale Antecedens essentially pre-requisite to the justifying Act and this is knowing and assenting which two I might separate for the better discovery of our adversaries error in their implicit Faith who hold that it is sufficient for some only to beleeve as the Church beleeveth although they know not themselves any thing that they beleeve to maintain which blind Faith they say that Justifying Faith may bee without knowledge nay that it were better to bee defined by ignorance than by knowledge But wee must not stand to answer every thing that commeth in the way for so wee should stay long enough at the threshold I will therefore joyn these two both together as essentially pre-requisite whereby wee know and assent to our own miserable estate the freeness of God promise and grace which hee hath tendred to the soul in Christ both essentiall Antecedents to justification of which some expound that John 6.40 every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him shal have everlasting life Where by seeing they say is meant Christum praedicatum videre agnoscere pro filio Dei to see and acknowledge Christ the Son of God and Saviour of the World and indeed this must go before It is gradus ad rem though not gradus in re it is a pre-requisite or preparatory to justifying Faith but it is not justifying Faith as in the Generation of a man the sensitive soul goeth before and prepareth a fit organ for the infusion of the reasonable soul and yet not the sensitive but the reasonable soul doth inform so in the reparation of man hystorical faith doth precede and make way for the inducement of justifyâ—ng Faith and yet not the former but this doth justifie as Calvin saith a Vulgar knowledge and assent to truth doth joyn a man no more to God than the sight of the Sun doth lift a man to Heaven Otherwise did this hystoricall assent justyfie then it as well as Justification should be proper only to the Elect so Justification is Rom. 8.30 but so is not an hystorical assent for that Simon Magus had and other Reprobates may have 2 Essentiale constituens or that formal Act whereby wee are justified and that is rowling or resting our selves upon Christ or trusting on him for they are Synonimaes expressing the same thing in diverse words And that this is the formal Act of justifying Faith I refer my self and you to what in this kinde was said before I here only say that that which is imputed for Righteousness and by which wee are justified that is the true and formall Act of justifying Faith But such a kind of beleeving is imputed for Righteousness and is that by which wee are justified so saith the Apostle Rom. 4.5 to him who beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is imputed to him for Righteousness and Rom. 10.10 11. with the heart man beleeveth unto Righteousness and in the next verse hee Interpreteth that beleeving by beleeving on him for the Scripture saith whosoever beleeveth on him c. And therefore wee conclude so to beleeve is the justifying Act of Faith 4 The fourth thing in the Definition is the fruit which cometh in or the end of this Act and that is 1 Next and immediate Justification and pardon of sin 2 Mediate Sanctification and growth in grace 3 Ultimate The Perfection of all in Glorification But here some may object Object 1. First there are many who do trust and yet are not justified many who profess that they do this act but yet live in their sins as Balaam c. Therefore this is not the justifying Act. Ans I answer That although every one say hee trusteth yet every one doth not truly trust for there is a double affiance or trust The one is a slight and superficial affiance grounded upon no other foundation than a great apprehension that it is good to bee saved by Christ but yet so as neither to leave their old course or imbrace a new The other is a setled and grounded affiance and so qualified as that it is not to bee found in any not truly justified if it bee I shall yield the cause 1. It is a holy Trust Jude v. 20. Build up one another in your holy faith not as though holiness were required as an ingredient into faith in the act of Justification or giving us our first interest in Christ but this I mean by a holy trust that it is such a trust as is accompanied with holiness in the root and brings forth works of holiness in the fruit such a faith as is accompanied with holiness in the heart and declared in the holiness of our lives For although it be fides sola faith alone which justifieth and gives us the first interest in Christ yet it is not fides quae sola solitaria it is not a faith which is alone but such a faith as is accompanied with holiness in the root the graces of Gods Spirit and holiness in the life The faith which doth justifie us is not in formis but formata not a dead faith but animated and quickned with grace and holiness the whole man being sanctified 2. It must be an unfeigned Trust 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 There is a counterfeit and hypocritical Trust such as never comes to God from love but for shelter in a storm Psal 78.34 35 36. When he slew them then they sought him and yet did but flatter c. Or such a faith it is that closeth not fully with Christ in all his Offices They are content to have him as a Saviour but not for a Lord the priviledges and dignities that come in by Christ they are willing to own but not the duties and services which he requires They will commit themselves to Christ to save when in trouble then Lord help but to the Devil to serve Who is Lord over us Whereas now a true faith
had except he do historically believe as Simon Magus and others did who did not feign a Faith in words as Calvin saith but being overcome with the Majestie of the Gospel did in a sort sc historically believe and acknowledge Christ the Author of Life and Salvation Nay and if man did not Historically believe then all the sins committed against the Gospel were only sins of Ignorance and not against Knowledge So that there were no sins in the Gospel against Knowledge Nor Now neither if this bee granted And therefore as their Non-Receiving of him was not so much an Act of the Understanding whereby they Assented not to this That CHRIST was the Messiah But rather an Act of the VVill whereby they refused him to bee their Saviour As you see plainly exprest by CHRIST Luk. 19.14 wee will not have this man to reign over us So Mat. 23.37 So that their Receiving of him was not a bare Act of the Understanding whereby they Assented to this That CHRIST was the Saviour But an act of the VVill whereby they chose him embraced him rested and trusted upon him as a Saviour And therefore seeing this Act of Receiving of CHRIST is not an act of the Understanding but an act of the VVill imbracing him trusting on him And that this Receiving is Beleeving as the Evangelist saith Therefore To beleeve is to trust To the other places Isa 53.11 John 17.3 where Faith seems to bee an act of the Understanding As By his Knowledge shall hee justifie many And This is eternal life To know thee c. Wee are to understand them Senechdochically where part is set down for the whole The whole nature of Faith being implied in those Phrases These Phrases are Hebraismes In which language words of Knowledge and Sense do imply the Will and Affections They do not only signifie the Act of the mind and Sense but imply the Will and affections too As you see Psal 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous That is The Lord loveth The Lord approveth of the way of the Righteous So where it is said Depart from mee I know you not That is I love you not I allow not of you I approve you not And so may that place in Isa 53.11 bee interpreted Non solum agnitionem Personae beneficiorum Christi significat sed etiam Fiduciam quiescentem in Christi It doth not only signifie the knowledge of the person and benefits of Christ but resting and trusting upon them Such a Knowledge of Christ as is mingled with Faith and works our Wills to accept of CHRIST to trust in him CHRIST being So known as to bee Embraced Rested upon Trusted upon shall justifie many Hee speaks of such a Knowledge of CHRIST as is joyned with Faith And to the Testimony of the Fathers alledged As wee will not Resolve our Faith into the Authority of any though never so eminent in the Church So No Authority shall bear us down in this matter if it bee not Consentaneous and Agreeable to the Word of Truth It is no matter what others have taught before us Nil refert quid hic aut ille ante nos docuerit sed quid is qui ante omnes est CHRISTUS Ciprian but what CHRIST himself who was before all hath taught who is Truth himself So that seeing this is not manifested I might refel them with the same ease as they are alledged But seeing Authority is stood upon And I reverence Authority when it is with God And that Authority doth make Faith nothing but An Act of the Understanding whereby wee assent Wee will in the same way overthrow that by setting Authority against Authority Weight against Weight That if nothing will bee said for us so nothing may bee said against us One may balance the other if not weigh it down Now that it is An Act of the Will also let us hear Augustine Fides sine Voluntate non potest esse Et Fides in Credentium Voluntate consistit Faith lyes in the Will Again Voluntate utique credimus Verily wee beleeve with the Will Credere non potest nisi Volens August upon John 6.44 God makes a man willing before hee can beleeve A man may receive the Sacrament against his Will pray against his Will But hee cannot beleeve against his Will said Augustine Another It were not Vertuous to beleeve if it were not voluntary Ipsum velle credere est essentiale Fidei To beleeve willingly is essential to Faith Another upon Rom. 10. With the heart man beleeves upon which hee saith Signantèr dicit Corde creditur id est Voluntate Hee saith remarkably man beleeves with the heart that is with the Will To these I might alledge many more But these shall suffice By which you see That Authority is more for us than against us But leaving the Contestation wee will come to the Issue and conclude this And To speak what I think I conceive that to beleeve is not an Act of the Will only Nor an Act of the Understanding only But An Act of the whole Soul It is so an Act of the Will as the Understanding is folded up in it and so an Act of the Understanding as that the Will and Affections are joyned with it Hence by some it 's call'd Actus Complicatus An Act wherein many Acts are folded up An Act of the Understanding An Act of the Will And ' its not Absurd to mee but very fit to say That That Act whereby the whole Soul is justified pardoned purified is an Act of the whole Soul As the Apostle saith With the Heart man beleeveth to Righteousness So that In Intellectu habet Initium In Voluntate Complementum It begins in the Understanding It is compleat in the Will and Affections All that I know of moment against this will bee this That wee shall seat Faith in diverse faculties which is improper Now for the Answer or removing this wee say 1 That Distinction of Faculties is a Philosophical Opinion and not received by all So that the Will and the Understanding are two distinct Faculties is an Opinion not received by all Many there are that make them more Notional than Real As the East West North and South in the Heavens Not that there are such things but that such things are feigned for our clearer Understanding It is thought by many of good worth that Anima intelligit in intellectu Eligit in Voluntate c. That there 's no such distinction of Faculties But that the same Soul doth Understand in the Understanding VVill in the VVill Doth Understand VVill Love and do all And there 's Scripture for it where wee read all these Acts attributed to the Soul it self As namely an Understanding Heart A willing mind c. And therefore seeing it is a bare Philosophical Opinion and not received by All This will not overthrow nor strengthen any Divine Truths 2 Though this were true That there were distinction of
Person 2. The Conveniency This is fully made out in the necessity of it and that with an advantage there is such a conveniency as that it riseth up to a necessity in all the former particulars so that to an holy heart there is a moral impossibility of the contrary How can I do this great wickednesse and sin against God said Joseph Gen. 39.9 This is the first way of Faiths purifying the Heart Argumentativè or by way of Argument 2. Operativè As Faith doth operate and work for the cleansing of our nature making use of Christ who is called A Fountain Zach. 13.1 A Refiner Mal. 3.3 A Purger Joh. 15.2 Hee is said to come with Refiners fire with Fullers Sope to purge and purifie us And thus Faith makes use of Christ by the least touch of whom the sinfull flux of sin is dryed up and staid And Faith makes use 1. Of the Merit of Christ the Blood of Christ which is apt to purge us and cleanse us from sin And for this end was his Blood shed even to cleanse us from sin Tit. 2.14 Hee gave himself not only to bee a Redeemer to redeem us from Hell and the guilt of sin but to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Ephes 5.26 27. Hee gave himself for us that hee might sanctifie us and cleanse us by the washing of Water through the Word So Faith makes use of this Fountain to wash and cleanse the soul it opens this Fountain to the washing of the soul 2. It makes use of the Prayer of Christ John 17.17 Sanctifie them through the Truth thy Word is Truth 3. Faith makes use of the Promise of Christ wherein his Fidelity and Truth is ingaged for our Purification Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against mee Ezek. 33.25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall bee clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you Isa 4.4 The Lord shall wash away the filth of the Daughter of Zion and purge away the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof Hence they are called Purging-Promises Thus Faith makes use of Christ of the Merit of Christ of the Blood of Christ of the Prayer and Promise of Christ whereby it sets on the work of Self-cleansing whereby it purifies the soul By vertue of which it washes the soul from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Third Royalty Faith is a Heart-commanding Grace Christs Vice-Roy here in the Soul which Governs Rules Third Royalty Faith It s an Heart-commanding-Grace and bears sway in the soul by vertue of the power and Scepter of Christ Christ hath made Faith his Deputy here in the Soul and not any other Grace but Faith Hee knows Faith will rule by Christ by his power not its own So Rule as not to wrest the Scepter out of Christs hand It will rule for Christ and to Christ for his Glory and to his Glory not its own and therefore hee hath given Faith jurisdiction in the Soul So that it is a Soul-commanding Grace It is the Taskmaster of the Soul puts every Grace upon its work and burden It will not suffer any Grace to bee idle but puts every Grace to its work Nay it inableth the Soul to Doe what it Commands the Soul to Doe To every Precept wee have still a Promise Nay every Precept is a Promise Where God Commands us to Repent and Beleeve to make our selves new hearts to wash and cleanse our selves to circumcise our hearts Hee hath promised in his new Covenant to do what hee hath commanded to give us Faith to work Repentance in us to make us new hearts to circumcise the heart to wash and cleanse us from our filthiness And Faith urging the Precepts of God makes use of the Promises of God sues out the Promise and fetches strength from the Promise to perform the Precept Lord thou hast commanded mee to make mee a new heart and thou hast promised to take this stony heart from mee and to give mee an heart of Flesh Lord performe thy Promise to thy Servant in which thou madest mee put my trust Thou commandest mee to bee Holy and thou hast promised to make mee holy Thou art the Lord that Sanctifies Lord make mee Holy Da quod jubes jube quod vis sic enim implebitur voluntas tua obedientia nostra give what thou commandest and command what thou wilt and so both our obedience and thy Will shall bee fulfilled Thus you see as God so Faith ruling by God from God doth not only authoritatively impose commands and lay duties upon the soul but mercifully and friendly helps and inables the soul to do what is commanded It is not a Rigid-Master Reaping where it sows not commanding fruit from that ground whereon it sows no seed but sows strength to reap Obedience inables to do what is commanded to do It is said by Faith Abraham obeyed Faith did inable him to obey and made his obedience fruitfull and acceptable Faith inabled him to obey even in that great act of Obedience when his Son his only Son the Son of his Love the Son of the Promise the Son of his Old Age c. was to bee taken away by death killed murdered and that by his own hands c. And yet Faith inabled him hereunto Fourth Royalty Faith is an Heart-quieting Grace an Heart-calming and stilling-Grace It is a Grace thay layes all the tumults in the Soul all the insurrections in the Soul Fourth Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-quieting-Grace When Passions are up and unruly Affections do stir Faith doth allay and hush them When Passions of Fear are up Faith laies them will not suffer unruly fears to come into the Throne to command the Soul When Passions of Anger are up Faith doth quench their heat when Grief stirs Faith doth bridle and moderate this when Discontent is up and the Soul is ready to murmur and quarrel against God and his dealings Faith doth lay all these risings Faith hath a special art to still the Soul to strike it dumb in these cases Hence you see David I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it was thy doing Faith struck him dumb Wee read indeed Zacharie was dumb but Infidelity struck him dumb David saith here hee was dumb but Faith struck him dumb The former was a Penal-dumbness God silenced his Tongue because hee suspended his Faith But this latter was a dutiful-Dumbness such a Dumbness as Faith hath caused in the Soul which shut up his lips from murmuring not from praying Psal 39.9 hee praies there I was dumb and opened not my mouth and yet Take thy Plague from mee I am consumed by the stroke of thy hand c. The like power of Faith you see in the case of Aaron when it silenced his Soul in such a sad condition Levit. 10.3 4. And Moses said unto him This
bitter Cup of wrath that wee might have the draught of Mercy Hee was slain But not for himself saith Daniel But wounded for our transgressions broken for our iniquities The Chastisement of our peace was upon him Faith looks upon these his sufferings as the meriting causes of our good 3. The Considerations of his sufferings as effects of sin as the effects of our sin as that which our sins have brought upon him Which Consideration must needs effect and break our hearts When the soul shall look upon Christ and say It was I that have been the murderer I that have been the Traitor my sins which brought all this evil on thee I sind and thou sufferedst It was I that did eat the soue Grape and thy teeth were set en edge My sins were thy death yet by thy death thou brought'st the sinner life I have wounded thee yet thou hast healed mee even out of that wound which my sins have made hast thou sent out a Plaisâ—er even thy Blood for my sins Oh! This must needs fill the heart with sorrow Faith still looks upon an Humbled Christ with an Humbled Heart upon a Broken Christ with a Broken Heart upon a Bleeding Christ with a Bleeding Heart upon a Wounded Christ with a Wounded Heart Hence Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have peirced And how shall that sight affect them It follows They shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and lament for him as one lamenteth for his first born In that day there shall bee a great mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Vallie of Megiddon God made the same Organ for seeing and for weeping And the soul that sees well weeps well Never soul that did by the Eye of Faith look upon this Son of Righteousness but their frozen hearts did melt within them Would you ever bee mourning men and Women for sin would you bee in bitterness as one is in bitterness for his first born Oh! Steep your thoughts in the blood of the Lamb Dwell a little on Christ crucified Look wistly upon Christ by Faith and this will solvere Gelicidium melt and thaw our frozen hearts turn us from stones into flesh Eight Royalty 8. Christ is an Heart-transforming-Grace 8 Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-transforming-Grace Such a Grace as doth transform the Soul into the nature of the Object Faith is as powerful in this spiritual conception to work in us the image of the Object seen as Fantasy is oftentimes in the natural conception The Poets tell us of some that did transform such as beheld them into stones such a power there was in the Object the thing beheld as to transform say they But here it is true If by Faith wee cast our Eyes upon Christ of stones wee shall bee turned into men of sinners into Saints of a hard heart to a soft and fleshly of Children of Satan to the Sons and Daughters of God Joh. 1.12 As many as beleeved on him to them hee gave power to bee the Sons of God Sons not born of the flesh or the will of the flesh but of God who begets like himself As that which is born of flesh is flesh So that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Hence wee are said to bee made partakers of the Divine Nature To bee transformed into the image and likeness of God To bee Holy as Hee is Holy Pure as Hee is Pure To bee as hee is in this World Never soul that looked on him by Faith but came away with another heart They looked to him and were enlightened saith the Psalmist Psal 34.5 But plainly you shall read the Transforming Power of Faith 2 Cor. 3.18 Whiles beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord wee are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory Such a Glass hee is that never did the Eye of Faith behold him but the Soul was changed with the sight from a Wolf into a Lamb from a sinner into a Saint from Darkness to Light You were once Darkness now are you Light in the Lord. It turns a man upside down wholly transforms him Indeed there is no change of the substance of soul and body nor of the faculties of soul and body but the qualities of the faculties are cleer changed The Head is transformed where before was darkness now there 's Light where before it did judge highly of carnal things and low esteemed spiritual it doth now the quite contrary The Will is transformed where before it was full of obstinacy and stoutness contradiction and rebellion now there is pliableness to good and conformity between Gods Will and his They are not two but one Will. Gods Amen is his Amen Gods Fiat his Fiat Gods Will his will So the Heart that is transformed whereas before it was nothing but a noisome sink of sin nothing but a Cage of unclean birds the womb of sin a seminary of lust Now it is washed purged purified sanctified made a fit Receptacle for Christ an Habitation for God by his Spirit Thus you see Faith is an Heart-transforming-Grace Wee cry and say Oh! If I had another heart I could beleeve If my heart were more holy more sanctified why the way to get another heart is to beleeve do but beleeve and you shall see another heart come into you another Spirit another Soul Do but look upon Christ and you shall bee transformed It is such a look as sends a man away with another heart As the Wise men It is said After they had seen Christ beheld Christ they went home another way So when by Faith wee have seen Christ it sends the Soul another way with another spirit with other Principles with other Resolutions There is this Power of Faith to transform the Soul into the nature of the Object beleeved Belief of the Promises breeds Principles in the Heart suitable to the Promises Belief in Christ breeds a Spirit suitable to Christ As Faith Belief in God a Father breeds Principles of Love Fear Reverence and Obedience in the Soul such things as are agreeable So the belief in Christ a Saviour breeds Principles of Trust of Love of Desire with the like Ninth Royalty 9 Faith is an heart-pacifying Grace 9 Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-pacifying-Grace Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staied on thee because hee trusteth in thee A place alledged by One who lying on his death-bed and injoying abundance of peace and calmness of spirit being demanded how it came to pass hee was not now assaulted with Satan replyed Hee knew no ground no cause save this God had promised To keep that soul in perfect Peace whose mind was staied on him who trusteth on him Hee relyed on Christ and therefore injoyed rest Isa 27.5 Let him take hold of my strength That is by Faith lay hold on my Covenant my Christ and I will bee at peace with him Hence the Apostle Rom. 5.1
Being justified by Faith wee have Peace with God Rom. 15.13 Now the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace in beleeving An unbeleeving-unbeleeving-heart is a stormy heart an unpeaceable-heart All things Above us Within us Quae supra nos Intra nos Infra nos Contra nos Below us are all against us whilst wee are Unbeleevers 1. Above us wee have an angry and displeased God 2. Within us wee have a stormy and troublesome Conscience threatning nothing but death like the troubled Sea casting up mire and dirt as Isaiah speaks Isa 57.20 There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked 3 Below us we have there all the Creatures our enemies ready upon Gods commission to execute his displeasure upon us But now being Beleevers all is at Peace 1. All above us is at Peace The Controversy betwixt God and us is ended Faith takes up the quarrel betwixt God and us Wee have Peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. All within us is at Peace A peaceable God makes all at Peace Tranquillus Deus Tranquillat omnia when once our Peace is made in the Court of Heaven which is upon the first act of beleeving Then follows Peace in the Court of Conscience Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Our rest is to behold God at rest our Peace is to see him at Peace Eum quierem aspicere Quâ—â— esceâ—e est 3. All below us are at Peace with us Wee have Peace with all the Creatures All are now our Friends Job 5.23 The stones of the Field shall bee at league with thee the Beasts of the Field shall bee at peace with thee c. Thou shalt know that Peace shall bee in thy Tabernacle Prov. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the Lord hee will make his enemies to bee at peace with him When before upon our Rebellion with God all the Creatures were our enemies now being reconciled all are made friends 1. Faith makes us the Servants to the God of Peace in whose service there is Peace Prov. 3.17 All his Paths are Peace Every step of Godliness hath Peace with it And the reward of whose service shall bee Peace Psal 29.11 The Lord will bless his people with Peace Psal 85.8 The Lord will speak Peace to his people at the last though they meet with much trouble for the present war within and war without war with lusts war with Satan yet the God of Peace shall tread down Satan under our feet at last and put an end to this war Rom. 16.20 They shall have a Peace in the Conclusion And a Peace after war is the surest and most setledst Peace Psal 37.37 Mark the upright man The end of that man is Peace Though there bee stormes and troubles in the way yet the end of the journey that shall bee Peace A calm after stormes and never shall there arise storme more to all Eternity 2. Faith makes us subjects to the Prince of Peace unto Christ who is called our Peace Ephes 2.14 And our Peace hee is 1. Not only meritoriously by shedding his Blood for the purchase of our Peace Col. 1.20 Christ is our Peace having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross So Isa 53. The chastisement of our Peace was upon him Or that chastisement which did meritoriously procure our Peace was upon him God directed all the war against him that wee might have Peace As Jonah was thrown into the Sea that the storm might cease so Christ upon the Cross into the Grave that God and wee might bee at peace together But Christ is not only our Peace thus meritoriously by procuring Peace for us But also â— Efficiently by working of Peace in us Christ hath not only wrought Peace for us but hee works Peace in us Pacifying our Consciences calming our stormy spirits setling and establishing his Peace in us Christ is called the Prince of Peace as the King is the Fountain of Honours and bestows them where hee will so Christ is of Peace and bestows it when and where hee pleaseth Wee read that Moses was a man of Peace but hee was not a Prince of Peace Hee could not bestow Peace hee could not instill peaceable and calm affections into the mutinous Israelites But Christ hee is not a man of Peace but King of Salem Prince of Peace who is able to bestow Peace who can calm the most stormy and troublesome spirits with as much ease as hee did the Winds and Waters which was but with a word Peace and bee still Now Faith makes us one with Christ who is the Prince of Peace Christ joyned God and us together and Faith joynes Christ and us together in whom wee have Peace John 16 33. â— In mee yee shall have Peace Faith makes us subjects to this Prince of Peace whose Kingdome and reign over his people doth not consist in meat and drink but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost 3. Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace and therefore being Beleevers wee must needs have Peace I say Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace the Gospel of Peace the alone condition whereof is beleeving Whosoever beleeveth shall bee saved Time was that Hoc age do this was the condition of life do this and live So ran the old Covenant But now Crede Beleeve and bee saved The Law required works It 's called a Covenant of Works but the Gospel Faith It s a Covenant of Grace Made out of meer Grace and performed of meer Grace wherein God promiseth pardon of sins upon meer Mercy and Grace 4. Faith doth instate us into the conditions of Peace Faith gives us the grounds of Peace Justification Reconciliation with God pardon of sin and Sanctification of the whole man As there is no Peace where God is not propitious so there 's no Peace where the sinner is not sanctified A Beleeving heart is an holy heart and an holy heart is a peaceable heart Grace and Peace and Righteousnesse and Peace are still coupled together To shew that where there is no Grace there is no Peace and where there is Grace there is Peace though not ever in the Possession Gratia est bonum initiale Pax est bonum finale and sensible injoyment yet ever in the hope and assurance of the promise of Peace Grace is the root and Peace is the fruit A good Conscience is a continual Feast They who do the work of God shall have the Peace of God Gal. 6. They who walk according to this Rule Peace shall bee on them c. Hence the Psalmist Psal 119 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law They which love the Law of God shall have the Peace of God Object But you will say Many have Peace who yet are not Beleevers Object And many are Beleevers and yet want Peace Therefore Peace is not a Fruit of Faith Ans Now to meet and to resist this Objection Answ which like a two-edged-sword
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. These fourscore and six years I have served Christ and hee hath never hurt mee all this time and how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour The like of Cyprian who being desired to consult with himself before hee should suffer Fac quod tibi praeceptum est replies Do your office In so just a thing as this there needs no Consultation The like of that rich Virgin which Basil speak of who being condemned to the fire was offered her life and estate if she would renounce her Faith shee returns Valeat vita pereat pecunia c. Let my mony perish my life cannot and though I lose this life I shall have a more enduring a more abiding a more abounding life in Christ To these many more might bee added to shew how Faith doth furnish the Soul with suffering Resolutions as that of Chrysostome who said if you take away my goods c. 3. Faith begets suffering graces courage magnanimity patience humility self-denyal contempt of the World high prizing of God It sets God above all the comforts and contentments in Heaven and Earth It gives adherence to the Truth by which the Soul is inabled to undergo any thing 4. It laies in suffering-strength strength from God strength from the Promise which saith When thou passest through the water it shall not overflow thee when thou passest through the fire it shall not kindle upon thee c. Isa 43.2 It fetcheth strength from Christ who like Simon of Cyrene helps to bear part of every Cross Thus Faith goes out of it self stands upon anothers bottome leans upon anothers power rests upon anothers strength whereby the Soul is inabled to go thorow any thing All this is conveyed by this Instrument of Faith 5. It propounds to the Soul suffering rewards That For these light afflictions which are but for a moment wee shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory That for the loss of temporals wee shall gain eternals That If wee suffer with Christ wee shall reign with Christ. That No man shall lose Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands or Houses or Brethren or Sisters for his Names sake but hee shall receive an hundred fold more here and shall inherit everlasting life Matth. 19.29 God will bee all this to thee Nay God will bee more than all this to thee More than Riches more than Friends more than Life it self unto thee All which considerations do exceedingly inable the Soul to undergo sufferings and tryals Eleventh Royalty 11. Faith is an Heart-in-nobling-Grace That which sets one man above another 11. Royalty of Faith It s a Soul-in-nobling-Grace That which doth raise up and exalt one man above another in Gods esteem is Faith that which doth put a difference between man and man is Faith or nothing Acts. 15.9 1. Faith is such a Grace as sets us above others our Persons above others A Grace which makes us Kings and Priests unto God which raises us and sets us out of the croud They are noble whom God doth in-noble honourable whom God doth honour God is the King of Kings the Fountain of all Honour who can exalt whom hee pleaseth and throw down whom hee pleaseth who can in-noble whom hee pleaseth and abase whom hee will And this honour have all his Saints This hath God thrown upon the poorest Beleever hee hath made him a King and a Priest Rev. 1.6 1 Pet. 2.5.9 2. Faith sets our performances above others Our prayers our duties our obedience Faith raises them above others Heb. 11.4 By Faith Abel offered to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain Cain offered Sacrifice as well as Abel but Faith put the difference betwixt them By Faith hee offered a more excellent a more noble Sacrifice than Cain Faith puts a difference betwixt the works of Christians and the works of Heathens Though there were no difference for the matter yet Faith puts a vast difference for the manner Faith puts a difference betwixt the Abba-Fathers of a Childe of a Saint and the Ave-Maries of a superstitious Papist betwixt the Prayers of a Saint and the Devotions of a sinner betwixt the cryes of a Saint and the howlings of an Hypocrite But to return Faith is an Heart-in-nobling-Grace 1. It begets in us Soul-in-nobling-Principles Principles like our selves It is such a Grace as doth sublimate a man begets high glorious and heavenly Principles in the soul By this wee are made partakers of the divine nature It is an Heart-spiritualizing-Grace Whereas Unbeleef doth sensuallize a man beasts a man as Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.20.21 Hence wee read An Unbeleeving heart is called a gross heart make their heart gross so Faith doth raise up a man spiritualizes a man A Beleeving heart is a fine heart a spiritual heart It refines the soul Faith doth raise up a man as high above reason as reason doth raise a man above meer sense It sets a man as high above a man as Reason doth a man above a Beast Faith is the Spirit of Grace Not only a spiritual Grace but the Spirit of all our spiritual Graces It hath nothing but spirituality in it and hath to do with nothing but spiritual things with God with Christ with Heaven with Justification pardon of sin All which are spiritual things far above sense nay and Reason too their objects reach not so high which things though they bee Real and none more Real yet they are spiritually Real not sensually Real to Faith not to sense nor to Reason neither And therefore unbeleeving men do esteem these things either meer-nothings or they are next door to nothing in their thoughts Imaginary things Notiones secundae which have no foundation in Being no existence in the World 2. Faith doth implant us into Soul-in-nobling-Relations 1 It makes us Servants to the great God of Heaven and Earth who though it were Hyperbollically said of Tyrus Merchants yet may it truly bee said of God makes all his servants Kings Gods service is an honourable a noble service Nay it makes us not only Servants but 2. It makes us friends of God Abraham a Beleever was call'd Gods Friend nay not only Friends but 3. It makes us Sons and Daughters of God Gal. 3.26 You are the Children of God by Faith Wee may glory in our Pedegree A Beleever is best born nobly born Jam. 1.18 Of his own Will begat hee us by the Word of Truth Joh. 1.13 Born of God Nay 4. It makes us the Spouse of Christ who is such as Husband as doth en-noble his Wife Wee know among men The Wife is honoured with her Husbands honour The Lawyers have a speech Mulier fulget Radiis Mariti The Wife shines with the Husbands Rayes shee shines with his brightness If hee bee honourable whatever shee was before yet now shee cannot bee base If hee bee noble shee cannot bee ignoble because hee confers and throws all his honours upon his Wife So here by Faith being
is a Soul-inriching-Grace It gives a man not only Title and interest into a Soul-inriching-God a Soul-inriching-Christ a Soul-inriching-Treasure but gives the soul the possession and injoymnet of all this By Faith wee possess God injoy God and by no other way but by Faith in Christ Though Faith be poor in it self the poorest Grace of all as having nothing of its own such a Grace as lives all upon anothers stock is fed with anothers food rich by anothers riches as the Apostle said of himself Hee was poor yet making many rich having nothing yet possessing all things so I may say of Faith Though it bee poor in it self yet it makes us rich doth inrich us with all the riches of Christ though it hath nothing in it self yet it possesses all things it possesseth Christ which is all Oh! If you bee rich in Faith you cannot bee poor in Grace Quantum credimus Tantum amamus Quantum credimus Tantum speramus Saith Aug. poor in Holiness Faith sanctifies So much Faith so much Grace so much Faith so much Love so much Faith so much Hope so much Faith so much Humility so much brokenness of spirit for sin so much Patience Zeal c. Never was it known a strong Beleever to bee a weak Christian So much Faith write down so much Grace Little in Faith and little in Grace little in love c. Grace is still proportionable to the measure and degrees of Faith like the fountain and the flood Hence Faith is called the Mother-Grace 2. Pet. 1.2 3. Grace and Peace bee multiplyed on you by the Knowledge of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the acknowledgement that is by Faith The augmentation of Faith doth cause the multiplication of Grace not in the kinds only but in the degrees The more Faith in degrees the more Grace Grow in Faith and you grow in all Grace Decrease in Faith and all the Graces of God decrease in thee There is decay of Love of Joy of Patience The ground of all decayes is the decay of Faith Well then To draw to a conclusion of this you see Faith is an inriching-Grace 1. It inricheth the understanding with knowledge with heavenly wisdome which is better than gold It makes the Head a store-house of divine knowledge There is some Knowledge before Faith Scientia Principiorum the Knowledge of Principles But the best Knowledge is after Beleeving Wee beleeve and know saith John First beleeve and then know Crede ut intelligas beleeve that thou mayest understand Hence David Psal 119. Teach mee good Judgement for I have beleeved thy Word Not that I may beleeve but for I have beleeved Non possunt discere qui nolunt credere Addiscentem oportet credere Hence Augustine upon Heb. 4.2 The Word did not profit them because it was not mixt with Faith in them that heard it saith They cannot learn because they will not beleeve Hee that would learn must beleeve As Knowledge of things revealed goes before Faith so Faith goes before the exact understanding and clear apprehensions of them How shall a man bee able to understand these heavenly Mysteries in the Word all which are far above Reason The Mystery of the Trinity the Mystery of Christ in whom there is nothing but Mysteries His Person a Mystery his Nature his Works all Mysteries 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversy great is the Mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory That hee should bee God-Man mortall and immortal That there should bee such greatness and such baseness such infiniteness and yet such finiteness in one person These are all Mysteries Hence Christ is called Isa 9.6 Wonderful because all is wonderfull in Christ hee is wonderful in his Person in his Nature in his offices in the managing of them A chain of wonders So the Creation a Mystery Resurrection a Mystery Christian Religion is nothing else but a bundle of holy Mysteries Which how shall any man understand until first hee beleeve Hee that seeks to know before hee beleeve shall never know The best way to know is to shut your eyes captivate Reason and Beleeve and then you shall see and know Thus you see Faith inricheth with Spiritual Knowledge 2. As Faith inriches the Understanding the Head with Knowledge so it inriches the Heart with Grace It makes the Heart a Treasury of divine and holy Graces The least of which are worth all the Riches of the World Divines set down four invaluable things 1. The Favour of God in Christ 2. The Souls of Men. 3. The Spirit 4. The Graces of the Spirit 1. The Favour of God That 's invaluable Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than Life And Life is the most precious thing a man hath in the World Skin for Skin and all a man hath will hee give for his life The Devil was right there Now Gods loving-kindness is better than Life 2. The Souls of Men. What will it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his Soul Christ sets the gain of the whole World against the losse of one Soul Hee puts one Soul in one Balance and the whole World in another And one Soul weighs down all What will it profit its too light All that gain cannot make up this loss It is an incomparable loss because an irrecoverable loss once lost lost for ever There 's no recovery of a lost soul Though a man may lose other things yet may hee recover them again Man may lose Riches c. but not his Soul when once lost for want of beleeving 3. The third invaluable is the Spirit not to bee bought with silver or gold Hence Peter told Simon-Magus when hee would have bought the Spirit Thy mony perish with thee Thinkest thou the Gift of God may bee bought with mony 4. The Graces of the Spirit The least of which doth weigh down all the World The least grain of Grace of Love of Repentance of godly sorrow Humility is worth ten thousand Worlds Faith is more precious than gold saith Peter Now these are the Riches that Faith doth possess the Soul of the invaluable Riches of Grace Other Riches God deals out promiscuously and No man knows either love or hatred by any thing before him A man may do wickedly and prosper as it was said of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 8.24 â—5 These Riches Gods enemies do share in as well as his friends Nay and have often the greatest share the greatest portion Job 21.7 Jer. 12.1 Dives may have more wealth Saul more command Agrippa more gorgious apparel than the dearest of Gods Saints But now these are such Riches as God bestows upon none but Beleevers Abraham gave portions to the Sons of the Concubines and sent them away but unto Isaac hee gave all hee had Rex honores dignis Other Riches may bee taken away A man may bee rich to
But Johanan wanted Faith to beleeve there was safety where was no means of safety And therefore hee chose rarher to go down to Egypt than to abide at Jerusalem And if that mans reason might direct it 't was the likeliest way for in Jerusalem was nothing but Penury Want Famine and War In Egypt there was Plenty Peace and all abundance But now observe Though the way were never so likely yet following his own wisdome and rejecting the counsel of God I say following his own wisdome and counsel and neglecting the direction of God hee ran upon his own ruine it was his utter undoing You see there the thing hee thought hee should avoid hee fell into Hee thought to have avoided the Sword Famine and Pestilence but all these followed him God would make him know it was better to follow the guidance of Faith though the way were never so dangerous unlikely to carnal wisdome than to bee led by his own wisdome though 't were never so likely Men that would avoid danger out of Gods way do surely run into it Hee that will follow his own wisdome not Gods shall run into mischief You see this in Jeroboam It was a likely project in carnal reason in mans way To continue his Throne and Kingdome by making of Calves that so the people might bee kept from Jerusalem and might not revolt back to Judah But in Gods way it was the way to his ruine the overthrow of him and all his house Eighteenth Royalty 18. Faith is an Heart-establishing-Grace 18. Royalty Faith is an Heart-establishing-Grace It settles a man upon such a Foundation as nothing can unsettle him Psal 125.1 They who trust in the Lord shall bee as Mount Sion which cannot bee removed but abideth for ever Such a man is Homo quadratus Fall hee which way hee will hee lights upon his square Psal 112. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord his heart is established hee will not fear Whereas Unbeleef doth unsettle the soul fills a man with unsufferable perplexities sets a man upon the rack of fears It is that which keeps a man in fears and that which causeth a fresh return of doubts and fears If you do not beleeve yee shall not bee established And Unbeleeving man is an house without a foundation a man without a bottom like a ship unballassed in a Tempest tossed hither and thither Faith on the contrary doth make a man a rock in a storm doth stablish and settle the heart in the greatest Tempest The lesse Faith the more Fear the more Unsettledness The more Faith the lesse Fear the more Stability Faith doth unburden our hearts of all our fears and all our cares When a man beleeves not all the burden lies upon a mans self But when wee beleeve wee cast all the burden upon the Lord. Wee are troubled and affraid what shall become of our souls what of our bodies what of our Children But Faith doth unburden the soul of these cares and thoughts it doth quit and discharge the soul of these fears Faith casts the whole burden upon the Lord makes God to bear all the burden not only the burden of sins but the burden of cares and fears comming to him weary and heavy laden and by Faith casting our burden upon him hee bears all Pro. 16.2 Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall bee established Psal 55.22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord and hee shall sustain thee There are two things Faith establishes the soul against 1. Against Fears 2. Against Falling 1. Faith establisheth the heart against fears When a man beleeves not hee is nothing but fears and scruples But when once Faith comes it doth answer all cases silences all doubts stablisheth the heart against all fears There are five Fears which Faith doth establish the heart against 1. The Fear of Men. 2. The Fear of Want 3. The Fear of Death 4. The Fear of Hell 5. The Fear of Judgement 1. Faith establisheth the heart against humane Fears the fear of men Faith will banish these unlawful and tyrannical fears It will not suffer them to enter the Throne and take possession of the heart Psal 27.1.3 The Lord is my light and my Salvation There was his Faith Whom then shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life Of whom then shall I bee affraid Though an host should incamp against mee my heart shall not fear in another Psalm God is our hope and strength a help in trouble ready to bee found Therefore will not wee fear though the Earth bee moved though the Mountains bee hurled into the midst of the Sea Psal 46.1 2. 2. Faith doth establish us against the Fear of Want Many there are that fear to out-live their labours to out-live their Riches their Comforts Oh! say they I shall one day want and bee in misery Now Faith settles the soul against these fears Why will Faith say hath not God said The Lions shall hunger and suffer want That is as the Septuagint read it the mighty Nimrods the great ones of the World who have their baggs full They shall sooner want than they that fear the Lord shall want any thing that 's good Why will Faith say Doth God cloathe the Lillies feed the Ravens and will hee not take care for thee Mat. 6.24 to the 34. what hath not God ingaged himself to bear thy charges to Heaven Hath hee not promised to give thee all things necessary both for life and godliness not only for Godliness for Spirituals but for Life too for Temporals Hath not Godliness the promise of this Life that now is and of that that is to come Doth God take care for Ravens for the Beasts of the field Doth hee feed his Enemies and will hee forget his friends Hath hee given thee a Christ and doubtest thou hee will give thee a crumb will hee not give us all things who hath not withheld himself from us Thus the Apostle doth reason Nonnè dabit sua qui non dâ—tinuit se Rom. 8.32 Hee that spared not his own Son but freely gave him for us how shall hee not with him freely also give us all things Sure hee who trusts God for his soul will trust God for his Body Faith doth not single and chuse out its Object to beleeve this not that but all comming from the same Truth Fides non eligit Objectum the same God it beleeves one as well as another Hee who depends on God for the many will depend on him for the less Hee who trusts God for pounds will trust him also for pence If I tell you earthly things saith Christ to Nicodemus and you beleeve not how will you beleeve if I tell you heavenly things So if you will not beleeve God for earthly things how can you beleeve him for heavenly things If not for sustentation how then for salvation 3. Faith doth stablish the heart against the Fear of Death the King of Fears as Job
calls it And of all terribles the most terrible as the Philosopher speaks Unbeleef doth slay the heart with fears A man that knows not what shall become of his soul to all eternity no marvel if hee bee afraid to dye When a man shall lye upon his death bed and knows not whither hee shall go Quo vadam nescio As it was said of Aristotle I go I know not whither Or when a man shall look upon death and Hell behinde it upon the Pale Horse and Hell behinde as wee have it Rev. 6. no marvel if hee bee afraid to dye But when by Faith wee can look upon God a Father Christ a Saviour and can say God is my God Christ is my Christ Heaven is my Inheritance Glory is my portion no marvel then if death bee not terrible no marvel then if hee bee ready to meet death and say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace Or with Paul sigh out Cupio dissolvi I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ Men that have not assurance of a better life it is no wonder if they bee loath to leave this they know not where to mend themselves Earth in Possession is better than Heaven in Reversion But when God hath given a man the assurance of a better life when a man hath his hope in his hand his evidences sealed Oh! then death is not terrible There will bee a willing Resignation of the soul into Gods hands I'ts true in some case Hee that beleeves maketh not haste but here the more wee beleeve the more haste wee make to bee with God 4. Faith Stablisheth the heart against the Fear of Hell Faith knows who was in pretium as well as in premium and beholds Christ not only in Premium to intitle us to Heaven but in pretium as the price of our Redemption to free us from Hel. As by his Active Obedience hee answered Gods commanding and remunerative Justice So by his Passive Obedience hee answered Gods condemning and vindictive Justice freeing us from that wrath and misery which otherwise wee should unavoidably have fallen into 5. Faith doth establish the heart against the Fear of Judgement There shall bee no condemnation to such as are in Christ Jesus such as are Beleevers The Judge is our Advocate our Saviour Hee to whom wee are to answer hath answered for us Hee to whom wee are to give satisfaction hath satisfied for us Hee is our Redeemer who hath laid down his life for us Faith knows Christ will bee All in All to the soul not only in life to preserve it but in death to comfort and in Judgement to absolve thee and save thee 2. Faith doth establish the heart against falling 1. Against Total Apostacy 2. Against Final Apostacy 1. Against Total There is not a Total Apostacy Though the Saints fall sadly yet not Totally 1. A Child of God may lose all the comforts of spiritual life yet not spiritual life it self Hee may bring himself into such a sad condition by sin that hee may sin away all the comforts of this life Thus David Psal 51. Restore to mee the joy of thy Salvation Hee had not lost life but the comforts of it and desires they may bee restored A man may out-live the comforts of life this is a sad thing to out-live comforts here but Faith at least layeth the grounds of those comforts that are endless 2. A man may lose all the Vigorous and Powerful Operations of Grace and Life yet not life it self It may bee with a Child of God as with a man in a dead Swoon though there bee life in him yet the operations of life are but little discerned It 's not with him as it was wont to bee Hee thinks to go out as sometimes Sampson in prayer c. but his strength is gone from him as his was But his life is hid with Christ in God as the Apostle hath it Col. 3.3 3. A man may lose some measures and degrees of spiritual life yet not life it self Hee may suffer a great decay in his Faith a great abatement in his Love and Zeal c. and yet life is not lost Thus it was with the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.5 Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first Works Wee are not to think that the Church was fallen from Grace but only from some measures and degrees of Grace And concerning the same Church Rev. 2.4 when it is said Shee had lost her first love it is not meant that shee had lost the Grace of Charity you see the fruits of it in the second and third verses But shee had lost the degrees It was not extinguished but cooled only The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies not that shee did altogether Amittere lose it but somewhat Remittere remit and abate of the fervency of it As one saith of Peter Motum fuit i◠co spiritualis vitae robu◠non amotum con cussum non excussum Gratiam fidei remisit Actum intermisit Habitum non amisit The strength of spiritual life was moved in him but not removed shaken 't was but not shaken off Hee remitted the Grace of Faith intermitted the act of Faith but lost not the Habit. Isa 6.13 Hee shall bee like an Oak whose substance is in him when it casts its leaves so the Holy seed shall bee the substance thereof Like to that is that of 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can hee sin because hee is born of God It may bee with him as 't was with Nebuchadnezzar The Tree may bee hewn down but the stump is bound with a bond of Iron 2 Faith establisheth the heart against final Apostacy Though they fall foulely yet not finally They have the Prayer and Intercession of Christ the Power of Christ the Merit of Christ the Promise of Christ Faith produceth all these Wee are said to bee established by Faith to live by Faith to stand by Faith to bee preserved by Faith as with a guard 1 Pet. 1.5 Wee are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto salvation By Faith wee are said to subdue the flesh to have victory over the World to quench the fiery darts of Satan to bee saved by Faith c. Indeed all ages give reports to us of many who have been eminent in Profession and yet have come to nought Some fallen from Grace to basenesse some fallen from Grace to bitternesse some from Grace to vitiousness some from Grace to malitiousness But these were never true Beleevers A Star fallen is not a Star Stella caden◠non est Stella They went out from us because they were not of us for had they been of us they would have continued with us 1 Joh. 2.19 It is the evil heart of Unbelief that causeth them to depart from the living God Heb 3.12 Where there is true Faith
there is stability Faith doth establish the heart from falling 1. Faith sets a man upon a Soul-establishing-bottome upon a sure Foundation upon Christ and hee is sure who is built there as the house on the Rock so the soul on Christ is safe Time was a man was his own Foundation but it was a sandy one but now his Foundation is Christ a Rock of ages 2. Faith doth interest a man in a Soul-establishing-Covenant not a Covenant of Works but of Grace Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will never turn from them to do them good But I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from mee Isa 54.9 10. This is as the Waters of Noah unto mee for as I have sworn that the Waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I will not bee angry with thee nor rebuke thee 3. Faith doth beget in a man Soul-establishing-Principles The Principles of Grace and Holiness The Graces of God which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Without Repentance i. e. God doth never behave himself to those upon whom hee hath bestowed these Graces Sine mutatione stabiliter fixa So Aug. renders it and hence he saith on that place Nec quae illuminavit obcaecat nec quae aedificavit destruit nec quae plantavit avellit as though hee repented of the bestowing of them Whom hee hath inlightened hee doth not blinde whom hee builds hee doth not destroy and whom hee plants hee doth not pull up And Faith hath a great influence into this to preserve and establish the heart from falling It is said Wee are kept by the Power of God through Faith to Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 1. Faith doth ingraft us and unite us to Christ makes us Members of Christ the Spouse of Christ and Christ will not lose either his Spouse or the least of his Members 2. Faith doth keep out the grand Enemy to this standing thus stedfastly and that 's Hypocrisie If a mans heart bee unsound let his shew and appearance be what it will bee all will come to nought as in Herod Judas c. If an Apple bee corrupt and rotten at heart though the rind and outside bee never so lovely and specious 't will not long last the corrupt inside will mar the fine outside in the end An Hypocrite is but an Apostata cased and an Apostata is but an Hypocrite uncased 3. Faith establishes the heart against fears of men the frowns and menaces of men 4. Faith will keep the heart constant to duty to the use of the Ordinances which are strong means to hold up the soul in Gods way 5. Faith makes a man jealous and watchful over his own heart of Declinings either in Action or in Affection It will not suffer a man to give way to the least coldness in love lukewarmnesse in zeal remisness in duty If any steal upon his heart hee is never quiet till hee have recovered his former heat 6. Faith doth maintain in the heart an holy fear of falling which is a great means to preserve from falling Jer. 32. I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from mee Such a Fear it keeps as may curb and keep under the flesh but not discourage and weaken the Spirit An industrious fear not a discouraging fear a faithful fear not a despairing fear A fear joyned with Faith and a Faith mingled with fear A man may bee fearful and faithful Fearful in himself faithful in Christ weak in himself strong in Christ There are four fears which Faith casts out 1. A servile and legal Fear 2. A distrustful Fear 3. A despairing and discouraging Fear 4. A careless Fear As security is fearless so sometimes Fear is careless if it bee excessive There are also four Fears which Faith retains 1. An aweful Fear Such a Fear as restrains from adventuring on occasions of sinning It is as bad Divinity to grant the occasion and deny the sin as it is Logick to grant the Premises and deny the conclusion The Nazarite was forbidden Wine and withal that hee must not taste the Kernel of the Grape least that might bee an occasion to draw on the other Wee have a sad example in Monicha Augustines Mother Shee looked on the Wine in the Cup from looking shee fell to liking from liking to tasting from tasting to sipping from that to drinking and so to Excesse Sins in Divinity are like absurdities in Philosophy Uno absurdo dato multa sequuntur One absurdity granted multitudes follow 2. Such a Fear as makes us to go out of our selves and lean and rely wholly on Christ A Fear of our selves of our own strength c. Alas What are wee to Adam to David to Solomon to Hezekiah Peter men of sweet and familiar acquaintance with God Yet see what Testimonies of mens frailties they left behind them And all this to teach us to maintain an holy Fear and Jelousy over our own selves that wee might go out of our selves and lean all upon Christ without whom wee cannot bee sure 3. An Industrious Fear Such a Fear as puts us upon all holy duties and means for our establishment to preserve us God promised to adde fifteen years to Hezekiahs life yet hee was to preserve this life and uphold it with food and dyet and other necessaries for life so God promised wee shall not fall yet wee must bee conscionable in the use of all good means whereby wee may stand otherwise wee tempt God and just it is with God to let us fall if wee neglect Prayer and the rest of his Ordinances appointed by him for our perseverane 4. A Jealous Fear over our own hearts They are deceitful and wee had need to bee jealous over them and watch Think not thy self so far at distance from any sin but thou mayest fall into it if God keep thee not Who could bee further from Drunkenness than Noah who was the only sober man in the drunken old World Who from Incest than Lot the only chaste man in Sodom Who from Murder than David Whose heart smote him for but cutting off the lap of Sauls garment Who from denying of Christ than was Peter who had rather dye with him than forsake him And therefore wee had need to bee jealous and watch over our own hearts There is no place so good but wee may offend in it As the Angels in Heaven Adam in Paradise There is no company so good but wee may sin in it As did Sarah in the Angels company Judas in Christs Thus let us maintain these holy Fears in our hearts and by that bee kept from falling Use of Examination Let this then put us upon the Tryal whether or no wee have Faith You see the Necessity of Faith in respect Of Justification Of Sanctification Of Salvation I have shewed you it was the great thing which God required to Justification and Salvation of a
wee are ready to look above us who is higher richer not below us who is poorer But in spirituals wee look below us not above us behind us not before us how many come short of our measure not how many do out-strip us And therefore wee content our selves with that wee have But let us labour to forget all behind and to presse forward to the mark of the Rich calling of God in Christ Jesus as the Apostle did If thy Faith bee true it is of a growing Nature Now to all this I will adde some means 1. To get Faith 2. To increase Faith 1. Means for the begetting of Faith 1. Labour to keep close to Faith-begetting Ordinances These are 1. The Word 2. Prayer 1. Frequent the powerful and sincere preaching of the word of God a Faith-begetting-means Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 True Faith is the Daughter of Mercy For this end God hath set up this Ordinance in the Church that it might bee a means for the begetting Faith in the hearts of unbeleeving men And God doth often in the opening of Scripture open our understandings that wee may beleeve Luk. 24.45 John 20.31 And in the hearing of the Word keep thy Ear open to hear what God saith by his Spirit in the Gospel Faith comes not by mercy of the Law but of the Gospel And in the Gospel dwell upon Faith-breeding-Promises Indeed all the Promises tend to beget Faith but especially such wherein the good Will of God and the Heart of God is discovered such wherein the freeness and richness of Gods Promises are discovered Promises are of two sorts 1. Either such as are conditional granted upon the performance of some duty in us As such as these Beleeve and thou shalt bee saved Repent and thy sins shall bee forgiven thee 2. Or such as are made and performed in meer Mercy such wherein God promises to give that condition which hee requires to the Promise Wee have not only promises of giving pardon and remission to the beleeving sinner but wee have promises of bestowing Faith upon the unbeleeving sinner There are some Promises wherein wee are to bring Faith to the Promise As here whoever beleeves shall bee saved And There are some Promises that wee must go unto for Faith Some that wee must bring Faith to and some that wee must go to for Faith as those free and absolute Promises I will take away your stony hearts and give you hearts of flesh And such wherein hee hath said Hee will work all our works in us and for us Oh! say some If I had but so much Repentance so much brokenness of heart if but so much love then I could beleeve Alas wee must not bring our penny to the Promise We must beleeve and then all the rest will come in The way to have a broken heart is to beleeve The way to repent the way to love God 2. The second Ordinance is Prayer Though none of this Faith bee in Heaven yet all Faith comes from Heaven It is the gift of God And therefore wee are to seek to him for it Wee may joyn our selves to Faith-begetting-means But it is God that must make the means effectual for the working of Faith It is a grace above the power of man and therefore requires the power of God to work it I say 1. It requires the Power of God Nay not only the Power but 2. It requires the greatness of his Power Nay 3. The excess of greatness of his Power Nay 4. The mightiness of that excess Yea and 5. The working of all this mighty Power As the Apostle shews Ephes 1.19 where wee have all those five particulars set down And therefore there is need of calling in for all the help of God all the power of God for the working of it It is the hardest thing in the World to cast a man out of himself to cut a man off his own stock to throw a man off his own foundation And when that is done it is as hard a work to bring this man over to Christ to make a man to lye full and flat upon the promise of Grace for mercy And therefore how much need is there of stirring up our hearts How much need of calling in for the strength of God by prayer This is the second Prayer is a fruit of Faith and yet prayer is a means for the begetting of Faith As the Spirit is a fruit of Prayer so prayer is a fruit of the Spirit As you see Luk. 11.13 compared with Rom. 8.15 In the one place the Spirit is said to bee the fruit of Prayer Hee will give his Spirit to them that ask him In the other Prayer is the fruit of the Spirit You have received the Spirit of adoption whereby you cry abba Father 3. Have much to do with Faith-begetting-Company Faith-begetting-conference Where thou shalt hear the discoveries how God hath wrought Faith in them and how God doth work Faith in the hearts of unbeleeving men Did not our hearts burn within us when hee talked with us by the way and when hee opened to us the Scriptures said those two Disciples after their conference with Christ travelling in company together to Emmaus Luk. 24.32 The like of Aquilla and Priscilla with Apollo Act. 18.26 4. Dwel much upon and cherish Faith-begetting-considerations which are 1. Thoughts of our selves 2. Thoughts of God Thoughts of our emptiness and thoughts of Gods fulness Considerations of our own misery and thoughts of his love and mercy Omnes post te currimus audientes quod nullum spernis peccatorem Bernard Think how God hath dealt with you and how God hath dealt with other sinners who have come to him Such were Manasses Mary Paul Wee all run after thee O Lord seeing thou despisest no sinners Thou despisedst not the weeping Mary the begging Canaanite Et si his peccatoribus veniam dâ—disti paratus es nobis si modo impetramur the intreating Publican the confessing Theef the Adulterous Woman the denying Disciple the persecuting Paul And if thou refused'st not those thou wilt not reject mee If thou pardonedst them thou wilt pardon mee if I beleeve in thee But in particular cherish these three thoughts 1. The consideration of thy own vileness and emptiness thy sin and misery by reason of sin And this will drive thee out of thy self 2. The consideration of the fulness riches and al-sufficiency of Christ who hath all fulness in him who is able to save to the utmost a bottome able to hold up any weight of sin 3. The consideration of the freeness of Christ and the Promise God keeps open house invites intreats beseecheth us to beleeve and come in Ho! Every one that thirsteth come yee to the Waters come buy yee that have no silver and eat Come buy Wine and Milk without mony c. Isa 55 1. And Hee that comes to mee saith Christ Joh. 6.37 I will by no means cast out Let him that
cry out Rabbi thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel thou who knowest the heart must needs bee God c. as if a man should say to his friend thou art one that art charitable mournest for thy sin and in case hee should answer but how know you that hee should reply did I not see such an act of charity which you did did I not see you mourn bitterly for sin at such a time c this in some resemblance commeth somewhat near to this instance but yet falleth short because wee judge of the outward act Christ here of the inward which manifested him to bee God omniscient the searcher of the heart c. Thus I have shewed you the coherence with the parts of the Text and have in part unfolded what might seem difficult and obscure in it Now there are some Doctrines which lye about the verge of the Text some from the person commending some from the person commended and some from the thing for which But I shall touch only upon those which arise from the main scope of the Text and they are two Doct. 1. That the eyes of Christ run through the whole World and behold the evil and the good Hee that saw Nathaniel under the Fig-tree seeth thee in all places in all companies c. to this purpose read Psal 139. Amos 9.2 3 4. Hee is totus oculus all eye to see and all hand to feel and finde out Hee who is to bee Judge of all the actions and waies of men must necessarily know them all Use 1. Say not then that God sees not say not that darkness shall cover thee esto quod nemo non tamen nullus though no man yet some eye seeth thee Use 2. This may bee comfort to the Saints Christ sees you under the Fig-tree sees you in a corner sees your persons your actions your spirits Hee sees your prayers hee sees your tears hee sees your afflictions your pressures Exod. 3.7 Hee hears your groans c. Use 3. This is terror to wicked men hee sees them too hee sees your malice against his Saints your vileness and abominable filthiness I saw you in such a place at such a time in such and such pollutions in which thou wouldest have been loath in which thou would have been confounded if men should then have seen thee From the commendation of Nathaniels Faith Observe Doct. 2. That such is the goodness of God that hee commends us for that which is his own Hee commends Nathaniel here for that Grace which hee had given him God works graces in us and then commends us for them hee gives us mony and then commends us for our riches hee makes us beautifull and then commends us for our beauty in which hee doth only beautifie his own beautie and love his own graces in us Hee doth here commend Nathaniels Faith which yet was only the Faith of his own powerfull working Hee commends David for his uprightness Hezekiah for his perfectness Moses for his meekness Cornelius for his devotion the Publican for his compunction the poor Widdow for her liberality and the Woman of Canaan for her Faith and importunity all which was only the work of his own Grace in them God will finde matter of love and liking in us from that which is his own hee can pass by ours and own his As a Father loveth his child for that which is of his own nature in him and so doth God in us Use 1. Then see what a sweet Saviour wee have who will pass by our imperfections and deformities and take notice of his own beauties in us Use 2. And accordingly wee should learn to look upon our selves as Christ doth though black in our selves yet beautiful in Christ although I would have you to own and to blush at your own defoâ—mities yet not so as to blinde your eyes from beholding Christs excellencies as in himself so in you by his grace take the shame of your own sins but let God have the honour of his own Graces by this you shall nourish your humility and yet not weaken your Faith you shall abhor your selves and yet extoll Gods free Grace But these are but by the way to which many others might bee added I will fall upon those which the Text doth more fully hold out and they are these 1. That slowness of Heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive to God this is hinted in the implied tacit reprehension of others whilst hee so commends Nathaniels forwardness 2. That God takes it well at our hands or it is very pleasing unto God when wee will beleeve in him upon small Revelation 3. That God will reveal great things to them who do so beleeve in him Thou shalt see greater things than these it is a promise of future and fuller manifestation to bee vouchsafed to him Wee shall begin with the first which is Doct. That slowness of heart to beleeve is a temper of spirit very offensive unto God I need not stand long to clear the truth of this Doctrin if you look into Joh. 1.50 that high commendation of Nathaniels Faith is a silent upbraiding of others for their slowness of heart to beleeve Because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou It is as if hee had said for that without question is implied why I have done greater things in the sight of otheâ—s I have healed the sick opened the eyes of the blinde raised the dead cast out Devils and yet they have not beleeved And doth so small a manifestation work on thee Because I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree c. I have not raised thee from the dead implying hee had done it to others And hence hee is said to upbraid those Cities wherein his mighty works had been done because they beleeved not Mar. 16.14 And this was a great aggravation of their sin where so much had been done to perswade them to beleeve yet slow c. The like in Joh. 12.37 38. But though hee had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him that the saying of Esaiah might bee fulfilled who hath beleeved here was a great aggravation of their sin And upon this ground hee reproveth his Disciples Luk. 24.25 26. Oh fools and slow of heart to beleeve all that the Prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entred into his glory c And how often doth hee upon the same ground rebuke his Disciples O yee of little Faith Mar. 9.19 O faithless Generation how long shall I bee with you how long shall I suffer you Implying it put Christ to the utmost of his patience to bear with them in their unbelief Which yet if you read the story you will finde it was no small work it was because they could not cast out the dumb spirit out of a man possessed which yet hee himself tells them afterward vers 29. that this was the
greatest of difficulties this kinde came forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting which shews the work was of more than ordinary difficulty yet because their Faith was posed in it hee tells them they were a faithless Generation and hee was weary of them it put him to the utmost exercise of his patience to bear with them And you see the like of Peter whose Faith was so great as to carry him upon the waters to walk upon the waves upon a bare command and word of Christ yet afterwards the wind growing strong and corruption working hee was affraid and begins to sink and then cryed Lord save mee Mat. 14.30 31. And how much was Christ displeased at him who had put forth so glorious an act of Faith as to walk upon the waters upon a bare command yet because hee held not out Christ reproved him Oh thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt was this a little Faith c. But wee will pass this and in the prosecution of this Doctrin wee will shew these eight things 1. That wee are slow of heart to beleeve 2. What are the grounds that wee are slow of heart to beleeve 3. What are the reasons why this slowness of heart is so offensive to God For the first that wee are slow of heart to beleeve This will bee demonstrated to you if you consider with mee these five particulars 1. The greatness of that power which God doth put forth in the working Faith in an unbeleeving heart Faith it self is called the work of Gods power nay of his almighty power The same power which God put forth in the raising of Christ from the dead even the same power hee doth put forth in the working of Faith in an unbeleeving heart Ephes 1.19 20. There are many mighty works of God which are not saving works As the works of Creation the works of Providence These are mighty works but they are not saving works But there are no saving works of God which are not mighty Every work of mercy is a work of might too every work of grace is a work of power too though every work of power bee not a work of grace yet every work of grace is a work of power And the work of an almighty power Actus omnipotentis Actus omnipotentioe Not only an Almighty God doth work but also according to the Almightiness of God when hee works Faith and Grace in a graceless heart There are two names given to this in Scripture both which speak the greatness of Gods power in the working of it 1. It is called a resurrection from death to life not of a dead body but a dead soul Psal 88.10 wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise to praise thee hee speaks not there of a natural death but of the condition which hee was in lying for the present slain and dead as it were under the apprehensions of God wrath Shall a soul that now lyes dead and slain with the apprehensions of thy wrath and displeasure arise by Faith to praise thee Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise to praise thee That is wilt thou shew the greatness of thy power in working Faith in an unbeleeving soul this is no less than a resurrection from the dead the dead arise c. And therefore this must needs require the greatness of Gods power to effect it It is a great work to recover a sick man but more to restore a dying man but to raise a dead man to life this is the work of God only Yet all this is nothing to the resurrection of a dead soul To raise our bodies when consumed by fire when vanished into air when corrupted in the water when turned into dust and rottenness is not so great a work as to raise a dead soul a soul dead in sin to work Faith in an unbeleeving heart This is the Almighty work of God 2. And hence Secondly It is called a work of Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 thus in Christ And you know Creation is the work of God only it is the production of something out of nothing Men may produce something out of something but to produce something out of nothing is proper to God alone There is lesse distance between the least dust and the most glorious Angel in Heaven than there is between it and nothing Wee say and its true inter ens non ens nulla proportio there is infinite distance between something and nothing Such a distance as none but a God can bring together Now this work of Faith and Grace in the heart in an unregenerate and unbeleeving man is a new Creation A Creation of light in a dark heart of life in a dead heart of Faith in an unbeleeving heart of Grace in a graceless heart which is a work which requires the almightiness of Gods power for the effecting of it And that is the first demonstration 2. If you do consider the complaints of Beleevers when they first come to beleeve What sighs what tears what groans what pains what struglings with unbeleef with doubts with fears Crying out with the man in the Gospel Lord I do beleeve help my unbeleef It may bee now the doubt of Gods power of Christs al-sufficiency to pardon sin to forgive so great and hainous wickednesse and say with him Lord if thou canst do any thing help Mark 9.22 or if not so yet they doubt of his wâ—ll whether God will pardon them yea or no and say with another in the Gospel Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee clean Matth. 8.2 Every dayes experience tells us how hard a thing it is to cast a man out of himself and when that is done Oh how hard a thing is it to bring that soul over to Christ and the promise Now a thousand objections are raised the soul is now as full of scruples of doubts as the Sun is full of motes Oh what swarms of unbeleeving thoughts what multitudes of doubts and objections that it is beyond the power of any but of him alone that can deal with the heart either to discover them or answer them or if answered yet the soul is still unsetled till God come in This is plain in cast down and humbled souls 3. If you look upon the Rhetorick God useth to bring a poor humbled and cast down sinner to beleeve Read Isa 40. beginning Comfort you comfort yee my people saith my God Speak yee comfortably Say your warfare is accomplished your iniquities are pardoned c. But least any should say alas tell not mee of this no comfort belongs to mee hee is buried up in troubles God doth not regard him why see how hee saith in vers 27. Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest Oh Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my Judgement is passed over from my God Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the
special and particular fruits set down 2 Cor. 7.11 of godly sorrow on which I want time to insist But now an hypocrites sorrow is a sorrow to sorrow a paenal not a fruitful sorrow hee is never the better for all his howling his heart never the more humble his spirit never the more broken his soul never the more set against Sin These tears they leave him as they found him they are not changing and transforming tears hee is never the more watchful never the more careful to please God hee rather grows more secure takes more heart to sin against God hee thinks hee hath done penance and satisfied the Law hee hath discharged the former score by his present roarings and therefore may beginne a new reckoning a new score and sin more freely against God whereas true mourning makes us watchfull and so our falls make us secure To sum up all in a little 1 The unsound heart hee mourns for Sin either as clad with punishment or as it bringeth the evil of punishment after it the first you see in Pharaoh the second in Ahab The other laments Sin as Sin sin abstracted and separated from wrath and punishment 2 The one howls under the present lashes the evil of punishment the other under the evil of sin 3 Sence doth provoke the one to mourning faith and love do cause the other to mourn 4 The ground of the one is self-love the ground of the other love to God 5 The one is slavish the other childish 6 The end of the one is peace and joy of the other it is discouragement and dispair as in Cain and Judas c. 7 The one breeds a bitternesse and turbulency of spirit the other humility mildness self-denial Thus I have shewed you these three things and cleared them I beleeve there 's many of you who do not pray at all many who are yet to shed one tear for Sin Alas when was the time thou hast entred thy Chamber thy closet and broken thy heart for sin humbled thy soul for sin Let mee tell thee thus much thou hast sinned this sinne will have sorrow one time or other if not here in fruitful mourning hereafter in paenal mourning in weeping and gnashing of teeth If thou wilt not sorrow for a time thou shalt howl for ever It may bee thou thinks no such matter conscience is now at peace Ista tranquillâ—tas tempestas erit it is like a book bound up if once opened your peace shall end in a storm your joy in sorrow happy thou if God wound thee that hee may heal thee break thee that hee may bind thee humble thee that hee may comfort thee It is better bee broken here than to go whole to hell better be wounded here than to go sound to hell better to bee a sad Saint than a merry Devil What David prayed for his enemies may wee pray for our best friends Send them down quick to Hell Send them down here by humiliation that they may avoid eternal damnation hereafter Wee began with the last first viz. clear your sincerity in your performances in particular wee named three particulars in Hearing Praying Mourning Wee come now to the end which is the first in order of nature though wee have made it last in time Clear sincerity in Obedience in the general 2. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in Obedience in general Now to this as to the former I will give you some Characters of a sincere Obedience Sincere Obedience is 1. A faithful 2. An universal 3. A fruitful 4. A filial Obedience Wee shall only single out some of them because wee are willing to finish this Doctrin 1. Character Full. A sincere Obedience is a full Obedience an universal Obedience It is universal in respect of the subject the whole man it is universal in respect of the object the whole Law it is universal in respect of durance the whole life Hee who obeyes sincerely obeyes universally his obedience is not only sutable to the rule in respect of the nature and quality of it but it is proportionable also to the rule in respect of the latitude and extent of his obedience There is no man that serves God truly who doth not indeavour to serve God fully Sincerity turns upon the hinges of universality It is said of David that hee had respect to all the Commandements of God and that hee hated every false way Hee had not obeyed any if hee had not respected all nay which is yet more Act. 13.22 hee fulfilled all the will of God the words are in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the wills and Commands of God and of Zachary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 that they walked in all the Commandements of God blameless hee who obeyes sincerely indeavours to obey thoroughly Wee will instance in these branches 1. In suffering as doing First Hee will obey God in suffering Commands as well as doing in losing as well as gaining Commands An unsound spirit may follow God while hee can follow his own game too while they can serve God without cost without pain or losse c. such men love cheap obedience But when Obedience comes to bee chargeable when his Obedience to God may cost him his liberty his riches his estate then they retire while Religion and the World do walk in the same path there are many who will tread the paths of Religion but when there comes a turning that they must shake hands and part riches one way Christ another God one way the World another then they will forsake Christ You see it was so with the young man hee was willing to follow Christ so far as hee might bee no loser so far as to keep his wealth too But when Christ told him if hee would follow him hee must sell all when it comes to this that either hee must part with his Riches or with Christ then hee falls off and went away sorrowing But hee who obeyes sincerely serves God for himself such a man will obey God though to the hazard and loss of all hee will obey God in costly as well as cheap losing as well as gaining duties Such a man prizeth more of one act of Obedience than hee doth of all his injoyments and will take up naked Obedience though with the loss of all As hee will not commit a sin though hee might gain the World for it so hee will not neglect a duty though hee lose a World for it You see this in the three Children in Daniel and in Queen Maries dayes those go in Sheep-skins who might have gone in Silks c. Secondly Hee will obey God in relative Commands as well as absolute Sincerity doth not only lye in absolute Commands towards God but in relative Commands one towards another And where the heart is sincere hee will not only hear and pray and obey God but hee will walk in all duties of Righteousness and charity towards his Brother Hee is
suffered to lye upon thy spirit in serious consideration would e'ne half work the cure it would cure all gross Hypocrisy strike down all by-ends and base ends which thy spirit aims at in the doing of holy duties and vvould do much in the cure of close Hypocrites in the mending of false Principles an honest heart vvould not bee false to God though God should not see him hee loves God hee is the friend of God and you knovv a friend vvill bee true to his friend as vvell absent from him as present vvith him vvhen hee sees him not as vvell as vvhen his eyes are on him But I am not novv to deal vvith a true sincere heart I am laying dovvn means for the cure of a false heart and a great one this is Think and beleeve there is a God and this God an all-seeing God vvho knovvs thy heart and spirit And as hee is all eye to see so hee is all hand to punish thee if thy heart bee not sound vvith him 3. Means 3. Means of cure is Thou must bee nevv made the vvay to mend thee is to nevv make thee thou must bee all undone again taken in peeces and made up again before ever thou canst be better Some peecing and patching up vvill not serve the turn but thou must have a nevv making before thou bee better There is no mending the stream till there bee an healing of the fountain The fountain and spring within thee is infected and corrupted the heart is unsound and what can bee expected from an unclean heart but unclean acts from an unsound spirit but unsound services and therefore this must bee made new before ever you bee cured Thou must have a new Judgement for thou seest by a false light Thou must have a new will for this is corrupt Thou must have a new heart for this is desperately wicked I tell thee there is no mending thee but by new making thee You may go and patch up your selves but it is but like the putting of a new peece of cloth into an old garment it breaks out again and the rent will bee made worse 4. Means 4. Is Prayer which is instar omnium Oh! desire God with David to make thy heart sound in his Statutes sound in Prayer sound in hearing sound in obedience That all thou doest may arise from right Principles have a right rise go by a right rule and bee directed to a right end Pray that God would give thee sound Principles and sound purposes That that little measure of Grace hee implanteth in thee may bee accompanied with abundance of sincerity and truth of heart And having gotten a sincere heart let it bee your care to fence and guard your heart against Hypocrisy I will give you but one preservative which is this 1. Before you go upon any duty clear the sincerity of your hearts make your end as high as may bee Set out aright loose off well begin in God in Gods strength in Gods grace in Gods assistance A good beginning will make as good a close 2. When thou art upon the duty then look to thy heart suffer no base no by-ends to steal in to poison all thou doest Keep thine eye stedfast upon God in the doing of the duty Do the duty as if there were no men no hopes no fears no rewards in the World as if none but God and thou were in the World 3. Afterwards when the duty is done if there hath been any thing if God have quickened inlarged inflamed humbled thy heart give God all the glory Beware least it bee with thee as it was with Paul and his company that when a fire is kindled a viper come out of the heat Hath God kindled a fire in thy heart warmed inflamed thy spirit Oh! beware that a viper come not out of the heat a viper of pride of vain glory Know this they that seek Gods glory in the work will give God the glory when the work is done If then there have been any good let God inherit all the glory but if any evil take it to thy self for it came from thee and let it bee thy work to lament it to bee humbled for it And now this Rule will bee of special use There are four uses 1. This will fence thy heart guard and strengthen thy heart against Hypocrisy this will keep out Hypocrisy here is no place of entrance for it 2. It will keep down Hypocrisy for Hypocrisy gets no ground so long as it is seen and mourned for 3. This clears the heart in the main that thou art no Hypocrite though there may bee Hypocrisy in thee yet being seen fought against mourned for resisted it reigns not it shall not denominate thee an Hypocrite 4. It will clear thee of the sin of Hypocrisy God will never charge thee for that which thou chargest thy self withall hee will not impute that to thee which thou imputest to thy self That which is thy misery God will never impute to thee as sin Hypocrisy seen mourned for sighed under resisted fought and prayed against shall never bee a condemning Hypocrisy And so much shall now serve for the first branch of the exhortation with the motives to get sincerity with the remedies to cure Hypocrisy and preservatives against it Second Branch of the Exhortation is Having gotten Clear sincerity labour to clear this to your own souls that your hearts are sincere It is a thing possible to bee cleared a man may come to evidence to himself the sincerity of his own graces and gracious performances And it is a thing necessary to bee known in respect of your peace of your comfort So necessary that you can neither live with comfort nor dye with comfort unless you bee able in some measure to clear the sincerity of your hearts the integrity of your spirits And being a thing so necessary I will here lay down some Rules and directions for the better inabling of you to this present duty 1. Rule 1. Make a through and sound search deceits lye low Hypocrisy is spun of a fine thread and is not discerned without diligent search A false evidence is the fruit of a superficial search Though gross Hypocrisy is seen without search yet close Hypocrisy must bee narrowly searcht into otherwise you shall not bee able to discover it Here you must not only read over your selves in your actions but in your affections not only in your practises but also in your Principles Hypocrisy lyes low it is a root sin The heart of man is deceitful above measure saith the Lord who knows it Jer. 17.9 like a crested picture on the one side an Angel on the other a Devil And I must tell you that sin lyes at the bottome of a deceitful heart and therefore it will ask some pains to discover it It was a fair speech of the Children of Israel Deut. 5.29 Whatever the Lord shall say unto us wee will do And it may bee they meant
for all And yet he doth for Sin OH miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin So Peter Manasseh c. 2. Their sufferings to avoid sin Daniel was content to be thrown into the Den of Lyons the three Children into the Fire Paul and Silas into the Stocks and many of Gods people have chosen to embrace Prisons Stakes Fire and the hottest Persecutions rather than sin Which doth plainly evidence to us They esteemed Sin the Greatest Evil. 1. Greater than Poverty which yet is a great evil Melius est Panem mendicare quam Fidem perdere Better to Beg saith one than to sin Heb. 11.24 to the 28. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of sin for a season The like of that Christian Moses Galcacius Caracciolus who was a Noble Prince and Marquess who yet that he might not sin left and forsook all he had and betook himself to live meanly with the people of God meerly to enjoy the Ordinances And Musculus a man of excellent Learning and a famous Divine who rather than sin would close with any condition The Story tells us That being driven out of all he had he was content rather than sin to betake himself to a Poor Trade to be a Weaver to get bread to maintain his wife and children Afterwards being cast out of that way the world looking upon it as too good for him he betook himself to work with a Spade in the Common Ditch of the Town to get his living He could down with any condition rather than sin Nay they have not onely apprehended sin a Greater Evil than Poverty But 2. Greater than Prisons greater than Death it self It was the speech of Ambrose Vultis in vincula rapere Vultis in Mortem Voluptas est mihi Will you cast me into Prison will you take away my life All this is desireable to me rather than to sin When Eudoxia the Empress threatned Chrysostome whom she afterward banished He sends to her Go tell her saith he Nil nisi Peccatum timeo I fear nothing in the world but sin 3. Nay they have apprehended sin a Greater evil than Death Basil speaks of a Rich Virgin who being condemned to the fire and sentenced to lose her estate because she would not Worship Idols yet afterward was promised life and restitution of estate if she would She replyed Valeat vita Pereat Pecunia Farewel life let money perish Look through the Ten Bloody Persecutions and our Late Marian-days and you shall finde many instances to this purpose 4. Nay yet further They have not onely apprehended sin a Greater Evil than Death but yet more A Greater Evil than Hell it self It was the speech of Chrysostome Ego sic censeo sic assiduè praedicabo c. I thus think and thus will I ever preach that It is more bitter to sin against Christ than to Suffer the Torments of Hell Anselm saith That if on the one side were presented unto him the Evil of sin and on the other side the Torments of Hell he would rather choose to fall into Hell than to fall into sin At such a distance were their hearts set against sin And nothing more ordinary than such expressions as these from the Saints in temptations in troubles of spirit or in clearing their own hearts Rather slay me Rather Damn me Rather cast me into Hell than let me sin against thee c. But this shall be sufficient to clear the Doctrinal part We come to the Application 1. Consectary 1. If sin be the Greatest Evil in the world 1. Consectary Then let us fall down and admire the Wisdom of God and adore the Goodness of God who out of the Greatest Evil could bring the Greatest Good who makes the Greatest Evil an Occasion of the Greatest Good that ever was wrought Bernard was so taken up with the thoughts of it that he saith Foelix Culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem Happy fault which occasioned such a Redeemer We should be humbled for the fault bless God for the Remedy and withal admire that wisdom and that goodness which hath taken occasion by mans wickedness to declare his own goodness by mans sin to make known and express the infiniteness of his wisdom power mercy justice c. That this should be an occasion to draw out all his Glorious Attributes That he should bring Good out of Evil Life out of Death Heaven out of Hell Good out of sin Cordials out of Poyson Let us never doubt never suspect but God can bring good out of any thing turn the Greatest Evils to the advancement of his Glory and the good of his people who can out of sin and Hell bring good What is it to turn Afflictions Persecutions the Plots and Malice of men What is it to turn Troubles Wars c. to his own Glory and Advancement of his own cause who was able to turn Sin to all this He that can turn the Evil of sin which is Pure Evil and the Greatest Evil can much more turn the Evil of Trouble to the good of his people This made the Apostle say that All things should work together for good to them that love God c. He that hath experience of this needs not to doubt of any thing else That God that can turn Sin can turn Afflictions Crosses Persecutions c. to the good of his Church and people 2. Consectary 2. Hence conclude then That it is the Saddest punishment 2. Consectary the Fearfullest judgement in the world To be given up to sin This is the utmost punishment that God insticteth upon men and therefore the Greatest of all Punishments God doth usually proceed by Degrees in the ways of his judgements first he begins with lesser if lesser will not do then he proceeds to greater he will punish yet Seven times more and still the further he goes the greater are his strokes Now this is the finishing the concluding stroke this is the last punishment and the Greatest of all other To give a man up to the state of sin To say to a man Thou that art filthy be filthy still and thou that art unclean be unclean still This he tells them in Ezek. 24.13 Because I would have washed thee purged thee and thou wouldst not be purged therefore thou shalt not be purged And so he tells the Israelites Because you would have altars to sin therefore altars shall be to you to sin Hos 8.11 Oh! There is no sadder judgement in the world than for a man To be given up to his own hearts lust This sets an Eternal night of Darkness A Meipso me libera Domine saith Augustine Good Lord deliver me from my self You had better be given up to the lusts of men to the malice and cruelties of blood-thirsty men better to be given up to the utmost rage and malice of our bloody Cavaliers and Irish Rebels than to be
hovv should this make us advance Christ admire Christ prize Christ What should indear our hearts more to Christ than this That he hath born our sins and so born them as we shall never hear them if vve have an interest in him 8. Consectary 8. If sin be the Greatest Evil Then it calls out 8. Consectary 1. For the Greatest Sorrow 2. For the Greatest Hatred 3. For the Greatest Care to avoid it 4. For the Greatest Care to be rid of it If sin be the Greatest Evil Then it must have The Greatest Sorrow 1. Sin calls for greatest sorrow No affliction no trouble no evil should be so bitter to us as sin because sin is the Greatest Evil. It is a sad thing to see our hearts tender and sensibly affected with Lesser evils and troubles and yet to be hard and insensible for sin which is the Greatest of evils It would therefore be our wisdom when any other evils be upon us To turn all our sighs tears and sorrows upon sin It is an Aphorism in Physick Erumpens sanguis vená sectâ sistitur If a man bleed vehemently in one place they let him blood in another and so turn the stream of blood another way It should be our wisdom when our souls bleed and our hearts mourn for other evils to turn all those mourning affections upon sin Let them run in the right chanel Those tears must be wept over again which are not shed for sin Sorrow is like Mercuries Influence Good if it be joyned with a Good Bad if it be joyned with a Bad Planet It is not so much the Sorrow as the Ground and Spring of the Sorrow The object of it is to be taken notice of Sorrow was naught iâ— Judas good in Peter it was naught in Saul good in David In the one it was a Sorrow to death in the other a Sorrow to cure the wound of Death In the one worldly in the other â—â—dly Worldly sorrow causeth death And such is all sorrow thâ— hath not sin for the ground grace for the principle God â—â—t the end Where â—â—n is apprehended the Greatest evil it will have the Greatest sorrow Sorrow to exceed all other sorrows 1. Though not ever in quantity and bulk yet in quality and worth A little Gold is worth a great deal of Earth and Rubbish 2. Though not in strength yet in length and continuance Other sorrows are but like a Land-flood for a time occasioned by a Story which when that is over the flood is down This Godly sorrow doth arise from a spring and having a fountain to continue it it is Permanent when the other is gone This is the difference between the Godly and the other Gods people their sorrows which are Spiritual do arise from a spring their worldly from a storm a tempest The wicked their spiritual sorrows arise from a storm some present vvringing of Conscience fear of vvrath and their vvorldly sorrovvs arise from a spring Where sin is apprehended the Greatest Evil there it shall have the Greatest sorrow 1. A sorrow Proportionable to the Measures and Greatness of Sin 2. A sorrow Proportionable to the Merit and Desert of Sin As the merit of sin is infinite so the sorrovv for it must be an infinite sorrovv Infinite I say Non Actu sed Affectu not in the act and expression but in the Desire and Affection of the soul He vvhose Heart and Eyes dry up together vvhose Expression in Tears and Affection of Sorrow do end together though he had wept a sea of Tears he had not yet truly wept for sin Where sorrovv is Godly it hath Affections of mourning vvhen the expression of mourning ceaseth because every drop of tears doth arise from a spring of tears vvithin As every Act of Faith doth arise from a believing disposition an habit of faith vvithin every act of Love from a Principle of love vvithin So every expression of sorrow from an affection of sorrovv in the spirit Hence vve read 1 Sam. 7.6 their sorrovv is exprest by this Metaphor They drew water as out of a vvell and poured it out before the Lord. Their eyes did not empty so fast as their hearts filled Their eyes could not pour it forth so fast as their hearts did yield it up All their Expressions of Mourning did fall short of those Affections of Sorrow vvhich vvere in the heart This is sorrow for sin A sorrow proportioned to the measure to the demerit of sin A sorrow that doth exceed alâ— other sorrovvs though not in quantity yet in quality th ugh not in strength yet in length and continuance 2. Is sin the Greatest Evil 2. Sin calls for the greatest Hatred Then it calls out for the Greatest Hatred Nothing is properly the Object of Hatred but Evil And that not All kind of Evil but sinful Evil Penal Evils are rather the Objects of Fear than of Hatred because these are Improperly Evil. Nothing indeed is evil but vvhat makes us evil anâ— these may be a means to make us good and therefore are not properly evil and so an Object of hatred Sinful evil is properly the object of hatred because this is properly evil and being the Greatest of Evils should therefore have the greatest of our hatred Psal 92.10 You that love the Lord see that you Hate evil It is not enough for you to be angry vvith sin and displeased vvith sin for so a man may be vvith his Friend one vvhom he loves upon some discourtesie Nor is it enough that you should strike sin for so many do to day and imbrace it to morrovv But you must endeavor to kill sin Hatred labors after the Un-being of that it hates Nothing but the destruction and blood of it vvill satisfie the soul that truly hates sin There is a great deal of mistake in men concerning this point I might shevv you the secret deceits of the spirit concerning it in brief and hovv far those come short of hatred of sin 1. A man may fall out with a sinner by whom he hath been drawn into sin and yet not Hate the sin execute the Traytor and yet like the Treason 2. A man may fall out with himself for sin and yet not hate sin When he hath brought some inconvenience to himself by his sin which otherwise he liketh well enough 3. A man may fall out with sin and yet not hate sin Cast away the coal when burnt with the fire that is in it and yet not offended with the blackness of it or the defilement which he getteth by it 3. Sin calls for the greatest care to avoid it 3. If sin be the Greatest Evil Then it calls out for the Greatest Care to avoid it Men are naturally afraid to fall into evil What study vvhat care vvhat endeavors to prevent Evil Did you apprehend sin to be the Greatest of Evils there vvould be no less care to avoid sin You vvould endeavor to walk closely and exactly with God to
Husband vers 15.2 An earnest desire of further communication of his Spirit and communion with himself vers 16. In Christs answer there is contained a Promise of his gracious acceptation of such fruits as the Church shall yeeld him vers 17. This verse which I have read to you is a branch of the second part scil The gracious profession of Christ his love to his Church of which if I read no more than this verse wee see enough set down to astonish and amaze us all Thou hast ravished my Heart my Sister my Spouse Quid mirum si regnum caelorum vim patitur c What wonder if the Kingdome of Heaven suffer violence when the King of Heaven himself suffers violence Christ doth here speak in the manner of a Lover whose heart is exceedingly ravished and taken with the beauties vertues and graces of his Spouse Give mee leave to explain the words and wee come to Doctrin 1. Thou hast ravished What is meant by that The expression is great that the God of Heaven should bee so taken even to ravishment with his Church and people And yet let mee tell you the word speaks more than any expression can utter The word is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which these interpretations 1. Aben-Ezra translates rapuisti animam meam Thou hast taken away thou hast stolne away my Heart my Sister my Spouse 2. Rab. Sol. Traxisti animam meam ad te Thou hast drawn my heart to thee 3. Talmudici prisci Copulasti cor meum cum tuo Thou hast coupled my heart to thee thou hast One-ed my heart as if hee should say thou hast so joyned mee as thou and I have but One heart 4. Another Vulnerasti cor meum Thou hast wounded my Heart my Sister my Spouse 5. The seventy They 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excordiasti Eripuisti cor meum Thou hast unhearted mee thou hast taken my heart from mee And here our Translators Thou hast ravished my Heart All which laid together they are mighty expressions setting down to wonder and amazement the exceeding love of Christ to the Church Thou hast ravished wounded stolne away drawn my heart to thee 2. My Sister my Spouse Wee will joyn them both together both are spoken of the same person the Church of God which Christ calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Sister Because shee is the Daughter of his Father in Heaven and fellow-heir of Glory with Christ 2. Spouse Because Christ had married himself unto her 3. With one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck Not to postil on them 1. With one of thine eyes with one chain i. e. with thy Graces thy Wisdome and Knowledge thy Faith and other Graces As if hee had said I need not to behold both thine eyes the beauty of one of them is so great it takes my heart And I need not to behold all thine Ornaments even one chain alone hath taken my heart and drawn my heart to thee Christ hath an high account of the least of his peoples Graces Thus having explained the words wee come to the conclusions Thou hast ravished my heart Doct. 1 1. That the Heart of Jesus Christ is exceedingly taken with his Church and people Thou hast ravished Doct. 2 2. That which doth so indear the Heart of Christ to them that which takes the Heart of Christ is the beauties and graces of his people Doct. 3 3. The least Grace of his Church doth greatly take the Heart of Christ One Eye one Chain Wee think hee cannot love us wee are so weak in Grace but it is his own though never so weak and hee can love wee will fall upon the first of these Doct. 1 That the Heart of Jesus christ is exceedingly taken with his Church and People In the prosecution of this wee will shew 1. What is meant by his Heart being taken 2. Wee will shew that Christs Heart is thus taken 3. Wee will shew upon what grounds his Heart is so much taken with his Church and so come to apply For the first What is meant by his Heart being taken And here I must tell you in the entrance that wee cannot sufficiently express it It is one of the highest expressions in the Book of God towards his Church that the Heart of Jesus Christ should bee taken with his Church An expression which if wee but let lye upon our spirit the weight thereof would sink us shall I say hee doth dearly and entirely love us nothing is too much to do nothing is too great to suffer nothing too much to give to us hee doth exceedingly love us Shall I say his heart doth exceedingly delight in us his soul doth exceedingly rejoyce over us above all the World Shall I say wee are exceeding precious in his eyes wee are choice in his esteem Isa 43.3 4. such as he will give the World for such as hee will give himself for if hee can but gain us hee esteems hee hath riches enough and reward enough for it Shall I say his desires are towards us hee in a manner desires no more than us shall I say hee thinks himself happy in the injoyment of us wee are reward enough for all his pains and all his labour Why all this and more the Scripture saith and all this is yet short of this expression his Heart is taken with us This the next particular will give us further insight into 2. That the Heart of Jesus Christ is exceedingly taken I may demonstrate to you by diverse arguments That which the thoughts are taken up withall that the heart must needs bee taken withall This is plain you know a man will busie his thoughts about that which hee cares for wouldest thou know what thou lovest Vis nosse quod ames attende quod cogites Bern. see what thy thoughts are upon As if hee had said there can bee no better character to discover what your hearts are taken withall than to examine what your thoughts are most taken up withall for what the thoughts are taken up withall the heart is taken withall Now the thoughts of Christ are exceedingly taken up with his Church and people Wee are ever upon his thoughts There hath not been a moment from all eternity wherein wee have been out of the thoughts of Christ Before the World was wee were on his thoughts hee thought on us to everlasting life loved us with everlasting love After wee had lost our selves wee were then on his thoughts when hee interposed himself between God and us to stay his wrath from us Before wee came into the World wee were on his thoughts witness all the Scripture in which are such expressions of his heart to us After hee came into the World you see wee were the whole of his thoughts wee lay ever upon his heart you see by his doings sufferings prayer for us Read the 14 15 16 17. of John See how his thoughts were taken up with us when hee was to leave us what love
hee shewed what care hee expressed to us what earnest prayers hee put up to God for us read Joh. 17.9 to the end of the chapter Yea and what provision hee made for us hee would not leave us comfortless but send his Spirit to comfort us to guide us And now hee is in Heaven are not his thoughts on us did hee not tell us hee went to prepare a place for us hee went to do our work to intercede for us to plead for us The Church of Christ is never a moment off from the thoughts of Christ Isa 49.15 16. And therefore his Heart is exceedingly taken with his Church That which a man doth affectionately and indearedly love that the heart is much taken withall bee it Husband bee it Wife Child the World whatever Now Christ doth exceedingly love his Church wee are said to bee the dearly beloved of his soul Jer. 12.7 and read here hee loves us beyond all expressions so God loved the World Joh. 3.16 so Christ hee loves us beyond all conceptions Ephes 3.19 it is a love which passeth knowledge In the former verse the Apostle went about to measure this love height depth breadth length But hee found his line too short his measure would not reach therefore hee concludes it a love beyond all knowledge A man may express much love but hee may conceive of more than hee can express Why this love of Christ is above all wee can conceive above knowledge It is an infinite love It is I say an infinite love which is more than if I should lay all the bowels in the Creature together c. A greater love than all Witness what is done suffered and yet love above all And therefore Christs Heart is exceedingly taken with his Church and People That which a man doth glad his heart with and which hee rejoyces over hee must needs bee taken with A man will not rejoyce over the injoyment of that hee loves not The rich Fool rejoyced over his full Barns but it was because his heart was taken with his possessions Joy is a fruit of the hearts being taken with any thing you rejoyce in your riches Husbands c. in the possession of what ever your heart loves Now the Heart of Jesus Christ doth exceedingly rejoyce over his Church and People they are his by donation God gave them to him they are his by purchase hee laid down his life for them if wee lay down our life to compass a thing sure wee rejoyce in it Wee are his Riches wee his Treasure his Ammies Ruhama's and Hephzibah's his precious ones his People his Spouse and therefore hee must needs rejoyce over us Isa 62.4 5. Thou shalt bee called Heph-zibah for the Lord delighteth in thee yea as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride so shall thy God rejoyce over thee Zeph. 3.17 The Lord will rejoyce over thee with Joy hee will rest in his love hee will joy over thee with singing And therefore seeing Christ doth rejoyce Ergo is the Heart of Jesus Christ exceedingly taken c. That which a man doth delight to converse withall that his heart is taken withall Now Christ doth delight exceedingly to converse with his Saints hee loves to speak to them and hee loves to hear them speak to him Cant. 2.14 Oh my Dove let mee see thy countenance let mee hear thy voice for thy countenance is comely and thy voice is sweet When the Disciples are talking of him Christ joyns himself to them Ergo is the Heart of Christ much taken When the two were going to Emmaus Luk. 24.15 Christ comes and joynes with them delights in their talk Mal. 3.16 when Gods people were gathered together the Lord hearkened and heard 5. That which a man thinks nothing to dear for nothing too much to give for to do for or suffer for that the heart must needs bee taken withall But thus it was with Christ to his Church 1. Hee suffered in his Body those spittings buffetings scourgings c. that was dear to him which hee gave his heart bloud for 2. Hee suffered in his soul even the wrath of God for her 3. Hee emptied himself of his own glory took upon him the form of a servant with all our infirmities penal not culpable as it is said of Jacob hee counted all his labours but little for Rachel because hee loved her Gen. 29.20 6. That which a mans soul is satisfied and contented withall in the injoyment of it that a mans heart is taken withall If a mans heart were not taken with the love of a thing hee would never think himself happy never bee contented and satisfied with the injoyment of it Whereas on the contrary where the soul is filled with satisfaction in the injoyment of it what ever it bee the heart is taken with it Now you shall see that the Heart of Jesus Christ is fully satisfied and contented with the injoyment of his Church though it have cost him so much pains so much sweat and bloud yet the injoyment of it is reward enough to him It is the reward which God promised him for his work Psal 2.8 Ask of mee and I will give thee the Heathen c. here merit of mee lay down thy life and I will then give thee a Church a People And that which doth satisfie Isa 53 11. Hee shall see of the travel of his soul and bee satisfied hee shall see the fruit of his sufferings in the saving of souls and shall bee satisfied with it It shall bee reward enough to him for all pains that souls are saved Isa 62.11 his reward is with him and his work before him hee is the salvation of his people And this is that which some think is meant by the joy set before him in Heb. 12.2 Who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross despised the shame Which Joy saith an holy and learned Interpreter is nothing else but the fruit of his sufferings the redemption and salvation of his Church and People according to that in Isa 53.12 Therefore will the Lord divide him a portion with the great and hee shall divide the spoil with the strong because hee hath poured out his soul unto death And it is an Interpretation may bee backed Well then seeing whatever the heart of man rests satisfied in the injoyment of the heart is taken withal And that Christ doth rest satisfied in the injoyment of his Church and People though it cost so much to obtain it Ergo needs must it follow that the Heart of Jesus Christ is exceedingly taken That which a man is exceeding chary of dear of his heart must needs bee taken with those things which take our hearts wee are exceeding dear and chary of them If it bee the World Husband Wife Child a man is exceeding chary of them Deal gently with the young man Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 his heart was taken with him and hee was chary of him Now Christ is exceeding chary over his Church
is no Grace in Christ appertaining to our sanctification in general which is not in some weak degree fashioned in us And hence the work of Grace and Regeneration is called a forming of Christ in the soul And whiles wee behold him wee are said to bee changed into his likenesse 2 Cor. 3.18 And wee are said to have the same Spirit in us that is in Christ Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ hee is none of his And the same Mind is in us that is in Christ Phil. 2.6 There is a bastardly holiness a painted false beauty which is spun out of our selves wrought out of our own Principles with which wee shall lye down with sorrow at last Sparkles of our own kindling But the true holinesse flows from Christ and is imparted from Christ to his Church whereby shee is beautifull with his beauties adorned with his Graces And being thus the Heart of Jesus Christ must needs bee taken with her Thus you see the second Reason why the Heart of Christ is so much taken Because shee is adorned with his Beauties cloathed with his Righteousness adorned and beautified with his Graces which ingageth the Heart of Jesus Christ Hee that loved us in our own blood cannot chuse but love us as wee have his beauty put upon us hee cannot but love himself and delight in himself where-ever hee doth behold himself why these beauties are peeces of himself part of his beauty his rayes wherewith hee himself is adorned And hee cannot look upon any soul cloathed with his Righteousness and beautified with his Graces but his heart is exceedingly taken with them Cant. 6.4 5. Turn away thine eyes from mee for they have overcome mee Christ seems as not able to bear the view of such a beauty Turn away thine eyes c. 2. Because they are the persons upon whom God intended to advance the great design of glorifying the Riches and Freeness of his Grace and Mercy Now those whom God hath intended for so great purposes as these are which are the greatest Purposes that ever came upon his heart his heart must needs bee taken withall You know the more glorious and excellent the End to which any thing serves the more precious is that thing in our eyes Now wee serve for no other End but the expression of his Mercy the advancement of the Glory of his Free-Grace which are Ends as high as himself Purposes as great as himself And therefore God is not only taken with the expression of it but with the persons upon whom hee doth expresse it Therefore I say is the Heart of God so exceedingly taken with his Church Indeed God may single out some men for the purposes of expressing the glory of his Power and Justice the advancement of them and yet God hate the men as you see it plain in Pharaoh who for this cause was set up to advance his Power But God never singled out any to bee the subjects on whom hee doth intend to advance the Riches of his Grace and Mercy but his Heart is exceedingly taken with them Those who serve to such high purposes as these and are designed to such high ends as these The advancement of the Glory of his Grace and Free-Mercy which is the most precious attribute of God and which some think is called his Glory Exod. 33.18 Let mee see thy Glory and if the 19. verse may interpret it that Glory was his Mercy and his Mercy his Glory and therefore such must needs bee precious in his esteem Now his People are they whom God hath singled out for these great purposes for the Expression of more Mercy than wee can express nay than wee can conceive nay than wee can beleeve at all times but weakly at best And therefore the Heart of Jesus Christ must needs bee taken with them My Brethren If God had not singled out some to express himself thus upon God had not been known in the World for there is nothing so much reveals God to bee God as his Mercy and Grace And therefore God singled out a few upon whom hee would advance the riches of his Grace that his Mercy and in that himself might bee made known in the World As Paul saith of himself 1 Tim. 1.16 that hee obtained Mercy that hee might stand up a Pattern of all long-suffering As if hee had said Wee should not have known how patient God is wee should not have apprehended how long-suffering God is to sinners if hee had not had such an example of patience such a pattern of all long-suffering as I was So wee should not have known how Mercifull how Good God is if the choicest attribute of God had been lost to us like as if a great River had run under ground not discerned if God had not singled out some upon whom hee might have expressed the Riches of his Mercy And those whom God doth intend to bee the subjects upon whom hee may advance so high designs so great purposes must needs bee exceeding precious to him My Brethren you that are the People of God are such as hee hath intended to advance his Mercy and Glory of Free-Grace upon You are they hee sent Christ to dye for the greatest work that ever was wrought in the World You are they whom hee reared the fabrick of Heaven for You are they in whom hee intends to delight and with whom hee will solace himself for ever And God looks upon us now not as wee are but what he intends to make us Hee sees to the utmost of his design on you to eternity and loves you now with that love If God should look upon us as wee are hee might see enough in us to withdraw his heart from us or if not yet enough to cool and quench his affections towards us being there is so much blacknesse with our beauty so much deformity with our comlinesse so much corruption with our Graces Nay so much blacknesse and so little beauty and so much corruption and so little Grace But hee looks upon us not as wee are in our selves but as wee are in Christ and not what wee are for present but what hee intends to make us in Christ Hee looks to the end of his design even to that which hee hath designed us to When wee shall bee presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing holy and without blemish Ephes 5.27 When wee shall bee satisfied with his likeness Psal 17.15 When wee shall bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angels nay like unto God Glorious with his Glory as now Gracious with his Grace And therefore God having intended us to such high purposes and looking upon us for present what hee purposes to make us and what hee hath designed us to needs must the Heart of Jesus Christ bee taken with us Thus having shewed you what it is to have the Heart of Christ taken with the Church and proved unto you that the Heart of Christ is
A loss in love better than an injoyment in displeasure More dye in the Flood than in the Ebbe Though prosperity bee more cordial yet afflictions are more physical Wee often surfeit of Cordials when Physick doth us good And a sanctified cross is better than an unsanctified comfort c. 4. Consectary If the Heart of Christ bee taken with his Church and People 1. Then see what a fearful thing sin is which doth cause God oftentimes to deal hardly with that which his soul loves so dearly God doth oftentimes afflict and punish his Church sharply and severely which yet his heart is much taken withall And sin is the cause And therefore what a fearful thing is sin How grievous would it bee to you to bee forced to take hard courses with a Child your heart is taken withall though it bee to do him good Why God is taken with his Church and do you not think it moves God to afflict and chastise it Wee would fain do all the good wee can to the persons wee love Oh! wee can never do enough for them Why so it is with God to his Church Hee loves his Church and willingly would hee do any thing for it And it is the grief of his soul that hee must take contrary courses with us to do us good that hee must bee forced to afflict and chastise them hee loves so dearly to bring them to Life by Death to Good by Evil to a Crown by Crosses When God parted with the ten Tribes you see what a conflict there was in him how his bowels stirred and were moved towards them notwithstanding all their sins Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim My heart is turned within mee my repentings are kindled together How loath was God to seal to a Bill of Divorce His heart loved her though shee was an Adultress to him And when Judah did justifie the sin of her Sister Israel exceeding her in Idols what trouble was it to God to cast her off How willing was hee to receive her after all her adulteries Jer. 3.1 Thou hast plaid the Harlot c. And when shee would go on in her adulteries yet how unwilling still was hee to give her up till at last it grew so high that there was no Remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 hee must needs do it And when hee had done it how exceedingly was Gods heart moved that hee must bee forced to deal so hardly with them hee loved so dearly read Jer. 12.7 8.9 c. See how God laments over the loss of that which their sins would not give him leave to keep I have forsaken mine house I have left mine heritage I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies And what was it that forced God to deal so hardly with them hee loved so dearly Why it was sin 2 Chron. 36.15 16. Hee sent Messengers because hee had compassion on them They mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and mis-used his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his People till there was no Remedy And which of these hath remained to bee done among us How hath our Sun been darkened the Stars lost their light How many burning and shining lights have been taken out of our Candlesticks and planted in others How many blown out by the rage of wicked men Did wee not justly fear by reason of that Idolatry Superstition Prophanation of Sabbaths Persecution of the Saints and Messengers of God that our day was gone our night approaching Did wee not fear that wee were come up to this that there was no remedy That God should have opened the Sluces of his wrath and let in a Sea of his displeasure upon us made us an Aceldema a field of Blood long before this Ah my Brethren Never Nation never Church from whom God hath shewed himself more unwilling to depart and leave than England Look upon the passages of us to God and his wayes towards us and see how unwilling hee declared himself God hath upheld us as if hee himself should fall if wee did not stand as if his Glory could not stand if wee fall as if his Glory had depended upon our preservation And how can wee better answer Gods dealings towards us than to abandon that cast out that which was our fear and gave God just occasion to destroy us Let us now do by our sins as the Israelites did by their Leaven There was 1. Inquisitio fermenti There was search made for it So let us search out that Leaven of sin Superstition Idolatry which have sowred our Kingdome and laid us open to the stroak of Gods wrath Search your houses search the land search your hearts 2. Ejectio fermenti 3. Execratio fermenti And let all bee found in us if ever wee would have a Passover Otherwise our Preservations from former will bee but Reservations to future and worser evils sin will cause God to punish those hee loves 5. Consectary If the Heart of Christ bee so much taken with his Church Then let this discover to you into what you way resolve all the passages of Gods love to his Church and People even into his own Love His Grace is the rise and his Glory is the end There are two main streams in which the goodness of God doth run to his Church 1. The higher and 2. The lower But both these streams have the same Head the same spring from whence they come even his own Love 1. For the higher or upper streams and these are four 1. Election 2. Justification 3. Sanctification 4. Glorification And all these arise from the great Abyss and Sea of his mercy toward his Church His heart is taken with us and therefore 1. Hee chose us Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord loved you not nor chose you because yee were more in number than any people but because the Lord loved you So God did not set his heart on us because wee were better than others for there are others in the World who might have been made more lovely His heart is taken with us therefore Operamur ex Justificatione non in Justificationem 2. Hee justifies us Wee could do nothing to strike off any former score for all wee did set us further in debt it was but an adding of sin to sin guilt to guilt the sin of our righteousness to the sin of our unrighteousness Covering a blot with a blot as Isa 30.1 No it did arise from this His heart was taken with us therefore did hee justifie us Tit. 3.7 Wee are justified freely by his Grace The like Rom. 3.24 Rom. 4.5 All which shew that into this all the expressions of his love are resolved His heart is taken with us therefore 3. Hee did sanctifie us Our holiness is not wrought out of our own Principles spun out of own bowels
weary of the exercise of his Mercie and therefore hee goes on to adde Mercy to Mercy Wee say the Bee gives Hony naturally the sting only when shee is forced to it So God it is natural to him to shew Mercy but hee is provoked to exercise Judgement Hence hee is called the Father of Mercies begets Mercy Mercy is the Issue of God most natural to God and being so hence Mercy pleaseth him Actions of Nature are Actions of Delight God is never so well pleased with any carriage towards his Church as those which are in the wayes of mercy Nay if hee do afflict his Church it is to shew Mercy Mercy is the end of all his dealings towards his Church and therefore Mercy being so natural so pleasing and that the Mercy of God is the ground of his expressions of love to us as it is though our sins may draw out the expressions of his Justice yet his Mercy doth arise from himself Hence wee may have a ground to expect yet greater things than ever 6. Consectary If the heart of Christ bee so much taken with his Church Then see with what confidence wee may pray for the good of the Church of Christ Christs heart is taken with it A man may pray for himself and doubt of hearing because hee is not able to make out his particular interest in Gods Love But if a man pray for the good of the Church hee is sure to have hearing because the heart of Christ is taken with it Let us then make use of all our interest and acquaintance in Heaven in the behalf of the Church at this time 1. It is a thing which God commands 2. A thing which God expects 3. A thing which God rewards 4. A thing which God threatens the neglect of Much might bee said to move you Your good and your evil lies in the Churches As Jeremy used this as an argument why to pray for the civil estate of Babylon because in the peace thereof they should have peace if theirs in Babylons how much more ours in Sions 7. Consectary If the heart of Christ bee so much taken with his Church Then what will become of those who are enemies to his Church and People Is the heart of Christ so much taken with his Church and People Then woe bee to them that offend his Church If you touch them you touch the apple of his eye Gods People are dear to God They are his Spouse his Children his Members purchased with the price of his bloud his inheritance his Portion all his commings-in Those hee dyed for shed his bloud for one drop whereof is worth a thousand Worlds And therefore those whom hee was content to shed his bloud for certainly hee doth more esteem than all the World besides Wee say whiles the Iron is in its own nature you may handle it and meddle with it but if once the nature of fire bee added unto it if you touch it it will burn you So whiles the Children of God are but the Children of men you may deal with them as with other men but if once the nature of God bee stamped on them the Image of Christ bee drawn upon them it will bee dangerous for you to meddle with them least fire break out of their mouth to devoure you Wee read Zach. 12.3 God said hee would make his Church a burthensome stone c. St. Jerom on that place saith it was a Metaphor taken from the custome of the Jews who to try their strength had at the gates of the City great stones if they could lift them well and good but if not they crushed themselves with them So God will make his Church a burthensome stone Whoever lifteth at it shall crush himself whoever seeks to hurt it shall ruine himself You see it in Pharaoh Haman Achitophel Julian Haman lifted so long at this stone that it fell on him at last and crushed him Pharaoh followed the Children of Israel so long that hee could not return at last but was overwhelmed in the Waters Julian attempted it so long till at last himself was overthrown Hee that shoots in a Peece over-charged strikes down himself not that which hee aimed at Hee who intends evil against the Church shoots in a Peece over-charged and is sure to bee struck down with his own recoil Wee see it in our dayes They who have digged pits for us have fallen into them themselves They who laid snares for us in them is their own foot taken They have but made Rods for their own backs paved a way to their own destruction digged graves to bury themselves in seeking our ruine The Scepter of Christ hath been too strong for the Principality of Satan hee hath a Rod of Iron a Scepter of Power Eris sub pedibus an arm of strength to crush in peeces all his enemies And therefore as Pilates wife said of Christ Have nothing to do with that just man So I to thee seest thou a godly man beware of having any thing to do with him by way of offence For their Angels alway behold the face of their heavenly Father 8. Consectary If the heart of Christ bee so much taken with his Church Then see here the Ground of Acceptation of the services of his people God being taken with the Persons is taken with the performances of his People Hee had respect to Abel and then to his Offering Christ his heart was taken with the person and then with his performance Hence Christ saith to his Church Cant. 2.14 Let mee see thy Countenance let mee hear thy voice for thy Countenance is comely and thy voice is sweet Indeed if Acceptation should arise from the worthiness of our duties wee should never look to bee accepted There is so much sin in our services so much evil in our good so much coldness in our best heats so much formality in our chiefest power so much deadness in our best life so much of the World so much of our earth in our imployments for Heaven And if Acceptation should arise from any worth in them wee should bee sure to miss of it But arising from his good will and Mercy to us his heart being first taken with us is taken with our performances Hence the Assurance of Acceptation Nay and not only of our purest and perfectest services but even of our poor and imperfect duties such as wee throw away for dead and cast prayers Cant. 5.1 Hee drinks the Milk as well as the Wine Wee look upon a prayer accompanied with deadness distraction as a cast prayer Oh! say wee how can God accept of such impure imperfect services But hence it ariseth not from the excellency of your prayers but from the indulgency of his Grace It is the voice of his Spouse though never so weak It is the cry of a Member of his though never so faint And hee can put his odours his incense to them though never so impure and make them acceptable Rev. 8.4
Use of Examination But now my Brethren it will bee a great matter of inquiry whether wee have an interest in this love As one said when hee looked upon the Rainbow and in that read Gods Covenant never to drown the world again Ah! but saith hee what is this to mee If I bee drowned I may bee drowned though the World bee not drowned So may you say You tell us of the exceeding love of Christ to his Church But what if I bee not of his Church what if I have no interest in his Love what 's all this to mee But then I suppose you are desirous to know whether you have an interest in this love It concerns your everlasting good to have an interest and your present comfort to know you have an interest Now in this inquiry I would have you 1. To examin your hearts thoroughly Deceits lye low A false evidence is the fruit of a slight and superficial search 2. In your inquiry let not any thing which is compatible with any who have no interest in this love bee a bottom on which your soul resteth I have told you sometimes and tell you again Whatever another man may have and do and yet have no interest in this love of Christ cannot bee a sufficient evidence for thee that thou having or doing that hast an interest Acquaint thy self with the most clearing and proving evidences 3. Take thy evidences from the carriage of the Spirit neither at the best nor at the worst but the middle way which is most thy self If thou look upon thy self at the worst thou mayest bee discouraged If at the best thou mayest bee deceived Many have had such affections in an Heat which in cold blood have nothing of them 4. Judge not of thy self by particular actions and carriages but look upon the universal frame and bent of thy spirit No certain rule is to bee established upon a particular instance whether good or bad I might lay down other rules to observe in your inquiry But wee will come to the inquiry it self Wouldest thou know whether thou art one with whom Christs heart is taken See whether thou art of his Church Art thou one who art taken out of the World Art thou one whom God hath called one whom hee hath justified one whom hee hath regenerated sanctified Art thou one who art washed purged renewed These might bee in the general but are too obscure But I will name you but one and it is a plain one and none more demonstrative Wouldest thou know whether the heart of Christ bee taken with thee why then see Art thou one whose heart is taken with Christ If Christ bee taken with thee thou art taken with Christ. It is a mutual a reciprocal taking Whatever God doth to the soul it makes an impression in the soul of the like to God God delights in us and thereupon wee come to delight in him God knows us and thereupon wee know him Joh. 10.14 God apprehends us and thereupon wee apprehend him Hee chuseth us and thereupon wee chuse him Hee loves us and thereupon wee love him 1 Joh. 4.19 His heart is taken with us and thereupon our hearts come to bee taken with him Our love to him is nothing else but radius amoris Dei erga nos in Deum reflexus a beam of Gods love reflected back upon God So that this now is a true character of Christs heart being taken with thee if thy heart bee taken with Christ Quest But you will say How shall I know whether my heart bee taken with Christ Ans For the answer of this because upon this foundation I will lay the whole weight of this discourse in this Use 1. A heart taken with Christ is a heart which knows Christ and hath tasted of Christ Are you such as know Christ Invisa possumus amare incognita nequaquam For knowledge of Christ precedes the love of Christ Hee who doth not know cannot love Things unseen may but things unknown cannot bee loved 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen yee love but never not known All love to Christ doth arise from discoveries and manifestations of Christ to the soul Either from the discoveries of those beauties those attractive excellencies that are in him or with that from the discovery of his heart and good will towards us Now blind men cannot discern of beauties nor ignorant men of the beauties of Christ Christ is to them as a Mine of Gold covered over with earth and rubbish as a Bed of Pearl and Diamonds hid with an heap of sand as a glorious Messiah under a contemptible outside And wanting eyes to see through the Veil of his Flesh through the bark and outside of his Humanity they can behold no beauty in him As Isaiah speaks of carnal men Isa 53.2 When you behold him you see no beauty in him that shall make him desired Now then art thou one who knows Christ did ever God reveal him to thee in a promise what apparitions hath Christ made to thy soul what manifestations what discoveries that may evidence to thee that thou knowest him There are four manifestations or discoveries of Christ to the soul which do exceedingly take the soul Indeed every apparition of Christ doth take the heart but at these times the heart is not only wooed and won but overcome with his sweetness and glory 1. After the soul hath long lyen bedrid in sorrow been overwhelmed in the deeps of Legal Humiliation and have been broken and shattered in peeces with consternation and apprehensions of sin and Gods wrath for it Then a discovery of Christ and apparition of Christ to the soul is a resurrection from the dead When Christ comes by a promise into the soul and displaies his glory the Riches and Greatness and Freeness of his Grace as to Moses The Lord God gracious and mercifull long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 I I am hee who forgiveth thy iniquities c. Isa 43.25 Then is the soul beyond expression inamoured with him now it is overcome with his beauties and excellencies and even ravished with his love And this is the first eminent taking of the heart with Christ 2. When the soul hath been upon the stormy Sea of temptations and desertions hath long laboured under the sense of Gods withdrawings and absence from the soul And Christ returns again breaking the dark and thick cloud and shining into the soul Who can then expresse the warmth the comfort the revivings the holy heats and flames of love and affection to Christ You see how it was with Job I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear But now mine eyes see thee And certainly the sight of his beauties did take him those eyes which saw him were like a burning-glasse to the heart to kindle the flames and fervors of holy affections towards him again You see how it was with
the Church Cant. 3.4 Christ had withdrawn himself Shee makes inquiry after him but could not hear of him At last after all her trouble Christ appears to her soul And you may read there how exceedingly her heart was taken with his return I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go untill I had brought him into my Mothers house Cant. 3.4 3. When the soul doth sit down to contemplate and read over the beauties and loves of Christ when it is in the contemplations of those surpassing excellencies and admired sweetness which is in Christ And Christ whiles the soul is busy in feeding on these thoughts doth make a discovery of himself to the soul makes the soul to see a vision of his glory Oh! how is the heart taken with him it is even drowned and sunk in a Sea of glory Ah! what clasping what imbraces what loves are there then betwixt Christ and the soul It is impossible for mee to express or for mee or you to conceive It is a vision of glory the porch of Heaven 4. When the soul is under outward pressures afflictions prison sickness upon death-bed Then a visit of Christ a discovery of himself doth exceedingly ravish and take the heart Here is kindness indeed riches for the poor liberty for a prisoner a cordial for the sick Here is all in Christs manifestation Well then wouldest thou know whether thy heart bee taken with Christ dost thou know Christ didst thou ever see the face of Christ in a promise what apparitions hath Christ made to thee what manifestations within thee in the work of Grace what manifestations to thee in the beginning of glory You who know not Christ cannot love Christ 2. Sign An heart taken with Christ is not excessively taken with any thing else The sweetness of Christ doth overcome all the sweetness in other things in the Creatures Vincit dulcedo dulcedinem As it is nothing but ignorance which makes men admire any thing here on earth if men knew the excellencie of other things they could not admire such trifles as they do So here it is nothing but ignorance of better things which makes us dote upon things here below Did wee see his beauties all the World would bee blackness Did wee see his fulness all the World were but emptiness I say did wee but know the excellencies and beauties of Christ and the satisfying-sweetness of his love Nothing should have a room in our hearts save hee only The higher wee ascend toward Heaven the lesser will the things on earth appear If you go to the top of the Mountains men would appear but small but if it were possible to go up to the Sun the Mountains would appear nothing The love of Christ hath a raising-power working our hearts as high as Heaven and being there all things here below are of no account and esteem to the soul So saith Paul a man on fire with the love of Christ Yea doubtless I count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ And do count them but dung that I may win Christ Phil 3.8 Well then they whose hearts are taken with the Creature taken with the World taken with sin and vanity These are too gross to bee taken with spiritual loves 3. Sign What the heart is taken withall the soul seems to live more in it than in it self Do but examine it in any thing the heart is taken withall whether your comforts your delights your happiness lies not in them The Worldling hee lives in his possessions The Voluptuous man in his pleasures And can no more live out of them than the Fish out of the water the Salamander out of fire So here If thy heart bee taken with Christ then thou livest more in Christ than thou doest in thy self I live yet not I but Christ saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 Thou canst no more subsist without him than the Beam without the Sun than the spark without the fire Nay no more live without him than the body without meat nay the body without the soul Christ is to the soul as the soul is to the body Now as the body cannot live without the soul So the soul cannot live but in Christ who is Anima Animae the Soul of the Soul for mee to live is Christ I say if thy heart bee taken with Christ thou livest in Christ more than in thy self Thy life thy comforts thy happiness they are all folded up in him As Judah said of Benjamin Jacobs life was bound up in the Lads life Gen. 44.30 So the Soul of Christ my life my joyes my comforts they are all bound up in thee All my fresh springs are in thee saith God of his Church Psal 87.7 And whom have I in Heaven but thee and in earth in comparison of thee Psal 73.25 saith the inamoured soul of God his heart was taken with God and hee lived in God more than in himself It was the speech of Luther who being in a great distress and spirituall trouble had writ about the walls and table in his study in great letters Vivit A friend comes to him and demands the reason Hee replies Vivit Christus si non non optarem unam horam vivere His life was in Christ Hee lived more in Christ than in himself Which makes the life of a Christian so safe none can hurt him and so sweet too being a life in Christ out of himself The best of others lyes in themselves but the best of a Christian those precious things in him lies out of himself and lies in Christ 4. Sign What the heart is taken withall that the comforts of the life are upheld by from day to day Wee have many a weary step to go and can no more go without comfort than Elijah without food Comfort is to the soul as the soul is to the body As the body without the soul is dead so is the soul of men without comfort Now would you know what your heart is taken withall see what the comfort of your life is upheld by from day to day Is Jesus Christ the comfort of your life is hee the joy of your hearts Ex quovis fonte Wicked men have varity of springs If one bee drye they go to another But the Saints have but one Christ And if hee bee gone all is gone 5. Sign An heart taken with Christ hath high appretiations and valuations of Christ It values and esteems him above all the comforts and contentments in Heaven and Earth Psal 73 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and in the Earth in comparison of thee Here is the breathing of a soul taken with Christ Hee prizeth Christ above all the comforts and contents in the World For the better unfolding of this sign there is 1. Something considerable in the Act. 2. Something in the Object Christ prized 3. Something in the Measure above all the comforts contents c. 1.
dear are you precious to him let him bee dear and precious to you Whatever God doth to the soul it makes an impression in the soul of the same to God Hee loves us and thereupon wee love him so his heart is taken with us thereupon our hearts are taken with him You see here the mutual Indeerments betwixt Christ and his Church Cant. 5.16 Pauls heart was so much taken with Christ that hee was ever in his thoughts ever upon his tongue Hee names him sixteen or seventeen several times in one chapter 1 Cor. 1.1 as Chrysostome notes Peter did but let a word of Christ fall and it is a door to open to further discourse of him Hee takes occasion upon the naming of him to enter into discourse concerning him As you see 1 Pet. 1.7 8. So greatly were their hearts taken with Christ that they could think nothing but Christ speak nothing but Christ No sentence compleat wherein Christ was not part of it Hee was the one of their esteems the one of their affections the one of their desires the one of their delights And so ought hee to bee of ours Get your hearts taken with Christ this will make you Christians indeed this will make you humble active chearful Christians An heart taken with Christ is Heaven on this side Heaven An Heaven on Earth Glory in Clay It is the Paradise where Christ delights to walk It is the House where Christ delights to dwell It is the Throne where Christ sits in his glory It is the Habitation of the blessed Spirit It is the Delight of all the blessed Trinity An heart taken with Christ is the humble soul indeed is the active soul the living soul which breathes forth nothing but love and desire after Christ It is an heart dead to the world for the World can never take that heart which once is taken with Christ All is empty to him whom fulness fills All is blackness where Beauty shines Oh! then get but an heart taken with him and thou livest a Life of Glory and a Life of Grace This is the Porch of Glory the suburbs of Heaven I told you before there were four speciall times in which the heart was taken with Christ I might adde a fifth which I hope is our times When Christ goes forth in his glory for the redemption and deliverance of his Church and punishment of his enemies Then is the heart taken with him 1. Taken with his Wisdome 2. With his Justice 3. With his Power 4. With his Mercy and goodness Which are the visible attributes Christ doth manifest in the deliverance of his Church You see this Isa 25.9 when God went forth in his Glory to deliver his Church the Saints were taken with him even to admiration and speak glorying Loe This is our God wee have waited for him and hee will save us This is the Lord wee have waited and will bee glad in his salvation Here was a Triumphant song of the Church This is our God This who appears so glorious so full of Majesty This This is our God not yours And good reason 1. Christ never appears in his Glory to his Church but hee makes his Church glorious You see when God delivered his Church from Babylon hee did appear in his Glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Zion hee shall appear in his glory And you see as hee appeared in his Glory so hee made the Church glorious Isa 54.11 12 13. speaking of the same time Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones 2. Christ now comes in with the Performance of Promises and needs then must he be glorious and the Church be taken with him If Christ were so glorious when hee made those promises what is hee when hee comes in to make good those Promises Christ hath reserved abundance of his visible Glory to bee seen by his Church now at the end of the World Our Fore-Fathers have seen him but an obscured Christ a persecuted and kept-down Christ Though glorious yet humble-glory But it will not bee long before the Church see him in his Glory when hee comes to destroy that man of sin with the brightness of his comming Blessed bee God for what our eyes see Let us follow him with admiration with the Church This is our God follow with spiritual triumph This is our God And let our hearts bee taken with his goings forth who is set forth in his glory now to redeem and to deliver his Church and People A TREATISE OF THE NATURE AND ROYALTIES OF FAITH BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. And MASTER of C.C.C. LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1656. A TREATISE OF THE NATVRE ROYALTIES OF FAITH JOHN 3.15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life I Have intended with Gods assistance to enter upon a Discourse of Faith which might last till we come to the place where faith shall be no more And although my preaching of faith may end before yet your practising of it must not The just shall live by faith and the just must dye in faith This Text I have chosen for the foundation of this Discourse Which before I come to handle in particular I shall shew what coherence and dependance it hath with the former words For which purpose you must know that this Chapter from the beginning to Verse 22. contains a discourse between Christ and Nicodemus In which you may observe 1. The Occasion of the Discourse 2. The Discourse it self 1. The occasion of this Discourse most likely was a Question put by Nicodemus which is not here expressed but is probably implyed in Verse 3. in that it is said That Jesus Answered and by the Answer you may guess what the Question was It may be such an one as this What he must do that he might be saved 2. We have the Discourse it self Which was partly continued and partly interrupted Continued by Christ and partly interrupted by Nichodemus in divers places by his Objections Cavils and fleshly Reasonings This Text is a part of Christs continued discourse and hath special relation to the foregoing verse As Moses lift up c. so must the Son of man be lifted up Verse 14. That whosoever believeth in him be he who he will Jew or Gentile bond or free Barbarian Scythian c. Or be his sins what they will for nature never so hainous for number never so many for continuance never so long practised Yet whosoever believeth c. if they believe they shall be as readily and certainly pardoned and saved as other less offendors Whosoever believeth In which words we have 1. The Promise 2. The Condition of the Promise Or here is 1. An act Believe 2. The object Christ
you all to tremble And do you think the word Promising Beseeching Intreating could bee so unprofitable if you had Faith to mingle with it to apply it to your selves It is because you bring no Faith to the Word that the Word of God is not a raising a quickening a comforting word to your souls That it is not an inlightening a convincing a converting and a reforming word So for the Sacraments Could these bee so unprofitable could you live under them and get no further victory of lust no more increase of Grace if you did bring and exercise Faith here to fetch from this treasure opened It is necessary to every Ordinance necessary to your Callings necessary to every condition Wee had need of Faith to go through all the conditions of this life Through Prosperity Adversity Sickness Health Losses and Injoyments As the Apostle said of Patience the Daughter so I say of Faith the Mother You have need of Faith that after yee have suffered the Will of God yee might inherit the Promise Heb. 10.36 If our condition bee prosperous wee had need of Faith to see all is for good and need of Faith to inable us to make a good use of it 1. You had need of Faith to see the Tenor of your injoyments That you injoy them not only out of leave but out of Love not only from a general Providence but from a particular Promise 2. You had need of Faith to see further than your present Estates to look upon these pence and farthings as earnests of better things as something in hand for those things in hope 3. You had need of Faith to see the heart of the giver in the gifts his Affection in the expression the God of Mercy in the injoyment of Mercy to taste the fountain in the stream An unbeleeving man hee is not able to clear this Hee may have prosperity in Judgement and heap up Riches to his own destruction All his Wealth may bee but fuel to that fire to make Hell hotter as Oile to kindle the flame of lust so fuel to increase the fire of torment hereafter So if our condition bee troublesome and afflicted wee had need of Faith to see all is for the best and need wee had of Faith to make the best use of it to humble us wean us winne us c. Faith can see good in all making all good to him though in themselves never so evil 3. There are Motives drawn from the excellency of Faith I shall say no more of it but what I have already said and you may read in these several Royalties of Faith already laid down The second branch of the Exhortation is to you that have Faith Let mee exhort you to exercise your Faith 1. In matter of Justification under the guilt of sin Trust in God for Pardon for Justification What though thy sins bee never so great Iniquity Transgression and sin sins of Nature sins of Course sins of Custome what though they bee bloody and crimson sins yet hee can pardon hee can forgive them Thy sins are great his Mercy is greater Thy sins are many His Mercies are more Thy sins have abounded His Mercy superabounds As thou hast been plentiful in sinning so hee is in Mercy for pardoning sin Isa 1.18 Though your sins were as crimson they shall bee made white as Snow though as red as Scarlet they shall bee as Wooll Isa 55.7 Let him return to the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will multiply pardons Though thy sins have weakened the Law and made that unable to save thee or do thee good Rom. 8 3. yet they have not weakened Christ and Grace Christ is able to save to the utmost even to the utmost of your sins the utmost of your doubts and fears Non datur summum malum There is neither quality nor quantity of sins that can pose the fulness of Christ There is not so much evil in sin in all thy sins as there is Mercy in him If thou canst beleeve all things are possible to the Beleever They are Christs own words Mark 9.23 It is possible for thy greatest rebellions to pass away as a cloud and to bee dispelled and scattered as a mist if thou canst beleeve Hee can drown Mountains as well as Molehils 2. Trust in him for Sanctification Christ is full of all Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 hee is able to fill a World of hearts with Grace Thou desirest more love brokenness of heart sincerity fruitfulness Christ is able to afford thee all of all this 3. Trust in him for mortification of thy lusts and corruptions Go over to Christ for power to subdue your lusts and unruly corruptions If ever you would make any happy conquest of lust by Faith have recourse to Christ there you shall have strength against your unruly affections Christ is as able to cleanse as to clear to purge to subdue and take down the power of sin as to take away the guilt of sin 1. Wee have his Prayer to subdue and conquer our lusts to sanctifie our Natures John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth 2. Wee have his Promise I will subdue your iniquities Micah 7.19 Sin shall no more have dominion over you Rom. 6.14 3. Wee have his Power who is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 Hee will trample Satan under our feet 4. Wee have his office and fidelity to appeal unto where wee may complain of our own flesh Hee undertook it as a part of his business to purge and cleanse his people Tit. 2.14 Hee came not only to bee a Redeemer but to bee a Refiner a Purifier Hee gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquitie and to cleanse and purifie us to bee his peculiar people zealous of good works 5. Wee have his Merits as a Sanctuary to fly to as to a Laver as to a Fountain set open to wash us from all sin filthiness and uncleanness Zach. 13.1 4. Exercise Faith in case of Difficulties 1. In case of Temptation Thou art it may bee in many Temptations Exercise Trust. Thou knowest who hath conquered Death Hell who hath overcome Principalities and Powers all the Powers of Darkness who hath led captivity captive and triumphed over all on the Cross Trust therefore in him 1. For support and strength in the Combat Hee hath promised My Grace shall bee sufficient 2 Cor. 12.9 God is faithful who will not suffer you to bee tempted above what you are able But will with the Temptation give an issue that wee may bee able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 2. Trust in him for deliverance out of it and victory over it That hee should conquer the strong man and snatch us as brands out of the fire and tread down Satan under our feet Rom. 16.20 Deliver us out of Temptations 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knâ—ws how to deliver his out of temptations 5. Exercise Trust in case of Desertions When God
will come whoever hath a mind let him come Bee his sins what they will bee for nature for number for continuance yet come and finde acceptance Who is a God like unto thee That pardonest iniquity and passest by the transgressions of the Remnant of thy heritage Thou reteinest not anger for ever for thou delightest to shew mercy Mic. 7.18 There are two things when men are humbled which keep them off from beleeving either 1. A doubt of Gods Power Lord if thou canst 2. A doubt of his Will Lord if thou wilt 1. Some doubt of his Power Oh! Is God able to pardon such a sinner as I have been Can hee pardon so great so bloudy so crimson sins If they were but such or such I should not doubt But being so great how can God pardon 2. Others doubt of his Will They will bee ready to say They know there is a fulness of Power in God hee is able to forgive my sins let them bee what they will bee hee hath a Sea of Mercy able to drown Mountains as well as Mole-hills But alas I doubt of his Will whether hee will shew mercy to such a sinner And therefore if ever you would beleeve you must get an heart convinced of the 1. Fulness and al-sufficiency of Christ to pardon 2. And of the freeness and willingness of Christ to shew mercy to such as do beleeve Dwell upon such considerations as these are being means to beget Faith When men are once convinced of the fulness of God they will come over to him if withall they bee fully convinced of their own need It is possible for a man to beleeve this fulness in Christ and yet not bee able to clear his acceptance Wee read of the Lepers who seeing nothing but death in their condition 2 King 7.3 4 resolved not to stay there but to go over to the Camp of the Assyrians If they save us alive say they wee shall live and if they kill us wee can but dye And there were many reasons which might cause them to expect no better but death from them 1. They were Jews and so their enemies 2. They might bee suspected for Spies 3. If not yet they were Lepers good for no service such as might infect the whole Camp Yet seeing their Misery in want of bread and knowing that there was bread to bee had they resolved to adventure So if there were but a through discovery 1. Of our own Misery a conviction of that 2. Of the fulness and all-sufficiency of Christ it were possible so far to prevail with a man as to throw himself on Christ though hee bee not yet able to clear whether God will ever accept him But when wee take that other consideration in and do think of the sweetness and freeness of Gods love and mercy to accept of poor returning sinners what should then hinder but the soul should come over and beleeve in him And therefore if ever thou wouldest have Faith cherish these thoughts dwell much upon such considerations as these Men say they would beleeve but in the mean time they never cherish such thoughts and considerations as may beget Faith If there bee any thing in the Word which makes against them this they will harbor and cherish they will feed upon the Wormwood and the Gall but if there bee any thing to nourish and cherish Faith this they will suppress They have an ear open to hear what the Law what sin what Satan saith but none to hear what God saith in the Promise They will promote the Devils cause his arguments sharpen his weapons against themselves But they will silence the pleadings of Gods Spirit in them They will look upon the dark side of the Cloud not the light side The threatnings of the Law they will apply and set on with all their might But if Promises come they finde no acceptance with them They will nourish considerations of their sins their guilt their misery by reason of sin and aggravate it to the utmost but the thoughts of Gods Love of the freeness of his Mercy of the promises of pardoning sins these they reject My Brethren This is not the way to get Faith If ever you would beleeve you must study the freeness of Gods Mercy in Christ his willingness to pardon and forgive poor sinners if they come over to him 2. The second means for the strengthening of Faith are these 1. Make use of the Ordinances 1. The Word 2. The Sacraments 3. Prayer 1. The Word Wee say The same way things are begotten the same way they are nourished Corpora naturalia eodem modo quo generantur nutriuntur Faith is begotten by the Word and Faith is nourished by the Word It is both the Begetter and the Nourisher both the Breeder and the Feeder of Faith Rom. 15.4 1 Joh. 4. 2. The Sacraments which were instituted and set up for this end to increase your Faith God knew hee had to deal with unbeleeving persons and therefore hee doth not only give the Promise his Covenant and Oath for the confirmation of us but to all these hee annexed his Seal the Sacraments Mountains upon Mountains to confirm us A man would not desire so much of any honest man as God hath here condiscended to for the confirmation of our Faith One would have thought his bare word had been enough considering the Truth and sufficiency of the Person that spake it But hee hath given his Oath Nay but hee rested not there but his Seal too The Sacraments And therefore make use of them 3. Bee much in Prayer that God would strengthen and increase thy Faith Prayer is the fuel of Faith the food of Faith A man may as well live without meat as Faith without Prayer As the soul lives by Faith so Faith lives by Prayer Faith helps Prayer and Prayer helps Faith again As there is a Communion among the Ordinances every Ordinance doth help another The Word helps Prayer and Prayer helps the Word So there 's a Communion between Ordinances and Graces Faith helps Prayer and Prayer helps Faith Prayer cannot say of Faith I have no need of thee nor Faith of Prayer What need have I of thee As there is a mutual dependence of one Christian on another a means to nourish Communion as Christians help one another One may say Help my Zeal and I will increase thy knowledge strengthen my Faith and I will inflame or kindle thy affections so here There is a mutual dependence between Faith and Prayer Faith saith to Prayer Help mee to beleeve and I will help thee to pray And Prayer to Faith Help mee to pray and I will help thee to beleeve Such a Communion there is And therefore bee much in prayer for strength 4. Live much in the Heaven of the Promise Feed upon the freeness and sweetness and fatness of the Promise Delight your selves in fatness Let your way lye much above live much out of your selves This is your way A man
shall never bee able to strengthen Faith that lives in himself 5. Walk in the Earth of the Law As Faith strengthens Obedience so Obedience strengthens Faith As Faith multiplies so let duty multiply The way to nourish the one is the way to increase the other 6. Make it your chief riches to bee rich in Faith And then all your designs and indeavours will bee for the increase of it The wordly man labours toils sweats here for the World And what is the reason but because hee makes this his riches so it is here 7. Exercise Faith much And this is the way to increase it Men that can imploy a greater measure of Faith shall have it Bee careful that the exercises of Faith may bee proportionable to the measure of Faith received It is the way to get it increased God will not have the stock lye dead in our hands Hee will not give more than wee can imploy The Talents were according to their several abilities Some had two some one some five When God sees a man of great layings out hee laies in moâ—e still Exercise Grace For within the compass of the exercise of Grace lies that which will nourish and increase Grace 8. Treasure up sound Evidences of Faith The stronger our Evidences the stronger our Faith And therefore store up sound Evidences One falshood among thy Evidences staggers thy Faith 9. Bee thankful for the measure thou already hast Thankfulness is a Grace big with Mercy Men are often injurious to the increase of Faith by unthankfulness for that measure they have Wee are too much like covetous men looking after further degrees so much as to overlook that which God hath already bestowed Our complaints would bee others contents others would bee glad of them Therefore let us get an heart inlarged for the measure wee have It is the way for God to inlarge his hand to bestow more upon us 10. Maintain Humility an humble spirit God gives Grace and hee gives increase of Grace to the humble Humility is the Nurse of Grace The empty heart shall bee filled Nature abhors emptiness Grace much more 11. Bee much in acquaintance with God Know more of his mind more of his heart Read him as hee hath discovered himself in the Word in his Christ 12. Gather and lay up Faith-strengthening-Experiences Keep a Catalogue of holy Experiences of Gods Love and goodness to thee All these are fuel to nourish and strengthen Faith And now having done with the Doctrin of Faith I must conclude with a Doctrin of works Wherein I shall desire your practice of it This upon occasion of a collection for the Poor as soon as I have done the preaching of it It is very orderly that works should follow Faith Your works of Charity our Doctrin of Faith The Papists do charge us that wee cry down works and preach nothing but Faith Faith making it Titulum sine Re. I hope it will bee seen at this time that preaching Faith Formalitèr I preach works Eminentèr And I could not possibly have taken up a better ground for works than to preach the Doctrin of Faith first Indeed wee preach Faith without works in Justificationem as touching Justification But wee say Faith and works must go together in our conversation As Faith doth Justifie our Persons so works do justifie our Faith And thus Abraham was justified by works his works declared him to bee just Good works are the breath of Faith as the word in James signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as the body without breath is dead so Faith without works is dead also Good works are the fruit of Faith the Children and Issue of Faith As Rachel said Give mee Children else I dye so Faith Give mee Children give mee works else I dye otherwise I have not a living but a dead Faith So you see wee set up works too though wee cry them down in the matter of Justification Are good works good for nothing because not good to justifie The Sun is not good to give light to blind men Is it therefore good for nothing Gold is not good to asswage hunger Is it therefore of no use Wee say works are necessary 1. In respect of God 2. In respect of our selves 3. In respect of others 1. In respect of God 1. To shew our Obedience 2. To glorifie his Name 3. To testifie our Thankfulness 4. To beautifie his Gospel 2. In respect of our selves 1. To make our Calling and Election sure 2. To declare our Sincerity 3. To procure Mercy 3. In respect of others 1. To refresh the Bowels of the Saints 2. For example of Vertue 3. To stop the mouthes of wicked men who would else take occasion to blaspheme the Gospel and speak evil of Profession 4. To winne others to gain enemies to the embracing of the Truth And therefore seeing good works are thus necessary bee you stirred up to so concerning a duty The Apostle saith Whiles you have opportunity to do good do good to all men Here is now an opportunity Take it God honours thee if hee give thee an heart to do such a good work Your Bounty is your Honour A TREATISE OF THE Slownesse of Heart TO BELEEVE BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. And MASTER of C.C.C. LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1656. A TREATISE OF THE SLOWNESSE OF HEART TO BELEEVE JOHN 1.50 Jesus answered and said unto him because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these IN the latter part of this Chapter wee see that goodness is of a diffusive and spreading nature If thou bee good thou wilt desire and indeavour to make others good when Christ hath once revealed himself to any soul it will bee very studious to make him known to others So vers 35 36. you read that God having revealed Christ to John hee makes him known to his Disciples one of whom was Andrew vers 40. hee could not conâ—eal the good news but makes it known to his Brother Peter vers 41. Afterward Christ reveals himself to Philip vers 43. and upon it Philip makes him known to Nathaniel vers 45. so communicative and diffusive is goodness like the liquid Elements of Air and Water which cannot bee kept in their own bounds and limits From the forty fifth verse to the end of this Chapter there is contained a discourse 1. Between Philip and Nathaniel And then 2. Between Christ and Nathaniel The first between Philip and Nathaniel is from the 45. to the 47. verse where you have 1. Philips discovery of Christ to him vers 45. wee have found him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write 2. Nathaniels harsh entertainment of it vers 46. can any good thing come out c. 3. Philips care to resolve him and to take away this prejudice in the latter part of the 46. verse come
earth fainteth not neither is weary hee giveth power to the faint c. Do you doubt of his power why hee is the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth and hee can pardon c. What though thy sins bee great yet hee tells thee hee will abundantly pardon Isa 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked man forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon the word is multiply to pardon as thou hast to sin But you will say how can this bee this is far above the thoughts of a Creature Why but saith hee in the next verse My thoughts are not as your thoughts neither are your waies my wayes saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts But alas there are such and such conditions required Why but saith hee Ho! every one that thirsteth come Revel 22.17 Do you doubt of his will Why hee tells you It is not the will of your heavenly Father that any of these little ones should perish Matth. 18.14 You think it is but Christ saith it is not hee knows the thoughts hee thinks to thee they are thoughts of peace and not of evill c. Jer. 29.11 And how doth hee say As I live I do not delight in the death of him that dyes turn you turn you and live Oh why will yee dye Ezek. 18.31 32. And God would have all men saved by comming to the Knowledge c. 1 Tim. 2.4 Yea but this Covenant is not firm I may sin away mine own mercy See what God saith Isa 54.10 the Mountains shall depart and the hills shall bee removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace bee removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee It is more firm than the Covenant of the day and night Jer. 33.20 21. can a Woman forget her sucking child that shee should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Isa 49.15 This with abundance such like Rhetorick God useth to draw a poor humbled doubting sinner to beleeve and why should God use such Rhetorick to perswade with men if it were so easy a matter as men make it to beleeve This shews the difficulty of Faith 4. If you consider the way that God takes to confirm the Covenant of mercy and pardon to Beleevers Hee gives you his Promise his Oath his Seal heaps Mountains upon Mountains and all to confirm it hee layes Heaven and Earth at stake nay hee pawns his Truth his very being and all to perswade with unbeleeving men to beleeve God needed not to do this in respect of himself his purpose was as good as his promise his Promise as good as his oath his oath as firm as his seal hee needed not to do this in respect of himself as if that his oath would binde him more than his promise But God hath done this in respect of us to strengthen our Faith that wee might bee stedfast in God when wee stagger in our selves that wee might bee strong in God when weak in our selves As the Apostle in Heb. 6.16 17 18. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye c. God hath thus condescended to all this to beget Faith in unbeleevers that if his promise would not perswade with you then his oath if not that yet his seal The great Seal of Heaven You could not desire more of the most faithless and dishonest man in the World than God hath condescended to who is yet the faithfull and unchangeable God You have a Promise will not that do Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo tredimus you would have an Oath will not that do you have a Seal witness all And what doth all this but plainly demonstrate the greatness of the difficulty to beleeve Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciâ—ra Wee say it is in vain to do that by more which may bee as well done by lesse If Promise would have done it the Oath added had been in vain but shall wee think that any thing of this was in vain that wee cannot Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate And was all this then required would no lesse serve the turn Tell mee then whether this do not fully enough demonstrate the difficulty of Faith Thou that thinkest Faith so easy thou that never found the difficulty of it mayest well think thou hast no Faith In this God shews the difficulty of beleeving that his Promise his Oath c. are all ingaged to work and confirm it 5. If you consider the complaint of the Preacher You hear Isaiah complaining Isa 53.1 Who hath beleeved our report or our Doctrin as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may import And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed And Christ complains of the same Joh. 12.37 38. Though hee had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him that the saying of the Prophet might bee fulfilled viz. who hath beleeved our report And Paul hee takes up the same complaint as you see at large Rom. 10.16 17 18 c. And wee our selves may take up the same complaint Wee have spent our strength in vain and our labour for nought Though wee have declared the wonderfull things of the Gospel the freeness vastness greatness of the love of Christ the preciousness of Promises yet men beleeve not Oh that I could not complain of those c how many offers of Christ have you had how many tenders of mercy How often hath Christ unbowel'd himself to your souls in the Promise how often hath God invited intreated beseeched called Hoe every one that thirsteth come But yet senselesse people do not thirst and thirsty people do not come c. Oh! here is enough to demonstrate that wee are slow of heart to beleeve 2. Wee come to the second What are the grounds c. And wee will reduce them to these three general heads 1. There are some grounds from Satan 2. Some from our selves 3. Some which are taken from others which do foreslow the heart from beleeving in the Promise You must know I speak of men awakened and convinced of their miserable condition not such as go on with a high hand in their sins I speak of men humbled 1. Then the reasons or grounds why wee are so slow c. From Satan are the delusions and false suggestions of Satan You must know there are two main stratagems which hold up Satans Kingdome in the World 1. Is to keep presumptuous sinners from being humbled 2. The other is to keep humbled sinners from beleeving The first of these is by keeping of presumptuous sinners from being
bee content to climb to Heaven by a thread of our own spinning God is willing to give and wee would deserve hee would have all of Grace and wee would have all of debt Wee would fain bring our penny to the Promise yea when wee are nothing wee would bring our own nothingness So hard it is to make a soul empty and when that is done to bring that empty soul over to the Promise 3. A third ground from our selves which makes men humbled so slow to beleeve It may bee too much tenderness they are affraid of abusing Gods Justice in their closes with his Mercie Oh say they I am affraid of presuming of Mercy It was their fault before to presume the fear of it their fault now I say to presume of Mercy was their fault before and the fear of presuming is their fault now One would think this to carry a fair forehead they dare not beleeve say they and why so because they are affraid to presume is not this a good pretence But ah here is the Prince of darkness like the Angel of light let us examine it thou sayest thou darest not beleeve because thou art affraid to presume And why dost thou fear to presume It is presumption to beleeve Mercy and yet continue in a way of sin and it is presumption to expect Mercy in a way of unbelief but it is no presumption to beleeve Why dost thou fear thou shalt presume thou canst not say thou takes that which doth not belong to thee for it belongs to whoever can take it But it may bee thou sayest thou art not fitted for Mercy thou art then fit for Mercy when thou art made willing to close with Mercy in the tearms of Mercy that is to take Mercy as to render up thy self to duty as to give up thy self to obey But thou sayest thou shalt presume for thou art not worthy of Mercy And wouldest thou bee worthy of Mercy dost thou know what thou sayest wouldest thou deserve Mercy where then were Grace This overthrows the Covenant of Grace it cannot bee a Covenant of Grace if there should bee any thing of thy bringing which is not of Gods bestowing May wee not say to thee truly what Eliab Davids Brother falsely said to him when hee told him hee came out for Gods Glory Hee tells him no it was the pride of his heart 1 Sam. 17.28 So thou pretends Gods Glory thou sayest because thou wouldest not wrong Gods Justice and make Gods Mercy a sinfull mercy therefore thou doest not beleeve but take heed it bee not the pride of thy heart If the time would permit I would put something to thee 1. By way of Question 2. By way of Supposal 1. That which I should have put to thee by way of question should have been 1. Couldst thou not have beleeved God would bee mercifull unto thee if thou wert not so sinfull 2. If thou wert more humble if thou hadst more Grace couldst thou not bee content to pennance thy self for a time for thy former sin were not this good and what were this but to make thy humiliation a step to Mercy to a pardon 2. That which I would put by way of supposal Suppose thou hadst been a Traytor and thy Prince should offer thee a pardon for all thy treason upon condition of acceptance and rendring up thy self to him for service And thou shouldest refuse a pardon because thou art a Rebel or Traitor or because thou doubt'st of the truth and reality of thy Princes tender or else because thou thinkest thou art not able to do him service for future therefore wilt not accept of a pardon for present what should wee think of this Or suppose a Creditor should tell thee if thou wouldest but bring thy books come to him and reckon with him and acknowledge thy debt hee would pardon thy debt And the debtor should now refuse to come 1. Either because hee is not able to pay 2. Or because hee thinks hee shall bee able to discharge all himself in time 3. Or else because hee doubts of the truth of his intention in stead of bringing him to reckon that hee might pardon him hee intends to arrest him and cast him into prison Is not here a great deal of pride and unbeleef and wronging of love And how shall wee interpret this standing off is not the case alike God tenders mercy to thee as a Prince a pardon and thou refusest why either thou beleevest not the truth of this that God offers pardon upon beleeving or else thou thinks to deserve thine own pardon So God offers thee an acquittance if thou wilt bring thy book and come and reckon with him confess sin acknowledge Mercy but thou commest not and what is the reason either thou beleevest not the truth of this this is too good news to bee true thou thinkest it is but to take advantage against thee You think when you go to God in confession you go as a debtor into the hands of a hard Creditor who doth but wait to arrest him You cannot beleeve the truth of this offer or else you think you shall bee able to pay your own debt in time 4. Another ground from our selves why wee are so slow to beleeve is that wee doubt of Gods will wee doubt whether God will have mercy on us yea or no. It is with us as with a Prince or Creditor as before were wee but well setled in the Major of the Gospel in these truths 1. That God sent his Son for this end into the World to save poor sinners 2. That Christ was able to save to the utmost 3. And that Christ was as willing as hee is powerfull wee should not bee so slow of heart to beleeve My Brethren what can God do more to perswade you of his willingness nay more what could Christ do more than is done Will you go by his revealed will and that you shall bee judged by at the last day why there you see nothing but willingness of God and Christ to accept of them who come If you should go by the revealed will of man you may bee deceived they may speak one thing and intend another But if you go by the revealed will of God you cannot miscarry because Gods heart is really the same that his word is hee speaks not a syllable more than hee will make good Men speak often more than their hearts or they may speak contrary to their hearts but God doth not hee really intends what hee speaks And his revealed will tells thee that hee would have thee saved by comming c. that if thou wilt beleeve thou shalt bee saved That if thou confess c. therefore no cause to doubt of Gods will 5. A fifth ground of our slowness to beleeve It may bee you finde some rest to your souls on this side Christ It may bee you have been troubled for sin have been in anguish of conscience and you have prayed you have mourned
and thereupon have gotten some peace and quiet in your souls and you seek no further This is to lick your selves whole And how often how ordinarily doth these things stand between us and Christ between us and the Promise if wee found no peace nor satisfaction in these then wee should go over to Christ but finding this on this side Christ therefore are wee slow of heart to beleeve Now to take away this you must know that that peace which is not setled upon the heart by a promise by beleeving that peace will never do you good a true trouble were better It is not works but Christ not praying but beleeving not the Law but the Gospel Christ the Promise that brings true peace into the soul Indeed the other may give a man some ease for the time but this will never work a sound and substantial peace You read in the Wilderness there was no plaister for the stung Israelite but looking up to the brazen Serpent So there is no remedy for a stung sinner of which the former was a type both in the malady and in the remedy but looking up unto Christ beleeving in him And you see how Christ doth parallel them in Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness c. If the stung Israelite had made a confection of the best herbs in the Wilderness a plaister of all the soveraign ingredients in the World and applied with it Mountains of Prayers Seas of tears yet this would not have helped him if with all he had not looked upon the brazen Serpent God had set up that way and nothing else should do the cure So let the stung sinner make what plaister hee will of duty of prayers for the salving of conscience the healing of the wound yet if hee do not look up beleeve never healed never I grant it to prevent an objection that these duties may do something for the stay of a mans spirit and the quieting of conscience for a time because being such things as God hath commanded and in Gods way they may have some influence into a mans conscience for the quieting and stilling of it for present But these are all too short to bring a sound and substantial peace into the soul it is not working but beleeving not duty but Christ that must do that If God had intended this for thy cure if these had been sufficient what need had hee to have sent Christ into the World what need had Christ to have dyed and shed his bloud God might have given man ability to have performed duty and all had then been done But the sending of Christ into the World and the shedding of his bloud shews it was a greater work to redeem souls Indeed these things are subservient to the plaister to the cure but these things are not the plaister not the cure By Prayer wee seek and beg for a plaister in a wounded condition and by Prayer wee praise God when the plaister hath been applied but this is not the cure this is not the plaister God never intended that So by hearing wee have discovered to us where the plaister is to bee had and by hearing afterward wee do but discover our willingness to know more of Gods will that wee might obey him but this is not the plaister So by works and obedience before healing wee do but carry our selves in such a deportment and demeanure as they should do who wait for such a mercy from God and by works and obedience afterwards wee do but declare our thankfulness to God when the cure is wrought but this is not the cure being justified wee work wee do not work that wee may bee justified And therefore though you should get some obvious refreshment by the performance of duties in the pursuit of Christ yet let not this slacken but quicken you in your way bee thankfull for it quickened by it and still remember to arise this is not your rest Hee who rests on this side Christ will rest on this side Heaven All your duties will bee but ropes of sand like chains of glass too brickle to draw your souls to Heaven Though naturall conscience may get some satisfaction from these springs the performance of duties yet these are too shallow to satisfie the thirst of a gracious heart They are neither full nor are they pure nor are they permanent and lasting springs As I might shew you not full because wrought out of our selves not pure because mingled with our imperfections muddy springs our justifying righteousness is perfect but our sanctifying righteousness is imperfect nor are they constant Drought will come the time will come when these will bee too short to reach comfort into thy soul that if God lead thee not to a spring at last thou art undone The Brook Cherith did supply Elijah for a time but at last it dryed up and could afford him no Water and had not God brought him then unto a spring hee had perished So there are many who lye a long time by the springs of duty the streams of performances and they get some refreshment there which keep them off from going to Christ but the time will come that these waters will fail and if then thou hast not a fountain a Christ to go to thou wilt perish for all this Where on the contrary here in the greatest drought thou shalt finde waters enough Jer. 17.7 8. Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for hee shall bee as a tree planted by waters and shall not see when drought commeth his leaf shall bee green and hee shall not bee carefull in the years of drought Years of drought hee shall never see never bee sensible when heat commeth his leaf shall bee green And thus much for the second ground why wee are so slow of heart to beleeve 3. Ground why wee are so slow of heart to beleeve is taken from others 1. Their heights 2. Their depths 1. We look upon the heights of others We see others of the Saintâ— eminent in Grace shining with holiness adorned with gifts and gracious indowments they can pray they can command their passions And then reflecting upon our selves and seeing our own imperfections our frowardness of spirit our untowardness of heart our weakness and deadness wee are thereupon discouraged and kept off from the Promise of life c. I told you the last day that wee look upon the best of others and the worst of our selves upon the best not the worst of others You look upon their inlargements not their straits their graces not their corruptions their heights not their depths their comforts not their troubles their victories not their foils This is the difference between you and wicked men they look upâ—n the worst of the Saints and by that draw incouragements to sin or if not yet make use of their imperfections to countenance their deadness but you look upon the best of others and
the more at their bringing in As you see Paul Luther Augustine All Gods people are Souldiers but few are Champions some hee hath for lighter skirmishes and less humimiliation will serve their turn to prepare them for them But such as hee intends for the main battle to bee Champions in his cause hee doth usually exercise with greater difficulties that so they might not start aside in the day of tryal 4. Some hee intends to bee patterns and examples of mortification in the world and therefore carries them on with troubles of spirit and lets them lye longer in them that being raised up they may bee dead to the World ever after Thus you see the like measures are not necessary neither inrespect of Gods ends nor in respect of your selves and why then should any mans humiliation bee a pattern for thee All that can bee said in it is this that so much is required as to cast us out of our selves make us weary of our sins willing to sell all cut off right hands pull out right eyes to part with the dearest and beloved sins for Christ Wee all agree it is sufficient when it doth cast a man out of himself and bring him over to Christ and how much that is who can set down A less degree will do that in one which it will not in another if the same measures were alike necessary for all then it would follow 1. That every one is so to labour to come to that measure as to receive no comfort in the Promise till hee have attained it 2. And it would follow that what comfort any may have gotten in the Promise they are to yeeld up if they have not had the like measures that others have attained to and what perplexities fears doubts would so bee left in the consciences of men so that they would never finde a bottome to stand on As in Grace a man would never have comfort if his comfort were to arise from the measures and not from the truth So in humiliation many poor souls in taking others for a pattern have lost the rule and put themselves into a greater in capacity to close with the Promise at a greater distance from Christ than they were before and have made themselves miserable for the present and for the future and so have gone drooping even to their graves And it had been better for many speakers and hearers too if this Doctrin had been pressed more before How many have had their heads broken in peeces with it and it is easier for these troubles to break the head than to break the heart But thus much for the second Thus you see wee have finished the two generals That wee are slow of heart to beleeve What are the grounds that men are slow of heart to beleeve 3. Wee come to the next what are the reasons that this temper of spirit is so offensive unto God I have given you many reasons in my Sabbath dayes discourse on the third of John Why God was so severe against unbeleef All which would serve as so many demonstrations of this point wee will at this time adde but these three more Reas 1. Slowness of heart to beleeve is a temper very offensive to God because it argues and speaks a corrupt heart A heart byassed with other respects which hinders from closing with Christ As Christ saith Joh. 5.44 How can you beleeve when you seek honour when you are byassed with such respects as these Such a spirit either it argues ignorance or pride or love of sin or jealousy of the truth of God the goodness of God and this is very offensive jealousy is the rage of a man c. which is more provoking because God hath so far condescended to our weakness for our establishment that hee hath not only given us his Promise his Covenant his Oath and Seal and all to comfort us And if notwithstanding all this wee shall nourish a spirit of jealousy and cherish our doubts and distrusts this must needs bee very displeasing unto God Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo credimus Aug. If a man should give you his Promise and yet to satisfie you to his Promise hee should annex his Oath and to his Oath his Seal c. If yet notwithstanding you will bee jealous and distrust him how would this make a mans bloud to rise how would hee break forth into rage what will you not beleeve mee do you think mee to bee a Devil do you think I will bee perjured c. And how much more must this provoke God who is immutably true of his word One syllable being a better bottome for a soul to rest upon than all the Protestations of men and Angels men though true Angels though true yet they are not in themselves immutably true because they are but Creatures but now God is hee is truth it self no shadow of change in him Nay and not only true but able to make good his Word what hee hath promised Men may bee true and yet want ability to perform but what God hath said hee will do because hee is faithfull and hee is able to do because almighty And hath God condescended to us so far as not only to give us his Promise his Oath Covenant and Seal and are wee yet slow of heart to beleeve do wee yet nourish jealousies and distrusts Why then judge if this must not needs bee a high provocation of God And that is the first reason because this sin speaks corruption of heart Reas 2. Because such a spirit what in it lyes makes void and null the great things of God I say as much as in thee lyes for thou canst not do it As the Apostle saith God is faithfull whether men beleeve or beleeve not so God is mercifull powerfull wise gracious true whether men will beleeve or beleeve not But this I say as much as in thee lies thou makest void all the great and stupendious things of God wee will name these seven 1. Thou makest void the great councels of God all the thoughts of his wisdome in contriving such a way to advance his glory in the salvation of men God had purposed and contrived from everlasting to make himself glorious to set up and advance the glory of his wisdome and grace and this is the way his wisdome pitched upon from everlasting to do all this by sending of Christ into the World and thou by standing out dost not only frustrate Gods ends in thy salvation but as much as in thee lyes nullest and makest void all the thoughts and contrivings of his wisdome for all this is to no purpose while thou stands out and wilt not beleeve 2. Thou makest void all the thoughts of his Mercy in which he desired to set forth himself and make himself visible to the lost sons of men by sending of Christ into the World But now if thou wilt not beleeve to what purpose were all these great things of God to what purpose
c. for the supply of strength 3. You make your selves every way unserviceable to God as I shewed you you make your selves unable to do unable to suffer for him You make your selves good for nothing unserviceable to God to the Church to his cause to your selves too c. Many there are that think they can do God better service in standing off than in comming in by Fear than by Faith They think that in nourishing their doubts and their fears they do cherish their care watchfulness humility And on the contrary they think that if once they should come to beleeve then they should bee more loose and careless and take more liberty to themselves Indeed you would have more liberty to service not to sin You would not bee tyed to service with coards of fear but with bands of love your principle of service and your manner of service would bee changed where now you serve nim out of fear then out of love now out of convictions of conscience then out of propensions of a divine nature now you serve him as slaves involuntarily then as sons with willingness and delight c. Now you do duty as a task then as your trade And you will walk in the wayes of duty though you see no commings in As a man that loves his trade that loves his calling hee will hold it up and follow it though hee get nothing by it though no gain or comming in by it So the soul which hath a Principle bred in him suitable to the things of God which is wrought by Faith hee will hold up to pray and to do duty though hee finde not commings in there is a natural agreeableness between him and duty between his spirit and the work and though hee never get good by it yet hee will hold up his spirit to the doing of it As it is with a man whose nature is sensualized that hath sinned away the very common Principles pluckt up the very senses of nature hee will drink and bee drunk though hee undo himself by it though hee hurt his body impoverish his estate yet hee will drink c. As Solomon saith a Whore will bring a man to a morsel of bread will undo a man yet hee will go on in sin hee will not leave his sin though undone by it hee will sin not only though hee get nothing but though hee get hurt though hee undo himself thereby yet hee will go on in sin and the reason is that universal sutableness that is between his soul and sin So on the other side a godly man hee will serve God hee will hold on in duty in obedience though hee finde no comming in by it There is such a sutableness between the spirit of a beleever and the work that though there is no commings in though hee finde no peace no comfort in the wayes of God yet hee will hold up to the work Where now an unbeleever if hee do not by these things get peace which is all hee looks after in the doing of it if he do not get comfort at last hee throws off all because there was no Principle of sutableness to hold him to the duty Therefore you see how Satan deludes you Faith alone is the spring of action that which sets us a work and quicken us in working if Faith bee up all his Graces will bee so too and if that bee down all other Graces are weak and down with it As Parisiensis saith it is the vertue of a Christal when the vertues of other precious stones are extinct to raise them and revive them again So doth Faith with our Graces when Davids heart was down in Psal 43.5 you see hee recovers himself by his Faith no sooner did hee exercise his Faith but his heart is raised That which quickeneth you to service and inables you in service is Faith and that which deads your spirit and makes you unserviceable is unbeleef and therefore bee convinced of your sin 2. Bee humbled for it this is the great sin the womb of sin the Mother and Nurse of sin as I have shewed That which holds up Satans Kingdome in you is your unbeleef if this fort were once taken all the rest would quickly yeeld up You see when Christ would conquer covetousness hee labours to conquer unbeleeving as you see Mat. 6.25 to the end That being overcome all the rest yeeld up and are vanquisht Nay it is a sin which doth not only uphold particular sins but the state of sin It is called a state of unbeleef wee do not say a state of drunkennesse a state of swearing c. but a state of unbeleef others are but particular this an universal sin And is there not then cause to bee humbled for it you see what a sin it is how you wrong God how you gratifie Satan how you injure your selves and is there not cause then to bee humbled for it Men are hard to bee humbled for this sin because hard to bee convinced either that they are guilty of it or that it is a sin Prophane and wicked men worldly men they will not bee convinced that they do not beleeve Though there bee nothing more plain if the Devil did not delude them for Faith and sin cannot stand together you can no more separate Holiness and Faith than Light and the Sun And humbled men they are hard to bee convinced that it is a sin Though it is easy to convince them that they do not beleeve they are sensible enough of that yet it is hard to perswade them that it is a sin not to beleeve that it is their duty to beleeve they think they do well in keeping off from the Promise they express their tenderness of Gods justice and holiness and judge it a great wrong to both that God should bee merciful to such sinners as they But I must tell thee it is a greater sin than all thy sins a killing a murthering an undoing sin It is a finishing sin that seals thee up in a state of sin and therefore you had need to bee convinced of it and humbled for it 3. Bee yee quickned to beleeve What shall I do now to perswade with you who are slow of heart to beleeve to come in and beleeve Alas all that I can say is nothing if God do not mightily work upon your hearts and perswade with you Shall I tell you there is an inexhaustible fulness of mercy in God and merit in Christ for the greatest sinner among you and this is something Shall I say that God is willing to forgive the greatest sinner of you if you will now come in and beleeve If you will go by Gods revealed will and thou hast no other rule to go by nor to bee judged by there God tells thee that hee keeps open house hee invites hee excites hee intreats hee beseeches to come these were something to perswade with our hearts But I shall pass them I will only name these two
to perswade 1. Consider God commands thee to beleeve 2. Consider thou can do God no greater pleasure than to come in and beleeve 1. Consider God commands thee to beleeve 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandement that wee should beleeve on the name of his Son Jesus Christ And what can thy heart now reason against this will not this bee enough to answer all thy fears and scruples to beat down all that thy unbeleeving heart can say against the Promise Why God doth not only invite thee but hee commands thee to beleeve Gods command is a sufficient warrant to beleeve and will bee sufficient security to all them that do beleeve 1. I say it is a sufficient warrant to beleeve Men may command things and tell us that our obedience to them shall bee sufficient warrant to us and yet they may want power enough to secure us in our obedience to them but it is not so with God his command will be a warrant sufficient to carry out any soul in his obedience to him Doth Satan say wherefore dost thou beleeve thou art a Reprobate thou art a cast away thou hast no right to the Promise but thou must say then thou art a Creature and God commands thee to beleeve and in obedience to Gods command though thou sees nothing but death for the present yet thou wilt beleeve Doth bee say thou hast no right to a Promise not any title to Mercy yet mayest thou say thou art bound to the Precept though I cannot clear my right to the Promise yet I am sure I am to obey the Precept I am bound to the obedience of the command and God commands mee to beleeve Yea and thou may say thus much if I am bound to beleeve as I am then I may bee able by my beleeving to clear my interest in the Promise Thou mayest tell him here is a command for thee none then for him hee is out of hope It is an infinite mercy to stand under the command of beleeving the Devils do not the damned do not thou doest which is infinite mercy 2. As Gods command is a sufficient warrant to beleeve so it is sufficient security if wee do beleeve there was never a soul that perished in a way of obedience in a way of beleeving Doth Satan say thou mayest venture thy soul if thou wilt but thou dost but cast away thy soul for thou shalt never bee saved God will never own thee Thou mayest say again Gods command is a sufficient warrant for thee to beleeve men may fail us and bee men but God cannot fail us and bee God But put it to the worst though thou do not know whether thou shalt bee saved yet this thou knowest that God commands thee to beleeve Well then bee peremptory and resolve in beleeving say if I dye I will dye in a way of beleeving in a way of obedience to the command not in a way of disobedience to it This I know if I beleeve not I must perish hee that beleeveth not is condemned but if I do beleeve if I do go on in a way of obedience who knows whether God will bee mercifull nay who knows not but that hee will I must tell you this resolution will put the Devil to it hee knows not what to say to such a man nay and it puts God to it too for God cannot reject him who will yet go on to serve him though hee should never own him 2. Consider you can do God no greater pleasure than to come in and beleeve Thou honourest all-God as I shall shew thee in the second Doctrin It is a great deal of ease and pleasure for a full and pained breast to bee sucked the breast of Mercy and Promise is full yea and in pain too and thou shalt do God let mee speak after the manner of men the greatest pleasure thou canst do to come and suck Joh. 6.28 when the people asked what shall wee do that wee may work the works of God Mark then how Christ answers why this is the work of God that you beleeve in him As if hee had said would you do that which would content God would you do that which pleaseth him why this is that which doth wonderfully content God this is that doth admirably please God to beleeve I tell thee by this thou makest God amends for all the wrong thou hast done him all thy life Nothing else will if thou shouldest go about to redeem every oath with an age of precizeness and exactness every idle word and action with an eternity of praises and tears all thy exactions and injustice with a treasury of alms all this were nothing to the making of God amends But here do but come over to the Promise do but close with Christ and thou makest God amends for all God will bee fully satisfied not with thy Faith but with Christ not with thy beleeving but with Christ whom thy Faith holds up Nay not only satisfied but ipse tibi velim debitor I would not only bee satisfied but I would bee thy debtor to give thee eternal life Oh then that you who are slow of heart to beleeve that you would now come in Close with Christ and then thou mayest set Christ against all that the Law Justice Sin Hell Satan can say against thee You see the Apostle did so who is hee that condemneth it is Christ that dyed Hee makes a challenge of all sets the death of Christ against whatever can bee brought so mayest thou Let us weild this weapon c. 1. Doth Satan say thou hast sinned Why but may the soul say I have closed with him who hath suffered for sin what can my debt of sin bee that the payment of his sufferings hath not fully answered 2. Doth hee say thou hast sinned against the great God of Heaven yea but thou mayest say I have an interest in him whose Righteousness is the Righteousness of the great God of Heaven Jehovah our Righteousness and that is able to suffice for that 3. Doth hee say the glory of the great God is debased by thy sinning Why but thou mayest say will not the emptying of his glory who is the brightness of his Fathers glory answer for that 4. Doth hee say thou hast sinned against knowledge Why but thou mayest say all that Christ did and all hee suffered hee did with knowledge Joh. 18.4 Jesus knowing all things c. 5. Doth hee say thou hast sinned with delight Why but thou mayest say Christ hath suffered with greater delight than I have sinned Hee delighted to do the will of God and this was the will of his Father that hee should give his life for mee Joh. 6. Luk. 12.50 And it was said of him that hee was straitned till the hour came as men that delight in a work which they long to bee upon 6. Doth hee say thy sins lye in thy spirit Yea but thou mayest say the chiefest part of his suffering did lye in
bee blinded They who will bee hardned shall have hardening enough If the Word do not teach you works do blinde you If the Word do not soften you works do harden you If you stumble at the Word you will fall at works Indeed Men first stumble at the Word before they stumble at Works They first take offence at duties the Word commands and then strengthen that offence by the failings of those who walk in those wayes Works do but strengthen your dislike of things in the Word The failings of persons that walk in this way do but further strengthen your dislike of the things commanded in the Word This the Apostle shews 1 Pet. 2.8 Christ was a stone of stumbling But to whom why to those who stumbled at the Word first After they have stumbled at the Word then they stumble at Christ So when you have stumbled and taken offence against these duties which the Word commands no marvel if you stumble here and by the failings of those who walk in the way of life gather arguments to strengthen your dislike of the way it self This is thy spirit though thou see it not Thy heart is opposite to the wayes of God praying hearing fasting and thou furnishest thy self with instances of some who have proved unsound in the way that so thou mayest strengthen thy heart more with dislike against it And thus it proves an occasion of further blinding of further hardening to thee Thus you see the first How it may stand with Gods ends that corrupt hearts should abound in duty 2 It may stand also with Satans ends 1. It may stand with Satans ends towards the good 2. It may stand with Satans ends towards the World 3. It may stand with Satans ends towards themselves 1. It may stand with Satans ends towards the good and therefore hee will not disturb these men in their way but lets them go on 1. Hereby Satan doth labour to cause Gods People to throw off the work to desist in their way Why will Satan say what do you macerate and afflict your selves in a way wherein is no more good What can you do more than others have done They have prayed and they have prayed often and made many Prayers They have heard and heard often yea and heard with affection with fear with joy and delight c. They have fasted and have joyned mourning with fasting They have forsaken their evil wayes wherein they have formerly walked and have entred upon Gods wayes joyned themselves to the Ordinances to the People of God And yet for all this these people have come to nought For all this their hearts were unsound here and they have perished after all And therefore will Satan say If a man may pray and perish do duties and bee damned hear and get to Hell at last why dost thou then thus trouble thy self and afflict thy self in this way Thou seest there is no hope of doing good in it And therefore why wilt thou abridge thy self of those pleasures those comforts which others have in the World why wilt thou go on to macerate and afflict thy self in these wayes were it not better for thee to throw off all and betake thy self to the World to profits to pleasures and injoy thy hearts content as well as others Thus you see Satan is furnisht with a dangerous argument against Gods People which hee could not have had if unsound hearts did not abound in duty c. 2. If hee cannot prevail with Gods people hereby to throw off the work but that notwithstanding all this they are resolved to pray though they perish to beleeve to obey though God should never reward their obedience yet hee hath a second End Hee labours to discourage Gods People hereby in the work and to make them drive heavily in their way to Heaven Satan knows full well that if their heart bee discouraged in the work their hands will bee weakened for the work And therefore hee labours by such presidents as these are who have done so much in the wayes of God and yet are unsound to make men sit down discouraged and despair of ever doing good in these wayes Why will Satan say How canst thou do more than such and such have done Canst thou pray more Prayers hear more Sermons do more Duties keep more Dayes ingage thy self more deeply in the Cause of God than others have done who have yet come to nought It may bee hee 'l tell thee Thou art weak thou wantest those parts those abilities that strength that power to do God that service which others have done And therefore e'ne cast off all or else despair of ever doing good in this way wherein others have outstript thee and yet were unsound Thus doth Satan make use of this argument if not to prevail with men to cast off the work yet to discourage them in the work And therefore it may stand with his ends that unsound hearts may thus abound in performance of duties 3. A third end which Satan hath towards the godly is that if hee cannot prevail to make Gods people throw off the work nor yet discourage them in the work yet hee labours by these men to scandalize the godly to bring evil reports upon all that walk in the way of life It is Satans desire to make the Persons that walk in the way of life and the way of life it self as odious as hee can in the eyes of the World And this is one way whereby hee labours to bring it about and findes successful in the hearts of many even the failings of such as have made profession of the Truth Indeed the Cause of God and the People of God have suffered much thereby You know how wicked men argue 1. Either from Particulars to Generals from the failings of some they fall to censuring of all There is one say they who hath made profession and hath proved naught Therefore all are so all alike none better than other Which yet is an uncharitable and false reasoning If the Saints should argue so of you There was one unregenerate man a Murderer a Traitor a Theef Therefore all that are unregenerate are Traitors Murderers Theeves you would think this to bee uncharitable and false reasoning Yet yours is the same 2. Or secondly By the failing of the Person they take up arguments to charge and condemn the Cause not only Professors but Profession it self casting filth and dirt upon the pure face of Religion and the wayes of God hereby And Satan knows well enough that the Cause of God looseth more by one mans unsoundness than it can gain and recover again by the sincerity of many It looseth more in the hearts of wicked men by the falls of some than it can gain again by the standing of thousands Davids fall though hee rose again caused Religion and the Wayes of God to bee blasphemed by wicked men It opened the mouths of wicked men to blaspheme the wayes of God as the Prophet told
him And indeed God was more dishonoured by Davids uncleanness than hee was by all the filth of Sodome And therefore seeing Satan gets such advantage both against the Persons and against the Cause of God by the unsoundness of men that walk in the Wayes of God therefore may it stand with Satans ends to suffer unsound hearts to abound in duty without disturbing of them And as it may stand with Satans ends in respect of the godly So 2. It may stand with his Ends in respect of the World 1. To keep them off from entring upon the way of life Men will bee affraid to ingage themselves in such a way wherein there stand up such sad Presidents as these are If men may do much and yet fall off bee unsound and fall short of Heaven at last this will discourage and dis-hearten them from comming in Men are naturally affraid when they are to run hazards and dangers to take a great deal of pains in such a way wherein there are so many hazards and dangers to bee run 2. To strengthen the prejudice of wicked men against the wayes and people of God Wicked men are naturally prejudiced against the wayes and people of God They think them all to bee no better than others however they make a shew to bee better And when they see this prejudice of theirs confirmed by the example of any one who hath walked in the way and yet hath been unsound This is a matter laid up for ever here they hugge themselves and rejoyce in such an example and so their prejudice against Gods wayes and people is hereby more strengthened 3. A third End which Satan hath towards wicked men is hereby to harden them and confirm and strengthen them in a way of sin When they see no better fruit of so much praying hearing c. They are hardened in their way of sin and perswaded to go on in their old way their common road still Thus you see how it may stand with Satans ends towards the good and towards the bad 3. Now thirdly How it may stand with Satans ends towards themselves that thus abound in duty and yet are unsound 1. To aggravate their condemnation Such mens sins they are great Duty doubles sin A duty upon the head of a sin makes sin exceeding hainous And as the sin so the condemnation is aggravated hereby The darkest and hottest places in Hell are reserved for such whose hearts are unsound in the wayes of God Such would wish to change places with Turks and Heathens all their duties are but so much fuel to make the fire of Hell the hotter for them By how much such men are lifted up higher than others in appearance by so much they shall bee thrown down lower than others in truth and reality of torments 2. Because such men are surest his of any upon two grounds 1. If hee stand in that condition hee thinks hee is sure enough his What can rob him of such a man can Prayer can Hearing Indeed these might deprive him of others but this man he dares trust any where upon any duty Hee dares venture him any where Hee knows his heart is Prayer-Proof Sermon-Proof All these are not strong enough to take him away from him Indeed hee 's affraid of others though never so wicked Hee fears hee may loose him at every Sermon hee may bee robbed of him at every prayer And therefore labours all hee can to keep such men off from the work But now this man hee dares adventure to the most powerfull and prevailing ordinances Hee hath long experience his heart hath stood firm to him in all Though sometimes hee hath had some stings and troubles of conscience as certainly it fares often with unsound hearts who have to do with duties yet hee can let him alone hee knows hee will come to his old temper and return to himself again As hot water will return to its own coldness because there is a quality in it which resists heat and inclines to cold so if at any time such a man bee troubled Satan will let him alone hee knows there is a Principle in him which will cause him to return to his wonted temper 2. If hee fall hee thinks him sure enough his Such mens falls are for the most part desperate and unrecoverable You know the greater the height from which a man falls the more desperate and irrecoverable is his fall Now there can bee no greater an height in the World from which to fall than for a man to fall from the Hills of duty the Mountains of Prayer the top of profession This may prove the irrecoverable downfal All thy Duty all thy Prayers if thy heart bee unsound are but something laid in to make that sin All these do but ripen and prepare for and nimble thee to commit that sin if thy heart bee unsound in them But if the fall bee not desperate yet it is dangerous though not irrecoverable yet hard to bee recovered There are many and fearful aggravations of your sins all which Satan now useth and sets on with all his might to bring you to despair And great is the hazard hard is the recovery It hath been often known a sincere heart hath recovered and gotten ground and strength by his fall But seldome or never that an unsound heart got up again after his Fall never came to his heights but rather wallows in mischief David fell and recovered but Judas fell and rose no more But however the hazard is great in regard there are so many fearful aggravations of sin Their sins are sins against Knowledge Light Illumination which puts much weight to sin Sins of ignorance plead for a pardon though great What greater than the killing of Christ yet Father forgive them for they know not what they do But sins against Knowledge do exceedingly aggravate sin and makes sin exceeding sinful There is more sin more guilt formerly considered in a sinfull thought against Knowledge than there is in an open gross sin of Ignorance Why their sins are sins against Knowledge against Conscience against Profession Practice Prayers Duties and therefore great All their Duties and Prayers that they have done should bee now comforts but they are burdens because they are done with unsound hearts and they come in as so many aggravations of sin against them Whilst a man holds up his head in the World though hee bee but poor it may bee his Creditors will let him alone but if once a man bee arrested every one then comes with his action upon him may bee those hee thought his best friends come then and lay greatest burdens upon him Whilst an unsound man walks in way of duty and doth not fall into the commission of some grosse sin so long it may bee hee hath quiet Satan Conscience nothing troubles him But when once hee is down then all comes upon him nay his very Duties themselves which hee thought to have most good from and to bee his
and that this God is to bee worshiped Atheists in practice wee have many every Parish is full of them Such as the Apostle speaks of Tit. 1.16 Who profess they know God but yet in works they deny him But Atheists in Judgement none can bee Hence Tully the Heathen could say I have known men without King Laws Government Cloaths but none so savage but have a God Many have indeavoured to blow out that light but never could Wee read of Caligula who laboured all hee could to blow out this Candle and to strengthen his Atheisme by Arguments and Reasons yet when it thundred hee ran under a Bed his fears and guilty conscience telling him of some divine Power which hee could not withstand Another who laboured the like and though hee had wrought out all Faith yet hee had not wrought out all Fears Hee still feared as hee would say that there was a God And what if there should prove to bee a God at last Now then there being such light in Conscience as to discover there is a God and conscience thereupon concluding this God must bee worshiped by the help of further light the Light of the Word the Light of the Works the Light of good Example the Light of good Education together with the implantation of some common and general Principles whereby conscience is strengthened from above A man may bee inabled to do much in the wayes of godliness and yet his heart continue unsound without any spiritual Principle of Grace wrought in him 2. A second ground is some present distress and trouble upon the Conscience or upon the Bodies of men upon the spirit or flesh of men 1. Some present distress upon the spirit of a man It may bee Conscience is now for present upon the rack God hath let in a beam of light into the conscience by the Law and discovered a mans sin And with that light hath let fall a spark of his wrath due to sin upon the conscience which hath for present fill'd the soul of man with horrors and fears with sad and black thoughts and apprehensions of death and Hell Which may put a man upon Prayers and Performances upon doing much in the wayes of God Wee read that Absolom sent for Joab to come to him but hee came not Hee sent again yet hee comes not At last Absolom sets fire upon Joabs corn and then hee came amain but with no better heart it is likely more unwillingly than before so God doth often call upon men in the ministry of the Word But men will not come At last God sets fire on the conscience le ts some spark of Hell fall upon them And then they run to Duties to Prayers to do something Though perhaps as unwillingly as before All this doth force them but yet not perswade them willingly to come in As the satisfying of conscience troubled may bee an end of the performance of many duties so the trouble it self may bee a ground to put them upon performance As Peace is the end of the Plaister so the wound is the ground of it As Peace is the end of undertaking of duties so the wound is the ground wherefore they are undertaken 2. Outward Pressures upon the bodies of men may bee another ground to prevail with unsound hearts to do much in outward service Psal 78.34 35 36. When the Lord slew them then they sought him and they returned and inquired early after God And they remembred that God was their Rock and the most High God their Redeemer Here was much They return to God That is in all outward appearance They sought him they inquired early after him And the ground of this was Gods hand upon them when the Lord slew them saith the Text. And you see what was the frame of their spirit in all Neverthelesse they did but flatter him their hearts were not upright with him they were unsound The like wee read Jer. 2.27 They gave God their backs and not their faces yet in the time of their trouble then who but God with them In the time of their trouble then they cry arise and save us This was like the Samaritans Devotion When the Lions slew them then they inquired after the worship of God when God sent Lions among them And many there are of their spirit Good under the Rod. Whiles the Rod is on their backs the Book is in their hands then nothing but read and pray But no sooner doth God slacken the cords or take them off the rack deliver them out of their present distress and trouble but they return again to folly This is just Mariners Devotion Whilst the Storm lasts then they cry and pray but no sooner is the storm blown over but they are as vile as ever They had not so many Prayers before as Oathes now And do wee not see it thus with many who will not own God in a Calm Then their hearts say depart from us wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Yet in a Storm they will flye to him thou art our Father our God But this not for Love but for shelter As many a man may bee glad of a place for shelter in a Storm which they could never brook to live in after the storm is over So they will own God a Tower a place of shelter in time of trouble but not an habitation a place of abode in times of Peace Thus you see the third thing The grounds that a corrupt heart may so abound in outward Performance The fourth remains which is 4. Where is the fault Or how comes it to pass that a man may do thus much in the wayes of God and yet bee unsound yet miss of Heaven Where lies the fault I conceive though the work it self bee faulty for how can a good work come from a bad heart Yet the great crack lies more in the Work-man than in the work Duties are good Prayer is good Hearing good The fault doth mainly lye in the Person that doth these Their spirits are unsound in these holy wayes I will lay down the maim the fault under these five or six Heads 1. Hee fails or is faulty in the latitude and extent of his Obedience His Obedience is a limited and stinted Obedience 1. Either limited to some commands which are most sutable to him Hee doth not apply himself to the Obedience of all the commands of God There are some duties hee will not do and some corruptions hee hath no heart to leave 2. Or secondly It is limited to the flesh to the outer part of the Command and doth not extend it self to the Spirit and extremities of the Command of God You must know there is an Extra and an Intra an Outside and an Inside in every Command of God some part of it binding the Flesh another part injoyning the Spirit Many keep the Letter of the Law which yet never care for the Spirit of the Law Both these you shall see in the Scribes and
these performances is it sound in prayer in hearing if not all this something is nothing If you break the string that goes through a set of Beads they all fall to the ground Sincerity is the string which goes through all our Prayers our Duties and Graces if that bee broken all is broken Sincerity is the Evidence of all our Evidences taken from below It is that which makes every duty glorious every breathing of the spirit sweet every groan weighty every drop of tears a pearl and precious in Gods esteem Sincerity is all in all It is all in all our Prayers all in all our tears all in all our services It is all to God that which God accounts all Sincerity is Gospel perfection And perfection is all Let us then examine our hearts you that abound most in all outward performances clear the soundness and sincerity of your hearts in them 1. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in your obedience in general 2. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in your performances in particular Wee shall now insist upon the last first And that is Clear the sincerity of your hearts in your performances in particular Wee will instance in these three especially which wee single out First in your Hearing Secondly in your Praying Thirdly in your Mourning for sin 1. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in hearing the Word Wee will give you these characters of a sincere heart in hearing the Word 1. A sincere heart desires sincere preaching Such preaching wherein his heart is ripped up his corruptions discovered the most quickening and soul-searching ministry such a ministry as doth most unravel his heart and rip up his soul You see this 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word the preaching of the Word and the sincere preaching of the Word not the Word as it is sophisticated poisoned adulterated by mans invention As the Apostles phrase is but the Word as it comes sincerely from the Fountain Such a man hee desires killing as well as comforting truths searching as well as healing truthes breaking as well as binding And indeed hee desires no comforting but in killing no comforting of his soul but in killing of his sins no healing but in searching no binding but in breaking An unsound heart if hee desire to hear yet it should bee such as would preach placentia speak peace daube with untempered Morter And if a Minister do once preach to the quick If hee once enter upon the discovery of them their hearts rise against the truth they rebel against the Word and such are no Ministers for them They will finde out one that they can live in sin and yet live in peace under his Ministry We read in the 42. of Jer. read it throughout the Chapter is worth your taking notice of Let mee intreat you to read it when you come home you shall see there the depth of a self-deceiving spirit You shall read there the Children of Israel desired Jeremy to inquire of the Lord what they should do and they would assuredly do it but their hearts deceived them You see there that they thought Jeremy would have brought them an answer from God agreeable to their own spirits They did not think that their will must have come up to Gods will but that Gods will would have come down to their will Well Jeremy goes to God and hee brings them a message from God which was clean cross to their lusts And then the venome of their spirits which before lay hid appeared they brake out into open rebellion against the Word of the Lord and spake plain Wee will not hear the Word of the Lord which thou hast told us So it is with many unsound spirits self-deceiving spirits before a Minister come into a Parish Oh then say they let us have a good Minister one that may do our souls good one that may bring a message to us from the Lord discover to us Gods will And few there are but do thus far agree but if once a Minister rip up their sins search their wounds that they may bee healed of them if once hee come to discover their corruptions and indeavour to take them off their unsound bottomes whereon if they live and dye they will perish Then they flye out against the light and him that holds it forth to them Away with such a man from the earth Wee will not hear the Word of the Lord spoken Whereas a sincere heart doth side with the Word with light to fight against and destroy his corruptions These men they side with their corruptions and lusts to fight against the truth to blow out the light and oppose the preaching of the Word A sincere heart doth hold up the Law against his lust Let my lusts perish rather than thy Law bee destroyed But a corrupt heart doth hold up his lust against the Law And saith in his heart Let the Law rather than my lust bee destroyed There is not one corruption which thou keepest with love and liking but thou wishest in thy heart that there were no such Law against it The Drunkard wisheth there were no such Law against his Drunkenness The unclean person would bee glad there were no Law against his uncleanness rather part with so much of Gods Nature which the Law is a beam of than part with his lust Hence it is truly said peccatum est Dei Cidium sin is Gods slaughter because sin strikes against the very being of God the purity and holiness of God Hee that would not bee as God is would hee glad if God were as hee is That is a certain rule that hee that will favour himself in any corruption would bee glad if God would favour him too That there were no Law against it or that there were a Law to countenance it or no Law to punish it That God were not against it that God were of his mind or that there were no God or no God to punish it c. 2. A sincere heart in hearing the Word 1. Is willing to receive the truth of God 2. Is willing to receive every truth of God 3. Is willing to receive it as the truth of God 1. Hee receives the truth not into his head only his understanding to know it but into his heart his affections to love it Hee doth not imprison it in the head but lets it go down into the heart And the whole soul is made the residence and place of truth Lord how I love thy Law contrary hereto is that 2 Thes 2.10 2. Hee is willing to receive every truth Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Hee looks upon every word of God as good every truth of God as comming in the image of God and comming with the authority of God and there is ready entertainment for all as well those which make against him as those which make for him though a truth appear never so formidable that the receiving may cost a man death 2.
his tears confesseth all his confessions and prayes over all his Prayers And hee makes up the want of a duty with sighs the imperfection of a duty with tears Assure you selves God is as much honoured in your mourning for imperfections of a duty as hee is by your most perfect performance of it Blushing in Gods account is perfect beauty When a soul can blush and bee ashamed for the blemishes which are in its spiritual beauty God looks upon this soul as beautiful This is all wee can do to desire and mourn to aime at the highest in our desires and to mourn when wee fall short of what wee desire A Christian is made up of these two things desires and mournings Desires Oh that my heart were directed Oh that I could beleeve more love more prize more Oh that I were more agreeable to Gods Nature and Will c. and then comes in mournings O miserable man that I am c. Oh that my heart should bee so hard my spirit so dead my soul so cold in holy exercises And here is sincerity yea and here is the utmost wee can reach when wee come unto the utmost wee can attain in this life Vintores non Comprehensores here wee are but travailers towards our home not yet at home in our way not come to our rest And wee may well say it with our fellow travellers while Augustine cryes out I hate that which I am Odi quod sum non sum quod amo c. and love and desire that which I am not Oh wretched man that I am in whom the Cross of Christ hath not yet eaten out the poisonous and bitâ—â—â— taste of the first tree Another hee saith Lord I see and yet am blinde I will and yet rebel I hate and yet I love I follow and yet I fall I press forward yet I faint I wrestle yet I halt Well then let us make up the want of our beauty with a blush the imperfections of our duties with sighs and tears and then cast them all into the arms of Christ for acceptance If you convey a duty to him with tears hee will present it to his Father with blood hee will sprinkle it with his own blood mingle it with his own merits perfume it with his own odors as you read Revel 8.4 Whatever is offered by the spirit of Christ shall bee presented with the merits of Christ and though never so weak in him it shall finde acceptance hee hath made us accepted in the beloved Hee hath life enough to mingle with a dead Prayer hee hath warmth enough to adde to a cold Prayer hee hath holiness sufficient to adde to a duty full of sin Though as they come from us our duties smell rank of the flesh of sin and corruption yet being mingled with his odours with his incense they shall smell sweet in the nostrils of God This is one part of Christs mediation to put life to dead Prayers to purchase acceptance for performances which are but mean If wee and our duties were perfect wee did not stand in need of a Mediator Christ would lose one part of his office And therefore when the duty is done shew the sincerity of your hearts in mourning for the imperfections and cast all into the arms of Christ and live by Faith in confidence of acceptance Who hath made us accepted in the beloved not our persons only but our Prayers too 6. Character A heart sincere in Prayer is a praying heart That is a heart carried out with desire of the thing it prayes for Prayer is nothing else but an exposition of the soul or the soul in paraphrase the soul expressed the inside of the soul turned outward It is said of Hanna's Prayer 1 Sam. 1.15 that shee poured forth her soul shee expressed what her soul desired shewed the desires of her soul True Prayer is an earnest and inlarged desire for the obtaining and injoying of the things wee pray for Object But you will say then all our hearts are sincere for who is it that doth not desire the things hee prayes for Answ But my Brethren give mee leave a liâ—tle and I shall shew you this is not so strange a thing as you seem to make it I shall shew you that it is possible for a man to pray and not desire the things hee prayes for I will evidence this unto you in these three great Requests 1. In the desire of Grace 2. In the desire of subduing lusts 3. In the desire of Heaven 1. Grace 1. Thou prayest for Grace but thou dost not desire Grace in the beauty and extent of it Thou mayest desire common Graces as many Parents for their Children God give them Grace say thâ—â— but by that they mean no more than common graces that they may bee honest no Whores no Theeves c. for if once God change them and work Grace indeed in them there is none more hatefull to them of all their Children than such are I have heard of a desperate wretch that when hee came to dye hee gave good portions to all his Children save one and to him hee would give no more but twelve pence and being demanded what was the reason hee made answer hee was a Puritan I have heard him say saith this wretch that hee had a Promise to live on let us now see whether a Promise will maintain him Thus you may desire Grace common and general grace as many desire for their Children but spiritual and saving grace thou canst not desire thou hast no heart to that You shall hear what St. Augustine said of himself in his confessions after his conversion I prayed saith hee in my unregeneracy that God would give mee grace Da mihi continentiam Noli mudo Lord saith hee give mee chastity but saith hee my heart said not yet Lord not yet For I feared lest God would too quickly hear mee and cure mee of my incontinency which I would rather have fulfilled than extinguished And by this you may take the measure of your own spirits try your selves read your own hearts Grace in the. the next time you go to prayer You Pray for grace but see if you bee willing to have grace first in the extent of Grace all grace 1 Extent would the covetous man bee liberal would the Drunkard bee sober would the unclean person bee chast would the Proud man bee humble the Contentious man bee peaceable otherwise thou desires not grace in the extent 2 Power 2 Would you have grace 1 In the power of grace to live precisely and exactly before God What not to yeild to a word to a thought of sinne alas this they account damnable preciseness this they cannot close withall Go thy way Pray as often as thou wilt for grace assure thy self thou dost not desire grace in the extent and power of it if thou favourest any one corruption if thou wilt not live exactly and precisely in
the world Thou wouldest think it no mercy if God should grant thee what thou prayest for Thou prayest for Faith but wouldest thou have it no such matter why faith purifies the heart faith sanctifies the soul it will not suffer one corruption one lust to bee in thy heart and now dost thou desire faith no such matter Assure your selves if at any time you desire grace it is not grace under a right notion of grace It is not grace in the extent of grace nor grace in the power of grace It is again not a spiritual but a naturall desire of grace thou desires it but in some present distresse it may be when thou lyest on thy death bed and seest there is no comming to heaven without it Thou cannot desire it for it self 2 Thou prayest for the subduing of thy lusts 2 In desire â—â— Power against lust and corruptions but dost thou desire what thou praiest for wouldst thou think it if God should answer thee to be a mercy I am confident that till thy heart bee changed thou wouldst think the answer of such a request no mercy Would the Drunkard think it a mercy to bee rid of his cups The Covetous man would hee think it a mercy to be rid of his Mammon of unrighteousnesse No there is no such matter I dare be bold to say there is not that lust which a wicked man would think it a mercy to be rid of Alas Thou dost not desire to be rid of thy lusts thou canst not live without them thou canst not subsist without them when thou dost pray against them thou dost but dissemble with God there is no such matter thou dost not desire it If at any time thou dost desire it it is when thou hast done with it or it is in a storm only and then not because thou hatest it Non sub inâ—uitu mali sed minoris boni but because thou darest not keep it as you know the Merchant casts away his goods not because hee judgeth them evil in themselves but because if hee keeps them he cannot preserve a greater good his life Hee doth not part with them out of hatred to them for he even throws over his heart with them but because hee sees the keeping of them cannot stand with his present safety for after the storm and danger is over hee would bee glad to get them again if he could There are many who thus part with their sinnes as the Merchant with his wares only in a storm when they lye on their sick beds or under some wrack of Conscience for fear of hell or as Jacob parted with Benjamin because otherwise hee should starve necessity drove him to it or as Phaltiel parted with Michal because otherwise hee should loose his head hee did not part with her out of hatred but out of fear the King sent for her and if hee had detained her it might have cost him his head therefore out of fear hee parted with her though hee wept after her 3 In desire of heaven Extrema Christianorum desiderantur quamvis non Exordia 3 You Pray for heaven and one would think you did desire this wee say the end of a Christian is desirable though not the beginning the rest though not the labour you see Balaam hee wished hee might dye the death of the righteous though he had no heart to live their lives So that one would think they did desire heaven But indeed as long as thy heart is corrupt and unregenerate thou dost not desire heaven if thou knowest what heaven is If a man should ask thee thou who sayest thou desirest heaven what dost thou think heaven is it would I think pose thee But it may bee thou wilt say thou conceives heaven to bee a place of pleasure and delight a place free from all miseries and troubles and the like For this is the utmost heaven thou canst desire Thou lookest on it and desires it A place free from paenal not from sinful evils as a place of peace and rest not of grace and holiness If I should now tell thee that heaven is to be rid of all thy lusts and corruptions I beleive heaven would not be so desirable to thee Thou desirest heaven but t is under a false notion a heaven suitable to thy self and that 's the least of heaven I have told you not long agoe abstract and take from heaven what a corrupt heart doth see and think to bee heaven and that 's heaven indeed to a godly man To what I have said of another subject I will now adde this That didst thou know the company of heaven Heaven not desirable to corrupt hearts for its 1 Company the imployments of heaven the injoyments of heaven thou canst never desire heaven thy heart being corrupt 1 The company of heaven shall I tell you there 's none of your mind there And it is no great happiness to bee in such a place where they are all of different minds from you Two cannot walk together saith the Prophet they cannot-live together take delight together unless they bee agreed Now there is no agreement between the company of Heaven and thy spirit as it is corrupt See what the company of Heaven is enquire what they are First There is God and do you think there is any agreement betwixt God and you why hee is holy and thou art unholy hee is pure thou art impure c. and without holiness no man can see God Secondly There is Christ there are the glorious Angels all these are thine enemies as thou art in a natural condition Thirdly There are the blessed Saints and those are such as thou hast despised such as thou hast persecuted here in the World such as thou couldest never indure upon Earth but flye from and avoid is this company desireable in Heaven no such matter If they bee now hatefull to thee while they have something of thy self in them they have corruptions in them as well as thou though not under the power of them as thou Oh how hateful would they be when these corruptions are removed when they are better and thou worse But what 's this to torment thee in comparison of the presence of God in them is but the spark of holiness in God those eternal fires of holiness and if the spark bee a torment what is the fire As the Prophet speaks Who shall dwell with everlasting fires 2. Look upon the imployments of Heaven 2 Imployment and see if those bee desireable to thee in thy natural estate There is keeping of an eternal Sabbath there is praising and glorifying God to all eternity and would not this bee a tedious thing to thee canst thou indure to praise God for ever when now a staff of a Psalm is burdensome to keep an eternal Sabbath when a duty is tedious to thee 3. Adde to this the injoyments of Heaven 3. For its injoyments and here I can name nothing
another use and conclude Use of Exhortation Which hath four Branches 1. Branch 1. Get a sincere heart Otherwise all you do is worth nothing I speak unto you who do abound most in duties in performances you who pray who hear Oh! do you labour to get a sincere heart in the midst of your performances When you do any publick work look to your hearts beware of base ends base aims least they creep in and poison all your works Beware of a double eye an eye towards God and an eye toward your selves when in opposition Let it bee said of all you who put your hand to any publick works in these publick times as it was said of a Royal Commander that in all his actions hee placed ostentation behinde and conscience before him and sought not the reward of a good deed from fame but thought the deed it self done a sufficient reward Oh so do you And when you have to do with more private duties look to your hearts let your tongue and heart answer one another beware least your heart give your tongue the lye in speaking that your heart doth not desire I have shewed this may bee done Do you go labour that your heart may go with your tongue your affections may go hand in hand with all your expressions Nay rather let your expressions bee but as so many breathings from the like affections within so many streams issuing from a fountain and spring of affections within My Brethren this is the great thing I would press upon you The power of his Word and light of his Truth hath brought you I suppose to a form I hope few are among you but will seem to carry the outward face of Religion Few but will pray will hear will do duty Many favour Religion who have no savour of it It is my desire to exhort you who do much that you would not lose what you do do much and yet perish at last I tell thee if thou couldest heap up mountains of prayers if weep a Sea of tears if thou couldest macerate thy self with fasting and humbling thy self as many thousand years as the World hath stood minutes from the Creation yet without sincerity all this is nothing What the Apostle saith of charity I may say of sincerity if I speak with the tongues c. Wee read there shall many come to Christ at the last day and say have not wee preached have not wee prayed and prophesied fasted c They thought they had great wrong done them why should not Christ save them as well as any others why not accept of their works as well as of others and meaner than these too Why here was the ground and reason there was a want of sincerity they had but served themselves in serving him and therefore hee doth not own them Oh! then let mee exhort you all who are much in duties labour to get sincerity to accompany all You hear you pray c. get sincere hearts in hearing in praying c. The rather 1. Motive 1. Because sincerity sets a value and price upon the meanest work it makes the meanest action acceptable unto God Wee read Cant. 5.1 Christ is said to drink of the Milk as well as the Wine to eat of the Honey c. That is to accept of the meanest work and performance when there is sincerity to accompany it Milk c. A sigh a groan a tear a breathing of the spirit shall finde acceptance where the heart is upright which I told you cannot bee if there bee the love and liking of the least sin God delights more in the imperfect breathings of a sincere heart when there is not strength to bring forth an expression than hee doth in all the flourishes and glorious expressions of an unsound heart Sincerity makes the meanest works mighty with God it puts weight and value to all A work doth not make up the want of sincerity but sincerity vvill make up the want in a work as in Asah 1 King 15.14 hee vvill ovvn the vveakest duty if sincerity bee in it Hee vvill not refuse our vvorks as vvee do gold not because it vvants goodness but greatness hee vvill not reject them for vvant of grains if the gold bee good Hee hath a merciful allovvance for such vvorks vvhere the heart is sincere in the doing of them though the things done bee attended vvith many imperfections And that 's the first Motive 2. Motive 2. Because sincerity distinguisheth all our works from the works of others The day is comming vvhen the persons and vvorks of men shall bee distinguished one from another And as you vvould have your persons distinguished from others at the great day vvhen Christ shall come to separate the precious and the vile the Sheep from the Goats the good from the bad you vvould then bee glad to have your vvorks distinguished vvhen all the vvorks of men are to bee tryed and burned vvith fire to see whether they will indure tryal yea or no you would bee glad then to have something in your works to distinguish them from others that are to perish Why then if ever you would have that labour now to get Sincerity Sincerity will do this it will set such a stamp such a Character upon them as no false coin no work of any Hypocrite can have and therefore labour for it 3. Motive 3. Because otherwise all thy prayers thy tears thy duties all is lost and that is a sad case If a man had laid out much pains and cost about a work hee would bee sorry to lose all hee had done for want of a little more You have done much it may bee suffered much in the wayes of God would you not now lose all your former labours all your prayers all your tears your many sad hours spent in the wayes of godlinesse would you not lose all in conclusion Oh! labour to get a sincere heart if not you will assuredly lose the things you have wrought God will never own them Though the things bee materially good in themselves as what better than praying hearing c. yet if the heart bee not sincere in them God will never own them You see it in the first of Isaiah the works were good and such as God had commanded such as his soul delighted in yet wanting this sincerity all was nothing c. 4. Motive 4. Because sincerity is the chiefest thing God eyes in men the main thing which God now desires under the Gospel God looks not for a legal perfection from you in respect of legal actual universal personal Obedience hee desires sincerity and that under the Gospel is perfection 5. Motive 5. Sincerity will afford us comfort in the saddest times of our soul or body in our spiritual and temporal sorrows c. when other things cannot minister comfort when duties and prayers must stand afar off and are not able to reach forth any comfort to us yet sincerity can In the greatest darknesse of the soul
been so great but it was to part with his Isaac a Child of many prayers and of many promises and in whom his heart delighted 6. And again if hee had been to part with him in the ordinary way of nature by natural death the tryal not so great but hee was to part with him in a Sacrifice wherein hee was to bee mangled and cut in peeces 7. But yet had another been the executioner of his child it had been some mitigation But Abraham himself must bee his executioner hee must do this sad act And not to do it among his friends who perhaps might have stept in and comforted him in this tryal but hee was to go three dayes journey to an unknown place and there hee was to take away the life of him hee loved so dearly Yet herein Abraham obeyed Gods command and therin shewed his sincerity When the Precept of tryal might seem to contradict the Precept of Obedience when his dutiful Obedience to the one might seem to speak his undutifulness to the other yet herein hee declared his sincerity Whereupon God tells him now I know thou loves mee when now thou hast made it known now thou hast discovered thy sincerity seeing thou hast not with-held thy only son Gen. 22.12 here was sincerity now I know thou fearest God The like I might instance in Job in David in Mordecai they had their discovering times times of tryal So that God doth still single out some special times wherein hee discovers the sincerity of his own people And if you would bee ever able to clear your sincerities read the carriage of your hearts at these special times One quarter of an hour may give a man surer evidence of his sincerity or hypocrisy than all the time of his life besides There are five special times wherein you may have the advantage Read your spirits in times of if you bee careful to read your own spirits to clear the sincerity of your hearts 1. In times of darkness and temptation 1. Darkness Read the actings and goings out of your spirits at such times an unsound spirit will now fall from God desist in his duty strike sail But the sound spirit hee will hold closer to God Cujus faciem timer ejus faciem invocaâ— and follow him when hee seems to forsake him Hee will go on to love him although hee bee not able to clear whether ever hee shall bee beloved of him Hee will repent of sin though hee bee not able to evidence whether ever God will pardon sin Hee will go on to obey and serve God though hee bee not able to determine whether ever God will reward his obedience or no. Such like dispositions do now break forth in a sincere heart in the times of greatest darkness which in times of clearer manifestation have no occasion to shew themselves And these are the most undoubtedst evidences of your sincerity which perhaps you shall ever meet withall in your lives As wicked men do discover their greatest corruptions in their highest advancements so Gods people do discover and exert and put forth the highest acts of grace in their lowest and meanest conditions As the Sun shews greatest glory when it is lowest when setting So c. As Christ set out the greatest acts of divinity in his lowest abasements then hee sealed up the beams of the Sun rent rocks graves open the earth trembles c. So the Saints c. This is that the Psalmist saith unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness Where the heart is unsound it is dark in the greatest light so on the contrary there is light in the greatest darkness Hypocrisy is like painted windows which let in no light sincerity is like windows of Glass Times of manifestation 2. See how your hearts and spirits work towards God and towards sin in times of light and clearer manifestations of God Where the heart is unsound comfort doth him no good hee will do something in a storm then perhaps pray c. but hee will do nothing in a calm Comforts make him more careless more loose more remiss in his Christian way Where on the contrary hee who hath a sound spirit as hee is carried strongly towards God when hee with-holds his manifestations so if God do but let in a beam of his Countenance into his soul hee rejoyceth more in it than in a World Nay and these comforts do quicken him to further duty hee cannot lye at anchor but hee must launch out into the deep and lay out himself his parts his abilities c. I have sometimes told you that quickness and comfort may bee separated a man may have comfort without quickness hee may have joy without life But quickening was never separated from comfort A man cannot have joy but there will bee life c. Affections are like tinder and Comfort like sparks not a spark of comfort can fall upon the heart but the whole soul is set a fire and carried strongly on after God Comforts from God ever lead the soul to communion with God Of outward distress 3. See how your spirits do work towards God in times of outward distress and calamities upon you 1 An unsound spirit hee is for the most part proud and impatient under Gods hand and ready to think God doth him wrong in afflicting him But where the spirit is sincere hee is humble hee is patient hee layes his mouth in the dust kisseth the rod and accepteth of the punishment of his iniquity as you see the phrase Levit. 26.41 Example in Aaron 2. Again an unsound spirit hee roars under the lashes Flagella dolent quare flagellantur non dolent cryes under the affliction never complains of the sin As you see Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou c. But where the heart is sincere no evil troubles him so much as the evil of sin You see it in David when plagued 3. Again an unsound spirit hee desires to have the stroke removed not to have his heart amended The other desires rather the amending of his heart than the removal of the stroke Saith Bernard I had rather God should better my heart than remove his hand rather continue my strokes Malim erudiri quam â—ruâ— than my sins You see this in Job when Gods hand was on him Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou mee and if I have done iniquity I will do it no more as if hee had said Lord I know not the particular cause of this distress what it is thou aims at what I see not teach thou c. 4. A fourth time Of Prosperity wherein to read your hearts is in times of prosperity An unsound spirit grows worse by mercy mercy deadens sâ—â—â—â—ens his heart Isa 26.10 Let favour bee shewed c. Hazael professed much when hee was low but no sooner advanceâ— but mark then how hee acted against God his Church and people indeavouring to make his raising their ruine So
a nobis accipiendo sed omnia nobis promittendâ— Aug. because he hath ingaged himself to us by many great and precious Promises Gods Promises are ingagements upon him God hath made himself our Debter Not by receiving any thing from us but by promising all things to us God hath made many precious promises to us 1 Promises of Preservation Isa 33.16 Hee shall dwell on high his place of defence shall bee the munition of rocks bread shall bee given to him his waters shall bee sure A Promise than which I know none more full in the Book of God wherein all Objections that a fearful heart might raise are answered and taken away Let us view it over 1 Hee shall dwell on high If hee were among his enemies hee might bee in danger But hee shall dwel on high nay on heights as the Word is many Ascents many Heights above the reach of danger out of Gun-shot 2 But suppose they could raise up Mounts and come as high as hee yet they shall not hurt him Hee is in a place of defence 3 But what then His defence is not so strong but it may bee broken thorough No saith the Text that is impossible for his place of defence shall bee the Munitions of Rocks many Rocks and many Munitions of Rocks and therefore impregnable to guard him 4 Why but hee may bee starved out his supply will not alway last There is no plowing and sowing upon Rocks hee may bee famisht out No saith the Text. Bread shall bee given him Hee shall bee provided for 5 But what shall wee do for Water There is no Water to be had out of Rocks You see it was that which posed the Faith of Moses to fetch Water out of a Rock But saith the Text hee shall have Water too 6 Yea but his Water may be spent It will not alway last No saith the Text His Waters shall be sure never failing Waters sure Waters Again in the same Chapter vers 21. The Lord will bee to us a place of broad Rivers and streams wherein shall go no Gallie with Oares nor shall gallant ship pass thereby Shewing the defence God would bee to his People Hee will bee a Stream nay a River between us and our enemies And a broad River a River that cannot bee passed over Why but they may use Oares No saith the Lord Hee will bee a River wherein no Gally with Oares shall pass But a Ship may No nor gallant ship shall pass thereby for the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King hee will save us But what if any ship should attempt You shall see vers 23. God will untackle them Thy tacklings are loosed they could not well strengthen their Mast they could not spread the saile 2. And as hee hath made promises of Preservation from So hee hath made promises of Deliverance out of trouble Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all So Psal 50.15 Call upon mee in the time of trouble I will deliver thee So Psal 91.15 I will bee with him in trouble and will deliver him So Isa 54.17 No weapon formed against thee shall prosper And an excellent promise wee have Isa 43.3 4. I gave Egypt for thy ransome Ethiopia and Seba for thee God speaks here as the Lord and Possessor of the whole Earth Egypt was his and Ethiopia was his and both these hee gave for to redeem his Church The Church was in bondage and captivity you know in Egypt And God gave Egypt for her ransome And how because shee could not bee ransomed and delivered without the loss of Egypt Therefore God gave Egypt for her That is hee would rather lose all the Land of Egypt than his people should not bee ransomed hee would sink the whole Kingdome of Egypt if it stood betwixt his People and Deliverance And so it follows in the 4. vers I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life As if hee had said I love thee thou art more dear to mee than all the World and I do not stick to give the lives of thousands to uphold thine Multitudes shall bee destroyed rather than thou shalt not bee preserved I love thee and therefore I will give men for thee Thus you see God is ingaged to do wonderful things for his Church because of his Promise That love which hath moved him to make these precious promises to us will never give him rest till it hath caused him to make good those promises which hee hath made 3. A third loving Ingagement which causes God to do wonders for his People is because they trust in him Trust is a kinde of Ingagement upon a man although hee had made no promise A man will not deceive another who reposeth his whole trust in him though hee were not ingaged by Promise There is a kinde of Ingagement in Trust it self And shall wee then think that God will when hee hath made so many precious promises to us This were the greatest deceit in the World a Soul-deceit If God should call us off from all other succours from other shelters and tell us that if wee will trust in him hee will bee our succour our security And should God fail the soul this were an undoing-deceit the greatest deceit in the World No my Brethren there was never man who laid up his confidence in God but hee found God to bee that to him which hee expected Faith ingageth all the Power all the Wisdome all the Mercy and Truth of God to help us And if the Power Wisdome c. of God can do wonders for thee God will then do wonders for thee if thou beleeve in him Beleeve saith Christ and thou shalt see the wondrous works of God 4. A fourth Ingagement which causeth God to do wonders for his People is because they seeke him Hee doth not say to the seed of Jacob seek yee mee in vain Hee hath stiled himself The God hearing prayers and bids us call upon him in the day of trouble and hee will hear The Prayers of Gods People they are as so many Ingagements upon God to move him to do for them Faith and Prayer will set All-God awork It will set the Power Wisdome Mercy of God a work for you Faith and Prayer will remove Mountains Nothing shall bee too hard for that people to do whose hearts and spirits God holds up to beleeve and to pray Bee it to thee even as thou wilt Luther having been in his study and earnest with the Lord about the business of the Church receiving a gracious answer hee comes down and cryes Wee have overcome the day is ours And so it fell out saith the story For the Church prevailed There is a kinde of Omnipotency in Faith and Prayer because these two set the Omnipotent God and the Omnipotency of the Power of the Omnipotent God to work for us And I beleeve
hee was for theirs 3 A third incouragement that wee have to these duties is from the consideration of Gods love to his Church and many precious ingagements to them in promises The Church is dear to him wee are his Spouse his Members such as hee dyed for c. Wee are his 1. By Choice 2. By Purchase 3. By Gift 4. By Covenant And being his hee will do great things for us also Gods love to his Church is that into which wee may resolve all the mercies hee doth for his Church and is the only ground of our Faith and hope to expect mercies from him It is the Sea the spring Well then having so strong incouragements to these duties I would now have spent a little time to have pressed these duties on you but I forbear 9 Information 9. Information This may inform us what is the reason that God suffers wicked men to conceive and to hatch mischief against the Church Nay and to bring up their designes to ripeness that they are ready for execution why God doth not disturb them all their way Here is the Reason Because hee can do wonders Though hee let them go on yet they can never get the advantage of God nor can they make it past Gods help It is but shewing a wonder at last and all is dasht Men when they see an adversary whom they can easily Master when they please they will let them go on counsel advise lay their heads and power together and seem to take no notice of them They know the further they let them go the fuller and compleater will bee their overthrow at last So doth God here Hee suffers wicked men to go on but is because hee knoweth hee can overtake them though they think they have got the start before they come to the goal or get the prize When men see there would bee some hazard at last when they had brought their design to ripeness or did fear that the adversary would bee too strong for them then they will labour to hinder the beginnings and gatherings they will indeavour to crush the birth of their counsels or they will set themselves against their power as soon as they can And this is the wisest way among men But now God hee can let them go on hee can let them bring their designes to ripenesse they can never swell so big as to bee too great for his power to conquer them can never make their design so strong as to non-plus his wisdome and skill to help And therefore hee will let them go on because hee can dash them in their Man-hood as well as in their infancy in their strength as well as in their weaknesse It is but shewing a wonder and all is done And this was the Reason why God suffered the five Kings of Canaan to lay all their strength together that they might bee able to do that joyntly which they were never able to do singly Yet it is said The Lord hardened their hearts to joyn together to come against Israel Though they thought by this means to overthrow Israel yet Gods end was to make the quicker dispatch the fuller overthrow of them And therefore hee let Pharaoh also to go on did not stop him in his preparations nor hinder him in his setting forth but let him follow them to the utmost God knew hee could have him at the last hee could shew a wonder and break all in peeces The like of Haman God could if hee would have dasht his bloody counsel in the beginning hee could have set the King against it But hee lets him go on and bring his design to ripenesse and then declares a wonder and ruines him and his counsel too And this is the reason why God suffers wicked men to go on gather themselves together bring their designs to the utmost Because hee can break them in the end as well as in the beginning It is but doing a wonder at last which is familiar with God and all is broken in peeces And therefore Melancthon saith Non est judicandum de operibus dei ante quartum actum 2. Use Let it bee an Use of cautional Advise to wicked men 2 Use is for Caution to the wicked Let them beware of designing or attempting any thing against the Church and People of God seeing they have such a one on their side as can and will do Wonders for the relieving of them It was a truth which Zerish Hamans wife told him Esther 6.17 If Mordecai bee of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him It seems it was a known truth of those dayes even among Heathens that there should bee no power nor counsel against the Church of God God would do wonders for them Gods people are dear to God they are all the riches hee hath in the World Hee calls them so His Inheritance his Portion his Jewels his Treasure Hee hath a great deal of lumber in the world besides but these are his Jewels only and it cost him dear to make them Jewels It was no lesser than the price of his own blood As the Apostle saith You were not redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.19 Gods people are all the Income Christ had for his blood and sufferings all that Christ desired all that God promised and all he enjoys As you see Isa 53.11 12. Hee shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied c. And do you think then that God will not preserve his People yes certainly and will not stand to do wonders to preserve them Assure your selves God will never desert his cause his Church his People when things are brought up to their ripenesse that God is as it were drawn out to discover to the world in what cause hee will stand for what persons hee will fight Then he will declare it to the comfort of his Saints and to the cost of all those who are enemies to the Church of God God hath promised That hee will never leave us nor forsake us Hee hath said Hee will bee with us as hee was with Joseph in Prison And that not onely as a Spectator but as an Actor not as one to look on and take notice onely but as one to relieve and help us His power shall bee with us his Wisdome with us c. And as hee is with his Church so is hee against the Enemies of it His Power is against them before whom All the Nations of the Earth are but as the drop of a bucket And his wisdome against them his justice and truth against them And Woe bee to them whom God is against Thou maiest stand out against the power of men but not of God if he once prove thine enemy Hee hath a rod of Iron a Scepter of power an arm of strength to crush in peeces all his adversaries And
was all this glorious fabrick of Gods mercy and councel which was the greatest thing that ever came upon his heart Gods master-peece which went to the height of his skill and wisdome to the height of his mercy and love Beyond which there is a non ultra in Gods thoughts there was no further or more God could go no higher than himself all was infinite but thou in standing off dost annul and make void all the thoughts of his mercy and his love if others should do the like to what purpose then were all it would make all this void and to no purpose thou dost it as much as in thee lyest If a man should make a curious peece that should publish his skill his greatness wisdome and a man come and break it all in peeces would hee not bee greatly offended And what a fearfull thing is it to make void that wherein God set himself to make himself glorious to obscure that in which God set himself to make himself visible in but thou who art slow of heart to beleeve as far as it lyes in thee dost this and therefore what a provocation of God must this bee 3. Thou dost as much as in thee lyes make void all the purposes of Gods mercy to thee The great end which God aimed at in this great work of sending Christ into the World was that thou mightest beleeve in him and live Now if thou stand out and will not come in will not close with him thou dost what lyes in thee to make void all the purposes of God to thee for good I say what lyes in thee for thou shalt never do it the election shall bring thee in Gods purpose shall bring thee to his Promise Our sins may alter Gods conditional purposes of temporal mercies as hee tells them 1 Sam. 2.30 I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy Fathers should walk before mee for ever but now saith the Lord bee it far from mee for they that honour mee I will honour c. But thou shalt never bee able to make void Gods eternal purposes of good to thee but yet take heed of tempting God provoking God God may make thy body smart for it though he save thy soul at last make thee know better not try conclusions But I say what lyes in thee thou dost disanul all the purposes of God to thee for good which is a fearful thing 4. Thou dost what lyes in thee frustrate the expectation of God You know it is a great affliction to a man to have his expectation frustrated and the greater the good which was expected the greater the cut and wound to be disappointed and frustrated Why I say may I speak after the manner of men thou dost what lyes in thee to frustrate all the expectations of God Why what were Gods expectations but that thou shouldest receive his Son if hee sent him that thou shouldest imbrace Christ beleeve in him And this seems to be sweetly insinuated in the parable Mat. 21.37 Mark 12.6 Surely they will reverence my Son though they had abused the Prophets c. yet surely they will reverence my Son they owe so much homage to mee or they will look upon him so great a person the Son of God Surely they will reverence my Son But however his Person and Parentage should not procure reverence yet the service he came about will be a grateful service hee comes to be Saviour hee comes to redeem them from Hell Certainly hee will bee a welcome guest to them Oh how willing will they be to receive him how glad to entertain him with what open armes will they imbrace him how ready to obey him Surely they will reverence my Son And in reason who would not have thought so what welcome might not the King of glory expect the Prince expect who came upon such a business What might not a Prince expect who came to loosen the captives to redeem vassals to relieve distressed break chains Sure in all reason hee should have been received with all joy with all acclamations and willing imbraces This God expected But now when in stead of receiving we reject Christ sleight Christ undervalue Christ when we will not close with him c. how doth this cross the expectation and frustrate it 5. We do what lyes in us to make void Gods end in sending Christ What was the end which God aimed at in this plot in contriving such a way in sending Christ into the World this was his end that we might beleeve and live his glory in our salvation Surely the end must needs be glorious when the means and work was so glorious if the foundation of this work were so glorious what will the whole structure bee Now this was one part of Gods end in sending of Christ that thou shouldest receive Christ beleeve in him And so long as thou standest out thou crossest Gods end frustrates the end of God And this must needs be a great provocation of God If a man did take a great deal of pains in a work spent all his time and indeavours for some end and at last be crossed in the end the work is nothing to him This provokes c. Why thou dost frustrate Gods end 6. Thou dost as much as in thee lyes make void the death of Christ thou makest all his sufferings and all his blood shed to be to no purpose What was the end that Christ shed his blood what was the end Christ dyed why it was no other but this that we might beleeve in him and have a pardon c. But now so long as thou standest out thou frustratest all this if all were like thee I pray thee to what purpose were the death of Christ the expence and shedding of his blood And therefore this provokes much if one of us should suffer much for the obtaining of such an end if after hee had indured to bee disappointed of it this much provokes us 7. Thou dost as much as in thee lyes make void all the Promises of God to Christ God promised and entred into Covenant with Christ that if hee would lay down his life and blood hee would make him King over Saints hee would give the Heathen for his inheritance c. Isa 53. Hee shall see of the travel of his soul and bee satisfied God promised Christ that if hee would lay down his life for a people hee should have them hee would give a people to him And thy standing out doth what lyes in thee to make this Promise void to make God a lyar to his Son c. Thou shalt not bee able Christ shall have a people God will yet set his King c. yet if all were like thee where were Christs people Nay and thou robbest Christ of the reward and fruit of all his death and sufferings this was the reward Christ was to have for his death c. If a man had sweat or shed his bloud for such a thing