come very neare within a step or two to heaven and yet misse it many there are which do much like the young man yet some thing is wanting that also must be had els there is no Salvation Why is there so little change in men but because they thinke that lesse will serve the turne This cold overly and customary performance of holy duties marres all therefore consider but this First that it doth you no good at all what good did the Laodiceans luke-warmnes doe them they had as good bin cold yea God wisheth that they were either hot or cold Rev. 3.15 What good did all that Amafiah did to him seeing that he did it not with a sincere perfect heart These dowbaked services as I may so stile them these carkases without life these slight services profit not therefore there are conditions added to them in the Word prayer prevailes If it be fervent Iam. 5.16 If thou beleevest with all thine heart Act. 8. Effectuall faith diligent hope and fruitfull love 1 Thess. 1.3 It is a good observation of Divines that God loves adverbs better than verbes well doing above doing those that came to the wedding not having wedding garments were shut out Math. 22.11.12.13 as well as those that came not those that offred strange fire as Nadab and Abihu and their company were consumed as well as they that did not offer at all Secondly consider the nature of the thing what it is to be religious Is it an easie thing to turne nature to worke a change Is it easie to get ground of a raging lust It is as hard as to get ground of the Sea Consider the difference betwixt the Law and us That is spirituall wee are carnall Rom. 7. Consider the distemper of your affections and know your selves all that we have in us is either common or corrupt nature Gods graces are beyond the one and contrary to the other must we make these duties of religion to be onely in the by Prayer keeping of the Sabboths are to most men but as things in the by the streame of their affections runs in an other channell There is another thing required of us than this we must love the Lord with all our hearts and strength Deut. 6.5 This is it which all must do they must love God with all their strength else they are not worthy of him There is a qualification required of all that are saved he is not worthy of Grace or Heaven that seekes them not with his utmost indevour The difference twixt Cains Abels sacrifice was this Gen. 4.3 4.5 The one did it negligently brought the worst of his fruits the other brought the best he had Cursed is every one that doth the worke of the Lord negligently that is contenting himselfe with the outward performance of it doing it as a taske and being glad when it is done and over to doe it diligently is to worke with an eye to that which it tends to and to obtaine the end The end of prayer is to quicken you to performe holy duties when you obtaine this end then is your prayer diligent To do things onely for shew is nothing the effect and end is all you esteeme not your servants works unlesse they obtaine their end there is nothing that you esteeme the end of it being not done What is it to pray the end being not done men not being built up by it Iude 20. We must build up our selves in our most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost A cold formall performance doth but hurt us breeds more coldnesse and deadnesse in us In habits the more imperfect the acts are the more they weaken the habits the duties of religion coldly performed weaken grace Let a man accustome himselfe to write carelesly and crookedly it marreth his hand Let us therefore do all we do to God with diligence and fervency consider that those whom you thinke least needed for to do it did so their diligence should stir you up You know that Iacob wrestled with God all night Gen. 32.24 and so should you wrestle with him with strong prayers Christ himselfe spent many nights in prayer looke upon the prayers of David the fastings of Daniel aâ—ove all others looke upon Paul you may see him in watching in prayers and in fastings often he had a continuall strife with his heart to bring his body that is the deeds of his body into subjection I keepe under my body saith he and bring it into subjection 1 Cor. 9.17 My body that is the sinfull lusts of my body must bee brought downe I must go thorow fighting till I have the victory else I shall be a cast-away I shall else have onely an outward shew but yet bee nothing accounted of with God Consider this if a little diligence will not serve the turne adde more if prayer will not doe it adde fasting to it As there are some divels that will not be cast out without fasting and prayer so also are there some sinnes Make the plaister fit to the disease Complaine not with the sluggard who puts his hands in his bosome and doth nothing at all or doth not proportion his labour to the worke Lesse labour would serve the turne if our soules were as dry wood but they are as greenwood there must be much blowing ere they will bee kindled It is hard to get our soules to good duties hard to keepe them on the wing we must continue in prayer and that instantly too Men are ready to give over and to sit downe but you must continue Eph. 6. We must watch thereunto with perseverance there must every day be a new winding up of the soule there is a spring of sin in us so there must be a spring of holy duties we must doe them constantly you have daily new crosses and impediments therefore you must mend your pace in the way to heaven and bee more diligent you must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord and not slothfull Rom. 12.11 Doe your owne worke up and be doing and the Lord shall be with you 1 Chr. 22.16 God will deale with you as he did with the Eunuch hee was reading of the Scripture and God sent Phillip to him for to teach him Act. 8.26 c. So Cornelius hee was praying and God sent his Angell to him first and afterward Peter Act. 10. So the Apostles when as they rowed all night as Christ bade them he at last joynes himselfe to them and helpes them Matth. 14.24 c. The worst natures with his helpe can doe any thing the best without him can doe nothing Fiftly if the wayes of God are so full of crosses and difficultyes then learne from hence to justifie the wisedome of the Word of God and the Religion in the Scriptures It is an argument that it comes from heaven because it is not a whit agreable with our natures It is a pure and no leaden Lesbian rule it is
enable a man to beleeve it I answere that certainely there is a mighty power that goes out from God and Christ that enables thee to beleeve with efficacy so that when the object is set before thee there goes out a power from Christ to worke faith in thy heart whereby thou truly beleevest it and so it appeares in thy life We think we beleeve those things but our lives do manifest the contrary namely That there is not a powerfull faith wrought in us for all the errours of our lives though we observe them not arise from hence that these Principles are not throughly beleeved if they were it could not bee that there should be such inconsequences in the lives of men Therefore consider if this faith bee wrought in thee whether such a power hath gone out to worke such a faith that hath changed thy whole course as it will doe if it bee once wrought in thee by the power of Christ So also consider whether there hath a vertue gone out from him to worke love in thy heart to the Lord for otherwise it is certaine that there is no man in the world that is able to love God or to come neere him for all love riseth from Similitude there must bee an agreement and similitude betweene those two that love Now every man by nature is as contrary to Gods pure nature as fire is to water without an almighty power to change his nature and to worke a particular affection of love in him he can never be able to love God therefore it s the baptisme of the holy Ghost which workes this He will baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire that is with the holy Ghost which is fire I will multiply thy sorrowes and thy conceptions That is the sorrowes of thy conceptions Now love is as fire in the heart and one fire must beget another And therefore you have it in the common proverbe Love is a thing that cannot be bought with mountaines of gold and silver yet if thou bee in Christ there goes out a vertue from him that stampes upon thy heart this holy affection that breedes in thee this holy fire of love so that thy heart cleaves to him thou lovest him with as true with as genuine as naturall and as sensible love as thou lovest any friend as thou lovest any creature in the world Consider if this be wrought in thee or no. And so for thy knowledge there is also a power in it consider whether any such vertue hath gone out from Christ to make the knowledge which thou hast powerfull You will say what is that That is to bring on these truthes which thy heart assents unto to bring them with that evidence and fulnesse of demonstration that thou shalt yeeld unto them and practise them according to thy knowledge Beloued there is much knowledge among us but who practiseth according to his knowledge We know God but wee glorifie him not as God and the reason is because there hath not gone a power with that knowledge to make it lively and effectuall to passe through all the faculties of the soule and to overrule them for if there were such knowledge it would alwayes draw affection and practise with it So likewise consider whether there hath gone a power from him to mortifie thy lusts Whosoever is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts not to lay them asleepe onely but to mortifie and subdue them See likewise whether there hath a power gone out from Christ to helpe thee to overcome the world The lusts of thine eyes the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life for whosoever is in Christ overcomes the world and all that is in the world The world hath many things to worke upon us and to resist and oppose us It hath persecutions it hath disgraces it hath slanders and reproches which it casts upon holy men upon the holy wayes of God And the men that are actours in this are the divels factours though they thinke not so as the Apostle Iames expresses it Their tongues are set on fire of hell to devise slanders and false reports and to fasten them upon holy men especially upon the Ministers of the Gospell and so upon all the wayes of God I say they are the divels factours though they thinke not so and those that beleeve them are the divels receivers the one hath the divell in his tongue the other in his eare But the Lord hath appointed this This is one thing whereby the world fights against the wayes of God to discourage men and to hinder them that they might be stumbling blockes to them So it was with Christ hee was the falling of many in Israel by reason of this so was Paul as a deceiver and yet true c. Consider if thou hast this efficacy put into thy heart that thou art able to overcome this that thou art able to overcome all the offences and persecutions all the slaunders and reproaches that are cast upon the wayes of God and notwithstanding that to thinke well of them and to walke in them and practise thē Likewise as it hath these things on the one hand so it hath pleasures preferments glory riche◠credit and all things of that nature on the other art thou able to overcome all these So to shut up this point prosecute it no further thus you shall know whether you be in Christ for that is the point Wee have assurance in him that if we aske any thing we shall be heard but first we must be in him now 〈◊〉 know whether we be in him as you have heard there must be an act of ours and secondly an act of his which is this power that goes out from him to change to take and comprehend us So much for the first thing Now for the second if a man will apply or take to himselfe the priviledges wee have by Christ as this particular priviledge of being heard in our prayers of comming to the Sacrament or any other know this that it is not enough to be in Christ only but there must be a certaine qualification a certaine immediate fashioning and preparation of the heart or else though thou have a right to the priviledges though they belong to thee yet thou art suspended from the use benefit and comfort of them And this is considered in these Five things I will but name them very briefely First when a man comes to receive the Sacrament it 's not enough for him to be in Christ no nor when he is come to do some other duties but moreover there must be this also those grace thou hast this change this new creature that is wrought in thee which is but a heape of particular graces these must be acted and stirred up upon such an occasion It is true no man ought to come except he have the graces of Gods Spirit wrought in
have it faithfull Iames the first when the Apostle exhorts them to praier if any man want wisdome saith he let him aske it of God but then marke he carefully puts in this condition see that He pray in faith that is beleeve that it shal be done unto him now this faith includes repentance for no man can beleeve that he shall be heard except he make his heart perfect with God If he allow any sin in himselfe he cannot beleeve upon any good ground therfore when I say it must be faithful that also is included we must regard no wickednes in our hearts for in such a case the Lord heares not hee heares not sinners So that this you must remember First the person must be righteous and the prayer must bee fervent and faithfull Secondly the other Condition you shal heare in the Text it must be according to his will you must not thinke whatsoever you aske if you aske it loosely at Gods hands that it shall presently be graunted you No saith he it must be according to his will if you aske fire from heaven that is not according to his will and therefore you see they that aske it were denyed it with this reason you know not what you aske Likewise to â—it at his right hand and at his left in heaven which was another request of the Disciples he puts them by with this You understand not what you aske of the Father and therefore it must be according to his will And that is the second Thirdly we must aske it in time in due season so the promise is true Knock and it shall be opened to you but you know the foolish Virgins knockt and it was not opened to theÌ„ what was the reason of it because they askt when the time was past for there is a certaine acceptable time when the Lord will be found and when that oportunity is past he is found no more It is true that this life is the time of grace but God in his secret counsell hath appointed a certaine time to every man which is the acceptable time the day of grace therefore he saith unto them This day if you will heare this day if you will come and seeke unto mee if you will pray unto mee I will heare you when it 's past the Lord suffers not the doores to stand open alwayes his eares are not alwayes open therefore that condition must be carefully remembered you must aske in time It is a condition that should be carefully thought on by us For for the most part we fly to prayer as Ioab did to the Altar hee went not to it for devotion for then he would have done it before but when hee was in distresse when hee was in extremity then hee fled to it and therefore you know what successe hee had by it it saved not his life So we goe not to prayer for devotion that is out of love to God to doe him that service but for the most part wee do it out of selfe love when we are in extremity or distresse wee passe the acceptable times he requires and we goe to him in a time of our owne For there is Gods time and there is our owne time Gods time is to come to him when wee may do him service in our youth in our strength in the flower of our graces Our time is to goe to him when we need him Will not a friend say when we never come to him but when we have extreame need of him why do you come now you were not wont to visit me before this is not out of love to me Even the very same answer the Lord giveth Goe to your Idols saith he those that you served in the time of peace and see if they can helpe you The fourth and last condition is That wee referre the time the manner the measure of granting our petitions to the Lord. That is we must not thinke to be our owne carvers to thinke if it be not granted in such a manner such a measure or such a time presently the Lord hath rejected our petitions no he that beleeves makes no haste That is he waits upon God he stayes himselfe upon God he is content to have it in that time in that manner and measure as best pleaseth the Lord For the truth is we know not our selves what is meete for us we are unto the Lord just as the Patient is to the Physitian The patient is importunate with him for such things to refresh and ease him But the Physitian knowes what best belongs to him and when to give him such things in what manner and in what measure So the Lord knowes best what to doe Many times hee doth the same things that we desire though he doe it not in the same manner Even as the physitià he quencheth often the thirst with Berberries or with such kind of conserves what though it be not with drinke is it not all one so the thirst be quenched Is it not all one whether a man bee hindred from striking me or if I have a helmet to defend the blow sometimes the Lord keepes not off the enemy but then he gives us a helmet to keepe off those blowes to beare those injuries and evills that are done to us he is a wise physitian he knowes what manner what measure and what time is best therefore that must be referred to him now these conditions being observed you must know that this great priviledge belongs to every Christian That whatsoever prayers he makes on earth he is sure to bee heard in heaven it is a wondrous priviledge that which wee have all cause to stand amazed at that the Lord should so farre regard the sonnes of men to grant them such a Charter as this no more but aske and have and what so ever you pray for it shall be done to you But a man is ready to say secretly in his heart when he heares it This is too good to be true That whatsoever I aske I shall have My Beloved I confesse it is a hard thing to beleeve it as wee ought to doe and therefore before we come to apply this we will spend a little time in endevouring to convince you of the truth of it that you may not doubt of it that what prayers you make to the Lord hee is ready to heare them First consider that whatsoever prayer you make he takes notice of it he observs every petition there is not one petitioÌ„ that you make to him at any time but he lookes upon it he sees what the prayer is And this thing although you thinke it common and who is there that know not this yet my beloved to beleeve this to thinke that God is present where I make my prayer to him to thinke he stands and heares it even as I speake to a man that stands and heares me and understands what I say to him This is
man being established in his kingdome having subdued all his enemies and furnished himselfe with wealth and treasure hee thought that his mountaine was then made so strong that it could never bee moved that to morrow shall bee as yesterday and much more abundant but no sooner did God hide his face from him but he was troubled Psal. 30.7 To shew that it was not his riches and outward prosperity that made him happy but God onely So Daniel 5.23 Beâ—shazzar when as he thought himselfe happy being environed with his Wives Princes and Servants when as hee praised the gods of silver and the gods of gold abounded with all outward prosperity and reposed his happinesse in it is counted but a foole by Daniel for it Because hee glorified not God in whose hands his breath and all his wayes were and therefore he was destroyed These things of themselves will not continue with us nor yet make us happy Wee take not a step to prosperity or adversity but Gods hand doth leade it My brethren that heare mee this day that have heretofore thought that if ye had such an estate such learning such ornaments and such friends that then yee were happy to perswade you that it is not so it would change your hopes and feares your griefes and joyes and make you labour to bee rich in faith and in good workes It will be very hard to perswade you to this yet we will doe what we can and adde certaine reasons which may perswade you to beleve it to bee so if God shall adde a blessing to them and joyne the operation of his Spirit with them to perswade you First this must needs be so in regard of Gods All-sufficiencie hee alone is able to comfort without the creatures helpe else there were an insufficiencie and narrownesse in him and so hee should not bee God If hee could not fill our desires every way hee were not All-sufficient Even as the Sunne should bee defective if it needed the helpe of torches to give light God is blessed not onely in himselfe but makes us also blessed it is the ground of all other Commandements Thou shalt love and worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou feare Wee must love him with all our hearts with all our soules let not the creature have one jot of them because all comfort is from God Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walke before me and be perfect that is love me altogether set your affections on none but me yee neede not goe unto the creature all is in me If the creature could doe any thing for to make us happy and not God then wee might step out to it but the creature can adde nothing to it God onely is all-sufficient to make you perfect every way though the creature be used by God as an instrument yet it is onely God that makes you happy and gives you comfort and not the creature Secondly it must needs bee so because of the vanitie and emptinesse of the creature It can doe nothing but as it is commanded by God he is the Lord of Hoasts who commandeth all the creatures as the Generall doth his army A man having the creatures to helpe him it is by vertue of Gods command It is the vanitie of the creature that it can doe nothing of it selfe except there be an influence from God Looke not then to the creature it selfe but to the influence action and application that it hath from Gods secret concurrance with it What it is to have this secret concurrance and influence from God unto the creature you may see it expressed by this similitude Take the hand it moves because there is an imperceptible influence from the wil that stirres it So the creature moving and giving comfort to us it is Gods will it should doe it and so it is applied to this or that action The Artificer using a hatchet to make a stoole or the like there is an influence from his Art that guides his hand and it so the creatures working is by a secret concourse from God doing thus and thus And to know that it is from God yee finde a mutability in the creature it works not alwayes one way Physicke and all other things are inconstant somtimes it helps sometimes not yea many times when as yee have all the meanes yet they faile to shew that there is an influence from God and that the creatures are vanishing perishing and unconstant of themselues Thirdly It must be so because it is sinfull to looke comfort from any thing but from God because by this wee attribute that to the creature which onely belongs to God which is Idolatry The creature steales away the heart in an imperceptible manner as Absolom stole away the peoples hearts from David or as the adulterer steales away the love of the wife from her husband This makes you serve the creatures this makes you settle your affections on the creatures if they faile yee sorrow if they come yee joy and yee doe this with all joy with all delight and pleasure and desire This is a great sinne nay it is the greatest sinne as adultery is the greatest sinne because it severs and dissolves the marriage so is this the greater because it severs us from God and makes us cleave to the creature The maine Consectarie and use from this is To keepe you from hasting after worldly things men are never weary of seeking them but spend their whole time in getting of them and this is the reason why the things that belong to salvation are so much neglected men spend so much time in a thousand other things and trifles that they have no time at all to serve God in they are busie about riches honours credit or the things whereon their pleasures doe pitch but if this be digested it will teach you to seeke all from God who disposeth all things and to whom the issues of life and death of good or evill doe belong Consider with your selves and you shall finde that the reason wherefore yee seeke for outward content and comfort is because you thinke it will doe you good if you have it or hurt if you have it not But herein you erre giving that to the creature which onely belongs to God Esay 41.23 If the Idols bee God saith the Lord let them doe good or evill The scope of this place is to cut off the whorish and adulterish affection of those who have an eager and unweaned desire after earthly things by shewing that they can doe us neither good nor hurt Therefore God punished David exceedingly for numbring the people because he thought that they could strengthen him against his enemies without Gods helpe Wherefore Ieremie 9.23.24 Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisedome neither let the mightie man glory in his might neither let the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that hee
watch but in vaine It is in vaine to rise up earely to goe to bed late to eate the bread of carefulnesse Yee shall not reape the fruit yee expect unlesse God bee with your labour If Christ bee absent the Disciples may labour all night and catch nothing but if he be present with them then their labour prospereth then they inclose a multitude of Fishes So when as wee labour and take paines and thinke to be strong in our owne strength without Gods helpe wee goe to worke with a strong key which will not open but if Gods hand bee in the businesse wee doe that with greater facilitie and ease which God hath appointed wee should doe You may see this in Ioseph God purposed to make him a great man see with what facilitie he was made the Governour of Egypt next to Pharaoh without his owne seeking and beyond his expectation So it was with Mordecai so with David God appointed to make them great and therefore they became great notwithstanding all oppositions On the contrary let man goe on in his owne strength and he shall labour without any profit at all Hence it is that many times we see a concurrencie of all causes so that we would thinke that the effect must needs follow and yet it followes not and if it doth follow we have no comfort in it First because God makes an insutablenesse a disproportion betwixt the man the blessing as betweene Iudas and his Apostleship A man may have tables well furnished Riches in aboundance a Wife fit for him and yet have no comfort in them because God puts a secret disproportion betwixt him and them Secondly though there bee a concurrencie of things yet God may hinder the effect sometimes for good sometimes for evill As Elisha his servant was ready in the nicke when the Shunamite came to beg her possessions and Land of the King 2. King 8.5.6 He was then telling the King how Elisha had restored her sonne to life which furthered her suite So on the other side Abraham When hee was to offer up his sonne Isaac in the instant God sent the Ramme tied in the Bush Gen. 22.13 So Saul when as he had purposed to kill David God calls him away to fight with the Philistims and as God hinders the effect for good so hee doth for evill Thirdly God doth it sometimes by denying successe unto the causes The battell is not alwayes to the strong when there are causes and the effect followes not it is because God doth dispose of things at his pleasure and can turne them a contrary way health and comfort joy and delight follow not outward blessings except God puts it into them The fourth Deceipt is this These things are certaine and present but other things are doubtfull and uncertaine we know not whether we shall have them or no. To this I answer it is not so Future spirituall and eternall things are not uncertaine but those things which wee enjoy here are those things which we here enjoy as also wee our selves are subject to changes and alterations we are as men on the sea having stormes as well as calmes Wealth and all outward blessings are but transitory things but faith and spirituall things are certaine and endure for ever we have an Almighty and unchangeable God an immortall incorruptible inheritance that fadeth not away reserved for us in the highest heavens In temporall things who knowes what shall bee to morrow in them thou canst not boast of to morrow but as for spirituall things they are certaine there is no ambiguity in them But the maine answer that I give is that here we must use our faith consider the grounds on which faith relies and then the conclusions and consequences that arise from them take heed to them and be not deceived If ye beleeve God to be the Rewarder of all those that trust in him as you say he is why rest you not on him Why are yee not contented with him for your portion Why thinke yee not him sufficient If the creature be God then follow it but if God be God then follow him and be satisfied with him Labour therefore for faith unfained and walke according to it If then it be vaine and sinfull to seeke helpe and comfort from any creature or from riches and to thinke that they can make us live more comfortably hence then consider the sinfulnesse of it and put it into the Catalogue of your other sinnes that formerly yee have had such thoughts Every one is guilty of this sinne more or lesse and this is a sin not small but of a high nature It is Idolatry In the times of ignorance Sathan drew many men to grosse Idolatry to worship stockes and stones but now he drawes them to another Idolatrie lesse perceptible and yet as dangerous in Gods sight as the other who is a spirit and can discerne and pry into it Let us therefore examine our hearts and consider how much wee have loved and trusted the creature let vs condemne our selues and rectifie our Iudgements and judge of things as they are Let us not thinke our selues happy for that we enjoy the creatures let us not thinke ourselves blessed in them but onely in Christ because it is not in their power to make us happy If wee have so joyed in these or loved them so as to love God lesse it is adulterous love and joy We have no better rule to judge of adulterous love than this when as our love to the creature doth lessen our love towards God Now least we bee deceived in our love to the creature I will give you these foure signes to know whether your love to it bee right or no. First see if your affections to the creature cause you to withdraw your hearts from God Ier. 17.5 Cursed bee the man that maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the LORD It is a signe wee make flesh our arme when as wee withdraw our hearts from God we make the creature our aime when as it withdrawes us from God 1 Tim. 5.5 She that is a Widdow indeed trusteth in God and continueth in supplications night and day This is a signe that they trusted in God not in the creature because they pray unto him Consider what your conversation is whether it bee in heaven or no Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven the neglecting and not minding of earthly things in the former verse shewed him not to be of an earthly conversation The more our hearts are drawne from God the more are they fixed and set on earthly things Secondly consider what choise yee make when as these things come in competition with God and spirituall things what Bils of Exchange doe you make Doe ye make yee friends of the unrighteous Mammon not caring for these things when they come in competition with a good conscience or doe yee forsake GOD and sticke to them Thirdly
twice dead trees plucked up by the rootes that never grow againe The Saints may bee as sheepe soyled with a fall but they can never become Wolves againe but these men they turne Wolves againe so did Pharoah and Saul The Saints have their Turbida intervalla their ebbing and flowing their full and their waine but yet all these cloudings doe but obscure their graces not extinguish them the darkenesse of the night extinguisheth not the light of the Stars but covers it so doe these cloudings but only cover the graces of the Saints All the goodnesse of other men that seeme to live are but Lucida intervlla they are good but by fits when as those that live are bad but by fits Nullum fictum est diuturnum their goodnes is but counterfeit therefore it lasts not it holds not out Another distinguisher of these walking Ghosts from living is this the actions they doe they doe them not as living men do they make apparitions onely and vanish Those men that have nothing but civility it quickly vanisheth they are like the Church of Sardis Reve. 3.1 that had a name shee lived and yet was dead their workes are not perfect throughout they were but linsey-wolsey they were not thorow paced in the wayes of God but shuffell they graspe at both and comprehend neither they doe many things but not all As the young man that came to Christ Christ looked on him and loved him what distinguished him one thing was wanting his workes were not perfect his heart was set upon his wealth he would doe any thing else his heart was not weaned or divorced from it Saul had a name to live but yet his workes were not perfect when Samuel came not then hee was discovered that was but his triall he would not rest in God Herod did many things yet he was not perfect hee would not leave his incest so all that have but a forme of religion they are Wolves though they have a sheepish outside they are not perfect ye shall know them by their workes But what workes are those that we cannot see them doe I answer they may be exact in the first yet faile in the second Table and those that practise the duties of the second Table faile in the duties of the first If men be exact in the duties of both Tables their religion is pure and undefiled Iam. 1.27 If they faile in the duties of one table to make their religion pure is to mend in the other These civill men wrong no man yet they content themselves with a bare formalitie this is not pure Religion we say this is pure Religion if yee bee fervent in prayer and content not your selves with formality of Religion without the power Lastly these walking ghosts doe but shew themselves to men they company not with them yee see them and heare no more of them Ye shall know living men by their companying and loving of the Saints as sheepe and doves they are never out of company and keepe no other company but their owne Yee shall finde in others these differences First either they delight not in all the Saints We must love all the Saints this particle all is put in all Pauls Epistles these love not all the Saints Secondly if they love all the Saints yet they love not the Saints onely yee must love none but the Saints If yee love the Saints because they are Saints then those who are not Saints ye doe not love that is yee love none with the love of friendship and intimate familiaritie but the Saints yet love them with a love of pitty and we all faile in this love Thirdly they doe not love those that excell in vertue If your hearts be not right ye dislike all those that goe beyond you in holinesse and practise Lastly though they make a shew they love them yet they doe not shew the effects of their loves to them And thus much for the helpes and discovery of the first sort of men that have a name they live and yet are dead The second sort of men to whom this use is directed are those who are quite dead yee shall know them by these markes or Symptomes First yee shall finde coldnesâ—â— in them in death there is no heate so their prayers and performances are cold they are dead wanting fervency But the Saints want heate as well as others they also are cold I answer though sometimes they want it yet they are quickly made hot againe because there is life in them as Charcole is quickly kindled because it hath beene in the fire so the Saints are soone kindled brcause they had fire in theÌ„ before Others are as greene wood or rather as matter that is not combustible as the Adamant that will not bee made hot with fire Living men admonitions and the fire of good company will heate againe so wil it not the others Secondly ye shall know them by their stifnesse and hardnesse It is a signe of death to be inflexible Wicked men are as hard as flint to Gods commandes but as soft as waxe to that which humors them Are yee tractable Do you delight in your owne wayes and yet continue the same men keepe the same company Doe yee abide still in the same place or goe on in the same tract then ye are dead In many things you may be tractable but the maine is whether yee are flexible in those things that are connaturall unto you These deale with us as Iohanan did with Ieremiah Ier. 42. He said he would goe downe into Egypt hee would doe any thing that God should hid him whether it were good or bad but when Ieremy had told him and the people that they must not goe downe into Egypt then they say that he spake falsely God did not send him with such a message If Gods will had suted with his hee would have done what hee would have had him to doe your triall is when you must offer up your Isaacke when you must part with those things that are most sweete unto you Thirdly dead men are sencelesse like Idols that the Psalmist speakes of they have eyes and see not eares and heare not mouthes and speake not feet and walke not they have sences to discerne but there is yet an inward eye they want they see no beauty in the wayes of God therefore they thinke there is no such matter because they have eyes and see it not they have mouthes and taste it not they relish it not they smell no sweet savour from the graces of the Saints when as the graces of the Saints have a sweet savour like an ointment powred out Cant. 1.2 So for feeling they feele not they are not sencible of the judgements or threatnings the Law nor the Gospell move them not they have hard and insensible hearts the more insencible they are it is a signe they are more dead the more sencible wee are of
are as Fish out of the water Every life hath likewise a taste and appetite a new life hath a new taste and judgement Pro. 29.27 An unjuste man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked that is one hates the thing that the other loves he that is alive the things which before he loved he now hates he abhors the things that evill men delight in That which is a dogs meate is a sheepes poyson as the proverb is so that which wicked men delight in is as odious as poyson to the just To judge this life by see what your company and delights are nothing can be lesse dissembled than company In his company man doth speake out of the abundance of the heart he then bewrayes himselfe what he is there is no dead man no living man but he is inward with the like no signe so much poynted at in the Scripture as this Yee are translated from death to life if yee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 and Ioh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that yee are my disciples if yee love one another this rule will not deceive you Secondly yee may know whether yee live this life if ye contend for it that life which a man lives for it he will contend he will let any thing goe rather than it If yee live this life of grace yee will maintaine it and yee can doe no otherwise 1 Iohn 3.9 Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne to be borne of God is to leade a new life he that lives a new life admits not the things which tend to the destruction of it Compare this with the 1. Pet. 2.11 Abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule hee that is borne of God sinnes not that is hee yeelds not to sinne with his good will but struggles against it as one in health strives against sickenesse resists the disease and maintaines a warre against it But yet the best are foyled T is true yet they strive they never yeeld they maintaine a warre and this they doe not onely by discourse but there is a naturall instinct that puts them forwards they may be cast backe yet they returne againe they may have a sickenesse that takes away sence they may swound and be astonished for a time yet after they contend for life Every evill man contends for his life he leades his life in some lust or other from which if he be drawne hee returnes againe as a thing that is lifted from the earth will fall downe to it againe he reckons the wayes of God hard and opposite to him The wisedome of the Spirit is enmity to the flesh neyther can it be subiect to the Law of God Rom. 8. it cannot but resists it Every creature labours to mainetaine its being so evill men continuing in sinne strive naturally against all that would bring them out of this life of sinne So the Saints they live a life of grace and labour to maintaine it Iohn 6.68 Christ asking his Disciples whether they also would goe away Peter made this answer Lord whither shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall life that is whiles we conceive thee to be the principle and fountaine of this life we cannot depart from thee The Saints wil let go friends and life and all for this life Count therefore of others and judge of your selves by contesting for this life strive to mainetaine it let all goe rather than it Thirdly yee may know whether yee have this life in you or not by the fruites of it as the tree is knowne by its fruites If the word turne the flocke into its owne nature ye know it by the fruites Gal. 5.25 If ye live in the Spirit ye will also walke in the Spirit that is if ye professe your selves holy men shew it by walking in the Spirit holy men will bee doing that which is good This is the surest triall our workes will not deceive us other things which consist in imagination may 1 Ioh. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the children of the Divill who doth not righteousnes is not of God he that is of God doth not unrighteousnesse Consider then what your walke and your actions are and by them ye shall know this life But how shall we know whether we walke in the Spirit or no I answere first that there are many by-walkes and if ye walke but in one of them yee walke in the flesh and not in the Spirit Iam. 1.26 If any man seeme to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his owne heart this mans religion is vaine that is hee that makes this sinne his trade and walkes ordinarily in it his religion is vaine Secondly yee may know it by the guides yee follow Evill men they follow three guides Ephe. 2.3 they follow first the world secondly the Divill thirdly the flesh Holy men have three contrary guides first the renewed part within secondly the holy Ghost thirdly the course of the Saints Goe ye the broad way oportet Sanctos vadere per diverticula the Saints doe not so Follow yee the streame fulfill yee the will of flesh or of the Spirit what are your actions Ephe. 4.17 I charge you that you henceforth walke not as the Gentiles doe in the vanity of their mindes that is holy men may have vanity in their mindes yet they walke not in it as others doe evill men may have other thoughts yet they walke in the vanity of their mindes and albeit that evill men walke not in all the waies of sin yet they are dead there is but one way to hit the marke but there are a thousand by-wayes a holy man may stumble in the wayes of God and have some foyles but he leades not his life in sinne he strives against it hee that leades his life in any knowne sinne not resisting it and will doe it and not crosse himselfe in it is dead his religion is vaine But what actions are there that holy men doe but that wicked men and others doe them I answere that there is no good actions we doe but they may be dead workes as men may pray and keepe the Sabbath yet they may be but dead workes they may doe them for a shew yet they are dead A shaddow hath all the liniaments of a body yet it wants life so the workes of hypocrites they want life consider therefore whether your workes are living workes you may know it by these three signes First if they proceed from the fountaine of life they are not dead workes compare Gal. 5.6 In Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love with Gal. 6.15 In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availes any thing neither uncircumcision but a new creature all that proceeds not from a new heart and from faith which worketh by love is nothing this is
bee like me ready at a watch word to turne which way I will have you There are all the relations that may be betweene Christ and us which may cause us for to follow him Hee is our King our Father and our Maister therefore we must follow him There are two sorts of men in the world the first are straglers such as straggle abroad like sheepe without a sheapheard lawlesse men that follow their lusts these men are priviledged men and may goe whither they will The second sort of men are they that give themselves to serve Christ looking for Salvation from him these must resolve to follow Christ. But here may be some objections raised you will say that the Law is the rule of a mans life how then is Christ the rule I answere that Christ is the example of the rule as in Grammar and Logicke after the rule you have an example put and Christ by his example gives you more facility to performe it Yea but this rule is too high for us who is there that can reach it Take away hope you take away indevour I answere that it is true that none can reach it yet wee must goe as nigh it as wee may First therefore consider that it is for our advantage to have such a rule in other things men labour for the best copies and samplers It is absurd for a man to say I cannot follow the straite rule Therefore will I have a crooked one I cannot hit the marke therefore I will have a false one set vp Secondly it is needfull to have the best rule because we must alwayes grow forwards to perfection Phil. 3.13.14 We must forget that which is behinde and looke to that which is before Thirdly we must have a perfect rule to humble our selves by it taking Christ for our rule comparing our selves by him we see our owne filthinesse and with Peter say to him Luk. 5.8 Depart from us we are sinfull men So Iob seeing God abhorres himselfe and repents in dust and ashes Iob 42.6 But you will say If Christ lived with us and we saw him if he would as it were leade us by the hand it were something but hee is gone I answere that though hee be gone yet hee hath left guides to leade us in his stead he hath left the holy Ghost and his Spirit with us who Iohn 16.13 shall leade us into all truth necessary for Salvation he hath left us his Spirit to tell you that this is the false way this the true and this Spirit hee sends into every regenerate mans heart Gal. 4.6 As soone as you are sonnes he sends his Sonnes Spirit into your hearts whereby you cry Abba Father But you will say how shall wee know when the Spirit speakes I answere by the Word what the Word saith the Spirit saith But these are but remote guides Therefore you have the Saints that went all in one path First the Saints that are dead and gone and then those that now live You have the Spirit the Word and the Saints to teach you onely remember this caution that the Saints are a rule to you yet not a perfect one they goe in and out eye them but yet eye Christ beyond them who is the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 In all other things and artes Non est eiusdem invenire perficere one man begins and an other finisheth but Christ as hee is the author so hee is the finisher of our faith hee hath begun the Doctrine and the thing and hee will finish it For the better understanding of the point I will shew you these two things First the action what it is to follow Christ. Secondly the object and patterne that wee must follow and that is Christ. For the first what it is to follow Christ I answere That to follow Christ is to resolve to do or suffer with all our hearts or willingly what ever he commands at all times and all manner of wayes Thete are foure things in this definition which expresse what it is to follow Christ. First wee must resolve to doe or suffer any thing that he commands we must except nothing wee must resolve to obey and doe all righteousnesse and to abstaine from all unrighteousnes we must resolve to go through thicke and thin rough and smooth we must do as the Romans did Rom. 6.17 Obey that forme of Doctrine that is delivered to us not one part onely but every particular from the very heart The reason for which we were deliuered by our Saviour from the hands of our enemies was that wee might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our lives Luke 1.75 Let the passage be what it wil safe or dangerous pleasant or difficult by poverty or aboundance let Christ leade us thorough good report bad report we must follow him I put in the definition to do or suffer suffering is but an higher kinde of action to do though you suffer for it Suffering of it selfe as the Philosopher well observeth is not commendable but to suffer in doing Gods will in simple obedience is to obey without any difficulty Secondly you must doe this with all your hearts and willingly this is expressed in the Scripture in 3. tearmes Deut. 6.5 to love serve or follow God with all your minde with all your soule and with all your strength I chose this Word with all your hearts the rather because it comprehends all the rest First to serve God with all your mind is to search his will to plant on it and to know it some there are that follow Cephas others that follow Paul addicting themselves to their opinions there are diverse opinions of men Some thinke this good others that without looking to Gods will this is not to follow Christ with all our minde When we submit our minds to his and make his minde to be ours then wee follow him Secondly to follow God with all our hearts is to affect that which he doth and all that hee doth affect when as all that he doth is comely to us when as we see his Image in his word and in his Saints and follow it men follow the actions in which they see a beauty and comelinesse Thirdly to follow God with all our strength by which we must note the executive powers and faculties is to do all that we do with all our might and by Gods direction nothing against his will or liking he that serves God thus with all his heart when any thing is suggested contrary to Gods will hee saith I know my masters will I depend on him I will follow his advice and nothing else this is to follow him with all our hearts I adde to follow him willingly it is not enough to doe the action commanded but we must follow him as the sheepe doth the bough with readinesse and willingnesse Being right it comes
his refuge Yet saith he hee is my buckler and my strong hold Psalme 3 which was made upon that occasion What was Iacobs refuge when he fled from his brother Esau Did not he goe to the Lord and seeke to him by Prayer Lord thou hast said thou wilt doe me good now I fly unto thee I besech thee performe thy promise thou art my refuge Consider others now what was their refuge Iudas when he had betrayed his Master Christ and his conscience was upon him for it he goes to the high priests and brings the silver to them why saith he you set me a worke you are the authors of it and I hope to find some comfort from you you see he found little cōfort in his minde yet that was his refuge The Kings of Israel and Iuda when they were distressed they fled to Egypt and to Ashur to this or that helpe which the Lord said were broken reeds to them but yet that was their refuge This is the maner of every man being out of Christ of every unregenerate man that is in his naturall estate some refuge he hath friends or wealth or credit or the favour of the Prince something or other it is and if hee be destitute and have no refuge as sometimes it so fals out then his heart is shaken as the leaves of the forrest Their hearts were shaken even for feare of the king of Aram as the leaves are shaken in the forrest and why Because they knew not how to defend themselves they had no refuge to fly to So you see it was with Belshazars heart so Achitophel and so Saul when he sees that hee must die the next day and that there was no refuge for him then I say their hearts sanke and dyed within them And now consider how it is with thee what is the refuge to which thy heart flyeth and which thy heart makes most account of for every man thinkes with himselfe change of time may come what shal be my comfort what shal be my strong hold at that time Dost thou fly to Iesus Christ is he thy succour when thy heart is dejected at any time faints within thee from which fountaine dost thou fetch thy comfort Dost thou fly to Christ to comfort thy selfe in him when thou art in a doubtfull case that concernes thee as much as thy life whither dost thou goe for counsell and direction is it to Christ to beseech him to guide thee to direct thee when thou art pressed hard whither doth thy heart goe for succour and for helpe to keepe thy selfe safe Is it to Christ or to some what else My beloved I assure you this that a carnall man that is not in Christ in these times of distresse knowes not whither to goe hee dares not goe to Christ for he feares that it shall be asked him upon what acquaintance for he hath been a stranger to the Lord he was never acquainted with him but a carnall man that is out of Christ hee goes to his muses he goes to his farmes hee goes to his bushes as the hunted hare was wont to doe to goe to the places that shee used when shee lived quiet thither shee flyes when shee knowes not how to escape so in that fashōi it is with men looke what things they were wont to which their hearts had recourse in time of prosperity and what their haunts have beene to those bushes they fly But alas they are but bushes such as will not defend them But now the Christian on the other side the muse the farme as it were it is but to expresse it to you that his soule is acquainted with the strong hold that hee was wont to fly unto upon every severall evill upon every ordinary doubt upon every dejection discouragement and fainting of heart hee was wont to fly to Christ and there he was wont to finde comfort and thither hee goes in time of greatest difficulty in the day of death and there hee finds comfort Consider if hee bee thy chiefe refuge for if thy heart hath taken him as he is thy chiefe excellency thy chiefe joy thy chiefe treasure so he wil be thy chiefest refuge yea when all things else are taken away yet that cover remaines safe Suppose thou be in prison suppose thy credit bee taken away I meane thy worldly credit for the other credit cannot be taken away from any man that hath Christ suppose thy life be taken away suppose thou bee stript of all that thou hast yet thou hast Christ for thy chiefe refuge and thou thinkest so and thy heart is satisfyed with it As Paul saith when hee was a prisoner when he was naked when hee was destitute when he was stript of all yet saith he I know whom I have trusted As if he should say yet I have him safe yet my cover is over my head yet I am safe in my castle I have chosen him I have him in death yea then Christ he is advantage he is a cover a castle and a refuge 5 Last of all consider whom thou settest up for thy chiefest Commander who it is to whom thou givest the chiefe command in thine heart You will say how shall I know that Why my beloved he whom a man feareth most and loveth most that is he whose friendship above all others hee would least loose and whose dislike and separation he doth most feare certainely he will bee most obedient to him he will be most observant of him Art thou so to Christ take all the things in the world if thou set up him as him whom thou most fearest and lovest thou wilt most obey him So againe he whom thou thinkest can doe thee the greatest good and the greatest hurt him thou wilt most obey if thou thinkest in good earnest that Christ is able to do it certainely then thou wilt most obey him As for example if thou looke to any man in the world a man that is out of Christ he thinkes that the favour or the wealth of the King can doe him more good and more hurt than the favour or the losse of the favour of Christ He thinkes that wealth or credit or something else many thinges there are that hee thinkes can doe him more good and more hurt therefore hee more respects their command than the command of Christ but a man that sets up him for his chiefe Commander hee regards nothing else when it comes to crosse it when it comes to thwart any command of Christ because hee saith thus to himselfe in his heart in secret It is the Lord that can doe the greatest good and the greatest hurt therefore I care for no more So Naboth hee cared not for Ahabs wrath So Mordecay cared not for Hamans displeasure so did the Apostles they cared not for the High Priests nor what they could doe Act. 4. So did the 3 children as you call them they cared not for the fiery furnace of Nabucadnezar
thou must get thy heart to a more close a more neere inward conjunction with him thou must labour to have that hardnesse that thou hast contracted as it will bee in a little continuance of time thou must labour I say to have that tooke away and removed to have thy heart softened to have the rust rubbed off thou must labour to have all these things done For thou must know this That though there be not a particular sinne committed yet as we see the outward man is subject to a wasting though there be no wounds though there be no sicknesse though a man be in perfect health and all is well with him and he observe all the rules of dyet yet I say you see the outward man is subject to wasting to fainting to weakenesse and decay and therefore there must be a renewing of dyet and of strength or else it cannot bee able to hold out So it is with the inward man though there bee no particular sinne though a man did keepe some good course in the wayes of godlinesse without running out eminently or evidently yet he is subject to a secret decay so that sometimes hee must have some speciall meate some speciall feast which the Lord hath appointed for that purpose for he doth nothing in vaine And if this Sacrament could be spared that a man might keepe the strength of the inward man without it the Lord would not have put you to this trouble but he seeth it necessary and therefore he hath appointed it to be received and that often that you might feed upon the body and blood of Christ that you might eate his flesh and drinke his blood and gather new strength from it that when there is a decay of grace in your hearts you may goe to this Fountaine and fill the Cisternes againe to recover strength For when a man comes to the Sacrament as hee ought hee gathers a new strength as a man doth from a feast his heart is cheered up as it is with Flagons of wine he is refreshed his hunger and thirst is satisfied That is the desires of his soule that long after Christ after righteousnesse and assurance are quickned and refreshed And this is the third thing Fourthly besides all this First the stirring up of the graces and the acting of the habits Secondly making thy peace and reconciliation with God and remooving of any particular offence that is betwixt God and thee Thirdly this scouring off the rust this remooving the distance betweene God and thee the softning of that hardnesse which thy heart hath contracted this recovering the strength that thou hast wasted There is besides all these a fourth thing required which is that there be an Intention a particular increase of thy will in taking Christ of thy desire to Christ and of every grace that knits thee and Christ together For there are certaine cementing graces certaine glewing graces that joyne Christ and thy soule together as Faith and Love these are the two maine graces there are a great traine of graces that follow them but these are the chiefe and these I say must bee intended For what is the end of the Sacrament Is it not to knit the knot stronger betweene Christ and us to make the union more full and perfect is it not to increase our willingnesse to take and receive Christ for you know all the acts of the soule may be intended Put the case there be a resolved act in the heart and soule of any man whereby he saith thus with himselfe I am resolved to take Christ and to serve and love him for the time of my life yet this resolution of his though it bee perfect and sincere may receive intention when a man is willing to doe any thing truly there may bee degrees added to that will when there is light in a roome when thou bringest in more candles that light may be increased so it may in this so may your faith and love by faith I meane nothing but the resolution of the heart to take Christ I meane not the beleeving part but the taking part the act of the will taking Christ or receiving him which is nothing else but the choise of the will that resolves to take him I do but touch this by the way because it is a point I have handled already at large the thing I ayme at is this I say the glewing graces are these two Faith and love wherby you thus take Christ for your Lord and Saviour Faith is like the part of the compasse that goeth about and doth the worke and love is that cementing grace wherby we are more knit unto the Lord they have both their office and their place You know love is an uniting affection therefore this is the definition of it It is a desire of union with that it loves Now when thou comest to receive the Sacrament or to pray or put up any special request when thou comest to have to do with God to make use of any priviledge thou hast in Christ thy chiefe busines is to intend this faith love at such a time to draw thee neerer to make the union perfect You will say how is this increased and how is it intended I answer Two wayes in the Sacrament one way is the very repetition the very renewing the covenant the very doing it over againe the resolution of taking him for there is a mutuall covenant you know betweene Christ and us it is confirmed to us in the Sacrament hee confirmes his and wee confirme ours as the friendship betweene Ionathan David was increased by the renewing of the covenant or else why was it repeated The very repetition of the act intends the habit the habit is increased by the repetition of the act though it were no more so the renewing of the covenant exerciseth thy faith it sets a work thy faith and thy love when thou comest to receive the Sacrament the very intention is increased but this is not all There is another thing in the Sacrament that much increaseth it and that is a thing I would have you chiefely to take notice of That is the very Sacrament it selfe the elements of bread and wine delivered to thee with the very words of the minister Take and eate this is my body that was broken for thee Take and drinke this is my blood that was shed c. For when these words are spoken to us if wee did consider well of them and thinke thus with our selves These words that the Lord himselfe hath appointed the Minister to speake for therein is the force of them that they are of the Lords owne institution therefore the strength of every Sacrament lies in the institution That is a rule in Divinity the Papists themselves who have added five other Sacraments cannot deny but that every Sacrament must have an immediate institution from Christ himselfe even from his owne mouth or else there is no strength in it so