found him if they pleased to try it a skilful Linguist a Subtile Disputant a fluent Orator a profound Divine a mighty Antiquary an exact Chronologer and indeed a living and walking Library The greatest professors have admired the Concatenation of so much and such variety of Learning in one person 1. Do but think he that Learned to read of two of his Aunts that were both blind Was converted from a state of Nature into grace at ten years old Was admitted the first Scholar into the Colledge at Dublin and that upon design by reason of his pregnancy and forwardnesse at thirteen years of age Made an exact Chronology of good part of the Bible and of some other Authors he had read at fifteen years old Encountred a Jesuite at 19. years old and afterwards was called by him of such as are not Catholicks the most Learned Was Master of Arts answered the Philosophy Act and chosen Catechist of the Colledge when he went through a great part of the body of Divinity in the Chappel by way of common place at nineteen yeears old Commenced Batchelour of Divinity at twenty seven years old and immediately after was chosen Professor of Divinity in that Vniversity Do but think I say how mighty he was when beside his promptnesse in School Divinity he had read over all the Fathers and trusted his own eyes in the search of them by that he was thirty eight years of age and was Master of all other Learning also Secondly If any yet be found that would detract from so accomplished a person and indeed pillar of our Church in his Generation by reason of the distance at which they stand from Prelacy or by reason of their Engagement in the late civil and unhappy differences between The late King and Parliament claiming to themselves Liberty wherein soever they differ from others both in matters of Church and State but allowing to others as little concerning either to such as these if they be such as deserve satisfaction give me leave to say A Divine and Apostolical Bishop he was and next to the Apostles Evangelists and Prophets as great a Pastor and Teacher and trusted with as much of Gods mind as I believe any one since hath been An Ecclesiastical Bishop he was also and the most able Moderator in Church assemblies To him pertained the double honour for ruling well and for Labouring in word and Doctrine Famous were two of his Predecessors in that See of Armagh in their Generations the one for his sanctity the other for his Learning but both these Eminently met in him John the Divine commendeth the Angel or Bishop of Ephesus c. and Ireland will do no lesse for this Angel or Bishop of Armagh But for Popish Bishops none was further off then he Witnesse his Learned Writings against the Romish Synagogue his Judgement within the bounds of a moderated Episcopacy and when the Reader hath perused that frame of Church Government drawn up under his own hand and now published he will see what a good Bishop Doctor Usher was The last thing which I shall propose to the Reader is The Crown God set upon the head of this Humble Saint both in the Conversion and Edification of very many Indeed his bow seldome turned back nor his sword returned empty God was mighty in him which way soever he bent himself either in Conviction Conversion or Consolation wherein he had the Tongue of the Learned given unto him Witnesse the many Souls who were and are his Epistle known and read of all Men Witness again the successe God gave to divers of his Encounters with Adversaries to the true Religion some instances whereof the Learned Doctor that writes his Life hath given to which many more might be added Witnesse also such as were his frequent hearers how mightily the hand of God was with him so that a great number beleeved and turned unto the Lord. If they that turn many to righteousnesse shall shine as stars for ever and ever then this famous Evangelist is a star of the greatest Magnitude and will be able in the strength of Christ to say after him Behold I and the Children which God hath given me And though the work of the Ministry is ours the successe Gods yet who so expecteth blessing from God upon his Labours I cannot commend to such a pattern more exact to be imitated amongst the men of this Generation then this good Bishop especially in these three things First in making his whole life an example of his doctrine an example in word in Conversation in Love in Spirit in faith and in purity Many there were who in that respect Reverenced him though of the Romish Synagogue as Herod did John the Baptist knowing that he was a just and an holy man This blessed Preacher did Live all his Sermons and had learned of Jesus who began both to do and to teach Nazianzens Epitaph on the life of Basil was true in him His words were Thunder his Life Lightning Secondly in making Christ and the Apostles the pattern of his preaching this great Master in Israel was the most self-denying man in the pulpit and the most Reverend and Christ advancing Preacher He preached with great Authority as did our Saviour to the Conscience his speech was not with enticing words of Mans wisdome but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that their faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God How oft have I seen my self and heard from others whilst he thus prophesyed some that beleeved not coming to hear him go away Convinced of all Judged of all and the secrets of their heart made manifest and so falling down on their face they have worshipped God and reported that God was in him of a truth He was an Apollos an Eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures he was another Paul in the preaching that did compare Scripture with Scripture and so make demonstrative Proofs from the spirit speaking in them Some that affected a frothy way of preaching by strong Lines as they call them after they heard him in Oxford decry that Corinthian vanity were much ashamed and took up a more profitable way of preaching Those words of his in a sermon at the Court before the King are worthy to be printed in Letters of Gold And oh that God would print them in the hearts of all the Ministers in the World Great Schollars said he possibly may think it standeth not with their Credit to stoop so low c. But let the Learnedst of us all try it when ever we please we shall find that to lay this ground-work right that is to apply our selves to the Capacity of the Common Auditory and to make an ignorant man to understand these mysteries in some good measure will put us to the tryal of our skill and trouble us a great deal more then if we
subject to the will of God neither indeed can it be Our Saviour Mat. 15.8 doth anatomize the heart of such a man Those things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts murthers adulteries c. these are they which defile the man because they come from his heart from within If a man go by a house and see great flakes of fire come out of the â—himney though he see not the fire within yet he cannot but know there is fire within because he seeth the flakes without I am not able to see the heart of any man and to declare to you what I have seen with mine eyes but yet if I see such flakes to come forth as murther thefts blasphemies lying and the like I may say there is hel-fire in the heart thy heart is a little hell within thee these manifestations from without make it appear to be so The words of this man are rotten words and stinking words and his heart is much more So this is the point we are utterly indispos'd aliens to all good and bent to all evil I am carnal saith the Apostle we are sold under sin slaves unto it sin is our Lord and we its slaves We have generally forfeited our happy estate and are servants to Satan whom we obey Therefore this is a thing not easily to be passed over this is our condition of which if we were once truly perswaded we would never give our selves any rest till we were got out of it If the party that goes to the Physician could but know his disease and cause the Physician to know it and the causes of it whether it came from a hot cause or a cold it were easily cured it were as good as halfe done That is the chief reason why so many miscarry because their disease is not perfectly known That is the reason we are no better because our disease is not perfectly known That is the reason that we are no better because we know not how bad we are If we did once know our disease and knew our selves to be heart sick and not like the Laodiceans which thought themselves rich and wanted nothing when they were poor blind and naked then we would seek out and were in the way to be cured So much for this time but we will have another Lecture on this point GAL. 3.22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe YOu see in this excellent portion of Scripture the two Covenants of Almighty God to wit the Covenant of Nature and the Covenant of grace The first of Nature which was written by God in mans heart and this is the holy Law of God by vertue whereof a man was to continue in that integrity holinesse and uprightnesse in which God had first created him and to serve God according to that strength he first enabled him with that so he might live thereby But now when man had broken this Covenant and enter'd into a state of Rebellion against God he 's shut up in misery but not in misery for ever as the Angels that fell were being reserved in chaines till the judgment of the great day No the Lord hath shut him up in prison only for a while that so he may the better make a way for their escape and deliverance and for their entrance into the second Covenant of grace that so making him see his own misery wherein by nature he is and cutting him off from his own stock he may be ingrafted into Christ draw sap and sweetnesse from him and bring forth fruits to everlasting life And this is the method the Scripture useth It concludes all under sin that so the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe It 's no new Doctrine devised by us but it 's the course and method of the Scripture for it begins in this great work with imprisoning and shutting up The Law is as a Justice of Peace that by his Mittimus commands us to prison It 's a Serjeant that arrests a man and carries him to the Gaole But why does the Scripture do thus It 's not to destroy you with famine the Law sends you not hither to starve you or to kill you with the stench of the prison but thereby to save and preserve you alive and that you may hunger and thirst after deliverance So that we find the reason added in the Text The Scripture concludes all under sin why It 's that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe You are shut up as prisoners and rebels that having found the smart of it seen your misery and learn'd what it is to be at enmity with God and the folly to make your selves wiser and stronger then God you may submit your selves casting down your plumes and desire after Christ with an hungry and thirsty appetite for not only a Priest to sacrifice himself for you and a Prophet to teach and instruct you but a King to be swayd by him earnestly craving from thy soule to be his subject and to be admitted into the priviledge of his subjects in the Commonwealth of Israel and esteem it our greatest shame that we have been aliens so long so long excluded The Scripture then concludes you under sin and shut up by it not to bring you to despair but to bring you to salvation As a Physician which gives his Patient bitter pills not to make him sick but that so he may restore him to health or as a Chirurgion that layes sharp drawing plaisters and cuts the flesh not with an intent to hurt but to cure the wound This is the Scriptutes method it concludes all under sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath shut up all The Text saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not all men in the masculine gender but all things in the neuter And it is all one as if the Apostle had said The Scripture arrests not onely thy person but thine actions The Scripture layes hold not onely of the man but of every thing in him This word all is a forcible word and empties us clean of every thing that we may truiy confesse with the Apostle In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7.18 It 's impossible a man should by nature think thus of himself that there is no good in him or that he should by asking others finde himself half so bad as the Law makes him to be by shutting up a man under sin and all things in a man yea all good whatsoever is in thee And this it doth that thou mayst come to Christ as it is enlarged in the 2. verses following Before faith came saith the Apostle we were kept up under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed wherefore the Law was
shew'd you the last day and did then promise to shew you the other to wit the wofulnesse of his estate being once come into his place The act done to the sinners soul before he is sent to hell is the deprivation of his light the taking away of his talent For whilst a man is in this world he hath many good things in him too good to accompany him to hell Now all these excellent gifts and natural endowments which did adorn a wicked mans soul before the soul is hurled into hell must be taken away from him There is a kind of degradation of the soul it is depriested 〈◊〉 were and becomes likâ— a degraded Knight that hath his honour taken from him All the rich talents and all the rich prizes that were put into the fools hand shall be taken from him Is there any moral vertue Are there any common graces and natural endowments in the miserable soul it shal be stript of all and packt to hell You that have abused your learning and gifts that God hath given you do you think that they shall go with you to hell No such matter you shall be very sots and dunces there All your learning shall be taken from you and you shall goe to hell arrant blockheads He that had fortitude in this world shall not carry one drachm of it to hell all his courage shall then be abased and his cowardly heart shall faint for fear Fortitude is a great advantage to a man in distresse but let not the damned soul expeâ—t the least advantage his fortitude which he had whilst he was in the way shall be taken from him It may be he had patience in this world Now patience is â— vertue unfit for hell therefore shall that be taken from him A man if he were in most exquisite torments yet if he had patience it would bear it up with head and shoulders as we say but this shall adde to his torments that he shall not have any patience left him to allay it A man hath perhaps hope in this world and as the Proverb is were it not for hope the heart would burst yet even this too shall be taken away from him he shall have no hope left him of ever seeing Gods face again or of ever having any more tasts of his favour And so what hath been said of some may be said of all his graces and endowments he shall clean be stript of all ere he be sent to hell I come now to speak of the place of torment it self wherein the sinner is to be cast eternally which is the second act But think not that I am able to discover the thousandth part of it no nor any man else God grant that no soul here present ever come to find by experience what it is What a woful thing is it that many men should take more paines to come to this place of torment then would cost them to goe to heaven that men should wilfully run themselves upon the pikes not considering how painful it is nor how sharp those pikes are And this I shall endeavour to my power to set forth unto you This Text declares unto us two things 1. Who they are for whom this place is provided 2. The place it self and the nature of it 1. For whom the place is provided The Text containes a Catalogue of that black Roll though there are many more then are here expressed but here are the grand crimes the ring-leaders to destruction the moâ—â—er sins And here we have in the first place the Fearful whereby is not meant those that are of a timorous nature for fear simply is not a sin those that are simply fearful but such as place their fear on a wrong object not where it should be that fear not God but other things more then God Such as if affliction and iniquity were put to their choise will rather choose iniquity then affliction Rather then they will have any cross betide them rather then they will incur the indignation of a man rather then they will part with their life and goods for Gods cause will adventure on any thing choosing iniquity rather then affliction being afraid of what they should not fear never fearing the great and mighty God This is the fearful here meant See how Job expresses it Job 36.31 This hast thou chosen This that is iniquity rather then affliction to sin rather then to suffer Christ biddeth us not to fear poor vain man but the omnipotent God that is able both to kill and to cast into hell The man that feareth his Landlord who is able to turn him out of his house and doth not fear God who is able to turn him into hell this dastardly spirit is one of the Captains of those that goe to hell those timerous and cowardly persons that tremble at the wrath or frowns of men more then of God But what 's the reason men should thus stand more in fear of men then of God Why it is because they are sensible of what men can doe unto their bodies but they cannot with Moses by faith see what that is that is invisible They are full of unbelief for had they 〈◊〉 they would banish all false fears See what the Lord saith Esa. 41 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob I will help thee saith the Lord. He saith not Fear not ye men or thou man for then perhaps thou mightst be thought to have some power to resist but fear not thou worm A worm you know is a poor weak thing apt to be crushed by every foot yet be this thy case be thou a worm unable to resist the least opposition yet fear not thou worm Fear not why for I will help thee saith the Lord. Couldst thou but believe in God this would make thee bold and hadst thou faith thou wouldst not fear When word was brought to the house of Jacob that two Kings were come up into the Land to invade it Esay 7.2 it is said his heart was moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind But what is the remedy of this fear See Esay 8.12 Fear not their fear nor be afraid that was a false and a base fear sanctifie the Lord in your hearts and let him be your fear and let him be your dread Esay 51.12 there is an object of our faith and comfort and a remedy against fear proposed I even I am he that comforteth thee who art thou that shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die and the son of man that is as grass What art thou one that hast God on thy side how unworthy art thou of that high favour if thou fear man The greatest man that lives cannot shield himself from death and from a covering of worms and wilt thou be afraid of a man and forget the Lord thy Maker The more thou art taken up with the fear of man the lesse thou fearest God and the more thou remembrest man the more thou
This being an accident we must have a subject for it Now there is a certaine kind of people that have supernatural workings some that are drawn up and down with every wind of Doctrine these are they that have this cold and temporary faith temporary because in the end it discovers it self to be a thing not constant and permanent We read in John 11.26 That they that are born of God never see death shall never perish eternally but yet we must know withal that there may be conceptions that will never come to the birth to a right and perfect delivery And thus it may be in the soul of a man there may be conceptions that will never come to a ripe birth but let a man be borne of God and come to perfection of birth and the case is cleare he shall never see death He that liveth and believeth in me shall not see death And this is made a point of faith Believest thou this There is another thing called conception and that is certain dispositions to a birth that come not to full perfection True a child that is borne and liveth is as perfectly alive as he that liveth an hundred years yet I say there are conceptions that come not to a birth Now the faith that justifies is a living faith there is a certaine kind of dead faith this is a feigned that an unfeigned faith The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Sonne of God Dost thou think a dead faith can make a living soule It 's against reason A man cannot live by a dead thing not by a dead faith Now a dead faith there is A faith that doth not work is a dead faith Jam. 2.22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by his works was faith made perfect for verse 26. As the body without the spirit is dead or without breath is dead so faith without works is dead also See how the Apostle compares it as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also The Apostle makes not faith the form of works as the soul is the forme of the man but as the body without the spirit is dead so that faith that worketh not that hath no tokens of life is dead but then doth not the other word strike home Faith wrought with his works It seems here is not as the Papists say fides informis and works make it up as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it Compare this with the other places of the Scripture 2 Cor. 12.9 where the Apostle pray'd to God that the messenger of Satan might be removed from him and he said unto him My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse What does our weaknesse make Gods strength more perfect to which nothing can be added No it is My strength and the perfection of it is made known in the weaknesse of the meanes that I made use of for the delivery of mans soul from death So here the excellency and perfection of our faith is made known by works when I see that it is not an idle but a working faith then I say it is made perfect by the work when it is a dead faith that puts not a man on work never believe that will make a living soul. In St. Judes Epistle ver 20. it hath another Epithite viz. the most holy faith not holy only but most holy That faith which must bring a man to God the holy of holies must be most holy It 's said that God dwells in our hearts by faith Now God and faith dwelling in a heart together that heart must needs be pure and cleane Faith makes the heart pure It were a most dishonourable thing to entertaine God in a sty a filthy and unclean heart but if faith dwell there it makes a fit house for the habitation of the King of Saints therefore it purifieth the heart Well then doest thou think thy sinnes are forgiven thee and that thou hast a strong faith and yet art as prophane and as filthy as ever How can it be It is a most holy faith that justifieth it is not a faith that will suffer a man to lie on a dunghill or in the gutter with the hog There may be a faith which is somewhat like this but it is but temporary and cometh short of it But now there is another thing which distinguishes it it is the peculiar work of faith In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but the new creature Gal. 6.15 and againe Gal. 5.6 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith which worketh by love It 's twice set down Now what is a new creature why he that hath such a faith as works by love not a dead faith but a faith that works but how does it work it not only abstaines from evil and does some good acts which a temporary may do but it s such a faith as works by love The love of God constraines him and he so loveth God as that he hates evil for Gods sake the other does it not out of love to God all the love he hath is self-love he serves his own turn on God rather than hath any true love to serve him Now that we may the better distinguish between these two I shall endeavour to shew you how farre one may go farther than the other I know not a more difficult point then this nor a case more to be cut by a thread then this it being a point of conscience therefore First I declared unto you the nature of faith How God first works the will and the deed and that there is a hungring and thirsting after Christ. First I say there is a will and desire to be made partaker of Christ and his righteousnesse then there is the deed too We are not only wishers and woulders but do actually approach unto the Throne of grace and there lay hold on Christ touch the golden Scepter which he holdeth out unto us but Object Now you will ask Is there not an earnest and good desire in a temporary faith a desire unfeign'd Sol. Yes there may be for a time a greater and more vehement desire in a temporary then in a true believer then in the elect themselves all their life Object Where 's the difference then I thought all had been well with me when I had such a desire as I could scarce be at rest till it were accomplished Sol. I answer beloved It is a hard matter to tell you the difference but you must consider 1. From whence this desire flowes whether it come from an accidental cause as if by accident my heart be made more soft and I more sensible of my condition or whether my nature be changed to give you an instance in iron when iron is put into the forge it is softened and as soon as it 's taken forth we say 't is time to strike while
false glasses Self-love or self-conceit then a good opinion of men and conferring a mans self with some others He 's better then they therefore his estate is good An absurd conclusion the Devil will mightily insult over such as he can so easily deceive But this man goes farther I not onely compare my self with others but my self too and find good ground to conclude the safeness of my condition I remember a time when I was vain and idle when I ran in a way contrary to God But now I have sowed my wilde oats and whereas before I was loose and dissolute I have care to do my duty to serve God c. I am not so profane as formerly my estate must needs be good This is a very dangerous thing to say that because I am not as bad as I was I am therefore good It is as if a man had a debter a slack paymaster to whom the Creditor calls earnestly to pay the debt the best answer the debtor gives is this I am sure there are many worse paymasters in the world then I am and I my self have been a worse and more flow paymaster heretofore then I am now Well because there are worse paymasters and he himself hath been a worse doth this make him a better now And shall this serve to excuse thee by comparing thy self with others that are worse and with thy self that because thou hast mended thy self in some particulars therefore thou art in the way to Heaven It is a false and foolish Conclusion 4. Now we come to the main thing another false glasse which we call Partial obedience when a man goes further looking upon the letter of the Commandement onely saying I thank God I forbear many sins and do many duties I am not a thief nor a murtherer swearer drunkard or covetous person I doe not take Gods name in vain I have not broken the Sabbath though I doubt whether it be moral or no. I have served God in coming to his house given obedience to my Parents c. and looking on this he concludes doubtlesse all is well with him As when I have a thousand thornes in my feet and have three or four taken out will this help me because I have not the stone or the gout shall I conclude I am well as if I could not be sick without this or that disease Because I do something that God requires shall I think I do as much as I need No we must take heed of that God will not be contented with partial obedience He will have the whole heart or none Obj. But mine is not partial obedience I doe my endeavour as far as I am able to do what God requires Here comes in natural reason and saith I thank God I do what I can and I see no reason why more should be required I conform my self as I am able and I see it needful to the greatest duties of Christianity I lead such a blamelesse life that no man can tax me in any particular what God hath enabled me to do and according to moral Philosophy I know not how more can be required I go as far as Seneca's rules and somewhat farther and sure this is not partial obedience Sol. I speak not against Morality But yet let me tell thee if thou hast no more then Morality it will not bring thee to Heaven Not but that a morall man is an excellent stock whereon to graft grace and virtue it 's a good help to Heaven yet it comes far short of bringing him thither Natural reason was once a full and fair glass till it was broken by the fall but now it is insufficient The Tables in Moses hands were excellent things God made the first Tables with his own hand and perchance they may be therein typical when these were broken Moses makes the second these not so excellent as the former though I should esteem a peece of these more excellâ—â—t then all the reliques of the Papists for there was something of the first in them God writes them with his own singer This glass which then was so perfect is now broken and is not so perfect as it was though there be something yet remaining in it We may see something of its ancient lustre in the Gentiles for these having not a Law are a Law unto themselves There are practical principles yâ—t remaining in the Tables of our hearts so that they that care not for the Law shall be judged by that natural light which is in them We have a conscience to difference between good and evil This is the truth It 's a part of the Image of God implanted in us which we are not to despise lest we be judged with those that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse The truth is the principals of difference betwixt good bad the soul was to have a seat as a Queen to rule all our actions But â—ow this Queen is taken captive all is lost Morality and in ward prncipals are to be much esteemed as things which God at first planted yet do they comeshort of bringing a man to Heaven The young man in the Gospel had a good esteem of himself and was doubtlesse esteemed of others and did many things but yet our Saviour tells him how hard a thing it was to come to Heaven Although he thinks himself well enough though he were rich our Saviour tells him of the commandements all these saith he have I kept from my youth a good moral man indeed that had done so much but this was not enough one thing lacked go and sell all that thou hast c. Yet because there was so much in him we read Mark 10.21 Jesus loved him he sheweth that his cause was heavy that going so far he should not attain his end but this was not to be despised for this Jesus loved him So 1 Kings 13.13 He onely of Jeroboams shall come to the grave because in him are found some good things If there are but some good things in a man they remain of Gods work and God loveth his own work Here 's the point then Morality is good and natural reason is good it remaines in us since the state of our first creation This was a pure and a full glass made by God himself but since the fall is much darkned If we consult with natural reason and Moral Philosophy it will discover many things yet this comes short There are abundance of things that it cannot discover manifold defects The Apostle saith in the Romans I had not known sin but by the Law I had not known lust to have been a sin had not the Law said I shalt not lust We have many sins we cannot know but by the Law yea such secret sins as must be repented of Our Saviour overthrew the tables of the money-changers and would not suffer them to carry burthens through the Temple though for the use of those that sacrificed a thing which had
beginning of the Commandement If wrong in all these then though the work be never so materially good being faulty in the original middle or end it 's so far from being a good work that God will not accept of it and thou mayst rather expect a plague for spoiling it then a cure See then the beginning of a good work it must be from a pure heart A man not ingrafted into Christ is a defiled polluted person his very mind and conscience are defiled The conscience is the purest thing a man hath it holds out last and taketh part with God that as Jobs messenger said I onely am escaped to tell thee so conscience onely remaines to declare a mans faults to God and to witnesse against the man and yet this very light the eye of the soul is defiled therefore if thou have a corrupt fountain if the heart be naught the fountain muddy whatever stream comes from it cannot be pure Again the end of it is love Consider when thou doest any duty what puts thee on work Is it love doth constrain thee If love do not constrain thee it is manifest that thou dost not seek God but thy self and art to every good work a Reprobate that is thou art not then able to do any thing that God will accept the best thing thou doest wil not relish with God A hard estate indeed that when a man shall come to appear before God he shall not have one good thing that he hath done in all his life that God will own Some there be that take a great deal of paines in coming to the word in prayer publique and private in charity and giving to the poor Alas when thou shalt come to an account and none of these things shall stead thee not one of them shall speak for thee but all shall be lost How heavy will thy ease be 2 John 8. Look to your selves that you lose not the thing that you have wrought By being indisposed to doe the works of a living man we lose all that is to say God will never own nor accept them we shall never have reward for them So that here is the case thou being dead unable to perform the works of a living man canst have no reward from heaven at all until a man is quickned and hath life from Christ. Without me saith our Saviour you can doe nothing St. Austin on this place observes that Christ saith not Without me ye can doe no great matter no but unlesse you be cut off from your own stock taken from your own root and be ingrafted into me and have life from me and be quickned by me you can do nothing at all Nothing neither great nor small all that you do is lost So that if there were nothing but this being dead you could do no good action I know that in me that is in my flesh saith St. Paul there dwelleth no good thing that is nothing spiritually good nothing for which I may look for a reward in heaven The Lord will say of such a man thou hast lived ten twenty forty or it may be fifty yeares under the Ministry and yet hast not done a good work or thought a good thought that I can own Cut down this fruitlesse tree why cumbers it the ground And this is the case of every man of us while we continue in our natural condition till we be ingrafted into Christ and live by his life God will own nothing we do But now we are not onely dead and indisposed to the works of a living man though this be a very woful case and we need no more misery for this will bring us to be cut down and cast into the fire if we continue so But this is not onely the case of a natural man but he 's very active and fruitful in the works of darknesse the others were sins of omission Here he is wholly set upon the commission of sins and trespasses Heb. 6.7 He not onely brings not forth meet fruit or good fruit or no fruit but he brings forth thorns and briars and is therefore rejected and nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt Thou art not onely found a barren tree and so deservest to be cut down but thou bringest forth thorns and briars and deservest to be burnt not onely no good fruit but noxious bad and poyson'd fruit and this doth mightily aggravate the matter Now for us that have lived so long under the Ministry and the Lord hath watered and dressed and hedged us do we think the Lord expects from us no good fruit Had we lived among heathens or where the word is not taught then so much would not be expected but we have heard the word often and powerfully taught and therefore it is expected that we should not onely bring forth fruit but meet fruit answerable to the means Where God affords greatest means there he expects most fruit If a man live thirty or forty yeares under powerful meanes the Lord expects answerable fruit which if he bring forth he shall have a blessing from the Lord. But when a man hath lived long under the meanes and brings forth no fruit pleasing to God but all Gods cost is lost when notwithstanding the dew and the rain which falls oft upon him he brings forth nothing but thorns and briars he is rejected and nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt The earth which drinketh in the former and the latter rain c. if it bring not forth fruit answerable to the labour of the dresser it 's nigh unto the curse Now if we consider but the particulars and search into Gods testimonies we shall see how bad this man is But who should this man be We have Gods own word for it It 's men generally all men Gen. 6.5 God saw the wickednesse of man was great in the earth and that every thought and imagination of his heart was onely evil continually Every word is as it were a thunder-bolt and was it not time when it was thus with them for God to bring a flood The thoughts are the original from which the words and actions do usually proceed Now all their thoughts were evil What was there no kind of goodnesse in their thoughts no they were onely evil continually and that was the reason the flood came Well but though it were so before the flood yet I hope they were better after the flood No God said again after the flood cap. 8. The thoughts of the hearts of men are evil c. Like will to like Men are all of one kinde till they receive grace from Christ. We are all of one nature and naturally all the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts are onely evil continually See it in the understanding 1 Cor. 3.14 The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them for they are foolishness unto him c. Look upon his will Rom. 8. It is not
forsaken the fountain of life art liable to everlasting death And for this see some places of Scripture Rom. 6.2 3. The wages of sin is death Consider then first what this wages is Wages is a thing which must be paid If you have an hireling and your hireling receive not his wages you are sure to hear of it and God will hear of it too James 5.4 He which keeps back the wages of the labourer or of the hireling their cry will come into the eares of the Lord of Sabbath As long as hirelings wages are unpaid Gods eares are filled with their cries Pay me my wages pay me my wages So sin cries and it is a dead voice Pay me my wages pay me my wages the wages of sin is death And sin never leaves crying never lets God alone never gives him rest till this wages be paid When Cain had slain Abel he thought he should never have heard any more on 't but sin hath a voice The voice of thy brothers blood cries unto me from the ground So Gen. 18.20 the Lord saith concerning Sodom Because the cry of Sodom is great and their sin very grievous therefore I will goe down and see whether they have done according to the cry that is come up into mine eares As if the Lord had said It 's a loud cry I can have no rest for it therefore I will goe down and see c. If a man had his eares open he would continually hear sin crying unto God Pay me my wages pay me my â—ages kill this sinful soul And though we do not hear it yet so it is The dead and doleful sound thereof fillâ— Heaven it makes God say I will goe down and see c. Till sin receive its wages God hath no rest Again see Rom. 7.11 Sin taking occasion by the commandement deceived me and by it slew me I thought sin not to have been so great a matter as it is We think on a matter of profit or pleasure and thereupon are enticed to sin but here 's the mischieâ— sin dâ—ceives us Iâ— is a weight it presses down it deceâ—â—es men it 's more then they deemed it to be The committing of sin is as it were running thy self upon the point of Gods blade Sin at first may flâ—â—ter thee but it will deceive thee It 's like Joabs kisse to Amasa Amasa was not aware of the spear that was behind till he smote it into his ribs that he died When sin entices thâ—e on by profits and pleasures thou art not aware that it will slay thee But thou shalt find it will be bitternesse in the end A sinner that acts a tragedy in sin shall have a bloody Catastrophe Rom. 6. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed Blood and death is the end of the Tragedy The end of those things is death The sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15. What is sin It 's the sting of death Death would not be death unlesse sin were in it Sin is more deadly then death it self It 's sin enableth death to sting enableth it to hurt and wound us So that we may look on sin as the Barbarians looked on the viper on Pauls hand they expected continually when he would have swollen and burst Sin bites like a snake which is called a fiery serpent not that the serpent is fiery but because it puts a man into such a flaming heat by their poyson And such is the sting of sin which carries poyson in it that had we but eyes to see our uglinesse by it and how it inflames us we should continually every day look when we should burst with it The Apostle James 1.15 useth another metaphor Sin when it is accomplished bringeth forth death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original sin goeth as it were with child with death The word is proper to women in labour who are in torment till they are delivered Now as if sin were this woman he useth it in the faeminine gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is it with sin sin is in pain cries out hath no rest till it be delivered of this dead birth till it have brought forth death That is sin growes great with child with death and then it not only deserves death but it produceth and actually brings forth This is generally so Now consider with your selves death is a fearful thing When we come to talk of death how doth it amaze us The Priests of Nob are brought before Saul for relieving David and he saith Thou shalt surely die Ahimelech And this is your case you shall surely die death is terrible even to a good man As appeares in Hezekiah who though he were a good man yet with how sad a heart doth he entertain the message of death the newes of it affrighted him it went to his heart it made him turn to the wall and weep How cometh it to pass that we are so careless of death that we are so full of infidelity that when the word of God saith Thou shalt die Ahimelech we are not at all moved by it What can we think these are fables Do we think God is not in earnest with us And by this means we fall into the temptation of Eve a questioning whether Gods threats are true or not That which was the deceit of our first Parents is ours Satan disputes not whether sin be lawful or not whether eating the fruit were unlawful whether drunkennesse c. be lawful he 'l not deny but it is unlawful But when God saith If thou dost eat c. thou shalt die he denies it and saith ye shall not die He would hide our eyes from the punishment of sin Thus we lost our selves at the first and the floods of sin came on in this manner when we believed not God when he said If thou dost eat thou shalt surely die And shall we renew that capital sin of our Parents and think if we do sin we shall not die If any thing in the world will move God to shew us no mercy it 's this when we slight his judgments or not believe them This adds to the heigth of all our sins that when God saith if thou dost live in sin thou shalt die and yet we will not believe him that when he shall come and threaten us as he doth Deut. 29. when he shall curse and we shall bless our selves in our hearts and say we shall have peace though we goe on c. The Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against him It is no small sin when we will not believe God This is as being thirsty before we now adde drunkennesse to our thirst That is when God shall thus pronounce curses he shall yet blesse himself and say I hope I shall doe well enough for all that There are two words to that bargain Then see what follows The anger of the Lord and his
forgettest thy Maker You have seen the main the ring â—â—aders which are these fearful faithlesse dastardly unbelieving men Now see what the filthy rabble is that followeth after and they are Abominable Murtherers c. Abominable that is unnatural such as pollute themselves with things not fit to be named but to be abhorred whether it be by themselves or with others They are the abominable here meant such as Sodome and Gomorrah who were set forth to such as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such are abominable being given up to unnatural lust Let them carry it never so secretly yet are they herâ— ranked amongst the rest and shall have their portion in the burning lake After these come Sorcerers Idolaters Lyars Though these may be spoken fairly of by men yet cannot that shelter them from the wrath of God they shall likewise have their part in this lake when they come to a reckoning If there be I say a generation of people that worship these say what you will of them when they come to receive their wages they shall receive their portion in that burning lake with hypocrites Those that make so fair a shew before men and yet nourish hypocrisie in their hearts these men though in regard of the outward man they so behave themselves that none can say to them black is their eye though they cannot be charged with those notorious things before mentioned yet if there be nothing but hypocrisie in their hearts let it be spun with never so fair a web never so fine a thred yet they shall have their portion in the lake they shall have their part their portion c. Then it seems these of this black guard have a peculiar interest unto this place And as it is said of Judas Acts 1.25 that he was gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his proper place So long as a man that is an enemy to Christ and yeilds him not obedience is out of hell so long is he out of his place Hell is the place assigned to him and prepared for him he hath a share there and his part and portion he must have till he come thither he is but a wanderer The Evangelist tells us that the Scribes and Pharisees went about to gain Profelytes and when they had all done they made them seven times more the children of hell then themselves filios Gehennae So that a Father hath not more right in his son then Hell hath in them He is a vessel of wrath fill'd top full of iniquity and a child of the Devils So that as we say the gallows will claim its right so hell will claim its due But mistake me not all this that I speak concerning Hell is not to terrifie and affright men but by forewarning them to keep them thence For after I have shewn you the danger I shall shew you a way to escape it and how the Lord Jesus was given to us to deliver us from this danger But if you will not hear but will try conclusions with God then you must to your proper place to the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone A Lake 't is a River a flaming River as Tophet is described to be a lake burning with fire and brimstone a Metaphor taken from the judgment of God on Sodome and Gomorrah as in that place of St. Jude before mentioned as also in 2 Pet. 2.6 where 't is said God turned the Cities of Sodom into ashes making them an example to all them that should after live ungodly Mark the judgment of God upon these abominable men the place where they dwelt is destroyed with fire and the situation is turn'd into a lake full of filthy bituminous stuff called Lâ—cus Asphaltites which was made by their burnings And this is made an instance of the vengeance of God and an Embleme of eternal fire therefore said he you shall have your portion with Sodome Nay shall I speak a greater word with Christ and tell you that though they were so abominable that the Lake was denominated from them yet it shall be easier for Sodome and Gomorrah then for you if you repent not while you may but goe on to despise Gods grace But can there be a greater sin then the sin of Sodome I answer yes For make the worst of the sin of Sodome it is but a sin against nature But thy impenitency is a sin against grace and against the Gospel and therefore deserves a hotter hell and an higher measure of judgment in this burning pit But what is this second death 2. Sure it hath reference to some first death or other going before A man would as it is commonly thought think that this second death is opposed to that first death which is the harbinger to the second and separates the soul from the body but it 's far otherwise That alas is but a petty thing and deserves not to be put in the number of deaths The second death in the Text hath relation to the first Resurrection Rev. 20 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath his portion in the first resurrection on such the second death shall have no power The first death is that from whence we are acquitted by the first resurrection and that is the death for that is a kind of death as S. Paul speaking of a wicked and voluptuous widow saith she is dead while she liveth and the time shall come and now is when they that are dead shall hear the voice of the Son of man and they that hear shall live And again Let the dead bury their dead So that the first resurrection is when a man hearing the voice of the Minister is rouzed up from the sleep of sin and carnal security and the first death is the opposite thereunto So that the death of the body is no death at all for if it were then this were the third death For there would be a death of sin a death of the body and a death of body and soul This death of the body is but a flea-biting in comparison of the other two This second death is the separation of the body and soul from God and this death is the wages of sin and God must not will not lie in arrear to sin but will pay its wages to the full All the afflictions a wicked man meeteth withal here are but as Gods press money and part of payment of that greater summe But when he dies the whole summe comes then to be paid Before he did but sip of the cup of Gods wrath but he must then drink up the dregs of it down to the bottome and this is the second death It 's called death Now death is a destruction of the parts compounded a man being compounded of body and soul both are by this death eternally destroyed That death like Sampson pulling down the pillars whereby it was sustained pulled down the house draws down the tabernacles
up the chief of the Fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the Priest and the Levites and all them whom the Spirit of God had raised up to go up Observe here though the proclamation were general yet the raising up of the Will was from the Spirit of the Lord. We must not by any means take our will for a ground the Will cometh from God but if thou hast a Will thou hast a warrant Who ever will let him take the water of life freely without covenanting say if thou had but a measure of faith and such a measure of humiliation for that were to compound with Christ away with that Whosoever will let him come Christ keeps open house Whosoever will let him come whosoever comes to him he will not shut out John 6. If thou hast a heart to come to him he hath a willing heart to receive thee as it was with the Prodigal son the Father stayes not till he comes to him but runs to meet him he is swift to shew Mercy and to meet us though we come slowly on towards him But this is not all there is a second gracious Word that is preacht to a man not yet in the state of Grace A man that keeps open house he seldom invites any particularly but if he come he shall be welcome Christ he keeps open house but some are so fearfull and so modest that unless they have a special invitation they are ashamed to come to Christ they reason thus if my case were an ordinary mans I should come but I am so vile and wretched that I am ashamed to come my sins have been so many and so heavy that I am not able to bear so great a weight they are more in number then the hairs of my head and yet alas they are crying ones too But hearken here a second word Dost thou think thy case more heavy because thou art out of measure sinfull Lo it pleaseth God to send thee a special invitation who findest thy self discouraged with the great bulk and burthen of thy sins It pleaseth God I say to send thee a special invitation See Mat. 11.28 Though all apply it not to this use Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest You of all others are they that Christ looks for Those that can walk bolt upright in their sins that desire to live and die in them they will not look upon me and I will not look upon them they scorn me and I scorn them but you that are heavy laden and feel the burthen of your sins are invited by Christ. Let not Satan then couzen you of the comfort of this word that which Christ makes the latch to open the door to let himself in we do usually by our foolishness make the bolt to shut him out Let thy wound be never so great thou hast a warrant to come and be cured be of good comfort then as it was said to blind Bartemeus so is it to thee Loe he calleth thee When Christ bids thee come and gives thee his Word that he will heal thee Come let not the Devil or thy corruptions hinder thee or make thee stay back hast thee to this City of Refuge he hath engag'd his Word for thee and he will ease thee But now after all this there is a Third Word that though Christ keeps open house so that who will may freely come and though he sends special invitations to them that are most bashfull because their case is extraordinary What do you think now that Christ will come with his souldiers and destroy those that do not come in He might do it when he is so free and invites thee and thou turnest it back again into his hand but yet here 's another Word of comfort Christ doth not only send a Messenger to invite thee who hast no goodness in thee but he falls to beseeching and intreating thee and that 's a third word whereby faith is wrought in an Unbeliever 2 Cor. 5.10 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us observe the place We pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God This is the most admirable word that ever could be spoken unto a sinner Alas thou mayst say I am afraid that God will not be friends with me why he would have thee to be friends with him do not then with the Papists make such an austere God as though he might not be spoken unto as though thou mightst not presume thy self but must make friends unto him We have not an high Priest that is not touched with our infirmities Will the Papists tell me I am bold if I go to God or lay hands on Chrst I am not more bold then welcome Let us go with boldness to the Throne of grace We are commanded to do it do not think but that he had bowels to weep over Jerusalam and he carried the same with him into heaven when thou liest groaning before him he will not spurn thee We pray you and beseech you to be friends therefore in this case make no doubt its Gods good pleasure to entreat thee and therefore thou hast warrant enough Christ wept over Jerusalem and he is as ready to embrace thee You have now three words to make a man of an Unbeliever a Believer Is there or can there be more then these Open house-keeping special invitations Entreaties and Beseechings yet there is more then all this which if thou hast not a heart of stone it will make thee believe or make thee rue it And that is 4. When God seeth all these things will not work with us but we are slow of heart to believe then he quickens us and there comes a word of Command God chargeth and commands thee to come and then if thou breakest his Command be it to thy peril It is the greatest sin that can be committed Thou wilt not draw near to God because thou art a sinner thou now committest a greater sin then before thou returnest back Christ unto God thou bidst him take his commodity into his hand again thou wilt not believe and this is an hainous crime John 16.8 9. And when the Spirit shall come it shall reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement of sin because they believe not in me this is that great sin he shall convince the world of because they believe not in him Of all sins this was the most notorious this makes us keep all other sins in possession It is not only one particular sin but it fastens all other sins upon us be they never so many When faith comes it will out them but till then they remain in thee where there is no Commandment there is no sin How could it be a sin in not believing if I were not commanded so to do but you shall here more then so When the Apostle speaks of excluding Rejoycing under the Law Rom. 3.37 Where is boasting
then saith he it is excluded By what Law by the Law of works No but by the Law of faith there is a Law of works and a Law of faith God doth not only give thee leave to come and take him and draw near unto him but he commands thee there 's a Law by the breach of that Law of faith thou art made guilty of a high sin There 's a full testimony of this 1 John 3.23 And this is the Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. If a man should ask may I love my Neighbour would you not think him a fool because he must do it he is commanded So should a poor soul come and say to me may I believe thou fool thou must believe God hath laid a Command upon thee it is not left to thy choice The same Commandment that bids thee love thy brother bids thee to believe on Christ. To entreaty is added Gods Command and therefore if thou shalt argue what warrant have I to believe Why God injoyns it thee and commands it As the impotent man said so mayst thou He that healed me said unto me take up thy bed and walk This is the very Key of the Gospel and this is the way to turn it right When being thus clean nâ—ked we have as it were a Cable put into our hands to draw our selves out of this flesh and blood 5. The last thing is if keeping open house special Invitations Entreaties and Commands will not serve the turn then Christ waxeth angry What to be scorn'd when he profer'd Mercy and as it were invite all sorts and compel them to come in by his Preachers and by a peremptory Command Then he falls a threatning We are not of those which draw back unto perdition if thou wilt not come upon this Command thou shalt be damned Mar. 16.16 He that believed not shall be damned Christ commands them to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature unto every soul this Gospel which I speak If you will not hear and believe if you will not take God at his Word you shall be damned John 3. He that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Here 's an Iron scourge to drive thee thou that art so flow of heart to believe In Psalm 78. where is set down Gods Mercy unto the Isâ—aelites afterwards comes one plague upon another verse 22. it is said They hardened their hearts as in the day of provocation This is applyed in Heb. 3.12 to Unbelievers The Lord heard this and was wrath a fire was kindled against Jacob and against Israel Why was this because they believed not in him because they trusted not in his salvation Nothing will more provoke God to anger then when he is liberal and gracious and we are straitned in our selves hearden our hearts and not trust him never forget this Sermon while you live this is the net which Christ hath to draw you out of the world I shal hereafter tell you what faith is which is to receive Christ and to believe in his name but that will require a more particular explication and on that I shall enter the next time FINIS EPHE 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of truth the Gospel of your salvation In whom also after you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise THE last time I entred on the declaration of that main point and part of Religion which is the foundation of all our hopes and comfort namely the offering of Christ unto us that as he did offer himself a Sacrifice to his Father for us upon the Cross so that which is the basis ground and foundation of our comfort he offereth himself unto us And here comes in that gracious gift of the Father which closes in with God That as God saith To us a child is born to us a Son is given c. so there is grace given us to receive him And as the greatest gift doth not enrich a man unless he accept it and receive it so this is our case God offers his Son unto us as an earnest of his love if we will not receive him we cannot be the better for him If we refuse him and turn Gods Commodity which he offers us back upon his hand then Gods storms and his wrath abides on us for evermore That it is his good pleasure that we should receive Christ it is no doubt we have his word for it all the point is how we may receive him and that is by Faith And in this Text is declared how Faith is wrought and that is by the Word of truth In whom also you trusted after you had heard the Word of Truth Now after this Faith there cometh a sealing by the Spirit of God In whom also after you believed you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Now lest a man should through ignorance and indiscretion be misled and deceived there is faith and there is feeling Where this is not I say not that there is no faith No for feeling is an after thing and comes after Faith If we have Faith we live by it But after you believed you were sealed You see then Faith is that whereby we receive Jesus Christ and to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to as many as believe on his name The blood of Christ is that which cureth our souls but as I told you it is by application A Medicine heals not by being prepared but being applied so the blood of Christ shed for us unless applied to us doth us no good In Heb. 12. It s called the blood of sprinkling and that in the 51. Psalm hath relation to it where he saith Purge me with hysop In the Passover there was blood to be shed not to be spilt but to be shed and then to be gathered up again and put into a Basin and when they had so done they were to take a bunch of Hysope and dip and sprinkle c. Faith is this bunch of Hysope that dips it self as it were into the Basin of Christs blood and our souls are purged by being sprinkled with it In Levit. 14.6 There was a bird to escape alive but see the preparation for it You shall take it and the scarlet and the Cedar wood and the Hysop and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed c. and then you shall sprinkle on him that had the leprosie seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field We are thus let loose cleansed and freed but how unless we are dipt as the living bird was in the blood of the dead bird there is no escaping unless we are dipt in the blood of Christ Jesus this dead bird and sprinkled with this Hysop we cannot be freed
taste it and therefore many Christians on serious consideration would not change their estate for the estate of Angels Why because hereby Christ is my husband I am wedded to him he is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh which the Angels are not capable of Our nature is advanced above the Angelical nature for we shall sit and judge the world with Christ judge the twelve Tribes of Israel And what an high preferment is this Nay observe this and take it for a Rule Never beg of God pardon for thy sins till thou hast done this one thing namely accepted of Christ from Gods hands For thou never canst confidently ask any thing till thou hast him For all the Promises of God are in him yea and Amen This may serve for the Object of faith to shew that the primary Object is Christ crucified and God by him We come now to declare 2. The Acts of faith what they are and there is some intricacy in that too There is much ado made in what part and power of the soul faith is We must not proportionate the Act of faith according to our own fancy For it s no faith but as it hath relation to the Word now look how is the Word presented After you heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your salvation Now the Word is presented under a double respect 1. It s presented Sub ratione veri After you had heard the Word of Truth and there comes in the Understanding 2. Then Sub ratione boni as a good word that so we should lay hold on it and here comes in the Will For the Will we say challenges that which is good for its Object Now the Gospel of salvation is a good Word its glad tidings worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners And now as the Word is presented as a good Word so must my Act of faith be answerable unto it See in Heb. 11.13 The act of faith answering hereto These all died in faith not having received the Promises What did their faith to them It made them see the Promises a far off and they were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth So that by comparing place with place it appears that first this Gospel was presented as the Word of Truth they were perswaded of it It is the first Act of Faith to perswade men of the truth of the Word and then as it is a good word they embraced it these are the two arms of faith as true it perswades me as good I embrace it We must not now be too curious in bringing in Philosophical Disputes whether one Vertue may proceed from two faculties whether Faith may proceed from the Understanding and the Will The truth is these things are not yet agreed upon and shall we trouble our selves with things not yet decided in the schools as whether the practical Understanding and the Will be distinct faculties or no The Word of God requires that I should believe with my whole heart Act. 8.37 As Philip told the Eunuch if thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest If with the heart but with what faculties may you say Why I tell thee believe with thy whole heart and what shall I peece and devide the heart when the whole is required Now to come to these two The Word is presented 1. As a true Word 2. Then as a good Word a word like Gospel like salvation 1. As a true Word And the Act of faith answering thereto is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge and Acknowledgement 1 Titus 1. 1 Peter 3. 1 Knowledge that 's a thing requisite Why because if there be a Remedy able to cure a mans disease if he do not know it what is he the better for it Knowledge is so essential unto Faith that without it there can be no faith In John 17.3 the terms are confounded the one put for the other This is life eternal to know thee to be the true God and whom c. to know thee that is to believe in thee because knowledge is so essential to belief as one cannot be without the other thou canst not believe what thou hast never heard of I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth that is I believe he liveth and hereupon it s said in Isa. 53. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Knowledge is an Act primarily requisite to Faith to be justified by his knowledge is to be justified by faith in his blood this then is the first thing that I know it to be as true as Gospel then comes the acknowledgement 2. The Acknowledgement Joh. 6.69 We know and are assured that thou art that Christ. This is an assurance I say not the assurance of my salvation for that is another kind of thing but an assurance that God will keep touch with me will not delude me but that if I take his Son I shall have life I shall have his favour When God illuminates me I find all things in him when I have him I am made When the Understanding clearly apprehends this then comes the next word it is the Gospel of salvation there being a knowing and acknowledging the Act of the Understanding then comes the Will and it being 2. Propounded as a good word then follows 1. Acceptation 2. Affiance 1. Acceptation which receives Christ. 1 John 12. As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to as many as believed on his name Then a man resolves I will take God on his word and thereupon follows A resting or relying on God which is a proper act of faith I need no other place then Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed that is on whom they have not reposed their confidence Mark the â—postle How shall they call on him on whom they have not believed That Faith which was in the antecedent must be in the conclusion therefore our faith is a relying on God and so in this place this trust is made the same with faith as it is in the Text in whom you trusted after you had received the word of Truth for our trust and belief there is the self-same word Nimium ne crede colori this Credo is to have a great confidence in fleeting and fading things and so it is in justifying faith If I have a knowledge of God and acknowledgement of him and from my knowing my will is conformed to accept Christ and if when I have accepted him I will not part from him this is faith and if thou hast this faith thou wilt never perish suppose thou never hadst one day of comfort all thy life long yet my life for thine thou art saved Perhaps by reason of thy
the iron is hot the fire hath made a change in it it 's malleable the hammer is able to work on it but let the fire be gone and it 's as hard as before nay we say steel is harder so that there is no change in the nature of iron it 's hard still redit ad ingenium it goes back into its own estate If it be softened it is by an accidental cause so here as long as the temporary faith is in the furnace of afflictions when God shall let loose the cord of his conscience and makes him see that there is no way for salvation but by Christ then the sense of his torture will make him desire with all the veines in his heart to have Christ. See a singular example of this temporary desire in Psal. 78.34 When he slew them then they sought him and returned and enquired early after God So Prov. 1.27 When their fear was on them as desolation and their destruction as a whiâ—le-wind when distresse and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me c. Not with a feign'd desire but in truth and reality they desire relief They remembred then that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer they saw a Redeemer when he was slaying of them and they believed that God would free them though it was but temporary Neverthelesse they flattered him with their mouths and lyed unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Observe then this was but a temporary case a temporary change there was no new creature no new nature wrought but being in the furnace of affliction as long as the fire was hot they were pliable they were not stedfast in his Covenant Let this be an admonition to them that think they never can have true faith till God slay them I am not of that opinion God sometimes useth this means but it is not so necessary as that it cannot be otherwise and to speak truly I had rather have faith that comes another way the difference is this The temporary believers will have Christ while God is slaying of them whil'st they are in the furnace of afflictions but the other in cold blood when Gods hand is not on them The true believer is sick of love and when he hath no affliction nor Gods hand on him with the Apostle he accounts all things dung and drosse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus There 's an ardent desire when this external cause draws not If when thou art out of the forge thou hast thy heart softned and findest this work of grace and faith to drive thee to Christ thou hast a faith unfeigned and so the faith of Gods elect Again there is not only this desire in him who hath a temporary faith but having understood the Word he so desires it that when he knows there is no having Christ nor happinesse or salvation by him unlesse he deny himself and part from his evil wayes being perswaded of this out of self-love he would have Christ and seeing these be the termes that he must turn a new leaf and lead a new life or go to hell therefore he will do this too this is much yet I say he doth this too but how shall this be proved most evidently in 2 Pet. 2.20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end with them is worse than the beginning Here is that Apostasie and here is the subject of the temporary faith It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them this was a temporary conversion as Ephraim like a broken bow turned back again in the day of battel Observe what they did they were like the foolish Virgins they kept their maiden-heads in respect of the pollutions of the world they lived very civilly they escaped the corruptions of the world and no man could challenge them of any filthy act they knew that Christ was the King of Saints and had the knowledge of him they knew that it was not fit that the King of glory and holinesse should be attended on by the black guard that they must have sanctity that will follow him and therefore they laboured to be fit to attend him They escaped the pollutions of the world but yet it continues not why so For it hapned to them according to the true Proverb the Dog is returned to his vomit and the Sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire Mark the Dog turns again to his own vomit This proceeds from some pang in his stomach that enforceth that filthy beast to disgorge it self that it may have some ease but he quickly gathers it up again as soon as the pang is over Some there are that would be content to hide their iniquity under their tongues as Job speaks but there comes a pang sometimes a pang in their consciences which forceth them to vomit up their sweet bits again but well the fit is gone and being gone they like the filthy dog return to their vomit again considering the pleasure which they took in that filthy thing that they did disgorge themselves was but from that pang and present pinch not from the loathing or hatred of the thing and therefore they return again unto it By the way then take notice of the filthinesse of sinne how filthy is it that the Lord compares it to the vomit of a dog Then there followes another comparison of it It 's as the Soâ— that is washed and returns to her wallowing in the mire See another loathsome resemblance of this temporary faith the Sow was washed but how her swinish nature was not washed from her as long as the Sow is kept from the mire in a fair Meadow with the Sheep she looks as sleek and clean as they she was washed there 's an external change but her nature remained bring the Sow and the sheep to a puddle the sheep will not go in becâ—use it hath no swinish nature but the other retaining its swinish nature though before in outward appearance as clean as the sheep was yet she goes again to her wallowing in the mire There may be the casting away of a mans sinnes and yet no new creature wrought in him That I may shew this to you take this example A man known to be as covetous a man as liveth he loveth his money as well as his God yet perchance this man is brought in danger of the Law and must be hang'd for some misdemeanour committed this man to save his life will part with all he hath what is his disposition changed no not a whit he is as covetous as before he is the same man he doth it to save his life and to
that which is the whole comfort of a Christian The assurance of his salvation Thus it is indeed with those that have no feeling nor confidence as those who are in hell think there is no heaven and they who teach such uncomfortable doctrine can receive no comfort farther than the Priest giveth it them It s true there is no true assurance but in the true Church but there it may be found And as I began with sowing in tears so I would end with reaping in joy that is the next thing in the Text for which I passe over the other part of it I begin with humiliation but end with joy and not onely that joy which we shall have in the Kingdome of heaven but on earth while we have these things but in hope and expectation A man that would reckon up his estate doth not only value what he hath for the present but he reckons his reversions also what he shall have after such a time what will come to him or his heirs Gods children they have a brave reversion glory and honour and a Kingdome It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdome we are all the children of God but it doth not appear what we shall be when he appears we shall be like him and appear as he is He shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body we are here sonnes but yet but in a strange Country no body knoweth what he is and therefore he meets with many affronts The King when he was in France went for an attendant on the Duke and is he troubled at it No he knew that the world knew it not they knew not what he was and therefore he is not troubled at it So is it with the children of God but when they shall appear they shall be advanced and their enemies ashamed By the way let not the people of God be discouraged by the taunts jeers and reproaches of wicked men they know not what you are and therefore make light of you as they did of Christ himself Well besides what we have in reversion the very hope we have of it works wonderful joy in the heart of a Christian David did not live to see the glory of Solomons Temple but he made provision for it and cast the model of it and he took much delight in the contemplation of what it would be The consideration of these hopes makes my flesh rest in hope and my heart rejoyce Psal. 16. The consideration of the resurrection made Davids heart rejoyce The consideration of that which is to come should bring abundance of joy unto a Christian these are strange things not like the joy of a natural man for his heart is sad in the midst of laughter but these rejoyce with a joy unspeakable and full of glory Here are some sparks some beginnings of the glory of heaven and of that great joy which we shall have hereafter but I cannot speak of these things in an houre But forasmuch as the Divel transforms himself into an Angel of light there is no work of Gods Spirit in the hearts of his children but Satan like an Ape labours to imitate in the hearts of wicked men to make them secure we must know that there are joys in some who are not regenerate They that received the Word on the Rock received it with joy the Word if it be apprehended and hath but the least footing brings joy with it But now to know how I may get this joy how comfortable a thing is it to have such a comfort on earth as to know that I have this true joy and to be able to distinguish this joy from the joy from the flashes those fleeting joys of the wicked which are but as the crackling of thornes under a pot for theirs is but as a blaze that suddenly goeth out Now if thou wouldst know thy joy aright and whether it differ from that counterfeit joy which flesh and blood and the Divel suggests Look to the things that go before and produce this joy 1. The first thing that goeth before true joy and produceth it is an opening unto Christ when he knocks at the door of thy heart As in that famous place in Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me There is if thou open a sweet and familiar communication between Christ and thee he communicates himself at dinner and supper A man comes not melancholy to meals Christ will come and make merry with thee he will sup with thee familiarly But how is it with thee Hath Christ knocked and thou hast given him a slievelesse answer and hast thou joy it is a false joy But when Christ knocks at the door of thy heart there must be an opening the door on thy part when he knocks by his Word and Spirit And dost thou give such an answer as the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 5. I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice I have eaten my honey-combe with my honey Now Christ coming to Supper knocks at the door and would bring in a great deal of joy I sleep saith the Spouse but my heart waketh it is the voice of my well-beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Undefiled when God comes and wooes us and desires to communicate himself unto us and desires us to put off our cloaths dost thou look for comfort if thou openest not At last I opened to my Beloved ver 6. But he had with-drawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not finde him I called him but he gave me no answer When thou givest not Christ entertainment when he comes thou mayst seek and not meet with him It is observed that the Keepers of the Wall are the greatest strikers Those whom God hath set to be Watchmen instead of comforting they smite ver 7. The Watchmen that went about the City they found me they smote me they wounded me they took away my vaile from me she gets raps from them who should protect her because she did not entertain Christ if thou findest any comfort after Christ hath knock't and thou hast opened unto him then it is true joy and thou mayst make much of it 2. If it be true joy there goeth faith before it for being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ So that the exercising of the acts of faith is a spiritual means to raise comforts in our souls John 6. I had need to speak of this for there is want of the exercises of faith is it enough think you to have faith once exercised He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him It is not enough to eat once a year A man