4.10 he is there said to be the Saviour of all men especially of those that beleeve You see in the Verse before my Text he is called our Saviour how he gave himself for them to whom he is a Saviour but saith the Apostle he is the Saviour of all men specially of those that beleive The meaning of the place is this Christ he saveth all men with a common temporall salvation he saveth them from many dangers from many miseries he is a generall Saviour to all men but a speciall Saviour to save from Hell from the wrath of God from the guilt and power of sin thus specially the Lord Christ is a Saviour only to them that beleeve So that by the Object of this Act included in the word Vs he gave himself for us is meant beleevers them that doe beleeve in him What this belief is I think I shall not need now to declare unto you I will but onely touch it in a few words To beleeve in Christ then it is nothing else but for a man to goe out of himself and to receive the Lord Christ in all his Offices to be to us in particular a King to govern us a Prophet to teach us and a Priest to save us and to make intercession for us Thus Faith is described John 1.12 To as many as received him that is as the latter part of the Verse hath it to as many as beleeved in him He gave power to be the sons of God So that to beleeve in Christ is to receive Christ Now there is no receiving of Christ but you must receive whole Christ the coat of Christ was never divided much lesse is the person of Christ if Christs coat and person was not divided much lesse the Offices of Christ So that if to beleeve be to receive Christ then to beleeve is to receive whole Christ in all his Offices You see then what this faith is it is to goe out of ones self and to entertain Christ to be in particular for us our onely King and Priest and Prophet and therefore to give up our selves to Christ as subjects to be guided by him as by our Soveraign and as Schollers in all things to be taught by him as by our Master and for to give up our selves to him alone to expect attonement and to expect favour from God through his Priesthood This is to believe The Properties of this Faith the signs of it by which you may know that you are them for whom Christ gave himself you shall find in Scripture to be these First of all Faith it is said to purifie the heart Acts 15.9 There saith the Apostle he put no difference between us and them purifying of their hearts by faith There is one propertie of faith It is a purifier of the heart that is where there is faith there is a principle in that heart whereby it commeth to be purified and cleansed from the power and dominion of all originall corruption Where ever there is faith there is a pure principle in that soul which endeavoureth nothing but the cleansing of the soul from all corruption that is inbred by nature Faith it doth not purifie the heart perfectly but onely in part It doth not purge out all corruption but onely some but yet this it doth it establisheth in the soul a pure principle whereby the soul is purged from the dominion of all sin from the love of all sin from the habituall delighting in any sin and whereby the soul is made to be continually purging of it self from the remainders of corruption Whence is that speech you have in 1 Pet. 1. 22. Seeing you have purified your souls by obeying the truth faith it purifieth the heart by planting in it a principle which makes the heart purifie it self Thereupon is that you have in 1 John 3 3. Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure Hope it is the daughter of faith where there is faith there is hope brought forth where there is hope this hope makes a man purifie himself even as God is pure I pray observe it Hope with faith works in the soul it looks upon God and it doth make a man strive to purifie himself that he may come to be pure as God is What ever impurity is discerned in the soul there is not that hope which is the daughter of faith faith and hope is continually labouring and striving to work out that impuritie that is the meaning of it he purifieth himself even as God is pure that even as a Scholer that is willing to learne hee looks upon the Copie of his master and upon his own writing and where ever he findeth any default he is continually striving to mend that and still labouring every time more and more to be more conformable to his masters copie even thus where ever there is faith it doth produce hope which hope makes the soul continually aim to conform it self to the puritie of God whom it hopeth fully to enjoy And that you may not be mistaken consider thus much that there will bee impuritie in the heart wherein there is faith but yet where there is faith there is a continuall purging out of impuritie as it manifesteth it selfe You may conceive it by a similitude if a pot be boyling upon the fire there will a scum arise but yet they that are good house wives and cleanly and neat they watch it and as the scum riseth up they take it off and throw it away happily more scum will arise but still as it riseth they scum it off Thus it is with the soul impuritie will be in the heart wherein there is faith and it manifesteth it self and riseth up when the soul is in action but yet the heart that hath faith in it eyeth the soul and as it discovereth any impuritie though it be never so secret or never so small though it be never so agreeing to his naturall disposition it scummeth it off and it is his continuall work and desire to make riddance of any corruption which doth appear Here is the first Propertie whereby you may know them that are the Persons for whom Christ gave himself they are beleevers and faith purifieth the heart A second Propertie of faith is that you have in Gal. 5.6 Faith which works by love Where ever there is faith it is working Faith it is not an idle grace it is not a fancie or an opinion that Christ hath died for us and there is an end but it is a working grace where ever there is faith there is work and what work is it it is a work of love There is a working of love and a working by love where ever there is faith First there is a working of love faith that beleeveth in Christ works a love to Christ Faith that beleeveth the pardon of sin it works a hatred of that sin for whose pardon Christ bloud was shed faith it works a love to the Image of Christ
Abraham That man that not onely enjoyeth the Priviledges of the Church but yeeldeth the obedience of faith according to the Word of God revealed and walketh in obedience that man alone shall be blessed with faithfull Abraham Two points may be hence raised but I shall hardly handle them both therefore I will passe over the first onely with a touch and that lieth closely couched in the Text That Faith causeth fruitfulness in the hearts and lives of those in whom it is Mark what I say A faithfull man is a fruitfull man Faith inableth a man to be doing Ask the Question By what power was it whereby Abraham was inabled to yeeld obedience to the Lord The Text answereth you They that walke in the footsteps not of Abraham but in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham A man would have thought the Text should have run thus They that walk in the footsteps of Abraham that is true too but the Apostle had another end therefore he saith They that walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham implying that it was the grace of faith that God bestowed on Abraham that quickned and inabled him to every duty that God required of him and called him to the performance of So that I say the Question being Whence came it that Abraham was so fruitfull a Christian what inabled him to do and to suffer what he did Surely it was faith that was the cause that produced such Effects that helped him to perform such actions The Point then you see is evident Faith is it that causoth fruit Hence it is that of almost all the actions that a Christian haah to doe faith is still said to be the worker If a man pray as he should it is the prayer of faith Jam. 5.15 If a man obey as he should it is the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 If a man war in the Church militant it is the fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 If a man live as a Christian and holy man he liveth by fasth Gal. 2.20 Nay shall I say yet more if he die as he ought he dieth by faith Heb. 11.13 These all died in faith What is that by the power of faith that directed and ordered them in the course of their death furnished them with grounds and principles of aflurance of the love of God made them carry themselves patiently in death I can say no more but with the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether yee bee in the faith Why doth not the Apostle say Examine whether faith be in you but whether yee bee in the faith His meaning is that as a man is said to be in drinke or to be in love or to bee in passion that is under the command of drinke or love or passion so the whole man must be under the command of faith as you shall see more afterwards If he pray faith must indite his prayer If he obey faith must work If hee live it is faith that must quicken him and if he die it is faith that must order him in death And wheresoever faith is it will doe wonders in the soul of that man where it is it cannot be idle it will have footsteps it sets the whole man on work it moveth feet and hands and cies and all parts of the bodie Mark how the Apostle disputeth 2 Cor 4.13 We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak The faith of the Apostle which he had in his heart set his tongue a going If a man have faith within it will break forth at his mouth This shall suffice for the proof of the point I thought to have pressed it further but if I should I see the time would prevent me The Use therefore in a word is this If this be so then it falleth soul and is a heavie Bill of Indictment against many that live in the bosome of the Church Go thy wayes home and read but this Text and consider seriously but this one thing in it That whosoever is the son of Abraham hath faith and whosoever hath faith is a walker is a worker by the footsteps of faith you may see where faith hath been Will not this then I say fall marvellous heavie upon many souls that live in the bosome of the Church who are confident and put it out of all Question that they are true beleevers and make no doubt but that they have faith But look to it wheresoever faith is it is fruitfull If thou art fruitlesse say what thou wilt thou hast no faith at all Alas these idle Drones these idle Christians the Church is too too full of them Men are continually hearing and yet remain fruitless and unprofitable whereas if there were more faith in the world we should have more work done in the world faith would set feet and hands and eies and all on work Men go under the name of professors but alas they are but Pictures they stir not a whit Mark Where you found them in the beginning of the yeer there you shall find them in the end of the yeer as profane as worldly as loose in their conversations as formall in dutie as ever And is this faith Oh faith would work other matters and provoke a soul to other passages then these But you wil say May not a man have faith and not that fruit you speak of May not a man have a good heart to God-ward although he cannot find that abilitie in matter of fruitfulnesse My brethren be not deceived Such an opinion is a meer delusion of Satan whereever faith is it bringeth Christ into the soul Mark that Whosoever beleeveth Christ dwelleth in his heart by faith Eph. 3.17 And If Christ be in you saith the Apostle the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you that is Whosoever beleeveth in the Lord Jesus Christ dwels in such a man by faith now if Christ be in the soul the bodie cannot be dead but a man is alive and quick and active to holy duties ready and willing and cheerfull in the performance of whatsoever God requireth Christ is not a dead Saviour nor the Spirit a dead Spirit The second Adam is made a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And wherever the Spirit is it works Effects suteable to it The Spirit is a Spirit of puritie a spirit of zeal c. and where it is it maketh pure and zealous c. When a man will say he hath faith and in the mean time can be content to be idle and unfruitfull in the work of the Lord can bee content to be a dead Christian let him know that his case is marvellously fearfull For if faith were in him indeed it would appear yee cannot keep your good hearts to your selves where ever fire is it will burn and where ever faith is it cannot be
to the honour of Christ to the Gospel of Christ In a word what ever is Christs to that faith doth work a love where ever it is so that whosoever hath faith they have in them a love to Christ and to all the things of Christ You may conceive it by this similitude If a woman have with a conjugall affection taken a man to be her husband that same taking of him to be her husband makes her love him and all that is his she loves his name his honour and credit his profit his contentment his ease his safety his person his friends for that same conjugall affection which makes her to take him to be her husband works love in her in all these particulars To beleeve in the Lord Christ is nothing but to take Christ as I said before to be our husband Now if we have taken him to be our husband then we shall love him as a wife loveth her husband There is the second thing Again thirdly a third Propertie of Faith is that in the 1 Thes 5.8 The breastplate of faith and love faith is a Brest-plate there is the third property of faith What is the use of a brestplate A brestplate it doth fence and secure the heart from all danger from all stabbs from all injuries Where there is faith the soul is fenced as it were with a brestplate so that it is neither drawn away from Christ nor wounded with the fierie darts of Satan or temptations of sin My brethren I pray observe it there is no faith where the heart is not in some measure fenced from the wounds of sin and from the insnarements of the world Faith is a brest-plate there is the third Again in the fourth and last place the last propertie of faith that I will name is that in the 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcommeth the world and this is our victorie even our faith Observe that place where there is faith there is a victorie and a victorie over the world where ever there is faith there is an overcomming of the world To overcome the world it is not to be overcome of the world it is to persist in setting our chiefest affection upon the Lord Jesus Christ notwithstanding all the devises and attempts of the world either by flattery or by frowns either by favour or by blowes this is to overcome the world Now then where ever there is faith there is a victorie over the world that soul which hath faith in it it hath overcome the world the care of the world was wont to overcome it but now it overcommeth the care of the world it is not so carefull for the world as it is for Christ The feares of the world were wont to overcome it but now it hath overcome the feares of the world it is not so afraid of all the worlds injuries and threats as it is of Christs displeasure The pleasures of the world were wont to overcome it the world runneth after nothing so much as after worldly pleasures is delighted in nothing so much as in some worldly pleasure either of contentment or profit or friends of riches or honours But now the soul that hath faith in it it delighteth in nothing so much as in the comfort of the Spirit in the communion of the Lord Jesus Christ Thus I pray consider it though I speak but briefly of these things yet consider it where ever there is faith there is a victorie over the world before there is faith there the soul is a slave to the world but if once there be faith he is more then conquerour he is not the worlds slave but the world is his the world is trampled under his feet and is a dead flower to him that hath neither beauty nor sweetness in it Thus my brethren they that have these Properties they whose hearts are purified they who work by love they whose hearts are fenced with a brestplate that they cannot bee stollen from Christ nor wounded with sin they that are conquerours over the world they are beleevers And so you see the first thing the Object of this Act of Christ The persons for whom Christ gave himself viz. for them that have a faith purifying the heart for them that have a faith working by love for them that have a faith that is as a brestplate to their soul for them that have a faith that overcometh the world for these Christ gave himself Now we come in the second place to open the second thing that is the Act of Christ the thing that Christ did he gave himself for these beleevers What is meant by giving of himself to give a thing in the generall it is to put a thing out of ones own use and power and freely to bequeath it to the use and power of another this is in the generall to give a thing But here I conceive giving is taken a little more strictly and not so largely viz. that which we call giving a ransome For if you compare with this Text that which you shall find in 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransome for all that is for all sorts and conditions of people so that here by giving himself is meant a giving himself as a ransome Now what it is to give a thing as a ransome you are to know it is this It is to dispose and order a thing so as that it may redeem another out of that distresse wherein he is So then the meaning of these words he gave himself for us is this That the Lord Christ did so dispose of himself that by him there may come a redemption to all beleevers from all that miserie and distresse they are in by nature This is the meaning of the words The words then thus explained this Doctrine doth arise Jesus Christ hath given himself for all that believe I need not stand to prove it it is so plain and evident in the Text onely let me give you one place which is parallel to it Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it By the Church is meant nothing else but the company of beleevers now he so loved the Church that is the company of beleevers that he gave himself for them to be their ransome For the opening of the point that you may see what this Action of Christ was I will shew you the particular things to which Christ gave himselfe for beleevers First Christ gave himself to incarnation to become a man for beleevers Secondly Christ gave himself to a perfect obedience of the Law to work all righteousnesse for beleevers 3. Christ gave himself to suffering to passion for beleevers These I will briefly open and so make use of the Point The First thing to which the Lord Christ bequeathed himself for the sake of beleevers it was for to be a man For the understanding of this you must know that Christ he was as he is God he was not man
carefull fear the Lord doth keep them that they shall never fall And another end is in regard of the wicked world the world lieth in wickedness and it is cursed and hated of God and intended to damnation and there are a generation in the Church which the Lord hateth and abhorreth and hath appointed to wrath and there are some that hate God and Religion and are glad of any occasion whereby they may reproach God and Religion and may harden their hearts from the power and practise of Religion Now in regard of these desperate wretches the Lord hath appointed it that in all ages some professors shall fall scandalously that they that have a minde to have their hearts hardned against God and Religion should have them hardned with a vengeance that even as a man that is running in a way and another having a minde to make him fall casteth some stone or block before him that may make him stumble and fall Even so when the Lord seeth men desperately cavilling against Religion studying how to harden their own hearts and the hearts of others the Lord will make his own children sometimes to fall though that it is not so common but ordinarily hypocrites to fall and lie in their way as stones that they may stumble and fall and perish for ever There is a woe to them that take scandals all profane ones that will stumble at Religion and reproach professors and profession because of scandalls there is a woe to them and what woe Even this that those scandalls are as so many stones tumbled in the way to make them break their necks in the pit of everlasting perdition And therefore thus you shall finde that usually where the ministry of the Gospell hath been any long time and people have not been wrought upon by the preaching of the Gospel are not brought to a powerfull profession of religion you shall usually finde it that the Lord doth suffer some professors or other in these places to fall scandalously Is it not so in many places in this City And therefore I beseech my brethren think of it as you are afraid to be hardened and to have a blacknesse upon you of Gods wrath take heed of making this use of the fals and scandals of any to harden your hearts against religion or to tip your tongues with reproaches against the Gospel and professors and so to grow to a hatred of the truth and power of godlinesse But the use you are to make of it is this Let him that standeth take heed least he fall Is one fallen take heed thou doest not fall also and to the end thou doest not fall have a care to trie and examine thy selfe Looke to thy selfe that thou have a sure standing Therefore I beseech you make use of this Looking-glasse take this text of Scripture and by it try your selves if you be right Christ is in you if Christ be in you there is a death or sinne and a life of righteousnesse Thus much for the first Use The second Use in a word and that is for Comfort and Terror Is it so that those that have Christ in them have a death of sinne and a life of righteousnesse then here is comfort to some of you and terror to others of you Comfort to all such of you as finde in your selves this death of sinne and this life of righteousnesse Doest thou find that there is this death of sinne in thee this life of righteousnesse in thee Oh then be comforted for thou hast Christ in thee and thou art certainly in Christ God is reconciled to thee thy person is justified thy sinnes are forgiven and thy soule must be everlastingly saved therefore be thou comforted It may be there is not so great a death of sinne in thee as there is in others but there is a death of sinne in thee It may be there is not so full a life of righteousnesse in thee as there is in others but there is a life of righteousnesse in thee If there be a death of sinne and a life of righteousnesse Christ is in thee though thou come short of that death and life that is in others I pray is not the soule of man as truly in an Infant in the wombe as in that childe that is borne and grown to some strength Is not the soule of man as truly in a weak and sickly man as in a strong and lusty man Is not the life and sap of a tree in a plant that is truly ingrafted though but newly and standeth in a manner loose and scarse buddeth or blossometh is it not as truly in that graft as in a graft that is grown strong and hath borne much fruit Even so is it in thee and therefore be comforted I desire to joy and glad your hearts that are in Christ and have Christ in you and I could not tell what better subject to pitch upon to bring you to comfort because I know this is the maine ground of all your discomfort a doubt whether Christ be in you or not therefore I thought it fit to shew you your faces in this Looking-glasse If then you finde in you a death of sinne and a life of righteousnesse know that Christ is in you When as the Scriptures and Ministers from the Scriptures doe open to you cleare signes and certaine evidences of the goodnesse and truth of your estates if you put away comfort then you put away comfort when God speakes to you you refuse to be comforted when the Lord will comfort you you give the lie to God and to his Word therefore take heed what you doe if by these signes or any such which are cleare and evident grounded upon the word of God you finde your estates to be good know then and assuredly beleeve them to be good It is true I confesse the heart of man is so deceitfull that a man cannot try his own heart and therefore the heart of man is so deceitfull that Ministers cannot try other mens hearts none but the Lord Jesus Christ is onely able to know the heart none but the King is able to discerne the man that had not on the wedding garment you may passe the judgement of all the Ministers and Servants of the King and be let in to the feast Yet notwithstanding though neither man himselfe nor Minister is able to try the heart yet this I confidently beleeve that a man himselfe and a Minister also may know and try the hearts of people if so be they deale faithfully and plainly with him Though no man can discover the secret windings of the heart yet the word of God doth this word of God doth not onely lay down infallible signes whereby people may know whether they are in the truth of grace but the word of God doth lay down signes whereby we may know whether we have those signes or no therefore if people will in the humility of their soules nakedly so farre as they know their own
my hands The like Christian courage was in Luther when his friends disswaded him to goe to Wormes If all the Tiles in Wormes were so many Devils said he yet would I goe thither in the name of my Lord Jesus This is the last step Now gather up a little what I have delivered He that is resolved to stoop to the call of God to prize the promises and breath after them to rest upon the Lord and to wait his time for bestowing mercy upon him to break through all impediments and difficulties and to count nothing too deare for God to be content to performe ready and cheerful obedience he that walketh thus and treadeth in these steps peace be upon him Heaven is hard by he is as sure of salvation as the Angels are it is as certain as the Lord liveth that he shall be saved with faithfull Abraham for he walketh in the steps of Araham and therefore he is sure to be where he is The case you see is clear and the point evident that every faithfull man may and must imitate faithfull Abraham It may be here imagined that we draw men up to too high a pitch and certainly if this be the sense of the words and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place what will become of many that live in the bosome of the Church Will you therefore see the point confirmed by reason The ground of this Doctrine standeth thus Every faithfull man hath the same faith for nature and for work that Abraham had therefore look what nature his faith was of and what power it had of the same nature and power every true Beleevers faith is Breifly thus The promises of God are the ground upon which all true faith resteth the Spirit of God it is that worketh this faith in all beleevers the power of the spirit is that that putteth forth it selfe in the hearts and lives of all the faithfull gather these together if all true beleevers have the same promises for the ground of their faith have one and the same spirit to work it have one and the same power to draw out the abilities of faith then certainly they cannot but have the very selfe same actions having the very selfe same ground of their actions Every particular beleever as the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.1 hath obtained the like precious faith Mark that There is a great deal of Copper-faith in the world much counterfeit beleeving but the Saints doe all partake of the like precious faith As when a man hath but a Sixpence in silver or a Crown in gold those small pieces for the nature are as good as the greatest of the same metall so it is with the faith of Gods Elect. And look as it is in graffing If there be many Scions of the same kind grassed into one stock they all partake alike of the vertue of the stock just so it is here The Lord Jesus Christ is the stock as it were into which all the faithfull are grafted by the spirit of God and faith therefore whatsoever fruit one beareth another beareth also howsoever there may be degrees of works yet they are the same for nature As a little Apple is the same in tast with a great one of the same tree even so every faithfull man hath the same holinesse of heart and life because he hath the same principle of holinesse The fruit indeed that one Christian bringeth forth may be but poor and small in comparison of others yet it is the same in kind the course of his life is not with so much power and fulnesse of grace it may be as anothers yet there is the same true grace and the same practise in the kind of it for truth however in degree it differ Here by way of caution I will suggest too things to you 1. That howsoever all beleevers have the selfe same nature of faith yet all must not look to have the same measure of faith and the same degree of works 2. That faith doth not performe all its works at one time but groweth to a ripenesse upon severall occasions A Child is a perfect man in regard of parts though not of degrees he is able to eat and to see though he cannot walk and talk yet because he hath a reasonable soule as well as others he will walk and talk like others in due time So howsoever many of the Saints of God have not attained to those great actions of grace that others have yet having the same spirit and principle of grace within they shall be inabled hereafter to a further discharge of those holy services that God requireth Thus you see the point confirmed by reason if all the Saints of God are ingraffed into Christ indifferently if all have the same ground of faith and the same spirit to work it and to make it work they must needs have the same actions and fruits of faith because I say they have the selfe same causes of their faith Let us now come to see what benefit we may make to our selves of this point thus proved and confirmed And certainly the Use of this Doctrine is of great consequence In the first place it is a just ground of Examination For if it be true as it cannot be denyed the reasons being so strong and arguments so plain that every sonne of Abraham followeth the steps of Abraham then here you may clearly perceive who it is that hath saving faith indeed who they be that are true Saints and the sonnes of Abraham By the light of this truth by the rule of this doctrine if you would square your courses and look into your conversations you cannot but discern whether you have faith or no. That man whose faith she weth it selfe and putteth it selfe forth in its severall conditions agreable to the faith of Abraham that man that followeth the footsteps of the faith of Abraham let him be esteemed a faithfull man let him be reckoned for a true beleever But if any mans faith doe not this but be contrary unto or fall short of this in the truth I say not in the measure of it certainly it is counterfeit it is Copper-faith O the world of counterfeit faith then that is in the Church at this day It was the complaint of our Saviour Christ that when he should come he should scarce finde faith on the earth Luke 18.8 as if he should say It will be so little and so rare that one shall hardly know where to find a faithfull man It was the complaint of the Psalmist of old and is most true of these times that the faithfull faile from among the children of men Psal 12.1 Many a man hath a name that he is alive and yet is dead Rev. 3.1 Many have a fancie of faith yet upon the tryall we shall find that there are but few even of those that are interested in the title of Christians and live in the bosome of the Church that have any right or
further then God is pleased by a mightie hand to break open the heart of a man and to enlighten it whether he will or no as a man may say 2 Tim. 3 6 7. this is observed to be the main cause why men are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth They are very good Churchmen as they say often in the Church alwaies hearing and yet notwithstanding remain as poor ignorant silly sots in the main things of life and salvation as if they had lived all their dayes in the West-Indies What is the reason and ground of this The Apostle complaineth there of a certain company of widdows that were ever learning certainly then you would thinke that they were good Schollars no that they were not What was the cause what alwaies learning up early and down late and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth What is the cause The Apostle telleth you in the sixt verse They are laden with sins and led about with divers lusts And vers 8. They are of corrupt mindes reprobate concerning the faith or as it is in the Margent of your Bibles of no judgement concerning the faith Mark like unto these carnall hearted widdows there is a sort of men in the Church of God that carry the cloak of profession upon them and will run to every Lecture and take hold of every occasion to hear a Sermon and yet alas know nothing but are as silly and ignorant in the main grounds of Religion as blind in the things of God as any in the world Will you know the reason why they thrive not Observe it They are laden with lusts and led about with divers pleasures their hearts cleave close to some corruption they harbour some bosome lust in their souls they have a form of godliness but they take not up the power of Religion because it would remove and dis-place those lusts that they love so well I beseech you observe that place Isa 6.9 10. When the Lord had a purpose to overthrow the people and to bring a desolation upon them for their obstinacie he biddeth the Prophet go and preach to them but to what purpose Not to doe them any good for he would not save them Well what course then must the Prophet take Goe saith God and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see yee indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavie and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their cares and understand with their heart and convert and bee healed I beseech you observe this Text If they did see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand 〈…〉 God would heal them But God in his just judgement will not have them see nor hear nor understand that they might not convert and be healed and he will accomplish this work by the Ministerie of the Prophet and therefore he sendeth him to harden them by his preaching and how Make their hearts fat and then as it followeth their ears will be heavie and their eies will be shut Now observe what makes an heart fat First continuall glutting of ones self with diet with immoderate eating and drinking and then secondly continuall idenesse these two make men fat Just so it is with the soul of a sinner When as the heart of a man cleaveth to a corruption when as a mans affections are glued unto it so that he takes delight in it let it be what lust so ever it will be you shall ever finde him feeding upon it The proud man continually feeds himself upon his pride his minde is ever taken up with the thoughts of this or that fashion with this or that way of attiring and adorning himself The Adulterer is still feeding on the pleasures of his lust alwaies contemplating on those cursed delights The covetous man meet him where you will assoon as he is up in a morning presently he is talking of buying and selling of bargaining and match-making So the drunkard and the rest of sinners the meat is never out of their mouthes their hearts are continually set upon those sinfull corruptions to which they are addicted And withall mark as there must bee feeding so there must be resting for daily exercise and labour spendeth a man and therefore we know those that will feed any creature fat put it up So when a man is resolved to contiune in that course wherein he is is setled on his lees hath set up his staffe he will go no further but there he will stay such a mans heart is fat and what followeth his eyes will be blind Whatsoever shall come from the Minister to thwart that sinfull disposition of his to crosse that lust which lieth in his bosome any way to disease him or stir him off his dregs though it be never so clear and plain and delivered with never so much evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of God it self yet he cares not for it he is resolved to do what he pleaseth and to take his own course let them all say what they will Hence it cometh to passe that in these daies of light wherein the means of knowledge run through the greatest part of the land and abound as the rivers from the sea and yet men remain stark blind in the mysteries of salvation and altogether unreformed in their lives Doe but observe a little the temper of mens spirits and you shall finde it generally to be this Those truths out of the word of God which they conceive to crosse their quiet and disturbe their peace they will not indure Their heart is resolved to be at peace and at libertie come what come will and therefore whatsoever truth it be that causeth any disquietness or disturbance in them away with it Oh say they I will have none of that I have done with that point Surely it is no marvell that such men are not informed seeing they have shut their eies and will not see Oh say they I see no reason for this I understand not why I may not doc such and such a thing Yea you will not understand it you will not be informed because it will trouble and disquiet your hearts There is many a man my brethren who if he might have his libertie in sinfull courses allowed him and might injoy his credit and contentment and ease in the world together with the Gospel would take up many truths that are now despised by him but the main ground of his contempt lies here he must have his sin he will take his libertie he will enjoy himself what ever is said to the contrary And hence it is that God in his just judgement seeing that such men will not entertain the truth in the â—ove thereof that they might be saved they should be given up to strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might be damned who beleeved not the
hearts openly and plainly and particularly judge them by the Scriptures and observe their hearts in the course of Gods dealing with them and their dealing with God and accordingly apply the touchstone of the Scriptures I am confident by the signes and evidences of grace that are in the Scriptures people may come to discerne their own hearts not by any vertue or skill of their own but by the vertue and skill of God whose power goeth along with his Word It is true a Hypocrite may deceive the quickest-eyed Minister in the world if he will not openly lay his heart before him and therefore good Ministers oftentimes speake peace to them to whom no peace belongeth yet they speak the truth according to those evidences that are expressed to them Were not the wise virgins deceived in the foolish Was not David deceived in Achitophell Were not the Disciples deceived in Judas Yet notwithstanding as I said if people will sincerely deal with their fellow brethren and with their Minister and when God calleth upon them to try themselves if they will turne their inside outward if they will nakedly lay open the state of their own hearts so clearly as they can discerne I doubt not but the Minister of God from the word of God may speak assured peace and give them certaine evidences of the truth of grace Were not these things thus it were not possible we should ever come to assurance it were in vain that the Lord hath given us so many signes and tokens if by observing and trying we might not come to discerne the estate of our hearts Therefore for such of you as in truth find from time to time by these and the like evidences the truth of grace in you know you that there is ground of comfort for your soules And as this is ground of comfort to you that have these things so it is ground of terror to those that want them I know you are almost all frequenters of the Word speakers well of the practise of religion happily you have some reformation in you happily you have some Ministers that speak peace to you happily there is no disturbance in your consciences happily there is some kind of joy and rejoycing in you in hearing the Word c. But my brethren whatever there is that can be in you if this be not in you if there be not a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse be it known unto you that Christ is not in you neither are you in the state of grace You may go on and please your selves with dreams of a happy estate because of such and such appearances of grace yet this I assure you if the death of sin be not in you and the life of righteousnesse Christ is not in you nor never will be for you Again therefore be amazed and tremble and fear and cast away your vain hopes all you that have not found the death of sin and life of righteousnesse Be assured of what the Lord Christ speaks in John 12. The words that I speak shall judge you at the last day Be assured of this that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge your estates by these and such like tryals as these are at the last day and if you cannot be found meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light by the Ministers and Ministry of the Word faithfully dispensed from the Scriptures you shall never be found meet to bee partakers of it in the judgement of God at the last day for so as the Word judgeth God judgeth and as the Minister judgeth while he keepeth to the Scriptures the Lord Christ will judge at the last day So that you see here is Comfort for some and Terror for others Comfort for such as have a death of sin and a life of righteousness though there bee much corruption though there be much weakness of grace in you yet here is comfort for you and terror for all others whatever their morall vertues and common graces or their restraining gifts or outward profession is Well then what now remains but that in the last place we be all exhorted from the Lord to labour to increase the death of sin and life of righteousness in us They are but imperfect in the best of us let us labour to make them both more perfect to perfect the death of sin and the life of righteousness Why so Because that the death of sin and life of righteousness they are the Evidences of Christs being in us the evidences of the goodness of our estates therefore the more these are the more are our Evidences of our part in Christ and the greater will our comfort be and we shall make more sure our calling and election This is that which the Apostle Peter meaneth 2 Pet. 1. 5. Give all diligence saith he to make your valling and election sure But how is that done by making sure those things in your selves that are the tokens and signs and evidences of Gods Election How shall this be done saith the Text there adde one grace to another to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience brotherly kindnes and to brotherly kindness love perfect your grace increase the life of righteousnesse perfect in you the death of sin increase the ruine of the old man the more you increase these things the more you increase your Evidences of your part in Christ What can you desire that is able to administer to you so much comfort to provide so good a help for you against those fears we have so long justly feared what can prepare you for those ensuing calamities that are approaching as your Evidences of a part in Christ But nothing can give you so much evidence of a part in Christ as the death of sin and life of righteousnesse Therefore I beseech you studie above all things what ever else you neglect to increase and perfect in you the death of sin and life of righteousness that so the Evidences of Christ being in you may be certain And so much for this time and Text. FINIS GRACE MAGNIFIED OR THE PRIVILEDGES OF THOSE That are under Grace By that Reverend Divine THOMAS HOOKER Late Preacher in New England TIT. 2. 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men c. LONDON Printed by G. D. for Francis Eglesfield and are to be sold at the Sign of the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1651. GRACE Magnified OR The PRIVILED GES of those that are under Grace SERMON III. Rom. 6. 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace THe blessed Apostle Saint Paul having in the two former Verses exhorted the Romans to whom he wrote this Epistle that they should not let sin reign in their mortall bodie nor yeeld their members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sin He cometh in this Verse to prevent a
thou finde that God commandeth thee much and thou doest little but yet thou art in a condition wherein the Lord hath promised so thou wilt use the means and trust upon him to make thee able in an acceptable manner to doe all that he biddeth thee doe Doth the Law threaten doth the Law curse yet thou art in a condition wherein neither the threatning nor curse of the Law shall ever reach thee to condemnation Findest thou mighty rebellions in thy nature against the Law of God yet thou art in a condition wherein is promised a new nature which shall be made conformable and subjected to the Law of God What should make thee therefore hang down thy head Sharply are such Christians to be reproved that being in Christ lead lives as if they were out of Christ Doest not thou make the world to thinke that that is false which Christ saith That his yoke is easie and his burthen light If Christs yoke be easie and his burthen light why is it saith the world that the servants of Christ walk so disconsolately and complain of heavie burthens You shall find an exhortation of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6.1 We beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain There is a double receiving of Gods grace in vain The one is when as Gods grace is offered and preached to people and out of love to the world and to their sins they slight it and will not receive it Another receiving the grace of God in vain it is when as people have entertained the grace of God and have entred into Covenant with Christ and yet notwithstanding doe not take the comforts that the grace of God affordeth them This is also a receiving the grace of God in vain This is thy case whoever thou art that art a beleever and yet notwithstanding doest not make melodie in thy heart and triumph over thy enemies What have the redeemed of the Lord to doe but to praise the Lord What have the members of Christ to doe but to rejoyce in Christ Doe you thinke when the Lord giveth that Commandement Phil 4. Rejoyce alwaies in the Lord and again I say rejoyce he doth not bid them rejoyce in riches in friends in honours in pleasures c. this is worldly this is damuable but he biddeth us rejoyce in the Lord in the priviledges we have by Christ through the New Covenant of Grace he biddeth us rejoyce and always rejoyce Do you thinke I say when God gave you that Commandment he had forgotten the state in which he left you that he had left you under the power of many sins subject to many failings unable to perfect obedience Doe you thinke I say again that God forgot the condition wherein he left you No God knew well enough what state he left you in that you are as Israel mingled with the Canaanites and yet he biddeth you to rejoyce why so There is ground enough for your rejoyceing because you are not under the Law but under grace and if under grace surely there is ground enough for your rejoycing notwithstanding all your failings Consider therefore then my brethren I beseech you doe not you receive the grace of God in vain doe not you slight as it were and not make use of the grace of God which thus administreth matter of rejoycing in all conditions to you that are in Christ when as you walke so lumpishly because of sin formerly committed or because of corruptions that for the present lie upon you Indeed I deny not but it becommeth Christians to mourn and they that doe not mourn shall never rejoyce in the day of judgement and the people of God are mourners in Zion Yet what kind of mourning There is a double sorrow A godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow A godly sorrow is this when as a soul melteth into tears upon the consideration of his sins and wants because he beleeveth that God through Christ will accept him notwithstanding them all this sorrow the more of it the better this sorrow melloweth the heart softneth the heart makes it frameable to the impressions of the word of God But now the other sorrow which is a worldly sorrow when as a soul is beaten out of heart because of sin formerly committed because of mighty corruptions that doe annoy him to mourn without hope and confidence of acceptance this is worldly sorrow and causeth death this is altogether unbeseeming Christians Receive now this sharp reprehension and be humbled for it and labour to remember your condition You are not come to mount Sinai but to mount Zion You are not under the Law but under Grace Therefore rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and be so cheerfull that the world may see that the service of Christ is a sweet service Here is the second Use The third is for Instruction to them that are not in Christ to such of you as remaine yet in your naturall estate The condition of them that are in Christ is this they are not under the Law but under Grace Thy condition who art not yet in Christ is just the contrary thou art not under grace but under the Law There are none that doe more assume to themselves the priviledges of grace then they that are not under grace You shall have your profane Wretch your painted Civillian your formall Hypocrite men that are dead in trespasses and sinnes that are servants to sinne while with full consent they obey sinne in the lusts thereof yet you shall have these challenge to themselves the priviledges of the Covenant of grace you shall have one swear an Oath and when he hath done say God forgive me you shall have another say I am a great sinner but I hope God will be mercifull to me Another I cannot keep the Commandements but I hope God will accept me thus these wretches that are in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity they claime the priviledges of grace But I would have them know so many of you as have no evidences that you are translated out of the state of nature and ingrafted into Christ by his holy Spirit that you are not under grace but under the Law What is that You are in such a condition wherein nothing but perfect obedience shall stand you in stead If you pray as well as you can yet if you doe not pray as perfectly as God commanded in the Law you shall never be heard If you keep all the Commandements of God and faile but in one yet you shall be damned there is no accepting of imperfect obedience of you because you are not under Christ but under the Law And I tell thee this the Saints of God shall commit greater sinnes and goe to Heaven when thou lesser and goe to Hell Peter forsweareth his Master with an Oath and Curse and yet he is pardoned thou shalt not sweare and curse or deny Christ for the ordinary matter and shalt be damned Saul yeeldeth God imperfect
temper he should find this that I say to bee too too true What is the reason else you will not suffer a good Minister to follow you home to search your soules but take pet at such a man presently what is the cause of this Surely your wayes are naught your mindes are blinded your hearts are hardned under the means Men are loth to let others see what they are because they are not as they should be they are like dull-headed Schollars to whom it is death to be posed But I say observe therefore the mervailous deadnesse and weaknesse the strange besotted dulnesse of our natures to good that when we have all the incouragements and meanes that may be yet we get no benefit we reap no profit by them If a man should have a tree in his garden that all the dunging and pruning and dressing that he can use will doe no good of nor make it bring forth any fruit certainly he would think that tree to be of a strange temper so here let us see and wonder when we see that the Lord hath bestowed so much cost upon us made his judgements come home even to our very doores powred his mercies on us in abundance yet we are not provoked nor quickned nor inlarged in the wayes of life that though wind and tide be both with us yet we make no progress in goodness but he that was ignorant is ignorant still and he that was filthy is filthy still That we may therefore shame our selves humble our soules and bemoan our estates before the Lord consider I pray you but these two things The variety of helps that God vouchsafeth us and the success those helps find in our hearts When all the fire in the town cannot warm a man how cold is he When all the perswasions under heaven cannot work upon a man oh how flinty is he How graciously my brethren hath the Lord dealt with you that live in this place How many helps hath he put into your hands you have prayers and sermons and exhortations and instructions and admonitions and comforts forts and all things that are available to bring a man to life and happiness Now he that groweth not under this means he that thriveth not with this food he that is not heated by this fire he that is not quickned by this dew of heaven let him take notice of the strange distemper of his own heart and the deadnesse of his spirit I know not what to say to you Certainly had the Devill himselfe but any hope of receiving mercy the sermons that are made in this City were able even to melt his heart as it were and to bring him to consider and repent of the sinnes he hath committed against Almighty God but because he hath no hope of mercy he remaineth in a forlorne and desperate condition Yet the Apostle saith Jam. 2.19 The Devils also beleeve and tremble that is they know all things contained in Gods Word are true they beleeve them and assent to them and are perswaded that God will one day make all his threatnings good upon them and upon the hearts of all the damned for ever and that they together shall be wholly deprived of all those mercies that God hath propounded in his Word and they tremble at it Look now into your own hearts and see what kind of temper they are of when notwithstanding the many judgements that have been threatned the many woes that have been denounced yet most either turn their back upon the Church or turn a deaf eare to what they hear and cast the Commandements of God behind them and rather fleer in the face of the Minister and contemn what he saith then be any wayes humbled for their sinnes or tremble at the Word of God and the threatnings denounced out of it My brethren think of it for the Lords sake reason a little with your selves and consider and say Lord what a wicked heart and what a wretched disposition have I the Sea is troubled the Mountains quake and the earth sinketh when the Lord speaks and uttereth his voice nay the Divels beleeve and tremble but oh what terrors and woes have I heard out of the Word against my pride my covetousness my swearing my drunkenness my profaning of the Sabbath yet none of them stirre me one jot I have had the fire full in my face yet remain as ycie and cold and frozen as ever I have had many a heavenly dew upon me many a silver drop yet continue a dry and barren Wilderness Oh what a heart have I Surely my brethren such a case as this is very desperate and deplorable think of it betime in vain it will be for you to put it off You dream and have conceits of knowledge and imagine that you have faith and repentance whereas alas you have little or none of these graces I pray therefore consider it now and now hear and tremble least you tremble afterwards when you are sunk down in the pit for ever When you are in hell you shall feel another manner of trembling then now is expected from you for it shall be farre greater and altogether without hope of remedy Where now are all those professed enemies and rebels against God where is Nimrod where is Pharaoh where is Sennacherib are they not in hell and there left to perish for ever Reason the case therefore seriously with your selves to the end that now you may be humbled and brought to tremble at the Word of God least hereafter you tremble when all hope is past To move you the more consider how graciously the Lord hath been pleased to work upon others They have heard the Word and have lived under the light of the Gospel and they have received benefit by it they have attained to good measures of saving knowledge Are there not some that live neer thee of whom thou mayest say such a man I know and I thought my selfe once to have had as much understanding in religion as he I made account I had as much ability to doe God service as ever he had But now the case is altered he is able to discourse savourly and feelingly of the things of God to pray sensibly and spiritually to reason of the matters of salvation profitably farre beyond that which I can doe and yet I have had as many helpes I have heard as much and understood as much as he O Lord what a case is my soule in what a sinfull creature am I Here is a drunkard converted there is a profane swearer and a Sabbath-breaker wrought upon my next neighbour that happily was as bad as I hath his soule humbled many a gain-sayer of the Gospel the Lord hath made him come crying to him for the forgivenesse of his sinnes begging pardon for such and such rebellions especially for his refusing of the offers of mercy made in Jesus Christ and all this while I stand it out What a strange heart have I That drunkard that profane
spirits now in prison What spirits were these which once were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah Those spirits and damned souls those damned Ghosts now in hell the spirits of wicked men now in hell what were they they were those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah Noah a preacher of righteousnesse whose life was a continuall preaching who daily called upon them and was earnest with them to repent and there was much long-suffering and patience afforded them God waited long for their amendment yet those souls were then rebellious under such great meanes and they are now cooped up in Hell A man would thinke it strange when he shall read the storie of Cain that he notwithstanding God himself came from heaven to teach him should yet remain obstinate and stout-hearted and yet you know the storie Gen. 4. you see it was so Cain began to be dismaid and his countenance fell because God regarded not his sacrifice Well God came from heaven and takes Cain to taske Cain what meaneth all this stir Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest ill sin lieth at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him A man I say would thinke that one should be instructed when God himself teacheth yet notwithstanding after all this Instruction of God himself whith in reason would be thought as effectuall as could be Cain forsakes God and flyeth off from the commandement of God stoopeth not nor yeeldeth obedience thereunto This is that which the Prophet I saiah hath Chap. 26. 10. Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet he will not learn righteousnesse in the land of uprightnesse will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Though there be many helps afforded to him though he be planted in the Church of God where all things call and cry to him for amendment of life though the holinesse and mercy and goodnesse of God compasse him about though he have holy and religious neighbours about him though he have a good Minister in the Parish where he is yet he will not learn righteousnesse but will deal unjustly notwithstanding all the washing he will remain black still notwithstanding all the means that God vouchsafeth for his good yet he will be naught still One example you shall see of this in a passage of a Parable Mark 12. which makes good the Point in hand A certain man saith the Text planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and digged a place for the wine fat and built a Tower here was much pains and a great deal of cost bestowed Well he let out this vineyard to husbandmen and went into a far countrey and at the season he sent to the husbandmen that he might receive of the fruit of the Vineyard Did he receive any fruit No they beat one and stoned another and killed another and all the messengers they sent away emptie At last he sent his son his welbeloved but they took him and killed him and cast him out of the Vineyard In a word The Vineyard is the Church of God and the Husbandmen were the Scribes and Pharisees they were those to whom God as it were had let out his Church He sendeth his messengers his servants the Prophets rising early and sending them his Apostles and Disciples to call for fruit for the fruits of holiness of faith and obedience but they abused his servants they made him no return of fruit but when he looked for grapes behold they brought forth wild grapes At last the Lord sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ he came amongst them he that spake as never man did speak so that even all the world wondred at the gracious words which did proceed out of his mouth certainly saith God they will reverence my Son they will hear him they will be governed by his directions they will stoop at his command No they were then most outragious and malicious against him they all banded themselves together Come say they let us slay him they joyned heart and hand and all for his ruine I will not dwell longer upon the proof of it See it in nature The Physitian observeth it of the stomack that is naught that the best meat that a man giveth it the more cordials the better diet the worse are the humors that are bred by it Even so it is with a naughtie heart and it is an argument of a most wretched disposition when the best Physick the best Remedies the best diet as I may say that God can afford a man for his spirituall cure shall make the heart the worse And truly when the heart is naught it groweth stark naught under the best means No men are so bad as they that live where are the best helps for amendment The thing you see is evident in the proof of it we will a little further discover the nature of such men as live under the means and yet harden their necks and how that corruption that is in the heart doth discover it self most where the best means are And you shall see it made good in these two particulars That wicked men corrupt hearts are the worst under the best meanes though they have admonition after admonition though they are often reproved First of all The hearts of those men grow usually most rebellious against the Lord and against that truth that cometh with greatest power upon them either discoveriing sin to them or working effectually upon the soul and conscience The disposition of men usually that are naught is so that they manifest a marvailous fiercenesse of soul whereby they carry themselves violently against the blessed truth and Word of God and the more because it is the more powerfull we have a rule in reason that contraries when they meet the more violent one is the more the other will work against it as we may see it in fire and water So it is here the greater violence and Spirit and power the Word hath in any place the more violent the heart will shew it self in gainsaying the Ministry thereof The more home the Word cometh to the conscience and the more powerfully it is applied either in the convincing of sin or perswasion to holiness of life the greater risings and stirrings of heart there is against it You shall observe this in a passage of the story of the men of Sodom Gen. 19.9 When the cursed Sodomites came about the house and would have taken the Angels that came to Lot Lot he came out to them and spake very lovingly to them but because that which he said tended to crosse them in their wicked and unnaturall courses mark how they answered him Stand back say they This one fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Judge now will we deal worse with thee than with them and they pressed sore
upon the man even Lot and came neer to break the door And why was all this because his arguments were good and seasonable by which he advised them against their wicked purpose because he opposed them in that wicked course of theirs therefore they could not now hold themselves but burst out into a strange distemper of spirit We will now say they deal worse with thee than with them And so in Acts 7. It is a very observable place vers 56. When Stephen had made a long relation to the Jews of the rebellion and stubbornness of their Fathers they heard him all along without manifesting any virulencie of spirit but at last when he came out with that Yee stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you doe alwaies resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so doe you then when they heard these things when Stephen made a powerfull application of what he had said to them in particular and told them that they had been the betrayers and murtherers of that just One of whose coming the Prophets before had shewed they were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their teeth and they cryed out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord These were the workings of their corrupt hearts the more forcible Stephen was in the power of the word the more violent they were in gainsaying that Word I need say no more onely that is observable in Rom. 7. The Text saith there That sin becommeth out of measure sinfull because of the Commandment How is that It is as if he had said Sin is the greater and the more notorious doth it manifest it self by how much the more the Commandment of God is the more openly published sin becommeth out of measure sinfull because that God in the Commandment gainsayeth it and the more the Commandement is pressed the more sin opposeth it and gainsaies it and becometh the more violent and so grows out of measure sinfull Briefly look as it is with a stream and current or Rivolet set but a little dam there and it will run over it easily of it selfe but if the dam be strong and high the River grows deep and cometh to be great and large Why so because it is stopped So it is here the Commandment of God is the dam as I may say every naturall man hath a stream of corruption that is alwaies issuing forth in a continued current if it be so now that the Word of God stoppeth him at every turn in every ungodly practise admitteth of no vent giveth no way to any sinfull course gainsays him in every carnal and sensuall delight barrs him of the sinfull enjoyment of pleasures and worldly lusts then the heart of a sinner beginneth to rise up against God and against his word and Commandment and that onely because the Word of God crosseth him and gainsayes him And therefore observe it if there be but a sleepie-headed Magistrate or a carelesse Minister in a Congregation that will lot a great deal of the water go give leave for the stream and current of corruption to passe let men have a vent for their lusts all will be at great peace and the stream will run as calme as can be that Magistrate shall never have an ill word that Minister that any way permits a vent to corruption he and his Parish shall agree as quietly as may be but if a man be stout and couragious either Magistrate or Minister hee shall finde violent opposition and marvailous strivings and workings of heart against him and that word which he delivers and the means of grace which God vouchsafeth to a people Again as this corruption discovers it self in opposing the good word of God so in the second place observe another passage wherein the wickednesse and rebellion of mens hearts appeareth notwithstanding God affordeth them the most excellent means of salvation They cleave the closer and cling the more eagerly to their corruptions and sins because they seem to be crossed in the eager and violent pursuit of them As you know it is the nature of stubborn spirits the more they are forbidden a thing the more resolved they are to doe it I have my self observed it in some stubborn servants that have answered their masters Why if you had not said any thing I would never have done it but because you keep such adoe I will doe it the more You shall see a proof of it Jer. 18.12 God there had sent his Prophet early and late to that people to shew them the good and ancient waies how they should walk with God and so prevent those Judgements that were threatned and hung over their heads But mark the Spirit of this people the more earnest and violent the Prophet was out of tender compassion to their poor souls to win them to God the more desperately did they resolve upon a course of sin we will walk say they after our own devices and we will every one doe the imagination of his evill heart As if they should have said say what you will we are resolved what to doe we will have our sin we will not forsake our corruptions nay wee will rather cleave the closer to them because you labour to pluck us from them This is the nature of every man in the world I appeal to your own consciences is it not so Is it not in every son of Adam more or lesse in wicked men wholly in the Saints partly observe it in your own experience when that happily the truths of God come and lay siege close to your consciences that you cannot finde a way and vent for your base and sinfull practises but the Word of God crosseth you how doe your hearts swell and repine at the Word How weary are you of your Minister How doe your spirits vex at him And so sometime at the Magistrate if he be more zealous to reform abuses amongst men then ordinary There is I say a secret indignation of soul that every man may finde in himself against the word of God and the reproofs thereof Let us come now to see the reason why men should be so sencelesse and unreasonable to grow the worse because God is the better to them What ground is there for this Great ground my brethren The Reasons are double and both most evident and plain The first is taken from that inward and intimate love the soul of a wicked man hath to his sin This is an everlasting rule there is never a naturall man in the world but he loveth his sin as he loveth his soule Nay he makes his sin his God And my brethren the case is evident we need no proof of it take a tryall of it in your own experience Let the command of God be revealed let the word of God be never so clearly made manifest to the hearts of men let it shine never so bright even in their very faces and let there be a beloved
to the lure of a poor Minister to be at his beck and to stand at his command Alas my brethren doe you think we preach our selves Indeed in carnall reason if a Minister should come in his own name and lay upon you his own commands it were fitter for him to say nothing then to goe about such a work in regard of the great distance there is between the men of the world and him in outward respects But we come in the name of the Lord of heaven and it is his word that we preach and the Word of God is powerfull and will make the sturdiest heart to bow or break under it it is mighty in operation like a two-edged sword dividing asunder between the joints and the marrow searching even into the very thoughts of the heart Now because the heart of a naturall man is not able nor indeed willing to stoop to the authority and power of the word loth to be at the beck of Gods command such naturall pride and arrogancy of spirit there is in carnall men that in stead of submitting and yeelding thereunto they take up arms the more against it by how much the more powerfull the word it It is a pretty passage that we read of the Philistines when the Israelites brought the Ark into the field now the Ark was a Type of Jesus Christ mark the Philistines resolution when they heard of it Woe unto us for here hath not been such a thing heretofore Wo unto us who shall delive us out of the hands of these mighty Gods Be strong therefore and quit your selves like men O ye Philistines that you be not servants unto the Hebrews c. 1 Sam. 4. 8 9. So it is here when the word of God commeth with a certain kind of commanding power as it doth when it is delivered in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit if a man indeed preach under the hatches as I may say as he may easily doe and trouble no man he shall meet with no resistance but if a man bring the Ark into the field that is set up the power of Gods Ordinance labour to advance the Throne and Scepter of the Lord Christ in the hearts of men then mark to the end that men may not be brought into subjection to the Ordinances of God that they may not stoop and be brought under the yoke of Gods Commandment they joyn hand in hand and side one with another and fight for their liberties as it were counting it a matter of basnesse and pusillanimitie to be subject to the Word of God You have an example of this spirit that is in wicked men in Jer. 2.21 Wee are lords say they there wee will ceme no more at thee And it is observable in that place I named before Gen. 19.9 This fellow came to sojourn with us and shall he be a judge there lay the pith of the Argument and that which moved their wicked spirits against Lot if Lot had ruled them by his counsell then he should have been master over them therefore say they Shall he bee a judge I could tell you wofull experience that we finde of this Wicked men when they are gainsaid and when the word of God is with that Evidence and power of the Spirit discovered to them that it will either stoop them or work upon their galled hearts and consciences they are not able to bear it they cannot endure to be under the government of it therefore they will rebell against it and resolve what shall the Minister rule us Doth he thinke to bring us under his girdle to make us doe what he will and follow what course he will have us take Shall he be lord over us It is the same also with Magistrates and with private families Any means that God useth any admonition whatsoever findeth such entertainment as this with wicked and carnall hearts Let this suffice for a second Argument and reason why wicked men are so marvailous opposite against the word of God and the means of grace even then when it is most powerfull in gainsaying them and their corruptions because of the pride of heart that is in all naturall men whereby they are not able to stoop and submit to the yoke and rule thereof but though they are often admonished yet they harden their necks Wee will now come to the Use And to let all other Uses that might be made of this truth thus cleared and confirmed alone I will onely intimate two unto you What now can we gain from hence thinke you The case you see is evident and every man must subscribe to this as an everlasting truth That wicked men are the worse under the best means You have seen the manner of it and you have seen the grounds of it What gain can we get from this truth Briefly thus much First it is a Use of Examination And next a Use of Exhortation A man may hence clearly see his own soul as in a glasse and discern very plainly what kind of person he is what kinde of course he leadeth in what state and condition he standeth whether he be a gracious man or a gracelesse man whether a wicked man or one that God hath a part in yea or no. It concerneth us all my brethren very deeply to thinke of it Consider well therefore of what hath been said I would not have you conceive that all this that we have spoken is meerly to spend out the hour No my brethren you must labour to bring your souls to be under the power of the truths delivered And know this that whatsoever the Lord saith unto you out of his word he will require it of you when you come to give up your accounts at that day Every Sermon a man heareth he is thereby nearer either to heaven or hell either he is made better or worse by it All mens estates in this world are either holy or unholy either they are in a state of grace and salvation or in a state of sin and condemnation Hence therefore you may take a scantling of your conditions and plainly and clearly see how it is with you Whether you be of the number of those that have infallible Evidences of the work of Gods Spirit in the Ministerie of the word tending to holiness and sanctification or whether you be yet in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquitie Whether you be as you came into the world the children of wrath still or whether you be begotten again by the immortall seed of the Word to a lively hope and to an inheritance with the Saints in light Observe what the frame and temper of thy soul is and how it standeth affected to the word of God when it is revealed to thy conscience If the word prevail not over thee and over-power thee if thy heart submit not to the Scepter of the Lord Christ and yeeld to his commands certainly thou art not right in the sight of God Wee
say of good seed if it be very good it prospereth in all good grounds if it thrive not in one the ground we say is naught If the physick be good and it work not kindly upon the body the body we say is naught if it work not at all we reckon that body to be desperately ill and in a dangerous estate So it is here the Word of God is this seed it is this physick if when it is plainly and powerfully discovered in the evidence and declaration of the Spirit of God it work not upon us to the mortification and purging out of the corruption of nature if it take not root in the heart and grow there and spring up to everlasting life that heart is naught and as yet such a one is in a miserable condition and never yet had any true experience of the work of grace upon him never yet found any found and saving operation of the spirit in him so long as the Word of God in the ministry of it proves ineffectuall so long doth a man continue under the power of Satan and a slave to divers lusts If Christ in his Word get not the mastery of the heart certainly that heart is in the possession of the Devill It is a place of observable Rom. 8.7 The wisedome of the flesh by flesh there is meant the corruption of nature is enmity against God and saith the Text it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can it be It is an undoubted argument of a corrupt and unregenerate heart of an ungracious and fleshly heart that is not nor cannot be subject to the power of the truth of God I doe not say but the power of the word in judgement may oftentimes awaken a man and terrifie the conscience and yet the man remain still in the state of nature and unconverted but I say it is an ill signe when the soule of a man is not able to stoop to that purity and holinesse and goodnesse that is revealed in the Word when a man cannot say with the Apostle The Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good even then when it gainsayes him in his most dearest sinne and directly crosses him in his wicked courses My brethren God is holy and his Word is holy that heart therefore that opposeth the Word and stands out against it and refuseth to give entertainment to it must needs be an unholy heart where there is a likenesse and similitude there is an agreement it is impossible for the Word of God that is pure in it selfe to find any place in an impure heart he therefore that withstandeth the Word in the powerfull ministry thereof hath just cause not onely to suspect but to conclude of himselfe that he is yet farre from the kingdome of God and that there is as much difference between God and him as is between heaven and hell Mark for this end I beseech you a passage or two in the Scripture and suffer not your selves to be deluded by Satan and your deceitfull hearts Howsoever a man may make a tush of the truth of God now and think to plead a pretended hope of mercy whatsoever the Minister saith yet see what the Spirit of God concludeth of such men as withstand the power of the Word of God in the faithfull ministry thereof Observe therefore that place in 2 Tim. 3 8. It is the description of a naughty and wicked heart As Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses so doe these men What are these men Men of corrupt mindes and reprobate concerning the faith If there be a Jannes and Jambres resisting Moses standing out against the Word of God opposing the Ministers thereof who have hearts rising up against the truth of God when it is evidently and plainly revealed by his Messengers What are these in the judgement of God They are men of corrupt mindes and reprobate concerning the faith That is they have mindes not knowing hearts not approving the good Word of God and this is the just judgement of God upon them their mindes are so besotted and their hearts so hardned that they are fo farre from doing what God requireth that they desperately resist it and take up armes against it You have another passage of the Apostle to this purpose in Phil. 3. Many saith he are the enemies of the crosse of Christ but how shall we know them whose god is their belly whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things and what is the end of these men whose end is destruction It is a clear place suffer not Satan to blind your mindes my brethren if this be the truth of God as it is most true that it is so then certainly if any man find his heart guilty of these sinnes he must know himselfe to be in the state of damnation I appeal to any mans heart here present Is not the Word of God holy Is it not a gracious word Is it not a heavenly truth doubtlesse every heart will yeeld to it that it is a good Word of God There are none so senselesse I presume that dare openly professe that they care not for the Word of God and that there is not such holinesse and such goodnesse in it as is said to be in it I dare not think that there harboureth such a thought scarce in the heart of a man that liveth in the bosome of the Church It is true my brethren it is a holy and a good and a heavenly Word What then shall we think of that soule that opposeth this holy and gracious Word must we not conclude him to be an unholy and gracelesse man must not he that opposeth this heavenly Word of God be a hellish man Certainly it must be a marvailous profane and devillish heart that must goe against that heavenly truth whereby the soules of the Saints are converted and brought to heaven and made capable of the sight of the face of God who is holinesse it selfe Let men therefore be perswaded of this truth and take this Word home with you I doubt not but there be some in this Congregation that are yet in their naturall condition that are not subject to the Law of God that if you pursue them with the power of the Word they will turn back and resist it and gainsay it such swine as our Saviour speakes of that when Pearles are thrown before them will turn back and flie in the faces of those that dispence them and all to rend them Consider of it if thy heart therefore when the Word of God commeth directly and powerfully home to thee and laves hold upon thy conscience and telleth thee these and these sinnes thou hast committed such and such hypocrisies were in thy duties and performances such wayes of holinesse and precisenesse thou must walk in and such courses of sinne you must forsake if I say thy heart gainsay this truth and thou art carryed violently against the Word Alas poor soule think of it content
of the Minister that it may go well with you and yours for ever Is not this reasonable Oh take notice what Traitors there are in your bosomes that perswade you to the contrary begin to think with thy self of thy own folly say with thy self Lord What a beast am I Is not the truth that is revealed to me a plain truth is it not the truth of God Is it not for my good to yeeld unto it Doe not I see the heart of the Minister earnest to save me what doth he say but that which is profitable for my soul What is the reason that I stoop not to this so reasonable a thing why come not I under the power of this word and submit to the government thereof Oh my corruptions say it is unreasonable what doe they say wilt thou suffer thy sin which thou hast loved and dallyed withall so long thy sin that hath been of such ancient acquaintance with thee and yeelded thee so much pleasure and profit Wilt thou suffer the Word now to pluck it away from thee My brethren labour now to lay strong hands upon the Traitor and to grapple with that bosome-corruption and work thy soul to a contentednesse to part with it And to bring thy heart to this contentedness for all the quarrell is ended if this be done you must professedly come to this Point whether it be better to lose an eie or a tooth or a limb and go to heaven lame or blind or to retain these and go to hell and lose your soule for ever Bring I say thy soul to a secrious consideration of this truth either I must lose my sin or my soul there is no third thing to be done howsoever carnall reason may suggest other matters yet it must come all to this at last Therefore thinke of it seriously and tell your souls this in secret if sin be had condemnation must be entertained by me also chuse now which you would have Every man by nature hath this principle in him to desire to sleep in a whole skin and therefore we shall observe men in times of horrour of conscience the soule is content for its own safety to fling off all for a while Bring thy heart to it now and labour to keep it close to this point either to renounce Christ or sinne Look as it is with a man that hath a gangrean in his hand or leg or some other venemous disease when a man comes to him and he asketh his counsell and he tels him that the nature of the disease is such that the part must be cut off or else all will be infected this he likes not perhaps but yet this is not enough to work in him a resolution of being dismembred and therefore he sendeth for another and another But at last one commeth and telleth him plainly either you must lose your hand or your life oh then the heart is brought to this rather take my hand than my life So it is here bring thy heart to this therefore either leave all profanenesse leave all contemning of God and love of the world or leave salvation either your life or your lust must goe your sin or your eternall happinesse Work this upon your soules every time you come to hear the Word The second thing for a man to doe that he may come to give way to the Word of God and have a teachable soule is this Take heed of admitting any carnall reasonings against the truth revealed and the plain Word of God openly manifested to you no carnall shifts and evasions for the soul will be thereby cozened In Exod. 7. you shall see there Moses commeth to work upon the heart of Pharaoh and to perswade him to let Isruel goe and to work the more effectually upon him he doth some miracles when Pharaoh saw this he sent for the Magicians to doe the like and they did t is true Moses Rod eat up their Rods but in the mean time Pharaohs heart was hardened The thing is this my brethren what Moses said to Pharaoh the Lord saith to every soule let thy soule goe that it may serve me let thy heart yeeld obedience to me that thou mayest be blessed for ever there is no remedy this must be done thou must be humbled for thy sinne and forsake it or else destruction on followeth This is the charge which God sendeth by every faithfull Minister if now a man send for some carnall reason which is as the Magitians to Pharaoh and that suggests what needeth all this adoe what needeth all this nicenesse and precisenesse is not God mercifull and shall a man look to be saved for his works why did Christ die if salvation were not for sinners Oh my brethren this will undoe you these are the delusions of Satan and meer carnall imaginations and so the soule forsakes that repentance that God requireth and gainsayes that good Word which God hath revealed Your onely course now my brethren is to admit of no carnall reasonings when the Word of God is plainly and powerfully discovered when you see a miraculous hand of God in making known your hidden and secret sinnes and laying open your estates when God discovereth your sinnes in their own fearfull and ugly shape will you yeeld to fleshly imaginations to think alas every thing is not Gospel that the Minister speakes many wise men and great Schollars and Ministers too here are that say the quite contrary This is to hinder the power and efficacy of the Word of God Admit therefore of no carnall counsell send for no Magitians when the Lords command is evident and plain heare nothing against the Word of God but yeeld and captivate your minds to the truths revealed The third Argument that will bring the heart to stoop to the Word of God it is this to consider the excellency and soveraign superiority of the Commandment of God My brethren it is in vain to dally with the Word of God you must know it is his Word the Scepter of his Kingdome that Word by which you must be judged that Word which shall stand though heaven and earth change and come to nothing that which shall be made good upon all men either to their salvation or damnation Therefore be convinced of the majesty and authority of the Word of God Doe not think that all the businesse is when you come here onely to hear a man speak an houre and so have done No that which you hear is the Word of God and that Word that is now revealed it must rule you either here to bring your soules to a subjection thereunto or else to domineer over you then when you cannot gainsay it Many are the shiftings and turnings that are in the heart of wicked men to put off the force and vertue of the Word of God alas say they these words are but wind and they break no bones and so men scoffe at the threatnings of God Oh take heed of this and know and let
your hearts be a wed with it howsoever it is true you may gainsay the commands of the Word yet you shall never be able to flie the curse of the Word A Minister may speak from God to you and labour with God for you and all may be cast aside but the Word it self remaineth and will have its effect one way or other and that which you now reject shall have dominion over you Alas my brethren the Word we preach it is not our own it is the Word of God of the God of Heaven and know this that that which will not now be obeyed in the precepts of it will hereafter be found in the curse of it I would fain hear the sinner that now takes up arms against God and his truth that makes nothing of the Commands he hears and in effect sayes that he will not obey them I would faine have such a one consider what he will say at the fearfull day of Judgement Now God bids thee repent and beleeve and obey the Gospel and thou wilt not the Lord then shall say to thee depart from me into everlasting fire I would faine hear a sinner say Lord I will not goe down to hell and be in that pit for ever My brethren you are too weak to strive with the Lord his word may now be gainsaid but then the Lord shall say by this Word that thou hast disobeyed thou shalt be condemned and that Word shall send thee down to the pit when there will be found no resistance Therefore I beseech you be perswaded rather chuse the good that your soules may live and know who you have to deal withall it is the voyce of God that speakes to you that voyce that shook heaven and earth once and will doe it again Therefore let every soule be a wed at the mighty word of God that being framed according to the rules of it now you may be blessed for ever by it Fourthly and lastly Work thou when God works and move thou when God moveth There is a time when the Spirit of God moves upon the hearts of men in the hearing of the word when God leaveth some impression behind him at a Sermon that a man may say me thought this day I was almost perswaded the thought it was reason that the Minister spoke On work now when God works take that Word home with thee and go aside and lift up thy hands to heaven and beseech the Lord to blesse that good word now that the heart hath been stirred and in some measure perswaded now intreat the Lord buckle and bow they soul in perfect obedience to his Majestie Thinke well of this counsell my brethren There is never a wicked man in the world that slights the power of the word now but he shall be terrified under it and feel the power of it whether he will or no. If God therefore be pleased to stir up any thought in thee of this kinde doe not put it out of thy heart by going about other businesse or into wicked company no take home that stroke of God make it worke more effectually upon thee converse with that word every night and labour to bring thy heart to be affected with it still more and more This is the next way to be sure to work when God works The Devill stealeth terror out of the hearts of men it should be our course therefore that what ever powerfull work God works in any of us in any measure that thou art almost a Christian as Agrippa make one step further joyn with God go home and intreat the Lord to set it deeper upon thy soul that thou mayest not onely be almost good but altogether good and be ever constant in this course FINIS Courteous Reader These Books following are printed and are to be sold by Francis Eglesfield at his Shop at the Marigold in Pauls Churchyard EXcellent Instructions for the keeping of Merchants Books and Accounts by way of Debitor and Creditor after the Italian manner by John Carpenter Gent. in Folio Aelians Tacticks or the Art of Imbattelling an Armie in folio Animadversions of War by Robert Ward Gentleman and Commander in Folio The Works of John Taylor the Water-poet collected into one Volume in Folio Heywood of Angels in folio Parcus on the Revelation in English in folio Goulston in Rhetoricam Aristotelis gr lat in quarto The Works of that famous Mathematician Edmund Gunter sometime Professor of Astronomie in Gressam Colledge London in Quarto The Works of Sir Richard Baker Viz Meditations and Disquisitions on the Lords Prayer in 4to On the First Psalm in 4to On the seven Penitentiall Psalms in 4to On the seven Consolatorie Psalms in 4to His Cato Variegatus or Cato's Morall Disticks translated into English Verse 4to On the Creed in 12. Motives for prayer upon the seven dayes of the Week in 12. The Soliloquie of the Soul in 12. An Apologie for Lay-mens writing in 12. Decimall Arithmetick or the use of Napiers bones by William Barton in 8to Butlers Historie of Bees in 4to The Seamans Secrets with the Tables new calculated very usefull for young Seamen in 4to Commentaries on the first Psalm by Phinehas Fletcher in 4to The Purple Island being Poeticall Miscelanies in 4to Joy in tribulation or Consolations for afflicted Consciences The Golden Scepter with the Churches marriage and the Churches carriage in three Treatises by that learned Divine Dr. Preston in 4to His five Sermons upon severall occasions preached at Court The needles Excellencie or a Book of Cut-works in 4to Light from Heaven by Dr. Sibbs in 4to Lydias Conversion or the Riches of Mercie by Dr. Sibbs in 12. The whole Works of that Eloquent Divine Thomas Playfer D. D. collected into one Volume 8to The Handmaid to Arithmetick refined by Nicholas Hunt 8to The Art of Dialling by John Foster in 4to An Introduction to the right receiving of the Sacrament by W. Pemble in 12. I he burthen and unburthening of a loaden conscience in 12. Spirituall food and Physick being a large Catechisme by John Mico in 8to Nichols Catechisme in 8to Corpus Christi together with the demonstration of Antichrist in 12. The Historie of Heliodorus in ten Books turned into English by W. Lisle in Quarto Aesops Fables in Prose and Verse grammatically translated illustrated with Pictures together with the Historie of his Life in 12. Divine Emblems and Hieroglyphicks by Francis Quarles in 8to The usefulnesse and excellency of Christ by C. Jelinger in 8to The Office and Dutie of Constables Churchwardens and other Officers excellently set forth by Nicholas Layer Counsellor A Collection of Speeches by Sir Edward Deering in 4o. A Discourse of proper Sacrifice by Sir Edward Deering in 4o. Posselii Syntaxis 8o. Greek Gods's Summons to a generall repentance by Adam Harsuet in 12o. Juelli Apologia in 8o. Greek and Latine Divers Sermons upon severall occasions by John Bond Master of the Savoy in 4º The Doctrine of the Bible in 8o. Gospel
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Their heart being resolved which way to walk it is just I say with the Lord to give them up to blindnesse of minde to dulnesse of spirit to ignorance and error that they may be hurried on in the waies of destruction for ever It is Gods own word 2 Thes 2.10 Because men received not the truth the whole truth of God in the love thereof Mâ—â—y are loth to have some points to be true as that a man â—hould exactly observe the Sabbath it is just with God to give such up to a profane spirit to deny the Sabbath Others are loth to have this true that they must pray duly every morning and evening in their family it is just with God to give such up to a sottish and stupified course that they can be contended to goe to bed like beasts The like I may say of many other duties The Lord calleth for fasting and prayer and would have his people humble themselves and seek his face now because the duty is tedious and happily the world crosseth it therefore many will fall out with the Ordinance reject it have nothing to doe with it they will have their ease and their quiet their hearts are grown fat and if any thing crosse their corruptions they will not hear with that eare It is fearfull what the Lord speaks against these Rom. 1. 28. and my heart trembleth to think of the hideous curâ—e of God against such courses and his severe indignation against such persons It is said there that because the Heathen delighted not to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to doe those things which are not convenient Mark As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge as who should say Must my mind be inlightned must I be convinced and perswaded that I must lay aside my self and be content in uprightnesse of heart to imbrace every truth of God though it be with the losse of ease and credit and estate yea and of life it self must I doe this well I doe not like it I will not beleeve it all the world shall never perswade me to it And why Because you have taken a sleepy pillow before-hand you have been resolved to keep those things that these truths crosse It is just with God when men doe not love and like to retain the truth he affordeth them to give them up to a reprobate mind that is to a mind void of judgement not knowing the truth not approving the Word And you shall see these men in all their courses and opinions vanishy Why Because the Lord hath given them up to a reprobate mind a mind not able to observe what he revealeth and a heart not willing to entertain what he discovereth to be good Gather up these things This is the last and most speciall argument why the hearts of most men are estranged from God and his truth because they harbour many lusts in their soules and cleave close to some or other corruptions It is a passage worthy observation that is recorded Jer 43. The people that were left behind in the land when the King of Babylon had carried the rest away captive were resolved to goe down into Aegypt but they would first goe to the Prophet and take his advise and he must goe to the Lord and whatsoever the Lord should declare to them by the Prophet that they would doe be it good or be it evill Here was a very fair pretence But their hearts were fully resolved betore to goe down into Aegypt and therefore when the Prophet brought them the answer of God that they should not goe but that they should remain in the Land Thou speakest fatsly say they unto him the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Aegypt to sojourn there but Baruch the sonne of Neriah setteth thee on against us So they obeyed not the voyce of the Lord to dwell in the sand of Judah As if they should have said we had thought thou wouldest have perswaded us that it was lawfull for us to goe down into Aegypt and if thou hadst done so we would have hearkened to thee but because what thou sayest is not as we would have it because it doth not fit us nor stand with that course we are resolved to take we will not yeeld to it whether it be truth that thou speakest or no. I wish this were not so amongst many of us I doe not say carnall and profane ones the world is full of those and their spirits are too too manifest but I say I wish it were not a fault even amongst many that in some measure love and fear the Lord. We are grown sick of our peace and we must have our quiet and ease and contentment therefore though we should appear to be sincere before God in all things and zealous for the cause of the Lord of Hosts we will shuffle in divers practises rather then be disturbed and troubled in that course that we have set to our selves Now I say gather up these and I think the point is clear If it be so that men are blind in their mindes and cannot know the Word if so be they are carelesse and doe not attend to the Word nay if so be they be setled in their sinnes and corruptions from which they will not part it is no wonder that though they have means yet they are not savingly informed in the truth of God answerably to those meanes which are bestowed upon them Let me adde now but one thing for the full clearing of the Doctrine You will say we see the quite contrary For it is cleare and evident that there are many that live in the bosome of the Church that have a great measure of understanding yet are not such as God hath wrought upon effectually yea the Devill himselfe hath knowledge enough and many a man that is nought and carnall hath an abundant measure of understanding happily much more then some godly and holy men can attain to To answer this in two or three words It is true I confesse there is many a cursed hypocrite that hath a great measure of knowledge and yet in very deed hath no true understanding at all For the knowledge whereby such men are inlightned differs much from that information and understanding which the Saints of God have For look as there is wild thime and garden thime both of the same name and both growing after the same manner yet very different in their nature and qualities so it is with knowledge there is a gracious and a sanctifying knowledge garden knowledge as I may say and there is a wild and a common knowledge I will open it a little in two or three words If you goe no further but consider the understanding of both barely you shall cleerly perceive a main difference between a Saint of God and an Hypocrite 1. An Hypocrite and a carnall man like