Jesus Christ apprehending and applying the promises of pardon made in his blood Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved 2. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit By spirit are meant the gifts or workings of the Holy Ghost which are twofold one inferiour once slightly enlightning Mens mindes this is common to the Elect with many reprobates who are said to be made partakers of the Holy Ghost All that before God are rightfully baptized receive the Holy Ghost according to the promise No Man being able to say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The other is a supream gift peculiar to the Elect only a new quality of Holiness infused into the Soul transforming the whole Man effecting a real change and alteration of the whole Man from evil to good enabling him to make a good confession and to walk in Love which are the two next Characters 3. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God This confession includes and comprehends in it four things 1. A distinct and cordial knowledge of this and all other fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith which are inseparable in their own Nature For if Jesus Christ be the Son of God all his Doctrine must be a Divine and everlasting truth Especially of that which the Gospel reveals concerning Christ namely that he is an alsufficient Saviour and offered indefinitely to every reasonable Creature that will receive him in a Matrimonial Covenant as a Wife receives her Husband to be governed by him and to cleave unto him in every condition 2. A lively assent of the mind to all this is an undoubted truth with a free and full consent of the will to this blessed offer for the incomparable goodness of it rolling and relying upon his Person and merits for the obtaining of remission of sins and everlasting life after Death According to that of the Apostle This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners 3. A Verbal acknowledgment of these and all other known and believed Gospel Verities with an open profession of them before the face of the World That this is necessary to be found in every one that would approve himself to have Interest in God and possession of him as his Habitation appeares belike in God's grace by Christ is by faith in the heart as in a lively Spring and in confession as a continual respiration both which are promised in the Gospel For what saith Moses The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Nor can the one be without the other For when God hath once said unto any Mans heart I have called thee by thy Name thou art mine That Mans heart cannot but answer and say Lord I am thine O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant And what he hath heard in the Ear he cannot but declare in the hearing of others One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand and surname himself by the Name of Israel All manner of Persons that shall joyn themselves to me with my Church shall make open profession of my faith and service and therefore he that is ashamed of Christ and his Words in an adulterous and sinful Generation that would hate and reproach and persecute him for a strict profession thereof or is affrighted hereby from making such a profession God will never own nor Christ acknowledge such a one Their hidden faith shall not hide them from the wrath of God who will take Eternal Vengeance on them for their Cowardize They who through carnal fear shall not dare to make profession of my truth saith Christ shall have their part fixed in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone These lead the Van in the rout of Reprobates marching thitherward Among the Chief Rulers many believed on Christ but did not make publick profession of believing in him for fear of excommunication this faith of theirs was properly no faith For a true and lively faith confesseth that with the Mouth which is believed in the Heart This duty of confessing God was figured under the Law by the shaking of things offered waving them to and fro before the Lord which signified the shaking of our Lips as in uttering and speaking forth his praise By him let us offer the Sacrifice to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name So the telling forth frankly and boldly what we hold in matter of Religion 4. A Vital confession joyned to a Verbal There are some whose lives give their Mouths the lye They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work Reprobate Unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee God is love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him This is a sure note and character of our dwelling in God when we finde that we love God for himself and our Neighbour for his sake In obedience to his Command Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And because of his Image which is more or less visible in every Man by this we may try the truth of the first note for the love of God is the root of all true obedience to his Commandments Nothing we do is good in his sight unless we do it out of love to him When our Saviour gives the sum of the precepts of the first Table he does it in these words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Giving us thereby to understand what makes all the service there required to be acceptable unto God The same makes the duties of the second Table so Let all your things be done in love Follow the truth in love Above all these things put on Love This makes them all lovely Love is the fulfilling of the Law Qu. How may we know we have this love to God and Men Answ Where there is true love to God the heart is softned The sight and sence of sin will fill it with sorrow for offending God thereby Zech. 12. 10. Psal 51. 3. Luk. 7. 38 47. and there will be a Daily increase of hatred of sin a greater desire after and delight in the
plenty of meat and drink and cloaths and Silver and Gold and Armor for defence and offence have the denomination given them by the generality of People and are only cryed up empty ones have no bodies good word Take notice of some passages of Scripture to this purpose from the mouths both of Prophane and Divine Pen-men yea of Divinity it self How many hired Servants in my Fathers House have Bread enough and to spare We shall finde all precious substance we shall fill our Houses with spoyle If Balak would give me his House full of Silver and Gold Through wisdome is a House builded and by knowledge shall the Chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches Thou shalt save Goats milk enough for thy food for the food of thy Houshold and for the food of thy Maidens Thy Barnes shall be filled with plenty and thy Presses shall burst out with new Wine Wealth and Riches shall be in his House They possessed Houses full of all good the Floors shall be full of Wheat and the Fat 's shall overflow with Corn and Oyle Some very good People who had House-room enough have had therein next to nothing The Widdow of Zarephath going into her House to fetch the Prophet Elijah a little Water in a Vessel which he begged of her to drink makes this answer to him craving that she would also bring him a morsel of Bread in her Hand As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a Cake but a handful of Meal in a Barrel and a little Oyl in a Cruse this was all her store Such an answer gave a certain Woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha Tell me said he What hast thou in the House Thy Hand-maid said she hath not any thing in the House save a Pot of Oyle In this House which we have in hand there is not only No want of any thing which is on the Earth the good report given of Laish by the five Searchers But here is also all the good things that Heaven it self is able to afford Witness him that was caught up thither and saw what was in those Mansions Blessing God for blessing him and all his fellow-Members of this blessed Family withall spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Begin we with Provisions of food They to whom it is given to dwell in God shall be sure not to want either Corporal or Spiritual sustenance but enjoy both in abundance 1. For their bodies this is one of the encouragements given to the Saints of God to fear and seek him O fear the Lord O ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing in the Day of Famine they shall be satisfied The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his Soul but the belly of the wicked shall want They shall alway have Bread and Water enough As those hundred Prophets had in that time of great dearth whom Obediah fed by fifty in a Cave Bread shall be given them their Waters shall be sure Likened unto Men that dwell in an unpregnable Fort well provided with Victuals to hold out a Siege And there Bread and Water is sure as is not else-where to be found For there is a blessing in both which are also of the choicest and God himself feeds them therewith I should have fed them saith the Lord to his professing People had they hearkened unto me to come and live in him but they would not with the finest of the Wheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied them No courser Bread than wheaten doth every hinde or Servant of this House eat That which is materially pulse beanes pease which some of them are fain sometimes to feed upon is virtually the fat of wheat So it was to Daniel and his three Companions whose countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the Children which did eat the portion of the Kings meat Nor can they be scanted He whos 's the Earth is and the fulness thereof having said Thou shalt eat thy Bread without scarceness I will abundantly bless her Provision I will satisfie her Poor with Bread In case they have but an handful of Meal He can make it suffice them and theirs many Days yea enable them to go in the strength of one Cake baken on the Coales forty Days yea to make five Loaves feed no fewer than five thousand Men besides Women and Children nor shall there want a concurence of his will with his power if need be Though Miracles are said to be ceased every one of the House shall have their Daily bread according as they are taught to pray And as Agar prayed in faith nothing doubting nor were ever any of them in David's observation put to the Trade of begging their bread Though some of them have in all Ages been constrained to live of Almes for exercise and tryal which is a noble way of living And so the Waters given them to drink they are not like these of Marah and Jericho bitter and naught but sweet and wholsome If they be otherwise naturally they are by a Tree or Salt cast in presently sweetned and healed with which as with Honey distilled out of the Rock their thirst is wonderfully quenched 2. As for their Souls there is in this House abundantly more and better Provision of all manner of Food for all sorts of Persons that are of the Family Nehemiah tells us of what a great Table he kept and what was provided for him daily Viz. one Oxe and six choice Sheep also Fowles and once in ten Dayes store of all sorts of Wine Solomon's Provisions for one Day was thirty Measures of fine flower and threescore Measures of Meal ten fat Oxen out of the Pasture and an hundred Sheep beside Harts and Roe-bucks and fallow Deer and fatted Fowle But all his great store is but as a drop to the Ocean in comparison of the spiritual Provision prepared every day for the Saints to feed upon in this House The Word of God and God the Word are a million of times more in quantity and virtue to nourish and cheer How sweet are thy Words unto my Taste Sweeter than honey unto my mouth Thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoycing of my Heart O Book insinite sweetness Let my heart Suck every Letter and a honey gain Precious for every Greif in any part To cheer the brest to mollifie all pain Thou aut all health health thriving 'till it make A full Eternity Thou art a Mass Of strange delights where we may wish and take Here is milk for Babes the first Principles of the Oracles of God and strong
really safely serviceably satisfyingly He must needs have all that hath the haver of all He is by faith in Christ Heir of the World Yea they are in actual possession of all things when they are in want of all things Having nothing and yet possessing all things 15. It is a House of the easiest rent the chiefage to be paid is not so much as a Pepper Corn all that 's required is thankful acknowledgment and invocation which are pointed out by termes of the Law Sacrifices Prayers and Vows Offer unto God thanks-giving and pay thy vows unto the most High and call upon me in the Day of trouble Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Yes that I do and that practically and continually Hear it and know it for your good What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation I will solemnly and thankfully acknowledge him a phrase taken from the custome observed in thanks-giving after which they made a place wherein the Father of the Family took a Cup in his hand and used a certain form of blessing and having drank and caused the Cup to go round to all the rest And I will call upon the Name of the Lord I will pay my Vows unto the Lord. I will offer the Sacrifice of thanks giving every Day will I bless thee and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever God is willing we should have the comfort of his blessings but he will have the glory of them My glory will I not give to another We must give him the glory which we do when we give him the praise and thanks Whoso offereth praise glorifyeth me The Shepwards returned praising and glorifying God The Samaritan that was heal'd turned back and with a loud Voice glorified God giving thanks For his healing now his thanks must not only be vocal but vital and cordial Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart the Life and Conversation also must be rightly ordered The best livers are the best thanks-givers To him that disposeth his way aright will I shew the salvation of God He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And lest any should think it difficult and grievous to do all this let these Scriptures be consulted 1 John 5. 3. Pro. 21. 15. Phil. 1. 29. 2. 13. Math. 11. 30. Ezek. 36. 26 27. 16. Who ever dwells in this House shall be sure not to want an Earthly House to dwell in with all provision and furniture convenient He that gives the greater will not deny the less Thus our blessed Saviour reasoneth Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Rayment God out of his Power and Goodness having granted unto Man his Beeing which is the greater will not deny him the lesser which is the preservation thereof And the Apostle He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him also freely give us all things Object The Son of God himself when on Earth had not where to lay his head Those Worthies mentioned in that little Book of Martyrs wanted houses Wandering about in Sheep-Skins and Goat-Skins in Deserts and in Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth Saint Paul describing the condition of himself and his fellows saith Even unto this present Hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place Now the Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. And who will be so arrogant as to think himself better or better privileged than those of whom the World was not worthy or that Holy Apostle Answ Touching our Saviour as he was Voluntary poor to enrich us Ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He sorrowed that we might rejoyce dyed that we might live So he would be houseless that none of his might want a House 1. As for those other Worthies God did indeed exercise their faith and patience Yet 2. their Dens and Caves were better to them than any Earthly Palaces having God's gracious presence with them which was better to them than ten Houses as Elkanah to Hannah Am not I better to thee than Ten Sons Though Paul had no House of his own yet those that had willingly received him into theirs Lydia did so If ye have judged me faithful unto the Lord come into my house and abide there and she constrained us So did Publius the Chief Man of the Island receive him and his Company and lodged them Three Days courteously And Paul dwelt two whole Years in his own hired House Thus God provided for Elijah and Elisha and thus he provided for his Gospel-Ministers who have not been suffered to live in their own Houses 17. They that dwell in this House here are sure of an Heavenly House hereafter We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 18. While they are here they are or may be sure no evil shall befall them Because thou hast made the Lord even the most High thy Habitation there shall no evil befall thee See parallel promises Psal 121. 7. Pro. 12. 21. 19. 23. Eccl. 85. By evil is not meant moral evil sin and iniquity Evil of fault or crime for the holiest are not free from this while on this side Heaven There is not a just Man on Earth that doth good and sinneth not Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am free from my sin If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us if we say we have not sinned we make God a lyar and his word is not in us in many things we offend all Nor are injuries and wrongs from Men intended in which sense evil is sometimes taken for none are more subject to these than the Houshold of God nor the matter of any other poenal evil sent by God as indeed all such evils are for these befall as well the Righteous as the wicked All things come alike to all there is one event to the Righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner as he that sweareth so he that feareth an Oath As the evil partake of common blessings with good Men so the good of
his Hypocrisie Qu. What was wanting in these Chapmen that bid thus fairly for this House and went without it Answ Three things which you must bring to make up the Price of this Purchase or fare as they did Namely 1. Poverty of Spirit they came with Money You must come without or go without Come buy without Money and without Price He that hath no Money Come apprehend your selves in the prodigals condition in extream want of grace and in debt to divine Justice ten thousand Talents and utterly unable to pay one Unite To such a Chapman will the Lord look and hearken For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of an humble spirit And to be sure he dwelleth in God in whom God dwelleth Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven 2. Self-denyal If any Man will come after me let him deny himself Christ was going unto his Fathers Bosome he was there always they that go after him must needs go in thither this only self-denyers do who forsake the motions of their own corrupt reason and will loath whatsoever is lovely to Nature that will hinder them in the course of godliness mortifie the old Man crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts yea dispose themselves to hate even their neerest kindred in case the love of them be incompatible with the love that is due â—o Jesus Christ Nor is their life â—ear to them nor dare they do that which they do but suspect is â—ispleasing to God Many have written divinely upon this subject Mr. Baxter incomparably 4. An intire resignation of the whole heart to Jesus Christ Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me and you shall finde rest for your Souls Yield and submit our selves we must both actively and passively 5. Get into the way that leads unto this House I am the way saith Christ No Man cometh unto the Father but by me The way to get into Christ is by a lively faith denying our own righteousness and rolling our Persons Souls and Bodies upon the Person of Christ God and Man and upon his merits and righteousness and upon the promises made in him for remission of sins and salvation receiving him not only as a Savior but also as a Lord as willing to be ruled by him as well as to be saved If you finde it difficult to do this do as that poor Man did Who cryed out and said with tears I believe Lord help my unbelief 6. You that are yet in a state of nature blind and lame and worse cloathed than with Sack cloath and so unmeet to be admitted into this House Anoint your Eyes with Eye-Salve that you may see You know of whom you may have it and have faith to be heal'd of your lameness as that Cripple from his Mothers Womb had in whom the Spirit of God had infused some seeds of Faith which Paul conceived by Revelation And cast away those filthy Garments that are upon you as menstruous Clothes saying get you hence and put on other Apparel The new Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and Holiness of Truth 7. Nor do you stick at any engagements or obligations or oaths required of you but freely enter into any that shall be put upon you by him who cannot impose any thing but what is holy just and good And resolve to keep them I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments Thus do and you shall not fail to finde the Lord to be what a House and all desirable Furniture and Conveniencies can be unto you THE THIRD SERMON THere is yet one thing more required of you that would make God your habitation viz. That you make your selves his habitation He will not suffer any to dwell in him who freely do not suffer him to dwell in them in all the Scriptures we quoted out of the Apostle John's first Epistle Characterizing them that dwell in God We finde the dwelling to be mutual If therefore you desire to dwell in God serve his desire which is that he may enter and dwell in you in your whole Man in all the faculties of your souls mind will affections memory and conscience and in all the senses and members of your Bodies Eyes Ears Mouths Hands Feet But especially he craves the heart My Son give me thy Heart and let thine Eyes observe my Ways The heart first and then the Eyes Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up O ye everlasting Doors that the King of Glory may come in Mens hearts are compared to Trap-doors the lifting them up is the opening of them They must be lift off from things of the World from the things below and be lift up to things above Set your affections on things above not on things on the Earth See how earnest the Lord Jesus is with you to give him entrance Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Read Cant. 5. 2 7. and observe the several degrees by which this Door comes to be opened unto him Now because it is not every heart that is fit to entertain God The heart of the Wicked is little worth The Query will be what manner of heart it is that God is willing and desirous to dwell in Our Saviour resolves the Query It is an honest and good heart For only such a heart is good soyle fit for the good Seed of the Word to fall into and God comes into the heart with his Word Qu. What is an honest heart and what makes it so Answ That is an honest heart That provides for things comely before God and Men. It was honestly said of those Israelites to Moses Go thou neer and hear all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it They have well said saith God all that they have spoken but O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me The fear of God is the principal grace that makes the heart honest And then a Man fears God when distrustful of his own insufficiency to do any thing that God requires he is studious and willing to give up himself to Christ to be taught of him and enabled by him to do all the will of God A good heart is described and set forth in Scripture by sundry Names and Epithites namely new broken single whole pure perfect And although it be true that he that hath one of these in truth hath all they are all one Yet because each of them requires a several notion to open it and because some can
I am dealing with may and ought to take comfort in this that they cannot deny but that they have been truly humbled though in a lower degree It being the truth and not the measure that warrants sinners to come to Christ and qualifie them for faith in him He saith not come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden in such a degree But all that labour and are heavy laden in a true degree Qu. What is the lowest degree of true Humiliation Answ It is that which brings him into the Beggars case Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the c. When is a Man so Answ When out of a sense of his own emptiness and apprehension of Divine Justice to which they are indebted he is wrought upon by God's gracious promises to seek supply from Christ's fulness As when a Man is extream poor and knows himself to be so having never a Penny in all the World and owes a very great Summe and that to such a one as will not abate one farthing of the Debt but exact the whole and for default of payment will cast him into Prison there to lye and rot nor has he a friend in all the World to help him only he hears of a rich Man that is able to pay all he owes who hath discharged the Debts of many in his case but alass he dares not adventure for a good while to go and speak with him because he hath no interest in him In this case he is exceedingly cast down not knowing what to do yet at last necessity forcing he is resolved to go to him and seek supply from him relying wholly upon his goodness having heard how mercifully he hath dealt with all that have so done Is not this thy case poor despondent Christian Hast thou not seen thy Soul totally empty of Grace yet indebted to God Ten Thousand Talents whose Justice thou knowest will exact the utmost Mite do'st not thou see fulness in Christ and all-sufficiency that he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him to discharge their debt were it ten thousand times greater Though thou did'st not dare to go to him for a while yet at last did'st adventure being encouraged by what others in as bad a condition have found and by sundry gracious invitations and promises excluding none that have an heart to come Upon which promises thou do'st in great humility roll thy Soul and resolvest therein to rest Thus the Prodigal saw an emptiness in himself knew there was fulness in his Fathers House was moved to go to him trusting in his gracious disposition So the Syrians Behold now we have heard that the Kings of the House of Israel are merciful Kings Let us put Sack-cloath upon our Loynes and Ropes upon our Heads and go to the King of Israel peradventure he will save thy Life So they put Sack-cloath upon their Loynes and Ropes upon their heads and begged their Masters Life Qu. How shall I know I have this poverty of Spirit Answ By the signes of a poor Beggar He is full of complaints to such as can relieve him full of requests No need to teach him rhetorick Industrious to get maintenance out he will though the Law be against it The Belly hath no Eares If he be blind he will get some to lead him if lame he will get a Crutch to uphold him He is more-over meek patiently bearing checks and reproaches content to stay his leisure of whom he begs and expects an Almes full of observance also towards him ready to obey his commands trembling at his frownes and greatly thankful if he give him but a Crumb And if he hath offended is at no rest till his anger against him be appeased and his favour and good will regained Thou canst not but finde all these signes in thy self in reference unto God and therefore mayest take comfort in thy poverty Add unto this another sure evidence of true humiliation namely thou esteemest sin the greatest evil and Jesus Christ the greatest good put naked Christ in one Scale and all the pomp and glory of the World in the other and whether of these would weigh the most in thy judgment and valuation Obj. But thou knowest not the time when thy heart was broken and humbled Ans Suppose thou sawest a good Crop of Corn upon a piece of Ground wouldst thou not think it had tillage good enough though thou sawest not when it was broken up Nor how deep the Plow went The fruits thou bringest forth of holiness righteousness sobriety and charity argue the fallow ground of thy heart to have had sufficient plowing Though thou know not the time when nor the means whereby this was done Thou walkest not in the counsel of the ungodly much less standest in the way of sinners least of all sittest in the seat of the scornful But thy delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law thou meditatest Day and Night As thy affections are such are thy words seasoned with salt such as discover Grace in the Speaker Minister Grace to the hearers and thy conversation accordingly and actions such as become the Gospel Herein thou exercisest thy self to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and toward Men. Thou dost good to all especially to the houshold of faith Art ready to distribute willing to communicate Ye shall know others by their fruits do Men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figges of Thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit Thou mayest and oughtest to pass judgment upon thy self that certainly the Root of the matter is in thee That thou art a Tree of righteousness the planting of the Lord wherein he is glorified Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Ye shall shew your selves to be truly such doing acts worthy of such a Title And if you be indeed Christ's Disciples you need not question your dwelling in God Obj. 2. These Godly doubting Christians are so far from acknowledging any such fruits or taking comfort in them that they deny there is any good in them any good fruit brought forth by them They believe themselves would have you believe so too That their Vine is of the Vine of Sodom and of the Fields of Gomorrah Their Grapes are Grapes of Gall. Their Clusters are bitter their Wine of the poyson of Dragons and the cruel Venome of Asps instead of good fruits They will tell you your hearts and tongues and lives are full of evil fruits Vain and vile thoughts and idle and ungracious words unprofitable impious and unrighteous actions Fruits not tending to Life but Death That they are Trees not for fruit but for the Fire Corrupt Trees at best whose fruit withereth which have neither life nor sap to bring forth any fruit unto God Even like Trees after Autome Yea quite pluckt up by the Roots
longest to be freed from it It 's Grace certainly that makes thee able to discern so hidden and close a Corruption and to hate it And as sense and feeling is a certain sign of a living Man as was now said So thy sense of hypocrisie with a hatred of it is a sure note and token of thy sincerity So that thou art not in the Flesh but in the Spirit Nor matters it so much what evil motions thou findest in thy self as how thou standest affected to them There are and will be filthy scums rising up in thy heart continually while thou livest here But while thou castest it off as it riseth by confession and self-condemnation it shall never hurt thee God will not condemn but absolve and acquit thee of it Thou mayest and oughtest to take comfort in the allowance of the Law of God in thy judgment and in thy will consenting to do it having an unfeigned desire purpose and endeavour to please God and to do his will this being the work of God's sanctifying Spirit and a special fruit of Christ's purchase as real comfort therefore herein as if thou wast perfect in obedience For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a Man hath nor shall he be rejected for that he hath not In this God's choicest Servants have comforted themselves against all their imperfections and falls and failings Obj. But I question the truth of my desires Answ That thou need'st not do as long as thou esteemest God's grace and favour above all things Seeking by prayer and other means every Day to grow less sinful and more holy and mournest for thy Daily miscarriages lamenting after the Lord. Obj. But my Conscience condemns me for an Hypocrite Ans O spiteful bitter thought bitterly spiteful thought Thou hast reason to discredit thy Conscience if it be opposite to the Word of God and not to regard it against the Word of God If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things He knowes the way thou takest that it is right And his word which is the Judge of Conscience hath given Sentence on the right side And therefore thou art bound in this case to check and condemn thy Conscience for troubling thee causlesly So did David and Job Let me give thee one caution take heed of making inherent Grace the only and chief ground of thy comfort Though it is indeed the only evidence of thy title to comfort For in so doing thou shalt commit two great evils one against thy self in leaning upon a bruised Reed for thine own Spirit may fail thee and be overwhelmed and thy heart may reproach thee another against the Lord making an Idol of that gift of his which cannot be so trusted in without sin Rely more upon God's Grace without thee than that which is within thee Yet cherish also inherent Holiness as thy only evidence of Life Eternal and the beginning of it Finally give not credit to thy misgiving heart that would perswade thee thou hast no assurance that God is thy Habitation For thou hast that degree of assurance which is necessary to the beeing of Grace the lowest degree of certainty which is in every true believer consisting in an application of adherence Whereby the Soul of a penitent sinner casts it self upon Jesus Christ with a resolved humble recumbency cleaving to him as the Ivy doth to the Oak Eagle to the Carkass goes out of it self renouncing its own Merits and relying upon the Person and Merits of Christ his active and passive obedience for forgiveness of sins and for Life and Salvation This is the act of Faith and every one that thus receiveth him with an Obediential affiance knows that and that through him dwelling in his heart he hath his dwelling in God You therefore as yet that have not any comfortable assurance cease hence-forth to doubt and fear and assay to joyn your selves with them that have with whom we are next to deal as Saul assayed to joyn himself to the Disciples at Jerusalem Who will not at all as they were awhile of him be afraid of you but receive you joyfully into their blessed Society And when thou hast told despair Divine Herbert's strange story Say to it as he doth Hark Despair away THE FOURTH SERMON HAving dealt with those of this Divine Houshold that have as yet no comfortable assurance that the Lord is their Habitation we proceed to deal with them that have higher degrees of assurance which carry sensible comfort with them one is the Application of Experience when a Christian discerns in himself Divine impressions effects of regenerating Grace two or three whereof we will mention The prime and most general is a real change of the whole Man from evil to good This is a sure evidence of our being in Christ If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are past away all things are become new Whoever is changed in all his senses motions and affections speeches and actions is certainly ingrafted into the Body of Christ by his spirit The substance of the Soul and Body is the same the qualities and operations altered Another is walking in the light as God is the light Living and conversing following that light of God which is conferred upon us by Grace evidenceth us to be partakers of the Divine Nature Purifying our selves as he is pure Hereby we know we have fellowship one with another God with us and we with him that he dwells in us and we in him Love to the Brethren Christ's whole spiritual kindred who are knit to him to the bond of Faith and among themselves by that of love another infallible note We know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren When a Christian's faith in lively exercise reflects upon its own acts receptive of Christ and operative by him having withall a sanctified Conscience witnessing sincerity in the actings he gathers by discourse and reasoning his own spiritual estate as Paul did Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the World and now abundantly to you-ward Such an application of experience had Thomas upon his Faith not quite exquisit before but very weak was raised and renewed by beholding touching and feeling The other application is that of evidence when the testimony of God's spirit comes and concurs with ours when we finde the Holy Ghost in us not only as a seal imprinting the graces of Christ upon our Souls nor only as an earnest giving us the first Fruits and as it were handle of Heaven Those holy and Heavenly Gift conferred in this life being a pledg of the perfection which shall be in the next but
also as a joyful witness both clearing our evidences and opening our minds to discern them The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Sons of God Hereby we come to have boldness confidence and a perspicuous manifestation of Divine love shed abroad in our heart and certain knowledge and full assurance of knowledge and hope of Faith Let us draw near with all full assurance of Faith The word imports a carrying on with full Saile like a Ship that hath Wind and Tyde and all the Sailes spread to the Wind. Those three parts of God's Kingdome Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost are consequents and effects of these three Applications The first namely that of adherence hath Wind and Tide against it The second hath Wind carrying it on but without Tide The third hath both Wind and Tide and all the affections like spread Sailes filled with the Gales of the Spirit causing joy unspeakable and full of Glory In the Church of Rome this Doctrine of full assurance is cryed down and an impossibility of attaining it by any ordinary Christians asserted and the main reason they render for the Confirmation of this Doctrine especially as to the subjective certainty of perseverance whereof Paul speaks when he saith I am sure that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God in Jesus Christ Is the mutability of Man's will but the assurance of Christians depends not upon Man's mutable but upon the immutable will of God and upon his infallible truth who hath promised to keep them whom he receives in him by his strongest power if there can be conceived any degree in Omnipotency we are kept by the Guard of God's Power through Faith unto Salvation They askt what ground hath any ordinary Christian for special faith when there is no special promise nor any Divine testimony by audible Voice such as some choice Persons have had as Gen. 15. 1. Mat. 9. 2. Luk. 5. 20. 47. 48. 23. 42. 43. They are answered we will not contend about bare words whether it be better called special faith or assurance gathered from two promises the one in Scripture the other in our hearts so participating of Faith for that is our sence of special Faith but as to the matter 1. There are general promises with a command to apply them 2. Special Faith is gathered by argumentation thus whoever hath God's Spirit confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God that Man dwelleth in God But so have I so do I therefore I dwell in God 3. Sacraments give ground for special Faith wherein is made special application to the receivers 4. The Spirit is given for this end to believers as a seal and earnest and witness to assure them that God is their Habitation and Salvation And that it 's possible for a Christian in ordinary course to attain this grace if he do what in him lyeth We have God's express promise to this purpose Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and Redeemer and a charge is laid upon every Christian to make his calling sure and not to come without full assurance when they draw nigh to him in Prayer and other duties of his Worship Let us draw neer him in full assurance of Faith And we have the experience of God's People in all ages for it And though they that profess they had it as Job David Paul were rare Persons Yet the Faith of the meanest Christian is of the same Nature with theirs though not in the same degree This is the Doctrine of the reformed Churches who yet deny not the difficulty of attaining the highest degree and that very few there are that attain it and fewer that have it at all times alike nor any in that perfection but that there is some mixture of doubting And this is one sign of the truth and goodness of it when it is attained with difficulty and assaulted with infidelity For there are many whom Satan and their own heart have deluded in this point who are strongly perswaded that God is theirs never doubted of their interest in him make no question but the Lord is their Habitation who entered not in by the Door never received the spirit of bondage to fear have no fear of offending God no care to please him but live in known sin against the light of knowledge and checks of Conscience which evinceth them to be in the gall of bitterness Now these who in their own conceits have taken up their dwelling in God like those buyers and sellers that took up their seats in the Temple without the Warrant against the consent of the Owner of that House must be dealt with by the Ministers of Christ as those Intruders by Christ were driven out with a scourge And as Nehemiah dealt with Tobiah who had got a Chamber in the Court of the House of God who cast both him and his stuff out of it Avoid prophaneness come not here nothing but holy pure and clear or that which groaneth to be so may enter or abide one Moment at his peril To you who can prove your assurance that you are in God to be of God by the qualification of your Persons as having formerly been humbled for your living without God in the World and at present humble your selves to walk with your God and resolve so to do to the end of your life Unto you I am sent with a manifold Word of Exhortation 1. To prize this as the greatest blessing and rejoyce in it more than in all other blessings and accordingly to praise God for it that he hath given you to know that he is your Habitation Lifting up the Light of his Countenance upon you and giving you Eyes to see that Light There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine increased because thy loving kindness is better than life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live Because thou hast caused me to feel the effects of thy Grace at full even as the Sun shooteth out his Beames at Mid-Day And because I finde this to be the life of my life without which every Day would be more bitter to me than Death Therefore for this above all Mercies will I bless thee every Day and I will praise thy Name for ever 2. To hold fast what you have and be alway adding to it as worldly Men do by their Earthly substance How oft are Christians exhorted to hold fast every good spiritual thing that they have gotten Hold fast as with Tooth and Nail the faithful Word The pure and sincere Doctrine of the Gospel against those Gain-sayers that would snatch it from you and not only the matter but the forme
all their Moral parts and actions till they be members of Christ will yield them no true comfort by being in him they are brought to dwell in God This you may easily prove unto them by the example of sundry Persons who though endowed with many civil Virtues yet are branded by the Holy Ghost for most unhappy Men. Esau was a dutiful Childe to his Father careful to please him fearful to offend him of a bountifull disposition and free from covetousness Ahab a kind-hearted Man pittiful towards an insolent inveterate Enemy The Pharisee that went up into the Temple to pray could thank God that he was not as other Men were Extortioners Unjust Adulterers that he payed his Tythes duly And what Man in the World could live a more unblameable life than that young Ruler did And so Paul before his Conversion If any Man think he hath whereof he might trust in the Flesh I more touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless Yet without Faith in Christ and a real change wrought in the heart all this and much more is nothing he being the Fountain of all true goodness The civil Devil carries Men to Hell as well as the prophane Devil though somewhat more about 5. Those whom you discern to be Hypocrites by living and allowing themselves in some one known sin of Omission or Commission Thus Jehu discovered himself to be an Hypocrite He took no heed to walk in the way of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin When you have occasion to confer with these acknowledge the good that is in them much more than in Moral Men as having a prime respect to the first Table affecting the Ministry of the Word giving themselves to Prayer and Fasting abstaining from petty as well as bloody Oathes strictly observing the Lord's Day loving the pure worship of God and hating will-worship commend them for these things but labour to fright and Fire them out of their Hypocrisie by pressing that of St. James upon them Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all that breaketh one Commandement Habitual sincere obedience is Universal extending to the compass of the whole Law evangelically And as one Leak in a Ship let alone will sink it as well as many and one Mortal Wound destroy the Body So any one sin wilfully continued in will drown and destroy the Soul and finally how more intolerable their torment shall be in Hell than any other sinners 6. In like manner deal with them who are haters and Persecutors of the People of God pretending that it is for their Hypocrisie that they cannot away with them perswade them that their pretence is false for if they hated them as Hypocrites they would hate them as sinners and so they would hate all sinners and the greatest sinners most as he that hates a Toad because of his poyson the greater the Toad is the more he would hate it But these Men know themselves and are known to love well enough Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers and practical Atheists and therefore the true reason why they hate strict Professors is for their godliness which condemns their irreligious and loose living as Noah by building the Ark condemned the World So Cain slew his Brother because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous Saul Saul why persecutest thou me His Conversion presently followed his Conviction They that dwell in God dwell in love Your love to poor Souls that are out of God expressed thus by making essayes to draw them unto God will both evidence to your selves and others that he is your habitation Make this therefore your work every day do as Lot did by the two Angels Turn in I pray you into your Servants House no but we will abide in the Street and he pressed them greatly and they turned in unto him and they entred into his house What know you but you may prevail as he did and if so you will make Men Angels for this is their highest happiness Alway to behold the Face of God Let love constrain you not only that which I have now pressed you owe love to every Man are bound to love them as your selves and to seek their welfare as your own and there is no love in any Man to his Neighbour that loveth not his Soul But the love of Christ should more constrain you to put the whole strain of your strength to this work God having declared his desire to have his House filled and his Sons Kingdome enlarged and there being joy in Heaven at the Conversion of every sinner Yea love to your selves should force this It being the best meanes to increase your graces and comforts the more you draw to knowledge and faith and holiness the more will these graces increase in you and the comfort of them As a Man casting forth of his Seed brings it him back again with great increase Nor will any work you can do have the like recompense which was hinted before They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Nor can you be ignorant that this is the end why God hath bestowed his graces upon you whereby you were made meet to be partakers of this Inheritance not that you should keep them to your selves but that you should benefit others by them The manifestation of the Spirit that is those gifts of grace whereby it is manifested that they dwell in God is given to every Man to profit withall Finally The Lord hath strictly commanded that no Man should content himself to know and believe aright himself to repent of his own prophaneness and to be religious and righteous but that he should seek also to cause others to be and do so that they may be as well housed as he as happy as himself Cause others to return that you and they may live together under the same Roof and the more the merrier and better cheer to Obj. There is no hope of doing good upon many that we meet with scarce upon any Answ If with all your pains taken all the Days of your Life you can win but one Soul it 's as much as the gaining of the whole World Yea one Soul is more worth than the whole World 2. Despair of none how wicked so ever as bad as bad can be have been reduced and brought in Manasseh for example and three thousand at once 3. If assaying three or four or five or six times prevail not the 7th may Go up now look towards the Sea Master there is nothing go again seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there ariseth a little Cloud out of the Sea like a Mans hand 4. Suppose when you have done all you can all your
excellencies and transcendent perfections of God So this especially of sublimity that he is most high This did David I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will sing praise to thy Name O thou most high I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the most high As he did himself so he stirreth up all others to do so O clap your hands all People shout unto God with the voice of Tryumph for the Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over the Earth Let the Saints sing aloud upon their Beds Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth And this he tells us is a good thing at all times especially on the Sabbath Dayes It is a good thing to sing praises unto thy holy Name O most High His Universal Regiment is to be acknowledged This matter is by the Decree of the Watchers and the demand by the Word of the holy One to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of Men. 2. His wonderful humility and condescention The Lord is high above all Nations and his glory above the Heavens Who is like the Lord our God who is most High who humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in the Heaven and in the Earth He doth not disdain from his High Seat of Glory to provide for all Creatures both Terrestrial and Coelestial He hath a gracious and loving care of vile Wormes and grievous sinners yea vouchsafes to make their hearts if humbled and contrite for their sins his dwelling place For thus saith the High and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is high and holy I dwell in the high and holy Places with him also that is of an humble and contrite Spirit The humility of the Son of the most high God being the same in substance with him and equal in power and glory condescended to match with a Maid of our Family that had neither beauty nor dowry A greater condescention than if the greatest Emperor on Earth should marry the poorest and most deformed Virgin upon Earth assuming a humane Nature with his Divine Person In all things like unto Man excepting sin and in that nature to suffer poverty hunger thirst weariness and other humiliations even unto Death Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation Annihilated himself and brought himself as it were to nothing Took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the habit of Men And being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross 3. Consider the exceeding high honour he hath done you to be Servants in such a House to himself whom you have made your House by choosing him and cleaving to him Nebucadnezar could not desire a higher honour for the Three Worthies whom he saw walking in the midst of the Fire than to call them Servants of the most high God Nor the Angel that appeared to Daniel in the Vision of the Four Beasts and interpreted it to him for the Subjects of God's Kingdom than to call them Saints of the most high Yea the Angels themselves glory in this title I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren And James stiles himself not the Lords Brother but the Servant of the Lord. And God himself Moses not King in Jesuran but my Servant My Servant Moses 2. In Prayers I will cry unto God most high Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights We are commanded to pray to God as being above in Heaven to teach us among many other things that our Prayers should be sent forth with such fervencies that they may reach and pierce Heaven where God is to cry as David did O my God I cry in the Day time in the day time and in the Night season He heard my cry My most earnest desires in Prayer arising from feeling and fear of misery And so did Moses Wherefore cryest thou unto me God seeming to chide him for so doing but it was not for his fervent praying but for his fearing and fainting his Faith beginning to fail and to let him know that he was more ready to hear than he to pray 2. Learn humility of the most high God Be ye followers of God as dear Children Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another So if God have condescended unto us we ought to do the like to our Inferiours there being infinitely more distance and disproportion between God and us than there is between us were we the highest Princes on Earth and they poorest Beggars For they are all our Brethren Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us Be not therefore high-minded but condescend to Men of low Estate And learn of me saith the Son of the most High for I am meek and lowly in heart Lowliness of mind will make you high with God and meekness of word shall make you sink into the hearts of Men. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus You that are higher than others in gifts wealth or dignity disdain them not but demean your selves humbly toward them and honour shall uphold you 3. Take heed of provoking the most High or of contemning his Counsels least you provoke your selves to the confusion of your own Faces as the Israelites did of whom it is said That they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the Wilderness Yea they tempted and provoked the most high God kept not his testimonies They contemned the Counsel of the most High Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 4. If you have provoked him to anger against you as David did when Satan provoked him to number the People enquire and desire to know the true means to appease him and to be reconciled unto him Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God And turn ye to him with all your heart to him I say and not as Ephraim of whom it is said They returned but not to the most High Renew your purposes and resolutions and vowes of more wary walking for the future and when upon your humiliation and reformation he is returned unto you with mercies offer unto him thanks giving and pay your vowes unto the most High 5. Comfort your selves against all the injustice and disorders of the World and against all the Plots and Conspiracies of wicked Men against the Church and People of God Marvel not at it but look higher and expect seasonable relief
believers and those that are regenerate by God's spirit apply themselves to the obedience of the Law without constraint or terrifying having the habit of righteousness and holiness in themselves as an inward and living Law They have no need of the horror and constraint of it and also being justified by Christ they are freed from the condemnation of it seeing that a Soveraign pardon stayeth and endeth all Actions and Condemnations grounded upon the Law Great Houses with the Gardens Orchards Parks and Grounds belonging to them have their bounds and limits made by Walls Pales and Hedges That great glorious House which Ezekiah saw in a Vision had its limit This is the Law of the House upon the top of the Mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most Holy God is said to have determined the bounds of all Mens Habitations upon Earth The Ten Commandments of the Moral Law are the Bounds Walls Pales and Hedges set round about the House wherein you that are Saints on Earth inhabit beyond which you may not pass but must keep within this compass As the Waters dwelling within the great Channel have their bounds which they are commanded to keep and forbidden to transgress pass or go over I establish saith God to Job my Decree upon it speaking of the Sea break up for it my Decreed place set Bars and Doors to it Figurative terms to express the concavities wherein the Sea is enclosed and said hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud Waves be stayed You are commanded in like manner to keep within the bounds of your Decreed place and you are bound to keep within them under a greater penalty than that which was laid upon Shimei when he was confined to his House by Solomon and to the City of Hierusalem the Walls whereof were his utmost limits The King sent and called for Shimei and said unto him build thee an House in Hierusalem and dwell there and go not forth thence any whether For it shall be that on the Day thou goest out and passest over the Brook Kidron that thou shalt surely dye Abide within So long as you do so you abide with God Cursed be the Man whose Heart departeth from the Lord. As a Bird that wandereth from her Nest so is a Man that wandereth from his place Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed who do erre from thy Commandements Thou hast trodden down all them that erre from thy Statutes Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Every Sin small and great is a transgression of the Law Exceeds the bounds which God by his Law hath appointed unto Men for the moderating regulating of their thoughts words and actions And every transgression and disobedience every commission and omission received a just recompence of reward If at any time through frailty or violence of temptation you pass these bounds If at any time said I Alass who doth not every Day both in thought word and deed There is not a just Man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not In many things we offend all David a Man after God's own heart passed these bounds oft through infirmity once most abominably Well consider what is to be done after such excursions Consider your wayes in your hearts Bend your minds very diligently weigh ponder think seriously with your selves what you have done Most Men are guilty of this neglect No Man repenteth of his wickedness saying What have I done Remember this and shew your selves Men bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Be ashamed and confounded to have been found out of the bounds of your House Then shalt thou remember thy ways and be ashamed What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Let it not be said of you as of the generality of the Jewes in Jeremyah's time Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination Nay they were not at all ashamed neither Let the review remembrance and thought of every ordinary sinful digression by rash anger or any bitter expression against Wife Husband Childe Servant Neighbour by vain empty idle unprofitable conference at any time by intemperance in Eating or Drinking though never so little beyond necessity or honest delight making you unfit for divine service in either of your Callings by immoderate sleeping or not being up as early for God as for your selves or spending more time in dressing your Bodies than your Souls by wanton glances of your Eyes or lusting after strange Flesh or abusing the lawful duty of Marriage by envying and grieving at the outward welfare of others or discontentment with your own health wealth credit or carking distrustful caring for to morrow or hasting to be rich by passing rash censure upon the spiritual estate of others or speaking of their faults and follies with mirth by silence at the unsavory speeches of any or conniving at their miscarriages not reproving them at least by discountenance for fear of giving them offence by having too great a hankering of heart after things not evil in themselves Tobacco Hunting Hawking Angling Gameing though not for gain but sport by suffering buying and selling thoughts and vile distractions to have incursions and lodging within you in holy Duties Let the thoughts I say of these and numberless other sinful digressions fill your Souls with shame and blushing ing and sinful abhorrence Much more if you call to mind grosser crimes Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Nor let your shame for taking so many steps out of your Heavenly Fathers House or sense of selfloathsomeness hinder your return thither but say as that unclean spirit for it is lawful and stands with godliness honesty and reason to learn of an enemy I will return unto my House from whence I came out And as that penitent Wife that had stept aside from her Husband I will go and return unto my first Husband for then was it better with me than now So did the Prodigal resolve to do I will arise and go to my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thy iniquity Go and knock at the Door of Divine Mercy confess your folly accusing and judging your selves Surely it is meet to be said unto God who hath revealed himself not only in his Law by commanding and threatning but also in his promises of grace to comfort and encourage by the remission of sins so the Italian reads the word following I
distress and vexation of mind call to mind such promises as are fitted to your condition For there can be no condition imagined but there are promises suited to it and a Christian wisdome must be to accommodate the remedy to the sore and malady of his heart Enquire what word there is in God's Book to still the tempests and distempers of your spirits and then make application of it Promises faithfully remembered and well digested will arm and fortifie your Souls that they shall be able to put any case of trouble inward or outward and come off victoriously and triumphantly Put case you be as poor as Job Lazarus the Prophets Widdow Call to mind the promises of temporal blessings in abundance Put case you be persecuted by the tongues or hands of wicked Men call to mind the promises that you shall be delivered your enemies confounded Put case your hearts be heavy for some great losses of Goods or Friends Call to mind the promises that you shall be gainers by your losses Put case your spirits be wounded with the sense of Divine wrath Call to mind the promises of pardon peace and rest Put case your Graces be weak and corruptions strong Call to mind the promises of sanctification and quickening Put case some great eminent danger threaten you Call to mind the promises that nothing shall hurt you that every thing that befalls you shall work together for your spiritual and eternal good 2. Provision thus brought in by the Memory the next work of Faith is to prepare and make it fit nourishment This is done by searching for and finding out that Grace or part of obedience upon which the fruition of the promise depends to which sufficient hath been spoken already nor will it be disheartned for weakness if there be truth yea if no more than a true desire Mat. 5. 3 6. Neh. 1. 11. The third and last chief work of Faith is application of the promises to your selves in particular this is feeding upon the provisions brought in and dressed Faith first does its utmost to assure the soul that what God hath promised is already done Mark 11. 24. 15. 28. Job 13. 15. Yea and it makes it good thus 1. It hath Christ and he is all 2. It hath if not the thing promised as good or better 3. When it findes much ado It goes to God and seeks help of him Mark 9. 24. 2 Chr. 20. 12. Psal 73. 23. 24. 27. and concludes with the Psalmist 60. 12. 73. 1. You will be sure to finde while you live here on Earth the Devil ever anon throwing his Fiery darts into your Souls You must take the Apostles advice to stand alwayes Armed with the whole Armour of God Above all taking the Shield of Faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all his Fiery Darts THE EIGHTH SERMON YOu have heard what the Daily Duty is of all who live and dwell in God viz. To live by Faith How faith maintains the Soul in life and the Apostle bidding you to take the Shield of Faith and to use and move and mannage it according to the place Satan casting his Darts at you aimes at and according to the kindes of his temptations I shall give you a truth and tast how faith may be mannaged and what the several acts of Faith are by which the fierceness of these Darts of Satan may be quenched There are six Fiery Darts besides many others which Sathan throwes at the Souls of those that dwell in God whereby he works them much disquiet and trouble The first and worst is concerning the forgiveness of sins He would and often doth perswade them that their sins are unpardoned and that God will damn them for their manifold transgressions and mighty sins The apprehension of this fills their Souls with horror nor can the greatness and grievousness of this affliction be expressed A second is Concerning their spiritual Estate he would make them believe they are yet in a state of Unregeneracy and that the Root of the matter is not in them but that they are but painted Hypocrites A third is Concerning Mortification of Lusts and Sanctification of Life neither of which they have attained and they are afraid they never shall A fourth is Fear of Poverty and temporal Misery what will become of them in sickness and old Age they cannot tell want coming on them like an Armed Man this Dart sets on Fire many Lusts A fifth is Concerning the right use of prosperity and adversity Satan perswades them they neither do nor ever shall use either rightly A sixth is Fear of falling away Faith rightly mannaged will blunt the piercing points of all these Darts and take away all the burning Poyson in them and so repell them that the Soul shall not be hurt at all by them though until Faith have done it suffer much affliction by each of them I shall not now undertake to shew what be the several acts of Faith that have force to overcome these several temptations but will declare very briefly what those acts are whereby Faith supports and settles the Soul and makes it victorious in any trouble or affliction whatsoever inward or outward which may be applyed to any of the cases fore-mentioned Qu. What use will this Doctrine be to those that are not under any trouble that have no manner of affliction upon them Ans There is no Christian that is at any time of his life free from all affections no Day comes so fair over any godly Man's head wherein he meets not with some matter of grief yea so much that he findes enough ado to sustain and master it Luk. 9. 23. 2. Those that are now free from affliction may they know not how soon be hem'd in compassed about and overwhelmed with variety of afflictions as Job was and therefore ought to live in continual expectation of crosses and distresses publick domestical personal and although there are great hopes of peaceable times yet hopes may be frustrate our sins are many and mighty which gives us just cause to fear God's judgments we have also Enemies many and politick and malicious and the Devil and his Instruments are busie but howsoever how calm soever the publick state may be yet afflictions and miseries may and will sure enough befall those that fear God If not outward yet inward Many are the afflictions of the righteous And manifold are their infirmities in their afflictions and therefore they are called by that name Evils will not come the sooner because expected but they will fall the lighter And faith is necessary that they may so do it cannot therefore but be necessary and profitable to acquaint you with the acts of Faith in general at least whereby a Christian Soul may be upheld in evil times against all afflictions and miseries whatsoever This grace well acted will bring