these blessings in his hand but bestow them upon those that keep his precepts with their whole heart And therefore the same thing is said of obedience v. 1 2. Let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace which comprehends all the rest shall they add unto thee Pray mind they are in the hand of Christ for the Father hath put all things into his hand and yet they are handed-out by the Commandments How is that why thus Obedience to the commands qualifies us to receive the blessings of the Promise and then Christ hands out to us the promised blessings Unless these things were in the hand of Christ obedience would never add them to us and unless we are found in the way of obedience Christ will never bestow them upon us for we have no claim It is Godliness that hath the promise of this life and so it serves our temporal interest Though the temporal rewards of godliness must be expected with much submission yet so far as they are good for us they are as much secured to us as Heaven and Glory He will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 Secondly Godliness serves our spiritual interest and that is the thing we are chiefly to mind the Soul is far more than the body and therefore a spiritual good is to be preferred before a corporal Religion serves our spiritual interest two ways First It secures to us the chief good that good that is comprehensively all good and without which nothing can be good and that is God God with all his Attributes God with all his Treasures God with all his Promises if we perform our part of the Covenant God will not fail of his part Ye shall keep my judgments and do them And what then ye shall be my people and I will be your God Ezek. 36.27 28. Secondly It secures the life of the Soul And that is more worth than all the world This Christ intimates in that question Mat. 16.26 What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Two things are here intimated 1. If a man should gain the whole world with the loss of his Soul it would be but a losing bargain 2. When the Soul is once lost nothing in the world can regain or redeem it And therefore what so profitable as Religion that secures the life of the Soul All the gold in the world can't secure the Soul but grace can Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivers from death Prov. 11.4 In the way of righteousness is life and in the path-way thereof there is no death Prov. 12.28 Thirdly Godliness serves our eternal interest It tends to an everlasting blessedness And herein the greatest gain of godliness consists in that it hath the promise of the life that is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 The Soul is immortal and therefore cannot be satisfied with any perishing good man that lives for ever must have a happiness that will endure for ever and there is but one way to secure it and that is by an obedient subjection to the Yoke of Christ This is the appointed means to that blessed end Being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Rom. 6.22 God hath not absolutely promised Salvation and eternal life to any but he hath annexed it to certain dispositions and qualifications without which we shall never share in the blessing promised Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord Psal 119.1 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Mat. 5.8 So that holiness and obedience is a necessary disposition for eternal blessedness For God will render to every man according to his works To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life Rom. 2.6 7. And therefore it plainly appears how profitable a life of godliness is in that it hath so direct a tendency to our temporal to our spiritual and to our eternal benefit Why then should any one refuse to take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth Sixthly Is that profitable which will abide by us for ever which is a durable good Such grace and holiness is As of evils they are the most detrimental that are most durable and therefore sin is the worst of all evils because it is durable though the act of sin ceases yet it binds an eternal guilt upon the Soul of the wicked which shall never wear off And besides his corrupt nature and vicious disposition his hatred and enmity to God remain in him for ever And therefore of all evils sin is the most detrimental So in genere boni that is the most beneficial good that will abide by us for ever and such is grace and holiness It shall abide in the Soul for ever and hence it is called the true riches Luke 16.11 and durable riches Prov. 8.18 It may be thy riches lie in houses lands money ships or the like Alas these are not durable yet a little while and thy title to all these things will be extinguished but thy grace thy love to God thy holiness thy conformity to his will thy obedience shall never be extinguished From all that hath been said the benefit of Religion plainly appears and that conclusion of the Apostle stands firm 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable to all things And this is a second branch of the reason why every one should take up the Yoke of Christ betimes because it is a good so much conducing to our benefit As it sanctifies every condition As it is advantageous to a man in all his circumstances As it brings its own reward with it As it fills the Soul with such a joy as nothing else can As it serves our temporal spiritual and eternal interest As it abides by us for ever Therefore it is not in vain to serve God it is every way for your benefit to be early Converts and if so who would not be religious betimes and take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth seeing God is such a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 Thirdly Subjection to the Yoke of Christ is an honourable good The Heathens made Honour the effect of goodness and the Egyptian Hieroglyphick painted it between humility and labour and the Romans so placed their Temples that he that would go to the Temple of Honour must pass through the Temple of Virtue Nothing is truly honour to a man but Religion and Vertue Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord and that takes in the whole of Religion and obedience are riches and honour and life And therefore in Scripture good men are called Vessels of honour 2 Tim. 2.21 And sanctification
he tastes in it So it is with a regenerate man sweetness becomes a motive to obedience and duty is drawn forth by delight I delight to do thy will O my God And mark whence this delight springs Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The Law was not only his Command but his nature God writes his Law in the Word and so it becomes our rule but when he writes it in our hearts then it becomes our nature And this is it that makes obedience sweet and pleasant because it is now natural There is an inward Principle suited to the outward Precept Thirdly Consider the pleasures with which this service is attended It is not more natural for sin to bring forth sorrow and trouble than for Religion to afford pleasure and sweetness It denies no lawful pleasure which others injoy It affords pleasures which others cannot injoy First It denies no lawful pleasures which others injoy doth the sinner take pleasure in the creature So doth the good man more truly for Religion moderates the affections and teaches the right use of the creature and thereby heightens the pleasure of the injoyment it curbs and restrains our excesses and moderated affections make our fruition the more sweet because hereby sin is excluded which imbitters the injoyment There is no pleasure which a wicked man sins in injoying but a good man may injoy without sin and where there is least sin there is most sweetness Nay farther Religion spiritualizeth the injoyment and thereby a good man hath more sweetness in the creature than any other can have as the Bee hath more delight in the flower than other creatures can because they have only the sweetness of the scent but the Bee hath the sweetness of the honey with the scent Natural man hath only a natural sweetness but the spiritual man hath a spiritual sweetness with the natural and so injoys a higher pleasure in the creature than any natural man can Secondly Religion hath its peculiar pleasures which none but good men can partake of It gives pleasure and delight in God when the creature affords none The sensual man is beholden to the Fig-tree and the Vine and the Olive to the Field the Fold and the Stall if these fail his comfort fails But the good man hath a never-sailing Spring of delight when all these streams are cut off Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall sail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Here are all his streams cut off now where is his never-failing Spring why it is in God Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habak 3.17 18. No delight so sweet as delight in God The dim light of Moon and Stars are a comfortable ministry in a dark night and we are glad to walk by the light of them but when once the light of the Sun breaks out who regards the Moon or Stars then Creature-comforts are pleasant things to a sensual Spirit that knows no better injoyment but when once God discovers himself to the Soul and sheds abroad his love in the heart Rom. 5.5 what poor things are these then The pleasure of walking with God and the pleasure of a witnessing Conscience without naming any more outvie all the pleasures in the World for sweetness and delight And these are peculiar to Religion and a life of godliness Prov. 14.10 no stranger intermeddles with this joy 1. In Religion and the practice of Godliness a good man walks with God There is a twofold walking with God and both exceeding sweet In Holiness and Obedience In Comfort and Experience First There is a walking with God in Comfort and Experience and this consists in sensible communion and fellowship with God This is that our Lord Christ injoyed much of John 16.32 I am not alone because the Father is with me He had much of it in that Voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased He had much of it in the Transfiguration Mat. 17.2 He was transfigured before them this imports a wonderful letting forth of the glory of God upon him and so speaks an high degree of communion Exod. 34.29 Moses had a great measure of this transfiguring communion in the Mount when his face shone and Paul when he says he cannot tell whether he was in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12.3 4. but speaks as though he had been really in Heaven These are extraordinary manifestations of God which are fitted only to special seasons and though they are exceeding sweet and fill the Soul with great transports of joy yet they are not designed for continuance nor alotted to many But there is a more ordinary communion with God which every good man may lay claim to The Apostle John speaks of it as the undoubted priviledge of every Believer 1 Joh. 1.3 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And Christ promises it to all that obey his Commands John 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him And v. 23. We will come unto him and make our abode with him These expressions import a special presence of God and peculiar emanations of his love filling the Soul with such a sweetness and delight as none else can experience Hence that of Judas not Iscariot to Christ in v. 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not to the world This is a comfort the world knows nothing of Indeed a Believer himself hath no security of injoying it always As one Believer injoys it more than another and the same Believer injoys it more at one time than another so sometimes he injoys it not God never promised to any man such a vouchsafement of his comsorting presence as should know no interruption for if so then God would leave himself without a liberty to shew his dislike of sin That promise Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee secures to a Believer the duration of his union but not of his communion it intitles him to the certainty of his presence and care of his Providence but not to the light of his countenance It makes over to him the constant supports of his Power and Grace but not always the actual possession of joy and comfort Secondly There is a walking with God in Holiness and Obedience Thus it is said Enoch walked with God three hundred years Gen. 5.22 that is by an holy conformity to his will * To live to the will of God loving what God loves hating what God hates doing what God commands this is the highest kind of walking and communion with God
he gives peace who can make trouble Job 34.29 All the world cannot give peace to a troubled Conscience Eccles 10.19 Solomon says Money answers all things But it can never answer the doubts and distresses of Conscience It is God that speaks peace there Psal 85.8 Thirdly To distinguish it from the worlds peace which is a carnal peace an outward peace a false peace but the peace God gives is a true peace an inward and spiritual peace John 14.27 2. It fills a man with the most lasting peace Therefore Solomon calls it a continual feast Prov. 15.15 Not a feast for a day as Nabals was Judg. 14.12 nor for seven days as Samsons was nor for an hundred and eighty days as that of Ahasuerus was Esth 1.4 but a continual feast without intermission and without end A Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good man is always feasting he hath the continual entertainment and delight of a quiet Conscīence He may meet with many troubles and sorrows and afflictions but his peace and joy shall out-live them all His estate may be wasted his name reproached his body burned but his peace and joy cannot be touched It lyes out of the world's reach It is from Heaven and will abide in the Soul till it be consummated by the testimony of Christ in that heart-ravishing Sentence Well done good and faithful servant Mat. 25.21 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thus subjection and obedience to the Yoke of Christ appears to be a pleasant good whether ye look to the matter of his service or to the state in which this service is commanded or to the sweetness with which it is attended And thus you have the truth of it made out positively Secondly That the Yoke of Christ is matter of pleasure and delight may be made out comparatively 1. Compare it with the Yoke of the Law either Ceremonial or Moral First Compare it with the Yoke of the Ceremonial Law and Christs Yoke is much easier than that And this will appear If you look to the observances and impositions of one and the other How numerous and chargeable were the observances of that Law how many and how costly were their Sacrifices Some were gratulatory appointed to express their grateful sense of mercies received these you read of Lev. 7.12 c. Some were expiatory these were appointed to atone for sin to pacifie Gods anger to remove guilt and divert judgment and how many and various were they Some were to be of the herd as oxen and heisers some of the flock as sheep and lambs goats and kids Some of fowl as turtle-doves and pigeons Some were to be of what grew out of the earth as corn and wine oyl and spices And of these some were burnt-offerings some meat-offerings some sin-offerings some trespass-offerings And some of them were to be offered but once a year Levit. 16. Exod. 12. Levit. 23.16 Numb 29.12 Numb 28.11 Num. 28.9 Num. 28.3 4 5. some at their solemn Feasts as the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles Some every New-moon some every Sabbath day some were to be offered every day and that both morning and evening as the daily Sacrifice and some according to special occasions which were very many for if any man did but touch an unclean thing he must come and offer a Sacrifice From all which numerous observances that Yoke of Moses must needs be very burdensom if we now were for every sin to offer a Bullock or a Lamb what a burden should we account it if Conscience did not make sin a burden the charge and expence would and so it did to the Jews therefore it is called a Yoke and that a heavy one Acts 15.10 A yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear In calling these things a yoke too heavy to be born it shews their observance of them was more because God commanded them than because of any intrinsecal good that was in them They bore the Yoke till God took it off but it was a very heavy Yoke But the Yoke of Christ is easie on this account his commands are few and facil not burdensom but beneficial as really our priviledge as our duty And therefore the Apostle Paul comparing the state of the Church then with what it is under the Gospel calls it Bondage Gal. 4.3 when we were children we were in bondage under the elements of the world By the Elements of the world the carnal Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law are intended by which as by first rudiments God did then instruct the Church in its minority And accordingly he calls the state of the Gospel-Church a state of freedom Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage O how sweet and easie is the service of the Gospel The Covenant of Grace is made with us without those burdens and bonds which became their bondage what a motive should this be to a willing and chearful obedience Christ hath therefore made us free that we should serve him freely Our freedom from bondage by the liberty of the Gospel should strengthen our bonds to all Gospel-obedience Secondly Compare the Yoke of Christ with the Yoke of the Moral Law as a Covenant of Works and it will appear far more easie if you consider five things First The Law requires very difficult service but contributes no assistance so that a mans work is above his strength and where duty is great and strength little it becomes a burden intolerable If a man should be set to remove a mountain to fetch a Star from Heaven to keep out the Tide of the Sea how impossible would this be So is obedience to the Law in our present state of impotency and hence it becomes a bondage and burden Why is the Land of Egypt called the house of bondage to Israel but because they were required to make the same tale of brick without straw as before they did when straw was provided for them So the Law requires the same obedience of fallen man in a state of weakness as it did of innocent Adam in his full strength But in the Gospel-Covenant there is no duty injoyned but there is a power of performance vouchsafed and no commandment can be grievous where the assistance is suitable to the service That one command of believing is in it self more difficult than any precept of the Law Eph. 2.8 but if faith be the gift of God then how easie is it to believe whatever God wills is easie to be done when he himself works in us to will and to do Phil. 2.13 This makes the Yoke of Christ easie that there is power conveyed with the precept jubet juvat It is with us as with the man that lay at the gate of the Temple who had been lame from the womb Peter commands him in the name of Jesus to rise
the case is not the same for we are bound to answer Gods precepts but he is not bound to answer our requests and yet we make him tarry our sinful leisure in the business of duty though we think much to tarry his holy leisure in the case of mercy Secondly It is down-right disobedience he that delays a duty transgresses the precept and slights the divine Authority The season is as much a part of the command as the thing commanded If God says return ye now every one from his evil way Jer. 18.11 the now is as much a duty as the returning If the Father says to his Son go work to day in my vineyard Matt. 21.28 it is flat disobedience to defer it till to morrow for the time of working is as much a duty as the work it self Thirdly It is the highest ingratitude for Christ did not adjourn his love to us one day his heart was to us from everlasting I was set up from everlasting rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth and my delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.23.31 He gave himself in the Covenant of Redemption to dye for sin and redeem sinners from the first day that sin entred And therefore he is said to be a lamh slain from the foundadation of the world Revel 13.8 Though he came not to dye actually till the fullness of time Galat. 4.4 yet in the decree of God the Father and in the consent of God the Son he was a Saviour from the beginning and his Blood was as efficacious to Salvation before ever it was shed as after he was a Saviour and Redeemer from the first entrance of sin Adam Noah Abraham and all the Saints that lived before his Incarnation were saved by his Blood as well as we His love bears date from everlasting and it breaks forth very early in the overt acts of it to particular persons Christ begins with sinners betimes who knows how soon puts upon many of them a federal holiness betimes seals them for his betimes puts his spirits into them betimes and calls them to an actual close with him betimes it is hard to say how soon but it appears to be very early in that many have been converted from their very childhood as Samuel and Timothy and others O the earliness of the love of Christ and shall we adjourn our obedience as if we were afraid of closing with him too soon he took up our burden betimes and shall we delay the taking up his Yoke for the last work of our lives This is great ingratitude Fourthly It is manifest injustice and a fraudulent detaining of Christs right For whose you are his your strength and service is and are ye not the Lords hath he not redeemed you and that both by price at the hands of God and by power out of the hands of Satan ye are the redeemed of the Lord and therefore you are his your time is his your gifts and parts are his your affections are his your estates are his your strength is his your youth is his your body and soul are his your all is his and therefore not to give up your selves body and soul to him not to love and fear and serve him is a crying injustice Nay to delay it one day one moment is to deny him his right Many boast of their honesty they are just to all and wrong none yes you wrong your redeemer you are unjust to Jesus Christ and that is the highest injustice in the world To delay any man in that which is his right is a great sin the wages of the hireling must be paid at the day and it must be done before the sun be set Deut. 24.14 15. It is a maxim in the Law minus solvit qui minus tempore solvit not to pay at the time is to pay the less because there is so much advantage for improvement lost Is it such a sin to detain a servants right what is it then to detain our Lords right must we not withhold wages for a servants work till the sun be set and yet dare we withhold doing our Lords work till the sun of our lives is setting O what base injustice is this Fifthly It is altogether unreasonable there is no man living can give a reason to excuse him from this duty You cannot say it is the wrong way to Heaven for it is the way the Lord Christ hath directed and chalked out You cannot say it is a needless Yoke for there is no Salvation without taking it upon you You cannot say it is a dangerous Yoke for it hath salvation certainly intailed upon it You cannot say it is a fruitless Yoke Matt. 11.28 for it yields perfect peace and lasting joy to all that come under it You cannot say it is an impossible Yoke for as you have the command of Christ to undertake it so you have the promise of Christ to help and inable you to bear it So that you cannot give one reason why you should neglect it and therefore he that refuses to take it up is without excuse Whoever remains graceless in a day of Grace will be found speechless in the Day of Judgement Matt. 22.12 Sixthly It is downright madness for you refuse Heaven because you will not be holy You will rather lose the eternal injoyment of God than be made like God You will rather chuse to perish under the wrath of Christ than you will consent to come under the Yoke of Christ You will be contented to be damned so you may go a pleasant way to Hell And is not this madness to the height to chuse rather to perish eternally than be tied to love and serve your maker and redeemer O what a base and low opinion have you of God and Heaven how can ye degrade and dishonour him more If a man should publish it as his opinion that darkness is better than light that Hell is rather to be chosen than Heaven that he had rather be in an everlasting society with Devils and damned Spirits than with God and Christ in the glory above what would you say of such a one but that he talked like a mad man why then reflect upon your selves a little for mutato nomine do teâ— Fabula narratur you that prefer the pleasures of sin to the service of Christ that will renounce your part in God and Christ and eternal happiness to satisfie a base lust that will stake your Souls for a few minutes of sinful delights can any man be guilty of greater madness do ye know what ye do or what ye speak when ye say in your hearts this lust shall reign but Christ shall not reign let us break his bonds Psal 2.3 and cast his cords far away from us this is treason against the Crown of Heaven your Blood Luk. 19.27 your Life your Soul must go for this Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them out and
it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6.6 It is a less evil to refuse the first tenders of grace then to reject Christ after he hath been professed and own'd the former may be from ignorance and prejudice but to cast him off upon tryal argues his yoke to be uneasy and his Commandments grievous he sayes in the language of his action there is not that good to be found in God as he expected nor that comfort in his ways as was promised And what greater contempt can be put upon Christ then this 2. It hath mischievous effects with respect to our selves 1. It proves the unsoundness and hypocrisie of our hearts and shews they were never right with God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 Joh. 2.19 He that at any time shall cast off the yoke of Christ shews that his heart was never right in taking of it up In a Marriage relation love increases and firms the bond but adulterous love is only hot while new 2. Another mischievous effect is in those unspeakable losses we sustain by casting off Christs yoke 1. A loss of all we have done or suffered for Christ when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned Ezekiel 18.24 thy Faith thy Prayers thy Alms-deeds thy Fastings thy striving against sin thy zeal and fervour for Christ will all come to nothing it shall never be mentioned all thy labour and obedience and duties are lost though they have been never so many and great When a Nazarite under the Law had separated himself to the Lord if any defilement came upon him all was lost and counted for nothing Numb 6.12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation that is he shall begin all again but the days that were before shall be lost because his separation was defiled So it is with professors of Religion if they draw back all is lost In Christianis non initia quaeruntur sed finis It is not only how we begin but how we finish And therefore it is excellent counsel the Apostle gives 2 Epist Joh. ver 8. 2 Epist Joh. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which yee have wrought 2. A loss of that honour and reputation which doth ever attend sincerity and perseverance as an Apostate loses the profit and comfort of all his duties so he loses the honour of his profession Ye did run well who hindered you Gal. 5.7 Demas hath forsaken us 2 Tim. 4.10 and imbraced this present world it is recorded as an act of perpetual infamy and dishonour So Christ saith of him that begins to build and is not able to finish that all that behold it shall mock at him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Luk. 14.29 30. The Crown of profession is only secured by perseverance Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Ne honorem perseverantiae amittas Gro. Revel 3.11 3. A loss of gifts and parts and of that expediteness for service which we once had When men withdraw from and forsake Christ he causes his Spirit in his wonted operations and influences to withdraw from and forsake them So that they are not the men they once were How hath the experience of the present Age verified this Do we not see many that once had great gifts of the Spirit for praying teaching and edifying of others who by turning their backs upon Christ to a dead way of formal Worship have sinned away the gifts of the Spirit and are now become utterly dead and lifeless and thus is that of our Lord made good Mark 4.25 He that hath not not improved from him shall be taken away that which he hath Thus Christ took away the Talent from the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.28 4. A loss of that tenderness of Conscience which is necessary to a true repentance for when a man doth reject and cast off Christs yoke usually Conscience is laid wast it is sinned out of office and so lets a man sin on without check or controul And how shall that man repent who hath sinned away all tenderness of Conscience therefore the Apostle sayes It is impossible if such fall away to renew them again to Repentance Heb. 6.4 6. 5. A loss of Heaven and the salvation of their souls There are two sorts of persons that are for ever shut out of Heaven Such as never believed and such as make Shipwrack of Faith Such as never would take up the yoke of Christ and such as having taken it up do finally cast it off again If you forsake God he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 This is willful sinning and how dreadfully hath God expressed himself against this Heb. 10.26 If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries you therefore that have taken up the yoke of Christ let that severe threatening of Christ fasten it for ever upon you Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father with his Holy Angels These are the Arguments the Directions follow Direct 1. Would you not cast off Christs Yoke Then do not be weary of his service Do not count it burdensome No man loves to bear what is burdensome it makes him weary and wearyness causeth fainting Hence that of the Apostle Heb. 12.3 Consider him that indured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds There is a weariness from contrariety of Spirit to the work Mal. 1.13 Ye have said what a weariness is it And there is a weariness from despondency of Spirit under discouragements in the ways of God by reason of contradictions and sufferings but nothing should make us weary of Christs work Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well-doing 2 Thes 3.13 Christ speaks it to the commendation of that Church of Ephesus Rev. 2 3. For my name sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted Scaliger sayes lassitudo est deficientia virtutis moventis Weariness is from a failure in the moving Principle and that is the love of God in the heart So that weariness in the work of God shews that the heart is not right with God Direct 2. Look to your first undertaking in giving your selves up to Christ that it be in sincerity and uprightness of heart How can that man hold out in the service of Christ to the end
be not changed and made holy it is all in vain as to him because Christ dyed for sinners this many look upon as a good ground for hope but the question if put home must be this did Christ ever dye to save impenitent and unregenerate sinners did he dye to save such as flight him refuse his yoke and live and dye enemies to him if he did then hope on but if not then there is no hope Nay let me tell you it is out of the reach of Christs power to save any one of you in your lusts Mat. 1.21 He can save you from your sins but he cannot save you in your sins For 1. He can't falsify his trust God the father hath put the great work of Salvation and damnation into Christs hands And how is salvation carryed on but in pursuance of the election of God look how God chooses to Salvation and so Christ carries it on Now we are chosen that we should be holy Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 And therefore Christ will save none that are not sanctified for he came to do the will of God and he will not betray his trust 2. He cannot alter the standing law of Heaven and what is that it is the standing law of Heaven which the righteous God hath fixed more firm than the Sun in the Firmament and will never vary from it that a man must repent Luk. 13.2 and turn to Christ or perish He must be converted or he shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 18.3 He must take the yoke of Christ upon him Heb. 3.18 or he shall never find rest to his Soul Mat. 5.8 None but the pure in heart shall see God This is the standing law of Heaven and how then can the unbelieving and disobedient be saved either the law of Heaven must be reversed or sinners are eternally undone and will Christ who revealed this law to the world reverse it again to gratifie thy lusts 3. He can't make void his own offices Why hath God made him a King but to subdue sinners to himself to conquer the nolency of the will to set up his government and rule in the heart and to subdue and destroy the rebels He reigns that he may put all his enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15.25 And if so what shall become of disobedient sinners can you think that this Melchizedek this King of Righteousness will ever countenance the impenitent and unbelieving will he take those to reign with him in his Kingdom of glory that would not that he should rule over them in the Kingdom of grace This were to violate the rights of his Crown which you cannot think he will do if you do but consider two Scriptures one is Luk. 19.27 Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me The other is in 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power And how do you that slight Christ think to escape this sentence will not the judgment of the great day of the Lord be very terrible to all that live and dye in their lusts can you bear it Can thy heart indure or thy hand be made strong in the day that I shall deal with thee Ezek. 22.14 If not then be wise and flee from wrath to come and there is but one way and that is by closing with Jesus Christ and giving your selves up to an intire subjection to his yoke There is no way to escape wrath and secure eternal life but this You read of a strait gate Mat. 7.14 and a narrow way that leads to life The yoke of the spirit in conviction to conversion that is the strait gate and the yoke of Christ in holiness and obedience that is the narrow way and there is no other and as our Lord Christ sayes few there be that find it Is there any sinner here now that stands convinced of the necessity of undertaking this duty that you must take up Christs yoke or you must perish in your sins I hope you are and therefore I shall lay you down some directions to help and guide you in this work Take heed of mistaking the yoke of Christ Direct 1 Some will tell you it lies in this way of worship some in that as Christ sayes many will say lo here is Christ Mat. 24.23 and lo their is Christ believe them not Some will perswade you it lyes in ceremonious services and humane traditions but this is the yoke of men and not the yoke of Christ and therefore take heed of it If you would know which is the yoke of Christ you must be guided by the word of Christ for nothing is duty but what the word commands Some will tell you it lyes in Popery but this is the yoke of Antichrist And therefore you that are young ones take heed of this yoke for it is none of Christs It is a grievous yoke It binds you from the use of the Scriptures which are able to make you wise to Salvation It ties you up to worship God in an unknown tongue in a language you don't understand It ties you to make use of many Mediators whereas there is but one Mediator between God and man 1 Tim. 2.5 the man Christ Jesus It ties you to believe against your senses To believe that a blind sottish Priest can with a few words convert a wafer into the very body and blood of Christ and then you must believe it to be the very substance of Christ against Scripture against Reason and against Sense For though the Scripture calls it still bread and though you break bread and see bread and tast and eat bread yet you must believe it not to be bread It ties you to believe many abominable errors and false Doctrines as that of merit by works though Christ sayes when we have done all we must say we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 And that of the infallibility of the Pope and his Supremacy over all Churches and Princes and that if he doth but excommunicate any Prince and pronounce him a Heretick it is lawful to murder him It is full of such abominable Doctrines Oh therefore never come under this yoke it is an idolatrous yoke a cruel bloody yoke a heavy intolerable yoke a yoke which neither we nor our fore-fathers were able to bear therefore they wisely cast it off and let us rather choose to dye then put it on again for it is none of the Yoke of Christ If you would resolve to take up Christs Direct 2 yoke then you must remove all hinderances