the Church Cant. 3.4 Christ had withdrawn himself Shee makes inquiry after him but could not hear of him At last after all her trouble Christ appears to her soul And you may read there how exceedingly her heart was taken with his return I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go untill I had brought him into my Mothers house Cant. 3.4 3. When the soul doth sit down to contemplate and read over the beauties and loves of Christ when it is in the contemplations of those surpassing excellencies and admired sweetness which is in Christ And Christ whiles the soul is busy in feeding on these thoughts doth make a discovery of himself to the soul makes the soul to see a vision of his glory Oh! how is the heart taken with him it is even drowned and sunk in a Sea of glory Ah! what clasping what imbraces what loves are there then betwixt Christ and the soul It is impossible for mee to express or for mee or you to conceive It is a vision of glory the porch of Heaven 4. When the soul is under outward pressures afflictions prison sickness upon death-bed Then a visit of Christ a discovery of himself doth exceedingly ravish and take the heart Here is kindness indeed riches for the poor liberty for a prisoner a cordial for the sick Here is all in Christs manifestation Well then wouldest thou know whether thy heart bee taken with Christ dost thou know Christ didst thou ever see the face of Christ in a promise what apparitions hath Christ made to thee what manifestations within thee in the work of Grace what manifestations to thee in the beginning of glory You who know not Christ cannot love Christ 2. Sign An heart taken with Christ is not excessively taken with any thing else The sweetness of Christ doth overcome all the sweetness in other things in the Creatures Vincit dulcedo dulcedinem As it is nothing but ignorance which makes men admire any thing here on earth if men knew the excellencie of other things they could not admire such trifles as they do So here it is nothing but ignorance of better things which makes us dote upon things here below Did wee see his beauties all the World would bee blackness Did wee see his fulness all the World were but emptiness I say did wee but know the excellencies and beauties of Christ and the satisfying-sweetness of his love Nothing should have a room in our hearts save hee only The higher wee ascend toward Heaven the lesser will the things on earth appear If you go to the top of the Mountains men would appear but small but if it were possible to go up to the Sun the Mountains would appear nothing The love of Christ hath a raising-power working our hearts as high as Heaven and being there all things here below are of no account and esteem to the soul So saith Paul a man on fire with the love of Christ Yea doubtless I count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ And do count them but dung that I may win Christ Phil 3.8 Well then they whose hearts are taken with the Creature taken with the World taken with sin and vanity These are too gross to bee taken with spiritual loves 3. Sign What the heart is taken withall the soul seems to live more in it than in it self Do but examine it in any thing the heart is taken withall whether your comforts your delights your happiness lies not in them The Worldling hee lives in his possessions The Voluptuous man in his pleasures And can no more live out of them than the Fish out of the water the Salamander out of fire So here If thy heart bee taken with Christ then thou livest more in Christ than thou doest in thy self I live yet not I but Christ saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 Thou canst no more subsist without him than the Beam without the Sun than the spark without the fire Nay no more live without him than the body without meat nay the body without the soul Christ is to the soul as the soul is to the body Now as the body cannot live without the soul So the soul cannot live but in Christ who is Anima Animae the Soul of the Soul for mee to live is Christ I say if thy heart bee taken with Christ thou livest in Christ more than in thy self Thy life thy comforts thy happiness they are all folded up in him As Judah said of Benjamin Jacobs life was bound up in the Lads life Gen. 44.30 So the Soul of Christ my life my joyes my comforts they are all bound up in thee All my fresh springs are in thee saith God of his Church Psal 87.7 And whom have I in Heaven but thee and in earth in comparison of thee Psal 73.25 saith the inamoured soul of God his heart was taken with God and hee lived in God more than in himself It was the speech of Luther who being in a great distress and spirituall trouble had writ about the walls and table in his study in great letters Vivit A friend comes to him and demands the reason Hee replies Vivit Christus si non non optarem unam horam vivere His life was in Christ Hee lived more in Christ than in himself Which makes the life of a Christian so safe none can hurt him and so sweet too being a life in Christ out of himself The best of others lyes in themselves but the best of a Christian those precious things in him lies out of himself and lies in Christ 4. Sign What the heart is taken withall that the comforts of the life are upheld by from day to day Wee have many a weary step to go and can no more go without comfort than Elijah without food Comfort is to the soul as the soul is to the body As the body without the soul is dead so is the soul of men without comfort Now would you know what your heart is taken withall see what the comfort of your life is upheld by from day to day Is Jesus Christ the comfort of your life is hee the joy of your hearts Ex quovis fonte Wicked men have varity of springs If one bee drye they go to another But the Saints have but one Christ And if hee bee gone all is gone 5. Sign An heart taken with Christ hath high appretiations and valuations of Christ It values and esteems him above all the comforts and contentments in Heaven and Earth Psal 73 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and in the Earth in comparison of thee Here is the breathing of a soul taken with Christ Hee prizeth Christ above all the comforts and contents in the World For the better unfolding of this sign there is 1. Something considerable in the Act. 2. Something in the Object Christ prized 3. Something in the Measure above all the comforts contents c. 1.
him but positively inflicting of his displeasure upon his soul yet all that Satan could do by himself all that hee could do by his friends who joyned with Satan in the battel could not make him unsay what his heart and the Spirit of God had so often said nothing shall make him to eat his own words Nothing shall cause him to deny his integrity The root of the matter was still in him and hee will live and dye with this in his heart with this in his mouth that notwithstanding all this God is his God God is his Father his heart hath been sincere before him And this was a strong Faith that would bee thus resolute in beleeving when hee had so much reason on the other side to bear him down 4. A strong Faith will trust in God in difficulties in difficult cases in exigents Here is the tryal of Trust It will trust in God 1. With small means 2. Without means 3. Against means 1. With small means Strong Beleevers know full well bee the means never so small if God bid them to bee effectual they shall do the work As Jeremy was drawn out of the Dungeon with old rotten Raggs so God can make use of weak and contemptible means to effect his own purposes to draw thee out of the Dungeon of affliction Faith knows God can help with few as well as with many with a small hand as well as with a great all is one to him It was that that Asa said to God when Zera the Ethyopian came against him with such a great hoast that hee seemed to bee but a Centry in the midst of a large circumference 2 Chron. 14.11 Lord it is nothing with thee to help with many or with few Help us Lord for wee trust upon thee and in thy name wee go out against this great multitude And the day was theirs But in another hee was overthrown when the difficulty was less because hee trusted not on the Lord. The like wee read of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.1 2 3 4. and many others 2. Strong Faith will trust in God without means Zeph. 3.12 I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people a people stripped of all means and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. So 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Wee had the sentence of death in our selves wee saw no help no means and all this was That wee should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead 1 Tim. 5.5 Shee that is a Widdow in deed and desolate Trusts in God c. Thus you see strong Faith will trust in God in the absence of means when all means are wanting It knows God is able to do his purpose without as well as with means A strong Faith makes God all its confidence And therefore when all means fail when all props are taken away yet confidence is not Unbelief will trust God no further than it sees means to bring about the thing it desires You see the unbeleeving Noble Man when the Prophet Elisha told him in that great famine that the next day there should bee such great plenty What! saith hee If God could open the windows of Heaven how could this bee Though there were a famine on earth hee had no reason to think there was a dearth in Heaven God was able to do it his hand was not shortened But here it was Hee saw no means whereby this might bee effected and therefore hee could not beleeve it God may work wonders and yet in an ordinary way You see here in this Famine A wonder it was that they should have such plenty in so short a time And it was too big for the noble mans Faith to beleeve But yet you see it was a wonder wrought in an ordinary way The like you see in the Israelites Psal 78.19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Indeed hee smote the Rock and the waters gushed out But can hee provide flesh for his people also One would have thought that the former experience of Gods power should have satisfied them in this that they that granted the one could not have denyed the other that God was able to do that also But the former was over and here was a new strait they were in and they saw no means how it should bee effected therefore they could not beleeve it The like of Ahaz Isa 7.11 12. God told him that his enemies that were come against him should not prevail against him God would fight for him And that hee might bee certain of this hee bids him Ask a sign in Heaven or in the deep for the confirmation of his Faith But saith Ahaz I will not tempt God What 's that I will provide for my self I will not trust in the want of means I should tempt God in so doing And many such Ahazes wee have in the World They think to trust in God in the absence of means is to tempt God What say they doth God work wonders that hee should do this without means Why God can do wonders and yet in an ordinary way Thus strong Faith will trust without means God is not trusted at all if not trusted alone If wee take in any thing with God in our trust wee trust not God at all as wee ought When men are brought to the lowest strait they are nearest to the highest God And then will Faith work best when it works alone and then is God nearest to help when mans strength is small Mans extreamity is Gods opportunity The ancient Tragedians when things were brought to that pass that they saw no possibility of humane help they used to bring down some of their Gods Hence that Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not much unlike that Proverb among the Jews In the Mount of the Lord it shall bee seen 3. A strong Faith will trust against means in the opposition of all means Such know that hee that can help without means can help if hee please against all means Is any thing too hard for the Lord Thus Moses trusted in God when the Red Sea was before them the Egyptians behinde them and the Mountains on each side of them Fear not stand still behold the salvation of the Lord c. Thus David when the people would have stoned him The Text saith David comforted himself in the Lord his God Thus Daniel and the Three Children Abraham also both in the receiving and offering of his Son Isaac 5. Strong Faith is accompanied 1. With much Peace 2. With much Joy 1. VVith much Peace Strong Faith lives in the upper Region above all storms There 's much variety of weather here below now calms now storms but if a man were above there 's a continual serenity and clearness Strong Faith lives in Heaven above all storms and therefore there 's nothing but calmness and quiet Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith wee have Peace with God Isa 26.3 Thou wilt preserve him in perfect Peace whose mind
5. Not able to perfect it when it is begun to our hands Isa 26.12 Lord thou hast wrought all our works in us or for us So Rom. 7.18 To will is present with mee but how to perform that which is good I finde not There is a partial impotency in the hearts of the best and this is more or less according to the vigor and power of corruption in us As you see in Rom. 7.18 For I know that in mee that is in my flesh dwels no good thing for to will is present but not to perform But there is a total universal impotency in unregenerate men Every Imagination motion figment of his heart being evil only evil every day But admit wee could do any thing could make as many prayers as stars in Heaven weep as many tears as the Sea holds drops Nay could wee do as much as the tallest Angel in Heaven all this would be too short to winde us out of our misery that sin casts us into 2. Wee are not able to suffer and by our sufferings to help our selves out of this If wee should macerate and afflict our bodies suffer all the miseries in the world in way of satisfaction for the least sin Alas all would bee too little too short would not amount and come up to the least debt But what do I speak of this If wee could suffer as many thousand millions of years torments in hell as the World hath stood minutes from the Creation Nay and God should widen the capacities of the Soul make a man more strong and able to bear more wrath make a man a larger vessel to receive more torments that so in time the springs of his Justice may bee drawn dry the treasures of his wrath might bee expended and a full satisfaction bee made yet there would bee no time no eternity of torment wherin there would bee enough endured as a full satisfaction for the least sin for the least oath thou hast ever sworn for the least idle thought thou hast ever conceived c. The reason is all this is but finite and therefore cannot come up to satisfie for an offence of infinite demerit Thus Faith empties a man not only of opinion of Righteousness in himself but of opinion of helping himself by any strength of his own out of this Faith will tell thee There is an eternal Law violated and thou canst not make up that there is guilt of sin and thou art not able to satisfie for that God is an enemy and thou art unable to make him thy friend God is angry and thou art unable to appease him thou art liable to wrath and not able to avoid it thou art under the Curse and art unable to undergo it art cast into debt and art unable to make payment All which being discovered to the soul the soul falls down at Gods feet and saith not with him in the Gospel Have patience with mee and I will pay thee all But Have mercy upon mee for I am unable to pay God bee merciful to mee a sinner Oh! This will make a soul fall down at the feet of God and implore that mercy of God that hee would cancel all the obligations reverse all his Proceedings cross all Books pardon all debts between him and the soul Fourteenth Royalty 14. Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-inriching-Grace 14 Faith is an Heart-inriching and filling-Grace When Faith hath once emptied a man of himself makes him a fit receptacle then it fills his soul with Christ when it hath strip'd a man of his own rags then it puts on the Garments of Christ when it hath made a man poor in himself it inriches the soul with Christ when wee are nothing in our selves then Christ is made all to us Cor humile est vacuum spirituale Wisdome Justification Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 An humble empty heart is the vessel of all Grace So much Emptiness so much Grace Because humility doth empty the heart for God to fill it If the heart bee emptied once it must needs bee filled Non datur vacuum Nature abhors emptiness Grace much more Faith doth inrich the soul with all the merits of Christ with the Spirit of Christ Christ imputed Christ imparted Christ infused with the Righteousness of Christ for Justification with the Holiness of Christ for Sanctification Faith will not want it if Christ have it Faith will not bee poor if Christ bee rich will not bee empty if Christ bee full Ego non sum meriti inops quamdiu ille non est inops miserationum Bernard I cannot bee poor saith Bernard so long as God is rich his Riches are mine Of his fulness I receive Grace for Grace Christ indeed is a Fountain but hee is a Fountain sealed up Hee is a Treasure but hee is a Treasure lockt up to an unbeleeving heart Faith is the Key that unlocks this Treasure opening the Treasuries of Heaven making an inlet of all the Glory of Christ Faith gives the soul communion with all the Riches of Christ So far as it is possible for Christ to bee communicated hee is made ours by Faith by it there is a conveyance made of all the great revenues of Christ. The great stock which Christ did purchase by his Blood is passed over to the beleeving soul There is a Deed of Gift made to such wherein I say Not the whole Righteousness of the Mediator Non tota Justitia Mediatoris sed Justitia tota Mediatoria his essentiall and incommunicable Righteousness but his whole Mediatory Righteousness that Righteousness which Christ purchased for us as Mediator the Righteousness of his active and passive obedience by the one doing our services by the other bearing our scourges by the one as was said before answering Gods commanding Justice by the other answering Gods condemning Justice the one in Praemium to free us from wrath the other in Pretium to intitle us to Glory all this is made ours As Boaz said to his Kinsman Marry the Woman and the Field is thine So when once by Faith wee are married to Christ his Blood is ours his merits ours his Spirit ours all are ours Faith gives us a propriety in all Tu vita mea ego mors tua Tu coelum meum ego gehenna tua Tu Justitia mea ego pâ—ccatum tuum Tu divitiae meae ego paupertas tua So that Faith may break forth into this rapture with that Father Lord I am thy death thou art my life I am thy Hell thou art my Heaven I am thy sin thou art my Righteousness I am thy poverty thou art my Riches And all the Riches which Christ did purchase with his Blood and sit down and think what the Blood of Christ the Blood of God as the Apostle calls it by communication of Properties what this might buy out at the hands of a Father why all this is made thine by Faith So that you see Faith
day and poor to morrow The Lord hath given Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit the Lord hath taken away Both with one breath Hence the wise man Riches make themselves wings and flye away But these are abiding Treasure A Treasure whose spring is in Heaven whose Foundation is in Christ Our life is hid with Christ in God not only hid for secrecy but hid for safety It is a safe life an abiding life Nay but if they should continue yet will they do us no good in the day of trouble They cannot save our souls from nor in the day of wrath They cannot save us from sicknesse nor from death not from Hell Nor are they able to mitigate our Torments to purchase one drop of water in that lake of fire What profit had Ahab of his Vineyard Baltazar of his cups Dives of his wealth Judas of his thirty-pence Agrippa of his gay apparel The rich fool of his full barns All these would do them no good Neither quench nor bribe these flames but rather afford Oile to increase them But now Grace that riches which Faith doth inrich us withall it is such as will uphold us in sickness bee a choice cordial in that bitter potion it will deliver us in death save us in the day of wrath and inable us to lift up our heads with joy and boldness in the day of Judgement that terrible day of the Lord when the wicked shall tremble before the Judge and call upon the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills to cover them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Hast thou other riches and wantest thou Faith Hast thou Mountains of Gold Rocks of Diamonds shores of Rubies And wantest thou Faith wantest thou Grace Oh! thou art a poor man Thus you see Faith is an Heart-inriching-Grace A Beleever hath title to all A Beleever is the poorest and the richest man in the World As none is poorer than a godly man in himself so none is richer than a Beleever in Christ Hee is as having nothing and yet possessing all things Christ is the Heir of all things All are yours if you bee Christs No sooner can the soul say Christ is mine but hee may say His Blood is mine his Spirit mine his Glory mine all is mine Christ and all his are conveyed and made over by the same Deed of Gift Hence the Apostle saith Wee are made partakers of Christ Not of some part but of Christ all Christ not of Justification only but say Christ and there is all Fifteenth Royalty 15. Royalty Faith is an Heart-raising-Grace 15. Faith is an Heart-raising-Grace There is a threefold Death that Faith doth raise up the soul from 1. The Death of Sin 2. The Death of inward Trouble 3. The Death of outward Trouble 1. Faith raiseth up the soul from the Death of Sin Wee are all of us Dead by nature in trespasses and sins Ephes 2.1 Dead-Born And as dead men so wee have no notion to spiritual things no motion no strength to any good no sense being insensible of the weight of sin insensible of mercies and judgements wee have no desires after any thing good no affection to them And a Death it is not only Privative A meer absence and privation of spiritual life but a Positive Death wherein there is an Introduction of a Positive vitious Habit. As in Natural Death there is not only a Privation of Life of the former form but the Position of another form there is another form left in the body So in Spiritual Death there is not only a meer Absence a bare Privation of Life But there is a Positive Evil and Vitious Habit left in the soul Hence Heb. 9.14 The works of natural men are called Dead works There would bee a contradiction in calling them Dead works if unregenerate men were only deprived of spiritual life and had not another positive evil form in them Thus dead wee are then not only Privatively but Positively And it is Faith which doth raise up the Soul from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace Faith is the Resurrection of the Soul from under the spiritual death the Death of Sin The first rise of the Soul from the Death of Sin is by beleeving Vita sancta aâ— fide sumit initium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fide regeneramut Calv. Resipiscentia non modo fidem subsequitur sed ex ea noscitur Calv. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fides justificationem praecipit sanctificationem efficit Tilen An holy life hath its rise from Faith The Fountain of all our spiritual Graces The worker of all good things That which begets Love Fear Repentance Hence Calvin saith Faith regenerates Repentance doth not only follow Faith but doth arise from Faith Hence Clemens Alexandrinus Faith is the first awakening the first inclination of the Soul to Christ. Hence by some Faith and the New Creation Faith and Sanctification do differ as much as the Cause and the Effect Faith is the Instrument of Justification but the efficient of Sanctification They who distinguish Regeneration which is part of our Vocation and Sanctification do make Faith and Sanctification differ as much as Cause and Effect Vocation say they produceth Faith â—nd Faith being begotten produceth Sanctification both habitual and â—ctual Hence it 's called the Mother-Grace But they who make Vocation and Sanctification all one and both to bee nothing else but our inherent Righteousness or those Habits that frame of Grace implanted in the Soul whereof Faith is a part they do say Faith doth not produce the Cause of the Habits of Graces but Faith produceth the acts of Grace of Love Repentance c. Faith doth not produce the Habits but the acts of Grace For the clearing of this Sanctification may bee considered as it is either In actu primo vel secundo 1. Habitual Or 2. Actual 1. For our Habitual Sanctification There wee say the Spirit of God is the only Cause and Faith is an Effect as well as others Faith is a part of our inherent Sanctification 2. For our Actual Sanctification or as those Habits do act and exercise and there wee say Faith doth help to produce the acts of Grace of Love of Repentance 1 Tim. 1.5 Love out of a pure heart and a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned Faith doth not only lend an hand to its Fellow-Graces for the perfecting of Grace but Faith doth help to produce the Acts of Grace the Acts of Love of Repentance Zeal Patience c. Though at the same time they bee all implanted yet in Nature Faith hath the precedency and helps to produce the Acts of all the rest As God the Father is before the Son in Nature yet not in Time Hee is not a Father till hee have a Son So is it to bee understood concerning Faith and all other Graces 2. Faith raiseth us up
as it was said of the sending of Christ that universal Mercy that summum genus of Mercy when the fulness of time was come God sent his Son So when the fulness of time is come God will send us our desires bestow the Mercy And therefore hee can wait A weak Faith is quickly worn out it cannot wait if God come not presently it is cast down and can wait no longer You see this in the Two Disciples going to Emmaus Wee hoped that this should have been hee that should have delivered Israel but hee is dead and this is the third day They might have waited a little longer they were too quick and hasty what though the third was come it was not yet expired great things might have been done yet before night But weak Faith is impatient of delayes This evil proceedeth from the Lord shall I wait on him any longer was the voice of that wicked King 2 King 6.33 Every vision faileth Ezek. 12.22 so they and too often many better than they But now a strong Faith will hold out in delaies yea and pray more earnestly As you see David did who though his Eyes failed his Flesh failed though his Heart failed yet hee renewed his supplication from day to day The like in Daniel in the Woman of Canaan in Hannah and in the Blind man hee was blamed for his importunity and was yet the more importunate Such a man knows that hee who hath any thing from God must continue in Prayer Jacob all night David day and night Jonah three dayes and nights Daniel one and twenty dayes and nights Moses forty dayes and forty nights God often defers his people to inhance and raise up the price of mercy to make them more fit for mercy more thankfull for mercy And therefore hee can wait 2. Strong Faith cannot only take long delaies But denyals well It can submit to denials as well as to grants You see it in David Hee had strong desires for the continuance of the life of his Child God denyed it See how calm how submissive hee was in the denyal insomuch that hee was a wonder to all his servants A weak Faith doth faint and is discouraged at the denyals of requests It cannot tell how to take a denyal of God but a strong Faith can take denyals as well as grants A strong Faith is clear in this that God is a Father and therefore his denyals are in mercy all is for good hee knows if God hear him not according to his will Etsi non ad voluntatem tamen ad sanitatem yet according to his good A strong Faith submits to Gods wisdome and Gods will who is the only VVise Wee may desire a thing at Gods hand and in our wisdome may judge it to bee good But God in his Wisdome who knows the issue of things sees it will bee for our hurt and therefore denies it And Faith submits to his wisdome and follows him as a blinde man his guide Wee may ask some things too earnestly which are more profitably denyed then granted As Solomon said of Adonijahs request so I may say of many of ours Wee ask our lives wee desire our Bane such things as would hurt us and undo us And are not those things mercifully denyed which without hurt cannot bee granted This is to cross us with a Mercy A child desires a knife of the Father The Child sees no hurt in it but the Father doth And shall wee not then submit to the Wisdome of our Father A man may desire this evil to bee taken away this cross this affliction to bee removed this temptation this corruption to bee taken away God denies it seeing it best for a man to bee exercised with them And Faith will submit Again a man desires this outward mercy it may bee Riches may bee Honours the great things of the World And thinks it may bee if God did raise him hee would raise God if God would make him great hee would make God great But now God denies this God sees it is better that thou want them than injoy them And Faith submits to Gods Wisdome Voluntas Dei optima si optima optima vult and to Gods Will in it Gods Will is his will and saith Not my will but thy will bee done Gods will is the best and being best wills what is the Best both for his own glory and our good Again thou desirest some spiritual mercy from God Perhaps thou desirest Perfection of Grace in this life and God sees it is better that corruptions should dwell in thee as the Lees among the Wine to keep the Wine sweet to humble thee or that they might bee as pricks in thy eyes and goads in thy sides to make thee more forward and fervent in holy performances Perhaps thou desirest a great deal of Knowledge with Saul to bee higher by the head and shoulders than thy fellow Christians Or with David to bee wiser than thy Teachers God denies it and Faith takes the denyal knowing all is for the best It may bee it might beget pride this would puff up it would bee too great a sail for so smal a Boat and rather over-turn thee than set thee forward Perhaps thou desirest to injoy the continual light of Gods countenance to bee like the Island of Rhodes in perpetuo Sole in continual Sun-shine But God denies it thou art sometimes in the valley of tears as well as sometimes in the Mountain of Joy Thou hast cloudy and clear dayes calmy and stormy seasons And Faith submits to this denyal It sees all is for the best That wee should not have our Heaven upon Earth This might occâ—sion spiritual Pride as you see in Paul It might occasion a common esteem of so great a mercy And therefore submits Thus you see how a strong Faith is strong in Prayers can take long delaies and submit to denyals too from God My Brethren this is the strength of Faith that can bee so strong in Desires so patient in Delayes so submissive in Denyals Here is strong Faith 10. Strong Faith hath strong desires to go to Christ by death and that Christ should come to him by Judgement 1. To go to Christ by death A Beleever hath Vitam in Patientiâ Mortem in Desiderio Hee hath Life in Patience Death in Desire Life is his Sea where hee meets with nothing but storms Death is his Harbour Life is his way his Inne at the best But Heaven is his Home There his best Friends are there his chief businesse lies there is his abiding-place and thither hee desires to go A weak Faith is loath to dye is afraid of death hee hath not yet gotten his Evidence sealed his hope in his hand But when this is done then with Paul I desire to bee dissolved Or with Simeon when hee had once gotten Christ into his armes Lord Now lettest thou thy servant depart in Peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation You hear how
inlightened cannot serve God so cheaply with quiet of Conscience as others who are not can Now there are some who are far convinced some who are further inlightened than others And conscience calls out upon them for more work to bee done And to answer the meer calls of Conscience a man far inlightened may do much in the wayes of God and yet his spirit bee unsound 2. To pacifie the quarrels to satisfie the gripes and gnawings of conscience It is usual with men under the pangs and stings of conscience To run to the springs of duty to the plaisters of prayers meerly for this end To get present ease and quiet to their burdened Consciences And they often compass their end by this means and get some present ease though not a setled and substantial Peace Such as their disturbance is such is their Peace As their disturbance was not spiritual for sin so their Peace it is not spiritual arising from a cure As conscience was wounded by walking to that common light and natural Principles in it So is it put in joynt again by walking answerable to them which works though but common and general yet being all their light discovers they may by the performance of them get some present ease though not a sound and setled Peace Wee read The Heathens had stings of Conscience when they sinned notoriously against the Light and Principles of Nature And wee read they had Peace and quiet when they observed those things which their light discovered to them As their Terrors did arise from Convictions of Conscience upon the doing of such things as were contrary to the Principles of Nature so their Peace did arise from the observance of such things as were agreeable to that common Light and Principles they had So it is here Their Conviction doth arise from some Common not saving Light 1. Because it discovers gross sins not secret sins 2. It discovers open sins not spiritual sins 3. It discovers no sin as sin in the Nature of it Some sins it discovers not at all And so their Peace doth arise from some common Performances some general works not special and saving And this is one end why some may abound in outward Performances to make themselves a Plaister of the ingredients of Prayers and Duties to heal their woundâ—d consciences I have sometimes thought that Conscience in this case is something like to the disease which they call the Wolf in the body If you feed not it they are wont to say It will feed upon you And therefore in this case it is said they used to give it flesh that so by feeding on that it might not gnaw upon them and by that means have some present ease though the cure bee not wrought So it is with Conscience When once the mouth of Conscience is opened if a man do not feed it it will devoure him And therefore men in this case do feed Conscience with duty which for present procures them ease though the cure bee not wrought And indeed to speak truth such men do not desire the cure They desire ease but not the cure Peace not Purging Quiet not Healing They would willingly bee rid of the pain but keep the Tooth of Trouble but keep the sin of the evil caused not of the evil causing The cure would bee as deadly to them as the wound to part with the sin as to indure the smart And therefore seeing there is a middle-way to bee gone that they may procure their present Peace and yet keep their sin They will go that way and labour to still the clamours of Conscience by bribing it with Duty feeding it with Prayers that so they may procure Peace and yet keep their sins Other ends there are which are more low than the former 1. For Ostentation and Pride of Gifts A corrupt heart may have the Gift of Prayer though not the Grace of Prayer yea and bee more eminent therein than they who have the Grace of Prayer They may exceed others in expressions who yet do exceed them in affections And for Pride Ostentation in Gifts A corrupt heart may abound in duties and performances 2. For Affection Credit esteem of the World That they may bee accounted holy men to have a Name they are living when yet they are dead men 3. For the advancement of their worldly designes By this craft they have all their gain It may bee this fills their shops fills their houses Quantas nobis divitias c. Godliness is great gain and some make a gain of godliness Now there are vile wretches who make God Religion holy duties to serve their own base ends who make them but a stalking-horse the better to pursue their own game their own gain Like Water-men who row one way but look another They row towards Heaven in outward works with the Oar of Religion but they look towards the World their own ends in heart Their eyes are after their gain Who will shew them any good Their feet are going toward Zoar with Lots Wife but their heart toward Sodome They serve God with their bodies but Mammon with their spirits 4. That by this means They might procure Gods blessing on them in this life Oh! think they if I do not pray God will not bless mee in my shop to day c. And therefore do it to procure Wealth Wee read the Sadduces who denyed that there was any Angel or Spirit or Resurrection and so by consequent all reward of any service after this life being thereupon demanded why they did then keep the Commandements they answered That it might go well with them in this life So there are some whose thoughts go no higher than that God would bless them God would bestow upon them these belly-blessings As they sell God for gain so they serve God for gain With these many other ends might bee laid down why a corrupt heart may abound in outward performances But thus much bee said for the second We have two other things to do more before wee come to Application 1. To shew you what are the grounds that a corrupt heart may so abound in outward performance 2. Where the fault is Or how it comes to pass that a man may do thus much in the wayes of God and yet bee unsound yet miss of Heaven at last Wee will begin with the first of these two which is the third thing propounded 3. What the grounds are whence it ariseth that a corrupt heart may abound in outward Performances 1. The first ground is Natural Conscience or that Inbred Light which is in the conscience of men by nature Every man hath a Conscience in him and this Conscience doth acknowledge that there is a God one who is Being of Beings Cause of Causes and not only so but thereupon that this God is to bee worshiped and served by the Creature Though Conscience cannot discover the True God or the True Worship yet it doth conclude there is a God
instance you see here it was the practise of Moses The former Chapter tells you of his Dangers and Fears The Egyptians pursued him vers 8 9 10. Together with Moses behaviour and demeanour in these straits vers 13 14 15. Where first you see his Faith vers 13 14. And the 15th verse implies his Prayer Though wee read of none expressed yet there is one implied The Lord said unto Moses wherefore cryest thou unto mee speak unto the Children of Israel that they go forward By which is implied that Moses his spirit did mightily wrestle with God in Prayer although wee read not of any words hee there uttered And in this Chapter you may read of his praises for that great deliverance which God had wrought for them No sooner was hee come to shoar but hee singeth forth the praises of God both for their own deliverance and the enemies destruction So that these words that I have read unto you they are a part of a Psalm of Thanksgiving for the glorious and wonderful deliverance of the Children of Israel from the host of Pharaoh The summe of all you shall see in the 9 10 11. verses where you may read these three things 1. Mans purposing 2. Gods disposing 3. The Churches retribution 1. Mans purposing in vers 9. which was bloody enough 1. The Enemy said I will pursue 2. I will overtake 3. I will divide the spoil 4. My lust shall be satisfied upon them 5. I will draw my sword 6. My hand shall destroy them Here was a bloody purpose and all was done in their thoughts 2 Wee have God disposing in the next vers Thou didst blow with thy wind the sea covered them and they sank as lead in the mighty waters And then 3 Here is The Churches Retribution set down in a way of Admiration of God excellencies Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods Who is like unto thee glorious in Holinesse fearful in Praises Doing wonders Here is the Church Riding in Tryumph in a majestick solemnity admiring of God and triumphing in him as she doth still in all her songs of praises for Deliverances See Judg. 5. and 1 Sam. 2. at the beginning and most elegantly in Isa 25.9 Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him and wee will bee glad and rejoyce in his salvation Wee will hold you no longer in the Preface that which I shall commend unto you from the words is this Doct. The Wonderfull God doth do wonderfull things for his Church and people Hee doth not only do wonders simply but great wonders Psal 136.4 nay mighty wonders Dan. 4.3 Amazing astonishing wonders for his Church and people In the prosecution of this doctrin wee will go through these five things We will shew you 1 The truth of it That God doth do wonders 2 The ground and reason why God doth such wonders 3 What those wonders are which God doth 4 When is the time that God doth these wonders 5 Whether God will do a wonder for us 1. Quere 1 For the first of these That God doth do great wonders for his Church even such things as are above our thoughts above our hopes above our expectations above our reason to conceive above our faith to beleeve The whole Scriptures are but the Annals or the records of the wonders which God hath done for his Church and people You can all tell me what wonders God did for his people in Egypt The Psalmist tells you so Psal 78.12 Marvellous things did hee for them in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt And you know what wonders hee did for them at the Red-sea when there was nothing but death before them death behind them they were surrounded with death Yet then God unbared his arm and caused the Red-sea to divide it self Vehiculum Sepulchrum which became a passage to the one and a grave to the other And wonders hee did for them in the wilderness Not a day without a wonder Every day was the Birth of a wonder Hee gave them bread from heaven he gave them water out of the rock Read the 78 Psalm at your leasure and the 9. chap. of Nehemiah and in them you shall see a little Chronicle of the great wonders which God hath done for his Church and people But to the Doctrin That God doth do wonders for his Church and people 1 God hath wonderfully disappointed great plots and desperate counsels and designs against them Wee will give you an instance of this in Hamans time Haman had a desperate plot for the ruine of the Church and people of God you may read it in the 3d. of Esther 8 9 10. to the end In brief it was this To overthrow and put to death all the Jews upon pretence that they kept not the Kings laws Here was their plot The disappointment of it you shall read in the 6. 7 8. Chapters The means whereby this design was broken was but small and therefore the greater was the wonder the more visible was the hand of God The breaking of the Kings sleep was the breaking of this design as you read Elish 6. beginning The King could not sleep well what then Could hee not lye still in his bed No he must have a book and that book the book of Chronicles and that Book must bee opened where accidentally though surely guided by Providence hee opens and reads that passage recorded concerning Mordecai where was registred his faithfullnesse in discovering and disappointing of a murther intended against the King Wherupon God set this act of faithfulness so close upon the Kings heart that hee could not rest till Mordecai was rewarded for it And this reward must be Hamans ruine his advancement Hamans abasement And this was the rise of Hamans disappointment The like you have Dan. 6.4 5. There was a great design the Nobles had against Daniel They saw Daniel was faithfull to the King and they could find no way to insnare him unlesse it were in something that concerned the law of his God And therein if they could find any thing in his obedience to God that might render him disobedient to the King they should then have their desire of him And therefore their Plot was this To make a Decree that who ever should ask any Petition either of God or man for the space of thâ—â—â—y dayes save only of the King he was to be thrown into the den of Lyons Well the Plot took according to the Desire of their hearts for notwithstanding this decree Daniel made his Prayers and supplications to his God three times a day as you see in the 10 11. verses Upon this they go and tell the King Hast not thou O King made a Decree that none should ask any Petition of God or man save of thee c. Here is one Daniel of the Captivity who regards not thee O King nor the decree thou hast
therefore as Pilates Wife said to her Husband Have nothing to do with that just man so I say to you Have nothing to do by way of offence against the Church and People of God you will but ruine your selves in seeking their ruine Gods Church is both too heavy and too hot for you see them both Zach. 12.3 There God saith of his Church That hee would make it a burthensome stone who ever lifteth at it shall bee crusht in peeces though all the Nations of the world be gathered together against her yet all will be to no purpose For God will make his Church a burdensome stone that whosoever lifteth at her shall be crushed in peeces Hee doth not say whoever lifeth it up for that cannot bee but whoever lifteth at it whoever seeks to hurt it shall crush themselves Their very attempt shall bee their destruction Haman lifted so long at this stone that it fell on him at last and crushed him to peeces Pharaoh followed the Children of Israel so long that there was no return at the last he was buried in the waters Julian attempted evil against the Church so long till at last God from heaven struck him slew him The Church God makes too heavy for his enemies and too hot too As you see in the 6. verse of that 12th Chapter of Zach. In that day will I make the Governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire in a sheaf and they shall devour all the people round about All the encounters of wicked men against the Church is but like a sheaf of straw encountring with a torch of fire that burns themselves Whiles the iron is in its own nature you may handle it and deal with it but if once the nature of Fire be put to it then ware your fingers if you prove so bold and hardy as to touch it Wee say He that shoots in a peece overcharged strikes down himself not that hee aimed at There was never man who levelled peece against the Church but hee shoots in a peece overcharged and shall be sure at last to be struck down with its own recoil They shall but lay snares to take themselves dig graves to bury themselves in make rods for their own backs and pave a way for their own destruction at last Isa 54.15 16 17. Behold the enemy shall gather himself but without mee whosoever shall gather himself in thee against thee shall fall Behold I have created the Smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and him that bringeth forth an instrument for his work and I have created the destroyer to destroy No weapon made against thee shall prosper every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement shalt thou condemn This is the heritage of the Lords servants c. God will work wonders for the deliverance of his Church and for the destruction of the wicked at last Let this bee for caution therefore to the wicked persecutors 3. Use Let this bee for incouragement of Gods People 3 Use of Incouragement to the People of God in these Times of danger and trouble Though our condition bee very sad at this time Our enemies strong we weak they full of rage and bitterness against us yet there is no cause of fears nor of discouragement 1 There is no cause of fear seeing wee have a God on our side and such a God as is able to do wonders for us You may set God against all the strength and provisions of the Arm of flesh Thus you see David did Psal 20.7 Some trust in Charriots and some in Horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God He set God against all Alas what are Castles and Forts what are multitudes of men what are riches what is Provision of horse the Psalmist tells you Psal 33 17. A Horse is but a vain thing to save a man Isa 31.3 Their Horses are flesh and not Spirit Prov. 21.31 The Horse is prepared against the day of battel but safety is of the Lord. All this and whatever an adversary may have to glory in is but an arm of flesh but you have a God and a God that can do wonders for you I will boast in God saith the Prophet all the day long Give not way then to sinkings of Spirit you have no cause of fears if you look above as well as below if you converse with Heaven as well as with Earth Indeed if wee look below God for the relief of the weaknesse of our Faith hath stirred up the hearts of our worthys and People to afford so willing a concurrence in the service of the King and Kingdome at this time But this is not our strength Look above and you have a God who can who will do wonders for you Fear is utterly unbeseeming 1 A Christian who is the souldier of Christ 2 Religion which is the Cause of Christ 1 It is unbefitting a Christian For the Righteous should be bold as a Lyon Let the sinners in Zion be afraid not you who have so great a God as can do wonders for you Luthers spirit doth well befit a Christian especially in these days who when hee was disswaded from going to Wormes about some extraordinary businesse of the Church because of some Plots laid against him he makes reply Vocatus ingrediar etsi scirem tot esse Diabolos Wormatiae quot sunt tegulae in aedium tectis I am called to it and though every tile in the City were a devil I would go This was Resolution and courage befitting a Christian who is a souldier of Christ And 2 Fear is unbeseeming Religion which is the cause of Christ A good cause should have a good courage It was the speech of Luther to Melancthon who was an holy though a fearful man when Melancthon had discovered his fears to him If our cause be not good let us desist and leave it If it bee good let us go on couragiously Christs cause and a Cowards heart are ill coupled together Gods People are too apt to this And therefore doth Christ steel the heart of his Disciples against it Fear not little flock Though a little flock yet there is no cause to fear having so strong a Shepheard And fear not worm Jacob though a worm and weak apt to bee trod upon yet fear not Isa 41.13 14. I will help thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer the holy-one of Israel And Who art thou that are afraid of a man that shall dye and forgets the Lord thy maker Arguing if they had not forgotten God they would not have feared man VVhat though they bee carried on with all head-strong violence to seek our ruine what though their purposes be cruel God can 1 Calm them still them as hee did the Sea Peace and bee still as he did Esau when he came against Jacob. 2 Stop them in their way Hee that Sets bounds to the Sea and saith hitherto shalt thou come and