is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
at If you mean to shine as Angels do the Work of God with Angels if you would be where Christ is be at the work that Christ was And let me tell you your time is but short and you have done but little work none at all to purpose and 't is not long till your Crown shall be put upon your head and will you not be ashamed then to wear so rich a Crown for so poor a Service To have God pay you so great wages for so little work done Certainly if ever it come to your share to be saved you will when the Crown is putting upon your head blush for shame to think of your cowardise and your laziness that you should wear a Crown that have done so little work Fifthly The Lord will do thy work do thou but his work and he will do thine The Lord will take the care and charge of thee to bring about thy ends for thee many of you are sparing in Christs work because of so many distractions of your own others of you wave Christs work out of love to your own I mean the World What will become of my Family Wife and Children Oh unbelieving wretches set your hearts to do Gods Work and he 'l take the care of your Families and Children upon himself set thy face to the Sun and these shadows will follow you The Lord is a sun and a shield the Psal 84. 11. Lord will give grace and glory the Lord will give grace i. e. honour and esteem among men the favour of men and glory too in the World No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Set thy face then toward this glorious Sun serve him and these shadows will follow thee Solomon you know askt for Wisdom that he might discern between good and bad and judg the people and God tells him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked riohes and honours therefore I will give thee riches and honours Solomon his great care and work was to rule a State well and the Lord gave him all the rest he set his face to the Sun and the shadows followed him Oh then Sirs Act for God up and be doing do his work and he 'l do yours There are these three Things attend the man that gives himself to do work for God 1. There shall not any evil hurt thee The three children were in the fire and yet the fire did not could not hurt them In the fire and in the water saith God I will be with thee there shall not any evil hurt thee Whereas if thou dost not thy good things shall they shall hurt thee Thy riches and thine honours they shall lift thee up and there make thy head giddy upon the top of thy glory and then thou comest tumbling down like a drunken fool into shame and hell it self Tolluntur in altum ut lapsa graviore ruant 2. All creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve the man that serves his God The Whale shall serve Jonah to carry him to the shore Indeed the poor man at that time ran from Gods work yet because he was his Servant the fish shall swallow him that it might save him The Ravens shall feed Elijah I will hear the heavens saith God and they shall Hos 2. 21. 22 hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Thus all creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve that man that serves his God Whereas else they all groan under thee and above thee The Heavens above groan over the sinner and cry out How long Lord how long shall we bestow our influence upon this Enemy of thine The Earth groans under the unprofitable servant and crys out How long Lord how long shall I bear this useless burden Nay Christ himself is weary of this fruitless Tree how long shall we stand Cut it down why cumbers it the ground 3. Thou that art at thy Lords work the Angels shall come out of Heaven to guard thee thou art a greater man than the greatest General under the Sun thou hast the Angels to be thy Life-guard Are they not all ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore let 's see who dare touch thee Take heed Matth. 18. 10. saith Christ that ye despise or hurt not one of these little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Jacob saw a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and Angels descending and ascending Vse 10. The last Vse shall shew you how God makes Additions to his Saints graces And herein his Methods are various if not unsearchable yet by fathoming we may sound some of them though not the bottom As grace it self is a Mystery so the increase of grace especially being carried on by such Mysteries And therefore the contrivement whereby God increaseth grace is excellent worth the knowing that we may know what he is doing with us in his Providences and may read the Mind of God in many of his proceedings In a word how shall we help on the work if we know not Gods Method in working 1. The Lord increaseth grace in his People by their Faith Faith is one of the Graces and therefore needs support her self but she is the mouth of all the rest that speaks for them to God in Prayer and sucks nutriment for them out of the Breasts of the Promises Sirs The case is this Faith lives upon Christ and all the Graces live upon Faith When there is a famine in the Land of the soul Faith goeth up to our Brother Joseph in Egypt and brngs home Corn Faith is the Mother-grace and as the old bird the Dam flyeth abroad and fetcheth in food to her young ones and distributes it to them all in the nest So Faith takes Wing when the graces sit hungry and in want at home I say then Faith takes Wing and flyeth to Christ in the promise she comes home with her mouth full and serves all the graces they are fed by her And therefore the Scripture saith That the just lives by faith Which expression the Apostle Paul makes use of in two of his Epistles First in Rom. 1. 17 The just shall live by faith that is in respect of forgiveness of sin and in respect of Righteousness or Justification before God But in Heb. 10. 38 where he useth this same phrase The just shall live by faith The Apostle speaks of the Saints perseverance and standing fast in all their troubles and temptations Now Faith is the prime grace that helps and succours all the rest Hope lives upon Faith for the hope of a Christian is but poor in fruition we can hope no longer than we believe He that hopes and expects the things promised must by Faith live upon the certainty of the promise
him off But it was a great sin insomuch that Christ saith If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me So again when the Samaritans would not receive Christ his Luk. 9. 54. Disciples James and John said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did 7thly Satan tempts to extreams Satan will not have you do a thing in season and when it is too late then he will make you mad upon doing of it Thus he would not let the children of Israel go into Canaan when they had the gate of season open and when they had Gods good will to go in But when 't was too late when 't was a sin to desire to go when God had shut the gate of opportunity and set a lock of prohibition on it as you know when you walk or travel you shall find gates not only shut but a lock also put upon them for security and then you conjecture that not only you cannot but you must not go through such a place or piece of ground or where there was a stile to go over a mans land when you come again and find the stile taken up and a hedg made you conclude that now it is not the owners pleasure that any passengers should make a thorow-fare there any more So it was with Israel God offered them and made a stile for them to step over into Canaan The Lord thy God hath set the Deut. 1. 21. land before thee go up and possess it and then they would not for they sent spies to search the land and upon their report wept and murmured and wisht Would God we had dyed in this Numb 14. 2. wilderness Vse 2. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then humble your selves in that you are so capable and receptive of Satans motions He is a willing agent so we are willing patients we are wont to say that the receiver is as bad as the thief and the harlot that entertains the motion is as bad as the adulterer So my Beloved when Satan tempts and you sin you are as bad as the tempter you are his Harlots that consent to his adulterous motions thy consent to his temptation makes thee one with him What makes two persons at any time one Consent Thus consent makes two persons one in marriage and consent makes two persons one in a Design or Action so thy consent with Satan makes thee one with Satan and as bad as he is If an adulterer should tempt a mans wife to lewdness though he would hate the Adulterer yet he would lay the greatest blame upon his wife and take it most unkindly from her and break his heart with grief that she whom he loved so well should deal so ill with him So when Satan that great Adulterer tempts thee to sin though Christ hates him for it and will at last be revenged on him for jealousie is the rage of a man Prov. 6. 34. therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance yet he takes it most unkindly at thee that thou Saint whom he loved so well that thou sinner for whom he shed his blood that thou professor who art his bride should hearken to such a base fellow as Satan is And therefore do not put your sins off from your selves to Satan do not think that because he tempts you you shall not answer for them I will give you two noted Instances to the contrary The first is Adam and Eve Eve was tempted by 2 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 14. 1 Chr. 21. 1. the Serpent and mark ye she was deceived and beguiled by him and yet see how God curseth Adam and Eve for that sin and entails curses to all their posterity for it The second Instance is that of David who was tempted by Satan to number the people Now to discover our vileness note these two things 1. Satan cannot compel us to sin only perswade us he hath only a perswading slight not an enforcing might And therefore James tells you that every man when he is tempted is enticed James 1. 14. and drawn away of his own lust Though Satan hath a hand and that no small one in tempting of us yet because he doth only allure us and lay baits for us but not constrain us because he cannot make us sin against our wills because our own lust carrieth the chiefest stroke therefore he saith Every man is tempted and drawn away not by the Devil but by his own lust for Satan can do nothing but by our own lusts 2. Because in obeying Satans Temptations we do our own wills We do not sin to serve Satan but to please our selves Eph. 2. 2 3. As wicked men in doing Gods work aim at themselves so in doing Satans work we do it to serve our own selves and therefore it is our sin Vse 3. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then watch against Satan 1. We talk of Travellers that have seen the world over 1. Satan a Traveller one ever saw so much as Satan he hath seen Earth seen the Sea seen Hell seen Heaven as he saith himself that he came from compassing or from going to and fro in the earth 2. Great Conquerors have been crowned for Victories and 2. Satan a Conqueror Extention of their Kingdoms Satan is beyond them all Saul hath slain his Thousands David his ten thousands but Satan his millions 3. If we know that we have an adversary at the next door 3. Satan an Accuser that pryeth into all our courses and upon the least error will sue us on an Action of Trespass we will be circumspect to disable him of advantage Satan no sooner spies our wandrings but he presently runs with a complaint to God and prefers Bills against us in the Star-chamber of Heaven where the matter would go hard with us but for the Great Lord Chancellor of Peace our Advocate Jesus Christ Vse 4. Resist him It is the Apostles precept Whom resist 1 Pet. 5. 9. stedfast in the faith Quest But you will say How shall I resist him Answ 1. Resist thy self and thou resistest Satan I say thou must resist him by resisting thy self Resist thy self and thou shalt resist Satan for Satan tempts thee by thy self he tempts us by making us do our own works oppose thy self and thou opposest Satan stand on thy guard against thy self for Satan tempts thee by thy self Store up Wisdom against him that thou mayst be an Artist against his Temptation Encounter with him find out the out-goings of Satan Answ 2. Satan doth tempt thee by not tempting thee As God is said to punish us by not punishing us not to punish us Hos 4. 14. is the greatest punishment so Satan doth tempt you by not tempting you he tempts you to pride by not tempting you to gross
'l make himself known to none but whom he makes his second self Ah then how are we engaged to God That thou wilt let us know thy face and know thy mind and know thy heart What is this but to make us thy second self 3. God doth not only let us know him but he knows us As the Apostle saith to the Galatians But now after that ye Gal. 4. 9. have known God or rather are known of God We know not God so much as He knows us We are rather known of him than know him 't is more that he knows us than that we know him As when a poor man lives by a great man and knows him it doth not do him so much good that he knows the great man as that the great man knows him and communicates some of his greatness to him The great mans Knowledg of him makes him a great man though he knows the great man yet if the great man know not him and take not notice of him he 's never the better So we may by nature know God and by the Scripture know the Attributes of God yet this doth us no good unless the Lord know us and communicate his riches and greatness to us It is the happiness of the Subject that his Prince will know him All the Honour of one that is in low degree springs from the Knowledg his Superior takes of him Zacheus ran and went up in Luk. 19. 3. to the Sycamore-tree that he might see Christ and know him but it was Zacheus happiness and the rise of his Honour that Christ would know him and cast an eye upon him Vse 4. The next Vse is an Vse of Tryal Try your Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven Every one is prone to approve and think well of his own Knowledg especially those that have higher parts of Understanding than others that can discourse of Divine things that have a speculative apprehension and quick fancy And therefore try your Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven By way of Preface into this Vse of Tryal let me shew you three things There are three ways to know God 1. By the Contemplation of the Creatures which is proper to the Gentiles I say proper to the Gentiles in this sense That they had no other glass to see God in no other book in which they could read the Divine Excellencies The book of the Creature was the only Scripture they had wherein God was discovered to them and in it they might have seen and read much of God as the Apostle argueth For the invisible Rom. 1. 20. things of him from the creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and God-head so that they are without excuse 2. By the report of Scripture and the reading of Scripture and this was proper to the Jews This was their priviledg or advantage as the Apostle saith For unto them were committed Rom. 3. 2◠the oracles of God that is they received all the Revelations of his Will the Law and the Prophecies they were the only people with whom God thought fit to deposite all these they were the only Cabinet in which God laid up the Jewel of the Scripture To them and for them he wrote his Law He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments Psal 147. 19 20. unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments they have not known them 3. By Christ which is proper to Christians The Knowledg of God which they get who know him by the Creatures is like that Knowledge which we have of a man only by seeing some of his Workmanship which he hath wrought The Knowledge of God which they get who know him by the holy Scriptures I mean a literal Knowledg is like to that Knowledg which another gets of a Famous learned Man by reading the things which he hath written The Knowledg of God which they get who know Christ is like to that Knowledg which one hath of the King by having seen his Image or rather his Son who is the true and very Image of his Father Hence saith Christ to Philip When he said Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us saith Christ John 14. 9. Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then Shew us the Father Now through Gods infinite mercy we have the benefit of all these We have the book of the Creature wherein we may read the Being and Subsistence of God We have besides that the book of the Scripture wherein we may read the Will of God which is a step or stair beyond the other for in the book of the Creature we can read no more than the Being and some attributes of God that God is and that he is wise and powerful c. but not one tittle of his Will there only the book of Scripture shews us the VVill of God the VVill of his Commands what our duty is and what we must do that we may be saved And the VVill of his Decrees disposing of Men and Angels to their last end or eternal state But besides these we Christians have another book written as it were with the Rays of the Sun who is stiled the brightness of his Fathers glory even Jesus Christ I call him a Book for he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of God But he is a book not made of Ink and Paper but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a living Book in whom we read the Treasures of his Fathers Glory Wisdom Love and Mercy to us in our Redemption Of him the first Testament prophesied Him the new Testament declared He was from everlasting yet may be said to be printed and set forth when he was born of the Virgin This is the Christians Book and God was never known visibly till Christ came for he is God manifest in the flesh And 't is the property of the Christian to take up the Knowledg of God in Christ and to believe in God through Christ and to converse with God in Christ He is the Kernel of all the Mysteries of Heaven the sap and quintessence of Religion These being premised we will now give you some Tryals of a saving Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven First They that know the Mysteries of Heaven savingly know them clearly For this is a spiritual Knowledg not only in respect of the Object but also of the Principle Though it be not without the Scripture yet it springs not alone from the Scripture but from the effectual Irradiations of the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation That look as the literal Knowledg makes an Addition of further discoveries to the natural so this spiritual Knowledg superadds even to the literal namely clearness of light My Beloved you must understand it thus The things which the Holy Ghost
his voice to the great World and the Rocks rend Thunder is the voice of God to the great World and in what Majesty doth he express himself to all Creatures below in that voice As there be Thundrings without so there be Thundrings within In great Majesty doth Christ speak to the soul sometimes Ask your Consciences else ask Faelix the Jaylour and Cain else yea ask your Father Adam else what a case were all these in when Christ did but reason with them Yea I ask you Hypocrites if any here is not the way of Christ full of Majesty What means those loads that gather about your hearts and that fearfulness which surpriseth you Thou dost but touch the mountains and they smoke saith the Psalmist so God doth but touch your Consciences and they smoke he doth but whisper within and your spirits fly about every where into the fingers into the face and up into the head and the heart within beats for want of them ready to swoon away Ask wounded spirits whether Gods Word be not full of Majesty Twenty years time not enough to heal the wound of a word of Gods mouth Oh the Majesty of that word Look upon the whole Creation upon the Earth upon the Sea upon the Heavens do they not all-speak the Majesty of Christ God is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the Mighty waves of the Sea The tossings rollings and roarings of the Sea Do they not speak loudly the Majesty of Christ But ah sinner The tossings rollings and roarings of a troubled soul speak the Majesty of Christs word much more Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2. Kingdoms have Supremacy This is Basis Majestatis Christ is a great King over all as the Psalmist titles him Psal 29. God hath set Christ over all so should we as God hath set him so do you over all in all things Now self-denyal is an excellent means that Christ may Reign Thou must deny thy Kingdom that Christ may have his you must lay down your Crowns at his feet that he may wear his Crown upon his Head And this is a sweet Testimony of Grace in the heart if the heart can endure Tribulation that Christ may Reign If it can suffer all things that Christ may do all things if it can lye low that Christ may be exalted when we are most annihilated our Lord and his Mysteries are most admired Sixthly They know thankfully The beams of Knowledg that shine into them melt them into pangs of Thankfulness that they should have the Honour and Happiness to know those things that they know They would not be without Christ whom they know not for a thousand Worlds They would not be without the miracles of love and peace and pardon in Christ which they have and know for all the Worth of India They count themselves to have been no better than brutes and beasts all the time they were without the Knowledg of those Divine Rarities which now they lay up so close in their hearts They adore God that they should know and see those saving secrets which are hid from the eyes of so many round about them Seventhly The true Knowledg of spiritual things doth spiritualize True Knowledg of Religion makes a man Religious Religion in Scripture is called Godliness Without controversie great is the Mystcry of godliness that is The principles of 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christian Religion Godliness is great gain i. e. Christianity The Christian Religion is great gain Thus the Truths themselves are called Godliness Why so Because the true Knowledg of them begets an inward godliness As Religion it self is called Faith and the grace in the soul is also called Faith Why so To shew that Faith begets Faith that is the Truth revealed begets Faith and must be received by Faith Therefore one word includes both the Object the thing believed and likewise the Disposition of the soul to that Object So Religion is called Godliness because the true Knowledg of it begets Godliness Oh! See then what makes a true Christian What when a man nakedly believes Divine Truths When he knows the Principles of Faith doth that make him a true Christian No But when Religion makes him Religious when these Tit. 1. 1. Truths work Godliness for Religion is a truth according to godliness Where the Truths of Religion are embraced there is Godliness with them A man cannot embrace Religion in Truth but he must be godly because Religion is Godliness so it is called for that it tends to beget all Piety and Virtue and Godliness in the heart And therefore if the Mysteries of Heaven work not Godliness a man hath but an Humane Knowledg of Divine things When Lucius a bloody Persecutor offered to confess his Faith hoping thereby to gain an opinion that he was Orthodox Russin Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 6. Moses a Religious Monk refused to hear him saying The eye might sometimes judg of one's Faith as well as the Ear and that whosoever lived as Lucius did could not believe as a Christian ought A man knows no more of Christ than he is sanctified he knows no more of Divine things than he esteems and affects he knows no more of the Mysteries of Heaven than he brings the whole inward frame to be like the things He that saith 1 John 2. 4. I know God and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him No doubt but Hophni and Phineas being Priests had a literal Knowledg of God yet being prophane they are said expresly not to have known him They were sons of Belial they knew 1 Sam. 2. 12. not the Lord. Eighthly If we know God aright we know God in us for we come to know God savingly by Regeneration and so by little and little we come to know God in us knowing in our selves those Divine perfections which the Holy Ghost attributes to God We know the Holiness of God by the Beam of Holiness which he hath irradicated into our hearts We know the love of God by the working of love in us towards him and towards his Saints We know hatred of sin in God by knowing in our selves an hatred of sin we know the Mercy of God by finding in our selves an Image of his Mercy towards our Enemies As Christ saith Be ye merciful as your heavenly Fathers is merciful Luk 6. 36. And it is a clear case We could never know in God Truth Justice Goodness were we not in some measure true just and good it being natural for Man to judg of others according to that which he knows in himself The spirit makes me to know Omnipotency in God through the great Power which he shews in me mortifying me and making me alive The spirit makes me know Wisdom in God by the Wisdom which I get through his Holy Spirit he makes me know Justice in God because he justifieth me in Christ he makes me know Truth
which are wonderful Thy testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my soul Psal 119. 129. keep them There is peace that passeth all understanding joy unspeakable and full of glory There we have the ways of his Wisdom and his dealings with the Saints which are wonderful as Job saith Things too Job 42. 3. wonderful for me which I knew not To bring us to life by death to glory by shame to perfect his work in abasement to bring it low that he may raise after But how may we know these Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. You must use all means you must read and hear and discourse you must study the things of God and converse with the Saints to whom God hath revealed these Mysteries The Ministry of the Word is the golden pipe through which these Divine Mysteries flow down into your Knowledg And then meditate of these things till the heart be warmed fasten your thoughts on them every day It is your Wisdom to spend consideration on them Oh that my people were wise that they would consider their latter end I say it is your wisdom to consider the Excellency of these Mysteries of Religion the Beauty of them in themselves the fruit and sweetness of them in this world and in the world to come An ingredient in the use of means after this Knowledg is that you must search for it The promise of finding Knowledg is only to such as search for Knowledg It is such a precious treasure that it lyeth deep in the bowels of Scripture Thou Prov. 2. 4. shalt find wisdom if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures There are two places two veins especially where wisdom is to be found there is the Book of Gods Word and the Book of Gods Works the Book of Scripture and the Book of Providence In these two Books we are to search and study out the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven The Word reveals them the hand of Providence doth dispense them The Word unfolds them Providence makes all things to further them in the soul And let me tell you One great means to irradiate your Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is to know that Mystery of sinfulness that is in you and that Mystery of misery that lieth upon you It is not to be conceived as Jeremy saith How deceitful the heart is and how desperately wickea what a depth of corruption lyeth there The cursed and woful state we are in by nature is not to be conceived Man's apprehension is too little to take in all the Dimensions of it to lye under the eternal wrath of God what head can comprehend it VVhat created soul can fathom in her widest thoughts the wrath of an infinite God Who can tell what Hell is And how hot the fire is which Gods Almighty wrath hath kindled to all eternity As eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him so neither hath eye seen nor ear heard nor can the heart of man conceive those depths and treasures of misery that men are in by nature Here we may cry out Oh the depths Therefore the more transparent Knowledg we have of the Mystery of Corruption and of the dreadful misery we are in by sin the more we shall wonder at the unparalell'd goodness of God in the Mystery of our salvation the one will sharpen the appetite of the other Truly Sirs if you are yet in the state of sin consider how little there is between you and eternal Death you are ready to drop into Hell immediately and irrecoverably Did these things sit sadly and seriously upon your spirits how would it advance the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven 2. That you may know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven bring Humility and self-denial Humble reason and make her give place to Faith for the humility we here speak of is a Denial of our own Parts and Wits though they be never so capacious In this case the Intellectus must be rasa tabula I say the understanding must be as a Table scraped all the Writings and Notions of humane Wit and Reason must be scraped out It must be like the Wax that hath no Character that it may receive the Impression of the Seal That which reason should do in supernatural things is to stoop to Faith to believe the things of God upon the sole Authority of God Here it is the greatest reason to yield to Faith In Divine Mysteries Faith is the reason of reason and the highest reason is to yield to God that hath revealed them And therefore Faith stands with the greatest reason that can be for is it not the greatest reason in the world to believe him that is Truth it self Reason it self saith It is the greatest reason to believe God who is the first Truth 3. Wait upon the spirit Give the spirit that Honour to reveal these Mysteries to you For your eyes are blind you have an inward darkness upon you the Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit takes away the Vail from our souls The Jews had a Vail of types and shadows thrown over the things themselves now I say Our Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit must take away the Vail from our hearts In Nature there is need of a double light that we may behold Objects 1. A light someness upon the Object it self through the Medium and therefore men cannot see in the night because the air which is the Medium is dark 2. A light besides in the Organ that is the eye and therefore blind men cannot see in the day because though the Sun shines and things may be seen in themselves yet they want a light in the eye So though the former darkness which lay upon the Mysseries of Heaven be taken away those legal shadows and curtains are removed and the Sun of the Gospel shines full upon our faces yet we are blind within there lyeth an inward darkness upon our faculty and the spirit must open our eyes and give us a vital light to joyn with the outward light 4. Send up your prayers to Heaven The holy Vapours of Prayer ascending the spirit comes down in showres upon the soul The earth must send up Vapours before the Clouds can give down rain And therefore Paul prays for the Ephesians That God would give them the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1. 17 18. that the eyes of their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints 5. He that would find the knowledg of Divine Mysteries must seek it with a sanctified mind That which enables us to know and understand aright the things of God must be a living principle of Holiness in us As Plotinus saith The eye cannot behold
not see the way they would not and now they shall not Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes They did hide their eyes from their peace and now their peace is hid from their eyes Consider What are the things whose Knowledg is not given you The Mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven What Sirs Is it the matters of Heaven that are kept from you A curtain drawn between you and heaven Now God's angry indeed A cloud set up to darken salvation and eternal life from you Lord here is thy greatest severity Nay he infatuates the wise and takes the understanding from the prudent He is a severe God to those that act against the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Odys Ψ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath made thee mad who can make the wisest man a fool and strip him of his Intellectuals Do we not see men whom we call wise damn themselves understandingly God draws an horrid Eclipse upon their minds and their See Isa 29. 10 11 12 13 14 verses Sun of Wisdom sets upon them they run madly upon their ruine and most skilfully plot their own destruction God struck Nebuchadnezzar mad and he was driven from Dan. 4. 33. men and did eat grass as Oxen his hairs were grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws he was turned into a beast by the Judgment of God And therefore Sinners are called in Scripture Lyons and Bears and Wolves and Dogs God bereaves them of their understanding they bark against Religion like Dogs and bite the Saints like Dogs they run about snarling and snapping at Gods ways and his People like mad Dogs Thus God is severe in his spiritual Judgments he infatuates the wise and makes them fools they carry on most artificially their own damnation Vse 6. Sinners see your spiritual misery and my God open your eyes that you may see it 1. You have seen many things and if you see not your own misery you see nothing It may be you have seen miserable Objects but if you see not your soul-misery you have seen nothing You have seen War in the Land you have seen garments rolled in blood you have seen your own or other mens estates plundred you have heard the noise of the Trumpet and the beating of the Drum in your streets But now if in a day of peace you see not God at War with your selves if you see not the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven denied to you if you see not your selves plundred of Heaven and stript of light and life if you see not your spiritual estate wallowing in its blood if you hear not the Trumpet of the Gospel calling you to Repentance if you hear not the Drum of Conscience beating against sin in your own bosoms whatever you have heard or seen you have seen and heard nothing 2. Much communicable and nothing had is not this miserable Heaven drops and it drops fatness and yet your souls so lean is not this a Mystery So much to be had and so little enjoyed makes me wonder and grieve Light communicable and yet men have no light Grace communicable and yet men without grace Heaven communicable and yet men drop every day to Hell This is an aggravation of Misery Ah sinners in your Fathers house is bread enough feasting banquetting glorious dishes in Wisdoms house how is it that you have nothing 3. Your sins are aggravated and so will your condemnation be you seeing see not and hearing you hear not you hear and see and yet understand not Doth not this aggravate your sins and make them exceeding sinful You are called and yet you have refused God hath stretched out his hands and yet you have not regarded you shut your eyes and stop your ears lest you should be converted and doth not this greaten your sins and make them odious Glorious power works in the world and yet men lye in their sins Power works gloriously but you feel none you are under the power of sin as if there were no Power of God at all working in the World Sinners this leaves you wholly without excuse there is power enough working to subdue the strongest lust what can you plead How great is that sin which is committed under the neglect of glorious power within the reach of a glorious arm As there is a glorious power so there be glorious sins splendida peccata scarlet crimson sins and these are such as are committed against glorious means glorious light grace and aid Men sin and lay it upon their weakness and so rest and rub on Ah Lord what a life is this God will judg you and lay it upon your wickedness and wilfulness for is not glorious Power present to raise you up Weakness becomes wickedness when it is rested in and pleaded for A soul given to shifting hath no mind to leave his sin there is no damning temper like this you say you have no power to come out of sin 't is not fo there is the Power of God in the Gospel present and ready for you to lift you up And therefore there must be no pleading for sin no not for any sin though never so great and strong The remedy the power is so gloriously All-sufficient Dub. But I pray you Sir tell us How shall we know that the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given unto us Answ 1. You that sleep in your lost estate to you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given The Mysteries of Hell and Damnation are made known to you and yet you awake not What soul is there that doth awake 2. When a man can love a sin in the very face of Divine Mysteries in the very face of Mercy and the face of Glory 3. When the more God forbids a sin the more you bid for it When the more the Commandment comes sin becomes the more sinful and the heart the more stubborn when the more the spirit strives the more sin thrives the more the spirit strives against thy lust the more thou strivest to hold fast thy lust From this man is the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven shut up let him look to himself be-times Vse 7. Sinners go not on to provoke God to deny you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven I told you in the Explication of this Point that God in denying to some the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven observes a Method of Justice that is Sinners deserve it and procure it at the Hands of God I say Sinners deserve blindness and obduration First sensu Negativo in a Negative sense because they deserve not softness of heart that God should mollifie them they deserve not this special mercy Secondly They deserve blindness and hardness of heart in an Affirmative sense because by their Additional sins and daily resistings they deserve a further Hardness and Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Reprobate mind Vse 8. Try your graces Gifts will not save you see that you have not the gift of Knowledg but the grace of Knowledg not the gift of Prayer but the grace of Prayer See that you have not good parts but parts in Christ as our Lord said Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken Luk. 10. 42. from her No man hath good parts till he hath part in Christ Would you try your graces know then 1. Grace acts inwardly It works upon the heart upon the vitals it works upon the subject it is in as physick works upon Nature so doth grace it works upon the very nature and constitution 2. It acts Divinely it doth all for God and for Divine ends He that hath the gift of Prayer prays for himself that he may shew himself as David said to King Achish Thou shalt 1 Sam. 28. 2. know what thy servant can do But he that hath the grace of Prayer prayeth for God he doth not only pray to God but for God that he may have more of God and less of himself more communion with God less communion with himself he that hath the grace of Prayer prays for grace He that hath the grace of patience suffers Divinely because God will have him suffer as David said concerning Shimei Let him alone saith he for God hath bid him curse David 2 Sam. 16. 10. He that hath the Grace of Obedience obeys Divinely he acts with Divine raptures of love to God and zeal for his Glory 3. It acts universally As the Sun being in the Heavens runs its course over all the World so the soul that is fixed in an Heaven of grace runs its course and motion through all the Commandments As the Apostles being universal pastors were not fixed to any place but went Preaching the Gospel all the world over so those that are universal Saints limit and fix themselves to no Commandment but travel over all the world of Gospel-precepts Vse 9. This speaks admirable comfort to many sorts of men who start up doubts and scruples against themselves and follow the scent of them too far so as to hinder them in the way of believing Dub. 1. Saith a doubting soul I am a poor man and despised in the world and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries of Heaven to me Will the Lord look upon me Sol. And why not upon thee Though the Lord be high yet he looks low He humbleth himself to behold the children of men 1. The Lord will not despise thee in that thou art poor because 't is the condition himself hath put thee in Now the Lord doth never despise his own work he despiseth Satans work and Mans work which is sin but he doth never despise his own work he that made thee poor will not despise thy poverty Thou canst not be worse than a beggar a blind beggar we count a beggar to be in a low condition but a blind beggar that cannot see to work for his living we count him very low and yet Christ gives grace to such Mark 10. 47 He was blind and yet he saw Christ by Faith for as soon as ever he heard it was Jesus He cryed out Jesus thou Son of David i. e. the Messiah have mercy on me Christ Jesus before he came at him sent his spirit to teach him to say Jesus thou Son of David Christ Jesus came by that way on set-purpose to reveal himself to the poor beggar 2. Thy Saviour was poor and therefore no marvel if the poor be saved He that made Christ poor will make the poor Christians 3. To chuse God will reveal his Mysteries to the poor rather than to the rich not that he doth despise riches but because the rich despise him they are proud of their riches and think that God is engaged to save them above others because they are great above others They that are rich in estate are rich in conceit Dub. 2. But I have but an ordinary Trade and will the Lord give grace to me Sol. Why not to thee The Lord had as leif Trade with thee as with any other The Apostles many of them were but Fishermen and yet the Lord Christ caught them in his Net his spirit mov'd upon their Waters and took them out of the depths of sin and revealed the glories of Heaven to them so as to none ever before or after them A Fisherman is as ordinary a Trade as any in the World and yet Christ preferred them above all the World and made them the greatest men in Heaven and Earth for himself sits next the Father and the Apostles next him Dub. 3. But I am a Servant an Apprentice I am an Handmaid whose work is the meanest drudgery in the house and will the Lord reveal to me the Mysteries of Heaven Sol. And why not to thee especially if thou art humble If thy Master trust thee with his Estate and Cash will not God trust thee with his Jewels and Graces God is an humble God and will sit with the servant at the lower end of the Table as well as with the Master at the upper end of the Table Nay with God all are round Tables there 's no upper end he respects not the Master more than the Servant in matters Eph. 6. 9. of grace Thou sayest I am but a servant I sit not down with my Master at Table I wait So doth Free-grace it waits too Thy condition is not so low but Free grace goeth lower God waits to be gracious Isa 30. 18. Dogs are lower than Servants and yet Christ gives grace to Dogs to the Woman of Canaan whom he called a Dog Oh woman great is thy Faith The Children of Israel were but Servants and Bondmen in Egypt and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Thou dost the basest service in the house and they made Brick and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Joseph was but a servant and yet how familiar was God with him It is worth your noting Joseph was a Servant all along A servant to his Brethren they sold him as his Masters into Egypt He was a servant in Potiphar's house and yet God reveals his Presence to him there When his Mistris tempted him saith he How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God A man may be a servant to men and yet not a servant to his lusts and then God appears to thee Joseph when he was cast in the Prison was worse than a servant and yet God was with him there God keeps company with Joseph from service to prison and gives him favour in the Jaylours eyes and he trusts him with all his Prisoners When men have command over their lusts God gives them command over men Dub. 4. But yet saith a soul I am a foolish man an unlearned man and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries to me Sol. And why not to thee The Lord loves to be
and falling at his feet thou ragest Well Christ rides on still in the Chariot of his word conquering and to conquer one or other way conquer he will if he cannot conquer thee with love he 'l kill thee in wrath Those that do yield he saves those that will not he slays 4. Christ will Preach over all these Truths again in Hell-flames to thee Thou keepest thy sins and lusts and wilt by no means send them away thou makest nothing of the Word of God because dispensed by Man I tell thee all the Sermons thou now hearest against thy sins all the Truths of God shall one day be Preach'd over again in flames of Fire to thine eternal horrour and that will be a long Sermon All the Sermons of Repentance and Grace thou heard'st here in thy life-time shall in Hell be brought fresh to thy memory thy Conscience shall then Preach them all over to thee in Hell-flames and then 't wil be a woful Sermon Now the Sermon is but an hour long look upon the glass 't is turned and while the glass is running we are Preaching Preaching thee if it be possible into a state of grace this Sermon is but a short Sermon it will end anon and while this glass is running thy glass is running and thy life is hastening but in Hell there 's no glass turned up This and all the Sermons thou ever heard'st will there in flames be Preach'd over to thee again throughout eternity Oh tremble at it It will be a woful Sermon and a long Sermon 't will never have an end Vse 3. Here 's rare comfort to weak grace To them that are but new beginners you complain your grace is but little My Beloved you shall have more 1. Grace at first is but little An Infant when 't is new-born is but little a Tree when 't is first planted is but a little Graff The Cloud that over-spreads the Heavens was at first no bigger than a mans hand Object 1. But I am a Christian of long standing and yet my grace is but little Were I but a new beginner 't were something but I am a long stander yet a short Christian Answ 1. Truly my Beloved blame thy self then chide thy self that thou art a Christian of a long standing and of a short stature It is a disgrace to be so as 't is a disgrace to be an old man and yet a dwarf Christ chides his Disciples for it though they were but of one or two years standing in his School yet he chides them because they had so little Matth. 8. 26. Faith Besides Those that have less Grace shall have less Glory But yet I must say this much 2. That every thing in this life is but little David saith Psal 39. 5. Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth A small measure the Lord knows David lived in all probability threescore years and ten he was King of Judah and Israel forty years and yet he called it but an hand-breadth 3. Thou measurest thy grace with what thou should'st be and then it seems but little A great deal of grace measured with what thou should'st be is but little As Augustine saith Maxima eorum quae scimus Minima eorum quae Ignoramus The much nay most we know is the least of what we do not know so the most we are is the least of what we should be the most we do is the least of what we should do Great Saints are but little to what they should be 4. Compare thy grace with times past and then it may be it is not little and that thou must do Object 2. But I have trifled away my time the time I should have got grace in The Ant provides her meat in summer and gathers her food in the harvest But I have spent my time of gathering and is there any hope that I shall have more 1. Humble thy self for 't is a wondrous sin to lose time because we have but a time to glorifie God here and by our losing of time God doth lose his Glory 2. Yet though thou hast loytered away thy time do not limit Gods time because thou hast past away thy time do not say that Gods time is past 3. It may be thy time of growing is not come yet As Children some shoot up presently in their first years others do not grow till they are sixteen or twenty years and these at last out-grow the others some Saints grow more at first others grow more at last Trees bring forth their fruit in different seasons some sooner and some later There is the first ripe fruit and there is the latter fruit some Trees have their fruit ripe and ready with the spring others not till August others not till Winter there 's the Summer-fruit and there is the Winter-fruit One tree goeth before and hath her fruit ripe one month another hath its fruit the next month another follows and hath its fruit the next month after that And this is the Masters Wisdom that he may have new fruit every month to serve his Table and please his palate so doth God Object 3. But I am a withered tree I did bear fruit but now do not I was once fresh and green but now am dry and blasted I am in part an Apostate I am fallen from my first love I was good and now am worse I do not bear the fruit I did Is there any hopes for me Answ Yes thou mayst recover and therefore away to Prayer and send quickly for the spirit Lose no time I will give you an Instance in another case Nebuchadnezzar was a great tree whose height did reach Dan. 4. 11. 12 14 15. to heaven and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth The leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof much the beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof and all flesh was fed of it And this great Tree Nebuchadnezzar was lopt down fearfully and withered dreadfully he was driven from among men and cast off from his Kingdom seven years But yet the stump of his roots was left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass To signifie that his Kingdom was reserved for him and that he should revive again So thou hast been it may be an high Tree whose top of profession did reach up to Heaven and all the fowls of the air the Saints that live about thee were wont to fly and sit under the boughs and branches of thy gifts to receive Counsel and Direction from thee And now thy leaves are fallen and thy branches cut thy graces lopt thy gifts withered and thou thinkest therefore thou art forsaken But oh man Is not there a stump of thy roots left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass A stump of Faith and Repentance and panting after Christ As long as there is a stump left thou wilt revive again Vse 4. Shall more grace
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
for himself every Principle is for Operation The eye for seeing and the ear for hearing so grace is for work Now I say Christ hath begun a good work in you be you then at his work daily and finish it As it was with Christ the Head so should it be with all his members I have finished the work which thou gavest me Joh. 17. 4. to do The Apostle speaking to the Saints that had grace begun in them saith he As you have yielded your members servants Rom. 6. 19. to uncleanness and to iniquity Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness Peter writing to them saith The time past of our life may 1 Pet. 4. 3. suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles Sirs before you had grace you served sin and having grace will you not stir up your selves to serve Jesus Christ Your so long service to sin should set a keen edg upon you to serve Jesus Christ You live in Times and Places wherein men have so much work of their own to do that Christ is neglected and few men walk with God or act for God Some take mens Examples for patterns and copies and content themselves to do as others do Others are apt to put off Christ with desires but serve Satan indeed Others are catching at comforts and promises but neglect Precepts the Commands of God are tedious and burthensom to them Surely then you in whom the work of grace is begun it stands you upon to be at work for God whilst others shut up shop and are Bankrupts you should drive on a Trade for him 1. For he hath set you up again he hath underlaid and stockt you with Principles of Action he hath put you into a way of doing and given you wheels to move upon he hath made you Wings to fly Object Many excuse their negligence by pretending inability How often do Saints put a fine dress upon their laziness Alas I am nothing of my self except God give me an heart and strength what can I do Without me saith Christ ye can John 15. 5. do nothing Answ Do not deceive your selves God will not be mocked 1. The words of Christ have this meaning without me that is separate from me ye can do nothing that is till you are planted in me Now you say you are planted in Christ and therefore your excuse is but a lye This expression of Christ speaks no more but this that till you be knit to Christ you are but dead and barren Branches as Christ explains himself As the branch cannot bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in Vers 4. me Now you say you are knit and united to Christ and therefore away with these couzening vizors and palliations If you are not yet in Christ then confess it if you say you are in Christ then say not you can do nothing 2. The regenerate have a power to Act for God and to do work for Christ First Else there is no specifical difference between a man regenerate and unregenerate if both were without strength Secondly We should not have as much benefit by the second Adam as we had by the first Adam The first would have communicated his Power to do good and being corrupted doth communicate Power to do evil Therefore much more by Christ have we a Power to act for God in our measure Thirdly If you are in Christ you are living Branches vital Members and all life is a Power to act Fourthly What is grace but a repairing of that Holiness and Image of God which we lost in Adam But that was a Power to do what God required therefore so far as that Image is renewed so far there is a Power And therefore Saints Act for Jesus Christ I say you have wings and therefore fly upon action soar up a lost in Service for Jesus Christ God hath given you feet and therefore run the way of his Commandments God hath said to you as Peter did to the man that was Act 3. lame from his mothers Womb In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk and your feet and ancle-bones received strength And therefore God expects that you should be upon employment for him If you say It is true we have habitual grace a new frame of heart but we must have assisting grace and influence else we can do nothing the work is hard and we cannot act without new breathings I say Let the duty be to nature impossible yet the Lord is at hand to help even when there is no strength He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he Isa 40. 29. increaseth strength You know how the Israelites pleaded impossibilities and then the Lords anger rose when they were ready to enter Canaan If you had no Christ no Spirit no Promise to assure you to help you might then let fall Duties and cease to action and say 't is impossible I should ever overcome such sins or attain such a measure of grace or bear the Cross or do any thing But when Promises to assure you and Christ and Spirit to breathe upon you are at hand now to plead impossibility is to reproach the Lord If you were under the Law you might plead this but under Grace 't is horrible to make this excuse Remember therefore Gideon and Sampson and David who went out in the Name and Spirit of the Lord and they were helped 3. Know this that the more difficult any work or duty is the more sweetness shall you find in it if you break through it He that overcomes shall eat of the hidden Manna Have you not found your selves dead to Prayer yet you fell to it and then would not but have took the season for a world The husbandman that hath laboured eats afterward of his 2 Tim. 2. 6. fruit You plead the difficulty of a Christian life and therefore taste not the sweetness of it If you can do no more than what is easie and pleaseth self the Lord will never let you taste the sweetness of pleasing him 4. What do you mean to be Like whom Christ teacheth you to breathe out this Prayer Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Do you look for Heaven and will you not act as they do in Heaven whom do you make your patterns If you are not like Heaven you are Bastards not Sons I am sure Angels are content to come out of Heaven to do the work of God nay the Lord Christ himself came down from Heaven and was made lower than the Angels to do the Work of God and shall your hands shrink at it or will you think your selves too good to do it You have here the noblest patterns and most unparallel'd Copies to write after Like whom then do you mean to be Will you draw back from Angels work from the work the Son of God was
live godly in Christ Jesus they derive it from him and direct it to him they breath for him and bring forth all their actions for him for this is essential to an Evangelical life to do all in the strength of Christ as their root and to do all for Christ as their end And if this be a godly life to live to Christ then let us so think of him and so do that from henceforth our hearts and mouths may neither speak nor think but of him that all things else may be of no savour to us that nothing enter our spirit which resenteth not the Spirit and Odour of Jesus Christ and respires not his honour and glory I say let us be vigilant and faithful to do and desire nothing but the honour of Christ to regard nothing but his pleasure and glory so as to have no eyes but for Jesus no more life but what is consecrated to the honour of his Soveraignty and Greatness Vse We have shewed you what a godly life is and how you may attain a godly life Let us now stir you up to attain this godly life 1. Let me take St. Pauls word to Timothy that which he recommends to him is Piety Exercise thy self unto godliness 1 Tim. 4. 7. Truly all virtues are good and all suitable to the state of a Christian the acquisition and practise of them all useful and necessary but he would have his prime and chief care be To exercise thy self unto godliness for godliness is the Ornament and Mistress of all other virtues it leads us to God and makes use of all virtues to conduct us thither and having no Object but God teaches us the worship and honour that we must render to him and like a good mistress puts us into a ready and easie practise of virtues and entertains us in the exercise of actions that honour God and are acceptable to him 2. Godliness is profitable as Paul saith in the same place Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all 1 Tim. 4. 8. things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come True godliness is one of the principal foundations on which Christian perfection stands and is supported In the conduct of men all actions and exercises of their life are ruled according to the Piety and as we commonly say according to the Devotion they have If their Piety be not well-laid the rest of the Christian life will be unconstant and its exercises very uncertain and superficial as we see in the devotion of many which is only in the exterior Who as the Apostle saith having the form of godliness deny and despise the power thereof In such souls we see nothing solid nothing but inconstancy in their lives imperfection in their actions disquiet disturbance and adherence to several creatures in their spirits a small blast of adversity over-turns them Object But it is an hard thing to be godly we have Satan opposing us and he is too hard for us besides our own corruptions and strong temptations Answ While we strive to be godly we may safely expect the Presence of God he is never wanting to those that seek after him and never fails those that engage in his quarrels As he who plots sin shall be sure to find Satan standing at his right hand so he that pursues after God and Holiness shall find God nearer to him than he is to himself God hath not forsaken the earth but as he sustains the whole universe much more those who are seeking grace and participation of himself Are you then striving to be godly and aiming at a Divine life His almighty arms will bear you up and he 'l cherish you with his own goodness Wheresoever God beholds any breathings after himself he gives life to them as those which are his own breath in them where there is any serious and sober resolution against sin any real motion towards God there 's the blessing of heaven in it He that planted it will also water it and make it to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit Object But a godly life is an afflicted life Answ You have heard that grace in us is the life of Jesus in us We ought then to know what his life was The life of Jesus is Divinely Humane and Humanely Divine he is God and Man and therefore lives a life Divine and a life Humane As God he lives the life of God in the bosom of his Father a life of Glory Power and Majesty As Man he lived the life of Man in lowness humiliation in impotence in sufferings so that at the same he is living in the bosom of his Father and dying on the arms of the Cross There he reigns and governs and judges all the world here he is accused and accursed condemned and crucified at the same instant he is in the exaltation and greatness of his Majesty and in the lowness and humiliation of our Humanity Such also ought the Christian life to be on the one side it is great seeing grace makes us the Children of God elevates and unites us to God On the other side the same life is obscured dejected wholly in the spirit of humiliations and privations for grace cannot reign in the soul without operating therein annihilation death and humility Again The Saint by his Union to the Son of God is raised Eph. 2. 6. up and made to sit in heavenly places in Jesus Christ And at the same time the life of a Christian is exposed here to Temptations derided by men and condemned by the world at the same time it is in the greatest cherishing of God and under the fiercest agitation of the Cross So that an afflicted godly life should be no wonder being compared with the life of Christ Besides God enlightens the soul by grace 't is granted but 't is in annihilation he upholds her but 't is in confounding her he unites her to him but it is in separating her sometimes from himself and she remains separated from God as long as she remains upon earth While we are in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. so she is at once united and separated Again This is the Conduct of God over his Church If we reflect upon the highest works we shall find he puts not on the Ornament of Grace he lays not the foundation of her estate but in lowness his grace his gifts his spirit and his communications When did he come down from heaven and give her his law with such appearance of glorious Majesty as never the like was but when he had brought her into a wilderness When the Lord Christ instituted the Sacraments which are Conduit-pipes to convey his graces to his Church he chose bread water such things as are mean little or nothing esteemed among men In the Birth of the Church he took the Cross for the Throne of his Empire a Calvary for his Seat-Royal he rejected an estate by Poverty Sufferings and Martyrdom and at this day he doth the same in the Regency of his Church And according to Gods proceedings in the Conduct of his Church is likewise his carriage in the sanctification and government of our souls he leads them by the Cross he retires from them he hides himself he leaves them in privations he humbles them annihilates them smites them overthrows them Whereby is discovered how they are as I think deceived who in their devotions and religious exercises seek resentments enjoyments content and satisfaction and would know and feel the excellency and elevations of grace I call it a deceit as I suppose for Christian grace consists chiefly in privations in lowness in rigours and that is it they stand most in fear of and avoid But as the life of Jesus began in poverty and ended on the Cross so a perfect Christian who would live a life of grace must resolve to walk among Thorns to bear privations and sustain desertions for the Cross and Thorns are things proper to Christian-grace and to the love of Jesus Let us not so much seek after assurance of heaven as a thing to come as after heaven it self present in us For where Heaven comes into a heart it will bring its own light comfort and assurance along with it Get Heaven into your soul and you will easily have the assurance of Heaven Let us have a fire in a room and we shall quickly have the light and warmth of it there also Men seek the assurance of Heaven as a thing to come but neglect the present power and possession of Heaven it self in their souls Oh! let us get the Sun it self into us and then we shall not be without its shine and smiles within us FINIS Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel PResent State of New-England Burges's Husbandmans Companion Burges's Englands Bond. Adams's Catechism Survey of Quakerism A view of Antiquity by J. Honner Abyssus Mali or Man's Corruption by Nature by W. G. England's present and most great incumbent Duty by Robert Perrott The Ark of the Covenant opened or a Treatise of the Covenant of Redemption Janewayes Life Meads Almost Christian Mr. Cawtons Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Vincent and Mr. Hurst Phelpes Caveat against Drunkenness Wadsworths last Warning unto secure Sinners Kidder on the Sacrament Wells Funeral Sermon by Mr. Tho. Watson Mr. Wadsworths Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Bragg Bishop Reynholds Meditations on the Fall and Rising of St. Peter Practical Divinity of the Papists proved to be destructive unto Christianity and Mens souls Burroughs's four Treatises Dr. Collins on the Canticles