may be ready at hand upon all occasions for your guidance and direction in the way to heaven If Truth as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. one saith is of the number of the greatest gifts which the God of heaven could confer on the children of men or they are capable of receiving from the Lord of glory And if those Truths are most worthy of all acceptation which are in their own nature and tendency of the greatest weight and importance Then I hope I may justly expect your loving Reception and diligent Perusal of these Divine Instructions Especially when I call to remembrance your fervent mind and more than usual respect which many of you have formerly expressed towards me If I detain you longer than is customable by way of Preface impute it wholly to the earnestness of my desires of being useful to the promoting your everlasting salvation For I can truly say that since my removal from amongst you I have had you frequently in my thoughts much in my affections and fervently in my Prayers Give me leave to be your Remembrancer That you are a people under manifold Obligations and Ingagements to serve the Lord and to stick fast unto his testimonies 1. You have some of you for a long time made a Profession of Godliness and openly avowed your selves to be the servants of the most High And will you not labour to walk answerably to that Vocation wherewith ye are called If the Principles you own be good they ought to be practised And if they be evil why are they professed When King Alexander had a cowardly Souldier of his own name he is reported to have called him aside and thus to have spoken to him Friend either change thy name or leave thy cowardise The like may be fitly said to Professors of Religion Either sh w forth the power of godliness in your lives or do not take upon you the profession of Godliness Why call ye me Lord Lord if ye do not the things which I say Luk. 6.46 2. You are many of you I am apt to think a people under convictions The clear light of the Gospel which hath shined amongst you hath left at least such impressions on your spirits That you cannot but approve the things that are excellent You cannot but acknowledge the wayes of God to be right and the service of sin to be abominable Ask your consciences to whom I appeal in this case if it be not thus So that I may speak to you as the Apostle Paul to the King Act. 26.27 King Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest My brethren Do you believe the absolute necessity and incomparable worth of Holiness Do you believe That the fear of the Lord is the best wisdom and the favour of God the chiefest portion That Godliness is great gain and ought to have the supremacy and preheminence above all worldly enjoyments Do you believe that the pleasures of sin are folly and madness and will end at length in everlasting destruction I am perswaded many of you believe it Now Sirs it is a dreadful thing to sin against convictions to disown that in your conversations which you subscribe to in your consciences Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4.17 3. You are most of you a people of low estate and poor in the world And will you not secure an interest in the true riches If you have little or no treasures upon earth should it not quicken you to be the more industrious to lay up treasures in heaven that you may not be poor in every respect When Bishop Hooper as I remember was led to his Martyrdom there came to meet him a poor boy that was blind but had received the knowledge of the truth To whom the Martyr spake to this effect See to it that you continue to serve the Lord and that you lose not the knowledge of God for then thou wouldest be blinde both in soul and body So let me say to those of this rank amongst you Well is it if you have chosen the good part which cannot be taken away if you have in heaven an enduring substance else you are poor both in this world and in relation to that which is to come Study to shew your selves men and women approved of God that it may appear you are of the number of those whom the Apostle James makes mention of Chap. 2.5 Whom God hath chosen the poor of this world but rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him 4. You are all of you a people of signal and eminent mercies And if the mercy of God rise up in judgment against you what will be able to plead for you If mercy condemn you how sore will be your condemnation Will ye trample upon the bowels of the compassion of God And tread under foot his loving kindness Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is he not thy father that hath bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee I will not multiply the mention of Particulars only there are two mercies principally come at present into my thoughts which I would have you never to forget 1. Remember the dayes of old consider the years of some generations at the least Ask your Fathers and they will tell it your Elders and they will shew it That you have been remarkably blessed with Gospel-priviledges and advantages for attendance upon God and communion with him You have had for some good while together a succession of faithful and painful Ministers who rightly divided the word of Truth When some other places were comparatively in darkness you dwelt in Goshen a place of light Keep therefore an holy suspicion and jealousie over your hearts and lives lest you be found guilty of receiving the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 And to that end let me beseech you often to read and meditate with seriousness and self-application upon these awakening Texts Mat. 11.20 21 22 23 24. 2 Cor. 4.3 4 5 6. 2. Consult your late experiences of the goodness of God That was a special preservation which I would have you to keep fresh in your Memories and constantly to retain the sense of it upon your hearts When it pleased the Lord in the late dreadful year to contend with the Nation by the destroying Pestilence you were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning You were exposed to the contagion as well as other places where it violently raged Nay more upon several accounts than some other Towns which it laid almost desolate And the Lord was pleased only to give you thereby an awakening call to Repentance and to suffer the destroying Angel to proceed no further One house amongst you was infected and it swept away all that dwelt therein
are no more forreiners and strangers that 's the state of alienation from the Lord but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of faith this is that of friendship and communion with God That is the first thing to be noted as to this matter 2. These two estates as to matters of salvation and condemnation are comprehensive of all the posterity of mankind without exception of any They do take in the whole compass of the children of men My meaning is this that there is no middle condition there is not a man or woman upon the face of the earth but must of necessity fall under one of these two ranks Either he is a Saint and servant of God or a vassal and slave to the devil either he is an heir of heaven or a firebrand of hell And pray Sirs let us apply it diligently unto our selves and often say in our hearts One of these two is the condition of my soul if I am not a child of God and in covenant with him it will necessarily follow that I am a child of the devil for there is no third estate If I be not sanctified and called to be a Saint it cannot otherwise be but that I am in the gall of bitterness and if I die in this condition I drop immediately into hell As there are but two places into which all nations shall be sent at the end of the world that is heaven and hell the place of eternal life and that of everlasting punishment so there are but two states in which all are comprized during their abode in the world either they are Gods friends or his adversaries still in their sins or delivered from their sins 1 Joh. 5.19 And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness The whole world that is all other persons besides us of what rank and quality soever And that is a pregnant Text Eccl. 9.2 All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Mark it all people in the world are cast by the holy Ghost into two ranks or companies either they are righteous or wicked clean or unclean good or sinners There is no middle condition or state of neutrality upon a spiritual account And indeed there is strong evidence of it from the reason and nature of the thing because the distinction which is between these two estates is such as we call a difference of contradiction in some respect such as is between the negation and affirmation of the same thing which cannot possibly admit of any third or middle estate whatsoever * If you will rather say they are privative opposita yet the argument holds good for such admit not a middle in subjecto capaci Oppositorum duorum privativè cum unum non inest necesse est alterum inesse susceptibili Aquin. Privatio euim est circa certum genus contradictionis Alex. de Ales Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mark it here is a difference of contradiction betwixt believing and not believing You cannot possibly pitch upon a man but either he believeth on the Son and so is in the state of grace or he believeth not on the Son and remains in the state of wrath They who are regenerate and converted have the promise of salvation and such as are unregenerate and not converted shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Here is a kind of difference of contradiction between converted and not converted And so I might instance in other qualifications That is the second thing to be noted as to the change of a mans spiritual state 3. Observe in the third place That these two estates upon a spiritual account are utterly incompatible and inconsistent one with the other and cannot upon any hand stand together Plainly thus they cannot both appertain to the same person at the same time It is altogether impossible that a man should be in the favour of God whilst he is in league of amity with his corruptions that he should be in the kingdom of Christ and under the prince of darkness together This is a truth so plain and obvious at the first view that one would think it should be needless to press it But I insist upon it the rather because there are secret workings in the hearts of the children of men to the contrary Their inward thoughts are that they may serve the Lord and be subjects of the devil together that they may be vain and earthly and sensual and follow the course of the world and yet be the people of God notwithstanding That they may drink and revel and be wanton and the like and be in the state of salvation too You shall find these are the secret thoughts and imaginations of mens spirits Mic. 3.10 11. They abhor judgment and pervert equity they build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for mony Yet they will lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord amongst us They flatter and sooth up themselves that they were servants of Jehovah the God of heaven although they served divers lusts and pleasures and turned aside into crying wickednesses that the Lord was on their side and they belonged to him though they openly espouse the interest of sin But alas Sirs it can never be these imaginations are vain and sottish Mark how peremptorily our Saviour asserteth the contrary backing that assertion with forcible argument Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon q.d. It is a sottish thing to entertain such a fond conceit as if you could join both interests together The Laws of Christ and the commands of sin are diametrally opposite one to the other if the affections run towards the one they must of necessity be withdrawn from the other nay set against the other for they are directly contrary And besides where God accepteth of the heart he will have the whole heart where he is served truly he must be obeyed entirely and universally with the whole soul So that never dream of such a thing as making a commixtion of these two It is as easie to joyn together light and darkness heaven and hell as to make a conjunction between righteousness and unrighteousness between Christ and Belial The words of Joshua are very pertinent to this purpose when the people seemed to promise so affectionately
due operation upon the heart and conscience * Generalia non pungunt unless it be brought home by a personal and particular appropriation to a mans self When a sinner is wrought upon so as to turn savingly from his iniquities he is made to do it understandingly God working upon a mans heart answerably to mans nature He doth not force him to cast off his sins against his will but maketh him ready and willing to abandon them and to that purpose he giveth the sinner a sight of the guilt he is under He maketh him to know what a contempt sin is of the Majesty of heaven what a slighting of an holy and just and righteous Law what a despising of the goodness and compassion of the Lord and consequently a provocation of his wrath that so there may be raised in the soul a regular abhorrence of it and detestation against it and the sinner may be willing to sue out a divorce Will the person think when he is throughly convinced of sin What a fool was I thus to serve these base lusts and pleasures What madness possessed me that I should depart from the Lord and follow after lying vanities For mark it Sirs When the affections act regularly in closing with or rejecting and refusing any spiritual object there must alwayes precede a competent knowledge of the good or evil of that object And the reason is plain because the will and affections are blind and dependent faculties they depend in their operations upon the information of the understanding So that the heart cannot hate the evil of sin nor will the person loath himself upon the account of it till the judgment be convinced of the nature and greatness of that evil You read of this as one of the first works of the Spirit Joh. 16.8 When the comforter is come he will convince the world of sin He will make them to see clearly what an ugly deformed nature it is of what a bitter thing it is to rebel against the most high He will discover unto them the guilt which lieth upon their souls and that by such evident concluding arguments as will take away from them all excuses whatsoever whereby they were apt to cover their transgressions * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore it followeth that he will convince them of their unbelief which is the great damning sin and that whereby other transgressions are fast bound upon the soul To this end God doth sometimes bring the sinner into sore afflictions and tribulations that he may thereby taste the bitterness and malignity of departing from him which before was accounted but a trivial matter little to be regarded Job 36.8 9 10. When they be bound in fetters and holden in the cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded He openeth their ear also to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity * Jer. 2.19 To this purpose the holy Ghost doth set the Law before a mans face in the spiritualness equity and excellency of it that the sinner may behold himself in that glass and pass judgment upon the evils of his heart and wayes according to that rule For when the commandment cometh then sin will revive indeed and be seen in its proper colours Rom. 7.9 Before the person is mistaken concerning the evil of it he reckoneth it a small matter and wondereth that Ministers and Precisians should make such an ado against sin because he judgeth of it by false rules by the opinion which the generality of the world have concerning it by the pleasure and worldly advantage that are attendant upon it and the like But when the Law cometh his mistakes are rectified and he seeth sin as it is And to this end the Spirit of God doth make discoveries unto the soul of the holiness and purity and infinite and spotless perfections of the nature of God himself against whom sin is committed When Job saw the Lord then he did abhor himself as in dust and ashes Job 42.4 5. When Isaiah had a full sight of the infinite power and holiness and glorious perfections of God then he cried out Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Isa 6.3 4 5. This is a certain rule and if you will observe your hearts anddemeanour the truth of it will every day further appear to you by experience That as your apprehensions of God are so the manner of your applications unto God will be and so your apprehensions of the evil of sin against God will be likewise This is the first act in order unto a divorce from sin An act of Conviction 2. There is an act of Consideration wherein the heart is awakened to weigh the sad consequents of the evil of sin What will be the issue of these things What will become of my precious and immortal soul if I go on in this course There is no way thinketh the sinner to escape the damnation of hell without conversion and the torments thereof will be endless and everlasting torments If I am once cast into that lake there is no deliverance out of it Therefore you read of confidering and turning from sin Ezek. 18.27 28. When the wicked turneth from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not die And the truth is the reason why men and women do still hug their sins in their bosoms and roll them as a sweet morsel under their tongues is for want of consideration If they did sit down and consult what would become of them did they lay it seriously to heart and revolve it in their thoughts what precious souls their lusts are destroying what insupportable wrath they are pulling down upon their heads what rich grace they are abusing what an incomprehensible Majesty they are setting against and what a dismal condition it will without a speedy repentance reduce them unto would they harbour sin any longer in their hearts would they not flie from it as from a Serpent certainly they would cast it away with indignation and say Get ye hence ye filthy accursed lusts you have brought me into a wretched estate and should I follow you still I must be undone forever Isa 47.7 Thou didst not lay these things to thine heart neither didst thou remember the latter end of it As if the holy Ghost had said the cause of your continuance in sin is want of consideration if you had laid the end of it to heart it would have put a stop to your carier in a course of impiety This will appear in the return of the prodigal Luk. 15.17 18. When he came to himself he said How many hired servants
and should have been handled under that third particular Obj. The objection is this If unregenerate persons are thus dead in sins and have no power to that which is spiritually good either to turn themselves unto the Lord or to walk in wayes of holiness before the Lord To what purpose then doth he so frequently command them to turn unto him and to make their wayes perfect before him and to cleanse their hearts from wickedness if they have no power to do what is commanded Such injunctions you have often upon record in the Scriptures Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved And Isa 1.16 Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes To what end now will you say are these injunctions laid upon the unconverted if they are stark dead in their sins and have no strength to do what is injoyned Sol. I answer These commandments do not import any spiritual strength in the wicked for they are dead They have lost the image of God which was the life of the soul For as the soul is the life of the body so the image of God was the life of the soul and this image they put away from them by their apostacy But these commandments have their usefulness many wayes principally upon a fivefold account 1. God doth command the unregenerate to walk in his wayes and that in truth and with a perfect heart not as importing their strength what they are able to do But to shew them their duty what they ought to do * Non mensura nostrarum virium sunt praecepta Dei nec vires nostrae mensura praeceptorum diviâ—orum Nec attemperat Deus mandata sua ad vires hominis peccato corrupti sed ad debitum naturale Wendelin system majus And it is no such strange thing as some persons would perswade us that a man should be in duty bound to the performance of more than in his fallen estate he is able to perform A little to illustrate it by a familiar instancâ— or two Take a servant that by his licentiousness hath made himself drunken and it is still his duty to serve his Master although he hath put himself into a present incapacity for the discharge of that duty His sin and wickedness doth not disannul or cancel his masters right and authority If I lend a sum of money to another and he through negligence and ill husbandry squandereth it away and is not able to pay me yet I may justly and legally call upon him for payment to manifest unto him what he is bound to do This is the very case God gave us power at first to obey his will and to keep all his statutes and to walk in obedience before him and we wilfully put it away from us Eccles 7.29 God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Now mans wickedness and sinful declension from God doth not invalidate God's authority over us nor enervate the obligation of his Law upon us He may justly come and require the debt of obedience at our hands though we have made our selves unable to tender it As it is in the parable Mat. 25.27 Oughtest thou not to have put my money to the exchangers * Industriam tuam servus debebas demino Marl. So this is the work which we ought to do though by our apostacy we are deprived of ability to do it 2. God doth lay these injunctions and precepts upon the unconverted not as implying any power in them but to make them sensible of their own weakness As sometimes when children will boast of what is above their strength we set them upon the work that they may see their folly and how unable they are to do what they boasted of Why Sirs the heart of man is very deceitful and apt to boast of great matters Most men think it is an easie thing to repent and believe and that they can turn unto God at any time Why let me see you do it saith the Lord. * Ad hoc lex data est ut superbo suam infirmitatem notam faceret Aug. He setteth them upon the performance that he may cause them to see and acknowledge their own insufficiency As Christ dealt with the young man that was full of self Mat. 19.20 21. He thought he was able to keep all the commandments of God and to climbe to heaven by that ladder And what saith our Saviour to him Why If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven As if he had said Thou thinkest thy self able to do whatsoever is commanded I will trie thy strength Here is a commandment I give go and do it and then it quickly appeareth how impotent and unable he was In this respect all the commandments of the Law are to the unregenerate praecepta probationis precepts for trial As it was with the Israelites they supposed they could have kept all that God had spoken and he giveth them his precepts in their full extent and latitude and leadeth them through the wilderness to humble them and to prove them and to know what was in their hearts Deut. 8.1 2. That is to make them to know what was in their hearts for he knew it well enough all things are naked and open before him But they could not believe it that they had such a proneness to evil and such an aversness and impotency to that which is good But by putting them to the trial God maketh them to know it 3. God is pleased to lay his commands upon the unregenerate to turn unto him and to believe in Christ and the like That they might be stirred up to address themselves unto the Lord to work in them what he requireth to be within them and to inable them to do what is commanded to be done * Praecepta Dei sunt precationum nostrarum materia quia jubet Deus facere quae non pâ—ssumus ut sciamus quid petere ab ipso debeamus Wendel syst majus That out of every precept they might frame a petition for strength and spiritual grace and present it unto the Majesty of heaven Psal 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes So should a sinner say Thou Lord commandest me to convert and turn O that my soul were converted that I might turn unto the most high Thou commandest me to repent O Lord give me repentance not to be repented of Thou requirest me to be holy O make me such a one as I am required to be * Lex data est ut gratia quareretur gratia data ut lex impleretur Aug. And therefore it is observable that what is commanded in one place the
me to wrath who am able to break thee in pieces like a potters vessel Think of it Saul as if Christ had said it is a dangerous way which thou art in it is a miserable imployment thou spendest thy pains about thou art but kicking against the pricks contending with one * Sententia est proverbialis à bobus out equis sumpta qui dum stimulis punguntur calcitrando nihil proficiunt nisi quod stimulis altius infixis malum duplicant that is too strong for thee for it is Jesus whom thou persecutest 4. Do not neglect to give believers what help and furtherance you can in their pilgrimage Be ready to shew them any kindness that lieth in your way to shew them and to contribute what relief and assistance soever you are able to minister upon any occasion for they are united unto Christ intimately acquainted with him and neerly related to him So that the Lord Jesus will take it kindly at your hands whatever friendship you shew to his people Art thou a Lawyer Plead their cause Art thou a Magistrate Protect their persons against the Sons of violence Break the jaws of the wicked and pluck the spoil out of their teeth Art thou a private person and hearest the godly traduced and their profession bespattered Endeavour to vindicate them and what in thee lieth to clear up their innocency Art thou a man whom God hath intrusted with wealth and riches Why then as thou hast opportunity do good to all but especially to the houshold of faith For they are members of Christ and thou shalt in no wise lose thy reward Christ hath all the blessings in the world put into his hauds to distribute and in the distribution of his doles of bounty be sure he will not forget such as have shewed kindness to his servants he will recompence them to the full the smallest courtesie done to the Saints shall not be forgotten Mark 9.41 Whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward He hath promised to reward those that feed their enemies when they are hungry and give them water to drink when they are thirsty and will he not much more reward such as relieve and shelter his own Saints and people Prov. 25.21 22. They are united to him what kindness is shewed unâ—o them is reckoned as if it were shewed to our Lord Jesus Christ A little to press home these Exhortations let me intreat you to consider these four moving considerations Cons 1. Holy men and women who study to please the Lord and to walk in integrity before him are the very pillars of a Nation by which it is upheld They are the main props and supporters of the places where they live of the families wherein they dwell It is for their sakes that mercies are continued unto a people or kingdom and judgments are kept off from falling down upon them to their utter desolation and ruine So that it concerns you to seek their good and to incourage them in their holiness as you tender your own welfare Were it not for the servants of Christ you would quickly be in a miserable case And therefore when God doth gather his own people unto himself it is usually the forerunner of some sore calamity Isa 57.1 The righteous is taken away from the evil to come Plainly intimating that it was their presence which staved off vengeance for a time and when they are called home then the floud-gates of wrath are set open It is upon their account that God doth restrain the wickedness of men that they are not as monsters and devils one to another and that he doth with-hold the pouring out his wrathful indignation You know what he saith in relation to Sodom whose sin was grievous and the cry of it was great and went up to heaven yet if there had been ten righteous persons in it the place had been spared for their sakes And however nothing could be done against it till righteous Lot was gone forth Gen. 18.32 Gen. 19.22 23 24. Indeed sometimes the wickedness of a place is so excessively heinous that it is beyond the prayers of the godly The most eminent persons in holiness shall not prevail for the sparing it Though Noah Daniel and Job were in it they shall deliver but their own souls by their righteousness Ezek. 14.13 14. Yet in many cases they are instrumental by their presence and prayers not only to deliver themselves but to keep off vengeance from others And will you root them out who are the means of your preservation You think they are these precise persons who speak so much of Religion and are more strict than others that hinder your mirth and jollity What brave times of pleasure should you have were it not for these Precisians who are as thornes in your sides and rubs in the way of your rejoycings and merriment But Sirs if you believe the Scriptures it is evident that were it not for the godly amongst you you might soon expect to fall under the saddest dispensations and to have the sluces of the fury of the God of heaven set wide open upon you As soon as Noah was arkt the floud swept away the world of the ungodly As soon as Lot was lodg'd in Zoar it rained fire and brimstone as it were hell from heaven upon Sodom and Gemorrah And mark what our Saviour speaketh of Gospel-times Mat. 24.22 Except those dayes should be shortened there should no flesh be saved But for the elects sake those dayes shall be shortened Were it not upon the account of the servants of God who are converted and such as hereafter are to be converted the tribulation would prove like a sweeping rain that leaveth nothing behind it So that it concerns you in point of wisdom to love and cherish the Saints and to take heed that they be not wronged For they are the best subjects in a Kingdom the best neighbours in the places where they abide the best relations and servants you can get into your families they bring the blessing of heaven along with them Gen. 30.27 Gen. 39.5 They are the best friends you can have for they will be friends to your souls So that I may allude to that passage of the Lord to Abimelech Gen. 20.7 Restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and shall pray for thee and thou shalt live Shew kindness to the godly for they are favourites in the Court of heaven intimately acquainted with God yea united to Christ the Son of God They will pray for thee and be instrumental to avert and turn away judgments from thee and to bring down blessings upon thy head if not to save thy precious and immortal soul Cons 2. It is a shrewd sign that you are persons intended for uttâ—r extirpation and ruine when God doth make use of you as scourges to afflict his Saints and
reward of the Inheritance commonly set forth by this expression eternal Life Rom. 6.22 Galat. 6.8 2. Virtually and secondarily all sorts of spiritual blessings that have a tendency to glory and are required to fit us for the possession thereof that is to say grace and holiness pardon of sin and reconciliation with the Almighty the supplies of the Spirit for doing the will of God and ability to persevere in that way unto the end These are all included in this expression of eternal Life for they are the first fruits and beginnings of it As glory is but grace in its ripeness and perfection so grace is glory in the bud and blossom And therefore our Saviour calleth the knowledge of God eternal Life Joh. 17.2 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only trus God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent that is This is the foretast of eternal Life the way to it an earnest peny in order to the full possession it is none other than the gate of heaven Thus you are to understand it here in the full extent and latitude of the expression as it comprehends the saving mercies conferred upon the Saints on the earth as well as the crown of Righteousness to be enjoyed in heaven For in the covenant of Peace whereof the Text is an abbreviation God hath made provision for the one as well as the other He hath not only given Salvation if men are sanctified and repent but hath provided for the sanctification and repentance of his Elect that they may be saved Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory And accordingly Christ the Mediator hath made his purchase he hath not only bought an inheritance to be given to the Saints but for the Elect of God he hath procured Saintship and all the appendices thereof that they may be partakers of that inheritance Tit. 3.5 6 7. That 's the first thing in the Text The mercy provided or the blessing conveyed 2. You have the Original or Well-spring of this mercy the fountain of this Blessing whence it is derived why from the free grace and pleasure of the Lord it is his gift It is not merited and deserved by us but freely and graciously bestowed upon us This is the record that God hath given us eternal Life Herein it differs from the reward of ungodliness that is the natural product of our sins but this is not the purchase of our boliness that is justly merited but this mercifully given as the Apostle observeth Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wherein the holy Ghost speaketh as if he did plainly intend to obviate and prevent the corrupt reasonings of men Will some be apt to argue If the wicked by their transgressions deserve eternal destruction then a Believer by his holiness doth merit eternal Salvation Nay saith S. Paul here I must have leave to deny the consequence the one indeed is a wages but the other is a gift We may take a view of the blessedness or salvation of the Saints in a fourfold period and in each of them in respect to us it is of grace God hath given us eternal Life In the 1. Purpose of the Father 2. Promise of the Gospel 3. Purchase of the death of Christ 4. Respect of our interest therein 1. In the eternal counsel and purpose of the Father As he determined and fore-ordained to bring sons to glory so it must of necessity be of grace and love Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed What could move the Lord to design compassion for some and to pass by others of the same nature with them of greater parts and dignity and in higher place as to worldly honours and accomplishments To appoint an handful in comparison unto bliss and glory to set them apart for himself and to leave the rest of mankind in their undone condition Surely it was only because it seemed good in his sight and therefore it is called election of grace Rom. 11.5 6. There is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works It is ascribed to pure mercy nothing but mercy Rom. 9.15 16. For he saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy 2. In the Covenant and Promise which God hath made of eternal Life and whereby it is made over to Believers Pray whence was the Lord induced to make such a gracious Covenant but from his own good pleasure It is given to us 2 Pet. 1.4 It is true the faithfulness and in some sense the righteousness and justice of God oblige him to fulfil the Covenant when it is made Nehem. 9.8 but it was only free love that could incline him to make it or to enter into this Covenant and to make publication thereof to some and not to others Deut. 7.6 7 8. Psal 147.19 20. 3. In the purchase of it by the blood of Christ God sent his Son into the world upon that errand by his obedience and sufferings to become the Author of Salvation And what was the motive that prevailed with the Lord to send him what provocative stirred him up to make this Mission Why God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 He shut up the fallen Angels irrecoverably in the chains of darkness he gave not Christ to take their nature upon him but for us men and for our Salvation he came down from heaven and herein God commendeth his love to us Rom. 5.8 4. Lastly eternal Life may be considered in respect of our Title to it and interest therein together with the possession thereof which is accomplished in the work of Regeneration And whence doth this proceed Why it is a gift 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who hath also given unto us the earnest of his Spirit 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure That 's the second branch of the Text. The original of this mercy whence it doth proceed 3. We have the great dispenser of this mercy or blessing into whose hands it is put to be dealt forth unto Believers This is Jesus Christ the Son of God And this life is in his Son It is put into the hands of a Mediator and that Mediator is none else but the eternally and only begotten Son of God It is in him upon a threefold account 1. As in the meritorious
women Between whom shall this counsel be why between them both Jehovah the Lord of Hosts and the man whose name is the Branch Jesus Christ who is to build the Church and who is appointed to be the Ruler and Governour of it So I conceive it may be understood Or if you will have it rather to relate to the Kingly and Priestly Offices of Christ yet it will hold nevertheless that there was a consultation in heaven for reconciling of the world which Christ as King and Priest was to bâ—ing into execution As there was a counsel taken touching the creation of man between the persons in the blessed Trinity Let us make man after our image so there was a consultation held concerning the restauration of mankind out of their lapsed condition Upon this account as some observe Christ is called The Covenant Isa 49.8 9. I will give thee for a Covenant of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the desolate heritages That thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves Why for a Covenant Because God's Covenant with Believers is established in Christ and there was a Covenant of Redemption made with Christ upon the terms whereof he is constituted to be a Redeemer To say to the prisoners Go forth to bring deliverance to the captives and to proclaim the year of release or Jubilee the acceptable year of the Lord as it is Isa 61.1 2. See another Text to this purpose Psal 89.28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him With whom Why with the Lord Jesus Christ of whom David was an eminent type for so I apprehend it must be interpreted as of whom many passages in the Psalm are most clearly verified and to whom they may very pertinently and appositely be referred And some passages there are which caunot well be referred to any other See v. 19. I have laid help upon one that is mighty Agreeable to that of the Apostle He is able to save unto the uttermost Heb. 7.25 I have exalted one chosen out of the people Which is the very title that is given to the Son of God Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect or chosen one in whom my soul delighteth Isa 42.1 Again v. 20. I have found David my servant Christ is oâ—en called by that name as being the most dearly beloved of God * A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dilectus fit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qu. Amabilis proceeding from the loins of David according to the flesh and in a special manner typified by David both as King and Prophet of his Church Jer. 30.9 Hos 3.5 Ezek. 34.23 It followeth there With my holy oyl have I anointed him Answerable to that of Christ Luk. 4 18. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor Again v. 27. I will make him my first born higher than the Kings of the earth Compare it with Heb. 1.6 Col. 1.15 And that I may not make too long a stay upon this matter see v. 29. His seed will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of heaven * Quis non videt porrô illud quod dicitur in hoc versu viz. v. 29. non posse esse verum nisi ad spirituale Christi regnum referatur Corporalis enim successio in stirpe Davidis jamdudum cum regno desecit Simeon de Muis. in loc Compared with Dan. 7.13 14. Now saith God I have made a Covenant with him not only a Covenant of grace with the Saints in him but a Covenant of redemption as we call it for distinctions sake with him and it shall be an everlasting Covenant wch shal not be cancelled or disanulled it shall stand fast with him That 's the first thing to be observed 2. In this Covenant and compact between the Father and Christ for the redemption of sinners the Lord Jesus undertook to put himself under the Law and to bear the curse of the Law to give up himself unto death and so to carry on their salvation In the consultation between them it was found that nothing else could satisfie for the wrong done by sin and therefore there was no other way to deliver the sinners but by the death of Christ God the Father promised unto the Son That if by his death satisfaction were made then the sinners should be delivered they should be put into Christ's hands to be saved upon those terms And our Lord Jesus closed with this proposal he accepted the offer and undertook to make satisfaction by dying and suffering We have both the branches of that everlasting Covenant in the Scriptures 1. God's promise of salvation made to Christ in the behalf of his children Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Mark it All the promises made to Believers are made in time but here is a promise of salvation from eternity And unto whom could that be made but unto Christ for such as should believe in him 2. Christ's undertaking to satisfie divine justice by humbling himself unto the death in that famous place Heb. 10.5 6 7. quoted out of Psal 40. Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body thou hast prepared me In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure Then I said Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God This was the way wherein the Father would have salvation wrought out for lost sinners and Christ taketh it upon himself to accomplish the will of God in that behalf This is the second Observation 3. Observe in the next place That our Lord Jesus in dying and satisfying the justice of God for the sins of Believers according to what he had undertaken did not only die and suffer for their good and benefit but he died in their stead and suffered in their room that is he underwent that punishment which by the rigour of the Law they should have undergone and took upon himself that curse which in the strictness of justice would have fallen down upon their heads Therefore it is said The Lord laid their iniquities upon him Isa 53.6 All the sins of God's elect were made to meet together and laid upon his shoulders to bear Rom. 5.6 8. In due time Christ died for the ungodly And whilst we were sinners Christ died for us that is in our stead and room We deserved to die and God graciously spared us and put his own Son to death in our stead Gal. 2.20 He loved me and gave himself for me 4. To bring this home to our purpose observe That the end of Christ's undertaking thus to die and of his actual dying in the stead and behalf of lost sinners was that in due time they might be
filthy rag and as a menstrous cloth The very imperfections and sinfull mixtures of our most spiritual duties were enough to condemn us It is by Christ alone that they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 I will add two considerations further to strengthen this particular besides what hath been delivered when we were speaking of the divorce of a sinner from the Law and to take us off from resting upon a legal righteousness 1. The most eminent and choicest servants of God that ever lived upon earth have utterly disclaimed and disowned their own personal obedience in the point of justification They durst not at any hand put their trust in it but knew it would be too short and that they should miscarry for ever if they relyed thereupon Thus my brethren If any persons under heaven could be justified by the Law and pronounced righteous upon legal terms that is upon the account of their own holiness and good works it would be such as have been most active for God and most useful and upright in their generations and that lived in the neerest conformity unto the Law But even they durst not place their confidence therein but have utterly renounced it Take the instance of Job a man who had not his fellow upon earth as we have assurance of it by the letters testimonial of the God of the spirits of all flesh Job 1.8 Durst he depend on his own righteousness See how he disclaimeth it Job 9.20 If I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse And cap. 42.6 I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Take the example of David a man after God's own heart who fulfilled all his wills Act. 13.22 What saith he in this case See Psal 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities who O Lord could stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared * Meum meritum est miseratio Domini Bern. Justitia nostra est indulgentia tua Domine Let us descend to Daniel a man greatly beloved and of singular integrity insomuch that when the Lord doth reckon up the most noted examples of piety he is singled out as one Ezek. 14.14 And mark how he renounceth all confidence in the flesh and resteth only upon Christ Dan. 9.17 18. Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary which is desolate for the Lords sake And v. 18. We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses but for thy great mercies For he had before acknowledged that unto them belonged confusion of face It is true that believers have sometimes pleaded their holiness as an evidence of the sincerity and uprightness of their hearts with God and of their interest in the promises of mercy But they durst not appear in it before the justice of God That is a notable passage of Nehemiah Cap. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy q.d. Through grace I have been serviceable to the Lord and expect a blessing thereupon but withal I stand in need of great mercies to cover the defects of those services 2. Such persons as have gone about to establish their own righteousness and attempted to be justified thereby have everlastingly miscarried in that attempt and fell short of heaven and found it to be but a broken reed that could never bear them up before the justice of God You read of some persons that seek to come to heaven and are not able Luk. 13.24 And these are one sort of those persons As such who seek it slothfully and negligently without striving to enter in at the strait gate so they that seek it by their own personal righteousness and expect to be justified thereupon And therefore observe what the Apostle saith to the Galatians whose hearts bankered after that way of justification Gal. 3.4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain if yet it be in vain q. d. If you go on to lean upon your own righteousness and rely not upon Christ all your Religion is in vain Whatever you have done or suffered will never save you from the wrath to come This is the third thing to be observed That it is only the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ by which a sinner can be justified in the sight of God 4. We can receive no benefit by the righteousness of Christ for justification in the sight of God nor can we be pardoned and accepted thereupon until that righteousness become ours and be made over unto us This is evident at the first view How can we plead it with God except we have an interest therein What advantage can it be to us unless it be ours Here is the mistake of many carnal people they hope to have their sins forgiven upon the account of Christ's righteousness and never enquire if that righteousness be theirs Mark it Sirs It must be yours and made over to you or else it will never stand you in stead They shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ who receive the gift of righteousness by him Rom. 5.17 Except they receive it it is nothing unto them It is in it self white raiment and beautiful and glorious apparel but it will never cover our nakedness except it be put on and we are cloathed there with Rev. 3. v. 18. It must be made over to us that we may be justified thereby 5. Observe in the next place That the way wherein or whereby this righteousness of Gods providing is conveyed and made over to us that we may receive the benefit thereof and be justified thereby it is by way of imputation That is the usual expression made use of in this business and the meaning is this God doth reckon the righteousness of Christ unto his people as if it were their own He doth count unto them Christ's sufferings and satisfaction and make them partakers of the vertue thereof as if themselves had suffered and satisfied This is the genuine and proper import of the word imputation when that which is personally done by one is accounted and reckoned unto another and laid upon his score as if he had done it * Imputari dicitur illud alicui quod in aliquo non inhaeret seu existit realiter sed tamen ei adscribitur ac si in ipso realiter inhaereret existeret atque adeo quod in ipsum transfertur Pet. Ravan Thus it is in this very case We sinned and fell short of the glory of God and became obnoxious to the vindictive justice of God and the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience and death hath given content and satisfaction unto divine justice in our behalf Now when God doth pardon and accept us hereupon he doth put it upon our account he doth reckon it or impute it unto us as fully in respect of the benefit thereof as
to him No union with the Son no communication of spiritual strength and influence from the Son Isa 45.24 Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength In the Lord that is in Jesus the Mediator who is Jehovah God blessed for ever In him or through him by vertue of my being in him I have not only righteousness but strength also that is actual grace to help in the times of need It plainly relateth unto Christ unto whom every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear v. 23. Vpon which Text the Apostle himself is a Commentatâ—r Rom. 14.10 11. I will endeavour to make this very plain to your understandings being a matter of much weight and moment as to the life of Religion by handling it in a way of gradation in three steps 1. In the first place you must remember That a Christian is not able to keep on in his journey towards heaven so as to arrive with safety at that everlasting Kingdom only by the strength of habitual grace bestowed upon him in his first conversion but there must be a daily communication of further grace unto the soul or of fresh actual strength conveyed into the soul It is not enough that the principles of holiness be at first formed in the heart but there must be a constant supply of fresh influence imparted to us or else we should quickly fall short in our travel towards Canaan As the air is not maintained in light barely by the first rising of the Sun upon it expelling darkness out of the air spreading abroad his beams into it but there must be a constant issuing forth of fresh beams from the Sun and streamings forth of new influence into the air else it would quickly return to its former darkness Let but the Sun go down or some opacous body interpose to hinder the fresh beamings of it forth and the air would presently become black again notwithstanding the first light that was put into it Thus it is in our spiritual concernments We cannot be maintained in a state of favour with God and carried on to glory meerly by the strength of habitual grace pâ—anted at first within us in our regeneration but there must be further grace imparted to us The beams of the Sun of righteousness must be still issuing forth upon us fresh and fresh or else we should quickly faulter in the working out our salvation This fresh influence of the Holy Ghost is usually called in the Schools Actual grace And in the Scripture you have it under the name of The supplies of the spirit * Spiritus subministratio est praesidium consolatio omne spiritus sancti bonum quo servamur contra omnia scandala Eras Sacr. ex Marl. Phil. 1.19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Mark it Sirs As there is a standing stock of habitual holiness put into the soul in the day of conversion so there is a constant supply given forth upon all occasions for maintaining and promoting of that stock As there is the regenerating work of the Spirit so there are additional incomes or supplies of the same Spirit Which are elsewhere called The strengthenings of the Spirit Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man There is the inner man the new creature principally seated within the hidden man of the heart and there is auxiliary strength shed abroad every day afresh into the inner man This is a matter heedfully to be regarded and that calleth for our most serious thoughts in the study of it and that for three reasons 1. Because herein doth lie a special difference between the state of man in his primitive perfection under the Covenant of works and the state of believers under the Covenant of peace and reconciliation and indeed the excellency and stedfastness of the latter above the former In the state of innocency man had a sufficient stock of holiness and spiritual power to manage but now in Christ there is provision made for constant supplies to carry us on in the management thereof Under the Covenant of works man had power to stand if he would but in the Covenant of grace there is fresh strength also provided to work in us both to will and to do Phil. 2.12 13. There is not only a new heart and a new spirit given to the servants of Christ whereby they are qualified and disposed to the keeping of God's statutes But a further actual ability is imparted unto them whereby they are caused to walk in the way of those Statutes Ezek. 36.26 27. 2. From hence it many times cometh to pass that weak Christians stand fast in those trials wherein the stronger fall and overcome the temptation whereby they are foiled Here you have a great reason of the difference that is between one Believer and another in the same case and under the like trial A Peter may fall foully who is a pillar in the Church a cedar in the Forest and another â—â—ay stand fast in the same hour of temptation who is in comparison but a shrub and of low statute in the faith How can this be whence doth it proceed Why though the strong Christian hath arrived at an higher pitch and degree in respect of habitual grace yet resting upon himself for strength God might justly be provoked to leave him unto himself And he who is weaker in the faith as to the habits of grace yet keeping his spirit in a constant dependance upon the Lord * Sanctum opus semper inspirae in me ut cogitem compelle ut faciam suade ut diligam confirma me ut te teneam custodione nete perdam Aug. might have more actual assistance imparted to him so as to be inabled to hold on his way when the other shrinks back This is palpably apparent in the example of Peter who was a man of great forwardness and courage in the cause of Christ yet how shamefully did he deny his Master Because trusting in his own strength the Lord was pleased to withdraw his actual assistance that he might learn thereafter to live in the sense of his own weakness Thus Hezekiah fell in the business of the Embassadors of the King of Babylon although he was a man of eminent piety yet the Lord left him and then corruption discovered it self 2 Chron. 32.31 How did God leave him Not as to the principle of habitual grace for that is an abiding principle never taken from a person on whom it is once conferred But God left him as to these fresh supplies of the spirit he with-held from him for that time such efficacious assistance as whereby he might have vanquished the temptation and then his deceitful heart prevailed and carried him aside 3. This is a point which deserveth well to be studied not
and pearls and diamonds but the finest coloured earth yet these bags have a bottom and will be emptied But a Believer hath a mine a treasure without a bottom like the widows vessel of oyl that will not be emptied The best state of a worldling is but in lease for a tearm of years Let men boast what they will of having such or such an inheritance for ever the truth is the best Free-holder in the Land is but tenant for life death will as by a Lease of Ejectment thrust him out of his possessions Psal 49.16 17. But a Believers inheritance is for ever and ever Prov. 8.18 19. Riches and honour are with me saith Christ the eternal wisdom of the Father yea durable riches and righteousness My fruit is better than gold yea than sine gold and my revenue than choice silver And v. 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures All the riches in the earth are but a shadow and fancy like the apples of Sodom that crumble into ashes between the fingers They can never fill a mans heart A person may be glutted and surfeited with worldly profits and pleasures but never satisfied But spiritual blessings are substantial riches that give satisfaction to the soul Rev. 3.18 3. We put a value upon men according to their imployments and callings As a Physitian or Lawyer is esteemed above others that are in meaner places and imployed about more servile work and the like Now the imployment of a Christian is of the highest rank He is called to be an attendant of an infinite Majesty He spends his time in converse with the mighty God and is one of his intimate acquaintance He driveth a trade for heaven and in pursuit of a crown an incorruptible crown whereas others are bufied about the trash and dung of the earth Phil. 3.20 For our Citizenship so the word imports * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in heaven i.e. We are members of that corporation and trade in heavenly merchandise and drive on our designs for the enjoyment of that everlasting Kingdom 4. Men are usually prized according to their endowments and inward accomplishments of the mind As now If a man have a quick understanding and a strong memory and abundance of learning if he be of great parts and have a deep reach into affairs such a one is honoured and admired and persons of a mean capacity are little set by in comparison Why mind it Sirs A truly godly man is the best learned man He hath the highest accomplishments and the greatest insight into matters And no marvel for he hath been trained up in the School of Christ and none teacheth like him He hath had his breeding in the Court of the great King he hath knowledge of those mysteries that puzzle the understandings of the greatest Doctors and which the wisest Philosophers could never attain unto The greatest Statesman and wisest Counseilor upon earth is but a fool a very dolt in comparison with the meanest of those that are upright in heart * Quanto magis foras es sapiens tanto magis stulius efficeris Si in omnibus es prudens circa te ipsum insipiens Bern. For if men reject the wâ—rd of the Lord what wisdom is in them as the questiâ—n is put Jer. 8.9 All their knowledge is but madness and that which they boast of as wisdom is but the shadow of it They are cunning to pursue a feather to hunt after a thing of nought and neglect the substance and is this to be wise It is the greatest wisdom in the world to please the Lord and the highest point of knowledge to see into matters that concern * Vide miser homo quia totum est vanitas totum stultitiâ— totum dementia quicquid facis in hoc mundo praeter hoc solum quod propter Deum facis Bern. our eternal peace Prov. 1.7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg So that unregenerate persons are but Abecedarians they have not gotten the first elements of true knowledge Psal 119.99 100. I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts Multitude of dayes should teach wisdom and such as instruct others should be well skilled Yea but saith David I have out-stript them all for I am a servant of God anâ— have respect to his word 5. The last ground of honour I shall mention 〈◊〉 mens high extraction and Parentage their great kindred and alliances Such a person we highly account of He is Son to an Earle or Marquess or Duke he is neerly allied to personages of worth or the like But now a Believer is a child of the Almighty Eternal and Incomprehensible God he is of neer alliance to the Lord Jesus the Mediator He is closly knit to him and made one with him which is the highest pitch of dignity which a creature is capable of to be united unto the Creator the Lord of glory This is it which a godly man may glory of and be thereby able to out-boast all his fellow creatures all other the children of men whosoever Psal 87.4 5 6. I will make mention of Rabab and Babylon to them that know me Behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there And of Sion it shall be said this or that man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there As if the Psalmist had said Men are apt to brag of their high birth and parentage they will boast of their Country and kindred I am a Citizen of Babylon will one say a famous City I saith another was born in Tyre a renowned place and have such personages of my kindred I can reckon my descent from Rahab saith a third a place of eminent remark and am allied to this or the other Prince and Potentate Well but a Believer can out-boast them he can go a step higher May he say I have God for my Father I was regenerate and born in Sion where the great King dwelleth I am married to the Son of God and so have a place in his family * Discamus sanctam superbiam sciamus nos esse illis meliores Hier. These are the people which God maketh the greatest reckoning of When he taketh a view of the world and the inhabitants thereof he puts an asterisk at the names of such He writeth them down with a note of remark Here is a man of royal descent indeed Here is a person that is of neer alliance to the King of heaven that is united to Jesus Christ who is King of kings and Lord of lords And mark how in the midst of the genealogy the holy Ghost setteth a note upon Jabez 1 Chron. 4.10 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren And Jabez
That he will have a cooler place in hell than some others who have ran beyond him in the perpetration of horrid abominations 5. A meer civil conversation and inoffensive câ—â—riage towards men is a poor foundation of a mans hopeâ— You have some will lean upon this prop and be very confident of their salvation upon this ground because they pay all men their due and walk honestly towards their neighbours and defie all the world to bring in a bill of accusation against them But this will prove as a rotten pillar that cannot support the Fabrick For observe what our Saviour saith to the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination to God Mark it here is the question Is thy heart washed and sanctified Art thou regenerated by the Spirit of Christ and so knit unto him The God before whom thou must appear is the searcher of the hearts and will bring to light the hidden things * Deest aliquid intus Said one of a picture when he tried to make it stand and vvalk of it self There wants something within So it may be said of the unregenerate moralist There vvants a Principle of spiritual life vvithin of darkness He seeth those secret and spiritual wickednesses that lodge within thee which the world cannot discern He taketh a view of those inward pollutions and filthinesses which pass the eye of the most curious inquisitor amongst the children of men Civility is a mercy for which thou art bound to bless the name of God but it will not entitle thee to the Kingdom of God * Va etiam vitae laudabili Aug. For the obtaining of that thou must be united to Christ Unconverted Paul was of a blameless conversation and yet a child of the wrath of God And therefore when he had a right knowledge of matters he did not rest herein but earnestly breathed after Christ and rejected all things that he might be found in him Phil. 3.6 8. 6. Legal sorrow for sin and a kind of reformation thereupon will not serve to beget a well-grounded hope of eternal life When sinners are under some pangs of conviction that damps their mirth for a while and their consciences are troubled for some ungodliness which they have committed and this trouble prevaileth so far as to make them leave the practise of that ungodliness for the present Hence they are apt to cherish strong confidence of their salvation Surely think they it cannot go amiss with us who have felt such disquietness in our spirits and begin to lead a new life What will bring a man to heaven if this will not But man one thing thou lackest yet and that is union with Christ the Son of God Unless thy sorrow for sin prove efficacious to drive thee quite out of thy self and to cause thee to give up thy soul into the hands of the Mediator whom God hath appointed it will in no wise conduct thee to everlasting glory Judaâ— was troubled for sin and restored the pieces of silver which he had gotten as the wages of unrighteousness and yet he went unto his own place Mat. 27.4 5. Act. 1.25 He had deep gashes of conviction cut in his conscience whereby he was wounded sorely and yet perished for ever for want of getting into Christ and application thereby of the healing balsom of his righteousness There may be much torture and vexation in the heart for sin and such as may carry a man to some amendment of life and yet not a drop of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not the least degree of that evangelical brokenness and contrition of spirit which driveth the sinner unto Christ that he may find rest for his soul 7. The meer external performance of spiritual daties is no sufficient ground whereupon to bottom our hopes of eternal life Such as prayer and reading the Scriptures and frequenting religious exercises and the like These are good means if rightly managed to bring a sinner unto Christ but in themselves they are no evidence of a good estate The Pharisee was much in outward duties and yet he was not justified Luke 18.12 A person may make many prayers and play the counterfeit in all that he doth many confess sin and plead against it with their mouths and in the mean while hug it in their bosoms they pretend to earnest desires of grace and holiness in their expressions but hate it in their affections with a perfect hatted they read the Scriptures to find out the will of God and yet retain a secret resolvedness of spirit to follow the dictates of their own wills they attâ—nd with their bodies on the Ordinances of Christ whilst their hearts go after covetousness and other base corruptions Ezek. 33.31 32. Many labour only to stop the mouth of conscience with outward performances who are utterly strangers to the workings of a renewed principle Besides What are the Institutions and Ordinances of Christ except they lead the soul unto Christ That is the very end of their appointment to bring us unto him and to build us up in him without an interest in whom by way of union with him there is no right to the kingdom of heaven attainable by any 8. The good opinions of the godly are but a sandy foundation of hope It is a great mercy to converse with such as are spiritually wise and to have a place and seat in their affections who are favourites in the court of heaven But it is no sure evidence of our title to heaven And the reason is this Because their estimation of others may arise from a mistake of their persons judging them only by what is visible and apparent in open view but God is a discerner of the secret recesses of the heart The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 How was David mistaken in Achitophel They took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company and yet he was an accursed person and wickedness was in his dwelling Psal 55.14 They may be much in the affections of the godly who are an abomination unto the Lord. So that trust not in this as a sign of a good estate Thon mayest be of great repute amongst Christians and yet alienated from Jesus Christ whereas it is only union with the Son and ingrafture into him which will give thee a right to salvation 9. Lastly that I may hasten to a conclusion A being joyned in fellowship with this or the other party who make a stricter profession of godliness than others is an insufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life This is all the proof that some can make of their fincerity Because they are of such a perswasion and settled in a Church way with such eminent professors they are of the same judgment and hold the same opinions with them this is made the foundation of great