the Conscience and the Conscience against all But where the Heart is framed to the obedience of God's Will there is Peace Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all things keep their place as in an accurate orderly Life they do Gal. 6. As many as walk according to this Rule Peace and Mercy be upon them and the whole Israel of God There is Peace for there is an harmonious Accord between God and them and between them and themselves Psal. 119. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law not only Peace but great Peace a Peace that passeth all understanding Whilst we are in our Sins there is ever a fear of the War which is between God and us and there is a War in our selves Conscience disallowing our practices and our practices disliking the conduct of Conscience so that there is no peace to the Wicked But when the Lord Jesus hath taken us in hand and begun to cure us and frame us aright and shew us his wonderful Grace in turning us from our Sins here is matter provided for Serenity and Peace 2. It is the pledg of our eternal Felicity hereafter For Heaven is the perfection of Holiness or the full fruition of God in glory Now when the Mediator begins to take away Sin he blesses you for the Life is then begun which shall be perfected in Heaven Unless it be begun here it will never be perfected there For without Holiness no Man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But if it be begun it will surely be perfected there for blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The vision and fruition of God is begun here the Spirit of Holiness is the earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1. 13 14. O what Blessedness is it then to have the new heart planted into us by Christ and to live the new Life It is the Beast about you that delights in the momentany base dreggy Pleasures of Sin But when Christ hath turned you from your Sins you are blessed indeed you are in the way to Blessedness and you shall be blessed for ever he gives Peace as a Pledge of Happiness and Eternal Glory III. I shall prove that this is the Mediator's Blessing 1. Let me lay down this that those Blessings that are most proper to the Mediator are spiritual Blessings We forfeited all by Sin but especially the Grace of the Spirit whereby we might be made serviceable to God Other Mercies run in the Channel of common Providence but spiritual Blessings are the discriminating Graces and Favours that are given us by the Mediator Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places Christ came not to distribute Honours and Greatness and worldly Riches to his Followers but to turn away every one of us from our Sins to reduce us to God that we may love him and be beloved of him He came as a spiritual Saviour to give us Grace rather than temporal Happiness Most Men have a Carnal Iewish Notion of Christ they would have a temporal Safety and Happiness they would have Deliverance from Affliction rather than Deliverance from Sin To be delivered from every evil Work is more than to be delivered from the Mouth of the Lion This is most proper to the Mediator 2 Tim. 4. 18. A sanctified Use of Troubles is more than an Exemption from them a carnal Man may have Exemption from them but not a sanctified Use of them Poverty Lameness Blindness are not as bad as Ignorance unruly Lusts and Want of Grace Moral Evils are worse than Natural Daniel was cast into a Lion's Den you would think that was a Misery but it was a greater Misery when Nebuchadnezzar was thrust out among the Beasts being given up to a brutish Heart Exemption from Trouble may be hurtful to us but Deliverance from Sin is never hurtful to us Among the spiritual Blessings we have by the Mediator Conversion from Sin to God is the chiefest we have on this side Heaven That it was the main Part of Christ's Undertaking I shall prove by Scripture and Reason For Scripture the Text is clear for it for thus the Apostle interprets the Covenant-Blessing In thy Seed shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed viz. God hath sent him to bless you wherein in turning every one of you from your Sins He shall be called Iesus Mat. 1. 21. for he shall save his People from their sins not only from the Guilt but the Power of Sin not only from the Evil after Sin but the Evil of Sin it self Denominatio est à majori the Name is taken from what is chiefest And so when he is promised to the Iews The Redcemer shall come out of Sion and he shall turn away Ungodliness from Iacob There is his principal Work 1 John 3. 5. Christ came to take away Sin and in him is no Sin He means not only the condemning Power but the Power of it in the Heart for he is pleading Arguments for Holiness why Believers should not run into Sin which is a Transgression of the Law One is from the Undertaking of Christ he came to take away Sin and from the Example of Christ In him is no Sin he plainly means the Power of Sin 2. Now to give you some Reasons why this is the chief Benefit most eyed by Christ and should be most regarded by us 1. Christ's Undertaking was principally for the Glory of God All the Promises are in him Yea and Amen to the Glory of God And it should not be a Question which should have the precedence the Glory of God or our Good Christ came to promote God's Glory and that must have the precedence of our Benefit Now then the abolishing the Guilt of Sin doth more directly respect our Interest and Good but the abolishing the Power of Sin or the turning and cleansing the Heart from it doth more immediately respect the Glory of God and our Subjection to God Therefore Christ would not only pacify the Wrath of God but his chief Work that doth mostly concern the Glory of God was to heal our evil Natures and prevent Sin for the time to come 2. To be turned from Sin is to be freed from the greatest Evil. For Pardon gives us an Exemption from Punishment which is a natural Evil but Conversion gives us freedom from our naughty Hearts which is a moral Evil and certainly Vice is worse than Pain and Sin than Misery Besides Sin is the Cause of all Evil and the taking away the Cause is more than ceasing the Effect 3. This hath nearer Connection with the Life of Glory Pardon only removes the Impediment but the sanctifying and healing of our Natures is the beginning of the Life of Glory and Introduction into it Pardon removes our Guilt which hinders our Happiness therefore Divines say Justification is Gratia removens prohibens that that removes the Impediment but the sanctifying
is the worst for this is not only against Truth but Right even though that Right entirely accrueth from your own free Promise 2. The Promises of the New Covenant are of a most glorious and valuable Nature They are not about small things or things of little moment but about worthy and dear-bought Blessings They contain Spiritual and Eternal Riches such as the healing of our Nature the pardon of our Sins a safe conduct unto Eternal Happiness The glorifying of our Souls the resurrection of our Bodies and then Life everlasting or an unchangeable state of happiness These are the greatest things indeed in comparison of which all the things of the World are but as a Maygame vain and empty or the smallest Matters as the Apostle calleth them 1 Cor. 6. 2. Reconciliation with God is our Priviledge here And is it a light thing to be at peace with the Living God to enjoy his Amity and Love to study and fit our selves to do his Will to live in constant Communion with him now to have access to him at all times to obtain from him whatever in Reason and Righteousness we can ask A Christian is never upbraided with the perpetuity of Addresses never denyed Audience never has cause to doubt of Success has more familiarity with God and a surer Interest in his Love than the greatest Favourites have in any Prince or Potentate upon Earth But then the Eternal Enjoyment of God hereafter Phil. 3. 14. I press towards the Mark for the Price of the High Calling in God in Christ Iesus It is an high Price that is set before us then we shall have a larger Capacity to know God and enjoy him and receive his Benefits Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Oh! cry out 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 3. They are precious Promises worthy of our Esteem For they are not about things that we have nothing to do with but such wherein we are deeply and intimately concern'd In God's Promises there is due Provision made for the Desires Necessities and Wants of Mankind Let me instance in Pardon and Life the first inviting Benefits Acts 26. 18. Pardon answereth the Fears and Life those Desires of Happiness which are so natural to us 1. The Consciousness of Sin and the Fear of God's Wrath and Displeasure should make Offers of Pardon acceptable to us The great Scruple of the guilty Creature is how Sin shall be expiated and God appeased Mic. 6. 6 7. We fear Punishment from an holy and just God and cannot get rid of Bondage till Sin be forgiven The Justice of the Supreme Governour of the World will be ever dreadful to us The Gospel serveth for this use to give us the knowledge of Salvation by the Remission of Sins Luk. 1. 77. 2. The other great Priviledge is Eternal Life Corrupt Nature is not against the Offers of Felicity There was never a Creature heard of that would not be happy for there was never a Creature but loved himself Therefore what more powerful Inducement to bring us into the way of Holiness than this blessed Hope set before us that we may see God and live for ever Tit. 2. 12 13. It is true we are greatly inchanted with false Happiness but shall not such an Offer be precious to us Ioh. 6. 34. Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this Bread 4. All this is given to us wretched Men without any desert of ours nay we had deserved the contrary Without our asking or thinking the Covenant was framed and modelled to our Hands and in the Frame and Contexture of it we may see a constant Strain of Covenant-Grace in the Richness of the Benefits the Graciousness of the Donor the Seasonableness of the Offer the Readiness of the Help when once we set our selves to seek after God and please and serve him and lastly in the Sureness of the Reward notwithstanding Frailties and Imperfections III. The Influence of the one upon the other or How do these Promises promote the Divine Nature 1. From their Drift which is to draw us from the Creature to God and the World to Heaven to mortify the Esteem of the false Happiness which tainteth and corrupteth our Natures and to raise us to those noble Objects and Ends which dignify and adorn the Soul and make it in a sort Divine It breedeth an excellent Spirit in us which is carried above the World and the Hopes and Fears of it 1 Cor. 2. 12. Alas what a mean Spirit have they that drive no higher Trade than providing for the Flesh or accommodating a Life which must shortly expire Like foolish Birds who with great art and contrivance feather a Nest which within a little while they leave But how Divine and God-like are they who look to higher things to please God enjoy Communion with him and live with him for ever 2. The Matter of the Promises Many of which concern the Change of our Hearts the Cleansing or Healing of our Natures Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Laws in their Minds and write them in their Hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People Ezek. 36. 25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your Filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you a Heart of Flesh. Jer. 33. 8. And I will cleanse them from all their Iniquity All which are Encouragements of Prayer to God for this Benefit If God doth not exclude us we should not exclude our selves 3. The Conditions or Terms on which our Right is suspended Not Pardon without Repentance Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins might be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Acts 2. 38 39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost c. Not Heaven or Eternal Life without Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Mat. 5. 8. 4. The Power with which it is accompanied 2 Pet. 1. 3. According as his Divine Power hath given us all things that pertain unto Life and Godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Vertue He gives us Life temporal and spiritual and that immutable Life of Felicity hereafter The Divine Nature is communicated to us by virtue of the Promises
bless themselves and the carnal World applauds them in a sensual Course and Way of Living They measure all Happiness by their outward Condition in the World and please themselves with golden Dreams of Contentment and this being seconded with the flattery and applauses of the deceived World they are fast asleep in the midst of the greatest Soul-Dangers and so go down into Hell before they think of it 2. Come we now to the Regenerate Such the Apostle looks upon the Thessalonians to be They need to have their Hearts directed to the patient waiting for Christ for these Reasons 1. Because we have too dim and doubtful a foresight of these things How dark a Prospect have even the best of God's Children of the World to come We may speak of others as Unbelievers but God knows how doubtful our own Thoughts are about Eternity and Christ's Coming how little we can shut the Eye of Sense and open that of Faith and say truly with the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at the Things that are seen that are temporal but to the Things unseen that are Eternal Alas we have no through Sight into another World The best Christians have need to have their Eyes anointed with spiritual Eye-salve that their Sight may be more sharp and piercing to beg the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to open the Eyes of their Mind that they may see what is the Hope of Christ's calling Eph. 1. 17 18. There are too many intervening Clouds between us and Eternity that darken our Sight and obscure our Faith 2. Our Thoughts of these things are strange and dull and too rare and unfrequent How seldom have we any serious thoughts of his Coming and how unwelcom are they to our Hearts It was a Complaint against Israel that they did put far away the evil Day but the Complaint against us may be taken up thus that we put far away the good Day when all our Desires and Hopes shall be accomplished and satisfied The Atheistical World deny it and we forget it Solomon saith to the sensual young Man Remember that for all these things God shall bring thee to Iudgment Young Men forget or put off these Thoughts lest like cold Water cast into a boiling Pot they should check the Fervor of their Lusts. But alas grave Men good Men forget these things When Christ had spoken of his Coming to Judgment he saith Mark 13. last v. What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. Watching is keeping up this Attentiveness to his second Coming with all Christian Vigilance and Endeavour But few regard the Charge therefore the Lord direct your Hearts c. 3. Because our Affections are so cold and we are no more affected with it but as if we were senseless of the weight of these things Some dead and drousy Desires we have but not that lively Motion which will become Hope and Love If Nature say Come not to torment us before the time Grace should say Come Lord Jesus O come quickly We are not only to look for his Appearing but to love his Appearing Where are these Desires that Christ would either come down to us or take us up to himself that we may live with him for ever 4. This Prayer need to be made for the Renewed too because Christians think of it with too much perplexity and fear Is the Sight of a Saviour unwelcom to you Or should the drawing nigh of your Redemption be a Comfort or a Terror Why do you then believe in Christ and choose his Favour for your Happiness We thought that this had been all your Hope and your Desire and your great Comfort and shall your Hope be your Torment and beget Horror rather than Joy O beg the Lord to direct your Hearts that you may hope to the end for the Grace that shall be brought unto you at the Revelation of the Lord Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. We do not only wait for Glory but for Grace and shall not this be a Comfort to you 5. We need to pray this Prayer because our Preparations are too slender for so great a Day Serious Preparation is necessary 'T is described 1 Pet. 3. 14. Wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless that is In a State of Reconciliation with God But we live too securely and quietly in an unprepared State If we have the habitual Preparation we do not keep up the actual Preparation by clarifying and refining our Souls from the Dregs of Sense by honouring God in the World with greater earnestness that when our Lord comes he may find us so doing We do not stand with our Loins girt and our Lamps burning that when the Lord knocks we may open to him immediately We do not keep up the Heavenly Desire the actual Readiness The Return of a Husband after long Absence is more welcom to the Wife than to a Harlot but she would have all things ready for his Reception and Entertainment 6. Because our Motions are too inconstant We interrupt the Course of our Obedience frequently faint in our Afflictions do not keep up the Fervor of our Affections and follow after Salvation with that industrious diligence We need often the Christian Watchword The Lord is at hand We lose much of our first Love intermit of our first Works Therefore the Lord direct your Hearts to the patient waiting for Christ. The Exhortation is To quicken you to take care of this Grace that you may be constantly exercised in it While we are upon Earth we should continually be expecting Christ's Coming from Heaven The Motives may be these 1. Before Christ's Coming in the Flesh the Saints waited for him I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord saith Iacob Gen. 49. 18. And Simeon for Christ the Saviour of the World for so it is explained Mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation And our Lord tells us Abraham rejoyced to see my Day Joh. 8. 56. And it is said of Anna and others That they waited for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2. 25 38. And after Christ was come the Disciples were commanded to wait for the Promise of the Spirit Acts 1. 4. So by parity of Reason we must wait for the Coming of Christ for that is the next great Promife to be accomplish'd and the great Thing to put Life into our Religion 2. The People of God are described by this 1 Thess. 1. 10. Who wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Iesus which delivered us from the Wrath to come A Man would have thought in those early Days they should have heen described by their respect to what was past rather than to what was to come which was at so great a distance they should have been described by believing Christ was already come in the Flesh rather than waiting for his Coming in Glory No this is proposed as an
one is infinite and he hath paid an infinite Price for thee purchased an infinite Happiness to thee His Love to thee was without measure and bounds so must thy Thankfulness be to him without stint and limit Though he died for others as well as thee yet thou art bound to love him no less than for thee alone he shed his whole Blood for thee and every Drop was poured out for thy sake 2. By a fiducial Owning and Appropriation challenging his Right in him So doth Thomas Joh. 20. 28. My Lord and my God Faith appropriates God to our own Use and Comfort The Devils know that there is a God and a Christ for they confessed Thou art Iesus the Son of the Living God But they can never say with Comfort My God and my Christ. This Application is the Ground of our Love to Christ and our Comfort in Christ. Our Love to Christ. Things that concern us affect us This is the quickning Motive to the spiritual Life Who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. And 1 Ioh. 4. 19. We love him because he loved us first A particular Sense and Experience of God's Love to our own Souls doth most quicken and awaken our Love to him again When we see that he hath thought of us and taken Care of our Salvation that our Names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life So for our Comfort in Christ. It is the Propriety a Man hath to any good thing that doth increase the Comfort of it It is a Misery to a Man to see others enjoy a Benefit which he hath as much need of as others and he can enjoy no part of it I may allude to that Prov. 5. 15. Drink Waters out of thine own Cistern and running Waters out of thine own Well The greater we know the Benefit the greater will be our Trouble to want it A poor Man that sees a large Dole given and Multitudes relieved and he can get nothing is the more troubled So here to see Christ ready to save Sinners and we have no Comfort by him is very afflicting Ephes. 1. 13. After ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation It is not sufficient to know that the Gospel is a Doctrine of Salvation to others but every one should labour by a due Application of the Promises to their own Hearts to find it to be a Doctrine of Salvation to themselves in particular The seeing of Meat though never so wholesom doth not nourish but the eating of it The beholding of Christ revealed in the Word as a Saviour in general is not sufficient to give full Comfort without applying him to be my Christ my Saviour my Redeemer We must make sure of our Share in this universal Good We read of Blood shed and Blood sprinkled Atonement made and Atonement received But no Man hath satisfying Comfort by the Blood of Christ till it be sprinkled upon his Heart and applied to him by the Spirit of God and thereby assured that it was shed for him 3. The next Ground of Comfort is That our Redeemer liveth This is true of Christ whether you consider him as God or as Man 1. As God So he is Co-eternal with the Father the First and the Last the Beginning of all things and the End of them So he saith not he hath or shall live but he liveth In my Flesh shall I see God He speaks of the Redeemer's Life without any distinction of Time past present or to come So that he is altogether with the Father and the Spirit from everlasting to everlasting one living God 2. As Man after his Resurrection Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen And have the Keys of Hell and of Death Now in this Sence I take it for his Life in Heaven after his Resurrection from the Dead and that is of great Comfort to us For the Apostle telleth us that If we were reconciled by the Death of Christ much more shall we be saved by his Life The Comfort is great that arises from the Life of the Redeemer 1. It is a visible Demonstration of the Truth of the Gospel in general and in particular of the Article of Eternal Life The Truth of the Gospel in general Acts 17. 31. Hath given Assurance that is a sufficient Evidence to induce a Belief of the Gospel in that he hath raised him from the Dead Christ came from Heaven as a faithful Witness to beget Faith as well as to give us Knowledge sealing his Testimony with unquestionable Proofs to make it the more sure and credible to us for he hath confirmed it by a Life of Miracles and chiefly by raising from the dead Himself and ascending visibly to Heaven His Resurrection from the dead is Proof enough to justify his Doctrine and to evidence the Certainty of his Testimony for God by his Divine Power would not countenance a Deceiver and raise him from the Dead and receive him into Glory with Himself Particularly it proves the State of unseen Glory Life and Immortality are more fully brought to light in the Gospel than by any other Means 2 Tim. 1. 10. By the Resurrection of Jesus Christ there is not only a clear Revelation of it but a full Confirmation because Christ is entred into the Glory that he spake of and promised to his Disciples He is gone before us into the other World that he may receive us unto himself and that we might with a more steady confidence wait for it in the midst of Fears and Uncertainties of the present Life 2. His Living after Death It was the solemn Acquittance of our Surety from the Sins imputed to him and a Token of the Acceptation of his Purchase when Christ rose again from the Dead our Surety was let out of Prison Isa. 53. 8. And it is a Ground of Confidence to us for when the Debtor sees the Surety walk abroad he may be sure the Debt is satisfied Therefore it is said Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our Offences and raised again for our Iustification Christ is sometimes said to rise from the Dead and sometimes to be raised from the Dead His taking up his Life again argued his Divine Power but as Man he was raised So it is said Heb. 13. 20. The God of Peace who brought again from the Dead our Lord Iesus Christ. God the Father brought him again from the Dead as an Evidence of full Satisfaction Our Surety did not break Prison but was solemnly brought forth The Disciples said Acts 16. 37 38 39. Let them come themselves and fetch us An Angel was sent from Heaven to roll away the Stone to shew that Christ had a solemn Release and Discharge 3. His Living implies his Capacity to intercede for us and to relieve us in all our Necessities Heb. 7 24 25. But this Man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Therefore he is able to save
are Strangers to the Promises of the Gospel It is a Thought that possesseth many when they are pressed to Christian Duties they will say We are not Saints or Angels and therefore cannot abstain from such Sins or attain unto an heavenly Life But do you mark what is said here Christians must be Partakers of a Divine Nature And not only they are cut off from any Priviledge by Christ who corrupt themselves as brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed Jud. 10. that is against the Light of Nature ingulf themselves in all manner of Dissoluteness and Sensuality But also they that walk as Men only according to the Rule of Men who mind nothing beyond the present World 1 Cor. 3. 3. Are not ye Carnal and walk as Men That is they are not raised above the Pitch of meer Men and have nothing of the Spirit of God in them 3. This Divine Nature may be considered three ways Either 1. As begun When we are first renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and regenerated according to the Image of God Ephes. 4. 23 24. There is a wonderful Change wrought in Sinners by reason of the Divine Qualities impressed on them So that the Creature beginneth to look like GOD Himself their Nature is altered their Course of Life is altered and their Designs and Actions have something Divine in them 2. As increased when more like God in a conspicuous degree At first the impression is but weak and this Glory is darkned by remaining Imperfections and we shew forth much of Adam upon all occasions as well as somewhat of Christ. But where any are sincere and diligent the old Nature is more suppressed and curbed and the Divine Nature doth more eminently appear 2 Cor. 3. 18. We are changed from Glory to Glory It is a work capable of Spiritual progress We should grow more like God and come nearer to the Nature of God every day And it is a shame we are not having been so long acquainted with the Word 3. As it is perfected in Heaven for there we have the nearest communion with God and so the highest conformity to him that we are capable of 1 John 3. 2. We shall see God as he is and be like him Perfectly like him for the being of Sin is then utterly abolished there is not the least stain or blemish upon a glorified Soul Besides then we are like him not only in point of Holiness but in point of Happiness and Felicity For God is an holy and happy Being Here we resemble God more in Holiness and Purity for many times the most eminent and exemplary Holiness may be accompanied with remarkable Afflictions at least sanctifying Grace doth not exempt us from them But there as our Holiness is exact our Felicity is compleat also First we are made Holy and then Immortal and in both like God Well then this is the effect Partakers of a Divine Nature So that when you come among the People of God and you be asked What kind of Men do you find them to be as Gideon in another case asked Zeba and Zalmunnah concerning his Brethren who answered Each one resembled the Children of a King Iudg. 8. 18. They were Godly and Majestical Persons So it will be said concerning the Saints who are really and eminently partakers of the Grace of the Gospel they are all Children of the most high God as like God as mortal men can be bear his Image and express Resemblance of the Grace of the Gospel II. Let us now see the Means by which God doth accomplish this effect To us are given great and precious Promises 1. It is an instance of God's Love that he will deal with us in the way of Promises The World is depraved by Sin and sunk into fears and despair of any Good from God whom we have so highly provoked Therefore God invites and allures us to himself by Promises For Promises and Declarations of God's Will in the Gospel whereby he signifies what Good he will freely bestow upon us if we will look after it These Advantages we have by them 1. A Promise is more than a Purpose for the Purpose and intention of a Man is secret and hidden in his own bosom but a Promise is open and manifest Thereby we get the knowledg of the Good intended to us If God had only purposed to bestow all this Grace upon us we could not have known his Intention and Purpose till it were manifested in the effect it would have been as an hidden Treasure or sealed Fountain of no Comfort and encouragement to us till we had found it But now the Word is gone out of his Lips we may know how we shall speed if we will hearken to his Counsel God's Promises are on his part the eruption or overflow of his Love his Heart is so big with thoughts of Good to us that his Love cannot stay till the accomplishment of things but he must tell us aforehand Isa. 42. 9. Before they spring forth I tell you of them He might have done us Good and given us no notice but that would not satisfy him It is an obligation God takes upon himself Promittendo se Debitorem fecit God's Purposes are unchangeable but Promises are a Security put into our hands not only give us notice but Assurance that thus it shall be We have the greater hold-fast upon him and may put his Bond in suit Psal. 119. 49. Remember the Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope 2. It is more than a Doctrinal Declaration It is one thing to reveal a Doctrine another to promise a Benefit that maketh a thing known this maketh a thing sure and upon certain terms That gives us notice but this gives us interest If Life and Immortality had been only brought to light in the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. which was only obscurely known to the Heathens it were a great mercy that we were not left to blind Guesses and dark Conjectures That Eternal Life is set before us a thing real and excellent is a great matter But God hath put it into a Covenant-form and Promise 1 Ioh. 2. 25. that we may make our Title and Claim Surely that is matter of great Comfort to us Psal. 119. 111. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 3. It is more than a Prophecy or simple Prediction Scripture-Prophecies will be fulfilled because of God's Veracity but Scripture-Promises will be fulfilled not only because of God's Veracity but also his Fidelity and Justice For by God's Promise Man cometh to have a right to the thing promised it was his Mercy and Goodness to make the Promise but his Justice and Fidelity bindeth him to make it good 1 Ioh. 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. Divines say Of all Lies a Promissory Lie
weakned by Almighty Grace 2. It may come from Libertinism And these harden their Hearts in sinning by a mistaking the Gospel 1. Some vainly imagine as if God by Jesus Christ were made more reconcilable to Sin that it needs not so much to be stood upon nor need we to be so exact to keep such ado to mortify and subdue the Inclinations that lead to it They altogether run to the Comforts of the Gospel and neglect the Duties thereof Christ died for Sinners therefore we need not to be troubled about it Some actually speak out these things as if all the Mortification required were but to quell the Sense of Sin in the Conscience not to destroy the Power of Sin in their Hearts and if they can but believe strongly they are pardoned all is well If this were true then in the hardest Heart would be the best Faith for they have the least trouble about Sin and least Conscience of Sin This is to cry up the Merit of Christ to exclude the Work and Discipline of this Spirit yea to set the Merit of his Death against the End of it and so to set Christ against Christ. He bore our Sins He bore our Sins in his Body upon the Tree that we might be dead to Sin and alive to Righteousness to promote this Mortification that we speak of 2. Another Sort think such Discourses may be well spared among a Company of Believers and they need not this Watchfulness and holy Care especially against grievous Sins that they have such good Command of themselves that they can keep within Compass well enough 'T is well if you be come to this height of Christian Perfection that Temptations make none or no considerable Impression upon you But we must warn you and that of the most gross Sins Christ thought fit to warn his Disciples Luk. 21. 34. Take heed lest your Hearts be overcharged with Surfetting and Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life And the Apostle every where warns Christians of Malice of Hypocrisy of Envy of Lying of Evil-speaking 1 Thess. 4. 6. Take heed that you do not over-reach and defraud one another for God is the Avenger of all such But these Men would be fed with refined Strains of Contemplative Divinity and have no Sins reproved but such kind of Sins as would seem a Credit rather than a Disgrace like those Diseases that are incident only to the best Complections and Constitutions If you speak against something that may rather argue their Excellency than shame them of their Sin you shall be welcome This over-spiritual Preaching ends in an aery Religion Is Sin grown less dangerous or Men more skilful to avoid it than heretofore Certainly he that considers how many scandalous Professors there are that would be accounted the People of God hath no cause to think so If Paul saw need of Mortification 1 Cor. 9. 27. We are not more strong but more fool-hardy 3. A third Sort are such as think Believers are not to be scared with Threatnings but only oiled with Grace But then consider the words of Christ were to his Disciples And to whom did the Apostle Paul write to Believers questionless If you live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. No part of the Spirit 's Discipline must be omitted If one end of Christ's coming was to verify God's Threatnings and that the Curse of the Law should not fall to the Ground surely there is use of Threatnings still 3. It may arise from another Cause that is the Passionateness of carnal Affections Men are so wedded to their Lusts they cannot leave them and so strangely besotted they are even ready to sit down and say they will venture their Souls rather than live a strict Life Is the pleasing of the Flesh so sweet to you or Hell so slight a Matter And will the Day of Judgment be so slubber'd over There is a raging Despair and there is a sottish Despair The raging Despair of a Cain Gen. 4. 13. My Evil is greater than can be born when we are ready to sink under the Burden of our Sins And a sottish Despair when we are not sound with God and loth to improve the Grace of the Redeemer but say There is no hope we will go on in the Imaginations of our own Heart Jer. 2. 25. There is no Hope it is an Evil and I must bear it If I be damned I cannot help it I must bear it as well as I can What! will you bear the Loss of Heaven the Wrath of the Almighty and Eternal God Surely you know not what Eternity means what Hell and Heaven means You will know when the Eyes that are now blinded by the delusions of the Flesh shall be opened when you shall see others sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and you shall be shut out Canst thou bear this If Rachel could not endure the want of Children and Iacob the supposed Loss of Ioseph when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him If Ahitophel could not endure the loss of his Credit in Counsel How wilt thou endure the Loss of thy Soul and the Glory of the Blessed to all Eternity When thou hast nothing to beguile thy Mind and thou art devested of all other Comforts and thou must feed upon this for ever So for the Pains of Hell Thou that canst not endure to be scorched a day or two in feaverish Flames or the Pain of the Stone or Gout when God arms the Humours of thine own Body against thee and canst not endure the Torment of an aking Tooth how canst thou endure the Wrath of an Eternal God Can your Hearts endure or your Hands be made strong in the Day that I will deal with you saith the Lord 2d Use is To perswade you not to neglect the Salt of the Covenant It may be fretting but it is healthful as the most salutary Medicines are usually most troublesom To help you to improve this kind of Argument which our Lord here useth 1. Consider There are but two Sorts of Men in the World and you are one of them There is no Neutral no middle State there are but two Principles that Men are influenced by the Flesh and the Spirit and there are but two Ends Men propound to themselves either the pleasing of the Flesh upon Earth or the enjoyment of God in Heaven And two Places they issue into Heaven or Hell The Scripture is peremptory and tells you who shall go to Heaven and who shall go to Hell Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting Or consider that Prov. 14. 14.
In all these God hath shewed great Wisdom I. As to the purchase and impetration of Grace by the Death and Incarnation of the Son of God 1. There is Wisdom in this that in our faln estate we should not come immediately to God without a Mediator and Reconciler God is out of the reach of our commerse being at such a distance from us and variance with us The wise Men of the World pitched on such a way 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. The Heathens saw so far that it was an uncomfortable thing to make their immediate approaches to their Supream God But here is the true God and the true Mediator But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him One God the Father from whom we derive all Graces to whom we direct all Services one Lord Iesus Christ who conveyeth the Graces and Benefits to us and returneth our Prayers and Acts of Obedience to God This is a mighty relief to our thoughts for the apprehensions of the pure God-head do amaze us and confound us when we come to consider of that glorious and infinite Being As heretofore before they found out the use of the Compass they only coasted as loth to venture themselves in the great Ocean So by Christ we come to God He is the true Iacob's Ladder Joh. 11. 50. 2. That this Mediator is God in our Nature Therein the Wisdom of God appeared in crossing and counter-working Satan's design Satan's great design was double to dishonour God and depress the Nature of Man 1. To dishonour God to Man by a false representation as if he were envious of Man's Happiness Gen. 3. 5. God doth know in the day that ye eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil His first Battery was against the Goodness of God to weaken the esteem thereof Now by the Incarnation of Christ the Lord's Grace is wonderfully manifested he is represented as lovely and amiable in our Eyes not envying our Holiness and Happiness but promoting it and that at the most costly rate and shewing love to Man above all his other Creatures God is Love 1 Joh. 4. 8. 'T is eminently demonstrated to us in the Son of God assuming our Nature and dying for us Rom. 5. 8. When Christ was incarnate Love was incarnate Love walked up and down and healed all Sicknesses and Diseases Love died and Love hung on a Cross Love was buried in the Grave When that ill representation was suggested to us it was necessary there should be some eminent demonstration of the Love of God to Man Especially after we had made our selves liable to his Wrath and were conscious to our selves that we had incurred his displeasure and so it was necessary that we should have some notable discovery of his Philanthropy or Love to Mankind Many Believers are harrast with doubts and fears and cannot come to be perswaded that God loves them Herein is Love and God commended his Love to us in that his Son died for us 2. The next design of Satan was to depress the nature of Man which in its innocence stood so near to God Now that the humane nature so depressed and debased by the malicious suggestion of the Tempter should be so elevated and advanced and set up so far above the Angelical Nature and admitted to dwell with God in a personal Union it is a mighty counter-working of Satan and sheweth the great Wisdom of God When he laboured to put God and us asunder the Lord sent his Son who took the unity of our Nature into his own Person 3. That being in our Nature he would set us a Pattern of Obedience by his Holy Life for he lived by the same Laws that we are bound to live by He imposed no Duty upon us but what he underwent himself that he might be an Example of Holiness unto us we learn of him Obedience to God at the dearest rates contempt of the World and contentation with a low and mean Estate and to be lowly and meek in Heart Mat. 11. 29. Now Man being so prone to imitation it is the greatest effect of the Wisdom of God thus to oblige us unless we would be utterly unlike him whom we own as our Lord and from whom we have all our Hopes and Expectations 4. That he should die the Death of the Cross to expiate our Sins Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us c. Phil. 2 8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. That the Justice of God might be eminently demonstrated the Law-giver vindicated and the breach that was made in the frame of Government repaired and God might keep up his just Honour without prejudice to his Peoples Happiness that he might be manifested to be Holy and an hater of Sin and yet the Sinner saved from Destruction Rom. 3. 25 26. An absolute Pardon without satisfaction might have exposed God's Laws to contempt as if the violation of them were not much to be stood upon therefore God dispensed his Grace with all Wisdom and Prudence would shew eminent Mercy but withal a demonstration of his Justice and Holiness that the World might still be kept in awe and there might be a full Concord and Harmony between his Mercy and Justice 5. That after his Death he should rise from the Dead and ascend into Heaven to prove the reality of the Life to come 1 Pet. 3. 21. Guilty Man is faln under the power and fear of Death strangely haunted with doubts about the other World therefore did Christ in our Nature arise from the Dead and ascend into Heaven that he might give a visible demonstration of the Resurrection and Life to come which he had promised to us and so encourage us by a Life of Holiness and Patience in Sufferings to follow after him into those Blessed Mansions So that from first to last you see the Wisdom of God II. The Publication of it in the Gospel or Covenant of Grace 'T is ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23. 5. The Messengers by whom it is published are not extraordinary ones but Men of like Passion with our selves The great thing in a Minister is love to Souls Christ saith he came not to be ministred unto but to minister In the Covenant of Grace you see the Wisdom of God in two things 1. The Priviledges offered 2. The terms or Duties required 1. In the Priviledges offered to us which are Pardon and Life In these Benefits Pardon and Life there is due Provision made for the desires necessities and wants of mankind Pardon answereth the fears of the Guilty Creature and Life those desires of Happiness which are so natural to us and therefore are the most powerful and inviting Motives to draw our Hearts to
the Text which is the end of this Love That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life everlasting Where I observe 1. The connection of our Duty and Priviledg Christ dyed to procure a Covenant wherein Pardon and Life is offered to us upon gracious Terms In the Gospel we must observe what God hath promised and what we must do both must be alike acceptable us the Duty as well as the Benefit or else we consent not to the whole Tenour of the Covenant 2. The Universality of the Proposal That whosoever believeth on him no sorts of Men are excluded from the Remedy but those that exclude themselves by their Impenitency and Unbelief 3. The Nature of this Act and Duty which giveth a Right and Title to the Benefits offered and that is believing no more is mentioned here But none truly believe but those that carry themselves accordingly or perform the Duties which that Belief calleth for If it be such a lively operative Faith it will secure our Title to these Benefits 4. The Benefits are Negatively and Positively expressed Negatively they shall not perish Positively but have everlasting Life 1. The Negative Expression is mentioned partly because of our former Deserts we incurred the Sentence of Eternal Death which is taken off from penitent Believers they shall not be condemned with the unbelieving World partly because of our present Fears Guilt presents Destruction before our Eyes but the cause of that is taken away as Sin is remitted and weakned And partly to support us in our troubles they may be Afflicted but not perish for ever Chastned but not destroyed not for Perdition but amendment 2. The Positive part is expressed partly to shew our Heavenly Fathers Love who cannot be satisfi'd til he hath brought us into his immediate Presence And partly to answer the desire of the Faithful who long for everlasting Communion with him we cannot be satisfied till we befor ever with the Lord in a perfect state of Subjection to him and Fruition of him Doct. That Faith is the Way which God hath appointed whereby to receive Benefits by Christ. I. What Faith is II. How this is to be understood III. Why the Gospel Covenant layeth so much weight on it What is Faith surely it concerns us to know it since the Scriptures speak so much of it every-where There are in it three things 1. Assent 2. Consent 3. Trust. 1. A firm and cordial Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour of Mankind who came down from heaven and suffered for our Sins and became the Foundation of that new Covenant which offereth Pardon and Hopes of Bliss to all those who feeling the Burden of their Sins will trust their Souls upon Christ's Redemption and Ransom and forsake the World the Flesh and the Devil and take him for their only Lord and Saviour that by him they may return to God This Assent is a part of Faith but this is not all The reasonable Soul in Man hath Life Sense Appetite and Motion as the Souls of the Beasts have but this is not the difference between us and them besides Sense Life and Appetite we have Reason and Discourse So here Knowledg and Assent are implied in Faith but more is required to make it justifying and saying Assent is good as it is inductive of other things or leadeth on other things to wit Choice and Trust and it is not only good but necessary lest we build without a Foundation It was of great weight heretofore when Christ's Person and Doctrine was more questioned and contradicted Ioh. 8. 24. Unless ye believe that I am he ye shall die in your Sins lose all the Benefit of his Coming 'T is said 1 Ioh. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God It was a mighty thing then to believe and profess Christ to be the Messiah and to cleave to that Profession whatever Temptations they had to the contrary But I dare not leave the Decision of Mens Spiritual Estate upon that Trial only The bleak Winds that blew then in their Faces blow now on our backs and it as dangerous now to deny Christ to be the Messiah as it was for them to profess it However Assent is still necessary to put the greater Life and Power into our Faith for if the Fire were well kindled it would of it self break out into a Flame The stronger our Assent is the more powerful to beget Love and Dependance on God's Promises Obedience to his Commands and Perseverance notwithstanding Temptations This Assent to do its Work must be firm and cordial 1. Firm. You must believe unfeignedly that Christ is the Messiah and Redeemer of the World Acts 2. 36. Let the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. The word signifies safely they may venture their All upon it Ioh. 17. 8. They have known There is a common customary superficial Belief that Men take up upon the Credit of their Forefathers and the Consent of the Country where they live And there is a sound Perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel wrought in us by the Spirit of God And though Human Credulity doth little yet this last serveth to renew the Soul Mat. 16. 17. Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in Heaven when Peter had said Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God This makes us victorious over the Devil the World and the Flesh. 1 Ioh. 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God If this important supreme Truth were well believed it would doubtless prevail against the Allurements of the World and the Flesh and make Men see that they have something else than this deceitful World to look after Truths go to the quick when soundly believed 2. Cordial Many seem verily to be perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God but are no way affected with this Mystery of Grace nor changed The Devils may give a bare Assent to this great Gospel Truth Compare Mark 5. 7. with Matth. 16. 16. The Confession of the Devil with the Profession of Peter The Devil owned Jesus to be the Son of the most High God as well as Peter the Son of the Living God Austms Observation is very good Hoc dicebat Petrus hoc dicebant Daemones Petrus ut Christum amplecteretur Daemones ut Christus ab iis recederet Peter said the same thing and the Devil the same thing Peter said it that he might embrace Christ the Devils that he might depart from them It is one thing to be of this Opinion that Christ is the Saviour of the World another to accept and receive him into our Hearts 2. The next thing which I shall observe in Faith is a Consent to receive Christ as God offereth him to us in the Gospel Joh. 1. 12. To as
it is yet the full Reward lieth in another World and the main Encouragements must be fetcht from thence There is an opposite Principle against it in the Heart which must always be curbed and suppressed and it meeteth with many Temptations from the Reproaches and Oppositions of those who like not this sort of Life The sensual and ungodly will use all Ways and Means to brand the Holy and Heavenly as an humorous Sort of Men and if their Hands be tied by the restraint of Laws and Government so that we are not exposed to Sufferings by their Violence yet we cannot but expect slanderous Abuses from them Now the Case being so the Motives must be sufficient to resist all the Temptations of this Life to keep us in the Love and Obedience of God to the end which the bare Sense of our Duty would hardly do in the midst of so many Temptations We are in an estate of Imperfection and Sense is very strong in us all and the Sufferings of the Obedient are very great that if we had not an eye to the Recompence of the Reward we could not so well deny our selves Let every Man consult his own Soul what would support him when all the World is against him and he is hooted at by the Clamours of the wicked Rabble and pursued with sharp Laws and exposed to great difficulties and hardships if he had no Life to live but this what would he do Besides it will not stand with the Goodness of God if you can suppose one that loves Goodness for Goodness sake and is so hardy as to contemn all his natural Interests that such a Man should be a Loser by his Faithfulness and Obedience to God and be made altogether miserable by his Duty without any Recompence 1 Cor. 15. 19. And upon another account his Goodness is engaged to take his Servants into his own blessed Presence for the prevailing Inclination of Holiness that is planted by his own hand in their Breath to love serve and see him is an earnest that we shall not always be thus imperfect for our Reward consisteth as of compleat Felicity so exact Holiness seeing God and being like unto him 1 Joh. 3. 2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is But suppose this were true that Vertue were a Reward to it self then what Provision is there made for the punishment of Vice Cannot it be said that they that addict themselves to that Course of Life are punished enough by doing so Alas wicked Men profess great Contentment in that Course of Life which they lead and would be glad of the News that they should have no other Punishment than to wallow in their Lusts. Nature teacheth us and the Practice of all Nations confirmeth it that Evils which consist in a breach of Duty must be punished with afflictive Evils painful to Nature Never such a Law-giver was heard of that would punish a Man for Robbery by causing him to commit Adultery And for Vertue though it hath a Beauty to draw our Love yet it cannot it self be its own price and recompence for Man is of such a Nature as he is still drawn on with the hope of some further good till he come to the enjoyment of the chiefest Good And so many are the Trials of the Righteous in this World that the Apostle telleth us We were of all Men most miserable if our hopes were only in this Life 1 Cor. 15. 19. The Calamities of the Good are as great a discouragement and offence as the prosperity of the Wicked therefore there is an estate of Life and Death to come Besides if Man be God's Subject employed by him in a Course of Duty and Service when his work is ended then must he look to receive his wages accordingly as he performed his Duty or faulted in it Now our work is not ended till this Life be over then God dealeth with us by way of recompence either in Pains or Joys Add further Reason will tell us that these Pains and Joys after Death should be everlasting that the recompence should last as long as Man lasts For Man as to his Soul is immortal and there is no change of Estate in the other World after our Trial is over and things of Religion become meer matter of Sense Certainly one that hath lived holily and is translated to Glory there is no Reason that he should afterwards be made miserable and the Punishment holdeth Conformity to the Reward Luk. 16. 26. Between us and you there is a great Gulph fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence There is no changing of Estates or Places in the other World the Blessedness and Misery is Eternal Things to come would not considerably counter-ballance things present if there were not Eternity in the case 2. Conscience hath a sense of it and on the one hand standeth in dread of Eternal Death and on the other is cheared with the hopes of Eternal Life The first is proved Rom. 1. 32. and Heb. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Men are afraid of Death not only as a natural Evil as it puts an end to present Comforts but as it is an entrance to an unknown Countrey What is the reason of the stings of Conscience which are never so sensible and quick as when Men approach near Death or behold themselves in some near danger What are these but presaging Fears that anticipate Miseries after this Life If the Soul were extinguished with the Body then troubles should in reason vanish but we find that this is the time when these Allarms are redoubled and these Tempests increase with violence On the other side there are Joys of the Spirit which are a taste and earnest of Eternal Life Eph. 1. 13. He hath given us the earnest of the Inheritance Good Men have so much of Heaven upon Earth as may assure them they may look for more this hath supported them in all their difficulties and labour Now if there were no such thing the wise and best Men that ever the World saw would be Liars or Fools Liars in pretending Comfort which they had not or Fools in being deceived by their own vain Imagination and in taking such pains in subduing the Flesh hazarding their Interests and performing their Duty upon the hopes of another World 3. Scripture if we will take God's Word for it is express Rom. 8. 13. Rom. 6. 21 22. and Gal. 6. 8. The present World is comprised in two Ranks either Sowing with the Flesh that is such who employ their labour to make Provision to gratify the Carnal Appetite or Sowing to the Spirit such as employ their Time and Study in advancing the work of the Spirit and they issue themselves into two States in the other World the State of Everlasting Perdition or Everlasting Life Thus do the Scriptures propound Good and
Life Evil and Death Secondly The Manner how this is to be done it must be set forth with all Evidence and Conviction as to the Reason of Men with all Earnestness and Affectionate Importunity to awaken their Affections In short 1. So as will become the belief of these things We must not speak of them as a thing spoken in jest and by rote but as firmly perswaded of the truth of things as if Heaven and Hell were before our Eyes and as evident to Sense Heb. 11. 1. We look upon these things naturally as at a distance and so have but a cold apprehension of them but we should by Faith see them as near at hand As you would pull a Man out of the Fire Iude 23. or as falling into a deep Pit or bottomless Gulph as one in the greatest earnest Belief puts a Life into Truths which otherwise are but dead and weak in their Operation I believed and therefore did I speak as if we had a deep sense of these things upon our own Hearts 2. As will become Experience 2 Cor. 5. 10. Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. A Man that knoweth the Terrors of the Lord that hath been scorched himself will set them before Men as if they were at hand ready to surprize them Others that talk of these things but as cold Opinions they will not be so careful to rouse up Men to mind the case of their Souls If one went unto them from the Dead then will they repent Luk. 16. 30. 3. So as will become Zeal for the Glory of God which is much promoted by the Subjection and Obedience of his Creatures and his Interest in them therefore we should be diligent and industrious in drawing Souls to Christ. Col. 1. 27 28. Christ in you the hope of Glory whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Iesus 2 Cor. 11. 13. They have blind unbelieving Hearts therefore need to be taught cold careless Affections and need to be warned and this with the greatest Wisdom that can be used that all may be presented to Christ at the last day This is that which sets all a going When we are wooing for Christ we should not do it coldly and triflingly but as those that would prevail for their Master that he may be glorified in their being gained to him 4. So as will become compassioners of precious and immortal Souls for whom Christ died Souls that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell Oh mind them of their Duty warn them of their Danger they are ready to tumble into the Flames of Hell every moment therefore with all earnestness set Life and Death before them We should use the more compassion to Souls because God himself who hath employed us hath expressed so much of his Compassion he doth not only tell them they will die but expostulateth with them Why will you die O House of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. And Ezek. 28. 25. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not return from his ways and live The greatest quarrel Christ hath with Sinners is because they will not come to him for Life John 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Two Reasons make this more evident 1. This is God's Will 2. This is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. First This is God's Will that his Law should be propounded with the Sanction of it that is with Penalties and Rewards God might rule us with a Rod of Iron require Duty out of meer Sovereignty but he will draw us with the Cords of a Man Hos. 11. 4. with such Arguments as are fitted to Mans Temper as he is a reasonable Creature that is by Promises and Threatnings We are best moved and induced to any thing by those two Affections of Fear and Hope the one Affection serveth for Aversation and Flight the other for Choice and Pursuit Therefore he that knoweth the Wards of the Lock accordingly suiteth the Keys and doth not only require an exact Duty but also promiseth Good and threatneth Evil. Sovereigns in their publick Edicts do not argue with their Subjects but only interpose their Authority but God condescendeth to reason with his Creatures He doth not say as sometimes Thus shall ye do I am the Lord but if you do thus this will be your ruine and obey these Statutes for your Good Deut. 6. 24. and so doth perswade as well as command Secondly It is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. 1. It is of Profit that they should often be minded of the Issues of things Israel's want of Wisdom cometh from this Deut. 32. 29. O that they were Wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end that is how Obedience and Disobedience will succeed with them Lam. 1. 9. David's trouble at the prosperity of the Wicked arose from want of this Psal. 73. 17. Then I understood their End Rom. 6. 21. The end of these things is Death Fugientes respice what will they leave in their farewel and departure Jer. 17. 11. At his latter end he shall be a Fool. The first addresses of Sin smile upon us but the Sting is in the Tail So the beginning of Godliness is Bitter but afterward it yieldeth everlasting Peace and Comfort 2. That they may reflect on both combined either of them single is of great force but both joyned together comes in upon the Heart with greater Power We need a Bridle and a Spur a Bridle because of our proneness to Evil and a Spur because of our Backwardness to Good We have both we are compassed and hedged in with our Duty on every side If we look back there is Death to affright us if forward Heaven to allure us there is Eternal Life to draw us there is Eternal Death to drive us If God had only terrified us from Sin by unexpressible Pains and Horrors and made no promise of unspeakable Joys this were enough to engage us to live without Blame and Blemish that we might not be cast into the Prison of Hell or if only to quicken our Diligence he had propounded Hopes and Happiness as the Priviledg of those that live Vertuously and Holily and evil Men did utterly perish when they die this were enough to draw us If God had only promised Heaven and no Hell there would not be so strong a Motive but can we be cold and dead when both Life and Death are laid before us and both for ever this is very unreasonable Solomon telleth us Prov. 15. 24. That the way of Life is above to the Wise to avoid Hell beneath Every step they tread is a going from Eternal Death and an approach to Eternal Life Therefore as we would escape the Torments of Hell and possess the Joys of Heaven we should be serious We are undone for ever if we be not blessed for ever and the
think it will bring a dâ—mp on your Hearts But if you cannot endure to think of Hell how much less will you endure one day to suffer it Is it such a trouble to consider it what is it to feel it Timely Consideration is the way to prevent and escape these Torments it will help to preserve you from comming thither and cause it to work upon you Oh then Deut. 32. 46. Set your Hearts unto all these Words which I testify among you this day Consideration will awaken the Soul that was formerly laid asleep Will Heaven or Hell intice or deter the Man that thinketh not of it Shall we not therefore have a little Patience while we deeply ponder and weigh these things in our Minds See Life and Death is set before you and will you not allow a few serious Thoughts about them nor ask your Souls what shall become of you to all Eternity God's great complaint of Israel is Isa. 1. 3. My People will not consider and the same complaint may be made of us Things are evident and clear to Faith Reason and Conscience but we will not consider and so wander out of the way 3. The next thing we exhort you to do is to make choice for your own Souls That is the use Moses makes of it ver 19. Therefore choose Life that both thou and thy Seed may live Hearing Believing Considering are all in order to choice and without choice and a determined fixed bent of Heart you will never walk evenly in Heavens ways Determine not only that you must but you will walk in the way which God hath set forth for you God's Ways must be chosen Psal. 119. 30. I have chosen the way of Truth And ver 173. I have chosen thy Precepts Jos. 15. 22. If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve Not as if it were indifferent but to set an edg upon their Appetite There is much strength in the Bond when a Man bindeth himself freely and makes him the more inexcusible if he doth not observe it All will choose Life before Death but they are out in the Means they do not choose Good before Evil the Good of Holiness before the Evil of Sin Every Man desireth some Good it is as natural for the reasonable Creature to desire to be happy as it is for the Fire to burn but we do not make a right choice of the Means that may bring us to that Happiness that we desire They would be happy but they choose Means quite contrary to Happiness Oh then choose the Ways of God let Life be your Motive and Holiness your Choice this is the way to live for ever to avoid Hell beneath As soon as we come to years of Discretion we should make our choice to go on in the ways of Life To this we are obliged by the most weighty Reasons urged by the enforcements of the Word and by the sad and numerous examples of young People who make an ill choice in the beginning and go on and are hardned therein and perish for ever SERMON XVIII MAT. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets IT is a general Complaint of the World that Christians are defective in the Duties of the second Table Some Hypocrites may be so to mask over a dishonest Life with a pretence of Worship and Godliness But we are not to judge of the rest of the People of God by these no more than we would judge of the Glory of a Street by the filthiness of the Sink or Canal or of the sound Grapes in the Cluster by the rotten ones For certainly all that have truly submitted to Christianity do find that Religion doth influence their Relations and run out and issue it self in all the Duties which they owe to Man as well as unto God And it was not a Boast which Austin said to the Heathens Let all the Religions of the World produce such Princes such Subjects such Husbands Wives Parents Children as the Christian Religion produceth This was the Glory of Religion then and it should not fall in our hands Or possibly this may be the Cause of it Unrenewed Men which allow one another in their Excesses and glory in some kind of mutual Civilities may equal or over-pass the Godly therein Look as Dogs excell Men in the acuteness of Smell and the Eagle in sharpness of Sight and many other Beasts in other Senses because it is their Excellency so there are certain lower Respects which the Men of the World mutually pay one towards another and they may excell in these as their peculiar Worth But however be that Complaint true or false it concerns us to take notice of it and to prevent all Suspicion of this kind And therefore we need to press Moralities upon Christians and that from the true Root the Love of God for that is the great Mistake of this Age to set up a sort of false Morality and forget the true one that is built on Faith in Christ and Love to God Now to set down each particular Duty would be tedious The Life of Man is short and the Law in all its necessary Explications long and voluminous and therefore to have a sure Rule and a short one would be a very great Advantage to us in this Matter And this one Direction which I have read to you out of the Word of God will serve instead of all It is a sure Rule for Christ gives it us who is Truth it self and though it be short it is full enough for our purpose for here is the Substance and Quintessence of the Law and Prophets all drawn into one compendious Rule and Abridgment of our Duty the best Epitome that ever was A Sentence this is of such weight that the Emperor Severus as Lactantius reporteth out of Lampridius was so taken with it that having heard it from some Iew or Christian he wrote it in his Palace and caused it to be engraven in Golden Letters in the Courts of Justice and to be proclaimed at the punishment of Offenders And therefore I shall briefly discourse of this Rule and present it to your serious Consideration In the Words there is I. A Rule of Life Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them II. The Commendation of it For this is the Law and the Prophets III. The Illative Particle Therefore My Business shall be to open these Circumstances I. Here is the Rule of Life This general Precept may be considered in the Affirmative or in the Negative for Negatives are included in their Affirmatives The Affirmative is in the Text. All those things that you would Men should do unto you the Negative is in that noted Saying Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris that which you would not have done to you
left such an Instinct and Inclination upon her which doth sufficiently excite her to do it 2. The near Preparation is called Promptitude and Readiness for every good Work or a ready Obedience to every good Work Tit. 3. 1. So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ready to distribute Heb. 13. 16. Ready to communicate So Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 21. 13. This is beyond Inclination The Fire hath an Inclination to ascend upwards yet something may violently keep it down so a Christian may have a Will to Good a strong not a remiss Will but yet there are some Impediments Rom. 7. 18. Inclination implieth a remote Power but Readiness the next and immediate Power therefore a Christian ought to keep himself in a readiness or fitness of Disposition for his Duty whether it concerneth God our selves or others This is seen in Zeal that beareth down all Impediments All Graces are operative and Zeal is that earnest Impulsion and Activity of every Grace where it is in strength and vigour Faith worketh Gal. 5. 6. Love constraineth 2 Cor. 5. 14. Hope quickneth 1 Pet. 1. 3. A lively Hope This proceedeth from the new Nature when it is in right Frame and Strength We need not only make Conscience of our Duty or have some mind to it but our Hearts will not let us have any Quiet and Rest without it 2 Pet. 1. 8. They make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. Christians must be zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. Paul was pressed in Spirit Acts 17. 10. Acts 18. 5. The Benefits that come by it are 1. We do good Works more easily as being inclined thereunto Exod. 35. 29. The Children of Israel brought a willing Offering unto the Lord. Psal. 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power There is a great deal of Difference between doing things by Compulsion and doing things from an Inclination between Israel's making Brick in Egypt and building the Wall in Nehemiah's Time Neh. 4. 6. 2. With more Delight and Alacrity 1 Iohn 5. 3. His Commandments are not grievous Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments It is a Pleasure to them to do a good Work to others a Toil. 3. With Constancy That which is forced lasts not long Upon the first occasion we break out cast off the Burden which pincheth and galleth us A Man is never constant to his Duty till he be held to it by his Heart and the Byass of the Heart is not Fear but Love You cannot easily perswade him against his Love and Inclination though you may overcome his Fears Cant. 8. 6 7. Set me as a Seal upon thine Arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousy is cruel as the Grave Many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it If a Man would give all the Substance of his House for Love it would utterly be contemned The Uses are 1. For Reproof of many professing Christians who are not more prepared for the Lord and made ready for every good Work Alas some are to every good Work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. unfit for any Christian Practice In others all their Holiness standeth in being less vitious or wicked than others If they avoid the greater Crimes though they freely practise the less they are accounted good Men. Some talk but do nothing like Cypress-Trees tall and beautiful but unfruitful or the Carbuncle afar off seeming all on fire but the Touch discovers it to be key-cold their Zeal is more in their Tongues than their Actions Others are very unready arguing for a Mediocrity disputing every inch with God beating down the price of Religion as low as they can as little Worship and Charity as may be and will do no more than needeth and it is well if they do that True Goodness like live-Honey droppeth of its own accord 2 Cor. 8. 2. and is always desirous to do more for God Psal. 71. 14. I will praise thee more and more Phil. 1. 9. I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more in Knowledg and in all Iudgment 1 Thess. 4. 1. Furthermore we exhort you Brethren That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more But little of this Temper is to be found 2d Use of Information First Observe the Deduction of good Works from their proper Causes viz. The Will of God requiring our Regeneration fitting the one determineth our Duty the other maketh us ready to perform it While carnal that which we do is but the Image of a good Work not really and spiritually good 2dly The Necessity of good Works 1. Necessitate Consequentis as the Fruit and End of Regeneration All things are valued by their use What doth the new Creature serve for but that we may walk in newness of Life otherwise it is but a Notion It is not given us to lie hid in the Heart as a sluggish idle quality but that we may act by it and improve it for God The Lord made no Creature in vain Inded all that we have from God both in Nature and Grace was that we might be fruitful in Holiness In Nature we have Life Health and Parts for nothing else but that by our present Duty we may prepare our selves for everlasting Joys All God's Mercies bind us to Diligence all his Ordinances are Means to help us all his Graces are Power to enable us and there is over and above the holy Spirit to excite and quicken that Power Ioh. 4. 10. Ezek. 36. 27. 2. Necessitate Praecepti God hath required them at our hands Now we must make Conscience of what God hath required especially when all his Commandments are holy just and good If some greater thing were required ought we not to have done it 2 Kin. 5. 13. But when he hath required such noble Work shall we refuse There is nothing in his Law but what becometh his Nature preserveth and makes happy ours 3. Necessitate Medii as the Way to Heaven Good Works are indispensibly required of grown Persons if they mean to be saved Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God A Christian shall be judged at the last day by what he hath done Rev. 20. 12. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1 Pet. 1. 17. If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth every Man according to his Work Profession will not carry it but our Works come into the Judgment So Rev. 14. 13. Their Works follow them that is They have the Fruit and Comfort of them in another World and without them we cannot be