so much doth it argue Faith in a man CHAP. XXI Receiving denotes taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart and so Faith is receiving An Object answered Faith is called receiving because the soul that doth beleeve doth beleeve willingly and cheerefully Receiving in the scripture is used for such entertainment as freinds give one unto another Or guests or strangers have of their freinds As in Math. 10.14 And Luke 20.10 Christ sends his disciples abroad without any thing to live upon and faith If they wil receive them that is if they wil be glad of the Gospel at such a charge and at the cost they must be at In Heb. 13.2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for in so doing saith he some have received Angels As it is in that place of the Gospel Math. 10.41 He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet that is that makes him welcome as the Messenger of God In the third Epist of John and vers 9. Diotrephes that loves the preheminency received us not nor would have suffered the Saints to receive us As the Text tells us in the Book of Genesis that Abraham stood at the door of the Tent that he might entertain strangers that passed by And Stephen saw Christ in Heaven and therefore used the word of the Text Lord Jesus Receive my spirit Acts 7.59 My meaning is this Though I cannot look upon Heaven as my own house and home Though I be a stranger and cannot demand the glory thereof as due unto me yet receive me kindly Bid me be of good cheer and give me what is laid up in store there Al this I have spoken to shew that this word Receiving is proper to a kindly entertainment Now faith is such a kind of receiving and entertaining Jesus Christ in some measure I say in some measure As Jesus Christ doth receive the soul into Heaven so doth the soul receive Jesus Christ into it by beleeving That self same love which Christ shews that kindness which he expresseth to the soul in entertaining it into Glory that in some measure doth the soul express in its laying hold upon Jesus christ It is said in Luke 19.5 6. That Christ bad himself to Zacheus his house to dinner Zacheus come down and make hast for this day I must abide at thy house And Zacheus came down made hast received him joyfully Thus is it in effectual calling in conversion Christ comes unto a soul and saith Turne unto me live Beleeve you shal be saved why wil you dye in the way wherein you are Though there be nothing belong unto you but shame and confusion of face for ever yet by and in me you shal find happiness As Christ doth first offer unto the soul himself So doth the soul receive this offer of Jesus Christ In Acts 8.37 Though that the Eunuch was but a young convert yet notwithstanding of him as of a young convert Philip requires he should beleeve with al his heart If thou beleevest with al thy heart Al the heart is not there taken extensively or gradually that is al one with perfection As it is in the Commandement Thou shalt love the Lord with al thy heart that is love him and love nothing else But al the heart there is opposed unto a divided heart and unto an unwilling spirit If thou beleevest with al thy heart that is if thou be glad of Jesus Christ to undertake for thee If thou dost willingly give up thy self unto him for salvation I say there is a great deal of difference between a mans doing of a thing willingly and doing a thing electively and out of choice A thing is said to be done willingly when it is done out of a principle suitable to it though that in the doing of it there be no thought of taking contentment or pleasure in it As a man sins willingly when the corruption that is in his heart doth break into act As for example A man that hath a prophane and wicked spirit he sweares willingly though he doth not think of swearing when he doth it So al actual corruptions are voluntary though that we do not consider what we do As the wise man speaks that they know not that they do evil because it comes from a corrupt heart within To do a thing voluntarily and willingly it is enough that a man doth it of himself moved thereunto of his own disposition and quality of mind A thing is said to be done electively or by choice when a man having weighed arguments on both sides doth choose one rather then another He puts a difference between the reasons that are urged on either part and chooseth to follow one before the other In Heb. 11.25.26 Moses is said to choose afflictions with the people of God because he judged or esteemed saith the Text. Doing things out of choice is a manner of doing things willingly and the highest sort of so doing And So there is a difference between a mans beleeving willingly and cheerefully and a mans beleeving electively and out of choice A man beleeves willingly when he is carried unto Jesus Christ by the spirit of faith in a sense of his own nothingness and a knowledg of the tenderness and sufficiency that is in Jesus Christ to save him A man beleeves out of choice when he chooseth rather to adventure his soul in that way of beleeving upon Christ then in any other course As for example Conceive you a man like him that came to our Lord Jesus Christ willing to do any thing to obtain eternall life And as a meanes thereunto there is advice given him to repent of what he hath done and to mortify his lusts that he should take up the practise of al dutyes and ordinances heare much and pray often and deny himself opportunities of sin and give that which he hath unto the poor And al this advice is urged upon him with al that can be said from the scripture and reason that if he doth thus he shal be saved But he is also advised to beleeve upon Jesus Christ who Justifies the ungodly who cures a man for nothing who saves them that are not able to returne him any thing again suitable to what they receive from him And he chooseth this way of faith rather then that other way This now is a beleeving out of choice when I say al other wayes are laid before a man for salvation in their greatest probability and yet a man can see faith to be the best way and can answer the reasons that are brought to the contrary Unto this election faith wil grow in time and by experience So that it can say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and I have none on earth in comparison of thee Psal 73.25 Therefore it is compared to a Marriage which cannot be without union to Christ and willingness to be so A woman after Marriage comes to say if she were unmarried again she would have none
are in us by nature and that not only in nature fallen and corrupted but in perfect and innocent nature The testimony which God gives us of himself through Jesus Christ I say that which God hath revealed Christ must do for us or else we cannot be saved cannot be deduced from those principles and from that reason by any understanding whatsoever Mark it What God doth do in and by Jesus Christ may be reduced unto that which God hath made known of himself and is his nature There is no inconsistency between them Yea the nature of God becomes a pawn and security for the making of that good But out of the nature of God these things cannot be deduced As for example There is no inconsistency between Gods holiness and his giving his Son for us There is no inconsistency between his Justice to punish sin and his pardoning of sin as he doth it They may wel stand together But the most perfect and absolute understanding of the Justice or of the holiness of God or of the mercy of God cannot teach a man that God wil pardon or that God wil give Jesus Christ for him But that a man must have knowledg of from another relation And that which I suppose doth make this as cleere as can be is this That the things which do belong unto our Salvation by Jesus Christ are acts of Gods meer wil and pleasure Such unto which his nature of it self acts not but because he of his own pleasure wil so do And therefore you shal find that the Gospel is said to be hid from the Angels even the Angels that are in heaven til it be revealed though that they have as perfect knowledg of God as Creatures can have They see the face of my father continually saith our Lord Jesus Christ The Angels that are in heaven know the love of God and they know the mercy of God and they know the power of God These are the subjects of their meditation They are indued with such understanding that they can go as far and pierce as deeply into them as can be by creatures And yet notwithstanding that God should pardon and forgive a sinner by Jesus Christ that they could not find out And therefore the Apostle saith in 1 Pet. 1.12.13 That the Angels did stoop down As a man lays his eare where he can hardly heare So the Angels did stoop down It was as much as they could do when God did reveal the Gospel to apprehend or take notice of it So you know that the scripture saith that the things of Jesus Christ they are in Math. 16.17 Not revealed by flesh and blood but by my father which is in Heaven saith Christ Were the matters of our Salvation the necessary effects of Gods attributes and his nature then the things of our Salvation might be found out by those that know and study that nature and those Attributes But that you see they cannot The Prophets in 1 Pet. 1.12 That prophesied concerning Christ by an immediate revelation yet were faint to have another revelation to know the circumstance of the time when the things whereof they spake should be fulfilled and come to pass Take the divine nature of Christ as he is the second person of the same substance with the father And though you should know that fully though you had a perfect understanding of it yet could you not know by it what the heart of Christ is towards you as a Mediator And the reason is because as what the father doth he doth do voluntarily and not from a necessity of nature So what Jesus Christ the son doth he doth out of a voluntary compact and covenant made with the Father And therefore he saith he comes to do his wil. Heb. 10.9 And Gal. 1.4 He gave himself according unto the wil of God and his Father Now mark it If so be that perfect nature Man in innocency cannot understand by the nature of God what are the things which do belong unto Salvation by Jesus Christ If so be that a man must beleeve more unto Salvation then a perfect understanding which the Angels have if it were in man can reveal unto him Then must he beleeve more then the corrupt and depraved mind of man can teach him Beloved let me draw it down to a little more narrow compass that may fit your practise The things which God hath revealed are not examined and judged by what is essential unto the nature of God It is lawful to examin what is the essential nature of God It is lawful to look into what God wil do that we may see his attributes shining forth in them But to examin the truth of what he hath promised by that which is essential and natural unto God is for a man to go out of the way that is saving I wil make it plain to you You shal see many a poor soul when he heares in the Ministry of the word cleerly asserted that God wil forgive and pardon sin The promises of life and Salvation are with such evidence and light held forth as that there is no exception can be made against them Yet notwithstanding you shal find a poor soul keeping off from resting by faith in them because he saith God is Just and of a holy nature And what communion can there be between such a one as he is and God Mark it Because that the nature of God doth not of it self give forth or promise so much as the Gospel doth therefore the Gospel is called in question by them Who ever thou art when thou hearest the promise of God in Christ and by Christ that objecteth that God is just and the avenger of such a one as I am Unless this be thy end viz. To learne how the Justice of God is preserved entire notwithstanding he passeth thee by unless it be I say to this end Thou dost lay a stumbling block before thy self in the way of faith and beleeving Yea thou dost discover an unwillingness to beleeve upon Jesus Christ Thou thinkest God is unwilling to shew thee grace and mercy because thou thinkest he wil do no more then he must needs do by the necessity of his own nature We count that man to be exceeding hard who wil give no more then he is constrained to do by law So thou dost with God Thou countest him to do no more then by law if thou countest that he wil do nothing but what his nature doth hold forth if thou makest his nature to be the rule and not his promise His nature doth give security that that which he hath promised shal be performed and that he wil do what he hath promised How hard is that man to beleeve that wil beleeve no more then he is forced unto that wil beleeve no report unless he heares it with his own eares and sees it with his own eyes And so dost thou when thou wilt not rest in the promise of God It is true indeed
there is an acounting of it but that accounting of it serves only to take it into possession So it is here also There is somthing the soul doth in receiving but it tends only to this end that it may be possessed of Jesus Christ and of his merits Secondly As there is a passiveness in Receiving to be noted So in receiving there is a meanness and and lowness of condition It was an Apothegâ—e or usuall speech of our Lord as it seems by the Apostle To say It is better to give than to receive Acts 20.35 That is better more honorable more commendable He that gives the least gift hath more honor than he that receives the greatest kindness And as I shall shew you afterward In regard of the profit of beleeving it is very great but in regard of the manner of beleeving it is an abasement unto man A denial even of his reason for the testimony sake of Christ But those are not the things which I intend principally Thirdly in Receiving there is a taking to ones self that which before he had not As a man receives mony which before was out of his hands by being received it comes into his possession and is his own And in this sense you shal find the word Received used in the Scripture in Heb. 11.39 All these having obtained their good report through Faith received not the promise Received it not that is they saw not they were not made actually partakers of the benefits of Christ being in the flesh Although that they had the advantage and profit of his undertaking for them with the Father They Received it not that is they were not actually partakers Fourthly Receiving notes the taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart As the Text saith in Heb. 13.2 There was some that did receive Angels unawares It being you know a phrase that is taken from those men that do bid welcome their guests or friends Acts 7.59 And so Stephen prays in that language Lord Jesus saith he receive my Spirit He doth by his faith apprehend Jesus Christ standing in the door of Heaven as Abraham stood in the door of the Tent and praies him to be pleased and not pass him by but to receive him that he may sit down and eat and drink in the kingdom of God These two latter things are those which principally I intend to speak unto in this point And if you look into the words of my Text you shal find First that the persons that are Receivers are Beleevers For as many saith the Text as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to as many as beleeve on his name All they that received him beleeved on him and all they that beleeved received Christ They and none else They are the same persons Doct Secondly you may observe which is the main thing I intend that Beleevers and Receivers are not only one and the same persons But to beleeve is to receive and to receive Christ is beleeve on his name What in the beginning of the Text is called receiving of him in the end of the Text is called beleeving on his name the same persons in the same act that in the beginning of the verse are said to receive are in the latter end of the verse said to beleeve on his name They must of necessity be but divers expressions of the same Act for this reason Because otherwise if you make them two distinct acts a man may receive Christ and yet not beleeve and a man may beleeve on Christ yet not receive him It is impossible that Christ should be received but by Faith and it is impossible a man should beleeve on the name of Christ and not receive him The manner of speech is supposed to be a Caldeisme or a propriety among the Caldees who make it all one to beleeve and to trust And upon this now shall I fasten a little while Faith I say it is a receiving of Christ As many as received him There is somthing to be received for beleeving In 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your Faith the salvation of your Souls A man shal be saved for his faith as well as rewarded for his sufferings or any other act of obedience and observance unto God a man shal be as well rewarded at the last because he hath much of God as because he hath done much for God indeed he doth most for God that receivs most from God He that goes on trust with Christ and receivs any thing of him shall be rewarded for his receiving rewarded for his gain and for his getting Of his fulness have we received Grace for Grace John 1.16 For Grace that is because we have one Grace we shall have another until we come to be full That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated for is as much in the Scripture as Because in Eph. 5.31 For this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall a man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife The same word may be rendred For this cause Because God hath given us one degree he will give us another Because he hath shewed us one kindness he will with-hold nothing that is good from us Among men he that takes upon trust binds himself to make return and to pay again But he that trusts God makes God a Debtor to him It may be that thou accountest it a presumption that thou beleevest But God accompts it service And of all services it shall not be unrewarded but have the fullest and largest measure because of all services it is that which is most humbling and self-denying of the Creature But of that by the way As there is a receiving somthing for beleeving so there is a receiving in beleeving Faith it self is a receiving as eating is a taking of what may nourish And buying or possession is a receiving an inheritance So you shall find that Faith is compared in John 6.53 to eating and drinking And to buying in Esa 55.1 Somtimes it s an hand that laies hold and wil not let go the thing which it hath and to the being possessed of an inheritance Christ receives all from the Father and Faith receives all from Christ All comes from the Father into Christ as into a Fountain and Faith fetchech all from that Fountain into us as into lesser measures or cisterns Jesus Christ is the Treasury and Faith tels out of him what the Soul hath need of as Christ is made between us and God so faith is given to this end that Christ may be made whatsoever he is unto us That the thing I aim at may yet be more fully and plainly known to you Faith indeed in the Scripture is somtimes expressed by Working but the Text saith It works by love Gal. 5.6 that is It doth set love on a flame and makes a man to have an indeared esteem of God and an undervaluing of himself and every thing which he
not come unto a period and put an end unto the dispute and debate of our Spirits whether we should beleeve or not That is the second thing that Delaies do argue unwillingness in the cases that you have heard CHAP. XXVII A Third sort of Persons not Receivers of Jesus Christ viz. Such as do not give Jesus Christ that place in their heart which is fitting for him There are I. Some that entertain Jesus Christ only in their Fancy Of these there are two sorts 1. Such as entertain Jesus Christ only under the Metaphors and Representations by which the Scriptures set him forth 2. Such as entertain him only as a chief point or Doctrine in Religion II. Some that entertain Jesus Christ only in their Vnderstandings and Reasonings III. Some that do indeed entertain him in their affections but not suitable to his excellency The Conclusion THirdly Let me speak to a third that do receive and beleeve presently They have no fault in their apprehension of Christ nor any fault in their puts off and delaies but they do not give Jesus Christ that place in their hearts that is fitting for him I say they give not Jesus Christ that place in their hearts that is fitting for him What greater unwillingness almost can one shew to entertain one than to lodg him in some mean room or in some out-house or with some base and vile company which he knows his Soul abhors To lay a noble man among the Swine Or to lay a man that is of tender sense where there are most noisome smels What greater proof of unwillingness can there be to take one into an house than such an entertainment 2 Cor. 1.6 We beseech you receive not the Grace of God in vain He intimates thereby that there is a vain that is a slight and neglectful receiving and entertaining of the Grace of God by Christ When Christ was born there was no room for him in the Inne but in the Stable and he was cradled in a Manger And so now do men deal with Jesus Christ in receiving him by beleeving There is a kind of beleeving which is a receiving after that sort As for example He is only taken into some mens mouths Men speak much of him but their hearts are far from him though they draw near to him with their lips Some men have Jesus Christ only in their Fancies and speculations only in their outward room and Fancy The Fancy is unto the Soul as the Porch or outward Court is unto the House Or it is as a Shop or a Ware-house wherein Commodities are set forth that so that those that pass by may be taken and allured by them This is the nature of the Fancy of a man Now Iesus Christ is admitted no further with many men That is The Knowledg which they have by Christ is only by the Metaphors and borrowed speeches which the Scripture useth and by which he is resembled and set forth in the Scripture Their knowledg of him is not proper but Metaphoricall and figurative For the better helping you in this you must know that there are two sorts of fanciful Faiths if I may use that expression two sorts of people that receive Iesus Christ only so far 1. Such as hearing or reading in the Scripture that Iesus Christ is Compared to a Rock and Bread and Water of life and unto a Tree of life and set out as one that stands at the door or Gate of Heaven taking and entertaining those that are received unto Glory The Scripture setting out Heaven as a City and fellowship with God as a Feast where Iesus Christ comes as the Master of it to see his Guests that they be welcome and want nothing but every way entertained according to the State and Fulness and Riches of his House Such reading that the Scripture sets out Heaven as a House and as a Paradice for pleasure and as a Kingdome that hath al kind of contentment in it and lives indepently they hereupon begin to think of the state of beleeving as a participation of such kind of things and their affections are taken much with them And now mens apprehension of a state of Grace and happiness it is formed up of these They contemplate of happiness under these resemblances This is that which the Scripture cals the form of Knowledg The form of Knowledg As in a Map or Globe al the kingdoms and places of the World are put that in one view they may be beheld So men have in their minds and head and thoughts what the Scripture hath thus set forth Heaven and Christ by and further then that their understanding goes not Of this sort of fanciful kind of Faith are Raptures wherein men have visions and think they see glorious sights both walking and sleeping and that they hear voices speaking unto them and comforting and calling them to that Glory and Honor which they imagine the state of Grace makes them Sharers in imagining themselves to be as upon thrones and in Gardens and in the midst of pleasures and treasures These are the meanest and lowest sort of this kind for those that have but little or no understanding and insight into the things of God have these visions and receptions in their minds and apprehensions most frequently Ignorant Persons they know not the mind of God And many sick dying men whose understandings are weakned or who have but little understanding all that is left them being but a disturbed fancy who have lived the life of man so far as understanding and fancy goes yet somtimes you shall find them speaking of their desires to be gone to be in Heaven to be gone to sit upon Thrones and going into arms and going to be partakers of riches and greatness and to be with their Savior where Glory is prepared and many such things And yet it is but a Fancy as is apparent if a man searcheth the bottom of it They are taken with their apparisions and resemblances of Glorious things and in them they are safe Metaphors or figurative speeches Let me speak that by the way are used by the Holy Ghost and of use to signifie excellent things and to win the mind to think of spiritual things The mind is brought to think of those Heavenly things by earthly things Even as Children are won to drink off a cup of Physick by the gayness of the Cup or some such thing as takes the Fancy But mark what I say There are no Metaphors that can set out the things of Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ as they are to be received by Faith No Metaphor can set them out Saith the Text Matth. 11.27 No man knows the Father but the Son and those to whom he reveals him And how doth he reveal him Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man that is Neither by the Eye nor by the Ear what God hath prepared for them that love him Therefore if you look into it
the Lap of God and being put into his Bosome as well as having enough of this world Labor not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 but for the meat that endureth to everlasting life And because men should not be discouraged in Christs putting them to labor He tels them they shall have it upon gift which the Son of Man shall give As if he should have said Though I will not give it for labor yet when you have done al you shal see I will give it upon meer gift and not as a recompence of your work USE V. See your life lie in Grace and not in Riches The comfort of your life and eternal being lies in Grace Gal. 2.20 I live saith the Apostle by Faith 1 Tim. 5.6 Men that live in pleasures are dead while they live They do not trust in the living God they have no life from him When you come to die call for all your marks and evidences sum up all your estate and see what they will advantage you It 's reported of a Noble man when he had divided all his Estate he saw a Toad in the room and he cries out Oh that I were as that Toad to eternity Call to this and that Estate and inheritance at death And they will answer it is not in me I am not able to do any thing for you When a man comes to die who hath lived upon God in the world he can speak comfortably thus That he shall change only his place and not his company for he hath parted with these things before When you appear before God you shal not appear as rich but according to what you have done for him and what you have done through Grace Therefore naked came I into the world and must go so out Men do not stand before God as Kings and Knights But those that have done for God shall be honored in that day but that which enters a man into Gods Glory is Grace Consider what a folly it is to strive for shadows to undo your selves to tire your selves in following after Butterflies What a madness it is to give thousands for that which is worth nothing To spend your time impertinently for things in which your life is not Therefore when you have wearied your selves in casting plotting and designing of waies for to get an abundance for your selves ye cover your selves and say Had this day been spent otherwise or had I laid out my selfe as much for God as for these things it had been well All this time is lost If I had been in spirituall duties and services as long as I have been for the body it had been well When you have gotten the world and have not cast up your accompt what you have done when you have cared for the Body and not for the Soul when you have gotten all you have gotten but a common stone and lost the Diamond Therefore when you hear Jesus Christ calling upon you to take heed his meaning is not to deprive you of any good that the world can give you but to make you sure of eternity Therefore turn your thoughts this way He caseth men of taking care of this world that so they may attend to eternity It is not because Jesus Christ would not have the promises of this life fulfilled that he bids them to take heed but because he would have you to have abundance of the things which are indeed true Riches CHAP. V. Use 6. Beleeve there is somthing to be feared more than to be desired in abundance Two Signs to to prove that men do not believe there is such danger in Covetousness 1. Because men come so near the occasions Object May not a man take all opportunities of getting c. Sol. We must not do all we can in the things of this world 2. Because men place their happiness in Riches Two mistakes upon which men ground their desires of abundance supposing 1. If they had more they could do more for God 2. And escape many evils which now they meet with USE VI. BEleeve and set this upon your heart That there is somthing to be feared more than to be desired in abundance That under that Bait there lies a Snare and hook our Lord Jesus Christ would not warn you else Because men will not beleeve this therefore it is that men go on and are undone by lawfull things by Riches Let this word of Christ be continually in your Ears as if you heard him calling from Heaven Take heed and beware of Riches As when a man is going on in a dangerous way Those that know him do cal after him and bid him take heed there are holes and pits and whirlpoles in the water that he is riding throughâ— So Jesus Christ tels men there are snares and pits in Riches yet men wil not be perswaded I shall give you but two signs to prove that men do not believe there is such danger in Covetousness First Men will not come near that wherein they think there is danger When David saw the Angel of the Lord standing over Gideon with the sword in the time of the plague He would not come near that place to offer Sacrifice There was danger there and in that case God would have mercy rather than Sacrifice Hosea 6.6 We will not come near the Persons that have the plague we keep out of the way where Theeves lie though we go further about because there is danger But men come near occasions of Covetousness by taking all opportunities and advantages of getting or imploying themselves by contemplating and meditating of their own wants and of others Riches As David did confess in Psal 73. that he looked upon what he found every day and how the eyes of wicked men that knew not God were ready to start out of their Heads because of their fatness therefore he complains Whereas he saith he should have gone into the Sanctuary and have considered the end of those men how they stand in slippery places The consideration of a mans own wants and the thinking much of other mens abundance is that which gives an occasion unto Covetousness Whenever a man comes to think of the world as men take a Preservative when they go into infectious Air so men should think of the danger and misery of rich and covetous men So David should have done Object It may be said by the way May not a man take all opportunities of getting and enriching himself Is that to play with a Bait of Covetousness Answ I answer yes You may not do all you can or may do in the world In Luke 21.34 Christ bids them that they should as well take heed of Covetousness and the Cares of this life in verse 34. as they should take heed of Surfeiting and Drunkenness Take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with Drunkenness and Surfeiting as wel as the Cares of this life Christ joyns Surfeiting and Drunkenness with Covetousness Therefore
discovery of God in nature yet you cannot thence conclude that therefore God will do such things or that such things shall be done by God for us as Faith doth beleeve Again Compare earthly things and heavenly things together Though that earthly things may serve to give you some resemblance of heavenly though that similitude may set out things revealed and keep them in memory yet these similitudes do not prove these things to be nor can shew them in their own nature And therefore you shall find that Nicodemus was partly ignorant of regeneration though that Christ had told him of it under an earthly similitude of being born again That similitude did rather make the thing hard than easie And our Lord adds that If I have spoken unto you of earthly things and you beleeve not how wil you beleeve if I tel you of heavenly Joh. 3.12 That is there are some things to be beleeved in reference unto salvation that there are no things in the earth to be compared to them Therefore if you will not beleeve but by similitude you wil not beleeve them You shall see what I aim at beloved The knowledg or faith of unregenerate men may be reduced Either unto discourse knowledg or unto fancy which is all one Unto the congruity that is between things that are earthly and unto heavenly I say you may either reduce it into discourse As for example Men reason thus First by way of causality that if there be kindness in men then much more in God that gave it Secondly by way of eminency there is much more in the Fountain than in the streams that are derived from it Thirdly By way of negation If so be that this be not fit for a man to do if man wil not be unjust or forgetfull of the service that is done unto him then God will not forget the labor of our love and the work of our faith c. Now such a kind of conclusion as this is is not faith I beseech you mark it It is not faith because the conclusion is drawn only from a naturall principle from that knowledg which we have of God by nature This knowledg by discourse is naturall and therefore this cannot be true faith I shall only give you this for a proof of it which is in James 2.19 The Devils do beleeve and tremble They properly do not beleeve as is apparent by this because their Faith hath not those effects which true faith hath But they are said to beleeve because they have experience in themselves of the truth of the word of God They find that true to their cost which God hath threatned It is made good upon them which God hath written in the word And again they see by experience that many whom they have tempted are gone to Heaven and therefore they know that God will not fail nor break his word Their Faith being raised only from their experience that credit which they give to God being only from what they feel see is not good Now al the faith in unregenerate men is of the same sort with this faith of the Devils for there is no more in the Child than there is in the Parent In John 8.44 They are of their Father the Devill because they go no further than he is a pattern to them in As the Children of the first Adam are like unto him so all the Children of the Devill are like unto him And therefore as you may thus reduce or analize their Faith unto light or discourse so that faith which unregerate men have is taken from the similitude which earthly things have with Heavenly They look upon Heavenly things through Earthly as through a glass and no further than that do they see Matth. 13.11 To you saith God it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God but unto these in parables that in seeing they might not see and in bearing they might not understand Here you find a difference between the knowledg of the Mystery and the knowledg which men have by parables Parables are nothing else but only the comparing of one thing with another One thing set out by another To have no more knowledg therefore of Heavenly things than Earthly doth administer is for a man to have his eyes blinded Yea it is a Seal of the eternall wrath of God Least he should be converted and healed by me If it may be yet more plainly to express my self As in the worship of God an Image or representation made by man cannot help a man at all in the worship of God So neither can the Image of Heavenly things in Earthly similitudes give us life and salvation You know that there are Innate principles Notions which are in every man by nature of a Judgment and of a God Look what those principles are unto natural things such a kind of innate principle is Faith unto the new Creature which makes known the things of God by Jesus Christ It 's not raised by discourse It comes not in by discourse it is infused It lies there and from thence it sends forth its light into the Soul You find the Apostle in the Epistle to the Corinthians blaming the Teachers there because they teached in the wisdom of words and he tels them that it was the means to make â—he faith of their hearts to consist in man and not in the power of God His meaning is this they heard the Gospel preached Eloquently and Rhetorically They looked upon Heaven as upon a Paradise or garden of pleasure They looked upon Communion with God but only as friendship of one with his Friend The things of Christ were set out only by Earthly things as in a Map All the Glory of Heavenly things were put upon them only by the resemblances which they had unto these Earthly things If so be it be so good to be rich and so good to have pleasures here then what is it to have good for ever and the like The Apostle tels them that al this would never make them Christians for their Faith must be in God and this would keep them stil in the wisdom of man I shal conclude this Point thus That as a man that knows a man only by his cloaths takes another for him that is cloathed like him So a man that hath the knowledg of these things only by Earthly things loseth his knowledg or his fancy of them as his fancy alters Secondly The second is this Wherever this saving light in the understanding is there it 's joyned with love in the Will that is the heart doth choose embrace take pleasure and contentment in it that is it so takes pleasure as that it would rather have the truth than any thing though somtimes in a passion it may as wel quarrel with that truth as it doth at other times quarrel with a lust But that I shall speak more unto when I come to speak of the Acts of Faith as it is
and if you wil have things cleare to you that you are a child of God before you beleeve you wil have the matter put to such an issue as God brings a man never into God never gives his love to a man but by beleeving because beleeving is a receiving OBJECT You wil say unto me This is hard quarter and hard termes that we can have nothing but only upon trust and upon beleeving To this I answer the commandment of faith is nothing so hard as the commandements of sin are They that sow to the flesh shal saith the Apostle in Gal. 6.8 of the flesh reape Corruption They shal never have any thing in hand or to receive after this life but tribulation sorrow and anguish Thy faith assures thee Or thou mayest be assured that faith wil give thee a good title somthing while thou livest and be sure to give thee honor and glory and immortality hereafter Thou art saved by faith saith he It is the gift of God This is true indeed It is a hard matter to beleeve But the hardness doth not arise from it self but from us As it is hard for a sick man to get down either meat or medicine But it is not because there is neither a passage open and free or not because the meat is not good but because he is sick So thou shalt find the reason of all this difficulty to be in thy pride Thou advancest thy reason and sence against the commandment and law of the Gospel And therefore it is hard unto thee It is hard but it is but so in the beginning Like meat when it is first eaten doth bring a kind of duliness heaviness but afterwards breeds spirits and strength It is certain my beloved it is the smallest thing that can be required for the receiving any thing at the hand of God for you are passive in it you are made to receive As a bal that is thrown against the ground is made to rebound upwards There cannot be less required then faith to the receiving of any thing For Take it as it is in the understanding The receiving a testimony doth not so much require the use of reason as a good report and esteem of him that speaks I say the receiving a testimony is an artificial argument and requires not so much the knowledg of the things as of the person speaking And Take it as it is in the Wil and it is a leaning and that rather imports weakness then strength rather debility then ability And lastly Whereas thou complainest it is hard to beleeve yet if faith be a hard thing yet it is a receiving Though it be a toyl and a difficulty It is but in taking of things that are precious and good which wil inrich thee What man ever complained of the hardness of telling Gold and receiving Jewels and things of worth which were given him out of the treasure of him that is rich Men take great toyl and run great hazards into far countrys to receive Thy receiving is better and more certaine Thou shalt receive strength by the receiving of Christ to receive more Faith doth not only give a man the things promised But as walking makes a man able to walk so beleeving makes a man more able to beleeve Having once received somthing from the hand of God thou hast thereby security given to thee that thou hast nothing behind but what shal be accomplished As he that hath received but part of a Sum hath an evidence there by that the rest is due And therefore I beseech thee because that faith is a receiving incourage thy self unto beleeving Incourage your selves unto it And that you may do so 1. Lay open and keep before the eye of your Soul the many and glorious things which are to be received Meditate upon the excellencyes of Christ the portion that he brings His portion Both in regard of relation ye shal be the sons of God And his portion in regard of estate or inheritance for al things are yours The presence you know of an object doth stirr up the faculty and the power in it which lay as it were before dead and stirred not Joshua 7.21 I saw said Achan the Babilonish garment and I lusted after it and took it As Sin prevails by its presence So the way for Jesus Christ to prevaile is to stand continually before thee When thou hast therefore looked unto the promises and looked into the story of what is said concerning Jesus Christ and what he wil do for those that are united to him Then come and aske thy own foul whether it wil have none of these Then come and tel it that al these are to be had and it may take of them freely though it can do nothing for them nor returne suitably to them The Apostle to get men unto faith spreads abroad the Gospel and the things of Jesus Christ Thou must preach unto thy self the self same doctrine if ever thou wilt beleeve Thy sins be before thee and death is before thee and hel is before thee And thou seest by experience that that takes up thy thoughts and thou canst do nothing else but only lament and bemone thy condition If thou set'st Jesus Christ before thee also thou wilt be as much taken with him For certainly there is more Taking in his excellencies then there is cause of terrour in the other 2. And again Since faith is a receiving convince thy soul that it cannot live nor be unless it hath these things which faith helps unto Pardon must be had Justice wil not be satisfyed though thou shouldest fulsil al the commandments of God to the utmost and never breakest them in the least Al that is due for the present and there stil remains an old score for the time past that God wil reckon with thee for Thou art not able to make God amends of thy self Live of thy self thou canst not therefore thou must receive Acts 4.12 There is no other name given under heaven whereby a man can be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ And if a man peradventure wil be loth to take of others as long as he hath wherewith in his own hands or his friends hands But when he sees he must either take of alms or starve and go on begging or die Then he wil go That is thy case Thou must receive from Jesus Christ or Starve And thou canst not receive the things of Jesus Christ but by beleeving As a Parent saith to a Child that is peevish and untoward and that will not eat his meat Fast saith he So there is nothing to be looked for from Jesus Christ if thou beleevest not but fiery Indignation And if thy heart would go to take contentment in the things in the World Say to it Now take Jesus Christ or nothing What good will they do thee unless thou takest Jesus Christ For they will not abide in the latter end but then thou wilt have sorrow
ever Jesus Christ comes he comes as a King he will be Lord or nothing As Kings when they come into private mens houses command all their servants as their own and use every roome as if they that owed them had nothing to do with them They take all power out of their hands for the present and use nothing but what they bring with them and that which is of their own providing So when Jesus Christ is come into the Soul he will have every thought after his mind and not give a man leave so much as to look after any other thing than himself Men look not for such a kind of thing as this is by Christ and therefore they are not able to endure it Men look for ease and not to be kept to their duty and they look for peace and not for to be under the reproof and corrections and instructions of the Lord. And men look to have their good will accepted and that Jesus Christ will be served with nothing of what is ours but of what he gives Or rather thus when Jesus Christ comes unto men he brings trouble Behold a Sword He changeth men from what they were and takes them off from the practises wherein they walked which they thought were good As when Jesus Christ came he nulled all the services of the Jews which they thought were exceeding Glorious Now Jesus Christ comes and sets the ax at the root of the Tree and saith If we will not bring forth Fruit we shall be cut down Now the Soul looks not for any such thing as this What are the expectations of men by Jesus Christ but only that Jesus Christ should be a Chariot that Jesus Christ should give him his hand to sit by him in Heaven Men look that Jesus Christ should come with his Arms ready to receive them and his Bosom to lay them in They look for nothing but what may make their lives more free and their Spirits more quiet than they were before You will be mistaken in receiving Christ If you have peace with him you shall have trouble You shall be a King and reign but he will be a King and reign over you He will be served by you but you shall take all from his Treasure that you may say only as David did Of thy own do I serve thee Now this being contrary to mens apprehensions they are not willing to it and being not willing to it they are not believing If Jesus Christ be not received according to that Glory which he hath and which doth belong to him Make as much of him as you will yet still it will not be salvation to you We saw his Glory saith the Apostle when he preached as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God John 1.14 As that is it was no other Glory and can be counted no other Glory but what belongs unto God himself Now as Jesus Christ is preached and known so he must be received by the hearers There is nothing that is worship and honor unto God nothing that will make us happy but what is done unto God and Christ as such The Apostle makes this in 1 Thes 2.13 to be a sign of the effectuall calling and conversion of the Thessalonians That they received the word not as the word of man but as it was indeed the word of God As the word must be received as Gods word indeed so must Jesus Christ be received as he is indeed Look therefore what Jesus Christ must be that he may be the Author of salvation you must receive him as such if your Faith be saving It was necessary if he would save us that he should be God and Man that he should be the head of al things that he should be holy and separate from sinners Do you now receive him by Faith as such a one Doth your Faith close with him gladly under these respects It is not enough to saving Faith that you do not deny him to be thus but he must be owned by you to be thus I say he must be owned by you A man may under one consideration be wonderfull kind and respectfull to a Person when under another consideration he will shew no respect to him As for example They said unto Lot that he came in among them to sojourn and would have Lorded it over them That is as if they should have said If Lot will live among us and take his being with us as an ordinary Person he may But if he thinks all things must be as he wil If he will trouble himself with our matters and order al things according to his Will and be our Governor we wil have nothing to do with him Therefore the Apostle faith of some men that they love him not as a Lord 1 Cor. 16.22 If a man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed They love him as Christ for so he is anointed and as Jesus for so he is a Savior But this Lord being added makes their hearts to rise against him and against the precious oinment and Graces that are in him And so you shal find in Jude 4. He saith there are some that do deny the Lord. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used for a Lord is a Master of a family If Jesus Christ will come and he wil have all our time and strength and not only that but the things that are done must be after his order and according to his mind Our wisdome and reason must not direct us in the things that we do though they be materially good If so the Text saith They deny him that is They profess they will not have such a one to rule over them And thus if you compare it carefully in Luke 20. from 9. to 17. verse with Math. 21. where the same parable is repeated though those that had the Vineyards let out to them were angry with the servants yet they used them not so il as they used the Son And why did they use him so ill It was only because he was the heir and would have ruled over them We will not say they have this man rule over us And therefore as Persons are wont to enquire what the quality and disposition of those are with whom they desire to marry before they make any treaty or Covenant with them A wise Man or Woman first sits down and consider whether they can like a Man or Woman of such a Spirit and behavior Suppose him to be dull and harsh and contrary to her desire So first get the knowledg of Jesus Christ as he is one that saves and then examine your selves how you can submit unto him that you may judg whether your Faith be true or not Can you submit unto Christ as God having all things of himself and having an absolute dependance on him for all Can you receive him as your Lord and head and therefore say as John did he must increase but I must decrease he must reign and
vers 21. It s said That he was not rich towards God What need you saiâ—â— our Lord take care for much when you haâ—◠〈◊〉 much time to live Take care for death and for eternity else after al your labor you shal meet with nothing but eternal misery I say the words of the Text are an answer to a harmless motion as one would think made by one that was a follower of him His motion was that Christ would do him right and arbitrate the business of difference between him and his brother about that estate which belonged to him by Inheritance As Christ refuseth the office in the 14. vers for he came into the world to help mens Souls and not to be a Judg so he therefore warns him of covetousness which would bring forth bitterness in the latter end which would make him die like a fool and hinder him from being rich towards God Al a mans riches cannot preserve his life one day and if he be not rich in God he shal die like a fool for ever and perish The Point that I shall insist upon is this Doct. That it 's the Duty of all men as they would attain to eternal life to take heed and beware of Covetousness It s the duty of all for upon one mans speaking unto Christ about his inheritance he turns his speech unto all He said unto them That is to al the Company at the thirteenth verse And it is a duty as they would attain to eternal life for to that end Jesus Christ bids them to beware of Covetousness that they might not die as a Pool doth as you have it in verse 20. Mens inordinate desires after the lawful things of this life do as well hinder them from Heaven as if they were sinfull things or gross prophaness for in the following verses of this Chapter you have the Anatomizing of a man that was dead and gone to Hell for he died like a Fool And it sheweth the Disease and Cause of the misery he was found not to live in any gross sin but only in this that he was Covetous And because the HEED cannot be too great therefore he useth two words Take heed and beware a double Caution because there is a great and double danger or as it is in the Greek See or watch to it and guard your selves against it A similitude either taken as some do conceive from mens going into the fields to gather wholsome Herbs who are very carefull least they should gather any thing that is poysonous And when they have made a confection they set it up carefully least any poyson should come into it The poyson of al a mans Spirit Duties is Covetousness And therefore he bids them to beware of it Or else it s taken from Souldiers for one of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beware is properly a Military word As if he should have said stand Sentinell have your eyes open look this way and that way be Circumspect least the love of the world get into you fence your selves with al the whol Armor of God else you wil not be able to keep your selves from it They should do as Souldiers who do not only set Sentinels to look out but do set a Guard that they may keep the place that is in danger of the Enemy That which I shal do in the explication of the Point is to shew you I. What Covetousness is II. The Reasons why you should be so watchfull against it and heedful of it I. What Covetousness is for the great difficulty of the Point lies in the explication of what Covetousness is which may be taken two waies Either as it is a general Or as it is a special sin In generall or as it is a general sin and so it goes in a double Notion First It is a minding of Earthly things as the Apostle expresseth it in Phil. 3.19 It 's taken in generall for that evil frame of heart whereby a man when he hath once sinned desires to commit the same or another And so it is taken in Isa 57.17 For the Iniquity of his Covetousness was I wrath and I did hide my self The Hebrew word signifies any kind of desire whatsoever Not only after Riches as Covetousness is but after any thing that is unlawfull And it 's probable yea more than probable that the Holy Ghost doth so take it because he saith they did go on in the way of their own heart that is they did what they listed the more they sinned the more they had a mind to sin And the Apostle in Ephes 4.19 saith concerning some men that they did commit all sin with greediness In the Greek it is with Covetousness the Apostle there only speaks concerning the boundless appetite that is in men to do as much as they can against God The grossest sins that are contentfull and pleasurable are gainfull to them so that in the Scripture Covetousness somtimes signifies that desire of men to commit sin after they have once committed it and are left by God to take pleasure and contentment in it Secondly As it 's a general sin in that sense so also as it is an uncontentedness with a mans outward condition I say it is an uncontentedness in Heb. 13.5 it 's said Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as you have Uncontentedness is less than discontent For he is uncontented who is not well pleased But he is discontented who frets murmurs repines that thinks much of Gods distributions and that envies another that hath more than himself So you have it laid down in Psalm 37.1 Fret not thy self because of the wicked And by the Prophet Isaiah in Chap. 8. verse 21. where he brings in men which cannot have that liberty from their Enemies which they desire They do rage against God They do curse their Ring and their God and look upwards As a Dropsie is a thirst which is not to be quenched Drink and you are still dry So there is an evill frame of heart in men to be unsatisfied with any thing that God doth for them and that is called Covetousness Because that Covetousness is an uncontentedness with a mans outward Condition or a desire of more therefore it 's a breach of all the Commandments of the second Table by which mens outward Conditions are ordered As it is wel observed that as the first Commandment hath an influence into all the Commandments of the first Table The Love of God being the Sum of that So the last Commandment which forbids to Covet hath an influence into all the Duties of the second Table As for example In 1 Thes 4.6 the Apostle doth there call Adultery or mens lusting after their Neighbors Wives Covetousness when a man Commits Adultery he is there said to be Covetous Let no man go beyond or defraud his Brother Defraud But the word in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covet to be covetous You have it