be not changed and made holy it is all in vain as to him because Christ dyed for sinners this many look upon as a good ground for hope but the question if put home must be this did Christ ever dye to save impenitent and unregenerate sinners did he dye to save such as flight him refuse his yoke and live and dye enemies to him if he did then hope on but if not then there is no hope Nay let me tell you it is out of the reach of Christs power to save any one of you in your lusts Mat. 1.21 He can save you from your sins but he cannot save you in your sins For 1. He can't falsify his trust God the father hath put the great work of Salvation and damnation into Christs hands And how is salvation carryed on but in pursuance of the election of God look how God chooses to Salvation and so Christ carries it on Now we are chosen that we should be holy Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 And therefore Christ will save none that are not sanctified for he came to do the will of God and he will not betray his trust 2. He cannot alter the standing law of Heaven and what is that it is the standing law of Heaven which the righteous God hath fixed more firm than the Sun in the Firmament and will never vary from it that a man must repent Luk. 13.2 and turn to Christ or perish He must be converted or he shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 18.3 He must take the yoke of Christ upon him Heb. 3.18 or he shall never find rest to his Soul Mat. 5.8 None but the pure in heart shall see God This is the standing law of Heaven and how then can the unbelieving and disobedient be saved either the law of Heaven must be reversed or sinners are eternally undone and will Christ who revealed this law to the world reverse it again to gratifie thy lusts 3. He can't make void his own offices Why hath God made him a King but to subdue sinners to himself to conquer the nolency of the will to set up his government and rule in the heart and to subdue and destroy the rebels He reigns that he may put all his enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15.25 And if so what shall become of disobedient sinners can you think that this Melchizedek this King of Righteousness will ever countenance the impenitent and unbelieving will he take those to reign with him in his Kingdom of glory that would not that he should rule over them in the Kingdom of grace This were to violate the rights of his Crown which you cannot think he will do if you do but consider two Scriptures one is Luk. 19.27 Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me The other is in 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power And how do you that slight Christ think to escape this sentence will not the judgment of the great day of the Lord be very terrible to all that live and dye in their lusts can you bear it Can thy heart indure or thy hand be made strong in the day that I shall deal with thee Ezek. 22.14 If not then be wise and flee from wrath to come and there is but one way and that is by closing with Jesus Christ and giving your selves up to an intire subjection to his yoke There is no way to escape wrath and secure eternal life but this You read of a strait gate Mat. 7.14 and a narrow way that leads to life The yoke of the spirit in conviction to conversion that is the strait gate and the yoke of Christ in holiness and obedience that is the narrow way and there is no other and as our Lord Christ sayes few there be that find it Is there any sinner here now that stands convinced of the necessity of undertaking this duty that you must take up Christs yoke or you must perish in your sins I hope you are and therefore I shall lay you down some directions to help and guide you in this work Take heed of mistaking the yoke of Christ Direct 1 Some will tell you it lies in this way of worship some in that as Christ sayes many will say lo here is Christ Mat. 24.23 and lo their is Christ believe them not Some will perswade you it lyes in ceremonious services and humane traditions but this is the yoke of men and not the yoke of Christ and therefore take heed of it If you would know which is the yoke of Christ you must be guided by the word of Christ for nothing is duty but what the word commands Some will tell you it lyes in Popery but this is the yoke of Antichrist And therefore you that are young ones take heed of this yoke for it is none of Christs It is a grievous yoke It binds you from the use of the Scriptures which are able to make you wise to Salvation It ties you up to worship God in an unknown tongue in a language you don't understand It ties you to make use of many Mediators whereas there is but one Mediator between God and man 1 Tim. 2.5 the man Christ Jesus It ties you to believe against your senses To believe that a blind sottish Priest can with a few words convert a wafer into the very body and blood of Christ and then you must believe it to be the very substance of Christ against Scripture against Reason and against Sense For though the Scripture calls it still bread and though you break bread and see bread and tast and eat bread yet you must believe it not to be bread It ties you to believe many abominable errors and false Doctrines as that of merit by works though Christ sayes when we have done all we must say we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 And that of the infallibility of the Pope and his Supremacy over all Churches and Princes and that if he doth but excommunicate any Prince and pronounce him a Heretick it is lawful to murder him It is full of such abominable Doctrines Oh therefore never come under this yoke it is an idolatrous yoke a cruel bloody yoke a heavy intolerable yoke a yoke which neither we nor our fore-fathers were able to bear therefore they wisely cast it off and let us rather choose to dye then put it on again for it is none of the Yoke of Christ If you would resolve to take up Christs Direct 2 yoke then you must remove all hinderances
you There is a general and a particular day of Grace The general day of Grace is when the Gospel is brought to a people and the Ministry of it set up by God whereby life and salvation is tendred to all in the blood of Jesus Christ The particular and special day of Grace is when the Gospel is not only preached and Salvation tendred but when the Spirit of the Lord doth accompany it and carry it home to the hearts of sinners sometimes inlightning their minds sometimes convincing their consciences sometimes working inward fears and terrors from a sense of their undone condition sometimes stirring up good affections and desires sometimes working them to strong purposes and resolutions to repent and turn and obey Now where the Spirit doth thus inwardly strive with any sinner that is his particular day of grace his special season of finding and obtaining mercy Seek the Lord while he may be found Isai 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 If ever a sinner be converted and brought into obedience to Jesus Christ this is the time And it is very dangerous to neglect or defer our closing with Christ for it is very uncertain how long or how little while the opportunity may be afforded Who knows when his day of grace begins or when it will end Job 14.5 As no man knows the number of his months so much less doth he know the length of his day of grace Acts 1.7 It is not for you as Christ says in another case to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power And the reason why God hides it from us may be because he would have us lose no opportunity of saving our Souls but imbrace the first tenders of mercy lest God should take our refusal and never tender it more If you repulse the Spirit of God when he knocks you have no promise that ever he will knock again and if he leaves off you are undone for ever The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved Jer. 8.20 God will not wait long upon a lingring sinner he takes delays for denials and so departs and the day of grace ends Most certain it is that the day of grace may be sinned away and that whether you consider it in the general or particular notion of it First Take it in the general notion of it for the injoyment of the means of grace and the Ministry of the Word and Ordinances and this may cease God may deprive a people of a converting Ministry and converting Ordinances and may give them Statutes not good as he did to Israel Ezek. 20.24 25. Because they despised my statutes polluted my Sabbaths and their eyes were after their fathers idols therefore I gave them or gave them up to statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live It is a judicial process of an offended God because of abused mercies they had the Statutes and Judgments and Ordinances of God which were just and good and tended to life as vers 21. But because they slighted these therefore he gave them up to the Statutes and superstitious Inventions of men which were not good but tended to death and destruction It is a dreadful judgment when for slighting and rebelling against the Statutes and Judgments of God he gives a person or a people up to Statutes and judgments that are not good And this seems to be the very judgment that God is giving this Nation up to at this day we have slighted the Yoke of Christ and therefore he is giving us up to the Yoke of Antichrist we have been weary of pure Worship and Ordinances and have been lusting after the Romish inventions and therefore the righteous God seems to be giving us up to them and saying to us as to that people v. 39. As for you O house of Israel thus saith the Lord God go ye serve ye every one his Idols When men will not stoop to nor owne those ways of Christ which are for their good it is just with God to give them up to those ways that are not for their good When men receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved for this cause God sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lye and be damned 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. And these are the Statutes that are not good and the judgments whereby they shall not live Sometimes he gives them up to a blind Ministry the sword of the Lord is upon the arm and the right eye of the Idol-shepherd insomuch that his arm is dried up and his right eye utterly darkned Zach. 11.17 He closeth the eyes of the Prophets and Rulers and Seers together with a spirit of deep sleep so that the vision of all is become as the words of a book sealed which neither unlearned nor learned can read Isai 29.10 11 12. Sometimes he gives them up to a profane and debauched Ministry The Priest and the Prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine through strong drink they erre in vision and stumble in judgment Isai 28.7 From the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land Jer. 23.15 They cause my people to erre by their lies and by their lightness v. 32. Sometimes he doth utterly take away his Ordinances and means of Grace Behold saith the Lord the days come that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread which yet is a sore judgment and makes the mother eat the child of a span long Lam. 2.20 nor a thirst for water for a draught whereof Lysimachus to save his life sold his Kingdom but of hearing the word of the Lord. Amos 8.11 And this was the judgment of God upon Israel We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any among us that knoweth how long Psal 74.9 Amaziah and his Courtiers shall not need to pack away the Prophets and forbid them preaching nigh the Court as Amos 7.12 for God will as a woful Plague to an unworthy people remove them And Israel shall be without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law 2 Chron. 15.3 And this is what our Lord Christ so severely threatned Mat. 21.43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And how sadly hath this word been accomplished upon them for sixteen hundred years together The seven Churches of Asia as also those of Africa that vast Continent thrice as big as Europe are sad instances of this It is plain then that the day of grace in regard of the injoyment of the Ordinances may be sinned away But Secondly The Sinners particular day of grace may be lost and sinned away he may not only sin away the Ordinances but the strivings of the Spirit too he may resist it till it is
quenched there he never strives again Where it is quenched but partially and gradually it is a very hard thing to kindle it again as you may see Cant. 5.6 but where it is totally quenched it can be kindled no more Alas who should kindle it The Saints can't Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn as Eliphaz said to Job in another case Job 5.1 Could the wise Virgins kindle the foolish Virgins lamps when they were gone out no they could not Give us of your oyl for our lamps are gone out Mat. 25.8 but alas they had none to spare Not so lest there be not enough for us and you v. 9. Can the sinner himself kindle it no that is impossible he can quench it but he cannot kindle it He may sin away the Spirits motions but he can never recover them again That is plain in Prov. 1.24 25. Because I called and you refused I stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel c. Here is the Spirit quenched and see how they strive to light it again but in vain Vers 28. They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me The sinner you see can quench the Spirit but he cannot kindle it Can the Ordinances kindle it again no neither Alas how should they when they have no life in themselves but what the Spirit puts into them Pray mind if you at any time quench the Spirit in your selves you do thereby quench it in all the Ordinances and then though the Word be otherwise the word of life yet it is but a dead letter when the Spirit is quenched None can kindle it again but God and he will not Where the sinner doth once totally extinguish it God will never light it again Thirdly If it once come to this you can never come to Christ never take up his Yoke For this is a work that can never be done without the help of the Spirit If he must help the Believers infirmities then sure he must cure the Sinners obstinacies there is a yoke to be broke off as well as a yoke to be put on corrupt habits to be extirpated or obedience to Christ can never be owned And this is a work that none but the Spirit of God can effect The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Isa 10.27 Though that be spoken of the Assyrians yoke yet it is typical of sins yoke which none can free thee from but the Spirit of Christ and therefore if the Spirit depart thou art undone there is no possibility of conversion to Christ thou art given up to a perpetual vassalage to sin and lust and to an hardned refusal of all the counsels of God and of all the ways of life So that upon all these accounts it is highly reasonable that every one of you should stoop to the Yoke of Christ betimes The Spirit of the Lord calls you to this the end of all his motions and strivings is to bring you to this And how little while he may strive you don 't know And if he once give over striving the work can never be done Here then you see the reason why every one should take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth because of the Call of God God the Father calls who made thee God the Son calls who redeemed thee God the Spirit calls who was sent to counsel and guide thee to regenerate and change thee to sanctifie and make thee meet for Glory And shall not the Call of God be obeyed This one thing will make it appear to be the most reasonable thing in the world viz. The Covenant you are entred into are not you entred into a Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost What is your Baptism but a token and pledge of it Hereby God hath owned you for his and hereby you are ingaged to be the Lord's And shall God take me into Covenant and shall I refuse to take up Christs Yoke This is that will destroy your Covenant-interest God expects that so soon as you come to years of understanding to know your interest and duty you should renew the Covenant of God upon your own Souls and take hold of it for your selves as your Parents did for you before Now wherein doth your personal entring into Covenant with God chiefly consist but in your taking up the Yoke of Christ Sure therefore this should be done betimes if you refuse this ye renounce your Covenant with God you cast your selves out by your unbelief and then God will cast you out Rom. 11.20 Because of unbelief they were broken off Secondly Consider what this Call is When you are called to take up the Yoke of Christ you are called from a state of sin and misery to a state of true blessedness from the vilest slavery and drudgery in the world to a work of the highest pleasure and delight Prov. 3.17 No greater pleasure than in duty and obedience where the heart is right with God You are called to holiness 1 Thess 4.7 God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness And a life of holiness is the most desirable life in the world it is the life of God it is that life in which only a man can have communion with God for a man must partake of the nature and life of God that would have fellowship with God contrary natures can have no communion He will not take the wicked by the hand * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8.20 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 It is not meant only of seeing God in Heaven but in this world also for there is a seeing of God fiducially as well as beatifically Mat. 5.8 Heb. 11.27 and the one is as necessary to the present state as the other is to a state of Glory And he that doth not see God in this world shall never see him in the next Now that which fits for present Vision and Communion is holiness And your holiness lies in taking up the Yoke of Christ and conforming to the Law and Will of Christ This is that which you are called to Nay when you are called to take up Christ's Yoke you are therein called to partake of the glory and blessedness of Christ in Heaven For though this Call of God begins in Grace yet it ends in Glory There is a twofold end of Gods Call with respect to sinners the near and proximate end is the conversion of sinners to Christ and a life of obedience the remote and ultimate end is the bringing those to glory who are thus brought home by grace and therefore the Call of God is said to be to glory 1 Thess 2.12 who hath called you to his kingdom and glory And 2 Pet. 1.3 called us to glory and virtue To virtue as the means to glory as
was providing for her Saviour the other for her Soul and this was the most needful work Martha was cumber'd with much serving and this distracted her in her obedience which was the one thing needful It is more necessary to obey Christ than thus to serve him First It it necessary by a necessity of Precept that which is first pressed should be most chiefly endeavoured and that is the business of Religion First seek ye the kingdom of God and his righteousness Mat. 6.33 First before any thing else and first more than any thing else The Lord Christ here takes their hearts off from worldly cares by setting them upon a more necessary duty for as the body is more than raiment Mat. 6.25 so is the Soul more than the body hence that of our Lord Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life God is a supreme Lord to whom we all owe obedience and this puts a must upon us as to duty so it did upon Christ himself I must work the works of him that sent me Joh. 9.4 This laid that necessity upon the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.16 Necessity is laid me It is necessary God should be obeyed whatever his precepts are his charge must be kept and his will fulfilled for he is Lord of all he is not only a Saviour but a Law-giver and therefore obedience is as necessary as trust and dependance Secondly It is necessary by a necessity of means He that would arrive at a designed end must pursue it by due and proper means Eternal life and salvation is the end which the great God propounds to all he would have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 But how by an absolute Decree No though many argue thus blindly If God hath decreed me to Salvation I shall be saved let me live how I list God never made any such Decree he hath as much decreed the means as the end conversion and subjection to Christ are as much decreed as Salvation and eternal life So that no man can be saved in an unregenerate state what can be more positive and plain than that of our Lord Christ Joh. 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God He doth not say he is not like to see the Kingdom of God or he shall not see the Kingdom of God but he cannot see the Kingdom of God The Salvation of that man that cleaves to his lusts and refuses obedience to Jesus Christ is morally impossible he must perish and that upon a twofold necessity 1. A natural necessity For it is impossible that the holy God and unholy Sinners can dwell together Did God burn up Sodom and Gomorrha drown the old World cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise and the Angels out of Heaven for their sins and will he lay thee in his bosom in thy enmity and filth Darkness and light may as soon incorporate and contraries subsist together nay God may as soon change his nature and cease to be what he is as save a man in his sins and disobedience It is contrary to his Holiness Psal 101.7 if holy David would not suffer wicked persons to dwell in his house can we think the holy God will ever suffer them to dwell in Heaven 2. There is a legal necessity that he that continues in his lusts and unregeneracy must perish and that because of the Will and Law of God As God wills the Salvation of all that will turn to God and obey him so he wills the damnation of all that will not but hold fast their lusts and refuse to return As he hath made a Law that whoever will come to Christ and take up his Yoke shall find rest to his Soul and shall live for ever so he hath declared it as peremptorily that he that slights Christ and will not hearken to him and obey him shall be utterly cut off he shall perish in his enmity it shall be worse with him than with Sodom and Gomorrha he shall perish under the forest of punishments Heb. 10.29 And therefore there is as great a necessity that such should perish as there is that God should be true to his word for it is gone out of his mouth in righteousness and cannot return If God says 1 Cor. 6.9 No unrighteous thing shall inherit the kingdom of God why then the wicked must be shut out If God says He that believes not shall be damned Mar. 16.16 then damnation must be the portion of Unbelievers If God says Christ shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on all that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.8 then the disobedient must be the objects of his eternal vengeance If Christ says He that denies me before men I will deny him before my Father which is in heaven Mat. 10.33 then it is impossible that he who doth not obey his commands should have any benefit by his Intercession For God will never repeal any of those righteous Laws he hath made concerning good and evil Saints and Sinners Heaven and Hell Salvation and Damnation And if so what will be the end of them that obey not the Gospel 1 Pet. 4.17 What will become of those rebels that hold a counsel together against the Lord and his Christ that they may break their bands-asunder and cast their cords from them Psal 2.2 3. There is therefore the same necessity of Holiness as there is of Salvation Many think they may be saved without it live as they list and yet injoy God at last But what says the Scripture Without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord Heb. 12.14 There is the same necessity of taking upon you the Yoke of Christ as there is of injoying the presence of Christ Is the eternal happiness of the Soul necessary then so must the bearing Christs Yoke be for this is the means to the end non pervenitur ad finem nisi per media It doth not merit Heaven but it is the way to Heaven It is that which qualifies for glory Heaven is the purchase of Christs Blood a purchased possession Heb. 9.12 Eph. 1.14 but how can you hope for the benefit of his Blood if you do not stoop to his Yoke He is the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Slight Christ and you ruine your Souls We will not have this man to reign over us Luk. 19.14 And what is the fruit of it Christ will take you for the enemies of his Kingdom and Government and will deal with you as such Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me v. 27. O Sirs do ye know what ye do when ye despise and reject the Laws and Soveraignty of Christ You despise his Mercy ye dare his Justice you slight his Love ye trample his Blood under foot ye render
a temporal Kingdom which they expected Christ would set up and who should be greatest in it so Mark explains it chap. 9.34 therefore our Lord tells them they shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven without a new conversion they must be converted from their carnal frames as well as from a carnal state hence you may learn that a man may have a right to Heaven and yet be very unfit for it there must be a double right jus haereditarium and aptitudinarium a right of inheritance and a right of fitness in our first conversion we derive a right of inheritance for then our state is changed but a right of fitness lies in after conversions by which our carnal frames are subdued We need but one conversion as to the former but we need many as to the latter First Because this though the former cannot is a conversion that may be lost a man may be in a quickned frame to day and under deadness to morrow he may be spiritual in this duty and yet carnal in the next Secondly Because it is a conversion that admits of degrees a man cannot be less or more converted as to his state but as to his frame he may there is no one believer more born of the spirit than another and yet one believer may be more spiritual than another and he that is so yet considered as to the measure of spiritual mindedness which is attainable and which he is appointed and called unto may himself be said to be carnal and may be filled with complaints because of the shortness of his attainment This I take to be the meaning of that complaint of the Apostle I am carnal Rom. 7.14 Doth he therein condemn his state no that had been sin But he bewails the frame of his heart that in such a spiritual condition into which by Grace he was brought he should have in him such a carnal disposition and frame of spirit Secondly A Believer is not to judge himself by what is unfixed and mutable for so the frame of the heart is what more volatile and unstable now caught up to Heaven anon sunk down to the Earth Cant. 6.12 now like the Chariots of Aminadab agil and swift to run the way of Gods Commandments anon like Pharaohs Chariots that drove heavily having their wheels took off Exod. 14.25 or like the wheels in Ezekiels Vision that sometimes went Ezech. 1.21 and sometimes stood still one while the acts of Faith are high another while giving way to Unbelief Oh how inconstant are the frames of good mens hearts look on David and now his mountain stands strong Psal 30.7 and the next word is thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled At one time you shall find him rejoycing in God at another why art thou cast down O my soul was it not so with Peter Matt. 26. V. 35. V. 72. Lord though I should dye with thee yet will I not deny thee And by and by I know not the man so that he who judges himself by the frame of his spirit will change the opinion of his state as often as the frame of his heart changes And therefore when you find your hearts dead and carnal your duty is to make this matter of mourning but you ought not to make it matter of doubting You must pray and strive and use all Gods means for the removing it but you ought not to judge your state by it lest you deny the Grace of God in you because of it This is another false rule of tryal Many more I might instance in but these may suffice to shew you how carnal and ignorant persons are apt to misjudge their state by false rules on the one hand and how weak believers are apt to misjudge theirs by false rules on the other and to caution you on both sides And now I come to shew you which is the true and right rule you are to judge your selves by and that is the word of God I do not mean the moral Law that is not a proper rule to try weak Grace and imperfect obedience by for that condemns for the least sin Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do them Galat. 3.10 The Law indeed is a rule to know sin by I had not known sin but by the Law Rom. 7.7 and to know our natural and undone estate by Rom. 7.9 It inlightens convinces accuses condemns and kills but it is not a rule to judge our estate in Christ by or the truth of our Grace by For by the Law nothing is Grace but what is perfect nothing goes for obedience though our sincerity be never so great if our failing be never so little And therefore he that trys himself by this rule must needs condemn all the Grace of God in him as no Grace because it is not perfect Grace he must be continually tormented in his own spirit about his state because the least sin subjects him to the wrath of God A Believer is under the Law for conduct but not for judgment it is the guide of his path but not the judge of his state The Believer is bound to obey it but he is not to stand and fall by it It is a rule of life and for the substance of it it is moral and eternal and can no more be abrogated than the nature of good and evil can be altered And therefore it obliges Believers as much as others though upon other motives and to other ends for they are not to expect life and favour from it nor fear the death and rigour that comes by it the Law hath no power either to justifie a Believer or condemn him and therefore can be no rule to try his state by We should labour to live to the precepts of the Law but try our state by the rule of the Gospel for that is the rule we are to stand and fall by And it is a comfortable rule for in the sense of it affections go for actions and indeavours for performances so that if our affections be real and our indeavours sincere the rule adjusts our state and gives us confidence before God The ready way to come to a right determination about our condition is wisely to apply to our selves those Characters and marks which the word lays down concerning state and state for it describes both the natural and spiritual man it characterizes both a state of Nature and a state of Grace it shews by positive signs who are subjects to his Yoke or Rebels to his Government So that it is easie for a man by a right use of this rule to make a judgment what his state is As a wicked man by applying the characters of the natural state may certainly know that he is out of Christ an enemy to him and that his condition is a lost condition for the works of the flesh are manifest Galat. 5.19 So would the good man but wisely
be in this case For nothing can innoble and inrich you like this Have you no friends this makes God your friend Are you of a low extract this shews you to be born of God Is your education mean why hereby you are taught of God Have you none to leave you an inheritance why God is your inheritance Though you have neither house nor harbour yet this secures you an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 O what a comfortable thing it is to see the see of the poor to fear the Lord it makes them rich in their poverty I know thy poverty but thou art rich Rev. 2.9 It gives you a preference in the esteem of God to the greatest sinners on earth The Righteous is more excellent then his Neighbour Prov. 12.26 Suppose you come out of the loyns of a rich Parentage VVhat an advantage may this be for you have nothing to mind but your soul and your Salvation others are forced to spend much of their youth in learning a calling whereby to get bread but your Parents have laid up a plentiful estate for you so that your work should be to mind God You have that time and leisure that others have not it may be said of you as God said to Israel I have given you a land for which ye did not labour houses that ye builded not and Vineyards that ye planted not And what follows Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Josh 24.13 14. This sanctifies all your enjoyments and makes them Blessings indeed without this they are but fewel to your lusts and so become a curse and a snare This then is one great advantage of Christs yoke 2. It is your subjection that proves your relation to Christ Mal. 1.6 If I be a master where is my fear The question implyes that whatever men pretend the authority of God is no farther own'd then as his will is obeyed Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things I say Luk. 6.46 and Matt. 12.50 He that doth the will of my father the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Relations are not empty Titles though they are minimae entitatis yet they are maximae efficaciae They have a mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and affection to each other Obedience is the filling up of your relation to Christ Now whom do ye obey who hath your subjection whose will do ye do If ye call God father and live in sin ye blaspheme his holy name you lay the devils brats at his door If you say our Father you must say Thy will be done and labour to do it 3. Your subjection to Christ is your proper qualification for glory Heb. 5.9 Submit to him here and reign with him for ever And your obedience to Christ dont give you a right to blessedness that comes in by faith but it disposes and qualifies for blessedness a great advantage therefore 3. Consider the disadvantage of not taking up Christs yoke 1. This spoils all your duties If the heart be not subjected to Christ no duty can please God No obedience no audience If we will not hear God he will not hear us Quantum a praeceptis tantum ab auribus dei longe samus He that turns away his ear from hearing the law his Prayer shall be abomination prov 28.9 If his arguments can't prevail with us nor shall ours with him What is the great argument you are wont to use in pleading with God it is the blood of Jesus Heb. 10.19 We have boldness by the blood of Jesus and Ephes 3.12 We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Now this is the argument God uses with you Phil. 2.1 If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any bowels and mercies If Gods beseeching you by the bowels and blood of Christ can't prevail with you to duty why should your pleading then with God prevail with him for mercy for his blood was shed to redeem us to obedience as well as to be the price of mercies 2. It renders all your hopes vain The hope of a goodman shall never be frustrate it shall be finished but never be disappointed His hope ends in the fruition of the good hoped for It is a living hope But the hope of the sinner is a dying soul-undoing hope that will certainly fail at last and needs it must For 1. It is a hope that hath no foundation 1. None in the soul what is the foundation of hope there I will give you it in two Scriptures One is 1 Pet. 1.3 Begotten us again to a lively hope Their regeneration is made the ground of hope The other is Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory There Union to Christ is made the ground of hope So that where-ever there is a union to Christ by faith and a change of state by Regenerating grace that man hath a foundation of hope in himself No other man hath or can have 2. His hope hath no foundation in the word for that gives no countenance nor incouragement to hope in a state of disobedience that tells you that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 it tells you that without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord. Heb. 12.14 and therefore for a man to hope for Heaven in a state of sin is to hope that the word of God is not true or that God will not do as he saith and how vain is that hope 2. It is a hope that sets Gods attributes at variance It sets mercy against justice his goodness against his truth and righteousness God is as righteous as good as just as he is merciful and for an unsanctified man to hope in the mercy of God is to set his attributes at variance for if he shew mercy to such as live and dye in their opposition to Christ he can't be a just and righteous God 3. It is a hope that gives the lye to Christ For he hath with the most solemn asseveration averred that no man shall or can see the Kingdom of God unless he be regenerate Joh. 3.3 he hath said the gate is strait Mat. 7.14 and the way narrow that leads to life and but few find it Now for a man to hope for Heaven without being born again to hope to be saved in the broad way is to hope that Christ will prove a false Prophet 4. It is a hope that layes no stress upon any lust to subdue and weaken it That hope that is right and genuine purifies the heart 1 Joh. 3.3 But cursed is that hope that cherishes men in their Lusts and cursed be those lusts that frustrate a mans hope 3. It renders all that Christ hath done about the purchasing Salvation as to you vain and to no purpose What a blessed work hath Christ undertaken what great things hath he done what great things hath he suffered but if a man
is magnus in magnis as Austin says yet he is not parvus in minimis though his work be great in some of his children yet it is not little in any and therefore is to be owned in all Shall a Child deny its being because it is not a Man the great Oak was once a little Plant nay a small Acorn The blessing on man in the first Creation was increase and multiply In the second it is grow in grace so that it shall grow for there is a blessing in it And therefore for believers to compare themselves with Saints of the highest attainments and to make those things to be a measure of the truth of Grace which are evidences of Grace in its growth and strength this is a false measure Thirdly Another false rule of judging by is much corruption because they find much filthiness in their natures strong lusts stirring within and too often breaking out into actual sins therefore they conclude they have no Grace Now this is a false rule to judge by For First There is no believer but by this rule would condemn his own state For where is that man that hath not much indwelling sin which too often breaks out into actual sin indwelling lust may be mortified in some more than in others and the habits of corruption more weakned but yet there is much in the best Look on Abraham a great believer the Father of the faithful and yet how much sin did he discover once in Egypt Genes 12.13 another time in Gerar Genes 20.2 Look on Moses a man of great Grace and yet how much doth corruption break forth in that fourth chapter of Exodus what unbelief doth he discover what plea's to excuse his unwillingness to go on Gods errand Exod. 3.11 Exod. 4.1 Exod. 4.10 Exod. 4.13 V. 14. One while who am I that I should go to Pharaoh another while they will not believe me then I am not eloquent at last send by whom thou wilt send as much as to say I will not go so that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses The like you may see in Samson what corruption doth he discover insomuch that if the spirit of God had not put him into that Catalogue of believing worthies Heb. 11.32 you would hardly have judged him one and yet Samson is recorded for a true Saint Heb. 11.39 though he had much corruption Secondly God will not reject little Grace if it be true where there is corruption though it be much If there be but little Gold in the Ore and much dross yet the Refiner separates the dross and preserves the Gold It is said of Christ his fan is in his hand and what is the use of the fan but to cast out the chaff the chaff is more than the wheat but Christ will not suffer the least grain of wheat to fall to the ground Amos 9.9 Satan hath a sieve in his hand and he sifteth us Christ hath a fan in his hand and he fanneth us now the use of the sieve is to let out the best and keep in the worst the fan casteth out the worst and keepeth in the best Satans work is to sift us Luk 22.31 Satan hath desired to sift you that is to countenance sin and destroy Grace But Jesus Christ he fanneth us that is he purges corruption out of us and nourishes and preserves Grace in us so then though your Grace be never so little it shall be preserv'd and though your corruption be never so much it shall be destroyed And therefore Thirdly You ought to be humbled under sin and make it matter of mourning but not to deny your Grace though under much and great sin There is a great deal in sin to humble us it divests us of our spiritual priviledges it spoils our communion with God that should be matter of humbling it dishonours honours God and grieves the spirit that should be matter of humbling it defiles the soul and wounds the conscience that should be matter of humbling but though every sin ought to be bewailed yet our state is not therefore to be condemned Fourthly Another false rule of judging is by the frame of their hearts because upon search they find their hearts dead carnal listless to duty wandring from or distracted in duty hence they give it against themselves and judge their state carnal because the frame of their heart is so And no wonder that it is so though it ought not to be so if you do but consider three things 1. The goodness of a believers state will give him no acceptance with God in any duty unless the frame of the heart be right in it A carnal frame shall do more to spoil a duty than a spiritual state can do to give it acceptance this is most evident by that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.29 30. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to himself There is a worthiness of state and a worthiness of frame now every believer hath a worthiness of state in an Evangelical sense for every ordinance and therefore for the Lords Supper but yet he may be unworthy in regard of the frame of his heart and where it is so an unworthy frame shall do more to bring judgment than a worthy state can do to prevent it therefore it is said in the next verse for this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep 2. God may carry it to a believer under a carnal frame of spirit in duties as if he were no believer when he comes to God in a carnal frame God may carry it to him as if he were in a carnal state he may shut his ear and reject his services 3. A believer may injoy as little peace when the frame of his heart is not right as if the state of his soul were not right for it is common with such a one to judge of his state by the frame of his heart If his heart be dead and carnal he judges his state to be a dead carnal state but this ought not to be for by this rule he will be forced to condemn himself a thousand and a thousand times over even as oft as he finds his heart out of frame And where a believer judges his state to be carnal he can enjoy no more of the peace of his state though it be spiritual than if it were carnal But this is a false rule to judge by For First A carnal frame is one thing and a carnal state is another many a man may be found under a very carnal frame and yet his state be spiritual and good It was the case of Christs own Disciples therefore he tells them Matt. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven The Disciples were converted as to their state but yet they were in a carnal frame for they were contending among themselves about