foode of his soule prayer preaching the sacraments holy meditations of the Word and works of God These are as requisite for the soules increase in grace as meate and drinke and cloth for the bodies proceeding in strength Now as it often falleth out in the body that there growes vpon it a certaine kind of crazinesse and stomacklesnesse which makes a man to haue no mind of his victuals and then the longer hee abstaineth the lesse mind he hath to eate the lesse abilitie to digest so it commeth to passe likewise in the inward man the soule begins to take little content in prayer in reading the Scriptures in hearing the word preached in the receiuing of the holy sacrament These things are not desired nor delighted in with halfe so much ardour feruour as in former time When the case stands thus with the soule and likely the comming in of gaine and preferment by diuerting the thoughts and affections from things heauenly to things earthly doe bring the soule to this case then it growes weaker and weaker and often falleth grossely and palpably Yea it commeth to passe sometimes that afflictions lying hard vpon a man doe euen put his soule out of tast through the sowernesse and bitternesse of carnall sorrow that hee findeth no appetite to holy exercises which are the repasts of the soule nor any cōtentment in them then grace is in the wane also then all vertues wither and languish and the soule fareth like vnto him that cannot eate is victuals whose very cheekes shew it so the outward behauiour and carriage of such a man being farre short of that heauenlinesse and fruitfulnesse that once will discouer this languishing of his soule Wherefore he that would bee strong in Christ Iesus and in the power of his might must stirre vp in himselfe the Spirit of God which he hath receiued by constancy in holy meditations of God of his Kingdome of his workes of his attributes of himselfe his mortalitie his sinfulnesse the shortnesse of life the vanitie of earthly things the vncertaintie of friends and wealth and that last houre of his life and that great day of iudgement He must also reuiue the same grace of God in him by being feruent in prayer and by prouoking himselfe with all heartinesse of desire to beg good things at Gods hand especially the increase of al heauenly vertues He must also labour to make his hart hot with earnest and vnfained thankesgiuing for all temporall and spirituall benefits especially for the death of Christ and the kingdome of heauen by that deere price purchased for him He must gaine all opportunities of hearing the Word preached and not suffer any idle obiection and foolish impediment to hinder him from frequenting it He must digest it by meditation when he comes home He must carefully prepare for the Lords supper by renewing his repentance and his faith before he come thither And thus he must feede of all the delicates that God hath prouided for him No so true signe of bodily health nor so sure meanes of outward strength as a good stomack with good digestion No so sure token and certaine meanes of spirituall strength and health as a longing desire to all holy exercises publike as well as priuate and priuate as well as publike By these Christ Iesus communicates his graces to vs. The Word that begat vs will nourish vs. The spirit of prayer that obtained good things will obtaine also increase of them and so the soule must needs be well liking Brethren you all are taught by nature the neede of corporall food know also the neede of spirituall and if thou desire to haue thy soule thriue in strength and stature forslake not thy meales cut not off religious exercises short dispatch not Gods worship cursorily turne not holy duties into matters of fashion and formalitie but doe them and doe them constantly and doe them heartily and content not thy selfe in doing them vnlesse thou find some life and courage in doing them And that thou maiest thus maintaine in thee an hungry appetite after the exercises of pietie dip thy morsels often in the sharpe sauce and sower herbes of humiliation Looke back so often as thou findest a kind of fulnesse of stomacke and spirituall satiety growing vpon thee looke backe vnto the former sinnes of thine ignorance consider thy naturall misery and wretchednesse consider of thy most beloued corruption and addresse thy selfe to worke some sensible apprehension of griefe for these things and cease not striuing though at first thou seeme to striue in vaine It is certaine that labouring with ones owne heart to find out his corruptions that lie hidden and to lament them being found out will quicken the soules appetite and restore a man to some liuelinesse in holy duties at least will so farre forth preuaile that if he recouer not his appetite he shall remaine sensible of this spirituall stomacklesnesse and humbled vnder it and full of sighs and groanes because of it which at length will cure him without inconuenience Now brethren let this word of exhortation sinke into your soules If regeneration be necessary to saluation then the growing in the power of regeneration is also necessary Weake things are often so obscured with their contraries that it remaineth vncertaine whither they be or no but that that is strong will stirre and shew it selfe Grace may be doubted of so long as it remaineth feeble and infant-like adde vnto it growth and bignes and it will be out of question No man can be assured of his saluation without edifying his inward man more then be saued without hauing the new man If you would enioy your new birth confirme it if you would attaine the comfort of it grow in it Neglect not the grace of God that is giuen vnto you now that you are in Christ be strong men in Christ and seeing the Lord hath vouchsafed you the worke of his Spirit giue me leaue to make vse of the sweete exhortation of Paul to his Thessalonians to entreate you brethren to encrease yet more and more CHAP. XII Exhorting to propagate grace to others BVt our exhortation if you remember had an other member 1. To propagate it to others it is not enough for a good man to get more grace to himselfe vnlesse hee doe his best also to helpe his neighbours vnto grace They that are begotten of God must doe their vtmost endeauours to beget others vnto God All things in nature haue an inclination to deriue their owne qualities vnto other things and to assimilate or worke like vnto themselues that that comes neere vnto them Fier makes al things hot and water all things moist and in nature nothing is more ingrafted then the propagation of the kind Surely this new and diuine nature must not be idle in this behalfe but they vpon whom the Lord hath pleased to bestow it must labour to be his instruments of conueying it to others And in truth what more comfortable
seruāt And though the conscience being too much put to it by the seruants of God in their folly do wax somwhat sharp yet still it keepeth this note of difference from the vnpurged conscience that it drawes them vnto God So a good conscience is both quiet for it promiseth forgiuenes and withall wakefull for it cals for duty incessantly steppeth out against euery confessed euill yea against suspected ones too 3. In his will In the third place the will of the sanctified man shewes it selfe to be holy by two graces also planted in it First it is carried vp to Godward It longeth thirsteth after the liuing God so that it findeth nothing in heauen nor in earth comparable vnto him It doth embrace him and draw vnto him as vnto the chiefe in a maner the only Good The being happines and felicity of God is the thing that aboue all things yea aboue his owne happines he desireth the fauour loue and grace of God next to that aboue all other things Let him enioy the light of Gods countenance and let corne and wine goe which way they will he is happy enough in that God is happy and is his Father So Dauid once Psal 73 25. Whom haue I in heauen besides thee and whom in earth with thee and in an other place All my bones shall cry Lord who is like vnto thee Now he hath learned to place his felicity in the liuing God Now apprehending him as goodnesse it selfe he vniteth himselfe vnto him by a feruent act of his wil euen panting after him Secondly his will becommeth very flexible to the wil of God It begins to be made one with Gods will and to be as it were carried therein like a star in its proper orbe or euen as a man in the chariot wherein hee hath seated himselfe His will begins to bee euen swallowed vp in the will of God and to bee nothing but as God will haue it which is the principall and a most inconceiueable happines which he findeth in this world If it may appeare vnto him that God would haue such a thing done he resolues to doe it say profit pleasure credit what they can to the contrary Contrarily if that hee perceiues the Lord of his life would not haue him to doe such a thing his determination is that he will not doe it though he be solicited with all the allurements of delight commodity aduancement In truth this free and firme disposition of the will to doe the good and auoid the euill which God enioyneth him for Gods sake is the very heart and marrow of regeneration and therefore there is nothing which a Christian man more misseth then the worke of his will this way if it be hindred and nothing in himselfe which he doth enioy more whilest the motions of it are vninterrupted An hearty and vnfained desire to please God in all things is the characteristicall note as I may tearme it of the sanctified It is the most apparāt euidēt sensible distinction betwixt him the falsly-seeming sanctified the hypocrite Wherfore it is of much importance to finde this grace in ones selfe And so are the superiour powers of the soule framed to the blessed Image of God 2 In the inferiou◠powers The inferiour powers must needs follow the temper of the superiour and in them there resteth the spirit of grace and glory which adorneth them with the brightnesse of excellent graces First the thinking power or imagination is raised vp to God and the things of God 1. The thinking power The Christian man findes that as hee is apt by nature to thinke of the King or of his parents or friends or such like thing so by vertue of his new nature he is of himselfe moued to be taking occasion very many times to entertaine thoughts of God and alwaies thoughts tending to magnifie him within his soule Hee is often stirring vp in his owne heart motions tending to discouer vnto himselfe the beauty and sweetnesse of God his wisedome his power his truth his iustice and other attributes and withall also the admirable and inconceiueable excellency of heauen the surpassing glory and felicity of an other life There is some familiarity and louing acquaintance betwixt God and the kingdome of God and his imagination and it is a great pleasure content to him to cōuerse as it were with these things in the cogitations of his mind to haue thē dwell within him Before God was not in all his thoughts as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 10.4 but now contrarily as the same Psalmist affirmeth of himselfe his meditation of God is sweete euery thing almost that he sees serueth but to beget in him new formes of apprehending Gods excellencie which in truth shineth forth most brightly in all these his workes A man that knowes a rare secret and hidden treasure cannot but euer and a none haue the cogitation of it reuiuing it selfe within him and the Christian hauing the eie of his minde opened to know God and to beleeue in him sees such rich treasures of wisedome and goodnes in him that his minde must needs be entertaining him within by the imagination of these things Wherefore not in solitarines alone but in company the motions of his minde are aduaunced towards heauen and other things serue but as ladders to raise his soule thitherward He is often euen in the middest of other businesses digesting in his minde the excellencies of God and thinking with himselfe how good how great how wise is the Lord God who hath done this and this and this how excellent is his name through all the earth how happy is he in the highest heauens where hee hath founded the throne of his glory yea how blessed a Crowne hath he laid vp for thē that feare him how plentifull a reward is reserued for them when he walketh abroad and sees Gods workes and when he is imploied in other occasions he holdeth his inward comfortable conference with himselfe about his God and often hath his soule prouoked to speake vnto God and to take him into part of this diuine conference telling him as it were with a reuerent boldnes and wife-like familiarity how much good hee knowes by him and how excellent hee must needes conceiue him to bee by such and such workes of his In one word hee mindeth not onely not chiefely the things that are belowe as once he did but the things that are aboue where Iesus Christ our sauiour sitteth at the right hand of glory His meditation is of God and his law and Kingdome continually In like sort his memory is hallowed to the remembring of God 2. Memorie and the things that pertaine to God He frequently mindeth himselfe of that all-seeing eie which in all places attendeth him and though the Lord as being a spirit be in a sort absent from his senses yet by vertue of this sanctified memory which makes absent things present he
by the pen of S. Iames a world of wickednesse then alas how many and how great worlds of wickednesse are included in this one little world of man Now how should so foule so vncleane so polluted a creature set his foote within the portall of heauen How should such an heape of hellish lusts and diuellish vices bee receiued into that happie palace and holy mansion place of Saints and Angels What was the reason that the diuell could not tarie in heauen hauing once been there was it not because he had infected himselfe with sinne with which seeing all mankinde are whollie poysoned and couered ouer from head to foote being of their father the diuell nothing else but euen little diuels differing from the great ones not in substance and parts of corruption but alone in the degrees thereof as a childe of foure or fiue yeeres from a man of thirtie or fortie how can hee possibly finde any place in the kingdome of heauen Thus therefore we conclude our reason Sinne can haue no place no dwelling none intertainment in the kingdome of God Man vnregenerate is nothing else but a very compound or bundle of dirt and sinne Wherefore man vnregenerate cannot possibly finde a place in heauen And this is the first reason from the sinfulnesse of mans nature Reason 2 From the purity of Gods nature The second followes taken from the puritie of Gods nature The Lord is a God of pure eyes and can abide none iniquitie yea the wicked and the workers of iniquitie his soule hateth Hee is as contrary to sinne as heate to colde as light to darknesse as any two contrarie things in the world can be imagined to be contrarie and a great deale more too For other things are contrary each to other alone in regard of their qualities But the very nature substance and being of God is contrary to sinne For sinne is a taxie disorder confusion a not being and God is order perfection holinesse an absolute and a simple being For holinesse in God is not an accident but his very essence is holinesse and he is after an inconceiueable and incomprehensible manner infinitly and essentially good holy and pure Wherefore there can be no reconciliation nor vnion betwixt him and the sinner till the sinfulnes of the sinner be remoued and the image of God be formed and imprinted in him a fresh Euen as the poison of an Adder is contrary to the nature of a man and the venome of a Toade extreamly opposite to his life and therefore no force can compell no wages hire no Rhetorique perswade no perswasion induce him to lodge a Toade or Serpent in his bosome so is it impossible that the most holy pure righteous perfect essence of God should admit into a societie of grace and glorie with him the impure filthie loathsome toadlike serpentine nature of man For though the infinit perfection excellencie of Gods nature be such that he cannot receiue any hurt or indamagemēt from sin as a man is hurt by the poyson of a poysonfull creature yet still withal such is his excellencie and the infinitnes of his power and goodnesse that he cannot but remoue farre and farre from himselfe al things whatsoeuer that are contrary vnto himselfe What fellowship can there be betwixt light darknesse God and wickednesse How can things absolutely and essentially contrary be ioyned together in one Seeing God is perfectly holy and man if we may vse that epithite in this matter perfectly sinfull either God must become sinfull like to man or man holy like to God or else there can be no gratious vnion and communion betwixt man and God Now to imagine that God should become sinfull is the most blasphemous and vtterly impossible imagination in all the world Wherefore vnlesse a man be made holy that is to say be regenerate or borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God In the third place let vs peruse the couenant of grace Reason 3 in which the Lord hath manifested his purposes of goodnesse to the sonnes of men From the tenour of the couenant of grace and we shall finde that it runneth along in these promises Ezek. 36.26 I will giue you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your bodies and giue you an heart of flesh Hence it is easie to reason thus Whosoeuer is a stranger to the couenant of promise is likewise a stranger from all happinesse and from eternall life Now vntill a man be regenerate he is a stranger to that couenant For why that promiseth in the first place a new heart and a new spirit wherefore it must needes follow that vntill a man be regenerate hee cannot be saued Lastly let vs consider the end of our Sauiour Christs Reason 4 death and sufferings From the end of Christs death was it only to purge vs from the guilt of sinne and to saue vs from the pit of hell was it not also to redeeme vs from this present euill world that we being sanctified by his truth might auoid the corruptions that are in the world through lust and become a peculiar people vnto him zealous of good workes Doubtlesse had Christ gone about to ransome vs vpon other termes he must haue lost his labour altogether If Christ should come and dye for one man ten thousand times all those deaths should profit that one man nothing at all for his saluation vnlesse he be made a new creature For the death of Christ though it be of force to reconcile mercie and iustice in God yet is not of force enough to make God vniust or to diminish any whit his infinite righteousnesse which should be diminished yea annihilated if he should open the gates of heauen to vnholy vnsanctified vnregenerate persons for then should he be a louer of the wicked then should fooles dwel with him then should hee haue fellowship with the vnrighteous and communion with the darkest darknesse Whereas the Scripture saith that he is light 1 Iohn 1.5 and in him is no darknes and that if we walke in darknes and say wee haue communion with him we lie and deale not truly For al that are in heauen are loued of God and haue communion with him Wherefore such admittance of such men into heauen can no more stand with Gods iustice thē it can stand with a mans life to be cast into the bottome of the sea For this cause it was neuer the meaning or intentiō of our Sauiour to open heauen to any but to those whō he would sanctifie and by sanctification bring to saluation And so we conclude the point in this manner Whosoeuer is without Christ cannot possibly come to heauen For he is the way the truth and the life Euery vnregenerate man is without Christ for all that are in him are new creatures hauing crucified the flesh with the affections lusts Therefore no vnregenerate man so continuing can