c. which though it be a sin to be trembled at it being blood murther yea self-murther against our selves to whom we owe greatest love yea the last act is sin and our hope of the salvation of these is exceedingly weakned by so terrible and dreadful an act yet they beleeve it were harsh judgement to conclude these certainly damned but what time have these men for actual repentance when they may die ipsoictu and as the wound may be their repentance must be very short having scarce time enough to say Lord have mercy upon me 8. That that instrumentally justifies on our part is not repentance but faith because faith only layes hold upon the merits of Christ and by it the merits of Christ are imputed to us and repentance only justifies declarative as an evidence and fruit of faith or as a speciall concomitant of it But pardon of sin is an act of justification therefore rather actuall faith is required at least as well as actuall repentance before actuall pardon 9. Argum. Then a beleever may â—ustly feare hell and to be damned till his actuall repentance after his sin But a beleever ought never to fear damnation The Major necessarily followes and cannot be denyed And the Minor they prove by laying down three particulars First they deny not but filiall fear may stand with fear of temporall corrections Psal 119. 120. my soul trembleth for Iob. 34. 31. 32. feare of thee c. the thing I feared is come upon me saith Iob a Iob. 3. 15. 31. 32. 2 Sam. 7. 14. Amos 3. â— And God is very severe in chastising his children in this life more sharply then the wicked for judgement shall begin at the house of God to the Jew first c. Thus Moses lost Canaan Eli fell down backward died Davids adultery c. how severely punished the child born in adultery died Tamar defiled Amnon slain in his drunkennesse Absalom rebelling and defiling his fathers wives yea the sword never departed from his house Hezekiah how severely did God deal with him for a suddain act of vain glory 2 King 20. 14 to 19. and David for his priding himselfe in his people God slew seventy thousand 2 Sam. 24. And therefore actuall repentance is not denyed to be necessary to beleevers as we heard before to get assurance of our pardon and prevent scourges Secondly they deny not but the Saints do often carnally and slavishly feare hell and damnation which proceeds sometimes from their weaknesse of faith and the root of infidelity still remaining in them which breeds doubting and doubting breeds feare though never so farre as to suffer the soule to be quite cut off from all hope in God There is certitudo fidei which doth import a stedfast cleaving In credente potest â—nfurgere contrarius motus huic quod firmissimâ— tenet Aquin though not absolute quietnesse as â— ship at Anchor may shake but not blow over And sometimes it is sent as a punishment and correction from God which he inflicts not poâ—â—ndo positivé or operativé that is not positively instilling that conception into them that they shall be damned but Abnegando desâ—rendo permittendo c. leaving them to Satan and their own spirits to be thus tormented Thirdly But they deny it to be lawfull for a beleever once justified to feare hell or to be damned after God hath left him to fall into a grosse sin 1. Because it is the feare of Reprobates and divels which God hath forbidden directly 1 Pet. 3. 14. Luk. 12. 32. Iam. 2. 19. Rev. 21. 8. Luk. 1. 74. True Filiall feare still remaines for blessed is he that so feareth alwayes but servile feare which is cum per timorem Gebennae homo se continet a peccato Pet. Lomb. l. 3. dist 34. Oderunt peccare mali formidine paenae c. though it remaines yet is forbidden 2. Because quod non licet credere non licet timere that which we ought not to beleeve shall happen to us that we ought not to fear but we ought not to beleeve we shal be damned till we actually repent 1. Because then we should beleeve a lye For here is nothing present or to come can separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8. 36 and Iob. 10. 28. I give my sheep eternall life Secondly because for a beleever in Christ to beleeve or thinke he shall be damned proceeds from infidelity or weaknesse of faith and therefore is his sin Object If any object Adam in innocency had the feare of eternall death set before him to keep him from sin Gen. 2. 17. Answ they answer that which Adam might feare as they conceive even with filiall feare we cannot because Adam was liable to eternall death if he sinned but we are not being freed by Christ Lastly as it is true many learned Divines are not of this opinion as Bishop Davenant and Suffrag Theol. Mag. Brit. Art 5. and some other Divines not here mentioned So likewise many learned Divines do assert it * as Musculus on Iohn Dr. Twiss Dr. Ames Luther de capt Babil de Eucâ—ar Dr. Plaifer the sick mans couch p. 46. 47. c. clearly and excellently 5. 24. Non est intelligendum tantum de peccatiâ— ante fidem sed post acceptum fidei donum yea Bishop Davenant himselfe saith Persona hominis pii est semper deo grata non obstantibus delictis and addes that their sins displicent deo odio simplici sed non redundante in personam So Luther saith no sin with which faith may stand can hurt us I thinke he meanes to attract guilt of eternall condemnation except sin be raigning so as that it excludes faith And Zanch. Epist l. 1. p. 116. saith Reprobi quando peccant a regno Christi prorsus excidunt Sed electi quamvis aliquando inviti circumventi labuntur â—on tamen a Christi regno prorsus excidunt nec a Christo avelluntur The objections brought against this assertion are thus answered 1. Object Rom. 3. 25. Christ is said to forgive sins that are past They Answ he speaks not exclusivé excluding sins to come but inclusivé hence in Col. 2. 13. Christ is said to forgive us all our trespasses 2. Object Matth. 10. 28. fear not them that can kill the body c. Answ It is rather a description of the person whom we ought to fear then of the kind of feare wherewith he is to be feared namely that we should feare that God that can cast soule and body into hell in regard of his power but will not in regard of his promise 3. Object 1 Cor. 6. 9. 10. 11. No fornicator drunkard c. shall inherit the kingdome of God Answ They answer That is without he gets his pardon by Christ received by faith and discovered and confirmed to him by repentance its true Note that no man can be saved without faith and repentance but it may seem difficult to say
Incarnation of Christ. the humanity into the Deity nor by cohabitation onely as the Nestorians say nor by mixture as water and wine mixt together which is neither wine nor water but a compound of both nor by infusion of the Godhead into the manhood But by taking the manhood or humane nature into the person of the Sonne of God and so Per moduÌ„ Accedentis saith Durand In l. 3. sent dist 6. q. 4. to have his subsistence in the Godhead And hence the two distinct natures remaine in communicable each to other and yet make not two distinct persons but onely one person as the body and soule two distinct natures make but one man contrary to the heresie of Eutiches who said the humane nature was swallowed up in the divine so as there remained onely the divine nature And the reason of this union was because he was to be a Mediator between God and man and to reconcile God to man therefore meet he should have interest in both natures CHAP. III. A briefe view of the sufferings of Christ before he suffered on the Crosse SEcondly we must study to know Christ in his crucifixion or in his sufferings And him crucified All his life was a crucifixion from the womb to the tomb from his birth to his buriall concerning which though little can be said by way of explication more then is already largely related in the History of the Gospel yet give me leave for method sake to-give you a breife view of them He was crucified 1. In his conception in that he was conceived of the seed of the Virgin and lodged in her narrow womb whom the heavens could not containe and did not abhorre the Virgins womb But this was was to sweeten our conception who are conceived in sinne and born in iniquity 2. He was crucified in his birth in Psal 51 5. that he was borne of a woman the Cretor of the creature he that made her was born of her yea of a poore maid offering two Turtle Doves for her purifying as being not able to bring a Lamb according to the Law Levit. 12. 8. Was there never a great Lady in Jerusalem for this great Prince of heaven and earth to be borne of But he looked on the lowlinesse of his handmaid And this teacheth us that Christ regards 1 Cor. 1. 26. not the rich no more then the poor that he came for the poore poore Lazarus lay in rich Abrahams bosome when rich Dives was in hell torments Poore Shepherds had Christ revealed to them by Angels when he was hid from the Matth. 18. 10. great ones and Rulers at Jerusalem Who can then despise the poorest Saint who perhaps may have move of Christ in him and a higher seat in glory then our selves A pearl is rich when found on a dung-hill though it may glister more when set in a Ring of Gold Hath not God chosen the poore of this world to be rich in faith and heires of that Kingdome James 2. 5. 3. In that he was born in a stable Luke 2. 12. This shall be a signe unto you And well they had this signe for elle its likely they would have looked into the fairest houses stateliest chambers and not in a stable for him You shall find the Babe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sucking child A strange crucifixion the great God to become a Babe and the eternall Word not to be able to speak a word The Lyon of the tribe of Judah who when he roares he makes all the beasts tremble to cry like a child that sucks Nestorius despised to call an Infant God But hereby the greater power of God was seene that could by a Child overcome sin death and the divell and bring us to glory Nay more you shall find the Babe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swadled in cloutes such as we cover wounds and beggars sores withall they were not fine linen nor silke clouts but meane and poore liker to beggars raggs Now was not this a Crucifixion That he thaâ— shall come in the Cloudes should appeare in clouts which yet he weares not so much to cover his nakednesse as to discover ours and because he appeared in the similitude of sinfull flesh 4. More yet if a Babe in clouts yet in some faire Chamber and Cradle No in a Stable where horses and beasts were fed at least at that time when so great a concourse of people met and in the Manger instead of a Cradle Now be astonished and wonder that the great God who inhabiteth eternity whom the heavens cannot containe and Solomons Temple was too meane for him that he should be lodged among the beasts as Nebuchadnezar was turned out among the beasts Marcus Antonius brought Caesars robe before the people all bloody to move Compassion but I have shewed you our Lord Christ not in his Robâ—s of glory but in his raggs and clouts to teach us Christs humility and us humility by his example learne of me saith Christ that I am meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11. 29 Yet all this was for our exaltation Christ was clothed with clouts and raggs that we might be clothed with Robes of glory Christ was laid in a Manger that we might have mansion-places in heaven and lie in Abrahams bosome 3. He was Crucified in his Circumcision as a type of our defilement and his purity and to worke that on our spirits which was done to his flesh Col. 2. 11. 12. Cutting off our superfluous lusts that we might be all Circumcised in heart as Christ was in his flesh 4. He was crucifyed in his temptations when he was so basely solicited by the Divell to fall down and worship him a far greater reproach then if the greatest Queen should be sollicited to uncleannes by the basest scullion and carryed up and down in his armes at his pleasure But this was that he might experimentally know how to succour us when we are tempted Hebr. 2. 18. 5. He was Crucifyed in his whole life 30 yeeres together living in no account or reputation Phil. 2. He made himselfe of no reputation he was despised and we esteemed him not Esa 53. 3. At the most he was counted but the Carpenters son or the Carpenter perhaps working on his Fathers trade Mark 6. 3. And the deity was vaild in his flesh wherein it lay hid without any great manifestation To teach us that the same mind should be in us that was in Christ Phil. 2. To be content to live without respect in the world and be of no reputation for his sake 6. He was Crucifyed in his agony in Luk. 22. 44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Non grumi sed unda sanguinis Bern. not clots but a floud of bloud the Garden where he did sweat drops not of water but blood thick blood that ran through his garments trickling down to the ground Not as Josephs garment that was dipt in blood but his body and garments were dyed in blood Esa
of his understanding It is said of Christ he knew no sinne k 2 Cor. 5. 21. because he did no sinne So here we are required to study to know Christ not with bare speculation but practically and operatively Phil. 3. 10. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection that is that we may finde the operation of that power in our souls which Christ shewed in raising himselfe from the dead And this appears in 2. particulars First whereby he gives us power against the love and dominion of sinne to feele vertue and strength from Christ to crucifie our sinnes that crucified our Saviour They that are Christs saith Paul have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof l Gal. 5. 24. And if we know Christ to be ours we know that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne m Rom. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 31. Eph. 4. 21. And truly there is nothing more powerfull to mortifie sinne then the knowledge and meditation of the sufferings of Christ If one should kill our father would we hug and embrace him as our friend let him eate at our table and not rather hate and detest the very sight of him and seek to be revenged of him If a Snake should sting thy dearly beloved spouse to death wouldst thou preserve it alive warme it at the fire hug it in thy bosome and not rather stob it with a thousand wounds And were not our sinnes the causes and instruments of Christs death Were not they the whips that scourged him the nayles the cords the speares the thornes that wounded him and fetcht his heart bloud from him And can we love our sinnes that kild our Saviour Can a spouse love her husband and her heart embrace an adulterer We complaine of the sinne of Judas and of the Jewes and seeme to hate them and spit at the mention of them and can we love our Judas sins that set them all on work and put Christ to death And certainly he knowes nothing of Iesus Christ savingly as the truth is in Jesus that hath not put off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitfull lusts n Eph. 4. 21. 22. Though not totally yet abating the love and power of them daily as a man wounded mortally daily weakens Or as a tree cut at the root daily withers by little and little or as a dead man in the grave daily rots stinks and wasts for so saith Saint Paul by our rejoycing in Christ I die daily o 1 Cor. 15. 31. There were five Monkes that were studying what was the best meanes to mortifie sinne One said to meditate of death the second to meditate of judgement the third to meditate of the joyes of heaven the fourth to meditate of the torments of hell the fifth to meditate of the love and sufferings of Christ And indeed this is the strongest motive of all Camer reports that Solomon had Camer a glasse wherein if a worme were put and one prickt it so that the bloud issued it would break the glasse I am sure if any thing the bloud of Christ will break our hearts As they say the bloud of a Goat will dissolve the Adamant Secondly wee must study to know the power of his resurrection in raising us up to newnesse of life changing our natures creating in us new hearts and making us new creatures p Eph. 4. 21. 23. 24. That we may be able to say with Paul I live yet q Gal. 2. 20. Col. 3 1. 2. Phil. 3. 10. not I but Christ lives in me that we are risen with Christ seeking and setting our affections on the things above and not on earth having felt the spirit of Christ in our hearts like a loadstone drawing our hearts to heaven whither he is ascended Or as the Sunne drawes up the â—â—pours from the earth that whereas before we were like mouls alwayes moving in the earth now we are like the Eagles soaring up to heaven being clothed with the Sunne and having the Moone under our feet CHAP. IX That the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified is the sweetest and most excellent knowledge ANd thus I have finished the first particular viz. What knowledge of Christ is to be studied of us consisting of foure particulars namely The knowledge of 1. Speculation 2. Application 3. Affection 4. Operation 2. Now followeth the second particular Why wee ought especially to study to know Iesus Christ and him crucified And that for these three reasons Because it is the most 1. Excellent Knowledg in the world 2. Profitable Knowledg in the world 3. Comfortable Knowledg in the world First the knowledge of Christ is the most excellent knowledge I count all things as losse not onely for the gaining of Christ but for the excellencie of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord saith Saint Paul a and yet to gaine Christ is much Phli 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then to know him Nay more In him are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Colos 2. 3. Now treasures we know are abundance of precious Thesauri sunt Divitiae congregater Aq. things So Chrys Aquin. Theoph. In Christ there is all rich and precious knowledge a fountaine of riches Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of Christ Rom. 11. 33. Nay further In him are All treasures He that knoweth Christ hath all profitable knowledge so that he need know nothing else to make him happy And contrarily Si quishaberet librum ubi esset tota scientia non quaereret nisi ut sciret illum librum sic nos non oportet amplius quaerere nisi Christum Aquin in Col. 2. 3. if he know all things else and knowes not Christ he hath no rich or precious knowledge no treasures of knowledge but empty and unprofitable knowledge 3. Nay yet more All treasures are HID in him As men do hide and lay up their treasures from the sight and knowledge of men so there is such a vast sea of treasures and riches in the knowledge of Christ as men cannot apprehend And that in two respects 1. propter debilitatem intellectus as a candle is not seen of the blind so our understandings are not able to discerne them 1 Cor. 2. 14. And secondly propter velamen oppositum as a candle in a dark Lanthorne for they are not fully revealed As Aquin. Hence saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath Rom. 8. 18. Nos habemus non limpidos sed lippos occulos Acquin 1 Cor. 2. 10. not seene the riches that are to be found in Christ any further then they are revealed by the spirit of Christ d Reas 1. Now the reason why the knowledge of Christ and him Crucified is so excellent Is because it hath a more excellent and higher revelation then the knowledge of all other things Adam had
promised that neither life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ our Lord Rom. 8. ult 2. And secondly If thou knowest Christ to be thine thou art sure to dye a blessed death Reve. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord. c. because that day and houre thou diest that day thou art sure thy soule shall be with Christ in paradise for to all that know Christ savingly death is but the harbenger to bring their Cyprian soules to Christ Ejus est timere mortem qui ad Christum nolit ire saith a father let him fear death that is loth to go to Christ do not thou feare that desirest to be dissolved and to be with Christ Death to thee is but as thy fathers horse to cary thee to thy fathers house or like Iosephs Chariot ratling with its wheeles ready to carry old Iacob to his son Ioseph so is death ready to carry thee to thy Saviour Iesus Alas our misery lies in our life morimur dum non morimur not in our death therein lies all our happynesse for we shall not die but live still onely we shall exchange the place of our living instead of Egypt to live in Canaan instead of earth to live in heaven Now are wee afraid to live No life is sweet then feare we not to die for that brings the sweetest and most happy life and will make an exchange of a life of misery for a life of glory Indeed to them that know not Christ O how bitter is death It must needes sting them like a serpent because they go from all their hapinesse to all their misery Death of it selfe is bitter but herein lies the sting and strength of death to all out of Christ in that it is entailed to eternall death they may say as once Elisha did 2 Kings 6. 32. Behold the murtherer death is come to take away mine head And is not the sound of his Masters feet even of the divel and hell behind him mori non metuo said one sed damnari metuo I feare not to die but I feare to be damned When Saul was told by Samuel as he took him to be to morrow thou shalt be with me therefore what else but in heaven yet the newes pleased him not his conscience preached otherwise to him but Saul fell all along on the earth and was sore afraid and there was no strength in him 1 Sam. 28. 20. so Belshazzar did read the hand writing before Daniel read it and trembled for his conscience told him there could come no good newes from heaven to such a wretch as he was And verily herein lyes the sad condition of all men that know not Iesus Christ savingly That though they may make themselves merry and be pleasant in their lives yet death makes them miserable they shall lye down in sorrow Esa 50. 11. And though now Christ seemes like a roote out of a dry ground having nothing in him why they should desire him Esa 53. 2. for though he hath made rich promises yet not of such things as they care or desire to be rich in and with such hard conditions too as seem unreasonable even the parting with their dearest lusts yet at death what would men give for assurance that Christ were theirs Would they not prefer this knowledge before all earthly blessings As Severus said if I had a thousand worlds I would now give them all to be found in Christ As crock-back Richard the third in his distresse cryed a Kingdome for a hors O then they will cry a Kingdome for a Saviour CHAP. XII A Reproofe of those that know nothing of Iesus Christ Vse 1 IF this be so that we ought to study to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified then they are justly to be reproved that know nothing of Iesus Christ and him crucified There are five sorts of them who know nothing or very little of Iesus Christ and him crucified First the heathens who are the greatest part of the world and of whom there are milions of milions at this day who want the meanes of knowledge and can never attaine salvation for if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish 2 Cor. 4. 3. And they are without hope Eph. 2. 12. Qui cuiquam salutem promittit sine Christo nescio utrum ipse salutem habere potest in Christo Aug. Acts 17. 31 Ir is true some conceive it is a sinne in Heathens to want habituall knowledge of Christ because it was in Adam in innocency and it had beene his duty so to have acted if God had commanded him as now he doth command all men Therefore habituall knowledge of Christ seems still to be required even of heathens Yea and actuall applicatory knowledge of all to whom Christ is revealed because the want is their sinne for which they shall be damned John 16. 9. Mark 16. 16. But where the Gospel is not revealed as among the Heathens there it seemes not a sinne for we are not bound to act that which God never revealed to Adam nor since There is Lex interna id est internus Deiconceptus and externa or revelata Now Gods secret will is not our Law but his will revealed Leges factae instituuntur cum promulgantur Rayner Panth. Some indeed think the moralized heathens that walked by the light of nature were saved as Chrys Clemens Alexand. Erasmus Casauhon and others but Christ tels us the contrary Act. 4. 12. Though in comparison of us that have the meanes they are said to have no sin Ioh. 15. 22. I grant whether it be a sin or no in the Heathens not to know Christ to whom he was never revealed is a question But of this I am sure if their negative infidelity be no sin being ignorantia privationis or negativa yet their positive fidelity is odious in that they trust to dumb Idols to the stock of a tree c. when as the light of nature tels them that they themselves are better then that they trust in by whichlight of nature they shall be judged Rom. 2. 12. yea light of nature tels them a living creature is better then the picture as a lamb in the field or a bird flying in the aire c. are better then a picture of them And yet saith one si accepto spiritu occurrerent ut monstra haberentur 2. The Turks that acknowledge God a father yet deny Christ a Redeemer though they heare of Christ yet despise him reject abuse him and his members and prefer their Mahomet before him whose sin is greater because their own religion is so absurd fleshly and filthy and his rewards all fleshly fitter for swine then men 3. The poore scatter'ed Iewes of whom and for whom Christ especially came to them still Christ is a mystery they acknowledge Moses law and the Prophets but reject Christ as an impostor looke for a saviour to come
them f 2 Thess 2. 12. and livest willingly in known sinnes against conscience and art under the power and dominion of sin g Rom. 614. Tit. 3. 3. 5. Fifthly and lastly Consider the heavy judgements that hang over thy head for them thou art hated and accursed of God lyest open to all his judgements in this life to be tormented with divels and reprobates for ever in the life to come where thou shalt nothing but roare howle weep and wail and gnash thy teeth to all eternity Thinke with thy selfe that some are in hell already for the same sins thou livest in and if thou livest and dyest without Christ thou shalt ere long be with them Reason thus Is Cain in hell for hating goodnesse in his brother h Iohn 3. 12. That 's my sin I have hated goodnesse in my brethren are some in hell for coveteousnesse uncleannesse voluptuous living c. these are my sins and lurke in my heart Nay if one sin lived in with delight will damn me as a wanton looke a Iob 31. 5. right eye a lustfull vanity c. what heapes of wrath must I lie under that am guilty of so many millions of sins And now tell me sadly hast thou need of any thing more then a Saviour and to get thy pardon Surely no I know men are hardly brought to beleeve this who are naturally fild with pride and self-love ready to thinke well of themselves to say as Peter to Christ Master pity thy selfe this evill shall not come unto thee Damned God forbid I would not for a thousand worlds this should be my condition but yet it is so and will be so if thou gettest not thy part in Christ And certainly men will never seriously seek after Christ till they see this their need of him the whole needeth not a Physician nor careth for him who careth for a pardon till he be condemned 3. The third meanes to get Christ is to be sick with our sinnes For Christ came not to call the righteous but sick sinners to repentance a Mark 2. 17. such as are weary and loaden b Mat. 11. 28. broken-hearted c Esa 61. 1. pricked in their hearts d Act. 2. 37. stung with their sinnes as the Israelites were with fiery serpents Aâ— bruised Christ will lie in a bruised heart e Ioh. 3. 14 Which though some make it a back door yet I am sure the whole Scripture holds it forth ordinarily as a qualification praevenient to receive Christ and therefore tels of a repentance whether legall only or evangelicall also following it before faith I will not now dispute praeceding faith as in Matth. 21. 32. You repented not that you might beleeve And Paul preached of repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ f Act. 20. 21 And in the Primitive Catechisme they taught repentance from dead workes and faith towards God g Heb. 6. 1. Such and such only are fit to prise Christ as the sick onely are glad of a Physician a condemned man and upon the ladder ready to be turned of O how glad is he of a pardon As those that were stung with fiery serpents O how welcome was a brazen serpent to them Yea such will be willing to receive Christ upon his own termes Heavinesse in the heart will make it stoope h Prov. 12. 2. 9. As we see Paul who then cryed out Lord what wilt thou have me to do i Acts 9. 6. And in the Prodigall who prayed Father make me as one of thy hired servants 4 The fourth meanes to get to know Christ is ours is to be sick for Christ as the Church was I am sick of love k Cant. 2. 5 I Ioh. 7. 37. Esa 44. 3. Luke 1. 53. Christ calleth the hungry and thirsty c. Let him that is athirst come and drinke I will poure water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon drie ground the hungry thou fillest with good things l As the mother opens her breast when the child cryes for it so Christ opens the bosome of his love to such as earnestly desire him we know thirst hath 4. properties first it proceeds from ardent heat either when scorcht with heat of the Sun or by excessive labour c. And secondly it is ardens desiderium not a lazy but a burning earnest desire Give a thirsty man what you will gold or silver nothing contents him but water 3. It is a speaking desire he begs cryes and roares for water 4. It is a present desire delay increaseth inâ—ageth his desire so is it with a soule that thirsts for Christ 1. He is one scorcht with the heat of Gods anger 2. His desire is ardent he desires Christ more then thousands of gold and silver 3. He cryes out I thirst The hunted Hart brayeth not more for water then a thirsty soule doth for Christ m Ps 42. 1. Rom. 8. 26. Prov. 13. 1â— 19. Fourthly he is not satisfied till he hath found Christ give me Christ or else I die say they as Rachel said Give me children or else I die The fifth meanes is to be willing to part with all our sinnes to obtain Christ Matth 13 44. As the wise Merchant sold all that he had to buy the pearl o Acts. 96. Paul cryed Lord what wilt thou have me to do I am content to do any thing be any thing suffer any thing for Christ Many are higlers and cheapeners and some come near but few come home to the full price and so lose the bargain some will part with all but one lust it may be As Jacob would part with any son but Benjamin He should not go they say of some darling lust as Naaman said God be mercifull in this or that only as Herod in his Herodias the young man in his coveteousnesse O spare my right eye my Joseph my Adonijab But Christ will have all or none at all if a man part with many lovers yet if he retaines the love of one harlot he is an adulterer so if thou retainest the love of one sin in thy bosome hating to be re-formed thou canst never receive Christ p Ioh. 13. 9 Caution Not but that sin will cleave to us while we live here but yet we must part with our sins two wayes 1. In our affections and desires being willing to part with them all q Rom 7. 15. 24. ult 2. In our purposes resolutions and indeavors to forsake them all r Acts 11. 23. Heb. 13. 18 6. The sixt and last meanes to get Christ is to seek him Precibus suspiriis with prayers and teares Aske and you shall receive Matth. 7. 7. Rom. 10. 11. If thou hadst asked I would have given that gift of God saith Christ Thus Paul sought Christ Act. 9. 11. behold he prayeth Only â— Iohn 4. 10. Ezek. 36. 37. seek earnestly and constantly as Jacob wrestled with God and said I will
Yet ever remember the more sin is mortified the more faith is vivified the more the disease weakens the more health strengthens Doubt 7 Yea but I have relapsed into my old sins that I have vowed and covenanted against a thousand times and therefore I am but a dog that have returned to my former vomit or as a sow that was washed I have returned to my former mire I answer there are relapses into enormities which are peccata vastantia conscientiam these a godly heart doth seldome relapse into though sometimes through weaknesse of grace they may as Peter and others Secondly there are relapses into infirmities which are peccata quotidianae incursionis which we cannot help and God hath left daily to humble us with all and of which none are free as rash anger idle words vaine thoughts distraction in prayer c. And these the best do daily relapse into for originall sin doth still retaine its inclination to sin in the most sanctified heart Rom. 7. 23. Col. 3. 4. 5. Again there are relapses of wilfulnesse Ier. 31. 18. 19. 20. and of weaknesse now thy relapses are of weaknesse and not of wilfulnesse thy heart still is on Gods side there is a great difference between a woman forced and an alluring adulteresse between our entertainment we show to a friend whom we rejoyce to see and bid welcome c. and to a thief that breakes into our house of whose company we are weary and long to be rid of He is not a swine that is driven into the mire but he that delights to wallow in the mire Now if thy relapses are of weaknesse feare not for he will forgive us that so offend not seventy times 7 times but seventy thousand times every day as long as we live we must pray Lord forgive us our trespasses neither do future sins repeal former pardons Peccata semel remissa nunquam redeunt Neither can a child of God so sin as some think as to be in the stata of damnation by them no not for an houre And because it is an assertion that hath much troubled many I shall be larger in setting downe the arguments some make gainst it with the answer to their objections Object Some affirme that grosse sins of beleevers are not pardoned no not in heaven till they do actually repent of them that they cannot say My God and my Christ c. but do incurre an actuall guilt of eternall damnation redundant upon the person at least pro tempore so as if David should have died before his actuall repentance c. he should have been damned It s answered the sins of beleevers are not only actually pardoned in heaven after actual repentance but before any subsequent act of repentance even at once in the first act of Beleeving and Repenting So as if David and Peter had died one in the act of his adultery and the other in the act of his denyal of Christ yet they had been saved though as they say they cannot conceive a regenerate person can commit a known actual sin without some present act of repentance some resistance of spirit cald displicentia vel renisus voluntatis Cum peccant ea tantum parte qua non sunt regeniti peccant secundum vero interiorem partem nolunt detestantur peccatum ergo non plena voluntate peccant Zanch. Epist 91. p. 114. And to this agrees that in Gal. 5. 17. 1 John 3. 9. Rom. 7. 13. 24. But that he stands a condemned man till solemn acts of repentance as confession petition c. they deny 1. Because in the first act of beleeving our sinnes are so pardoned as there is no place or time after left for condemnation he that believeth hath everlasting life John 3. ult and cap. 5. 23. but if at any time any one sin were not pardoned he were for that time under the curse in the state of condemnation Gal. 3. 10. but can a man have right to heaven and hell at the same time 2. Because still he is regenerated 1 Iohn 3. 9. the seed of God remaineth in him but he that is in the state of regeneration cannot be in a state of condemnation at the same time 3. Still hee remains a beleever and a penitent person in habit at least except by his fall he hath lost all grace as the Arminians hold but a beleever is still a justified person Rom. 5. 1. they say they cannot see how that man can be properly said to be justified though he be acquitted of a thousand offences if he stands guilty of any one offence for which at that time he is in the state of condemnation except we will say a man may be in a state of Justification and condemnation of life and death at the same time 4. In the present act of his sinne he is united to Christ and a member of Christ but a member of Christ cannot be in the state of condemnation for then at the same time a member of Christ may be a member of the Devill 5. He is still an adopted child of God notwithstanding his fall John 1. 12. 13. but every adopted child is an heire of heaven if sonnes then heirs Rom. 8. therefore till he loseth his son-ship he cannot lose his right to life it would seem strange that God at the same time should be pater hostis reconciliatus infensus a father and an enemy 6. If greater sins are not forgiven till after actuall repentance then neither are the least and smallest sinnes committed every moment forgiven till after actuall repentance for all sinnes deserve condemnation as well the least as the greatest though some deserve a greater degree of torment Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 6. ult secondly there is the same way appointed by God for the pardon of the smallest sins as of the greatest viz. faith and repentance but it cannot be true of the smallest sins because then a beleever should never be justified a minute together for as for idle thoughts c. we are continually acting and so a beleever should almost every minute be in the state of death and then they see not but in ictu mortis he may perish except the last operation of his spirit be actuall repentance Yea if lesser sinnes peccata quotidianae incursionis need daily repentance surely that daily repentance is actuall repentance and then even those sins are not forgiven till actuall repentance 7. Then it is certain a beleever after his fall into some grosse sinnes shall live so long by Gods decree till he actually repents as the elect shall till they beleeve but they conceive this hath no warrant from scripture that a beleever shall not die in the act of a grosse sin as adultery selfe-murther bitter and malicious speeches when perhaps the provoked party may immediately run him through kill him yea this they say seems to judge too rigidly of those that die by selfe-murther as drowning hanging stabbing themselves
yet can receive no pardon in their consciences without some acts of repentance 8. Doubt I feare I am but an hypocrite me thinkes there is nothing almost I Reader pardon this large digression now I return to the 8. Doubt do well but I am subject to reflect upon my selfe and take glory to my selfe as Herod did Act. 12. Answ I answer O this divel of vain-glory sticks close to us all and will creep into our best duties as the serpent crept into the garden among the sweet flowers and trees of pleasure even Paul himselfe was subject to be exalted above measure and the disciples reasoned among themselves which of them should be greatest And its true that thou sayest there are risings of pride and hypocrisie in thy heart which are also increased by Satans temptations but thou art not an hypocrite because there is hypocrisie in thee because thou complainest of it The best sign of sincerity is to complain of hypocrisie as a man that complaines of his disease O I cannot sleep taste my meat c. showes it is his disease thaâ— he would fain be rid of he would fain sleep relish his meat walke and the like One told Bradford he said he did all out of hypocrisie because he would have the people applaud him but he answered its true said he the seeds of hypocrisie and vain glory are in me and thee too so long as we live here but I thank God it s that I mourne under and strive against 9. Doubt Ninthly I doubt whether Christ be mine because my heart is so hard even a heart that cannot repent you can assoon almost fetch water out of a rock or stone and therefore I feare I am one that have nothing to do with Christ and whom God will shew no mercy to Rom. 9. 18. Rom. 2. 5. Answ I answer there is a threefold hardnesse 1. Totall when there is no softnesse at all Eph. 4. 19. when men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past feeling 2. There is a judiciary hardnesse when God gives a man up to hardnesse of heart as he did Pharoah and those in Rom. 1. 28. Is 6. 9. who cannot be broken with judgements nor melted with mercies 3. There is a partiall hardnesse when our hardnesse of heart is felt and bewailed Now in these there is some softnesse for else they could not bewaile their own hardnesse as he that is stark dead cannot grone but these cry out as they did Es 63. 17. wherefore hast thou hardened our hearts from thy feare And such is thine hardnesse Note A man may mourne too much when he is swallowed up with sorrow neither doth God delight in our sorrow as it is sorrow for we know there is none of this grace in heaven where we shall be most perfect but only as and so farre as it imbitters sin and makes Christ the sweeter to us neither can we have our hearts softned proportionably to our sins except we will go down to hell and mourne there Nor need we seeing Christ hath borne our sorrows 10. Doubt Tenthly ye but I have such cursed blasphemous Atheisticall thoughts that I am afraid to mention them as that there is no God the Scriptures are not true c. which cannot be in those that know Christ savingly Answ I answer there is no sin so vil'd but the divell may tempt the best man unto it as he tempted Christ to fall down and worship him which was as it were to kneel down and ask him blessing and it is Satan oft times that puts these thoughts into our hearts and then roars upon us with his temptations just as Ioseph dealt with Benjamin first he puts his cup into his sack and then he accuseth him for it or as if a cut-purse should cut a mans purse and put it into thy pocket and then accuse thee that thou hast stollen such a mans purse If thy heart joyn not with it this temptation may be thy crosse but is not thy sin or if any corruption of heart in the least measure joyne therewith for there is much Atheisme in the best of our hearts yet it is not thou but sin that dwelleth in thee Doubt 11 Eleventhly If Christ were mine he Es 48. 17. would teach me to profit by the word but I cannot at all profit by hearing I get little or no good but only take Gods name in vaine for I can remember nothing sometimes though I be affected at present yet before I get out of the Church all the sermon is lost whereas I know some can repeat a whole Sermon verbatim and yet I would be loth to live as they do Answ I answer Some mens memories are healed that are not sanctified and to have a gift to repeat a sermon and to make no conscience to practice is but to spit sermons out of their mouthes or as if a beast should cast out her hay and food into dung and show you her dung but not her fatnesse But 1. thou remembrest what thou canst to will is present which is accepted for the deed neither is it expected thou shouldst remember the whole Sermon but thou mayest have comfort if thou canst remember that which most concerns thee as if thou wert bidden to a feast it is not expected thou shouldst eat up all the meat that is set upon the table but especially that which is carved out for thee and laid upon thine own trencher 2. Though thou forgettest for the present yet in due time the Spirit of God will bring those things to thy remembrance that thou hast most need of in thy life as he hath promised Iohn 14. 26. that his Spirit shall bring all things unto our remembrance As Peter remembred the words of Christ when the cock crew Matth 26. ult 3. Though thou dost not remember muâ—h yet if thy heart be made better by it or thy affections be kindled to burn in more love to God as the disciples when Christ Luk. 24. 16. 32. talked with them their hearts burned with in them thou dost profit shew me not the meat say we but shew me the man as Cattell shew not the grasse they have eaten but their fat the earth showes not the rain that fell upon it but the grasse A poor woman comming from a sermon a minister meeting the comming from Church asked her who preached whether he made a good sermon what she remembred of the sermon c. Truly said she I have a weak memory I can remember but little yer this I am sure I have learned to love Christ better then ever I did in my life before and that comforted her more then if she could have remembred all the sermon and not have had her heart warmed at all with more love to Jesus Christ Doubt 12 In the twelfth place I feare I have no part in Christ because then I might say I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2. 20. I should have holy thoughts
will blesse our indeavours but not our idlenesse nor must we make any thing serve the turn to fill the hour Not two or three hours on saterday night when God wrought six days for our example Cursed be he that doth the worke of Ier. 48. 13. the Lord negligently Woe to all evill beasts slow bellies and woe to the idol shepherds that feed themselves and not the flock Ezek. 34. 2. 3. But especialy wo to those who are worse then idle drones which though they are ready to burst with hony but not with worke yet do not sting the painfull Bees though lazy yet without a sting But not long ago this was offence enough to be a diligent preacher they casting as evill an eye upon such men as ever Soul did upon David because their laboriousnesse did condemne their lazinesse This is so great and difficult a worke that Paul saith who is sufficient for these things yea Aug. saith it is onus angelicis humerâ—s formidandum a burthen too heavy for the shoulders of Angels to beare O how have men spent themselves wasted their lungs and lives in this laborious work which farre exceeds the greatest bodily labour being the labour of the mind the distraction of the brain c. O what wonderfull paines have the fathers and moderne writers taken in studying and preaching what huge volums of Augustine Ambrose Chrysost Calvin c. are yet extant as monuments of their unwearied pains may they not check our idle nesse and make us blush It s true the body must be regarded we may use cruelty to a a beast and be selfe-murtherers God requires of us no more then we are able But I beleeve rather generally we are too indulgent It was a noble saying of Dr. Reynolds who by reason of great study had contracted a sicknesse his friends perswaded him to moderation and not to lose life to get learning Non perdere substantiam propter accidentia and he answered smiling Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam 2. As a Minister must take paines in his studies so likewise in the Pulpit by diligent and laborious preaching Lovest a Ioh. 11. 15. 1 Tim. 4. 2. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Acts 20. 28. thou me saith our Saviour to Peter then feed my sheep and Paul exhorts Timothy Be instant stick close to the businesse preach the word in season and out of season 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a good season which I conceive he means the Lords day being the particular season appointed for the preaching of the word and out of season that is at other seasonable times besides that set time as occasion is offered taking all opportunities of doing good You see though he bids him Es 28. 10. drink a little wine for his stomacks sake yet he bids him not preach but a little for his healths sake for we cannot be spent better then thus to waste our selves to save the soules of others It was the speech of Bishop Jewel unto a Gentleman that met him going to preach and saw him so feeble advising him to turn back again but he answered him Oportet Episcopum concionaâ—tem mori a Bishop ought to die preaching and so he did for soon after sermon by reason of sicknesse he was forced to bed and never came off his bed again It was Aug. his wish that Christ might find him at his coming Aut precantem aut predicantem praying or preaching Mr. Calvin also being much weakned in body by his great paines in the work of the ministry said would you have the Lord when he comes to find me idle O blessed is the man saith our Saviour whom his Lord when he commeth shall finde so doing that is giving them their meat in due season Matth. 24. 45. 46. Alas our time is short and precious we have not long to worke though we would night commeth when no man can work Think every sermon this may be the last sermon that ever I shall preach therefore whatever thou findest in thy hand to do do it with all thy might Eccles 9. 10. 2 Pet. 22. 14. Christ died and bled and wept for soules and shall not we sweat for soules O consider often what a fearfull thing it is to be guilty of the bloud of soules as we heard before One reports that in a Synod of the Clergy at Paris Clarkes mirâ—our p. 127. examp 10. 1228. one appointed to make a sermon was much troubled what text to take the divell appeared to him and told him he needed not to be troubled about that the Princes of hell said he salute you O you Princes of the Church and gladly give you thanks because through your negligence so many soules go down to hell a dreadfull saying shall we preferre our idlenesse before the salvation of the peoples soules what paines did Jacob take in feeding of his flock of sheep he regarded not the heat of the day nor the cold of the night nor want of his sleep Gen. 31. Remember the woes denounced against idle and idol preachers by the Prophets a and by Paul wo Exek 34. 2. Zach 11. 17. Iâ—r 48. 10. be to me if I preach not the Gospel it may be on our death beds we will cry out of losse of time that we were all day long in Gods vineyard and almost all the day idle or tooke no paines to what we might have done It s true all have not abilities alike but our best indeavour is required and accepted if there be a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. he that had but two talents and wrought with them was accepted as well as he that had five only the slothfull servant that hid his talent in a napkin was condemned Thirdly Ministers must study to preach 3. Profitably profitably 1 Pet. 2. 2. 11. Tit. 3. 8 9. not froth in stead of food like those Prophets that prophecied vain and foolish things to the people Lament 2. 14. â—eeding them with empty huskes in stead of the bread of life Not empty clouds which when we see we say a showre commeth but behold in stead of a gracious showre perhaps a stormy tempest or at best clouds without water unsavouâ—y salt trees without fruit shadows in stead of â—ubstance Children crying for bread they give them a stone and for fish and they give them a serpent But we must feed them with bread of life wholesome food such as Cor 12. 7. 1 Cor. 14. 12. may nourish This is the end of all gifts to profit with them a and therefore we should study to excell in gifts for the edifying of the Church b I had rather saith Paul speak five words to teach and edifie then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue so as the people could not profit 1 Cor. 14. 19. where the dead carkasse is thither will the eagle resort Think not what paines thou takest but cui