the great gates no wider gate is opened for the rich Man then for Lazarus If this do not please you find a better way if you can but be assured the Almighty scorns your greatness as much as you can his straitness Hence since the work wrought is the same in all let not Christians so much perplex and trouble themselves because God wrought not so in them as he did in others or because they cannot tell how God wrought in them they cannot trace out his path for in his working there is much variety but look to that in which all must agree look to regeneration union with Christ that the work be done no matter how God did it Sixth Position To say of a man under Gods working that he is but under a preparatory work and no more is a difficult thing Who can say there is no more but preparation in such a person Mr. Shepherd makes his preparatory works to consist 1. In Conviction there he saith the light is clear real constant p. 32. 2. In Compunction fear sorrows separation from sin p. 65. 3. In Humiliation taken off from self-confidence c. p. 125. Is there a preparatory state in which the soul stands for a time not as yet in a converted state May not the Lord at the very first stroak convey an immortal seed of grace into the soul the light which is so clear constant and real as he saith may it not be as the Lightning which cometh out of the East and shineth even to the West Matth. 24.27 so this shines into the whole soul will and all affections be so bright and clear at the first darting in that the Spirit withall quickens the will We know grace at first lieth in a narrow compass a seed a Mustard-seed is but a small thing Seventh Position To work a man under preparatory works to be as good a Christian as he is when he is actually united to Christ seems very strange When Mr. Hooker preached those Sermons about the Souls preparation for Christ and Humiliation my Father-in-law Mr. Nath. Ward told him Mr. Hooker you make as good Christians before men are in Christ as ever they are after and wished would I were but as good a Christian now as you make men while they are but preparing for Christ But he told him the reason why he thought God let him thus preach because he saw he had not long to stand and so should do his work all at once Let but one observe well Mr. Shepherd's preparatory work and I think we shall find a Christian with a good measure of Grace in my Letter to him I said I thought it strange that such an Act of Grace or Obedience supposing it to be so which yet I do not till I see a Command for it should be performed by a person under a preparatory work to Christ then which I knew none greater could be performed by one who is in Christ for a man to be so subject to the Justice and Soveraignty of God that if he will deny him his love work no grace dispose of him to damnation he is yet quiet contented I knew no Act of self-denial in the Gospel like it yet this is under the preparatory work of humiliation To this he answers I do not think this is the highest measure of grace as you hint any further then as any peculiar work of the Spirit is high for upon a narrow enquiry it is far different from that readiness of Paul and Moses out of a principle of love to Christ to wish themselves anathematized for Israels sake which is a high pitch indeed To which I reply 1. As to the principle it is true there may be some difference formally the principle is not the same yet this is a principle of humble and gracious submission to the Justice and Soveraignty of God and that in such a point as there is not another like it Could I but get it in all other things I should think it an Act of Grace from God to give me such a frame though I be not content to be damned Secondly Whatever be the principle I am sure according to the sense which must be given of Paul and Moses by this holy man they and the prepared soul or preparing for Christ must all meet in the same end or place i. e. in Hell Thirdly But with humble respect to Mr. Shepherd are indeed the Acts of Paul and Moses supposing the sense of the words to be as he takes them such Acts of Grace as are required by God and we bound to imitate if they were Acts of grace performed in obedience to a Command then we are all bound to the same Of necessity then the sense of the words must first be made plain First If the book written Exod. 32.32 be understood of the Book of life i. e. of divine Predestination and if Anathema in Rom. 9.3 be taken in the proper sense and these must be so taken to make Mr. Shepherd's answer good then both these wishes are inconsistent with a man as man and with a Christian as Christian as I shall prove anon to talk of limiting Anathema the sense of it as some would because they saw what this included signifies nothing if you fall a limiting I will limit also Secondly To me it appears further it cannot be the sense because God in answer to Moses ver 33. tells him Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my book What out of the book of Divine Predestination I am sure Mr. Shepherd nor those other Divines will admit blotting out of that book the 34. ver tells Moses he will visit their sin upon them and ver 35. he plagued the people Surely God spake in that sense which Moses did Cor. a Lapide indeed affirms upon the Text It is lawful for the salvation of many for a man to wish his own damnation As much as they are for the works of Supererogation I do not believe the Jesuit did ever heartily wish his own damnation upon this account yet if so these Jesuits are so crafty he makes his bargain so that he will get by it for saith he God will reward such a generous and liberal soul with heaps and increase of love grace and other gifts Yes God doth use to fill those who are blotted out of the book of eternal life and accursed from Christ with increase of Love and Grace Let him fry this Other Divines therefore do not understand the book of eternal life or Divine Predestination See Mr. Coryl on Job cap. 24. v. 20. but the Records of the Church or Records of the people of Israel The Jews were wont to number their families and take their names and God commanded a Record of the people of Israel to be written Thus we read David praying Psal 69.28 against his enemies Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous Would David pray to
if they did unawares happen to pronounce it then they would punish themselves with a blow on their faces and use another word like it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by an Apocope they framed out of two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deleatur nomen ejus Let his name be blotted out to see the hatred of this poor people against the Lord Jesus the Lord hasten the removal of the vail But in the time of his being in the flesh amongst them that which they opposed was that he should be the Christ the Messiah this was such a crime that whoever did say he was the Christ it was matter of excommunication they put him out of the Synagogue John 9.22 Others of the false Apostles would not stand much at that but might yield it he was Christ but not Lord they would not set up him only Lord of their faith and lives but they set up the Servant Moses with him he must be joyned to him Non praedicabant Christum Dominum sed Mosis conservum Davenant ibid. this the Son nor his holy Apostles would endure hence we have it so often that these three are put together Acts 2.36 God hath made that Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ saith Peter the last words were the Controversie We preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord saith Paul so 1 Cor. 8.6 thus Paul in his Benedictions useth the words The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ eight times The essence of Faith lies in receiving this Person in his Offices Jesus Christ the Lord John 1.11 we have the word receiving the same Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Text but in the twelfth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the simple Verb Whence Grotius Hinc idem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this receiving four things are required it s made up of Acts 4. First Knowledge of the Person and his Offices his whole work what I am to receive I will know the Soul and Christ by receiving him enter into a married union it is mystical but real Will a Woman receive that Man to be her Husband whom she knows not John 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Men cannot believe in him of whom not heard Rom. 10.14 Every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him John 6.40 There is a seeing the Son understanding knowing him well before there will be any believing on him to salvation First see then believe Thus he began in the term from which he called you thus he doth also in the term to which he calls you the work is rational no more only touch it This knowledge is of his Person Offices and work of Redemption for he must be received with all the Soul shall not be mistaken let it know what it must receive The Person such as is the Person such is the valor of his Offices and of all the work he hath done He who hath his state of sin and misery layed open to him to purpose Conscience awakened guilt lying heavy upon his Soul and feels the rebellion of his heart a hell of corruption within him will never venture his Soul with one who is but a meer Creature no power meerly created can do that for him which he feels must be done or he must perish God in our flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 it must be that must make a Redeemer for him or else he must lye in his bonds for ever Here the Socinians Jesus and our Jesus differ infinitely what the Apostle saith concerning his Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.14 If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain the same I say concerning his Person if he be but man a meer Creature let him die and rise and ascend both preaching and faith are but vain a meer man is not a Rock a precious Corner-stone for Faith to build upon Flesh is too soft too sandy to lay such a weight the weight of a guilty captivated Soul under laid lusts creatures and devils upon The Egyptians use men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit Isai 31.3 What then They will fail when you come to trial Wo to them that go down to Egypt v. 1. They were reproved much and accounted fools who went down to Egypt to put their trust in men in flesh for outward temporal safety and shall we trust upon one who is man and no God flesh and not an eternal spirit for the eternal safety of precious Souls It were improper for me considering the scope of my Book to enter upon this discourse though this is the main pillar of our Christian Religion if this go all goes it is a mercy to weak Christians that God keeps off Satan from troubling of them here thousands go out of this world to Heaven and never meet with one troubled thought about it yet I fear this Doctrine spreads much but it must be amongst those who never had the load of guilt and sin lye upon them it will not easily down with those persons who have felt them I shall say no more about it only suggest to the Reader a notion or two which I have had when I read that Text John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. when God will set forth any of his Excellencies his Attributes they appear so glorious that they swallow up they confound the understanding of the Creature it cannot reach them they set him into amazement and there leave him If God will shew forth his Power his Wisdom his Goodness that God is so powerful so wise so good he makes a world and how are our understandings confounded amazed when we comtemplate these Attributes appearing in the Creature they are indeed God-like Would any man demand a demonstration of the patience and long-suffering of God Let him but consider the horrid wickedness Atheisme blasphemy uncleanness with all the abominations in England and then tell me if his patience and long-suffering be not God-like So if God will set forth the Attribute of his Love in a gift and put his so to it that he so loved that gift must be such a thing that his Love therein demonstrated may be like his other Attributes God-like such as confound amaze swallow up the understanding as do the other Attributes for if the understanding can grasp it it is but a mean pitiful business not at all becoming a God especially when he puts his so to it so loved Then let us view his gift and see whether this gift demonstrates Love to be God like comparable to his other Attributes The gift is an Only bigotten Son But what is that Son God or man or God-man in one Person Why He is but a man flesh as we are only his miraculous Conception of a Virgin had not our sinful nature he lived a holy life and died to confirm his Doctrine and to
Thus have those found it whom God intends to save by this discovery of their sin and guilt bringing them to repentance and embracing of Christ And blessed is that sight of sin when God withall gives the sight of a Saviour Thus also have others found it in a day of evil often on a death-bed when their sleepy Consciences come to be awakened now they can see their sins set in order before them and hell attending them and a sad time it is when the despised Ministers and Christians are sent for but know not what to say to them I have found it a great trouble what to say at such a time one while our bowels move hearts relent to hear poor Creatures that now lye under the fears of dropping into hell every moment what sad complaints they make and how they cry out for one word of comfort on the other side when we have known their lives how the Word the Offers of Christ and Promises have been slighted but now they see their lusts forsake them they must part now they would be glad to have Christ and a Promise and how dare a faithful Minister apply any upon what grounds can he do it It is a mans duty alwayes to believe in Christ that is true and that we must counsel them to lay hold on Christ But what said one to me who had once been a zealous and profitable Preacher but apostatized sadly a week before he dred he put that question to me What shall I do to be saved Sir said I it is a question you have answered many a time your self you know what answer Paul gave to the Jaylour when he propounded this question Yea said he but this believing I find a hard work And it is indeed though most think it the casiest thing in the Bible though they can do nothing else yet they can believe yea yea while Conscience lies asleep but when Conscience is awake and God sets all thy sins in order before thee in an evil day death drawing near now friend tell me is it easie to believe in Christ you will find with that poor Apostate my heart trembles while I think of him believing is a hard work indeed It is nothing but a sleepy Conscience that makes Faith easie Now friend give me your answer Is it best to see sin and guilt now while you may see a Saviour also or to see sin and a Judge hereafter but no Saviour Sin you shall see as we say in spite of your teeth will you nill you O then let me see sin and guilt now O now with a sweet Saviour that I may have this woful sight past when I come to dye Secondly Thou fearest if thy lusts and Idol-creatures were discovered to thee as they are in themselves thou and they should part there is I confess fair probability of it for certainly were a man throughly enlightened to see what it is to be a slave to its Iusts a vassal to the Creature an enemy unto God a stranger from Christ a prisoner under the Law a drudge to the Devil and God an enemy to him which is the state of us all by Nature no man living could bear it but would cry out for a Redeemer presently But is it not then a most irrational thing that a man should be loth to see these things as they are Truth is the object of the understanding we may say truly Intellectus vult verum so it is in all things but in matters of eternity a mans own salvation here he is content with falshood and afraid of truth if a man goeth to buy Cloth or any other Commodity he will endeavour to know the thing as it is views it well and gets others to help him if his own skill be doubted but for Sin and Creatures in reference to a spiritual end he doth not desire to see them as they are it is just as if a man were bewitched with a painted Hag he is very loth to have the paint washed off that he should see her as she is lest while he seeth her wrinkles and deformity he should loath her and cast her off This is the case between our Souls and Sin and Creature O the power of Sin O the witchery of the Creature How rich is that Mercy how precious that Redemption that delivereth us from Sin-slavery and Creature-bondage Thirdly What is it that thou enjoyest in thy lusts that God doth not allow thee remove but inordinacy Art given to the pot doth not God allow thee good Beer or Wine Yes sure you may have it with a good will only you must not be inordinate in drinking you are hugely hurt truly you may drink and enjoy the comfort of the Creature and bless your God but not be drunk or inordinate in drinking I have often thought of the Rechabites Jer. 35. and would chuse rather to be Gods Servant then Jonadabs Son Doth God lace you so streight as Jonadab did his posterity not allow them to drink wine build houses sow fields c. he allows these things and much good may they do you let but him be served while you enjoy them and good reason why it should be so Art a slave to thy unclean lust that imperious and God-despising Devil Because thou hast despised me 2 Sam. 12.12 I pitty thee whose hands are bands Eccles 7.26 much stronger then the Philistins seven green Wit hs or new Ropes wherewith they bound Sampson Judg. 16.7 11. Ah Sampson was faster bound with unseen Cords But hath not God allowed thy own Cistern the Marriage-bed which being sanctified by prayer may be sufficient through his Mercy to quench this thirst What the vileness of the heart is when it is hedged in by the Commandment of God here you must keep is known too well Rom. 7.8 If the temptation lye there the wind blow in that quarter if God steps not in with his power and interpose not between thy lust and temptation it is not thy Yoak-fellow thine own Cistern but stollen waters that must quench this thirst nor will they quench it but inflame the more O satisfie us with mercy prayed Moses Psal 90. so I say thy Wife and Mercy will satisfie thy Husband and Mercy will satisfie but if Mercy be not joyned and the Temptation blow strong thou art gone let thy Wife or Husband be persons never so likely to give content in the opinion of others One nearly related to me * Almost sixty years since was Minister to a Company of English Merchants in Prussia the chief of the Company whether he were called the Consul or Governour of the Company I know not but he was married his Wife a proper and very comely Woman but it seem'd did not satisfie him he was enslaved to others not so comely as his Wife not to be compared with her his Wife took it sadly my near friend being Minister dealt with him one thing he urged was that of all men he had the least temptation having
of him as of the former as Scholar he was of pretty natural parts bred and brought up under excellent preaching and in a place where he had the examples of excellent Christians so that he must needs have light but proved a debauched person no lust came amiss to him upon a time he sent for me to pray with him I went willingly in my discourse with him he told me that several times not once as he hath been going through the fields to see persons he hath heard one call him by his Sirname and doubled his call bidding him Make haste make haste time is short he could see no body when he looked who it should be that spake this did so affect him as it troubled him he told me oftentimes when he was amongst his Companions that he could not go on so freely in his lewd practises but I wish I could say it had wrought to Conversion his time was but short indeed for he was cut off in the prime of his years within a very few years after he told me of it Concerning these fears and sorrows which men of the world strangers to Conversion call melancholy madness and I know not what send them to the Physitians and Apothecaries shop for cure I shall not insist upon them what other Divines have at large written about the clearness greatness permanency of these fears and sorrows is well known and to some so well known that it hath caused great fears in them that their Conversion was never sound because they have not experienced those great and permanent fears and sorrows they preach and write of Having spoken to Preparations more largely in my first Chapter to which I refer the Reader I shall add but a few Positions here and so come to the resolution of one Question about them which I know those who have been troubled about these preparatory legal works will be willing to read First Position Though many times great sins produce and great sinners meet with great fears great sorrows and terrors yet not alwayes so God doth not keep this method or road alwayes with men as sinners great sinners great terrors less sinners less terrors Sometimes those who have been less sinners then others by far as to outward acts and living in a course of sin have met with greater sorrows fears bruisings then others who have been greater and viler sinners Second Position Great sinners and men of great parts great spirits whom God intends to make of great use these are the men the persons who usually if not alwayes meet with great bruisings terrors fears and sorrows Observe the workings of God and you will find it so those who read Mr. Bolton's life will see my Position made good no wonder though the Lord bruised him and held him under as he did Other Divines I might mention but I shall instance in Mr. John Rogers of Dedham an old man that used in his young time to frequent the house of Mr. Richard Rogers of Wothersfield would tell me this story of him oftentimes which my Grandmother who was Wife to Mr. Rogers told him several times Mr. Richard Rogers did send and help to maintain Mr. John Rogers being his Kinsman in Cambridge it seems he proved so bad that he sold his Books and spent the money my Grandmother moved her Husband to buy him some Books and send him to Cambridge again she being a prudent Woman prevailed Mr. John Rogers spent his Books again Mr. Richard Rogers then would cast him off utterly but my Grandmother renews her request once more and at last prevails to send him again then he held that he was wild enough I conclude from a speech of his own which I mention not and by a speech of Mr. Richard Rogers which he often used when he saw what God had done for his Kinsman I will never despair of a man for John Rogers sake it seems then he was bad enough God intended this man to make him of great use and a choice Instrument he was in Gods hand for conversion of many Souls few men like him but God handled him accordingly bruised him to purpose he would get under bushes in fields pray and cry became an experimental Preacher of legal workings making good what Bishop then Master Brownrig said of him to my Father Ward which was this John Rogers will do more good with his wild Note then we shall do with our set Musick Those that knew his manner of preaching and actings in preaching well knew what the Bishop meant by the wild Note but it was very true though such actions and speeches in other men would have been ridiculous yet in him being a man so holy grave and reverend they went off with as much aw upon a very great and reverent Auditory Third Position Great sinners do not alwayes in their first Conversion meet with great fears and terrors but with great meltings Great showers fall without any thunder-clap I was with a serious Christian who before his conversion was as wicked a person as any in the Town where he lived the drunkards would use to call him Father so bitter an enemy against godliness and godly men that the Minister in that Parish was almost afraid to go by his shop upon a Sermon day in order to preparation to the Sacraments the Minister being gone to preach said this man I will go hear what Wilson would not give him his civil title sayes the Minister being in prayer when he came in he gets into a seat behind the Pulpit where rarely any sat and his heart began to give in prayer time but when Mr. Wilson named his Text which was John 5.14 Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee this bitter enemy to godliness that did before so powr in drink did now powr out tears abundantly could not lift up head but sate weeping all Sermon time home he went a new man his Companions came to him but they found a strange change he was no more for their turn on he went two years praying by a Book but that at last did not please him he could not open what he felt and wanted by his Book he layes it by and resolves if he can speak but three words to God yet he would powr out his Soul as well as he could and open his heart with his own words then he told me Satan set upon him with the most horrid temptations that he was in a sad condition but as for those legal terrors though a woful sinner I could never learn by his words that God made him acquainted with them at first he lived and died a precious Christian Fourth Position Many Christians after they have had some acquaintance with Christ and have given good grounds for their effectual calling have met with far more terrors and fears then ever they did at first coming home This is not the case only of those who have sinned after the example of David who I believe never knew
call over thy life examine thy self and thou wilt find it otherwise Object It may be you will say I have known sorrow for sin but my sorrow hath not been like sorrow for other things loss of Relations or Estate outward afflictions have caused greater afflicting sorrows then sin hath done Others I see more tender hearted then I they can mourn powre out tears when my heart is like the nether Milstone Answ This Objection hath had its Answer many times given therefore I will not stay upon it the person to whom we speak is to be considered a serious Christian who aims at and drives on for sincerity First The Schoolmen * Aquin. Suppl q. 3.2.1 Estius Sent. l. 4. p. 1. pag. 236. Valentia l 4. d. 7. q. 8. p 5. have distinguished about sorrows and that distinction is approved by our Orthodox Learned and Godly Divines †Ames de Consc l. 2. c. 8. â— 3. Dyke Repent p. 46. Burges Rofin fol p. 4â—6 Sorrow is intellectual spiritual or sensitive Or thus Sorrow is considered either as it is in the will and so it is nothing else but the displeasure and dislike of that which the understanding apprehendeth as evil Or as it is in the sensitive faculty of the Soul common with us to the beasts As for intellectual spiritual sorrow or sorrow as considered in the will there is no true Child of God but doth sorrow more because of sin then for outward things their wills being sanctified abhor sin more then any outward evil but all do not feel such sensible smarting grief for sin in their sensitive faculty as they do for divers outward afflictions the more corporal a thing is the nearer is it and more familiar to the sensitive faculty and so pincheth more there He that hath the tooth ach in a great degree hath ten times more sensible grief then he that is in a deep Hectick Feaver but the will dislikes the Hectick Feaver much more then it doth the tooth-ach Secondly Sorrow for sin we labour to increase it we pray for it we chuse it we grieve that we cannot grieve but for other sorrow when we act like rational men we labour to suppress it shake it off if we can take shame to our selves that we cannot more quietly and patiently bear the hand of God but should so sink and faint under his correcting pleasure Thirdly In sorrow for outward things we are meerly Passives that is sorrow comes in whether we will or no it breaks in upon us we cannot withstand it but in sorrow for Sin we are Actives that is we desire it chuse it call for it pray for it as I said before Whence we see there is much more of the will in sorrow for Sin then is in sorrow for outward things and certainly the will is the great thing in Divinity this implyeth it hath the understanding and judgment with it Fourthly The Land-floods of sorrow for outward things fall again and sometimes very quickly unless we have set our hearts too much upon a Creature which is our Sin these sorrows wear out we can speak of such an affliction that now torments us the loss of such a Relation three or four years hence and then sorrow doth not so oppress us but the little spring of sorrow for Sin is kept running during a mans life If a Christian recalls a sin twenty years since committed and which troubled him then he doth find his sorrow renew though God hath pardoned him he cannot pardon himself The same may I say for Tears First There may be loads of Sorrow upon the heart when there is not one Tear in the eye this is well known so that Tears are not the Index of great Sorrows alwayes Secondly Tears that rise from a tender broken heart are precious but Tears that flow from constitution of the body as in most they do signifie little some have Tears at command I have known persons of very unbroken hearts stout wills who could pour out Tears at their pleasure I speak of Christians Thirdly Are Tears common with thee for other things if so and they be strangers only when you come to sin this deserves good attendance Fourthly A man may have a more soft tender broken heart who cannot shed tears at least not in that measure he may be a better Christian then he that can shed many tears observation hath made this good I remember Mr. Thomas Hooker at a Meeting of about forty Ministers put that question What Rules they would go by in admission of Members into Churches Will you go by the narration of the work of God upon them in Conversion Or will you look at the frame wherewith they make their narration One saith he comes and makes his narration with many tears another he tells you plainly what God hath done but he cannot shed tears as the other but yet proves the better Christian said he To say no more Tears are common to Hypocrites and no infallible sign of soundness of Grace Many are kept humble and poor in their own eyes for want of tears when some I fear are proud of their tears Mr. Shepherd saith More are driven to Christ by the sense of the burden of an hard dead blind filthy heart then by the sense of sorrows because a man rests in sorrows most commonly but trembles and flies out of himself when he feels the other Sincere Convert p. 239. So much in answer to that Question The Reader now may see upon what reasons those experiences are grounded For the effects of this work of Compunction I shall but touch them briefly The first effect A stop is put to the course of Sin the man cannot run on so freely in that way as before Let this work be but common and never carried on to sound Conversion but fall off again yet so long as this work lasts the actings of Sin are forborn there is something got into the cup that doth so imbitter it that whereas before he drunk iniquity like water Job 15.16 now it will not go down so pleasantly as it was wont to do he cries out as the Sons of the Prophet O man of God there is death in the pot 2 Kings 4.40 there is indeed Thou shalt die he tastes there Now if his Companions come to call him out no he tasteth something he never did before Secondly He begins to fall sick of his sin past and of his present sinful state he now feeleth himself to lye under being bound in the chains of guilt and captivated under the power of lusts now he begins to vomit up his sweet morsels in confession of his sins God sets his sins in order before him in Conviction he sets his sins in order before God in Confession his shifts and extenuations are no more heard he loads himself with just aggravations Thirdly Now he seeth the force of those reasons which have been used by the Ministry of the Word to perswade men to Conversion to
interpret of the comfort they had by their going to the Assyrians who promise to strengthen thine hand with help and assistance and so there was no coming home to God So it is with this Soul if it can find life by his hand his working reforming and duties he will not come to Christ for life I shall give the Reader my mind briefly First Though man be now lost miserable undone and hath Convictions that his case is naught yet he hath no such Principle in him naturally that carries him directly to Christ for healing This is obvious to any man who hath laboured to be acquainted with the state of the Souls of his people under his Ministry Ask them are they sinners Yes they deny it not who is not But how then How do you hope to be saved and get out of this condition Let them alone and let them tell their own story and open their minds freely to you they will tell you many things they do how they live how they carry themselves towards God and men but I have observed not one word of Christ all this while no mention of him nor of any thing he hath done at last I have asked What is Christ no body with you O yes yes Christ is somebody when I had put the question to them they have heard of Christ and they are called Christians so they must say they have need of him else it were a shame but had not I mentioned him they had not done it very like to those Women Isai 4.1 Seven women shall take hold of one man saying we will take our own bread and wear our own apparel only let us be called by thy name c. So do most of those who are Christians so called they take hold of him that is they make an outward profession of him called by his Name they cannot tell what to profess else it would be a reproach to them else as those Women pleaded in such a Nation as this they do not like to be called Jews or Heathen but they eat their own bread and wear their own apparel they live not at all upon Christ they will not trouble him for that they have righteousness to cloath themselves a web of their own home-made cloth they are beholding to him only for a name This hath not been my own observation alone but of other Ministers also who have told me they have observed the same in their people Yea I have observed others who in their sickness have had their Consciences awakened and now they were convinced Hell and damnation were no phansies at this time we might talk with them if ever Christ be in mens mouths one would think it should be now but this I have observed hath been the common language If God spare my life I will not live as I have done I shall not frequent such company I will take a new course and many such words But here are two Questions First Grant it be so that you do as you say yet who shall answer for the old score of guilt who shall pay for that Nay for that God may well set off and quit scores if they turn new men Secondly But for this new leaf which you will turn may one believe you Will you promise it Yes Will you vow it Yes Will you swear it Yes Any thing now they can do When it hath been told them your heart is deceitful you promise a great thing you have need of a great power from Christ to help you do this if you get into Christ then there will be ground to hope what you say and promise will be performed else not alas they can do all this without Christ So far as I could judge by their countenance and speech they have seemed to be displeased with me for doubting of the truth of what they say and telling them they will be as bad if not worse if God should raise them up again unless being got into Christ he undertakes the performance of what they promise Men are very confident of their own strength at this time while sickness debilitates nature and fears of hell together keep down lusts so that they do not now act as before they measure themselves by what they feel now and by this state and temper they are now under engage for the future One of our great Men being very sick sent for a very godly Minister a man of prayer indeed Who but this man now Must hardly stir from him What promises and engagements did he make to this Minister of reforming the Minister told him as I said before what he would prove with great earnestness he would multiply his promises yea and you shall see it said he Moreover he wished the Minister if he did recover and did not answer what now he had promised that he should tell him of it Not long after they met together at dinner and this sick man who had made his engagements for a new life fell into his old unsavoury discourse offended much the Minister he soberly told him My Lord you have forgotten your promise he bad him hold his peace for though it was true he had made God such a promise yet he did never intend to perform it The Gentleman whom I made mention of before now with God upon whom God wrought when I was many miles distant from him and knew not of it so soon as I came home and saw him he led me into his Orchard and told me what God had been doing I observed a great change in the man zealous in his duties left off swearing and his drunken Companions I told him Sir God hath done much for you now the business is a right bottoming take heed you do not bottom upon your self your changes your duties but be sure it be upon Christ let your foundation be layed upon him then this will hold What was the matter I know not but upon this he was much cast down in so much as he told me afterwards his Wife wished he had never seen me but I hope my counsel was not hurtful or needless and so he found afterwards in the progress of his Christian course Further to make good my Position how opposite the heart of man is to Christ how men chuse to live upon themselves rather then to go out to him I forbear the names of persons but one that had lived many years I think almost all his life time in a Town where Christ had been as clearly preached as in any Town in England and I think as long when he was about threescore and sixteen years of age he came in to visit a sick Neighbour a Christian friend of mine came to see him also and observing this old man there whom he judged to be one who lived upon his own stock civility good works c. he purposely fell into that discourse to shew how many persons lived upon their duties c. but never came to Christ the old man sitting by
able to subdue all the enmity of his heart against God all his lusts and corruptions he must mortifie and walk before God in a holy frame continually he that undertakes this undertakes a hard task if he understand it he will soon find either of them impossible one as easie as the other chuse which you think is the easiest Thus then the Spirit takes him off First By convincing him of the nature of sin of guilt what it is to have a holy and just Law broken What are all thy duties thou performest What is thy righteousness though it were pure which it is not to satisfie the holy Law of a Just God which thou hast broken so many thousand times and hast a heart opposite and enemy to it If thy nature were now holy and all thy life from this time holy this is but thy duty and so it was alwayes Can thy doing that which is now thy duty to answer this day make satisfaction for not doing thy duty all thy life before If a man be taken clipping the Kings Coin or hath committed some one capital Crime if he comes before the Judge and pleads he lived all his life time before clear from such Crime and will do from henceforth it was but once that he did so will this answer the Law Will the Judge acquit him He did and doth but his duty if he lived before and will do after as he pleads he should have done so when he committed that Crime the Law calls him a Son of death and dye he must for that one Crime Shall then a man having a nature that hates the righteous Law of God and tramples upon it daily think with a few pittiful duties repentings c. to answer a thousand and ten thousand breaches of the holy Law of his Soveraign The wages of sin is death and dye thou must unless a ransome can be found Secondly By convincing him of the sin of his nature he opens to him that fountain of iniquity that sinning sin and if this be once opened by the Spirit it will take down the pride of any self-Justiciary let him that fecleth this talk of his righteousness duties works if he can if he doth I know what his language must be When I read men denying original sin I do not wonder at all their proud Opinions and self-advancing Doctrines Whence did these men descend Not from our father Adam surely there is talk now of another World in the Moon the inhabitants there came not from the stock we did certainly these men dropped out of that world and therefore deny this sin of our nature they find it not in their nature This I am sure of say these men what they please I know nothing that doth so abuse a man beats him out of himself and all conceits of his own righteousness that makes a man see himself loathsome undone damned for ever in himself as the discoveries and sense of this sin of sins Take a man who hath committed the vileir actual sins could I suppose that man to be guilty only of them and without this original sin I should not judge that man so sinful as he that is defiled with this original sin though by the restraining Providence of God he be kept from breaking out into actual gross evils I do more adore the riches of Gods grace in pardoning this sin then in pardoning any actual sin except Adam's first sin yet his grace deserves to be adored for pardoning actual sins Though Christ did beat Paul down to the earth with that miraculous light and voice which he heard yet I conceive he had not beat him out of his Pharisaical righteousness had not another light discovered this woful sin of his nature which makes the unspotted blameless Pharisee cry out and confess In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7.18 Before there was no evil now there is no good Thus I agree as I said before with Mr. Shepherd if a man like Paul whom he mentions have trusted to his own goodness duties honest conversation righteousness and here have found his rest if ever God shew mercy to such a one then in the first stroke of Conviction he rips up this Monster he shall need no more I warrant him to make him change his thoughts and make him see the need of another righteousness and a strong Redeemer Thirdly God may let the same corruptions of which he was convinced at first and which caused those fears and sorrows to be working again putting forth themselves in strong motions the feeling of which doth almost sink his heart he thinks to Hell now he must go for he finds his lusts are too strong for him though he hath smarted for them and thought he should never have any thing more to do with them yet now he finds his heart is naught vile wicked as ever and begins to despair it may be in his struggling with his lusts he flabs is foiled if not carried away as before and this kills him Fourthly God may let more corruptions loose that is to be inwardly working that the man can see nothing but corruption and cryes out he was never so bad Sin taking occasion by the Law wrought in me all manner of coneupiscence Rom. 7.8 Luther found temptations to all sins but Covetousness Paul felt all manner of Concupiscence a common thing for Christians under the work to cry out they were never worse never so bad Fifthly God shews no acceptance of his duties le ts him find no peace or quietness by them but Conscience is still roaring at him drawing up bills of indictment against him still charging him with fresh sins which it may be he had forgotten or doth still commit so that the Soul finds no rest Sixthly The Lord may and doth many times withdraw his assistance unto duties that the man cannot pray nor mourn as before is not so lively but grows more dead and blockish hard hearted as he conceives and feels himself God is free in his assistance and influences he is not bound to give them while the man could pray and relent in prayer his heart tender and mourning he had some hopes but now his eyes are dry his heart hard cannot relent now all is naught this cuts off all his hopes and now must perish Seventhly The Spirit sets home this Doctrine with authority so that there is no opposing Without Christ there is no salvation He that believeth not is condemned already John 3.18 He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5.12 Thou thinkest thou hast this and that which will speak well for thee Hast thou Christ If a Christless Soul have you what you will else the wrath of God abideth on thee John 3. ult Such words are set home with that life that there is no gainsaying the Soul must look out for a Saviour else all will be naught More possibly may be added but I think these
prepared Is it not when made willing to lay hold upon him and take him as he is offered because they will not else come to Christ for life John 5.40 By this expression he plainly shews that it is not mens duty to believe in Christ till they are fitted which upon the former Reasons I deny I see not one Scripture or Reason given to prove what he infinuates what men will do is one thing what men ought to do another Besides the end of preparing is to make men come to Christ and lay hold of him if now the Soul will venture upon Christ catch hold of him take him as God tenders him then they are fit I think why must their fingers be rappped off if their error be in catching hold that they do not take Christ right let the falseness of their faith in catching hold be discovered but not say it is not their duty because not fit For fit or not fit is every mans duty to whom the Gospel is preached to believe in Christ as much as it is his duty to repent Secondly I answer to the Objection if a man be prepared for Christ yet if there be no necessary connexion between preparation and saving faith as Doctor Ames Mr Pemble and many of our able Divines affirm then it will not follow that because men are prepared therefore they ought to believe Christ is theirs forgiveness of sin theirs It is one thing for a man to be prepared to lay hold on Christ another to be so prepared to say truly Christ is mine between preparation for Christ and the Souls saying Christ is mine there must come in another Act as the ground of this such an Act as Christ will own this Soul to be his and that is the reception of him upon his terms if Christ will say this Soul is mine then may that Soul say Christ is mine but not else to any true comfort The Minor needs no proof for Ministers in pressing all men to believe Christ is theirs forgiveness theirs is to press most men to believe a lye is so evident to them that look on their Congregations that it doth not deserve Arguments so much to prove it as tears to lament it Second Argument That which makes the essence of saving Faith to lye or subsist only in an Act of the understanding that is not the essence of saving Faith But to make the essence of saving Faith to lye in a particular perswasion or assurance that Christ is mine forgiveness mine is to make the essence of saving Faith to lye or subsist only in an act of the understanding Ergo The particular perswasion or assurance Christ is mine c. is not the essence of saving Faith The Major I proved before in proving that saving Faith takes in the will the heart that is the will is the subject of it according to some Divines If the whole Soul as Mr. Pemble and others to be sure the will is included that cannot be shut out for the reception of Christ into the will is that which chiefly denominates Faith saving The Minor But this particular perswasion or assurance that Christ is mine and forgiveness mine is but an Act of the understanding giving an assent to this Conclusion or Proposition as true upon such Premises layed but here is no act of the will such I mean as we have opened in the reception of Christ there may be an act of the will indeed as the will may move the understanding to assent as we say You may believe me if you will but that act of the will terminates there and is not such an act as we have mentioned Our ancient Divines use to oppose doubts to faith commonly but to what faculty doth doubting pertain I pray but to the understanding Third Argument That which is not cross to the corrupt heart of man nor doth directly empty a man of himself that cannot be the essence of saving Faith But the particular perswasion that Christ is mine the assurance my sins are forgiven is not cross to the corcupt heart of man nor doth directly empty a man of himself Ergo The particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is mine is not the essence of saving Faith The Major is plain The works of Faith or the grace of Faith is as cross to the corrupt heart of man as any Grace required the second branch proves it for it doth so empty a man of himself it empties him of his evil-self and empties him of his good-self which other Graces do not so directly I mean as to good-self and what hath a man more to be emptied of Were not Faith so cross it should not be called so much the gift of God nor the faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 The Minor But this particular perswasion and assurance Christ is mine c. Is First Not cross to corrupt nature For it is that which any carnal wretch that owns there is such a one as Christ and that he is a Saviour would have Christ is mine forgiveness mine who will refuse it Nay we find men are aforehand here with the Ministry Doth the Minister preach of Faith People have it How hard a matter is it for Ministers to unbottom men from their false grounds When you have preached one Glass out turn it again preach another yea and twenty hours more if you will you shall never move them from this good hope and perswasion that Christ is theirs it were well if men could be taken off from these groundless perswasions and assurances so that to be perswaded and assured that Christ is theirs this is not cross to their nature And if Mr. Shepherd had meant this in mens catching hold of Christ before they be fit that is their perswasions and assurances Christ is theirs then would I heartily have joyned with him that mens fingers had need be rapped off from catching hold of Christ in this sense till they be fit Secondly Not doth it directly empty a man of himself By consequence a man may gather such a Truth or Proposition If Christ be yours then you are emptied of self i. e. of that self which stands in opposition to Christ because faith in Christ doth thus empty a man of this self but the particular perswasion and assurance that Christ is mine doth not empty a man directly of this self for observe many of these who have this assurance as they conceive and whom you cannot beat off from their deluded and deluding perswasions they do not know what it is to be emptied of self but are under the dominion of it Fourth Argument That is not the essence of Faith which is not found in all sound Believers But the particular perswasion or assurance that Christ is mine is not found in all Believers Ergo It is not the essence of saving Faith The Major is plain What it is that makes Faith saving must be found in all those who are sound believers else they are not sound
dayes while he lives and shall do so for ever when dayes end But the pinch lieth in this word Above in such a time or such an act that is that in the first act of faith in the answer of the call in the uniting of the Soul to Christ Now the Soul must see and examine it self whether it sets up this Grace above its own salsation As for Mr. Shepherd's words Take hold on him not with the hand of presumption what he means by this he opposeth the hand of faith I think to it and love to thy self to save thy self but with the hand of faith and love to him to honour him This passage is so strange and so his ninth way to hell that I could not believe that ever Mr. Shepherd did deliver such Doctrine Sound Believ p. 193. but if the Printer saith true in his Title page that this fourth Edition is corrected and much amended by the Author then I should believe it but I have some cause to doubt it upon these two grounds First I compared this with his Sound Believer where he tells us what is the end of faith in which there is not any such words as these nothing like them nothing of Mr. Rogers notion nothing different from what I have delivered but he and I fully agree Christ himself and all his benefits is the end of faith coming to Christ and I hope salvation is one of those benefits Secondly I do not believe it upon Mr. Shepherd's own words in his Letter to me which are these without omitting or adding a syllable That which is called the Sincere Convert I have not the book I once saw it it was a Collection of such Notes in a dark Town in England which one procuring of me published them without my will or privity I scarce know what it contains nor do I like to see it considering the many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Typographica most absurd and the confession of him that published it that comes out gelded and altered from what was first written Thus you have his own words faithfully transcribed this Letter was dated October 27. 1647. the year wherein the Printer saith the book is corrected and much amended by the Author is 1646. Let any man then judge how this book was corrected and amended much by him In short therefore as to that book for the general part of it the book is very solid quick and searching cuts very sharply it is not a book for an unsound heart to delight in I mean in those places where he agrees both with Scriptures and other able Divines and of these make use but for the other passages which do not agree with either as there are some in it I will let them go as being none of Mr. Shepherd's and not trouble my self with them and wish no Christian that is tender and sincere to trouble himfelf with them This I put in because I hear that book hath caused much trouble to gracious Christians had it been to Christians in name only unsound believers hypocrites I should not have troubled my self about it for I know it is not for their tooth therefore though I had thought to have spoken to more things in it which are just cause of stumbling yet henceforth I will meddle no more with it his notions there do cross what he hath himself published in the Sound Believer I remember my Father Ward made this observation upon him to me When Mr. Shepherd comes to deal with Hypoerites he cuts so desperately that we know not how to bear him made them all afraid that they were all Hypocrites when he came to deal with a tender humble Soul he gives comfort so largely that we are afraid to take it I let that reverend Author then alone he is one on our side in his Sound Believer which he himself put forth I have then only Mr. Rogers to consider who hath given no Scriptures or Reasons that I can find to prove his Assertion some Texts he may name to prove what I readily yield but they-prove not the question in hand therefore I have no Arguments of his to answer butto produce a few Arguments against his Doctrine I shall take up one of my former Arguments and improve it against this notion Arg. 1. That which neither Christ nor his Apostles did require of Gospel-Converts as requisite to their saving Conversion or Faith that is not to be required of Gospel-Converts now But the eying of the glory of God Above our own salvation was that which neither Christ nor his Apostles did ever require of any Gospel-Convert as requisite to their saving Conversion or Faith Ergo The eying of Gods glory Above our own salvation is not to be required of Gospel-Converts now in order to saving Conversion or Faith If it be not to be required then it is needless then no such danger for a man to loose his Soul for want of it as he tells us The Major is plain He that will require more to a faving work of Faith and Conversion than Christ did and his Apostles doth implicitely charge them with want of skill in conversion of Souls and had best become a Teacher of them This is little less than blasphemy you say and I may leave out little less The Minor This lyes upon Mr. Rogers to prove Name the Texts where ever Christ preached thus or any of his Apostles he may name Texts where God declares that the end of all his good things bestowed on Vessels of Mercy is the glory of his Grace we yield the Texts as fast as he can name them and we will give him a Reason also He that is the first Efficient must be the last End It is to set up another God to set up another ultimate end We will be as free as he can be for Texts and Reasons to prove this but this is not the question Let him name the Texts where Christ or the Apostles teach Converts that in their conversion or believing in him they must look to this that they set this glory of his Grace Above their own salsation we read of Christ complaining that the Jews would not come to him that they might have life John 5.40 but never read that he required of them or blamed them that they did not aim at and set up the glory of Gods Grace Above their life in that Text life comprehends salvation and all benefits of communion Those who are thirsty calls them to him and promises them living waters many such Texts but not one word of this stumbling notion when they in Acts 2. were under the work did Peter teach this doctrine to those Converts When the Jaylour came in trembling with that question What shall I do to be saved Acts 16. Doth Paul's and Mr. Rogers answer agree Let Mr. Rogers answer him Ay Jaylour you are now come down as jolly as you were a few hours since and now you would be saved the way to salvation is faith
mystical Babylon he must be very censoreous who reads Bradwardin and Jansenius his August besides others who will not yield it But to return to those who deny preparatory works I pray what is the work of a Minister Is not it to labour to bring home Souls to Christ and being brought home to labour to build them up in Christ This is the sum of a Ministers work If you deny preparatory works you will deny half the work of a Minister For doth any Minister think he shall ever perswade people to come to Christ and receive him upon his own terms who were never throughly enlightened to see their miserable state they are in by sin and convinced that this is their state Will they ever come off from this term from which he calls them unless they feel the evil and burden of sin so as to cause fears and sorrows Will a man thus far wrought on if he can set up a trade of duties and felf-righteousness and find his life in these eyer come home to Christ He that thinks he can do his work soundly without these understands little of his work and less of any saving work upon his own heart But how little of this working do we find amongst Christians How few enlightened to see and convinced of their own finful and miserable state as it is How few under this sense and conviction through the fears and sorrows accompanying this conviction cry out what shall we do to be saved Such cryes such questions how rarely do Ministers hear from those who are called Christians As for self-righteousness and duties if men can but set up a form of worship keep from the gross sins of the times their conversation but moral nay now you must not question these mens Christianity none are sound or real Christians if these be not yet these are but course sieves the Hypocrite it may be can tell you he hath experienced these preparations we must sift him in a finer sieve so that by the unacquaintance of the greatest part of Christians with these works we shall find few are real Christians Obiect But did you not tell us before that God begins his work and layes his foundation in the Infancy of many How can they experience these preparatory works as your self before have argued Answ I recall nothing of what I said but in answer to your Objection I say First Such do shew this work of Grace in their childhood as they do grow up observe them and you shall see such actings that will give good grounds to hope God hath begun the work of Grace Secondly Few if any of these living to years of understanding and hearing of these things but it hath been a trouble to them and made them question themselves whether they had Grace because they have not found them Thirdly None of them all who live to riper years but do experience all the preparatory works though in them I conceive the work doth loose that relation as preparatory because they had Grace infused into them in their infancy or childhood So that I will not contend about the word preparatory so the works be found Tell me that Real Christian let God have begun his work when he pleased that is not enlightened to see and convinced of his sinful and miserable state that hath not known fears and troubles because of it hath not been made willing that Christ should separate him and his sin that is not taken off from resting in his own duties reformations and doings They do all experience these let the Lord work them when and how he pleaseth But for others where the work begins in riper years there they are known more distinctly and properly preparatory though God hath his variety of working even amongst such also Hence preparatory works I did not at all oppose nay I maintained them only my scope was to help Christians who were in the dark as to their own work searing they were not sound and real Christians because they had not experienced those workings as others had Try those who are called Christians by the next thing we were upon their receiving of Christ when prepared for him see if the number of them be greater than we mention Receiving of Christ what is that Do you mean Faith Yes I do mean Gospel-faith in Christ nay then your Conclusion which you drew that the number of Real Christians was but small is very false For your preparations we cannot say much for them but for faith in Christ we can speak enough for it all the Ministers in England shall not make us believe but we have faith ay and it may be will swear by their faith they shall not Define faith which way you will they are for you If you will call it an Assent to what Truths soever God reveals c. in a laxe way they do assent to their Bible that it is the Word of God that all which is contained in it is the Mind and Will of God they did never doubt of it in all their lives and it may be will say it were no matter though he were hang'd that doth doubt of it but if you come more close to tell them what the ablest of the Popish party tell us is required to make that assent to the divine and supernatural Mysteries revealed to be Divine faith not only they but many others who make light of Dogmatical faith had need examine again whether their faith be divine De essentia Fidei Christianae est ut innitatur primae veritati revelanti tanquam rationi formali credendi De Auxiliis Disp 49. And adds presently Ad eliciendum talem acium necessario requiritur speciale auxilium praevenientis gratiae Gods general concourse will not serve the turn saith Alvarez both of these parts he proves partly from Aquinas and Austin In this point Alvarez to me appears very Orthodox and according to him I doubt not to affirm there is but little Dogmatical divine faith in Christendom though many Professors make a tush at it But if we grant they have this faith such as it is yet this is not enough to make saving faith then we are to seek still and that is proved by our Protestant Divines against the Papists If you say as our Fathers That faith is a particular perswasion that Christ with all his benefits are mine they have this faith also and so assured of it that let the Minister preach himself hoarse he shall never perswade them of the contrary but if we examine them upon what grounds our Fathers taught this perswasion was built there but few will answer If you say Faith is a receiving of Christ as he is offered in the Gospel and so resting upon him alone for salvation the latter part of this they understand and that is the faith which men of more knowledge than the common rout have taken up I remember a young Gentleman who had been catechized by his Mother a right Gallant he was
never was right prepared for Christ I never yet saw sin in its right colours lours I never felt that spirit of bondage those legal terrors and sorrows as I ought to have done hence fin is no more bitter Christ and holiness are no more precious to me sin and I were never so separated in that work as ought to have been hence it cleaves so close unto me and hath such power over me at this day here also they lay the blaine when they cannot find their hearts running out in love after Christ as they should have them and would have them yea all their errors and miscarriages in their after works they reduce to their errors in this first work it being a sure Rule An error in the first concoction is not mended in the second I shall not repeat what I have before written but desire the Christian Reader to look back upon what I have said about Preparations and especially my Answer to that Question How a Christian may satisfie himself concerning those preparatory legal works Here I shall only add these few Heads very briefly First It is very true legal fears terrors and sorrows are very good to help loosen the Soul from sin to imbitter sin to make the Soul see the necessity and excellency of Christ prize him and love him accordingly Secondly It had been well for many Christians had they experienced them more than they have done light hearts apt to be frothy vain and running out to the utmost line of lawful liberties Thirdly Legal terrors and sorrows will not of themselves kindly nor soundly take off a Soul from sin such persons who have been plunged in them have returned to their vomit again after them Fourthly Soms Christians who have experienced them in a small measure have walked more awfully tenderly with a more mortified Gospel-conversation than other Christians who have had them in far greater degrees and yet have true Grace Fifthly Christians who have had great legal workings and attained sound Grace after them have found and complained of the rebellion of strong corruptions and the same things which other Christians complain of who have not found the legal workings after their manner but they cannot say that these things they complain of and which make them fear the soundness of their work arise from want of legal preparations they have had enough of them Why then should the workings of those corruptions c. be resolved into the want of legal preparations fears and sorrows and you for want of these legal workings question the soundness of your faith and conversion For you might have had those legal workings as others have had in a great degree and yet make as great complaints of these inbred corruptions and other evil frames as now you do Sixthly Great legal workings with great Gospel-grace following the remembrance of the legal works past kept up fresh the glory of Gospel-grace at present seen and felt make Christians set a higher price upon Christ morefearful of sin and so legal workings become very helpful and subservient to a Gospel-conversation all the dayes of a mans life Seventhly A frame of holiness wrought in the heart the Spirit of Christ there dwelling keeping and acting it the glorious Majesty of God discovered the love and sweetness of Christ really tasted and out-tasting all the sweetness of sin and creature do most kindly and soundly take off the Soul from sin and creature Let us labour then to experience these things more and not run to legal terrors which can never soundly and surely do the work though they may prepare for the work The next thing that makes many real Christians exclude themselves from the number of Believers is their want of faith they have no faith And why no faith Because they have not that particular perswasion that Christ with all his benefits are theirs they cannot say they dare not say Christ is mine or that my sins are forgiven when they hear of unbelief they know of no unbelief but this when persons do not believe or cannot believe that Christ is theirs and their sins are pardoned when they hear how great a sin unbelief is and what terrible threats the Word of God hath made against unbelievers they apply all to themselves What pangs have some Christians yea men of great parts and Ministers been under when they read that Revel 21.8 But the fearful and unbelieving c. shall have their parts in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone applying the Text to their fears doubts unbelief because they could not believe that Christ and his benefits were theirs And no wonder if Christians did thus conclude against themselves if faith in Christ be no other than that particular perswasion and assurance that Christ Jesus is mine that I shall have life and salvation by his means that whatever Christ did for the redemption of mankind he did it for me c. Those that had not this definition had not the thing defined that is saving faith Hence they might exclude themselves from the number of Believers Now though this be in great part taken off since Ministers of late have cleared the nature of faith in Christ better than it was before yet still it is that which keepeth many Christians under the old doctrine being not yet forgot of many and the latter not so clearly understood by most of which many Ministers may be in fault for if they be not clear in it themselves how can they preach it clearly to others But if that be saving faith in Christ which we have opened and are assured it is saving how many thousands will be found to be real Christians sound believers who according to the old definition of faith were cut off from that number Ask Christians Have you this particular perswasion that Christ is yours that whatever he did for the redemption of mankind he did it for you and that your sins are pardoned They will shake their heads answer you with a sigh O no I wish I had it I cannot come to that grounded assurance and perswasion Ask them again Hath not the Lord made you sensible of your sin guilt misery wretchedness in your self Hath he not revealed such excellency and fulness in Christ that now you feel your Heart willing to receive and embrace him for your Saviour and Lord Prophet High-Priest and King and so commit your self to him to have all his work of Redemption applyed to your Soul trusting and resting upon him alone for life and salvation They will answer you sometimes with an awful jealousie of their hearts I would have it so if my heart deceive me not sometimes more roundly ay with all my heart and soul Yea this work is found in them and unless it be in a day of great darkness desertion or vile sinful temptations and lusts working pend them up close in examination and they have been forced to yield it though sometimes they would eat their words again
that they can go up and down to duties to meetings though through their laziness and idleness in their particular Callings their families at home do suffer Trencher-Christians that serve their bellies by good discourses Those who have Estates and can spare the time it is well done Those who work the harder rise the earlier as the old Essex Christians would do that they might enjoy an oportunity for their Souls without detriment to their Families have acted like Christians indeed but some I have enquired after and find a habit of laziness and idleness hath taken them but they must go for very good Christians because frequent at Fasts I like not this Christianity An honourable and vertuous Lady was once commending of her Gardiner to Mr. Dod that holy man what a good man he was how much good discourse he had how helpful to others in the family to teach them to read c. But Madam said Mr. Dod what is this man in his particular Calling for God looks on us as we are in our particular Callings Here the good Lady could not then give any answer being new come but forced soon after to turn him away being an idle Jack I do not speak of a Christian at his first coming home when his Conscience being newly awakened and his danger felt that now he bestows more time in holy duties than afterwards Nor do I speak of any poor Christian that may be abused by their own darkness and Satans subtilty As one good woman because the Text saith Pray continually 1 Thes 5. she could never be satisfied but must be in secret at prayer and reading and the family neglected her children not dressed but went forlorn Christians could not take her off till at last Mr. Richardson that holy and learned man who wrote the Comment upon Ramus hearing of it and having occasion to go that way went into the house and seeing the children how they went spake with a loud voice and very terribly Is there no fear of God in this house and other words to this purpose which concluded there could be no true grace where there was such negligence in the particular place where the woman was set The poor woman hearing this language comes out of her private Room from her duties with trembling and now was taught another lesson if she would prove her grace to shew her diligence and care in her particular place where God had set her and carry on that with her duties in secret but this is not the case I am speaking to As for the other part the care and conscience the equity righteousness which men shew in all their dealings these things are often spoken to I forbear to enlarge upon them but wish that persons whose heads are taken up with high Gospel notions would credit their profession with righteous hands according to that Rule the Lord left us Matth. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so just so to them A Rule little applyed to the actions of them who will yet say they have received Christ for their Lord What your high Gospel notions are I cannot tell and do as little care but I can tell this from our Lords mouth This is the Law and the Prophets such a Law as binds you and according to that Authority must you act deal trade live with men if your faith in our Lord Christ be sound Fourthly Bring this general to some particular Actions and Cases in your life when your gain profit ease liberty begin to be hazarded let us suppose the action to be questionable whether it may be done or not Doest thou now let Conscience have fair play doest not labour to hoodwink it that it may not see doest with a naked breast before the Lord willing to understand the mind and will of thy Lord whom thou hast received as thou sayest search pray enquire that thou mayest know what is his will and what he will have thee do Art willing to see light the true light or art afraid the window should be open lest if the light should come in it should determine thy actions so that profit ease liberty must go Doest shrink at this art shy of this Doest read only one part with much seriousness which speaks what you would have to be true and not as seriously search and examine the contrary for fear light should dart in and then Conscience and you could not be quiet I know I speak of a close thing a hard business to have a heart so sincere so awed with the Authority of our Lord that the heart is very willing to see light open all the windows let light come in fall back fall edge as we say this is the will of my Lord to him I resign up my will let come of it what will I know Christians meet with hard tugging here yet how can a man carry this evidence that he hath received Jesus for his Lord who is not willing with a plain heart without seeking evasions and distinctions which he may justly question whether his Lord will own or no to search and find out what the will of his Lord is I am sensible of difficulties here I do not write with a magisterial spirit but yet the Rule I must own and I do not know one sincere Christian that will deny it He that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God John 3.21 Fifthly Carry this general to particular frames of heart slightness formality hardness of heart deadness coldness I know who will rise up here presently and tell me now you hit me now you have found out me No it may be not thou art not the person whom I mean who art so sensible of these and to whom these frames are not only sins but plagues I know too well how commonly these things slightness formality c. get in upon Christians yet I cannot call them frames of slightness c. because the real Christian will not endure such frames upon his spirit he is not right with himself when he feels these distempers upon him if through some temptations they have gotten head upon him How hard a thing it is to keep up a warm serious frame in the things and wayes of God unless a Christian be warmed with influences from Heaven conveyed through Ordinances I know too well but when a man lyeth in these frames can content himself in them let him look to himself for he is serious and real somewhere else which will shake his closing with Christ and right receiving of him for his Lord. 6. Lastly I shall conclude with this though I thought such a thing might have been spared for it will not reach all but some What opinion hast thou of thy Lords Institutions I am sure this Lord hath set up Ordinances in his House Divine institutions There is his Ministry and the work which he hath called and ordained
trouble a sincere heart and yet have layed the work sound to cut off an Hypocrite Hast thou applied these things to thy self which thou hast read If thou doest not apply to what end doest thou read this or any other book But if thou hast applyed what answer doth thy heart give thee If the day be stormy cloudy and dark give in thy answer another time when being more quiet and still thou canst weigh the things that have been written and thy heart in a just ballance then say how thou findest Having then considered what hath been written concerning preparatory works to faith concerning the nature of saving faith how it receives Christ and what it receives Hast viewed him in his Person in his Offices Priestly and Princely Hast taken the general Head down into particulars and considered them Doest say yes I have and all things being thus considered supposing difficulties temptations and hard work which you have told me I must look for from my own heart and be sure I find it true I can humbly say before the Lord my Soul hath thus received and embraced Jesus Christ my Lord And if you ask me what I am doing I answer I am endeavouring to live by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 whom I have thus received that my Soul may experience him in the execution of all his Offices in the application of the compleat work of Redemption that as my union with him is my life the consideration of what God hath made him and how he stands engaged in the new Covenant is the support and stay of my life so the experiencing of all this may be the joy of my life thus far I am come the Lord then carry on his work yea Faithful is he who hath called you who also will do it 1 Thes 5.23 And now Soul what hinders but thou mayst say My Beloved is mine and I am his Why doest not draw up the conclusion then Christ is mine forgiveness of sin is mine having laid such premises which will of necessity inforce this conclusion Here Christians many times fly back that which is the most ridiculous thing in the art of reasoning that is to yield the premises and deny the conclusion or not yield it every boy laughs at it being so absurd this absurdity is found no where but among Christians in their concluding upon their spiritual state and interest in Christ as those who have to deal with troubled and dark Christians do commonly experience Quest Whence riseth this what should be the reason that when Christians have yielded to that which will certainly conclude them to be in Christ and that Christ is theirs that forgiveness of sin is theirs according to our Fathers definition of Faith that yet they cannot come to assent to the Conclusion Christ is mine Pardon is mine As in what is said before He that believeth in Christ that receiveth him as he is offered and so resteth upon him for life and salvation for all the benefits of communion Christ is his for he is united to him by this faith Forgiveness is his this they yield But I do believe in Christ I do receive Christ as God offers him his Person cloathed with all his Offices and I so receiving do trust to him rest upon him for life salvation all the benefits of communion when you have well examined them take them in cool blood they will say I dare not deny it but I must yield it the first they yield for the Scripture saith it that is faith no denial there the second they must yield their own Confciences force them they must speak against their Consciences their experience and sense testifie this yet dare not draw up the Conclusion Therefore Christ is mine forgiveness is mine Answ In answer to it may be you will say because they are simple Mechanicks they have no skill in Logick if they had they would soon see the gross absurdity they commit such for which the boyes would hiss them out of the Schools but friend you are mistaken that is not all the reason those who know what belongs to syllogizing as well as you and know that it is a gross absurdity to yield the premises and deny the Conclusion yet they cannot do it or are afraid to do it There are other grounds whence this rises as experiences have proved First From the greatness of the things a man concludes If once I conclude Christ is mine what will this imply Then God is my God his Love is mine Peace Pardon Justification Adoption all the benefits of the new Covenant yea Heaven Glory all are mine for in Christ all the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 I must conclude all these which are so infinitely great in themselves and my esteem and which is yet more how few are they that ever shall partake of these things and must I be one of these few to whom these great things do belong I dare not apply them I tremble at the Conclusion The greatness the glorious splendour of the Sun dazles the eye the eye cannot look on it so do the greatness the glory of these things the eye of a mans reason puts by the actings of Reason that it cannot conclude here as in other things When Jacob's Sons told him Joseph is yet alive and is Governour over all the Land of Egypt Jacob's heart fainted for he believed them not Gen. 45.26 the old man had not heard of him above two or three and twenty years together but supposed he was dead long since he could not believe them the news was too good and too great for Jacob they told him a lye before when they made him believe he was dead so that this conflict between hope and doubt joy and fear but fear prevailing partly from the greatness of the thing they spake of and partly because of what they told him long before of his death whence he could not believe them put old Jacob into a swooning fit It is the same with this Believer tell him Christ is yours pardon is yours God and all that he hath purposed and promised for his elect-believers all yours you make the heart of the believer to faint with the report of these great things he cannot believe you nor dare conclude himself whatever the premises infer Secondly The fears and jealousies that are upon the heart though it doth yield to and cannot deny the minor Proposition Regeneration union with Christ are great works to be a wise Builder a wise Virgin is hard few attain to this I have a naughty treacherous deceitful heart within me and though it is true while you thus urge me and follow me up and down in your tryals and examining of me yea whilest I try and examine my self I cannot but as I find my heart at this present by all the searches I can make into it I must yield to what you ask me I dare not deny this work yet I fear there may be