to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
Labour under the Sun how wavering how uncertain and how unsuccessful Things are how Means run one way and the End another they might hereby be induced to turn their Labours into another Channel and to work for their Souls and for eternal Happiness and Salvation that are as far above the reach of Disappointment as they are far above the rate of earthly Concernments Mine Elect says God Isa 52.22 shall long enjoy the Work of their Hands they shall not labour in vain And this is the great Argument urged by the Apostle upon the Corinthians Be stedfast 2 Cor. 15.58 unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord and why so industrious and constant knowing this says he that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Two Things there are that make a Labour to be in vain First When it doth not accomplish its End Secondly When that End it doth accomplish is not worth the Cost and Pains Now in neither of these respects is your Labour in vain For First It shall not fail to accomplish the end to which it is ordained and that is eternal Salvation Three Things there are that make Men come short in the accomplishment of an End propounded First When Men propound to themselves Ends that are in themselves simply impossible Secondly When though the End be possible yet the Means that are used are unfit and improbable Thirdly When though the Means are rightly suited to the attainment of the end yet we do not persevere in the use of them Now none of these ways shall a laborious Christian fail of his end For First The End Christians work for is not impossible The End that you work for is not in it self simply impossible Should you propound to your selves to become Angels should you strive to sublimate your selves into spiritual Essences your attempts herein were all but vain because it is impossible you should ever be refined into Angels But if your end be to be like Angels to be equal to Angels this is possible and may be attained When they arise from the dead Mark 12.25 they are as the Angels that are in Heaven which another Evangelist renders Luke 20.36 they are equal to the Angels If in this Life you propose to your selves a state of perfection and freedom both from Sin and Sorrow a state of consummate Bliss and Happiness this End is impossible But if you make it your End to enjoy such a state as this is hereafter this is attainable and Labour may atchieve it yea aim at what degree of Glory you please next below God and Christ be it as high as Cherubims and Seraphims I cannot say you think of an impossibility your Labour may raise you to such a pitch and advance you to such Glory as shall dazle the Sun in its brightness It is true there was once a time when Salvation might well be reckoned among those Things that were impossible and that was in that sad interval between the Fall and the Promise of Christ when all Mankind lay in the shadow and in the valley of Death under the Breach and yet under the Bond of the Covenant of Works when it had indeed been in vain so much as once to have thought of Happiness or to have laboured for it But since Christ's undertaking We who were once without Hope have now obtained good Hope through Grace the Partition-Wall that then we could neither climb over nor break through is now taken away the Gate of Heaven is now set open and with striving we may enter for our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel And therefore though it may seem an impossibility to dejected and despairing Souls that ever such vile Wretches should receive so great a Dignity that those who are sunk so low in Misery should ever be raised to Happiness that those who are so loaden with Sin and Iniquity should ever feel the weight of Mercy and beaten Glory that those whose best Works deserve the lowest Hell should though not for yet upon the performance of those Works obtain the highest Heavens Though this may seem to be an impossibility yet believe it while you think of any Glory lower than the Glory of the Godhead you think of nothing above a possibility and the reach of Industry There are none of you excluded from a possibility of being saved the Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive Terms Who ever believeth shall obtain eternal Life The Death of Christ and his Blood is a most sovereign Medicine applicable not only to all Maladies but to all Men if they will believe Tho' it is true none shall be saved but the Elect yet is it true also that a possibility of Salvation extends farther than Election Election gives the infallibility of Salvation as Reprobation doth the infallibility of Damnation but yet as there is a possibility for those that shall infallibly be saved to perish if they do not believe so is it possible for those that shall infallibly perish to be saved if they will believe The possibility of Salvation therefore stands not upon Election but upon two other Grounds First The meritorious and all-sufficient procurement of Christ whereby he hath procured Salvation for all the World and for all in the World upon condition of their Faith for that must still be taken in for were it not so how could we preach Remission of Sins in his Name to every Creature were not his Death applicable to all Then though some should believe yet for want of a Sacrifice offered up and a Price paid down for them they should not be saved though they should believe How then is it that we seriously call all Men to repent and believe that their Sins may be pardon'd and their Souls saved Certainly unless the death of Christ hath procured Salvation for all Men upon condition of Faith and Repentance such Calls would be false in us and vain to them for so we should promise Salvation upon believing to those to whom though they should believe Salvation should be denied because they want a Covenant made with them and a Surety to undertake for them Therefore I say Christ's procurement is general so far that whoever believes shall receive the Benefit of his Death Secondly As the Death of Christ is applicable to all for Salvation if they believe so Faith that alone applies this Death is attainable by you all if you be not wanting to your selves you are none of you under an impossibility of believing and therefore not under an impossibility of Salvation Though it be certain that some shall infallibly persevere in Infidelity yet there is none that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward Call of God in his Word but may believe and obey if they be not wanting to themselves Neither is this Doctrin Arminianism nor is it prejudicial to the efficacious Grace of God whereby the Will
Generousness scorn to prostitute their Consciences and to barter their precious Souls for the Gain of any of these fading and perishing Riches here below Riches that perish in the using If therefore you would keep good Consciences learn to despise the Threats and Frowns the Flatterings and Fawnings of this World look upon it as of no great concernment to you whatever in Adversity or Prosperity can happen to you in this short and frail Life Reflect upon those who groan under the Terrors of a wounded Conscience all the World cannot give them one moments Ease or Comfort yea had they the whole World at their dispose they would give it all to procure Peace yea but a Truce for a while with their own Consciences such a vain and contemptible Thing is the World in comparison of inward Tranquility and Serenity of Mind Why now thus to rate the World below the Peace and Quietness of our own Consciences is an excellent Means to preserve them clear and peaceable Fourthly 4. Strengthen your Faith If you would keep Conscience clear labour above all things to strengthen your Faith Faith is a purifying Grace Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Now Faith hath a double Influence to purifie the Heart or Conscience Faith purifies the Conscience two ways First 1. As it is a dogmatical Faith and so it doth it morally A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure and that morally Secondly A justifying and a saving Faith purifies the Conscience and that mystically First 1. What a dogmatical Faith is A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure A dogmatical Faith I call that which hath for its Object the whole revealed Truth of God and it is nothing but a firm undoubting Assent to the Verity and Certainty of whatever is contained in the Holy Scriptures upon no other Account and Reason than meerly the Authority and Veracity of God who is the Author of it This is a dogmatical or an historical Faith which though it be not Justifying as the Papists hold yet is it of a mighty Influence to sanctifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience and Conversation inoffensive and this it doth in a moral way For did but Men believe that Heaven is so unconceivably glorious sparkling with Light flowing with Pleasure resounding with Praises a Place where Joy and Bliss ever dwells and where we shall dwell too in an endless Eternity in the Smiles and Love of God if now but for a few short Years we strive to live holily did we but as really believe these Things to be true and certain as we know those Things to be true and certain that we see with our very Eyes what manner of Christians would this force us to be in all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation cleansing our selves from all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit Wherefore is it that the Promise of some temporal Reward the hopes of some mean Preferment from some great Person is of Force sufficient to make Men obsequious to them And yet the Promises that God himself hath made of Heaven and Glory in comparison of which to promise Crowns and Scepters is but to promise Pebbles and Gugaws work so little effect upon the generality of Men to allure them from Sin to a holy Life Whence is it but that Men believe not that Heaven is so glorious as the Scripture describes it to be Nay indeed if they would speak their Minds they are not yet sure whether there be a Heaven or not it is from their Unbelief Did Men but believe the insupportable Wrath of God those Horrors and Torments that Fire and Sulphur that Stench and Darkness those burning Chains and those fiery Whips the Woe and Anguish of the Damned in Hell which are as far from being utterable as they are from being tollerable did they as certainly believe these Things as if they believe them not they shall certainly feel them would they dare still to venture on to treasure up Wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath Would they still dare by wounding their Consciences now enrage them to their own Wounding and Smart for ever hereafter Would they dare to do it did they believe these Things Did they but believe that Conscience will be revenged seven fold on them for all the Wrongs and Violence that they have done it This Worm that they now carry in their Breasts frozen and benum'd shall be heated by the Fire of Hell and fly upon them and sting their Souls with a burning and flaming Anguish Did they believe this would they not be careful to give no Offence to their Consciences Would they not be as careful to avoid all Sin that arms the Terrors of Hell against them as they have Reason to think a damned Wretch in Hell who hath had the Experience of these Things would do if God would release him out of it with a Promise that he shall for ever escape it upon the same Terms that he hath promised us Think with your selves what effect the Sense and Feeling of those dreadful Things would have upon such a one to make him rigorously conscientious that in nothing he provoke so terrible a God or offend and irritate a revenging Conscience that will be sure to repay him home sevenfold into his own Bosom why the same carefulness and circumspection would it work in all of us did we as firmly and strongly believe those Things to be true as God hath evidently and clearly revealed them to be true in his Word It is true these Things we all know and we persuade our selves that we do believe them Do we not profess to believe that Jesus Christ shall judge both Quick and Dead and that all shall receive Rewards according to their Works those that have done Well shall receive the Reward of eternal Life and those that have done Ill the Reward of eternal Death These Things we may indeed profess to believe and these Things we may frequently represent to our own Thoughts but the weak and small Influence that these Things have to over-awe our Consciences evinceth clearly that this is not Faith but Fancy It is a wavering unevident Opinion that we have taken up and that we call by the Name of Faith for did we live in the Belief of these Truths we should no more dare to sin against our Consciences than if we saw Hell flaming before these Eyes of ours and knew that upon the next Sin we commit we were to be cast into it And thus you see a dogmatical Faith is a great Help to purifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience clear and inoffensive 2. As Faith justifies so it purifies the Conscience mystically 2. A justifying Faith also is of great use to purifie the Conscience And this it doth not morally by any natural Influence or Efficacy of its own but only mystically as it applies to the Soul the Blood of Jesus Christ that Blood that alone takes away
follow them They rest from their Labours First They rest from their Labour in working under Affliction 1. No Affliction in Heaven Sometimes Afflictions are Spurs and Incentives and sometimes they are Burthens and Discouragements to Obedience But when we arrive at Heaven we shall no longer need the Spur to quicken us nor shall we any longer bare that Burthen to oppress us but cast it down at Heavens Gate where never Sorrow nor Suffering durst yet appear And 2. No Desertion in Heaven Secondly In Heaven you shall rest from your Labour in working under Desertion Now though you do work yet it may be you apprehend God frowning upon you and finding fault with all that you do Now it may be though God doth cause the clear Light of his Precepts and Spirit to shine before you to direct you what your Work is that you should do yet he makes it dismal Darkness behind you and shuts up the Light of his Comfort that you cannot see what Work you have done and this is your great Trouble you work and labour and yet you know not whether you shall be accepted Obedience were easy and pleasant Work says the Soul if I knew that God did regard me but alas I pray and he shuts out my Prayer from him I lay hold upon him but he shakes me off in displeasure I obey but he rejects all my Services and this is the Anguish and Torture of my Life This indeed is Matter of great Grief and Trouble But know Oh Soul thou shalt not long work thus in the dark shortly thou shalt be above these Clouds and then thou shalt see that those Prayers that thou thought'st were vainly scatter'd and lost in the Air are become a Cloud of sweet Incense hovering before the Throne of God And those Tears that thou thought'st were dropt in vain upon the Earth are all gathered up and preserved in God's Bottle And those poor Duties of thine that for their own meanness and vileness thou thought'st God would scorn yet thro' that worth that is put upon them by the Intercession of Christ are ranked in the same degree of Acceptation as the most perfect Services of the Angels themselves are Have but patience a while and continue working and thou shalt see a happy Issue when the Clouds of Darkness and Desertion that now lie upon thy Spirit shall be all scattered and blown away 3. In Heaven there is Rest from Sin Thirdly You shall also rest from your Labour in working against the continual Workings of your own Corruptions which shall then at once both cease to act and cease to be And this indeed is the great Thing that makes it such a blessed Rest to the People of God Indeed God cuts you out your Work in his Commands but it is the old Man within you that makes it to be tedious irksome and difficult unto you God makes it not so but your Corruption makes it so and this it doth two ways First By deadning your Heart to it And Secondly By turning your Heart against it Deadness and dulness to and averseness from the ways of holy Obedience are the greatest cause of all that Toil and Pains that most take in the Work and Service of God if ever they will bring it to a good issue Now both these shall shortly cease and be removed if you but wait and continue striving against them 1. In Heaven there is Rest from labouring with a dead heart in the ways of God First You shall rest from all that Labour that you take with a dead and heavy Heart in the ways of God Now you are continually calling upon it Awake awake my Glory now you are continually tugging of it to get it a little more forward lifting of it up to get it a little higher towards God and Heaven Now you stand in need of continual quickning Grace to actuate and excite those Lumps of Lead that lie heavy within your Breasts and it is the greatest disquietment of your Lives that you find your Hearts so heartless and listless to what is holy and spiritual It is with them as with some great Bells that you must pull long at the Rope before you can make them sound Is not this the daily Complaint of God's Children that their Hearts are dull and heavy and they cannot raise them and this makes the ways of Obedience yea this makes their very Lives become burthensome Well have but patience for a while and continue still to struggle against this sad Indisposition and it will not be long before you shall rest from this Labour also Though now you are as Birds whose Bodies are too heavy for their Wings when you stretch them forth and would fain be soaring up to Heaven you can only run up and down and flutter upon the Earth yet shortly these heavy and cloggy Bodies shall fall off and you shall be all Wing free from all Deadness and Straitness Distraction and Weariness in the Ways of God that now afflict you Then shall your Affections be always intent and not languish always burning and yet never waste nor consume every Motion of your Soul shall then shoot themselves to God as quick as the Lightning and yet constant as the Sun-beams And those who are now out-stript by weak and underling Christians shall then be able to keep pace in their Obedience even with the Holy Angels themselves 2. In Heaven there shall be a resting from the opposition of our Heart against Duty And then Secondly In Heaven there shall be a resting from all that Labour that the People of God now take in the ways of holy Obedience through the averseness of their Hearts from them and the opposition of their Hearts against them There is that contradiction in the carnal part against what is holy and spiritual that the Godly cannot bring themselves to the performance of it without much Strife and Contention the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and when the spiritual part calleth for holy Thoughts and heavenly Affections the corrupt and fleshy part sends forth noisome and stinking Vapours obstructing the Good that we would do and infecting that little Good that we do perform So that as if working were not a sufficient Imployment a Christian must Fight that he may Work and this is it that makes working for Salvation so laborious because we must Fight and Work at once But it shall not be long before that which hinders shall be removed and then as you are not under a sad necessity of offending God so also you shall be under a most blessed necessity of serving God and shall find no more trouble in that Service than in those Actions which you now cannot but do And thus shall you have a happy Rest from all that Labour and Pains that your Corruptions here made you take And therefore be incouraged to persevere in well-doing perfect the Work you have undertaken in spight of all opposition from your own corrupt Hearts
the working out of their Salvation In respect of Doctrinals St. Paul tells us some built Hay and Stubble upon a Foundation of Gold 1 Cor. 8. But in respect of Practicals it is frequent that many Men endeavour to build Gold upon a Foundation of Hay and Stubble These Mens Buildings will soon totter fall and come to nothing but Ruin Shame and Disappointment Now the right disposing of your great Work lies thus First You are to work from Nature for Grace and then from Grace unto the holy and spiritual performance of Duty by which Grace is much confirmed and strengthned and so continuing in Duty to arrive at Assurance and from this the next step is Salvation From Nature to Grace and from Grace to Duty See this Method laid down by the Apostle Let us Heb. 12.28 says he have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and godly fear This is the Ladder of Heaven whose bottom Step is below Grace in Nature and whose utmost Step is above it in absolute Perfection and Glory First there must be Grace before any Duty can be performed acceptably unto God But now most Men pervert and disturb this Method and the ordinary way of Disturbance is this they are frequent in Duties but they perform them not either for Grace or from Grace neither that they may attain Grace by them nor that they may exercise Grace in them And yet notwithstanding these Men think and hope to work out Salvation by such Duties as these are making a Leap from Duties to Salvation neglecting to obtain that Grace that can make their Duties acceptable and saving and hence it is that they make no quicker dispatch and riddance in their great Work Now such Attempts as these are First Discouraging and disheartning And Secondly They are vain and fruitless First They are very discouraging Duties never flow freely from the Soul where Grace is not like a continual Fountain to supply it Job speaking of the Hypocrite Job 27.10 asks this Question Will he delight himself in God will he always call upon him No he will not It is not possible that he should do so tho' for a time he may drive at a high rate praying both with Fervency and Affection yet will he soon decay and faint because he hath no Life of Grace to carry him through Duties but he finds them to flow stubbornly from him and therefore through Weariness and Discontent at last he gives them over The good Works of graceless Persons may be as flourishing as if indeed they were true Saints but they have not a Root to supply them the Root of the Matter as Job speaks is not in them and therefore they are soon nipt and fade away It is simply impossible that a Person without the Life and Power of Grace should persevere in a cordial affectionate performance of good Works Interest Credit Respect and natural Conscience are too weak Wheels for so great a Burthen it is Grace only that can over-ballance all outward Discouragements yea and which is more that alone can remove all inward also This can make Obedience sweet to a Child of God which to a wicked Man must needs be irksome and that because he hath no relish in them Mat. 16.23 St. Matth. 16.23 Thou savourest not the things that are of God this may be much more said of graceless Persons because they have not Salt in them Col. 4.6 for so Grace is called that should make holy and heavenly Things to be favoury to them What a Torment is it to be still chewing an unsavory Prayer and an unsavory Meditation to hear and speak those Words that their Ears cannot relish Must I always says the Sinner offer this force to my self Must I still strain and pump for Tears and Sighs Were Holiness as easie to me as it is to some no Life would I chuse sooner than that but I am straitned and pinched up and all good Things come out of me like the evil Spirit which rends and tares me and is a torture and anguish to my Heart and Bowels And it is so because in the performance of them there is a neglect of that Grace that should make Duties become easy and therefore such a one will shortly give over Duties themselves which he finds to be so troublesome yea and also give over all hopes of attaining any good at all by them Secondly Such Works are also as to the obtaining of the last and main End vain and fruitless and that upon two Accounts First Because the acting of Grace is the Life and Spirit of all our Works without which they are all but Carkasses and dead Things and only equivocally called good Works even as the Picture of a Man may be called a Man We are says the Apostle his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works As after the first Creation God took a survey of all the Works of his Hands and pronounced them all very good so there is no Work of ours that God will pronounce to be a good Work but what is the effect of his creating Power that is the product of his second Creation Eph. 2.10 Created says the Apostle to good Works Good Works are no otherwise necessary to Salvation but as they are the exercises of Grace by which we express the life and likeness of God so only are they necessary unto Salvation How should Grace be seen and known but by Works First God imprinted his own Image upon our Souls in Regeneration and stamps us Feature for Feature Grace for Grace and Glory for Glory But now because this is hid and concealed therefore are we to copy forth this Image in a holy Conversation and to express every Grace in some Duty or Work of Obedience or other As those that we call falling Stars dart from Heaven and draw after them long Trains of Light so God would have us to shoot up to Heaven but yet to leave a Train of Light behind us our Graces must shine always we must go on in good Works and these good Works are of no value or account with God of which Grace is not the End or Principle What says the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.3 Though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Can a Man bestow all his Goods upon the Poor and not be charitable Indeed the Word that we translate Charity might for the avoiding of some Mistakes better have been translated Love but however we must take Charity for a disposition to relieve the Wants and Necessities of others with respect of Love to God and his Image if this good Work be not from Grace through a Principle of Love to God and Obedience to his Command it is but the empty Shell and Husk of a good Work and it avails a Man nothing Yea further if after this I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing If
The Fear of being judged by God at the Tribunal of Christ at the last Day engaged the Apostle to labour to please God and to be accepted by him 5. The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Fifthly The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Our Saviour says Luke 12.4 Be not afraid of them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him It is well observed by a learned Author that Men may be considered either as they bear upon them some resemblance and impress of the divine Majesty as they are invested with Authority and Power and constituted Magistrates and Rulers over us This resemblance is so great that the Scripture stiles them Gods I have said ye are Gods and so we are to fear them with a Fear of Reverence and Obedience and to obey them in that which is lawful And they may be considered also as standing in opposition to God abusing their Power by commanding things that are unlawful and by Persecution endeavouring to terrifie Men from the Ways and Service of God And so they may be feared with a Fear of flight and eschewal When ye are persecuted in one City flee you to another Matth. 10.23 We may so fear them as to labour to avoid their Rage and to consult our own Safety But the Fear that is here forbidden is Fear not them that can kill the Body that is with a distrustful perverting Fear such a Fear as causeth Men for the securing of their temporal Life to desert the Profession and Practice of Godliness with such a Fear Fear not Men. He will not that truly fears God thus fear Men no the Fear of God lays a check upon this sinful Fear of Men he that truly fears God will not immoderately fear Men for it is the property of holy Fear to represent the displeasure of God as an infinitely greater Evil than the loss of Estate Liberty nay of Life it self or whatever the Rage and Power of Man can either inflict or threaten and this makes them choose Affliction rather than Sin See this fearless Spirit in those three Heroick Champions Dan. 3.16 Dan. 3.16 who though they saw a burning fiery Furnace before them into which they were threatned to be cast yet all the Terrors of it did not fright them to an Idolatrous Worship with what a holy Contempt and Slighting did they answer King Nebuchadnezar We are not careful say they to answer thee in this matter And whence proceeded this undaunted Courage but only because they were more afraid of God who is a consuming Fire than they were of a fiery Furnace A Man that truly fears God reputes with himself that to gain the favour of Men with the displeasure of God to redeem a temporal Life by an eternal Death is the foolishest Bargain that can be made he knows the rage of Man is under the restraint of God and that a Hair of his Head shall not fall to the Ground without his heavenly Father's Knowledge and Permission and if God doth suffer wicked Men to inflict the utmost that their Rage and Spight can prompt them unto yet it reacheth only their earthly part the dull part of Man the Body they may persecute torment and kill us but yet they cannot hurt us one momentany Gripe of Hells Torments is infinitely more intolerable than all the Cruelties that Men can possibly invent or inflict one Frown from an angry God hath more Dread and Terror in it than all the Rage and Threatnings of the most barbarous and cruel Tyrants and that Christian that makes such an account as this is can never certainly so fear Torment or Death as to be drawn to Sin against God whose Displeasure he more fears than he fears either Torment or Death Now to shut up this whole Subject What there is in God that may affect us with an Awe and Fear of him I shall only briefly mention a few Particulars to you whereby you may take a brief View of what there is in the Nature of God that may justly affect us with a holy Fear and Awe of him First 1. His glorious Majesty The Consideration of God's glorious Majesty may strike us into a holy Dread and Terror And therefore says Job 33.22 With God is terrible Majesty Job 33.22 This is that which daunts the holy Angels in Heaven they cover their Faces with their Wings as not being able to bear the piercing Rays of that Glory wherewith he is cloathed An earthly Prince when he is set forth in the Royalty and Grandeur of his State casts an awe upon those that approach near him And how much more ought we to fear the great and glorious Majesty of Heaven who is always clad with Light as with a Garment that Light which no mortal Eye can approach being always surrounded with an innumerable Host of glittering Attendance each of which maintains more Pomp and State than the greatest Potentate on Earth 2. His Almighty Power Secondly God's Almighty Power should cause us to fear before him He is the uncontroulable Sovereign of all the World to whose Beck all things in Heaven and in Earth yea and in Hell too are subject and therefore says Job 25.2 Job 25.2 Dominion and Fear are with him not that God hath any Fear or stands in Fear but the Dominion and Sovereignity of God causeth Fear it strikes the Heart with an awful Fear when we consider that Dominion and Fear are with God That Power and Authority of God by which he exerciseth his Dominion causeth a Fear of him 3. His severe Justice Thirdly The severe and impartial Justice of God whereby he renders to every one according to his Works this should kindle in us a holy Fear of God So the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 11. 2 Cor. 5.10 11. We must receive says he according to what we have done in the Body Whence he infers That knowing the Terrors of the Lord we persuade Men. It is terrible to receive from God's Justice according to what we have done in the Body Fourthly 4. His Omnisciency and Omnipresence The Consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omnisciency may cause in us a holy Fear of him His Eye is always upon us his Presence is always with us where-ever we are and he sees and observes what-ever we do and therefore let us fear him his Eye is awful Fifthly 5. Our absolute dependance upon him The consideration of our absolute dependance upon God should cause us to stand in Fear of him left by provoking him who maintains our Souls in Life in whom we live and move and have our beings in whose Hands are our Breath our Life and all our Ways he should turn his Hand upon us and deprive
us of all those Mercies and Comforts that now he heaps upon us So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE WITH Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men. FROM ACTS xxiv 16. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE ACTS xxiv 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man IN this Chapter St. Paul gives an account to Felix of the general Course and Demeanor of his former Life being accused by Tertullian a flattering Orator as one who was Prophane and Seditious After that he had purged himself in sundry Particulars he comes to the Text to shew that he was far from those Crimes that were laid to his Charge having made it his constant Exercise all his Life-time to keep a good Conscience The Words have little or no Difficulty in them and therefore instead of giving you an elaborate Exposition I shall only run them over with a brief Paraphrase The Explication of the Words Herein do I exercise my self that is I make it my constant Care and Imployment to have a Conscience void of Offence that is to keep my Conscience clear that it may not justly accuse me of any Offence done either against God or against Men that is I labour conscientiously to practise as well the Duties of the second as the Duties of the first Table to be Just towards Men as well as to be Religious towards God knowing that the one without the other to be without Offence towards Men only is but meer Morality and to be without Offence only towards God is but vain Hypocrisie Without farther Explication the Words do of their own accord deliver to us this Doctrin Doctrin That it should be our continual Care and Employment in all Things whether relating to God or Man to keep clear and inoffensive Consciences Conscience is nothing but a practical Syllogism or Argumentation What Conscience is and always infers a personal Conclusion either excusing or accusing and it hath three Offices First The Offices of Conscience It discovers to us what is Sin and what is Duty and the Reward that is entailed upon both 1. It informs what is Sin and what is Duty and thus it gives in its Verdict according to that Light that shines into it If it hath only the twilight of Nature to illustrate it as the Heathens had no other then it can pass Judgment only upon natural Duties and unnatural Sins Thus the Consciences of Heathens through some remainders of original Knowledge informed them that Worship was due to God and Justice to Men and that all Impieties against God and all Injuries against Men should in the end be severely punished But if Conscience enjoys the superadded Light of Scripture it judges then of those Duties and those Sins that could only be known by Divine Revelation Hence it is that Conscience is enabled to form such a Proposition as this He that believes shall be saved he that believes not shall be damned This Proposition it forms not from natural Light but from the super-induced Light of Scripture This is the first direct Act of Conscience whereby it pronounceth of Men's Works whither they be sinful or not and what the Reward or Punishment is that shall follow them according as it finds it written in the dark and imperfect Law of Nature or in the superadded Law of God 2. It witnesseth and deposeth Secondly When Conscience hath thus pronounced whether the Action be good or bad and what Reward or Punishment belong to it it 's next Office is to witness and depose we have done such or such Actions this is a reflex Act whereby when Conscience hath discovered what is Sin and what is Duty it testifies that either we have performed the one or that we have committed the other The Scripture reveals that Faith shall be rewarded with eternal Life and Unbelief punished with Death eternal hereupon Conscience makes reflection upon it self and applies the Proposition but I believe or I do not believe and that is its witnessing or deposing Office Thirdly It hath besides this 3. It acquits or condemns the Office of a Judge to acquit or condemn and this it doth by inferring a comfortable or a terrifying Conclusion from the former Premises applying the Reward or Punishment to our selves according as those Actions have been ours to which they belong If it hath proved us Unbelievers strait it pronounceth us condemned Persons or if it evidences our Faith to us presently it justifies and acquits us Hence it is that wicked Men are haunted with pale Fears and ghastly Reflections because they are always Malefactors arraigned at a Bar a Bar that they carry about with them in their own Breasts where they hear a thousand Witnesses sworn and examined where they hear their Judge ten thousand times a Day pronouncing them Cursed and Damned And hence it is also that there is sometimes diffused into the Hearts of God's Children such sweet Joy such solid Peace such calm Stayedness and some Prelibations of heavenly Bliss because they carry in their Breasts a Court of Judicature where their earthly Judge Conscience acquits them and assures them that their heavenly Judge will do so also This is Conscience that faithful Register in every Man's Bosom that writes down the Actions Discourses and Cogitations of every Hour and Minute Now this being premised concerning the Nature and Offices of Conscience I shall come in the next place to enquire into these following Particulars into which I shall digest the method of this Subject First What it is that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience Secondly What it is to have a clear Conscience Thirdly Of what Importance and Consequence it is that our Consciences be kept clear and void of Offence under which I shall give you the Reasons of the Point Fourthly I shall lay down some Rules and Means whereby we may attain unto and keep a pure and clean Conscience First 1. What vitiates and corrupts Conscience What is it that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience in executing of its Offices Now this I shall couch under Two Particulars and they are Ignorance and wilful Sinning 1. Ignorance corrupts the Conscience 1. Ignorance Conscience is the Guide of Life and Knowledge is the Eye of Conscience which if it be darkned the Blind leads the Blind till both fall into the Ditch Conscience is a Guide that leads apace and therefore had need see its Way before it which some not being well able to discern have wound themselves into inextricable Wandrings pursuing every glaring Delusion and running after every skipping Light that danceth before it till at last they have lost both themselves and their
any thing from the piercing discovery of his Eye He knows our Thoughts those Nimble and those Spiritual Things that are so quick in their flight that they cannot be seized upon by any Creature in the World God knows them the Devil cannot know them nor can an Angel know them yet God discerns our Thoughts more clearly than we can discern the Faces of one another he sees our Thoughts afar off as the Psalmist tells us he sees our Thoughts in their first Conception when they first begin to heave in our Breasts he knows the least Windings and Turnings of our Souls Now would not this compose us to an habitual and holy Awe of God to be continually thinking that whatsoever we do God's Eye is now upon us Let every one say within himself Where-ever I am or whatever I do I am in the Presence of the Holy God who takes notice of all my Carriages there is not a Glance of mine Eye but his Eye observes it there is not an irreverent or unseemly Gesture but he takes notice of it there is not a Thought of mine can escape but he knows that Thought and he knows my Down-lying and Vp-rising c. Let this Consideration season your Lives and Conversations be still pondering in your Minds That whatsoever you are doing his Eye is upon you and he is present with you Secondly Consider That God not only sees into all you do but he sees it to that very end that he may examine and search into it He doth not only behold you with a common and indifferent Look but with a searching watchful and inquisitive Eye he pries into the Reasons the Motives the Ends of all your Actions Psal 11.4 it is said The Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men. Rev. 1.14 where Christ is described it is said His Eyes are as a Flame of Fire You know the Property of Fire is to search and make trial of those things that are exposed unto it and to separate the Dross from the pure Metal So God's Eye is like Fire to try and examine the Actions of Men he knows and discerns how much your very purest Duties have in them of mixture and base ends of Formality Hypocrisie Distractedness and Deadness he sees through all your Specious Pretences that which you cast as a Mist before the Eyes of Men when yet thou art but a Juggler in Religion all your Tricks and Sleights of Outward Profession all those things that you use to cozen and delude Men withal they cannot possibly impose upon him he is a God that can look through all those Fig-leaves of Outward Profession and discern the Nakedness of your Duties through them In the last place Thirdly God tries all your Cases and Actions in order to an Eternal Judgment and Sentence to be passed upon them This Consideration might damp the stoutest Sinner's Heart in the whole World Believe it Sirs God doth not only see your ways but he sees them so as to remember them against you another day though you have forgot what you have thought and what you have spoken and what you have done yet God for ever remembers them and at that day he will sadly recall all these things again to your remembrance Oh! that therefore this might prevail with you so to do every thing as being now already under the Eye of God and shortly must be under his Doom and Sentence Now if God should send an Angel to stand at our Backs and tell us whatever we are doing this Action of ours we must be judged for it should make us fearful of sinning as that Angel himself True we have no such Monitor but our Conscience performs to us the same Office Therefore charge it upon your Consciences that they still put you in mind of God that he sees you that he will judge you and that he always looks upon you and writes down in those Eternal Leaves of his Memorial-Book whatsoever proceeds from you either in Duties of Religion or the Actions of your Ordinary Course and Conversation Therefore because he is Omnipresent and sees all things stand in awe of his Omnisciency whereby he sees whatsoever we do and whereby he will try and judge us at the last day FINIS Books Printed for Jonathan Robinson ANnotations on the Holy Bible as also a Survey of the same by way of Supplement to the Annotations By S. 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