is dead while she is alive that is dead in pleasure dead in sin dead in the vanity of her own heart and yet such a Widow liveth she liveth not only a natural life but she is alive in her own conceit in regard of a spiritual life for if she conceived she were a dead creature a damned creature it would kill all her pleasure it would kill the heart of any creature under heaven it would break the neck of all her pleasure but in that she took her pleasure it was a plain token that she was not killed Now for the Opening of the Point I will do these Three things First I will shew what this livelinesse is and wherein it consists Secondly I will shew what the effects of it are Thirdly the Uses First I will shew what this livelinesse is and it consists in these Three things I could branch them into Four but I will reduce them into Three Heads 1. First It consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damned estate So long as a mans dead and damned estate doth not appear unto him so long a man thinks he is alive and that he is not a dead man he is not a man that hath the sentence of condemnation lying upon him so long as the law hath not come and shewed a man his wretched estate and made his damnable estate appear in its own colours unto him why he is a live man he conceives himself to be alive because the law of God hath not convinced him of the contrary if the law of God doth seise upon a mans heart and in its own colours appear to a mans eyes and hold it self as a glasse to a mans understanding and shews him his wretchednesse and what a cursed estate he is in before God this will kill his very heart and break the livelinesse that is in him and make him burst out into out-cries Oh! I am a dead man I am a damned man so that the livelinesse that is here spoken of consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damnable estate As for example an Adulterer his damnable estate doth not appear to him he knows not that he is a dead man as Prov. 9. 18. He knows not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell when he goes to lie with his Whore and commit his wickednesse he doth not think that they are dead and damned men that are there nor that they are in the pit of Hell Though his Conscience may tell him that he is wicked and sinful and wretched and that he is half dead yet he is not a dead man he is not absolutely a dead man he doth not know this It may be he will confesse it Lord I am a dead man Lord I am a damned man it may be he will confesse this in his prayer because he hath some light but yet his heart is not taken down the liveliness of his heart is not killed I will prove it to you for let another man a Minister of God or a child of God say he is a dead man a damned man one that lies under the wrath of God he will deny it and say he is uncharitable and judgeth hardly and why may he not be a live man and a good Christian he hopes he is he doth not know that he is a dead man as the wise-man speaks Prov. 14. 12. There is a way that seemeth right to a man but the issues thereof are death that is there is a way that seems to be a way of life and a man seems to be alive that walks in that way but the truth is it is a way of death and a man that goeth in that way is a dead man and a damned man but yet in the mean time while he walks in that way it seems to be a way of life unto him there is a non-appearance of the deadnesse and damnednesse of a mans estate and condition that walks in that way and therefore it seems to him to be a right way and a way of life and there is great hope in him that he shall live for evermore and many men do walk in that way and therefore it seems to him to be a right way and a way of life it seems right to a man but the end thereof is death and this is the First thing wherein this liveliness consists the non-appearance of a mans dead and damned estate 2. Secondly It consists in Performance he is able as he conceives to do the duties that God commands he hath wisdom and ability at home to go about his affairs he hath understanding and supply at home he hath life and sufficiency to go about these and these duties and performances let the law tell him he must be sober he hath life to avoid the Ale-house and if he commit a Drunken Act he would have you think he hath grace to be sorry for it and let a man tell him he is a dead man he hath no grace in him no life in him he will tell you he doth thus and thus he hears Gods Word and he Prayes to God and he Trusts in God and he Believes in God your telling of him this doth not kill his heart he thinks he is alive for all this nay let the law of God come and tell him He is a dead man for all his doing this will not kill him neither so long as the Lord himself doth not open his eyes and clear his eye-sight and discover his sins and convince his Conscience though the law say he is a dead man and a damned man this doth not kill him he can wait upon God and perform these and these duties Then let the law of God say He is a dead man for all this he must deny himself why so he will I confesse Lord I am an unrighteous man a wretched man a sinful creature and all my righteousnesse is as menstruous raggs and now he thinks all is well but the law of God hath not yet come home unto him and shewed him his heavie estate but he is alive in regard of the performance of the duty and thinks verily he hath life at home in him whereas if the law of God did come home and charge his estate upon him and shew him what obedience the law requires what severity and truth in the inward parts it would break a mans heart and kill him notwithstanding all performance but in the mean time that a mans heart is not killed and the law hath not given him his deaths wound he thinks he is alive Cry aloud saith God lift up thy voice like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins Isai 58. 1. there the Lord looks upon the people as dead wretched sinners and abominable people but yet notwithstanding they thought they were alive in performances as we may see vers 2. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my wayes even as a
law and was able to speak of the points of Religion better then a thousand millions of carnal men he had the literal knowledge of the law Thirdly It is taken in regard of the moral obedience to the law and so wicked men are said to be without the law as we may see 1 Tim. 1. 9. The law is not given to a righteous man but to the lawless and disobedient wicked men are lawless they live as if there were no law drunkards and prophane persons as they are said to live without God in the world so they are said to live without law as if there were no law to bind them they are people that are not to be held within any compasse they take notice of no command to rule in their hearts and rectifie their lives and in this sense Paul was not without the law neither for he lived after the most strict and exact sect of the Pharisees Phil. 3. 4 5. If any man think he hath whereof he may trust in the flesh I much more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee he was one that fasted and curbed himself yea he kept two Fasts a week as those Pharisees did that were of the better rank he prayed daily and performed the duties of Religion and there was no outward ordinance of the Law which he performed not he was one that was conformable to the letter of the law according as he understood the Law he was morally obedient to the Law he was no extortioner nor unjust person no he did the works of the Law and those things contained in the Law nay there was no body that could challenge him with any blame none that were familiar with him could say any thing to tax him withal when he was in his ignorance and blindness therefore in this sense he was not without the Law Fourthly Therefore in the Fourth place we are said to be without the Law in regard of the spiritual sense of the law and so Paul was without the law he did not clearly understand the divine and spiritual sense of the law he did not see the glory and the beauty of the law of God how it did discover all the breaches of righteousness how it reached to all the inner parts how contrary the law of God was to all his nature thus Paul understood not the spiritual nature of the law he had not the spiritual understanding of the law and thus he was without the law 2. Now for the other words I was alive once 1. It is meant here spiritually towards God he doth not mean naturally for he was alive naturally both before and after the commandment came but the meaning is he did not think himself to be such a wretched cursed creature as he was he thought he had the fear of God in him and true obedience in him he thought he had a spiritual kinde of life as we may see Rom. 6. 11. Ye are dead saith the Apostle to sin but are alive to God in Jesus Christ And Rom. 7. 13. Give not your members as weapons unto sin but give your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead i.e. As those that have the pure and spiritual life of grace in them so Luk. 15. 24. This my son was dead and is alive again that is spiritually alive again he was a dead creature he was departed from his father which is the fountain of life he was dead in sins and trespasses he was a dead man but now he is alive again he hath spiritual life again 2. To be alive is taken to be conceitedly so alive in his own conceit he hath not true life in him yet he doth imagine that he hath life in him he thinks he hath life and is dead Rev. 3. 1. I know thy works thou hast a name thou livest but thou art dead Here the Church of Sardis did imagine she was alive and others conceived so she seemed to be alive and yet notwithstanding was dead she had no true life in her she seemed to be alive not only in the sight of others but in her own apprehension she seemed to be alive and yet was dead now this is the meaning of the words without the law I was alive once that is I thought my self to be alive I apprehended my self to be no dead man no damned man I thought not my self to be under the wrath of God and one that should perish evermore if I continued in that estate wherein I was I hoped better things of my self I saw these signs of grace and life in me and I thought I was alive indeed till the commandment came till the law of God was pressed upon my conscience and shewed me the contrary I thought my self to be a very live man and one that had some hope of eternal happiness and one that might enter into glory I took my self to be alive thus we see the meaning of the words Now the Point I intend at this time to insist upon is the liveliness of a carnal mans heart before the law comes home to him and is pressed to him and shews him his damnable estate and that he is dead in sins and trespasses he hath some colour of righteousness that he is moral and civil and orderly and he hath somthing that is like grace and life he hath some hope towards God and hath some kind of obedience he seems to be obedient to the commandment of God before he is humbled by the law of God he is a live creature Here St. Paul shews it by his own example Without the law I was once alive noting out unto us how it is with every unhumbled man with every unmortified man that is not yet converted to God he hath many things to say for himself but he doth not understand the purenesse of the law the law hath not yet killed him it hath not yet pulled him flat down before almighty God a man that is unhumbled by the law of God is a live man he will not be perswaded that he is a dead damned creature he doth apprehend and hope he hath life it is so with men before their conversion they will not believe that they are damned creatures and they think it uncharitablenesse in any to say they are damned creatures and dead creatures they will not believe it so long as the law is not charged upon their consciences so long as they see not how it is with them they do verily apprehend that they have life in them their hearts are not killed their spirits are not dead within them they are not pulled down in the apprehension of their own cursed estates before Almighty God this is the thing I intend to insist upon 2. For the Proof of the point we may see 1 Tim. 5. 5. there the Apostle speaking of Widows that lived in pleasure saith She that liveth in pleasure
nation that did righteously and had not forsaken the statutes of their God they ask of me the ordinances of Justice they draw near to me saying We have fasted and thou regardest it not We see here they take delight in approaching unto God they take delight in Gods Ordinances and seek God early they can do thus and thus and are alive in all performances but that man whose spirit the law hath pulled down and the Lord hath convinced him of his infinite inability to perform the law he cannot see any livelinesse in him unto any performance Let any duty come it kills his heart I should now hear the Word of God but my heart is unprepared and my ear uncircumcised and I cannot hear aright Let an opportunity be offered to pray it kills his heart I should now call upon the Name of the Lord but I have such a cursed heart I cannot pray I cannot speak one right word before God Let an occasion be offered of holy conference it kills his heart alas saith he I want pure language my tongue was never touched with a coal from the Altar my lips have not ability to drop forth savoury speeches I am not able to speak one syllable aright to Gods glory it kills his heart he sees no life at all in him unlesse he can have life from without and ability from without he is dead all is nothing to him the law hath taken away the livelinesse that was in him But he that is not humbled by the law he is alive he hath life in himself it is nothing with him to Pray and go to Church and hear Gods Word it is nothing but thrusting to do the duty he hath life in him to do duties and wait upon God in his ordinances but when the law comes home to him it plainly lets him see that he hath no life in himself to do any good he must seek for life and ability from without else he is a dead man he can do nothing in this case David in this case cannot lookup Mine iniquities are gone over my head I cannot look up Psal 40. Moses he is a man of uncircumcised lips and cannot speak unto Pharaoh Paul cannot do any thing that is good In me dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. And so for the rest of Gods people when the law hath killed them and laid them dead in regard of any performance they must have life from without there is no life at home no grace at home no understanding at home they must go out for all but a carnal man he is alive unto all performances Many a man is like unsavoury salt good for nothing but to throw upon the dung-hill He never received the Holy Ghost and yet he will be inducted into a living and take Pastoral Charge upon him as if he were able to performe the Duty of a Minister and take the Charge of Souls upon him So Ananias will be a husband and Saphira a wife Athalia will be a Queen and Nimrod a King and Abimelech a Judge they are alive to discharge all these duties thus men are alive the Law of God hath not killed their hearts pulled down their spirits it hath not made it appear unto them what wretched cursed creatures they are This is the second thing wherein this livelynesse consists Thirdly This livelynesse consists in a presumptuous hope he conceives that he is justified before God and that God will not damn him but forgive him his sins There is nothing can make a mans heart more full of life then to think that he is righteous before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him there is nothing can make a man more alive then this If they think they are justified before God they have then a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. blessed be God saith the Apostle even the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead So these men have a hope that makes them lively and full of life as a poor man that hath some grounded hope of an Earthly inheritance it makes the heart lively Poverty deads the heart he that hath nothing to maintain himself and those that belongs unto him it deads his heart but if he hath some hopes of an hundred pound a year and his hope is grounded if he hath sure hope of it and he makes no doubt of it it makes his heart full of life so when a man doth believe that he is in a good case that he is delivered from death that he is in the estate of grace when he hath some probability that God hath justified him from sin this breeds an hope in him of an eternal Inheritance and this hope the consideration of it makes the soul full of life There is nothing can make a man more lively then a hope that he is justified before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him Now when a carnal man conceives he is righteous before God and that God will forgive him his iniquities that God will not damn him nor count him a dead a damned man so long as a man doth imagin this he must needs be a lively man he is alive in his own apprehension nay all the delights in the world cannot make a man so ful of life as this hope It is not mens following their pleasure that makes their hearts so full of life as to have hope that the Lord doth not account them dead men that they are justified men and righteous men that they have salvation to shew for heaven and Eternall happinesse to shew for that they shall go to heaven But if now the Law were charged upon a man if he knew that he were a dead man a damned man it would pluck down his spirits and make his spirits dead for all his pleasures It is the conceit that men are justified that makes them so full of life so long as the Law doth not come home to a man and point him out in his colours and make it appear to him that he lyeth under the wrath of Almighty God that the Lord doth account him an abominable wretched creature so long as he doth not apprehend this especially if he have any good gifts and parts and qualities and moral obedience to the Law doing good duties and a general laying hold upon the promises and a hope they belong to him this makes him alive Phil. 3. 9. Paul when he was a Pharisee and did Moral Duties and performed Moral Obedience to the Law of God he thought he had righteousnesse of his own he calls it there his own righteousnesse he so apprehended of himself now this is that which makes men alive when they conceive that they have some Religion and some Grace You shall have many men and women that hate the Servants of God and yet think they are godly men and have Grace and
man it makes his heart to burst under the weight of his sins and it beats him to powder but a man that is onely legally dead he is heart-whole still and his spirit is as stout against the kind working of the Gospel as ever it was nay worse a great deal there are none more hardened then those that see themselves dead damned creatures by the power of the law without the power of the Gospel But when the Gospel comes it breaks the heart to powder Isa 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one He that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place and with him who is of an humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart This man is the object of Mercy that is evangelically dead he is the formal object of mercy why because he is dead with such a kind of death as hath gotten power over him power to break his heart to make it an humble and contrite heart now saith the Lord I will revive such a man This man is the formal object of mercy and into him eternal life will come 2. The Second thing I promised to shew you is the difference between these two between legal and evangelical Privation Between one that is legally dead and one that is dead as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens him 1. First He that is legally dead lies all along in his death but when the Gospel makes a man a dead man it makes him stand up that he might have life Ephes 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life He doth not mean stand up from being dead but stand up from the dead and then Christ shall give thee life he means such a standing up from the dead as before Christ gives him life the Gospel doth thus far awaken a man though he be more dead a thousand times then he that is dead by the law yet thus far it quickens him that he stands up from his secure estate when the law comes and shews a man that he is a dead man he still lies under his sins he is a dead man and cannot stand up that Christ may give him life That is the First thing 2. Secondly He that is legally dead made dead only by the law he is deaf to the Gospel but when a man is evangelically dead it boors his ears and makes him hear the voice of the Word and not only so but the voice of Christ in the Word Isa 55. 3. Incline your ears and come unto me hear and your soul shall live He calls those that were evangelically dead hear and your soul shall live they are made able to hear Let their profits and old courses and old companions come and tempt them to walk as they have done they are deaf of that ear they cannot go that way to work no now their ears are open heaven-wards seek the Lord and you shall live Amos 5. 6. They are made to seek the Lord thus much life they have though they are more dead in regard of their own misery then one that is dead by the law yet thus much life they have put into them that they will go and seek unto God in the use of the means and follow him up and down and nothing will satisfy the heart but Christ they leave no stone unroled they seek up and down everywhere 3. Thirdly He that is legally dead it is a kind of death to love but he that is evangelically dead it is a death of love when the Church in the Canticles was but sensible of the countenance of Christ she was presently sick of love I charge you O ye daughters of Jerusalem if ye find my wel beloved tell him that I am sick of love Cant. 5. There is a great deal of difference between sicknesse and death death is a total privation of life sicknesse is but a partial privation now when the Gospel hath wrought upon a man that he hath some of Christ and is not deprived of all that privation makes him sick of love but when the Gospel makes a man see he is dead and altogether deprived of Christ now he is dead of love when a man is legally dead this is his death that he is damned and must go to hell this is his death that he hath no mercy not that he hath not grace and holiness and Christ but if a man be evangelically dead this is his death that he hath not Christ The Use is this If there be any that the law hath made dead rest not there but labour that the Gospel may make you dead also when thou art humbled by the law thou mayest think that mercy is prepared for thee but thy lusts may recover again and that damned life that is in thee may recover again therefore labour to be more deaded by the Gospel that thou mayest have a total death begun in thee that thou mayest have thy deaths wound given thee deep not only to be in a swoond but to be dead indeed Joh. 11. Christ staid four dayes after Lazarus was dead before he would raise him because he would have him irrecoverably dead before he would raise him Lord saith Martha he stinstinketh for he hath been dead four dayes vers 39. If he had raised him sooner his glory had not been so great so thou must labour to be dead indeed and to be buried and to be loathsome and abominable and then Christ will quicken thee It is certain that Gods Children have some of this death wrought in them before they are quickned at all for death is before quickning in order of nature there must be a corruption of one thing before there can be a generation of another there must be a privation of one form before there can be an introduction of another A child of God must be dead before he can be quickned Now then if he will have more life he must labour to be dead more and more now thou must labour to have this death truly begun to be wrought in thee thou must labour to have the love of this world and self-conceitednesse altogether dead in thee Hos 6. 2. After two dayes will he revive us and the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight A man may be alive though he have been seemingly dead twenty four hours therefore it is a good custom among us to keep men near two dayes before we bury them that we may be sure they are throughly dead for there are many have been buried alive so after two dayes he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up when a man is dead indeed and hath his liveliness throughly killed in him then God will revive him if he should revive him before his glory would not be so great if he should revive him
you the Rules that are to be observed in watching and the Rules are these If you would watch over your selves First Count watchfulnesse your very life and think if you let watchfulnesse go you let your life go for if once watchfulness go hovv dead are you in Prayer and hearing the Word of God So that the security of the heart vvill be the death of the heart vvherefore if vve vvould go on in vvatching let us labour to keep this Holy disposition count it your very lives and think vvith your selves I let Life go if I let Watchfulnesse go We use to say of Sleep that it is the brother of Death and 1 Thes 5. 6. vve may see the Phrase used by the Apostle vvhere vvaking is put for living and sleeping for dying that is the meaning of the vvords So that as sleep natural sleep doth lively represent death so it is vvith Spiritual sleep vvhich is the death of the soul Therefore dost thou find thy self to be out of frame and not vvatch over thy vvayes then think vvith thy self that thou art a dead man and take up thy vvatch as fast as thou canst again Secondly Thou must let thy watch stand Catholically universally in all duties and all times vvatch thereunto and persevere therein vve must not only watch but Persevere Be careful in the morning how vve may begin our vvatch in the day hovv vve may spend it at night hovv vve may end it So vve must vvatch in all duties vvhen vve go to Prayer vve must vvatch in prayer vvhen you go about your Callings vvatch about them vvhen vve are alone vve should be vvatchful and vvhen vve are in Company vve should be vvatchful for the Divel and our ovvn souls plot a great deal of mischief against us vve must vvatch in all places in our houses and vvithout doors and in the fields vve are still in danger vvheresoever vve are Thirdly We should proportion our watch according as the duty is we take in hand so our vvatching may bee there is one kind of vvatching for one kind of duty another for another If vve be to go about our callings then our vvatching must be against distrustfulnesse and covetousness and distracting cares that so vve may not be over head and ears in the vvorld If our duty be prayer vve must have an eye to the promises and take hold on the Lord Jesus Christ and come in his mediation and his onely So vvhatsoever duty it be if it be hearing of the Word of God there is a vvatchfulness to be proportionable to it A man should think the vvord vvill do me no good unlesse the Lord meet vvith my lusts I have an unmortified heart and unlesse the Lord vvork upon me I shall never lie dovvn under him Therefore vve should be vvatchful that vve may practice and be able to apply vvhatsoever is spoken to us vve are to keep a due vvatchfulness for that vvhich is due to one thing is not due to another that vvhich is sufficient for one is not for another Fourthly Take heed of all things that may hinder Watchfulnesse And first Take heed of vain Company If vve will be watchful we must exercise our selves vvith those that are godly To be vvith secure Christians is the vvay to be secure this vvill hinder a man A man had better be alone then be in bad Company as the Prophet David saith Psal 102. 7. I watch and am alone as a Sparrow on the house top he was alone and yet he was watching A man when he is alone may be watching rather then when he is in such Company a man can never look to himself well unlesse he prize the Communion of Saints Secondly A man should be sober Take heed of Spiritual Drunkenness Take heed of the cares of this life and that you be not immoderate in any lawful thing we should stand upon our guard and keep our hearts with all manner of keeping if our hearts grow drowzy and idle and if we neglect Sobriety then we are gone therefore in Scripture these are put together be sober and watch 1 Thess 5. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 8. I do not mean Drunkennesse with Wine for there is a Drunkennesse and not with Wine as the Prophet speaks a man may be drunk with the love of the Creature if thou lovest thy ease too well or any thing in the world too well thou art drunk with it thy heart is giddy thou art no more able to Pray or do any thing that 's good then a drunken man is Fifthly If thou wilt Watch then set the Lord alwayes before thy eyes Set the watchman of Israel before thy face God is called a watcher Dan. 4. 23. Now if thou wilt watch over thy self set God before thy face as David did Psal 16. 8. I have set God before mine eyes so alwayes set the Lord before thine eyes Now I come to the last thing which is an Vse of Exhortation To exhort us to be careful of this Duty and there is great need of it First We all desire to do well Now how can we do well at last unless we watch well all our life time VVhat is the reason that many are without comfort not like the Servants of God full of horrour and fear and quaking it is because they do not watch as it was with the Five wise Virgins they were something wise not like the foolish but they slumbred too Now when the bridegroom came there was a cry they made an out-cry and a skrieking and an howling they were undone the bridegroom was come one would have thought they should have rejoyced that the bridegroom was come What godly Christians and Religious People when the bridegroom comes to fall a howling and a crying This was because they slumbred whereas if a man be watchful over his life and careful to keep an humble heart and to honour God and study how to die comfortably at last he may rejoyce at the coming of the bridegroom but because they were in a slumber there was a cry therefore as the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand therefore be sober and watch unto prayer the Apostle brings this as an Argument so I may say the eâ—â— of all things is at hand therefore be sober and watch as a Traveller when the day is almost spent and he hath a great way to go he puts spurs to his Horse and rides the faster so the end of all things is at hand therefore we had need to be the more diligent and watchful that we may have all things ready the end comes upon us We have had the Gospel a long time and God knows how soon we shall have an end thereof therefore how ought we to be careful as a man that is to write a Letter may be at first he is something carelesse and writes his lines something broad but when he comes
Law and Commandment of God as those to whom the Law comes it eggs a man forward and maks him itch unto Rebellion If a man had asked Paul before whether he had such a devillish heart against God he saw no such matter he never meant God any hurt when he went on in his course he thought not that he was so stubborn and rebellious he did not feel this stubbornnesse and rebellion But when the Law came once it shewed him the venome and cursed nature of his sins 3. The Third life of sin is the worst of all and that is the life of Imputation for here sin is so full of life that it is not only able to discover unto him that he is a sinful wretch and an abominable creature but to bind him over to wrath and send him to hell and everlasting destruction Now it is the Law of God that discovers this life of sinne before the Law comes a man hath many vain hopes that God is merciful and Christ dyed for sinners and that God will forgive him his sins he doth not see the imputation of sin the imputation of sin lying upon the Soul is not clearly discovered before the Law come for where there is no Law there is no imputation of sin Rom. 5. 13. there saith the Apostle unto the time of the Law was sin in the world but sin is not imputed while there is no Law Before the Law is charged upon the heart the heart never dreams of the imputation of sin as if he should answer for sin and be damned for sin for ever He thought the contrary before but now the Law discovers the life of sin unto him and sin revives and appears to have life to damn him for evermore Sin now appears to have life to cast him off from God and to bind him over to Everlasting vengeance Thus it was with Paul when the Commandment came sin revived I saw sin was alive indeed and I saw the life of aggravation I saw the hellish nature of sin it was painted out to the full I saw the life of irritation I saw the infinite egging and itching of sin how it did work in me I saw the life of imputation how all my sins were imputed unto me and did all lye upon my conscience and so sin revived that is the meaning Now for the meaning of the Second word I dyed that is I saw I was a dead man I saw plainly and clearly that I was but a dead man I thought I was alive before because I did good duties and walked in the Ordinances of God and I thought that I might goe for a Christian and servant of God as well as another I did not think I was a dead man I thought I had some goodnesse in me some hope of eternal life in me I did not conclude that I was a dead man But when the Law of God humbled me and discovered my estate plainly unto me then I saw I was a dead man indeed my heart failed me and the livelynesse that was in me before departed from me I saw I was a dead man and had not the Spirit of Christ come and quickned me I had been a dead man to all eternity I now saw that sin began to revive in me and I began to be a dead man Thus we see the meaning of the words Now the Theame I propounded to you was this namely how the Lord converts the will and the first work that prepares a man hereunto is the work of pulling down the will and the pulling down of a mans heart for the will of man is full of obstinacy full of livelynesse against the truth and Commandment of God full of livelynesse in sin and conceives it self to be in a better estate and condition and so the will is obstinate still Now when it pleaseth God to convert a man first he pulls down the will of a man and pulls down his Spirit now here is a Doctrine to make way for this Namely that when the Lord takes a man in hand to pull him down to pull down his will he doth shew him what a dead Creature he is The Lord by pronouncing a man in his own Bosom a dead man a damned man one that can no way help himself he is dead absolutely dead in his own estate and in Gods account all his hopes are rotten he is meerly a dead damned man hereby the Lord pulls down his will We may see this in Paul before his Conversion his will was full of obstinacy and rebellion against God he would go and make havock of the Church he would not submit to the will of God but when the Lord came to work upon him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks What wilt thou that I shall do Lord saith he Act. 9. 6 Now his will is come down but mark how the Lord puts him off go to such a place saith he and there it shall be told thee what thou shalt do The Lord puts him off and would not give him an answer presently what he should do as who should say thou hast as yet an obstinate will thou wilt not do as I command thee I will not tell thee as yet what I will have thee to do but go to such a place and I will Arrest thee there and charge my Law upon thy Conscience and shew thee thy dead and damned estate And now his will is come down he bids him be Baptized and he was so he bids him go and Preach the Gospel and he did so now his will is come down So the prodigal his heart was marvellous obstinate against his Fathers commandement he would be gone from his father he could not abide to stay in a house where there were such strict courses he would have his goods and patrimony in his own hand as it is the property of every carnal man he would have his Inheritance in his own hand he would have power and strength and ability and these gifts and parts in his own hand But when he is humbled by the Law he is content to have all in Gods hand he is content to have all his wisdom there that he may come thither for it he is content to have all his righteousnesse there and all his ability strength and sufficiency there that he may come thither for it all is there and he sees himself a beggar if he comes not to God and keeps close to God and keeps fast to his Covenant he is a very beggar But this man would have all in his own hands and goe and squander away all upon his lusts and pleasures and he would not stay at home with his father Now when the Law of God came home to him to shew this man to himself when he came to himself as the Text saith his father did esteem him a dead man before But when he came to himself and saw he was a dead man for going
his stiffnesse and make a man a dead man But you will say when a man is dead all his joynts are stiff his body is cold and grows stiff but when a man is alive his joynts are lithe and lively I Answer It is true the law of God cannot take away a mans natural stiffnesse but his voluntary stiffness is taken away The voluntary stiffnesse is taken away when he is dead when a man was alive he could shut his hand and hold it so he could stretch out his arm and hold it so but when a man is dead he cannot do so So it is in this case although the stiffnesse of nature remain still yet the voluntary stiffnesse is taken away the will and heart of a man is out of life It cannot be stiff towards God I confesse the Lord doth not take away all stiffnesse no not out of his Saints but he takes so much stiffnesse out of the heart as to make it a prtient he shall not be voluntarily stiff he shall not be overcomingly resisting Divines use to say That in the first conversion of a sinner he is meerly a Patient first the Lord makes him a patient and then converts him Jer. 31. 19. After I was converted I repented after I was instructed I smote upon the thigh c. first God made him a patient and instructed him and afterwards converted him The Use of the Point is this Is it so that the law of God doth make a man a dead man Then here we may observe the wonderful power of the law a man hath so much livlinesse in him so much life and activity and so many strong conceits that it is wonderful hard to make him dead therefore the word of God is mighty It is said of Apollo that he did mightily convince the Jewes Acts 18. 28. for he was mighty in the Scriptures there had need be might in the Scriptures to do this What strong reasons had they in regard of flesh and blood that Jesus was not the Christ What he the Christ that was born in a manger and hath none but a beggarly company to his kindred Are not his brethren and kinsfolk with us None but the tag-rag and refuse of the Country follow him What he that had no form or beauty in him the Saviour of the world The Word of God was marvellous powerful that could convince them of this so a man that goeth on in his sinful estate and condition it is a marvellous hard thing to convince him that he is a dead man he hears the Word constantly and goes on in his Calling diligently and he hopes that Christ died for him he is afraid of sin and his heart trembles to commit sin and he is sorry for his sins he is thus and thus he that hath so many things to plead for himself what he a dead man It is impossible Therefore if the law of God be able to convince a man and make a man a dead man that is so full of life the law must needs be mighty that can do this to dead this man and kill this man is a mighty work So that we may say as the Psalmist saith of the Sea and the Mountains Psal 114. 5 6. What ayled thee O Sea that thou fleddest O Jordan why wert thou turned back Ye Mountains why leaped ye as Rams and ye Hills as Lambs So I may say What ayleth this poor man that he is now driven from his former courses and like the Sea out of his own Channel what ayls those Mountains of lusts and corruptions that were settled upon his soul as a Mountain upon his Base what ayle these to move and stir and fall away What ayls the man that was so full of life before that at one Sermon he is killed What ayls the man he came brisk and peark into the Church and who but he He was immoveable from his sinful lusts and corruptions and he had this Plea and that confidence and was full of life but by one hours discourse which it may be another heard as well as he and went away as brisk as before but this mans spirit is deaded and his heart taken down what ayls the man now why the law of God hath done it See therefore the marvellous power of the law I told you formerly That when the Law comes home to a mans soul and is charged upon his Conscience it casts the heart into all those woful privations we read of in Scripture a man before he is thus deaded by the law thinks himself to be possessed of abundance of comforts but now he seeth himself to be an out-cast and utterly lost to be a captive and poor and miserable and blind and naked he lies under all these privations And as the Philosopher saith That Privation is one of the Principles of Nature Every body saith he hath Three Principles Matter Form and Privation No natural thing can have this or that Form put into it but it must be deprived of all other Forms as if fire be turned into air first the form of fire must be taken away before it can be turned into air so it is in Grace Privation is one of the Principles of Religion before the life of Christ can be brought into a man there must first be a Privation of all other contrary lifes the life of the flesh that cursed livelinesse of the flesh the life of sin and the life of the world whereby a man lives unto the world and the things of the world A man must be deprived of all other lifes of all other forms he must have a Privation of all other forms before the life of Christ can be formed in him As for example Take a man that is wordly wise put him upon civil Affairs he is wise enough to order all his businesse in eating and drinking he is wise enough not to distemper himself wise enough to keep a good diet Put him upon matters of Religion he is wise there too he will not be so precise as some are that are more nice then wise he will be moderate and wise in the Service of God Tell him that he is one that doth not please God that he walks to hell-ward that he hath no care of his Salvation he thinks that he is wiser then so Would you make this man a wise man indeed you can never make him truly a wise man till you bring a Privation upon him till he be first deprived of all that wordly wisdom that is in him If any man among you seem to be wise saith the Apostle let him become a fool that he may be wise 1 Cor. 3. 18. Let him have first a Privation of all the seeming wisdom he hath of all the wisdom of the flesh and carnal reason he must first be a fool or else true wisdome is not able to enter into him So if a man would be high he must be first humbled and brought low before he can be truly high a
is no promise in the Word that God will quicken him and raise him up Christ is free from any promise in this kind he may quicken him if he will and not quicken him if he please I may say in this sense as Christ himself saith Joh. 5. The Son of man quickens whom he will He is free to quicken whom he will though a man be made a dead man by the law and cry out he is a dead man and a damned man though he hath the works of the law and be terrified and gastered and humbled by the law yet Christ is free from any promise he hath made to these people there is never a promise in all the Word that Christ hath bound himself by to these people to quicken them they cannot say there is such a promise in the Word that Christ will quicken them There are plain places in the Scripture wherein the Lord invites such people upon condition they will come and believe and submit to the Gospel there is a conditional invitation upon these terms But that these people shall be quickned and shall have eternal life given them there is no such promise the Lord is free the Lord hath not bound himself to it but when a man is dead according as the Gospel makes a man dead before it quickens him and when a man is poor according as the Gospel makes him poor and when a man is blind according as the Gospel makes him blind now a man is within the compass of Gods promises he is one that is the formal object of Mercy he is one that shall have Mercy and shall have Salvation and Redemption by Jesus Christ these dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall live the tongue of these stammerers shall speak plain the eyes of these blind shall see these out-casts shall be gathered these naked shall be cloathed these lost shall be found these poor shall be enriched when a man is dead so as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens a man for the Lord damns a man before he saves a man and kills a man before he quickens him like a good Surgeon that cuts before he cures or like a good Physician that kills a man almost with Physick so the Lord doth bring a man to deaths door before he quickens him it is the Gospel that truly humbles him and works these privations and now he is within the compasse of the promise now he hath a promise that he shall be quickned and have supply in regard of all these Privations but so long as these Privations are only legal he hath no promise that he shall be quickned for many are humbled and made dead as it were by the law and yet shake it off again and go to their proâ—â—ts and pleasures and delights and hardnesse of heart again many a man hath been gastered by the law and cryed out of his damned estate and condition and yet hath got up again and recovered himself by the world and the things of the world and it was ever so of old as we may see in Cain the law had discovered him to himself to be a dead man and a damned man I see my sins are greater then can be forgiven or are forgiven or shall be forgiven he saw his punishment was intolerable his condemnation was more then he was able to bear From thy presence am I cast out and a Vagabond shall I be upon the face of the earth Gen. 4. 14. Yet he was not the formal Object of mercy the Gospel did not quicken him nor convert him he was not the formal Object of mercy for he shook off these terrours again as we may see in the very same Chapter and went to building of Cities and inventing of musick and other arts and sciences and this quickned and revived him again but he never came to true life So it is with many men though they be terrified and gastered and humbled and cast down by the law yet they get up again and run after the world and after security and hardnesse of heart again so that such a man is not the formal Object of mercy 2. Again we see that many though they be wrought upon thus by the law and their eyes be enlightned and their Consciences awaked and they see that they are in a wretched and damned estate yet they scrape together a company of vain hopes and so heal themselves again When they have been terrified by the law they seek presently for promises and how they may get up again and they would fain get up and they lye at catch at every Sermon and at every Chapter and at every Word which a good man speaks and if they can get any hold they catch at it and so get up a gain and go on And when they have got a little comfort and think they shall do well they are as carelesse and as stubborn and as secure as ever they were they may go on in the profession of Religion but yet their latter end is worse then their beginning The unclean Divel may be cast out but the Divel transforms himself into an angel of light and enters into them and they go on in doing good duties but they never have the power of Religion Again Thirdly Many that are humbled by the law they run away and never come to Christ as Judas when he saw he was condemned he went and hanged himself Matth. 27. 3 5. Some expound it of Christ when he saw Christ was condemned but others expound it of himself when Judas saw himself was condemned and that seems to be the meaning of the place for Christ was not condemned nor so much as accused there came not any witnesse against him till Judas had hanged himself as we may see if we read that Chapter But whether that be the meaning or no this is true and certain he saw he was a dead man he saw he lay under the guilt of his sins and he despaired of mercy and went and hanged himself Again Lastly If such a man were the Object of mercy then all the damned in hell were the formal Objects of mercy for there is never a man in hell but the law hath its work to the uttermost upon him it can work a man no lower it can sink a man no deeper it can make a man no more miserable then those that are in hell Now if a dead man by the law should be the formal Object of mercy then the damned in hell should be the formal Object of mercy which cannot be for from thence there is no Redemption Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his angels there is no quenching of that fire So that we see the legal killing of the law doth not make a man the formal Object of mercy But yet such a man hath a great deal of advantage he is before a world of other men that live secure if men were in this estate
receive the sentence of death and to be a dead man if a man be once condemned if the sentence of death be passed upon him then he is without hope that the Judg will save him because the sentence of condemnation is passed upon him A man may see himself worthy of death and yet hope for mercy Rom. 1. 31. Therefore the law doth pronounce the sentence of death upon him and makes a man in a second degree dead Nay Thirdly The law makes a man see there is no hope of return as it is with a dead man when a man is truly dead there is no return from death there is no rising again as the Wise-man speaks of the strange women Prov. 2. 18 19. Surely her house tendeth to death and her paths unto the dead they that go unto her return not again neither take they hold of the wayes of life Here the Wise-man sets forth the infinite misery and damnable estate of such a creature and the irrecoverableness of such a person without the extraordinary mercy of God Ordinarily such persons are seldom or never brought to repentance ordinarily they are irrecoverable So the Law makes a man see he is guilty of death and it passeth the sentence of condemnation upon him and it makes him see there is no repeal of that sentence thus the law leaves him Now a man would think Can a man be more dead then thus How can a man be more dead Yet he may be a thousand times more dead for the livelynesse of a man is but in a swound all this while a man cannot be brisk and peark and self-conceited he is now laid in a swound but is not stark dead But when a man comes to be Evangelically dead he is more dead a great deale And I will shew you it in these three things 1. First He is most dead that is hardest to recover Now when a man is legally dead it is easie to recover that man let but the lash of the law be taken off let but God let him alone and the profits and pleasures of the world will make him alive again his friends and vanities and delights will put life into him again it is an easie matter to recover this man but let a man be evangellically dead when the Gospel hath deaded a man he is a thousand times more dead and a great deal harder to recover nothing can recover that man but Christ let all the profits in the world come they cannot chear him without Christ if the devil should come and put into his minde all good conceits and the good opinion of the world If the Ministers should tell him he is in a good estate they cannot quicken his heart he is dead still he is harder a thousand times to be revived then the other as the Apostle saith Col. 3. 2. 3. Set your affections on things that be above not on things that are on earth for ye are dead and your life is hid in Christ The Gospel hath made you dead and you cannot be revived by any thing but Christ your life is hid with Christ do not you set your affections on things that are below they can never put life into you therefore let not them take up your minds and affections any more for your life is in Christ alone 2. Secondly He is most dead that life it self cannot make alive When a man is but legally dead the law hath made him a dead man and killed him and shewed him he is a damned creature this man let him have but a little life or any thought of life come into him let him have any affections towards God any seeming desires it will make him think I am alive But if the Gospel once have made a man a dead man life it self cannot quicken him Christ himself cannot make this man a live man in himself though life come into him and though he hath life from God yet he himself is dead I am dead through the law saith Paul that I might live unto God thus I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and that life I now live in the flesh I live by Faith in the Son of God Gal. 2. 19 20. When the Gospel had made him dead for that is the meaning of the words he was not only dead by the law but by the power of the Gospel working by the law Now saith he though I have life and Christ be come into me and lives in me yet I do not live I live but not I but it is Christ that liveth in me I live yet do not mistake me I am a dead man I have no life it is Christ that liveth in me when a man is evangelically dead it makes a man content that God should keep life in his hand and keep the purse in his hand and all in his hand it makes him content to be without strength and ability and to have nothing in his own hand but to have all from the Lord and he saith I am a dead man and if I ever have comfort I have none in my self I must go to Christ for comfort and life and strength and ability and so for power and activity and riches and means maintenance and every thing it is not my parts and gifts that can help me to them but I must go to Christ to fetch them now it is the desire of mans heart to have life at home he cannot abide to have life in anothers hands and though the law and hell it self proclaim a man a dead man and make a man see himself a dead man yet it cannot kill this Principle a man would have life and strength in his own hand and ability and sufficiency in his own custody we may see this Principle in Gods own Children though this Principle be begun to be killed yet it rests partly in Gods children there is still a secret lust in their hearts to have life and grace and strength in their own keeping and if any child of God be negligent in coming to God it is because of this Principle that remains in him 3. Thirdly He is most dead that death hath most power over Now when a man is legally dead and the law hath made him a dead man though he be a dead man yet death hath no power over him his heart is stubborn still and will not look toward Christ and the Gospel he is still as stubborn as ever he was he will roar and howl and hear every Sermon but still he hath a hard heart the law hath not power to break his heart to powder and to soften his heart but when a man is evangelically dead when the Gospel hath made him dead as it doth before it quickens a man it breaks the sturdinesse of a mans heart and shatters a man all to pieces that is the meaning of that place Psal 147. 3. He healeth those that are broken in heart and bindeth up their sores Now he is thus made a dead
thought we cannot renew our thoughts we cannot renew our inclinations or our wills or our affections we can do nothing of our selves it is only his work therefore seeing it is such a special work it must be only the Spirit of God that must work it it is a glorious work a supernatural work this new Birth is such a Birth as comes from above Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power c. saith the text that is all that are born of God they are brought forth in the day of Gods power in the day wherein God is pleased to put forth his power in them therefore they are called the seed of Christ Isa 53. 10. They are his seed but unless he begets them by his Spirit they can never be so Therefore if we consider the greatness of the work it sheweth plainly it must needs be the effect of the Will of God and his good Pleasure towards man and therefore must be wrought by the Spirit Secondly Another Reason is Because it is not a work of this world It is a work of another world it is none of the creatures of this life it is beyond the sphere of the activity of any natural agent they cannot reach it Joh. 1. 13. Which were born not of the will of the flesh nor of bloud c. It is not of mans Will he cannot so much as Will it or Desire it effectually he cannot wish it truly nay his heart had rather have the world nay saith he It is not of the Will of the Flesh that is a man may go and beget another Child in the world because it is of the Will of the Flesh it is in the power of the Will of the Flesh Gods power going along with him but this is not so whatsoever a man be though he hath never so many excellent parts it is not in the Will of the Flesh to do it Then again it is not of Bloud it is no terrene or earthly thing this new creature is otherwise made than any new creature in the world besides therefore he concludes it is only born of God it is God only that is the great Author of this great work it descends down meerly from above Thirdly Because it is so far from being wrought by any power in man or any counsel in man or any endeavours in man it is so far from that as that a man is totally against it A man is an enemy unto it a man hath reluctancy and repugnancy against it he would not be regenerate when a man doth think he desires heaven and to be regenerated of God he doth apprehend Regeneration in a wrong way and heaven in a wrong way so as he apprehends it he doth Will it he thinks of heaven as of a fine place and a place full of pleasure and therefore desires it but that he should alwayes be with God that he should alwayes be praysing and thinking of God and minding of God and have his heart weaned from all other things and set it on God this is heaven but he hates these things and so hates heaven so he Wills that which he apprehends to be Regeneration but Regeneration is when a man hath a new heart and when he is a new man he was wordly before but he is now brought to be spiritual he was proud before but he is now come to be humble but the heart cannot abide this therefore let the Lord fling in abundance of throws into a natural mans heart to begin some preparatory work this way to make a man begin to look out towards heaven he flings all away he is weary of them quickly as a man at a Sermon perhaps may have throws concerning the new Birth but the corruption of his heart will throw all way he cannot endure them they are contrary to the corruption of a mans nature nay when God comes to work upon his own people what a deal of pleading is there with the world the flesh and the Divel that they may not be cast out Therefore when Peter saw that through the grace and power of God this work was wrought in those he wrote unto 1 Pet. 1. 3. Mark how he speaks Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead He lifts up his hands to heaven and blesseth God that ever this work was wrought he saw so much adoe and such a stir and such a deal of opposition this is a plain sign that it is not of man it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God which sheweth mercy Rom. 9. 16. Neither can man Will neither can he run neither go nor stir towards it nay though God make him go how apt is he to laggar in the way and draw back again So you see the Fourth Thing Why it must needs be the Spirits Work The Fifth Thing is How the Spirit of God works this Work It is after an unspeakable manner Who can declare the noble acts of the Lord The works of God in Nature are marvellous David himself when he looked upon his natural Birth the Conception of him in the Womb of his Mother he wondered at it Psal 139. 14. That was a wonderful work how much more is this unspeakable and unutterable as it is said of our Saviour Christ Who can declare his generations So may I say in a lower sense of this Work Who can declare this Regeneration of his people But yet thus far the Scripture doth authorize and warrant us to go First That he doth it by the word of Life By the Gospel of Salvation by the Preaching of it or otherwise according as he pleaseth that is the immortal seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God c. And as Paul saith to the Corinthians Though you have ten thousand instructers yet you have not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. As who should say You are begotten and born again and you are born again by the Word and I was an instrument under God of your new Birth by the Word which I have Preached among you and therefore 1 Tim. 1. 2. he calls Timothy His own Son So Tit. 1. 4. he calls him His Son in the Faith that is he was an instrumental Father under God by the Doctrine of Faith to bring him to be a Child of God so that I say it is done by the Word Of his own Will hath he begotten us by the Word of truth Jam. 1. 18. The Spirit of the Lord sanctifies the Word when he is pleased to convert a man the Word shall shew him what a miserable creature he is by nature it sheweth him that flesh and bloud cannot enter into the
kingdom of God it sheweth him that he is utterly forlorn in himself and past all recovery and shews him where life is to be had namely in Jesus Christ discovering his worth and excellency and necessity and that all Grace and good is in him and shews him the freedom of this gracious offer Thus the Spirit of God when he propounds the Word to the soul holds it before the eyes and conscience and sanctifies it and puts a power into it to enter deep into the soul that it may Conceive in the soul Secondly The Lord doth it by an unspeakable working There is a Divine work which the Lord worketh The spirit comes into the soul after the manner of water as Christ saith Joh. 3. Except a man be born again of water and the holy Ghost c. that is unless he be born of the spirit which worketh in the spirit of a man as water doth in working upon a foul thing Now what this working is we cannot tell but we can tell you the effects of it whereas the soul was rotten and naught before and impotent to all good now it begins to have a better disposition and a new power and whereas it did savour of the things of this life before now it savours of the things that are above but this is a secret kind of working in the soul therefore it is called the washing and the laver of it And the Apostle speaking of the Corinthians what miserable creatures they were before Regeneration he named Drunkards Idolaters Adulterers c. and all manner of filthy persons Such were some of you saith he before your Regeneration but now you are washed and justified and sanctified in the Name of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 11. That same washing there he means by that you are Regenerated so that Regeneration it is a supernatural an unspeakable kind of washing of the soul by the holy Ghost whereby the soul hath its Corruption washed from it in part and made clean in part and way made for all the Graces of Gods spirit to come in now and all the fruits of the spirit to be brought forth Thus the Spirit of God works this work he works it in an ineffable manner by the word of Life and by a secret kind of washing I come now to the Application of this Point And first of all If the Spirit of God be the Regenerater of Gods people then we may here see the errour of the Papists Pelagians and others That set up the Will of man and put any activity in the Reason and Judgement and Wisdom and Election of man This Doctrine of theirs is unsound and contrary to the working of Gods holy spirit If it be such a work as God sends his own Spirit to do it What man can do it It is called Regeneration and this shews it is not of man who is able to beget himself and shape himself in the womb and dispose of his own body in the belly Nay more Can any man beget himself again The very name of again shews that it is a work only of God none but he can do it and we see it plainly it is wrought no where but where God himself doth it and they that have it are able to speak it that they did not chuse God but God chose them I was found of them that sought me not all the souls of his people will subscribe That it was not in them that willed or in them that ran but in God that shewed mercy It is God only that is the Author of this thing and none but he Secondly Again This should teach us to consider that we have alwayes need of the Spirit of God If the Spirit of God hath begotten us again then we have alwayes need of him it is not in this as in the first Birth when the Child is born though the Father be gone the Child may subsist but it is not so here but the Spirit of God as he begets a man so he is fain alwayes to stand by him and bear him up and give him supplies of Grace from day to day as it is with the Air the Sun doth not only enlighten it but it doth every moment give light to it for suppose the Sun should shine four or five hours in the day yet if the Sun should with-hold its light the Air would be dark presently it is not as it is with Fire let a man heat the water though he take away the Fire the water will keep its heat a while after but do but with-hold the light of the Sun and all is gone in the same moment so it is with this new Creature and the Spirit of God he doth dwell in the soul as the Sun in the Air his presence warms the soul and quickens the soul and inables a man to good and gives a principle of life and enables to all actions that are good therefore how should all Gods people carry themselves towards this Spirit They should have a care that they quench him not nor go against him in any particular The Third Vse is for all Gods people in whom God hath wrought this blessed work the Spirit of God hath regenerated and begotten them again I say to all such persons Let them endear this Spirit of God let them not grieve or offend or displease him seeing he is such a gracious worker in them Ephes 1. 13. The Apostle makes this very Inference in whom after ye believed ye were sealed by the holy Spirit of Promise that is whereby you were Regenerated Regeneration is the first seal of the Spirit whereby he seals Gods good will to a man Now hath the Spirit of God sealed you Then do not grieve him nor cause him to take any indignation against you for though he will never depart from them whom he hath made new Creatures yet notwithstanding he may hide his face for a time if we displease him Yea Consider Will any natural Child willingly displease his loving Father The Spirit of God is thy Father therefore we should have respect to him Again This should be a Motive to Gods people to be willing to do any thing for God because he hath made them as David saith Psal 100. 3. This very Consideration That God hath made us and re-made us he hath done that for us that all our own wits could never have done that the whole world hath not the like the Lord generally lets the whole World sink in ruine and damnation should be a Motive to you to be willing to serve him gladly and to call upon his Name to be ready prest to execute any of his Commands to enter into his presence upon all occasions seeing it is he that hath made us and not we our selves To them that are Vnregenerated Here we see where to have Regeneration it is only in God and in the Spirit of God to renew a man and make a man up again as David prayed when he
one part of it namely the Cup which is put for the whole and are made all to drink of the same Cup we are all of one and the self same Body as many as are in Christ are endued with the same Spirit not one endued with one Spirit and another endued with another Spirit but by one Spirit we are Baptized into one Body our Baptisme is one and our Food one it is altogether one though our condition in the world be never so different bond or free though our Countrey and Nation and Parish be never so various one to another one of one and another of another Jews and Gentiles we are all baptized into one Body and this is done by one and the self-same Spirit Now to speak of the putting of a man into the Body of Christ We will shew you these Five things First What this Body of Christ is Secondly What this putting of a man into it is Thirdly That this is done by the Spirit of God Fourthly How the Spirit of God doth it How a man is made part of the Body of Christ Fifthly The Application of the Point For the First What is this Body of Christ which the Spirit of God doth ingraft his people into In a word It is the invisible Church of God which is a peculiar company of men and women out of all Nations under heaven predestinated to eternal life gathered together by the Word and made all one in Christ This is the Body of Jesus Christ so that here are Five Things that are to be opened First It is the Church of God as the Apostle saith Col. 1. 18. He is the Head of the Body the Church So that the Church is the Body of Christ that same peculiar company of men and women as Saint Peter calls them You are a chosen generation a peculiar people a royal priesthood 1 Pet. 2. 9. The Author to the Hebrews calls them The Assembly of the first born Heb. 12. 23. And Christ himself calls them A little flock in regard of the multitude of other people that is in the world and are not of this brotherhood Now I call this invisible for though their persons and courses and manner of life be seen and known and they may be known who they are yet all of them were never known nor ever will be there may be more then we can tell and fewer then we think of The foundation of God is sure having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Lord had seven thousand in Israel that had not bent their knees to Baal when Eliah could see never a one So that this is the First Thing it is the invisible Church of God Secondly It 's such a company as is gathered out of all Nations under heaven As Saint John speaks Rev. 7. 9. After this behold and loe I saw a great multitude of all Nations Countryes and Tongues c. Though it be a little Flock in respect of the Reprobate yet it is a great multitude considered in it self and they stood before the throne before the Lambe with long white Robes and with Palms in their hands This white Robe is the Righteousnesse of Christ Jesus imputed which begets another Righteousnesse which is inherent in some measure and the Palms in their hands is the sign of Victory over Sin Death and Hell and this is a great multitude and it was out of all Cities Nations and Kindreds of the world and therefore our Saviour Christ speaking of his own taking of this company home unto himself at the last day see what he speaks Matth. 24. 31. He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather his Elect from the four Winds from the one end of the Earth to the other The Lord gathers here one and there another as a man would gather a Posie in a Garden here a flower and there a flower This is Another Thing in the Body of Christ it is a Company gathered out of all Nations and People and Places at one time or other Thirdly This same godly Company are a Company of Predestinated men unto Eternal life For there are none but the chosen of God that are the true Body of Christ this is a company only of Elect men and women and babes therefore they are called Elect Rom. 8. 33. They are such a company as are written in the Lamb's Book of life Rev. 21. 27. Therefore all those that seem to be of God and go a great way with the people of God and yet turn back as Orphah from Naomi Ruth 1. They were never of this number 1 Joh. 2. 19. They were not of us they went out from us if they had been of us they would have continued with us So that it is only the Elect of God that are of this Company that are the Members of this Body Fourthly It is such a godly Company as is gathered by the Word of God The Word of God gathers them together they as well as other people by nature are of another Body of another Corporation as vile and as wretched and as miserable in themselves if left to themselves but God found them when he passed by them and said to them Live they were defiled as well as others in their bloud but the Lord turned their hearts by the Word doth beget them again thereby This is that immortal seed whereby God doth beget them again unto eternal life Fifthly They are such a company as are made one knit and combined together in Christ though themselves are never so many and never so remote and distant from one another may be they never saw one another nor ever heard of one another one lives in one Country another in another one in one parish another in another and have little bodily communion and are not known one to another may be some of this company are in heaven already and some upon earth yet they are all one in Christ they all meet together in one heart and soul in Christ Jesus they are all of one minde in him as being all one body as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 12. 12. and they are all one seed Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made He saith not To seeds as if they were many but To thy seed as of one that is Christ that is which is Christ and all that are Christs they are one seed the seed of the woman indeed all men come forth of the womans loins the wicked as well as the godly only here is the difference The one is the seed of God the other of the Serpent Now Christ and all that are Christs are one and the self-same seed though they are different in Place different in Countrey different in estate and condition some Jews some Gentiles some Bond some Free some Noble some Mean yet they are all one in Christ Jesus as the Apostle
saith Gal. 3 28. There is neither Jew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus 'T is true you are different among your selves one is a master another a servant one is a rich man another a poor man so there is a difference but they are all one in Christ Jesus they have all one and the self-same Faith they have all one and the self-same Father there is but one Lord and one Spirit to quicken and unite them all Thus we see what this Body of Christ is Now in the Second place What it is to be put into this Body to be implanted into it to be knit into this Body I Answer in a few words it is this It is a part of a mans Ingrafting into Christ by Faith whereby a man is ingrafted into the Body of Christ having one common life with all the rest of the Members for mutual consent and profit and care and help and sympathy or fellow-feeling First It is a part of a mans ingrafting into Christ For the ingrafting of a man into Christ and into the body of Christ are not Two things but God doth them by one and the self-same act as you may see Rom. 12. 5. We being many are one body in Christ and every one Members one of another that is by being Members of Christ and by being ingrafted into Christ we come to have fellowship and conjunction and joyning one with another it must needs be the same work for the putting a man into Christ in whom are the other Members that very act makes a man to have fellowship with Christ together with all the other Members as the Apostle speaks Rom. 11. 17. Though some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wilde olive tree wast grafted in for them and made partaker of the root When a man is ingrafted into this Olive tree he is ingrafted with the rest of Christs Members and he doth partake together with the other Members of the same root and of the same Gifts and Graces God doth both under one Therefore though I handle this after the other it is because I cannot handle them both at once Saint John saith 1 Joh. 1. 7. If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another So that if a man be in Christ he hath communion with the Body of Christ if he hath fellowship with Christ he hath fellowship with the Body of Christ so that you see the Spirit doth both by one and the self-same act as the Apostle saith Ephes 2. 12. Ye were at that time without Christ and aliants from the common-wealth of Israel It is all one thing to say that a man is out of Christ and an aliant from the common-wealth of Israel without that corporation without that Body he is no Member of that Body therefore it follows on the other side If a man be in Christ and ingrafted into Christ then he is of this society he is of the common-wealth of the Israel of God So that this is the First Thing It is a part of a mans ingrafting into Christ Secondly This likewise is done by Faith When a man is ingrafted into Christ he is ingrafted into him by Faith As the Apostle saith Rom. 11. 23. And they also if they abide not in unbelief shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them As who should say If ever they have Faith they are ingrafted into Christ it is Faith that ingrafts a man into Christ and the same Faith that makes a man to be of the Body of Christ that puts a man into the number of the Members of Christ as Paul saith To Titus my Son in the common Faith Tit. 1. 4. that is it is such a Faith as doth not only ingraft this man into Christ but the very self-same Faith another man having it it doth ingraft him into the Body of Christ too So that it is a common Faith whereby one is ingrafted into the Body of Christ as well as another as Act. 2. 44. They were all of one minde and one heart they all hung together as one body they imparted their gifts and the things they had even to their very Lands and Goods one to another here was a sweet communion but then what was the reason of this What was the Instrument that wrought this It was Faith for the text saith they were believers or else they could not have done it And therefore as we are said to come to Christ so to the Body of Christ as Heb. 12. 22. But ye are come to Mount Zion to the City of the living God the celestial Jerusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the congregation of the first born which are written in heaven You are come he speaks of a spiritual coming by Faith So that this putting into the Body of Christ is by Faith Then in the Third place It makes a man have a common life with all the rest of the Members of Jesus Christ As you may see Col. 3. 4. When Christ which is our life shall appear ye also shall appear with him in glory Christ who is our life We that are the people of God Christ is our life we have one and the self-same life all one and the self-same minde in the wayes of God As it is said Act. 4. 32. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul all the people of God in the whole world would quickly be acquainted if they were brought together for they are all of one and the self-same disposition and mind As our Saviour speaks to his Father Joh. 17. 21. That they all may be one as thou art in me and I in thee so that all they may be one in us As the Three Persons in the blessed Trinity are three distinct Persons and yet are all one so in some sense the Members of the Body of Christ though they be of several callings and conditions in the world yet they are all one that they may be all one as we are one vers 21. They all live by the same rule and walk by the same rule they are all guided by the same Word and swayed by the same Commandment they all walk in one Way they all Pray by one and the self-same Spirit they have a life that is common look as one lives so lives another look as one repents so another repents look as one believes so another believes and look as one apprehends of God and comes before him with affection and fear and trembling so doth another though they never saw one another yet they all meet in the same life for they have the same root of life the same cause of life In the Fourth place It makes a man to be of one consent with all the people of God every where As you may see Zeph. 3. 9.
a Lawyer offer to plead this day he shall not have the benefit of his pleading or case and if a minister breake this day he shall be excommunicated half a year and throwne out of the Church and shall not be received into the Church again but upon great humiliation This was the judgment of Divines in all ages and it is the observation of a reverend Divine Musculus upon Exod. 20. God doth not say Remember the Sabbath to keepe it holy he that keeps it an hour or two keeps it holy but Remember the Sabbath Day to keepe it holy he will have a day kept holy Nay Calvin whom they take to be on their side to be a patron of their liberty he himselfe writing upon Deut. 6. upon these words Remember the Sabbath day he saith we are to keep this day speaking of himselfe and all the people of God we are to keepe this day and not a part of it but all of it The second Use is this we may hence see that sports and pastimes are not agreeable to the Lords day for if the Lord hath forbidden our weekly works on that day then surely he hath forbidden sports and pastimes The reason is good first because our weekly works are things Commanded at other times now sports and pastimes are never Commanded by God but onely permitted now if things commanded and things that are good at sometimes if these notwithstanding may not be done upon the Lords day then much lesse must those be done that are permitted onely Secondly because weekely works do lesse distract a man from God then sports and pastimes I appeale to any man here present if he be not more heavenly and better employed and lesse distract from good thoughts and gracious affections when he is plowing or sowing or threshing then when he is diceing and carding sports and pastimes beat a man further off from religion and let a man go to prayer after sports and pastimes he shall find himselfe more unfit and unaffected a great deal then he shall when he comes from the works of his calling Now if those things that do lesse distract from Gods worship and service are forbidden upon the Sabbath day then surely much more those things that do more distract must needs be forbidden upon that day FINIS The Division of the Text. Obser Vse 1 Vse 2. Vse 3. The latter part of the Text opened Obser Luk. 16. Quest Answ Mat. 25. Vse 1 King 21 Acts 5. What it is to watch Literally Ordinary Extraordinary For a Civil end For a Spiritual end Spiritually It implies proneness to be drowzy Endeavour to stir up our selves It is an intentive Consideration in all Cases What we must watch Our Selves Our Thoughts Heart Words Senses Eyes Ears Whole selves Duties of Religion Before Duty In Duty Time Present time Time of Gods wrath Time of Grace Death Judgment Reasons Our proneness to be drowzy Christians life is a Warfare The world an enemy The Divel The certain advantage of watchfulness We cannot else expect help or pardon Object Answ Gods appointment None can Watch for us Object Answ Vse Condemning the general neglect of Watchfulnesse Reproving the godly's too great neglect Directing how to watch Account watchfulness our life Watching in al things Proportioning it to what we are about Avoiding hinderances Vain company Spiritual drunkennesse Setting God before our eyes Vse Exhorting to watchfulnesse Motives Because otherwise it will be ill with us at last Because our souls are sickly We are already awakened Badness of the times and carelessness of the most Regeneration attributed to the spirit Because Christ doth it by the spirit Spirit is the bond of union between us and Christ Becaus the spirit quickens the word wherby we are born again That the spirit of God doth regenerate all the Saints What Regeneration is A Renewing A Renewing of the whole man By degrees perfected According to Gods Image In Jesus Christ Why called Regeneration To shew the great Corruption of Nature The work well expressed by the Name Father both in Natural and Spiritual Generation A Mother in both First Conceâ—tion and thâ—â— Birth â—ain accompaâ—ies both Births Both come to a Being they had â—ot New Kindred follows both Wherein Regeneration consisteth Passive receiving Christ â—n active poâ—â—r to become child of God Reasons why the Spirit worketh Regeneration It is the good pleasure of God No other agent can do it Man is totally against it of himself How the Spirit worketh Regeneration By the Word of Life By a secret and supernatural power Vse 1. Of Confutation of Pelagians c. Information Of our continual need of the Spirit Exhortation 1. Not to grieve the Spirit 2. To do any thing for God 3. To the Unregenerate to pray for the Spirit Of Examination whether regenerated or no. First Signe When doing good is natural The heart 's a good soil for Grace He cannot live in Sin It is pleasant to do the will of God Grace gets the upper hand He loves the people of God He loves Spiritually to profit others VVhat this Body is The invisible Church of God Gathered out of all Nations Predestinated unto life Begotten again by the VVord VVhat putting into this Body is A part of our ingrafting into Christ VVrought by Faith Making us have common life with other Members It makes of one consent with all the people of God For mutual care and help That this is the Spirits work Reasons why the Spirit of God doth thus unite to the Body of Christ None but the Spirit is able None but the Spirit is fit to do it How the Spirit doth Unite to Christ's Body By being one and the same spirit in all Members By tying a knot between all the Members Vses The want of the Spirit is the cause of difference Let none put asunder what the Spirit joyns To try our acquaintance hereby To stir up a sympathy amongst the Saints How to work maintain and express this sympathy By informing our selves concerning one another By visiting our fellow-Members By laying to heart their afflictions Proposit 1. A set time for worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Propos 2. Some set time for worship every day Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Propos 3. Every day in some sort a Sabbath Reas 1. Luk. 1. 74 75. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Propos 4. A particular â—pecial day for Gods worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Propos 5. One day of Seven to be set apart for Gods worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Reas 5. Propos 6. That day of the seven to be kept holy on which God rested Propos 7. All that is in the Fourth Commandment is not essential to it Quest Answ 1. Propos 8. The fourth Commandmen continual alwayes to abide in the Church Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. â—eas 4. Reas 5. Reas 6. Gal. 5. 2 Exod. 35. 3 Reas 7. Propos 9. The first day of he week was the Lords day and so to continue to the end 〈◊〉 the world Reas 1. ver 22. 23 Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Reas 5. Reas 6. Reas 7. Reas 8. Vse 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Vse 2