my Soul burn not as clear and bright in Love as my Body in the Flames it availeth me nothing I burn only what was dead before and offer a Carkass instead of a Sacrifice There is no Work or Duty how specious soever that is of any profit to the Soul if that Work or Duty hath not the Life and Power of some Grace or other expressed in it Well then this is the first Ground why Works without Grace are fruitless because they are empty and liveless Grace is the Life and Spirit of good Works Secondly All Works and Duties whatever without Grace leave the Heart in the same estate of Sin and therefore the Person in the same estate of Wrath and Condemnation as before For First All of them are not a sufficient expiation for the guilt of any one Sin Should such Men pray and sigh till their Breath were turned into a Cloud and covered the Face of the whole Sky Should they weep till they drown'd themselves in their own Tears yet if all this could be supposed to be only the remorse of Nature and not true and godly Sorrow they would still be under the same state of Condemnation as the most feared Sinner in the World The Prophet Micah tells of some that bid very high for Pardon and Forgiveness as if they were resolved to carry it at any rate whatever Wherewith say they Micah 6.6 7. shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the most-high God Shall we come before him with burnt Offerings and with Calves of a Year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams and with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil Shall we give our First-born for our Transgressions the Fruit of our Bodies for the Sin of our Souls What high Rates are here bidden and yet all this falls short There is but one Grace and that is Faith that can give us a Right and Title to that Righteousness that shall be a sufficient Expiation and Attonement for all our Sins Secondly All Attainments and Attempts all Endeavours and Duties without Grace can never mortifie and subdue the Power and Dominion of any one Lust or Corruption Men may divert and chain and restrain their Corruptions and impale in their Lusts so that they shall not break forth into any outragious Wickedness but yet without Grace they can never subdue them because it is Grace alone that can lay the Ax to the Root of this evil Tree Well then notwithstanding all that hath been said concerning the Power of Nature what Men may do thereby and how far they may go yet here you see what Impotency there is in Nature without Grace and what it cannot reach to perform But now this is not spoken that hereby any should be discouraged from Working and because some doubt of the Truth of their Graces that therefore they should desist from a course of Holiness and Obedience this were plainly to thwart the whole design of this Subject No all that hath been said is to persuade Men not to rest satisfied in any Work of Obedience or Religion in which some Grace is not breathed or exercised nor to look upon them at all as inductive to Salvation as in themselves but as in reference to true Grace How many poor Souls are there who because they run on in a round of Duties because they do something that they call good Works think that Salvation is as sure their own as if all the Promises in the Scripture were sealed and delivered to them by God himself And yet poor Creatures never examine or regard from what Principle this their Obedience flows whether from a Principle of Grace or from the old corrupt Principle of Nature new-vampt from some new Operations of the common Spirit Believe it this is not that Obedience that God requires nor that he will accept an inward Groan if breathed by Grace is of more account with God and will be more available to the Soul than the most pompous and specious Services of unregenerate Men. What is it to God when you offer not only the Blind and the Lame but the Dead also Is it not rather an Abomination than Obedience The Apostle tells us Without Works Jam. 3.20 Faith is dead And it is as true on the other side also that Works without Faith and other Graces of the Spirit are not only dead but rotten and noisome Every Duty Men perform in a graceless State and Condition God must needs loath it and them for it The Prayer of the Wicked is an Abomination unto the Lord. Prov. 28.9 It is as hateful unto God as Vapors that ascend up out of Tombs from putrified Bodies are unto us What then must such Persons give up themselves to Sin therefore God forbid No rather let such think thus if our Duties and our Righteousness be so loathsome what are our Sins and Iniquities Though every Sinner be dead in Sins and Trespasses yet is it less offensive to have a dead Carkass embalmed than to have it lie open Still therefore continue working but in your working First aim at the obtaining of Grace before you aim at the obtaining of Heaven and Salvation let it at no time content you that such and such Duties you have performed but look what Grace have you acted in them what is there of God breathing in this Prayer that I now put up How am I in Hearing in Meditation in Discoursing of the Things of God Is my Heart holy and spiritual Are my Affections pure and fervent Are my Graces active and vigorous And are they vigorous in this Work of Obedience Else to perform Duties and to neglect Grace that alone can inable us to perform Duties acceptably is only to go to Hell a little more cleanly Secondly Direct 2. If you would work out your own Salvation as you must look to the actings of Grace as well as to the performance of Duties so you must labour to grow and increase in those Graces that are most active and working and they are Two the Grace of Faith and the Grace of Love To grow strong in these Graces is the most compendious way for a Christian to dispatch his great Work I may call them the two Hands of a Christian and he that is most active in these works out his Salvation with both Hands earnestly First The actings of Faith is of mighty advantage to the working out of our Salvation Two Senses there are in which Salvation may be said to be wrought out First In Title And Secondly In actual Possession and Enjoyment Now Faith is a working out of the one and a compendious furtherance towards the working out of the other First Upon our believing Salvation is already wrought out for us in Right and Title He that believeth shall be saved here is the Title The great Work is then done and finished when once Faith is wrought And therefore when the Jews came to enquire of our Saviour John
6.24 29. How they should do to work the Works of God Our Lord tells them This is the Work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent Nay further as a Faith of Adherence or Acceptance gives a Right and Title to Salvation so a Faith of full Assurance is this Salvation it self Heb. 11.1 For Faith is the substance of Things hoped for the Evidence of Things not seen In its justifying Act it gives a Title to Salvation in its assuring Act it gives the substance of the Thing it self for it is much at one to a strong Faith to believe Heaven and to enjoy it Secondly Faith doth compendiously further and promote the working out of our Salvation in actual possession and that because Faith is that Grace which fetcheth all that ability and strength from Christ whereby a Christian is inabled to work Faith is not only a Grace of it self but it is Steward and Purveyor for all other Graces and its Office is to bring in Provision for them while they are working and therefore as a Mans Faith grows either stronger or weaker so his Work goes on more or less vigorously When other Graces are in want and cry Give Give then Faith betakes it self to Christ and saith Lord such a Grace stands in need of so much Strength to support it and such a Grace stands in need of so much Support to act it and I have nothing to give it my self and therefore I come to fetch Supplies from thee And certainly this Faith that comes thus empty-handed unto Christ never goes away empty-handed from Christ What is it that you complain of Is it that the Work stands at a stay and you cannot make it go forward Is it that Temptations are strong and violent that Duties are hard irksome and difficult Why set Faith on work to go to Christ and there you may be sure to have Supply because Faith is an omnipotent Grace All things are possible to him that believeth and that because all things are possible to that God and to that Christ on whom Faith is acted There is no Grace nor no Supply nor Mercy laid up in the Lord Jesus Christ but it is all in the Hands of a Believer's Faith and he may take from thence whatsoever he needs to supply the present Wants and Necessities of his Soul Secondly Another working Grace is the fervent actings of Love Love is the great Wheel of the Soul that sets all the rest a moving and makes it like the Chariots of Aminadab to run swiftly towards its desired Object There is a mutual dependence between Faith and Love in their working Love depends upon Faith to strengthen it and Faith depends again upon Love to act it As we love not that which we do not know and our knowledge of God and of the Things of Eternity is by Faith not by Vision so those Things which we do know and which we do believe yet if we love them not we shall never endeavour after them The Apostle therefore tells us that Faith worketh by Love Now there is a threefold spiritual Love required to expedite our great Work First A transcendent Love of God Secondly A regular Love of our selves Thirdly A complacential Love unto and Delight in our Work it self Now when the Affections go out after these Objects of Love this will much facilitate our great Work First The Love of God is a great help to our Duty Our Saviour therefore urgeth Obedience upon this very account If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15 1 John 5.3 And says the Apostle this is the Love of God that is this is a certain Sign or it is the constant effect of our Love to God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous they are not grievous because they are his Commandments who is the Love and Joy of our Souls Divine Love always conforms it self to divine Precepts and that for two Reasons First Because this Grace as it desires the beatifical Union to God in Glory hereafter for Love is the desire of Union so now it causes an unspeakable Union of Will and a supernatural simpathy of Affection betwixt God and the Soul which Union cannot be a Union of Equality or Entity as is in the Persons of the blessed Trinity and therefore it is a Union of Subordination of a Christians Will to the Will of God Now what is this Will of God Why the Apostle tells us 1 Thes 4.3 This is the Will of God says he even your Sanctification And the same Apostle tells us in another place Eph. 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works that God hath before ordained that we should walk in them And is this Gods Will and shall it not be our Work Hath God ordained that we should walk therein and shall we be averse from or slothful thereunto How can we pretend we love God while we neglect the only Thing he requires from us Holiness and Obedience God wills our Holiness because there is no better a thing that he can Will next unto himself the Image of God next to himself is the most excellent and chiefest Good every thing the nearer it approacheth unto God the more desirable it becomes in it self Now that which comes most near unto God and advanceth the Soul in some resemblance and similitude to him is Holiness and Endeavours after Obedience whereby we become conformable unto God and attain some faint Shadows and Essays of the divine Perfections The Soul wills in order unto Gods Will God now wills Holiness because it is most desirable and we must will our own Holiness because if we love God as we pretend to do our Wills must be conformable to his holy Will Secondly Love to God is a Help to Duty because it is in and by Duty that we enjoy the Presence of God and have Communion and Fellowship with him These are the Lattices through which God appears to the longing Soul and though he many times vouchsafes but half Smiles and little Glances yet in these reserved Communications the Soul finds so much sweetness as ingageth it to a constant performance of Duties all its Days Here says the Soul God was wont to walk in his Sanctuary here have I heard his Voice here have I seen his Face his Spirit hath here breathed upon me his Consolations have here refreshed me and therefore here will I wait upon him as long as I live I remember well says the Soul when in Prayer and Meditation my Heart hath been filled by him poured out to him and accepted with him I remember when he filled me first with Sighs and then with Songs and both alike unutterable and therefore I will keep to the performance of these Duties waiting for the further Discoveries and Manifestations of my God unto me Secondly As Love to God so a regular self-Self-love will much help and further our Obedience and Duty And then is
so should a Christian pass from one Duty to another and draw forth the sweetness of Communion with God from every one of them 3. To work for Salvation a difficult Work Thirdly To evince the greatness of this Work consider it is a Work that must be carried on against many Encounters and strong Oppositions that a Christian will certainly meet with within are strong Corruptions without are strong Temptations you have a treacherous and deceitful Heart within and this Traitor holds Intelligence and League with your great Enemy the Devil without You are sure to meet with Difficulties Affronts and Discouragements from a peevish ill-condition'd World in which you live Never any yet could scape free to Heaven without meeting with these Things And doth not all this call upon you to work and strive for Salvation Is it a time to sit still when you have all this Opposition to break through so many Temptations to resist so many Corruptions to mortify Satan that old Serpent to repel and make him become a flying Serpent Doth not all this require a morose Constancy and a kind of sour Resolvedness to go thorough the ways of Obedience notwithstanding all Opposition These great Things are not to be atchieved without great Pains and Labour and therefore if you resolve to do no more than a few heartless Wishes no more than a few more heartless Duties will amount to never raise your Expectations so high as Salvation for let me tell you Salvation will not be obtained at such a rate as this no there must be great Struglings and Labour with earnest Contendings if ever you intend to be saved And thus much for the first Argument taken from the consideration of the greatness of the Work To work Salvation out is a great Work and requireth great Pains But lest the setting out the greatness of this Work should rather deter and fright Men from it than excite and quicken their Endeavours to it let me add a second Thing And that is to consider what an infinite 2. It is infinite Mercy that Sinners may work for Salvation incomparable Mercy it is that God will allow you to work for your Lives that he sets Life and Death before you and gives them into your Hands to take your Choice If you will indulge your Sloth then you choose Death but Life may be yours if you will It will indeed cost you much Pains and Labour but yet it may be yours And is it not infinite Mercy that Salvation and Happiness may be yours though upon any Terms Wicked Men are apt to say O how happy had we been if God had never commanded us to Work if he had never required from us such harsh and difficult Duties if we were but once free from this hard Task and heavy Burden of Obedience But alas foolish Sinners they know not what they say as happy as they count this to be yet if God required no working from them he should then shew them just so much Mercy as he doth to the Devils and damned Spirits and no more from whom God requires no Duty as well as from whom he receives no Duty and unto whom he intends no Mercy You think it a hard Restraint possibly to be kept under the strict Commands of the Law Oh! that God required no such Observances from you But what do you desire herein but only the unhappy Priviledge of the Damned to be without Law and without Commands But should God send to the Spirits now imprison'd and should he declare to them that if they would Work they should be saved oh how would they leap in their Chains at such glad Tidings as these are and count it part of Salvation that there was but a possibility of it No but God commands nothing from them because he intends nothing but Wrath upon them he will not vouchsafe so much Mercy to them as to require those Duties from them that you repine and murmur at as grievous And furthermore consider this if you do not now work but perish under your Sloth in Hell you will think it an infinite Mercy if God would command you more rigid and severe Obedience than ever he commanded from you on Earth It would be a great Mercy there if it might be your Duty to Repent and Pray and Believe nay you would count a Command then to be as comfortable as a Promise for indeed there is no Command but connotes a Promise No but these things shall not so much as be your Duty in Hell for there you shall be freed for ever from this rigorous and dreadful Law of God that now you so much complain of and murmur against Oh! therefore be persuaded while you are yet under the Mercy of the Law give me leave to call it so and while you have so many Promises couched in every Command before God hath left off his merciful Commanding before the time of Duty be expired be persuaded to Work Delay not you know not how long God will vouchsafe to require any thing from you and as soon as that ceaseth truly you are in Hell And this is the second Argument to press this Duty upon you Work and that speedily too while you may Work there is hope that upon your working you may be saved and therefore while God calls upon you and whilst he will accept of Obedience from you it is time for you to begin to work 3. Time to work for Salvation in is very short Thirdly Consider what a short scantling of Time is allowed you to do your great Work in And this I shall branch out into two Particulars First Consider how sad it will be for your Time to be run out before your great Work be done Alas what are threescore Years if we were all sure to live so long from the date of this present moment How short a space is it for us to do that which is of eternal Concernment in and yet how few of us shall live to that which we so improperly call old Age Our Candle is lighted and it is but small at the best and to how many of us is it already sunk in the Socket and brought to a Snuff and how soon the Breath of God may blow it out neither you nor I know Night is hastning upon us the Grave expects us and bids other Corpses make room for us Death is ready to grasp us in its cold Arms and to carry us before God's Tribunal and alas how little of our great Work is done What can any shew that they have done Where are the actings of Faith the labour of Love the perfect Works of Patience Where are those Graces that are either begotten or increased Where are the Corruptions that you have mortify'd These are Works that require Ages to perform them in and yet you neglect them that have but a few Days nay possibly but a few Minutes to do them in But what is God severe Is God unjust to require so
attain in Glory where our whole Work to all Eternity shall be to love and please God or else that Perfection that consists in its Sincerity in this Life If we take it for that perfection of Love that shall for ever burn in our Hearts when we our selves shall be made perfect so it is certain it will cast out all tormenting Fears for certainly if in Heaven Hope it self shall be abolished much more shall Fear be abolished for there every Saint shall have much more than a full assurance even a full fruition of Glory and they shall know themselves to be for ever confirmed in that blessed state which shall prevent all doubts and fears If we understand it of that perfection of Love that we may attain to in this Life so also the strong and vigorous actings of Love to God casteth out all tormenting Fears It is not possible that that Soul that actually loves God with a vigorous and most ardent Affection should at the same time be rack'd with distracting fears of Hell and Damnation for it is the sense of God's Love unto the Soul that draws from it reciprocal Love again unto God We love him says the Apostle because he first loved us That is as strong as our apprehensions are of God's Love to us so strong will our Love be in its returns to God again Water riseth naturally as high as its Spring wherefore the assurance of God's Love being the Spring from whence our Love flows such as is our Love such will be our assurance also If then our Love be strong in its actings it must needs cast out Fear because it flows from that assurance with which tormenting Fear is utterly inconsistent But then there is another kind of Fear that is not tormenting and that is an awful frame of Heart struck with reverential apprehensions of God's infinite Majesty and our own vileness and unworthiness and this perfect Love doth not cast out but perfects this awful sedate calm fear of God The Angels and the glorified Saints in Heaven whose Love is so perfect that it can neither admit of an increase or abatement yet they stand in aw and fear of the terrible Majesty of the great God the same infinit Excelencies of the divine Nature that attract their Love doth also excite their Fear See how the Prophet makes this an Argument to fear God Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Saints For said he in all the Earth there is none like unto thee One would rather think Gods unparallel Excellencies and Perfections should be a Motive to Love who would not love thee O King of Saints since there is none in all the Earth like thee Yea but filial Fear and filial Love are of so near a kind and cognation that they may well be enforced by one and the same Argument Who would not fear thee for in all the Earth there is none like thee This is the Excellency of divine Love it is an attractive of Love and it is an excitement unto Fear Well then though we have no chilling Fear of a hot and scorching Hell yet let us have an awful reverential Fear of the glorious God whose Excellencies are such as cannot be matched nor scarcely imitable by any in Heaven or in Earth Thirdly 3. A holy Fear of God is not contrary to the Spirit of Adoption The Fear of God is not contrary to that free Spirit of Adoption which we receive in our first Conversion It may perhaps seem to some that the Apostle opposeth them in Rom. 8.15 You have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby you cry Abba Father To this I Answer That by the Spirit of Bondage here the Apostle means the legal Work of the holy Ghost in Conviction that is preparatory to Conversion which Work usually is accompanied with dreadful Terrors apprehending God not as a reconciled Father but as an incensed and severe Judge why now says the Apostle You have not received this Spirit of Bondage again thus to fear this is not that Fear that the consideration of God as your God and reconciled Father excited to you this is not that Fear that the Apostle exhorts Christians unto but an awful reverential Fear of God whereby we should stand in aw of his dread Majesty so as to be preserved from whatever may be an offence to his Purity and if in any Night of Desertion it should happen that the Hearts of true Believers should be overwhelmed with dismal Fears apprehending God as enraged and incensed against them standing in doubt of the goodness of their spiritual Condition if this seize upon them after they have had the Spirit of Adoption let them know this Fear is not from a Work of the Holy Ghost in them they have not received the Spirit of Bondage again so to fear it is not a Work of the Holy Ghost to excite in them doubts and fears of their spiritual Condition after they have once had assurance of the goodness thereof but it ariseth either from some Ignorance or from some Sin that they have committed that interposeth betwixt them and the clear sight of the discoveries of God's Love Now for the better understanding of this place because I judge it pertinent to my present purpose I shall open it to you somewhat largely in these following Particulars 1. The Work of Conversion is usually carried on by legal Fear and Terrors First The preparatory Work of Conversion is usually carried on in the Soul by legal Fears and Terrors I call that a legal Fear that is wrought in the Soul by the Dread-Threatnings and Denunciations of the Law The Law if we take it in its native Rigour without the merciful qualification of Gospel-grace thunder'd out nothing but Execrations Wrath and Vengeance against every Transgressor of it representing God armed also with his almighty Power to destroy them this is that Glass that shew'd them their old Sins in most ugly Shapes now they see them stare ghastly upon their Consciences that before allured them the Scene is quite changed and there are nothing but dreadful Apparitions of Death and Hell fleeting now before them Hell belsh'd in their very Faces God brandished his flaming Sword over them ready to reeve their Hearts asunder they that lately were secure and fearless now stand quaking under the fearful expectations of that fiery Wrath and Indignation that they neither have hope to escape nor yet have they Strength or Patience to endure This is that legal Fear that the Curse and Threatnings of the Law when set home in their full acrimony work in the Hearts of convinced Sinners Secondly 2. Slavish Fear engenders unto Bondage This legal Fear is slavish and engenders unto Bondage There is Bondage under the reigning Power of Sin and there is a Bondage under the terrifying Power of Sin The former makes a Man a Slave unto the Devil and the latter makes a Man a
self-Self-love truly regular when Men love their own Souls as God loves them Now Gods love to the Souls of Men is such that though He wills all Men to be saved yet he wills that none shall be saved but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth And whilst we love our selves if we observe the same method and order this self-Self-love is always commendable and necessary Desires after eternal Happiness and Salvation are natural to that Soul that is truly conscious of its own Immortality and eternal unalterable State and Condition and when these Desires are directed to future Happiness through present Holiness then are they regular and become gracious We are not so straitly limited by Gods Sovereignty over us but while we fix one Eye upon our Work we may fix the other on our Reward God is not so strict in his Prerogative over us as to require Service from us from what we have already received from him He is not as a cruel Lord and Master to say Obey me though afterwards you perish see to it that you love and glorifie me though I eternally punish you though considering that infinite distance we stand at from God we could object nothing against the Equity of his Proceedings No but God hath so graciously twisted his Glory and our Duty together that while we promote the one we do also promote the other and while we work for God we do but work for our selves Now are there any that need to be persuaded to love themselves Is it not the great and general Sin that all Men love and seek themselves And do not Men by becoming Self-lovers become Self-destroyers Yes they do so but it is because they seek themselves out of Gods way that therefore they lose themselves for ever Religion and Holiness are not such severe things as to exclude Self-love nay right Self-love is that which is no where to be found separate from true Grace Ministers call upon Men to exercise Self-denial and Self-abhorrence and this the foolish World mistakes as if so be they exhorted them to divorce themselves from themselves to lay aside all respect and consideration of Self and to offer violence to the most common Principles of Self-preservation No would to God we all sought our selves more earnestly and constantly than we do and that we all knew wherein our greatest Interest and Concernment did lie then should we not leave our great Work undone nor gratifie the Sloth of our corrupt Humors and the sinful propensions of our carnal part nor should we think what we do for Sin and Satan we do for our selves no all this is to hate our selves And wicked Men at the last Day shall know they have been their own most bitter and most implacable Enemies that they would not be content with any thing less than their own eternal Ruin A true Christian is the only selfish Man in the World all others they are not Self-lovers but Self-destroyers What shall I say more than this The Apostle asks Did ever any Man hate his own Flesh Did ever any Man delight to gash and burn to wrack and torture himself Truly I may ask the quite contrary Do almost any love their own Spirits their spiritual part their Souls This they wound and gash by many a bloody Sin this they burn and fear by hardness and impenitency this they go about to torture and torment in Hell for ever Oh therefore be persuaded at length to take pity on your selves considering you are but destroying while you think you are embracing of your selves and that will be found but Self-murder at last which you now call Self-love Thirdly A complacential Love to 3. Love to our Work makes it easie and Delight in your Work is a great furtherance of it A wicked Man serves God grudgingly he murmurs at Duties and looks upon them only as Tasks and Burthens thinking every thing he doth for God too much too heavy and weighty The Commands of God are all of them hard Sayings and grievous Impositions that he cannot bear he could believe Christ sooner in any thing than when he tells him Mat. 11.28 My Yoke is easy and my Burthen is light Here he cannot believe Christ Thus much time saith the slothful Sinner must I spend in Prayer and there must I humble my self to God whom I hate and confess before him those Sins that I love and beg that Grace that I have slighted so much time must I spend in reading the Law that I never mean to observe perusing over only the Sentence of my Condemnation and so often must I fix and dwell upon holy and spiritual Thoughts which never at any time darted into or passed intransiently but they did discompose me and leave me a damp and sadness upon my Spirit behind them and therefore because there is not a holy complacency and delight in the Service of God all such Mens Endeavours are both faint inconstant and languish while they are about them and seldom do they re-assume them again But a true Christian works with abundance of Delight and Chearfulness in the Service of God in every Duty his Soul is filled full of holy Affections by which it soars up to Heaven Duties are Meat and Drink to him spiritual Manna in which he takes more satisfaction and contentment than wicked Men do in their Sins and therefore he performs these Duties so earnestly because he doth it with complacency All that he repines at is that natural Necessity sinful Weakness and Infirmities and worldly Employments that do purloin so much of his time from this great Work Now when once the Heart is brought to such a frame and temper as this thus to delight in Obedience and in the Work and Service of God then will this working for Salvation go on with Power Thirdly 3. Working for Salvation must be with Fear and Trembling Another Direction is that in the Text Work for Salvation with Fear and Trembling A trembling Hand best performs a Christians Work Now this Fear is not a Fear of distrust or dispondency for that is so contrary to this Duty of working for Salvation as that it stupifies and benums all Endeavours and is a great Enemy to the performance of this Duty But First It is a Fear of Solicitude and Carefulness as it stands opposed to carnal security and that presumption that is the common and ordinary Destruction of most Men. This holy Fear is the best preservative of true Grace The Apostle therefore tells us Thou standest by Faith Rom. 11.20 be not high-minded but fear implying they would not stand long though they stood by Faith unless they were upheld with godly Fear And the Reason is because it is the property of Fear to foresee and forecast Dangers and to put the Soul in a posture of defence and security before they approach For as the wise Man tells us The prudent Man foreseeth the Evil and hideth himself Prov. 20.3
may enforce a holy Awe and Fear of him and indeed if ever it was necessary to press Men to a due Fear and Awe of God it is so now since on the one Hand the open Prophaneness of ungodly Men and on the other Hand the pert Sauciness of some notional Professors are apt to think that Communion with God consists in a familiar Rudeness doth plainly testifie to all the World that there is little Fear or Reverence of him in their Hearts And now whilst I am shewing what reason there is that Gods dearest Children should fear him as a reconciled Father let wicked Men in the mean while sadly consider with themselves what great cause then they have to fear him who is their sworn Enemy if God's Smiles are tempered with that Majesty that makes them awful surely his Frowns then must needs carry in them an astonishing Terror that makes them insupportable We may observe how unexpectedly sometimes from the Goodness and Mercy of God that is the sweetest and most natural attractive of Love the Scripture draws an Inference to fear God Psal 130.4 Psal 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Not only a Sin-revenging but a Sin-pardoning God is here set before us as the Object of our Fear these two Sister Graces Fear and Love are nourished in the Soul by the same Attribute God's pardoning Mercy The great Sinner in the Gospel is said to love much because much was forgiven her and here much Fear as well as much Love is the result and issue of God's pardoning Grace And so you have it in Hos 3.5 Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness And in Exod. 15.11 Moses describing the most glorious Attributes of God tells us That he is glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises even then when we are to praise God for his Mercy yet are we to fear him as being fearful in Praises And therefore Nehemiah Neh. 1.5 in Nehem. 1.5 praying to God says he O Lord the great and the terrible God Wherein Is it in overwhelming Kingdoms in bringing upon them decreed Destruction Is it in the fierce execution of his Wrath against Sinners No says he O Lord the terrible God that keepest Covenant and Mercy for them that love him So again in Chap. 9.32 O God the mighty and terrible God that keepest Covenant and Mercy Let us now consider what there is in the Mercy and Favour of God as he is a reconciled God unto us and in Covenant with us that may justly render him to be the Object of our Fear 1. That dreadful way that God took to manifest his mercy to us may justly cause us to fear him First The consideration of that dreadful way and method that God took to manifest his Mercy towards us is sufficient to affect our Hearts with Fear though we stand fully possessed of his favour In Gen. 28. when God had made many gracious Promises all along that Chapter unto Jacob of blessing of him and keeping him in all his ways of multiplying his Seed as the dust of the Earth you would think this was no terrible Thing and yet because God reveals this Mercy to him in an awful and amazing manner a Gap is opened in Heaven a bright Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven God on the top of it Angels on every Round of it though the Message was joyful yet the strange kind of delivering of the Message makes Jacob cry out How dreadful is this place it is no other than the Gate of Heaven The very Gate of Heaven becomes dreadful when it is represented in such a Majestical manner But now the way that God took for his Mercy to arrive at us is much more dreadful than any such Dream or Vision and therefore we should be the more deeply affected with Fear and Trembling even then when God speaks Peace and Pardon to us for if we consider either the Terms upon which he is become ours or the way by which he discovereth himself to be ours both of them are full of Dread and Terror 1. The terms upon which God becomes ours are full of Terror First It cannot but strike our Hearts with Fear to reflect upon those dreadful Terms upon which God is contented to be induced to become our God His Mercy towards us is procured upon Terms of infinite Justice and Severity Divine Vengeance arrests our Surety and exacts from him the utmost Satisfaction that Curse that would for ever have blasted and withered the Souls of all Mankind seizeth upon Christ in all its malignity that Wrath some few Drops of which scalds the Damned in Hell was given him to drink off in a full and overflowing Cup He did bear the chastisement of our Peace and by his Stripes we are healed nor would God upon lower Terms have consented to a Reconciliation betwixt wretched Man and himself than the precious Blood of his only Son As of Old Friendship betwixt two Persons was wont to be attested and sealed by a Sacrifice as we find it both among Heathen Authors and also in Scripture an Instance of which we have of Laban in Gen. 31.54 where Laban and Jacob returning to Amity make a Ratification of it by a Sacrifice So the Attonement that God made betwixt us and himself is solemnized by a Sacrifice even the Sacrifice of his own Son As a Lamb without spot or blemish in this Blood the Treaty betwixt God and Man stands ratified and confirmed Oh! dreadful Mercy that clasps and embraces us about with Arms died red in the Blood of Jesus Christ But now is not this Ground enough to cause a holy Fear of God to seize upon every Soul that shall but seriously consider this sad Tragedy of pardoning Grace If a King resolve to forgive a Malefactor upon no other Terms than a Pardon writ with the last drop of the Heart-blood of his dearest Friend who is there that is so hardned that will not tremble at such a Mercy as this is though it save him So is the Case betwixt God and us the Contents of the Pardon are joyful but it is written all with the Blood of Jesus Christ reaking warm from his very Heart 2. The way by which God discovers himself to be ours is dreadful and may make us to fear him and who then would not fear even a forgiving God Secondly Consider the way and method that God takes with us when he becomes our God and that is most dreadful and must needs make the most confirmed Heart to shake with Fear and Trembling Indeed God deals not with us in such Rigour as he dealt with Jesus Christ his Son but yet usually when he becomes our God when he enters upon us as his Possession first he shakes all the Foundations of our Hearts breaths in Flames of Fire into our very Marrow cramps our Consciences and unjoints our Souls O the Tempests and Storms of Wrath that God pours into a wounded
Conscience when it is under searching Convictions O the Smart and Anguish of a wounded Spirit when God instead of Balm shall only chafe it with Brimstone And yet this is the common method that God useth to prepare Souls for himself he seems to arm himself in all his Terrors against them singling them out to the Conflict and when they give up themselves for lost lying gasping for Hope scarcely at length is administred some few reviving Comforts It is with these as it was with the Children of Israel upon Sinai first they were astonished with a confused noise of Thunder the Air full of Lightning the Mountains all on a Flame and the Earth trembling under them before they heard that comfortable Voice in Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God So is it with convinced Sinners God dischargeth his Threatnings against them that speak more dreadfully to them than a Voice of Thunder he speaks to them out of the midst of Flames and every Word scorcheth up their Hearts and when they stand trembling and despairing once at length they hear those reviving Words I am the Lord thy God What Hearts are there now that such a dreadful Mercy as this is would not over-aw Those Discoveries of Gods Love that break in upon the Soul in the midst of a doleful and gloomy Night of Despair and Despondency work naturally a sweet kind of Terror and a shivering Joy and that 's the first Consideration The dreadful method that God takes to procure Mercy for us even by the death of his Son and to apply Mercy to us even by the Terrors of a convinced Conscience is a sufficient Ground to affect our Hearts with Fear Reas 2. We ought to fear God tho' he be our God because it is possible to lose his Love and the Sense of it though we stand fully possess'd of his Favour Secondly Though God be our God yet to consider that it is possible to lose his Favour and the Sense of it this is enough to affect the Heart with a holy fear even of a reconciled God It is true God's Original and Fountain Love can never be dried up Whom he loves he loves unto the End Psal 89.33 John 1.13 And my loving Kindness will I never utterly take away from him Psal 89.33 But yet the Streams of this Fountain Love may be very much obstructed from flowing freely down upon us though we shall never again be Children of Wrath yet we may be Children under Wrath every presumptuous Sin we commit raiseth God's displeasure against us he is angry with us upon every more notorious and known Sin we commit and since then we are in danger every Day of falling into gross and foul Sins and are kept only by his almighty and free Grace from the worst what cause have we to fear lest we forfeit his Favor and turn his Displeasure against us Yea again though we should be preserved from Sin and continue in his Love yet we cannot assure our selves that we shall continue in the Sense and comfortable Apprehension of it Comfort is most arbitrary and at God's free Dispose neither hath he ingaged himself to bestow it upon any by any absolute Promise though now his Lamp shined clearly upon thy Tabernacle and thou rejoycest in his Smiles yet how quickly may he wrap thee up in a dark Night of Desertion and turn all thy Songs into Mourning Thou therefore that art now assured that God is thy God fear lest ere long thou mayest not think him to be so certain thou art he is so now yet before it be long possibly through thy Miscarriage thou mayest not think him to be so and it is all one as to Comfort or Discomfort whether God be thy God or not if thou dost not apprehend him to be so and therefore fear him Thirdly Reas 3. Why we should fear God because every Frown of our God touches to the quick Consider every Frown and Stroke toucheth to the Quick that cometh from a reconciled God and a loving Father and therefore the rather fear because he is thy God Every little Blow from a Father strikes deeper and causeth more Smart than greater Blows from other Persons others strike the Body but when a loving Father strikes he wounds the Heart So is it here the nearness of the Relation betwixt God and us puts an Anguish and Sting into every Correction As the Psalmist speaks in his own Case Psal 55.12 It was not an Enemy that reproached me neither was it he that hated me then I could have born it but it was thou a Friend mine Equal my Guide and mine Acquaintance These are sad Accents and so is it here The Blood of a Sin-revenging God may indeed break the Back but the Blows of a gracious and reconciled Father break the Heart Fear therefore lest through some Miscarriage of thine and such Miscarriages thou art every Day guilty of thou shouldest provoke thy God to lay some heavy Stroke upon thee which will be the more smart from the aggravation that provoked Love puts upon it And thus you see now in these three Particulars what ground there is from the consideration of God as our God to enforce a holy Fear of his divine Majesty upon our Hearts He is our God therefore fear him because the way that he became ours is most dreadful he is our God as yet fear lest we may not apprehend him so long he is our God therefore fear him because every Stroke and Frown from a God in Covenant comes with an aggravated smart and sting Why now this holy Fear as it is no Enemy to full assurance as I have shewed you so neither Secondly 2. Holy Fear is not contrary to the Love of God Is it any way prejudicial to a most ardent love of God Filial Love and Filial Fear are two Twins but not such as Jacob and Esau that strive to supplant one another The pure Flame of divine and heavenly Love is like other Flames the higher it mounts the more it vibrates and trembles Indeed St. John tells us 1 Joh. 4.18 opened 1 John 4.18 That perfect Love casteth out Fear It should seem then that all Fear of God is swallowed up in those Hearts that are once brought into an holy Love But the Apostle doth very well explain himself in the reason that he gives of this Assertion in the next Words Perfect Love casteth out Fear because Fear hath Torment in it Hence therefore we may distinguish of a twofold fear of God The one is tormenting causing unquiet rollings and estuations in the Heart in a sad suspense of what our future and eternal State may prove and this is slavish Now this Fear perfect Love casteth out and expells for where divine Love is perfected in the Soul there are no more such Suspences Hesitations and Doubtings what will become of it to Eternity Now by perfect Love may be meant either that state of Perfection to which we shall
the sense of divine Comfort As it is in clear Water when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom but if you stir the Mud presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it So is it with the Children of God though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in in Heaven yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs they become dark so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations that so if it were possible he might drive them to Dispair he hated their Graces he envies their Comforts and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity and by such Suggestions as these are when he cannot hinder the Work of Grace he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort When therefore those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God and as Persons devoted to Destruction let them know such Fears proceed not from the Convictions of the Spirit of God who hath been a Spirit of Adoption but it proceeds from the Delusions of Satan for those that once receive the Spirit of Adoption never receive the Spirit of Bondage again to fear that is to fear with a slavish tormenting Fear Sixthly 6. We ought to fear God tho' we know him to be our God A reverential filial Fear of God may and ought to possess our Souls while the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Adoption is by the clearest Evidences actually witnessing our Son-ship to us Let Men boast what they will of their high Gospel-attainments yet certainly they have not the genuine Disposition of God's Children whose Love to him is not mingled with Fear and whose Fear of him is not encreased by their Love Love it is the Gage and Measure of all our Affections and according to the proportion of our Love to God such will be our Fear that is the more we love God the more we shall fear his Displeasure and the Loss of his Favour It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master Christ who was his only begotten Son and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God than any adopted Sons can possibly have yet the Scripture ascribes an holy awful reverential Fear of God even unto him Heb. 5.7 When he offered up Prayers with strong Cries and Tears and was heard in that he feared it may be render'd he was heard because of his godly Fear So in Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord speaking of Christ If therefore he feared God who was himself to be feared as God equal to him and his eternal Son how much more ought we to fear the great God who are as it were but Up-starts in the Family of Heaven we wretched and forlorn Out-casts that were but lately raked out of the Dunghil and by meer Pity taken up into the Bosom of God and nurtured as his Children And thus you see the Fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free Spirit of Adoption Fourthly 4. A Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing in God An awful Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing Indeed slavish Fear damps all true Joy Those that Fear and expect the Revengings of God cannot have any true Joy they may have a kind of mad Jollity that spends it self in Noise and Tumults that may roar out Songs of Mirth only to drown the loud Roarings of their own Consciences Such as these are like your new Liquor that works over into Foam and Froth when the bottom is thick and troubl'd So in this false Joy the Countenance runs over with Laughter when yet the Heart is brim full of the Wrath of God of such the wise Man speaks Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful But now a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy Rejoycing in him spiritual Joy is not of that flashy Nature but it is a sober and a severe Grace it is Joy mixed with Fear and because of the mixture of these two together the fear of God with joy in the Lord therefore we find these two are promiscuously ascribed each to other so in Isa 60.5 Their Hearts shall fear and be enlarged You know it is the property of Joy to extend and enlarge the Heart Fear contracts and draws it together but here Fear is said to dilate the Heart to denote to us that a Christians Fear is always conjoyned and mingled together with his Joy And so on the other Hand it is said Psal 2.11 Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Fear with Trembling is more proper and natural but because of the mixture of these two Graces in the Heart of a Christian therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it Rejoyce with Trembling for great Joys as well as great Fears cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the Heart As it was with the two Women whom the Angels assured of Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28.8 Mat. 28.8 They departed from the Sepulchre with Fear and great Joy So is it with those Christians who by the Eye of Faith looking upon the Death and into the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ are assured that he is risen for their Justification cannot but have their Hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful Joy Even a Christians strong Praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling Voice so that godly Fear is no Impediment to a holy and a severe Rejoycing in God as our Saviour Fifthly 5. Godly fear lays no check on our freedom and boldness with God Godly Fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God God hath established a Throne of Grace whereon he sets and unto which he invites his People to approach with a becoming Confidence Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace As that Emperor counted his Clemency disparaged when any delivered a Petition to him with a shaking Hand as though he doubted of his Favour so God loves when we make our Addresses to him that we should do it with full assurance of Faith nothing doubting of acceptance with him and of an Answer
from him He that asks timorously only begs a Denial from God But yet that this boldness may not degenerate into rudeness and irreverence he requires that our Freedom with him be tempered with an awful Fear of him We must come in all Humility and Prostration of Soul with broken Hearts and bended Knees to touch that golden Scepter that he holds forth to us Thus you see in these five Things how consistent the Grace of Fear is with other Graces of the Spirit it is no Impediment to a full Assurance it s no Hinderance to Love it s no Impediment to a Spirit of Adoption nor to a holy Rejoycing no nor to a holy Boldness Wherein slavish and filial Fear differ Now because I have made frequent mention of filial and slavish Fear that you may the better understand what each of these means I shall briefly give you the difference betwixt them In their Concomitants and in their Effects Now they differ in their Concomitants and in their Effects 1. In their Concomitants First Slavish Fear hath always two dreadful Concomitants and they are Dispair and Hatred or Enmity against God 1. In slavish Fear there is always some degree of Dispair In slavish Fear there is always some degree of Dispair Now this slavish Fear is joined with dreadful expectations of Wrath. A Slave that hath committed a Fault expects no other than to be punished for it without Mercy So those that lie under this slavish Fear apprehend and account of God no otherwise than the slothful Servant as a severe Lord and a cruel Tyrant that will exact Punishment from them to the utmost of their Deserts they expect no other but that certainly God's Wrath will kindle upon them and burn them eternally and this makes them live as the Apostle speaks in Heb. 10.27 In certain fearful Expectations of Wrath and Indignation that shall devour them as Adversaries This kind of horrid Fear I doubt not but is common to most wicked Men and though they brave it out and most of them speak high Matters of their hopes of Heaven and Salvation yet at the same time their own Hearts and Consciences tell them sad and misgiving Stories of Hell and everlasting Wrath. But now a true and filial Fear of God looks at the Wrath of God with Dread and Terror but not with Expectation there 's the Difference Slavish Fear looks upon the Wrath of God and expects it Filial Fear looks upon it as due but not with Expectations that it should be inflicted upon it 2. Slavish Fear is accompanied with hatred of God 2. Slavish Fear is always accompanied with some degree of Enmity and Hatred against God It is natural for us to hate those that we fear with a slavish Fear He that thinks God will certainly punish him must out of self-self-love needs be provoked to hate God Hence is it that the Soul that lies under the Terrors of the Law wisheth that there was no such thing as Hell and eternal Damnation nay that there was no God to inflict this upon it This proceeds from this slavish Fear of God But now a reverent Fear of God is joined with a holy Love as Children who love their Parents but yet stand in awe of them So much for the Concomitants of this Fear 2. They differ in their Effects Secondly For their Effects and that both as to Sin and as to Duty 1. As to Sin 1. As to Sin Slavish Fear dreads nothing but Hell and Punishment but godly Fear dreads Sin it self The one fears only to burn the other fears for to sin As Austin saith well He fears Hell only who fears not to sin but fears to burn but he fears to sin who hates sin as he would hate Hell 2. Slavish Fear usually restrains only from external and those also the more gross and notorious Acts of sin but holy Fear over-awes the Heart from inward and secret Sins yea from the least Sins whatsoever And then as for Duty also 2. As to Duty in two Things briefly First A slavish Fear of God makes Men to consult how they may fly from God As Adam did when he had brought Guilt upon his Conscience by his Fall he hides himself from God in the Garden Guilt loves not the presence of its Judge But godly Fear is still exciting the Soul to approach near to God in Duty And therefore David saith Psal 5.7 In thy Fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple The Fear of God encourageth the Soul in the performance of Duty Secondly Slavish Fear contents it self with external Performances Just so much as will serve the turn to satisfie the Demands of Conscience but holy Fear sanctifies the Lord in Duty as well as satisfies Conscience And therefore you have it in Isa 8.13 Sanctify the Lord of Host in your Hearts and let him be your Fear and your Dread Thus much briefly for the difference betwixt filial and slavish Fear Use 1 I come now to the Application And the first Use shall be by way of Corollary If the consideration of God as a consuming Fire ought to affect the most assured Christian with a holy Fear and Dread of God how much more then may it shrink and shrivel up the Hearts of ungodly Sinners If it make God's own Children to tremble to look into Hell and to see those heaps of miserable Wretches that are there burning for ever shall it not much more make you to tremble who are liable every moment to be bound in Bundles and to be cast in to burn among them When a City is on Fire it is terrible to see it rage afar off to see it spue up Smoak and Flames tho' at a distance and he that is not affected with it is Inhuman but he is more than stupid that doth not tremble to see it devour whole Streets before it ruining all till it approach near his own Dwelling Why Sirs this consuming Fire hath already seized upon Millions of others and burnt them down into the lowest Hell Do not you hear Dives in the Gospel cry Fire Fire The greatest part of the World is already burnt down and if their Case makes not your Hearts to shake and tremble yet methinks your own should This Fire is catching and kindling upon your Souls and the next moment may make you Brands in Hell But alas what hope is there to affright Men that are fast asleep Such a dead Security hath seized upon the Hearts of most that it is almost impossible to rouze them and but little hope but that they will be burnt in this their Sleep Yet if it may be possible to awaken you consider 1. God's Wrath against Sinners makes him terrible to his Saints First That it is only God's Wrath against Sinners that makes him terrible to his Saints They are afraid of that fiery Indignation that burned against the Wicked and shall not the Wicked then much more be afraid that must
with Patience so it gives him advantage to reprove others with Authority It is a very true Rule that he that reproves another ought himself to be free from the Fault he reproves for otherwise his Reproofs neither come with freedom from the Reprover nor with efficacy to the Reproved First A Reproof that comes from a guilty Conscience is but a stammering and a timerous Reproof Such a Man 's own Conscience must needs rise up in his Throat and choak his Reproofs Consciousness of the same Miscarriages will retort whatever we can say against others more strongly upon our selves and will suggest to us that it is but Hypocrisie for us to blame that which we our selves practise With what Face canst thou press others to Repent and Reform What Arguments canst thou use to them who by continuing in the same Sins dost thy self judge those Arguments are of no force at all Thus Conscience will suggest and hereby Tongue-ties Reproofs Secondly This also makes Reproofs ineffectual It were indeed a Temper to be wished and pray'd for that we could only respect how righteous the Reproof is and not how righteous the Person is that gives it and if we could be content to have the Motes pluck'd out of our own Eyes though it be by such as have Beams in their own Eyes for indeed there is no more reason to reject sound Admonitions because they come from an unsound Heart than there is to stop our Ears against good Counsel because delivered it may be with an unsavoury Breath But yet so it is when Men of polluted Consciences and defiled Conversations come to reprove others Men are apt to think of them What is such a one in earnest Doth he not personate his Reproof Doth he not do as bad or worse himself Or doth he envy me my Sins and would engross them all to himself and so the Reproof takes no place at all upon him But now when a Man of a clear and unspotted Conscience reproves wicked Men his Reproofs break in upon them with Conviction Authority and Power if not to reform them yet at least to daunt and silence them Here is one that reproves Sin who doubtless believes it to be Evil by his own avoiding of it Here is one that denounceth Wrath if I repent not who doubtless believes it to be as terrible as he represents it to be by his own carefulness to escape it And thus a clear Conscience hath great advantage to reprove Sinners successfully at least to work Conviction upon them if not to work Reformation in them 3. It gives boldness of access unto God Thirdly A clear Conscience gives boldness of access unto God Guilt is the only thing that abashes the Soul and makes it both ashamed and afraid to appear in the Presence of God and therefore we find that as soon as Adam had sinned against his Maker he hides himself from him We may observe it in our selves What slavish deadness and dejectedness of Heart seizeth upon us when we come to God in Duty after that we have wronged him by any known Sin We come with such a misgiving kind of Fear as if we would not have God take notice that we are before him and we are still in pain till the Duty be over But when our Consciences are clear O with what delight do we hast to God and with what content do we stay with him How doth the Soul dilate and spread it self under the Smiles of God beating full upon it Loe O Lord here 's a Heart that I labour to make and keep void of Offence do thou fill it with thy promised Grace and Spirit it is not indeed a Mansion pure enough for the pure and holy God yet is it such as thou wilt accept of and dwell in there are still many hidden Corruptions in it but do thou search them out and thou who hast kept thy Servant from presumptuous Sins do thou also cleanse me from secret Faults Thus a clear Conscience with a holy and reverend Boldness addresses it self to God and sweetly closeth up every Duty and every Prayer with full assurance of being heard and accepted and that it shall obtain Mercy from God So the Apostle tells us Heb. 10.22 Heb. 10.22 Let us says he draw near in full assurance of Faith How may we gain this full assurance when we draw near to God How says he Why by having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience get but a pure and clear Conscience and that will enable you to draw near to God in full assurance of Faith And so in the like parallel place 1 John 3.21 1 John 3.21 Beloved if our Hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God If Conscience be not evil to accuse us then have we confidence towards God When the Face of a Man's Conscience looks chearful and hath no Frowns and Wrinkles upon it this makes us joyfully to apprehend that God's Face to us is calm and serene too and that we shall be welcom at all times into our Father's presence this Conscience suggests to us and makes us come with a holy yet with an awful boldness unto God 4. It is the sweetest Bosom Friend with which we may at all times freely and intimately converse Fourthly A clear Conscience is the sweetest bosom Friend with which we may at all times freely and intimately converse Wicked Men indeed of all Company in the World do most hate themselves for Companions they have a lowring and a rumbling Conscience at home that always threatens and disquiets them and therefore they love to keep abroad Soliloquies and Heart-discoveries are a very Torment to them and they wonder that the Psalmist should ever bid them Commune with their own Hearts and be still Psal 4.4 as it is in Psal 4.4 Why alas they are never less still than when they discourse with their own Hearts and Consciences which are grown so peevish and quarrelsom that they thunder out nothing but Woes and Curses against them hurling about them Swords and Fire-brands and Death that they dare not so much as once look within Doors But now a Christian whose Conscience is calm and clear he finds it the best Companion of the World In his solitary Retirements from the crowd and noise of the World with what Delight doth he call his Heart aside and there are they sweetly and peaceably conferring together And God usually comes in as a third Friend and joins himself in Society with them and here pass mutual Endearments between them the Soul embraces and clasps about God with the Arms of Faith and Dependence and God embraceth the Soul in the Arms of his everlasting Love Here are mutual unbosomings of Secrets the Soul unlocks its Secrets before God and God again reveals the Secrets of his Love unto the Soul Here are mutual Rejoycings the Soul rejoyceth in God its Saviour and God rejoyceth over the Soul to do it good and under these Intercourses
of Love and Sweetness the Soul is ready to faint away and dissolve with Joy This is that continual Feast as the wise Man calls it that a good Conscience entertains a Christian with where all is transacted with a still and noiseless Mirth 5. It is the best Comfort and Support in the midst of Dangers Fifthly A clear Conscience is the best comfort and support when Fears Troubles and Dangers are on every side encompassing us about It is a blessed Thing when we have Trouble without to have Peace within in our own Bosoms then to have Peace with God and Peace with our selves And therefore says Christ John 16.33 These Things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace in the World you shall have Tribulation A strange Paradox but indeed a Christian is made up of such strange Paradoxes as Sorrowful yet always Rejoycing as Poor himself yet making many Rich as having Nothing and yet Possessing all Things as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 6.10 Here is Tribulation in the World and yet here is Peace also When once the great and bloody Quarrel betwixt God and the Soul is taken up and compounded when we are reconciled to God and thereby our Consciences become reconciled to us all the Enmity and Persecution of the World are but little peltring Differences that cannot disturb that solid and inviolable Peace that a Christian enjoys This is that Peace that as the Friendship of the World cannot give so neither can the Enmity of the World ever take away My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you let not your Hearts be troubled It is observable of Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 God promised there by the Mouth of Huldah the Prophetess that he should be gathered to his Grave in Peace and yet in the next Chapter Verse 29. it is said there That he was slain in the War which he undertook against Pharoah Necho King of Egypt he was slain in War and yet died in Peace and no wonder for whosoever dies in Peace with God and in Peace with his own Conscience dies peaceably though he dies in the midst of Wars and Tumults Sixthly 6. It is an unspeakable Comfort in a dying hour A clear Conscience affords sweet and unspeakable Comfort in a dying hour When all Things must take their leave of us and we of them when Death is setting all its Terrors in Array against us O what a blessed Support will it then be to the departing Soul standing on Tip-toe ready to take its Flight into Eternity to be able to make that Appeal which Hezekiah doth Isa 38.3 Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Such a Testimony as this is at such a time as this is is worth Heaven and Glory it self this is to have Heaven let down into us one hour and to be our selves taken up into Heaven the next hour Now possibly Men may frolick away their Days in Sin and Vanity and live as if they should never give an account but believe it the Day and Hour is coming and it will come wherein Conscience will begin to open its Eyes when it may be their Friends stand round about them to close theirs and then it will see these horrid Shapes of Death and Hell and Wrath eternal such as while they were secure Sinners they never imagined and now that they are awakned Sinners and possibly awakned too late too they can never escape If therefore you would enjoy Peace and Serenity in your Death and â—ave the Testimony of your Consciences to carry with you to shew to your Judge for your Acquittance be sure then to cherish a good Conscience in your Life-time Now it may be Conscience may be bribed to give in a false and flattering Testimony but when Eternity is in its view it will then speak Truth and O thrice happy are they to whom a true Conscience becomes then an excusing Conscience And so much for the third Thing propounded namely of what concernment it is to labour to keep Consciences void of Offence Fourthly the next Thing propounded was To give you some Rules and Directions how you may get and also how you may keep clear and inoffensive Consciences Object But you will say It is in vain to give Rules for that which is impossible to be done Doth not the wise Man challenge all the World upon this Point Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am pure from my Sins Never did the raging Sea cast up more Mire and Filth than the Heart of Man doth and as soon may we empty the vast Waters of the great Deep and scour the bottom of it from all its Dirt and Mud as attempt to keep Conscience clear into which a sinful Heart is continually emptying and pouring out its Filth and Mire Answ To this I Answer Were it impossible yet there is no release to our Obligation We are commanded To be holy even as God is holy whose infinite Purity is such as stains the Heavens themselves and puts the glorious Angels out of Countenance This Perfection is much more impossible for us who are but Lumps of Dirt mingled and kneaded together with Sin than for a thick Clod of Earth to be as transparent as the Sun that shines but yet these accessive Commands have a use in them even to raise up our Endeavors to a higher pitch and strain than if we were commanded only somewhat that were within our own Power as he that aims at a Star is like to shoot higher than he that aims only at a Turf Thus though it were impossible to keep clean Consciences void of Offence both towards God and Men according to the exactness of God's Command yet he that is careful to avoid all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit shall certainly have a much cleaner Conscience by far than he that wallows in those Sins In a foul way it is perhaps impossible to keep our selves from being bespatered with Dirt yet he that walks warily and carefully comes cleaner home than he that tumbles and rolls himself in it But yet this Duty is not impossible it is indeed difficult to keep a clear Conscience but yet it is a thing that is faesible And in general there are two ways to keep our Consciences clear either by preserving them from being defiled or else by cleansing them when they are defiled First We may keep our Consciences clear by preserving them from being defiled You will say How can this be Is there any Man living says the wise Man that doth good and sinneth not And doth not every Sin leave behind it a spot and stain upon the Face of Conscience How then can we keep them clear I Answer Sins are of two sorts there are Sins that are Crimes and there are Sins that are but Faults Crimes I call those Sins
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
careful flight and aversion of it 1. There is in Fear a doubtfulness and uncertainiy of the Event Three things in Fear and this is a Torment when a Man is wrackt in Suspense and Doubt what to expect 1. A doubtfulness of the Event whether or no the Vengeance of God will not fall heavy upon him whether or no he be not Fuel on which this consuming Fire will for ever prey Now this is not that Fear to which the Apostle in this Text exhorts us to serve God withal no to Serve God with Reverence and godly Fear is not to serve him with a doubtful anxious and solicitous Fear of what the Event may prove nay such a Fear as this is is inconsistent with actual Assurance and those who are perplexed with it cannot say we have a Kingdom nor cannot fear their God as a consuming Fire There may be a genuine awful Fear of God as a consuming Fire where there is not the least doubt remaining concerning our final State where the Soul is fully assured that God will be to him not a Fire to consume him but a Sun to cherish him for ever I will give you one or two remarkable Scriptures to this purpose Heb. 4.1 In Heb. 4.1 Let us fear says the Apostle lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Here the Apostle quickens them to the exercise of Holiness from the fear of falling short of Heaven yea though they had assurance by Gods Promise of it lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest yet you should fall short of it And so the Apostle triumphs in his Assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 in 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that we have an House eternal in the Heavens and yet in Verse 11. he quickens himself to the discharge of his Ministerial Office from the Fear of Gods Wrath Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we persuade Men. Though he was assured of Glory yet he quickens himself to the discharge of his Ministeral Function by the Fear of Gods Wrath. So that it is evident there may be a Fear of Gods Wrath exciting unto Duty where yet there is a full Assurance beyond all doubting and hesitation of escaping Wrath. So that this is not that Fear that the Apostle excites them that have assurance unto 2. There is a Fear of Terrour 2. There is in Fear a Terror arising from the Evil feared a shivering in the Soul upon the apprehension of the greatness of the Evil feared but avoided too and this is consistent with full Assurance Thus the Terror of past Dangers sometimes causeth as much Terror as if we were again to encounter with them So when Believers look back upon that Wrath and fiery Indignation that they have narrowly escaped upon that Lake of Brimstone that boils and burns behind them wherein thousands of others are for ever swallowed up this cannot but affect them with a holy Horror and Fear of Gods Wrath against Sinners though they have full assurance of his Love 3. There is also in Fear a flight and aversation from the Evil feared 3. There is in Fear a flight and aversation of the Evil feared and this also is consistent with full assurance Noah had full assurance from the Promise of God for his preservation from the Deluge and yet it is said That Noah being moved with fear built him an Ark. Full assurance to escape Evil is far from hindring as some calumniate it the use of means to prevent that Evil yea the assurance that we have to escape Hell and Wrath is of the greatest and most effectual influence to make us careful to use those means whereby we may escape it See this in 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God So in Tit. 2.11 12. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ So in 1 John 3.3 Every one that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself as God is pure Thus you see what Fear it is the Apostle exhorts Believers to who have a Kingdom not a Fear of perplexing Doubtfulness but such as is consistent with their full assurance that is so to fear the Wrath of God as to have our Hearts affected with Terror at the greatness and insupportableness of that Wrath though they have escaped it and to fear so as to avoid all Sin and all that exposeth to that Wrath in these two Senses they that are assured that God is their God ought to fear him as a consuming Fire Secondly 2. Why Believers who are assured of Gods love ought to fear him as a consuming Fire Let us now see upon what Grounds and Considerations a Believer who is assured of Gods love and favour to him ought yet to fear him as a consuming Fire And First The consideration of that mighty and dreadful Power that God puts forth in the punishing and afflicting of the damned 1. Because of that Power that he puts forth in punishing of the damned this may strike Fear into the Hearts of those that are fully assured of Gods love and favour to them Such a Fear as this is the holy Angels themselves have tho' they are secured by Christ in that blessed State and Condition that they enjoy yet to see God stripping and making bare his Arm to lay on weighty strokes of everlasting Vengeance upon their Fellow Angels that are fallen makes them to tremble and stand astonished at the Almighty Power of God and this keeps them at a due distance in their Thoughts and Apprehensions of his dreadful Majesty And should it not much more make us to tremble with an awful respect of the Power of God to consider how he crusheth and breaks the Damned in Hell by his own Almighty Arm stretched out in the full Power of his Wrath to their everlasting Destruction It is from this Power of God that Christ himself enforceth the Fear of God Mat. 20.28 Fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Though God should assure you that he would never destroy you in Hell yet because he is able to do it therefore you should fear him 2. Because of Gods Wrath and Severity Secondly This Fear may arise in the Hearts of the Children of God who are most assured of his Love from the consideration of the Wrath and dreadful Severity of God as well as of his Power If a Father corrects his Slave in his Wrath this will cause Fear and Dread in the Son though he knows that Wrath shall never fall upon him So when a Child of God who is assured of the tender love and favour of God to himself yet when he sadly considers that Wrath and Indignation that is in
God against the damned when he sees his heavenly Father angry though it be not against him yet this must needs strike a reverential Fear and Aw into his Soul Now this reverential Fear will remain for ever The Fear of the Lord endureth for ever yea when the Children of God shall be made for ever happy in Heaven yet this Fear shall be then encreas'd and not at all diminished the more they see of the Power of the Wrath and Severity of God executed upon the damned the more they fear and reverence this powerful this Sin-revenging God and this kind of Fear is no prejudice to their full Assurance and Joy nor shall it be prejudicial to their compleat and perfect Happiness in Heaven Thirdly 3. Because of the desert of their Sins The consideration of the desert of Sin should cause a holy Fear of God even in those that are fully assured of his Love When a Child of God looks upon Sin and sees what Wrath and Torment he hath deserved by it tho' he be assured by the Testimony of the Spirit of God that he is pardoned yet it cannot but fright him to consider that he should deserve so great Condemnation As a Malefactor though he be pardoned yet if he be present at the Execution of his Fellow Offenders it must needs strike him with Fear and Horror that he should be guilty of the same Crimes that they are to suffer such sharp and cruel Punishments for What the Thief on the Cross said unto his Fellow Thief Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same Condemnation The same may I say to Believers Do not your fear God seeing you deserve at least to be in the same Condemnation with those Wretches that lie frying and howling in Hell 4. Because in it self it is possible all this Wrath might have been their Portion Fourthly Another Ground of fear is that it is in it self possible that all this Wrath should be your Portion for ever even you who are most assured of Glory And is not this just cause of Fear if not of Expectation yet at least of Terror Indeed as God hath been graciously pleased to bind himself in a Covenant of Grace and Mercy to you so it is impossible that this Wrath should fall upon you but yet such a Supposition as this is is enough to cause Fear in the most assured Heart to think that if God had not engaged himself by Promise to deliver him from that Wrath what then would have been his Condition to all Eternity Would not such Thoughts as these are make you tremble Suppose a Man were fast chained to the top of some high Rock hanging over a bottomless Gulf though he knew and was assured that he should not fall into it being immoveably fasten'd there yet when he looks down that deep and dangerous Precipice and fees the Gulf foaming and raging under him will not a cold Fear drill through his Heart to think O! if I were not here fastned by a strong Chain to this immoveable Rock what would become of me Even so Believers you that are most assured to escape Hell this is your Condition you are fastned to the Rock of Ages by the unchangeable Promise of God that will ever hold you fast but yet every time you look down into the bottomless Gulf that is under you where thousands are swallowed up to all Eternity doth not such a Thought as this is fright you to think O! if I were not fastned to this immoveable Rock if God had not made an everlasting Covenant with me ordered in all things and sure I should also have been swallowed up with the rest of the World and have gone down quick into Hell Why alas we are all of us held over the Lake of Fire and Brimstone in the Hands of God some he holds in the left Hand of his common Providence and others of them he holds in the right Hand of his special Grace those whom he holds only in the Hands of his Providence he le ts fall and drop one after another into Hell where they are swallowed up and lost eternally those that he holds in the Hands of his Grace it is true it is impossible upon that Supposition that ever they should fall into Hell yet when they think O if we were not upheld yea how possible it was that they should not have been upheld this apprehension must needs strike them with Fear and Terror though not with a perplexing Doubtfulness concerning the safety of their Condition yet with a doubtful apprehension of the possibility of what would have been their Condition if God had held them over Hell only by the Hand of his common Providence 5. Because they escape very narrowly Fifthly Consider though you are assured that you shall escape this eternal Death yet it will be a narrow escape and that may cause Fear It will be an escape with very much Labour and Difficulty tho' you are held in the Hands of God yet he leads you along to Heaven by the Gates of Hell and this is sufficient to cause Fear Our way to Heaven is so strait the Rubs in it so many our Falls by them so frequent our Enemies so potent that though our assurance may make us not to fear but that in the end we shall escape Hell yet it will be high presumption for us not to fear how we may escape it The Apostle brings in the Salvation of the Elect themselves with a scarcely 1 Pet. 4.18 1 Pet. 4.18 If the Righteous scarcely be saved Why now this scarcely doth not imply that there is any uncertainty in the End but only it implies the great difficulty in the means of obtaining of it So then the End is certain that is a Believers Salvation from Hell and that is just cause of rejoycing but the Means are very difficult and laborious and that is just cause of Fear Well then briefly to apply it in one Word Though you are assured through Faith of the Pardon of your Sins yet tremble at the thought of that Wrath and Hell that you have escaped It is observed that those are the fixed Stars that tremble most So Christians who are fixed immoveably in the unchangeable love of God as Stars fixed to the Heavens in their Orbs yet they are most of all in Trepidation and Trembling when they reflect upon themselves and think that instead of being Stars in Heaven they might have been Firebrands in Hell Those to me are suspicious Professors that make a great blaze with their Joys in the apprehensions of their Right to Heaven but never tremble under the apprehensions of their Deserts of Hell What there is in the consideration of God as our God that may cause us to fear him Having shewed you upon what account God is to be feared as he is a consuming Fire in the next place I shall shew you what there is in the consideration of God as our God that