by and we shall stand or fall according as they are sound or corrupt The Apostle hints this to us Rom. 2.16 in telling us that at the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Now principles are the great secrets of men hid from all but God and a mans own heart Nothing is more latent they are as the spring to a Clock you see the hand move but that which causes the motion is not seen Actions are manifest and may be seen by all but principles are secret and discerned by none but God takes strict notice of them and will judge us according to them Nothing therefore concerns a man more than to see that the principles of his obedience be right Now the great principles that a man is acted by and that carry him on in gospel obedience are these three Faith Love Self denial 1. Faith This is the great principle of all acceptable obedience without which no obedience can please God the Apostle is peremptory in it Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And therefore all gospel obedience is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 There is a twofold obedience to the gospel 1. Obedience to the call of the gospel whereby fallen sinners are invited and by various methods of grace perswaded to return to God and live Now there can be no obeying the gospel in this sense without faith For how can a man turn from his sins and take Christ upon the terms of the gospel resigning himself to the guidance of his word and spirit without faith 2. There is obedience to the rule of the gospel which directs and guides us how to live and walk so as to approve our wayes to God For the gospel is not only the power of God to salvation Rom. 1 16. but it is the will of God also for our guidance and direction and all obedience to it as such is the fruit of faith Therefore we are said to live by faith Gal. 2.20 and to walk by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 And living and walking take in the whole course of a Christians obedience in the language and sense of the Scripture As the gospel hath not only its credenda but its agenda not only truths to be imbraced but duties to be practised so faith hath both a receptive and a dispensing property it receives the truths of the gospel and imbraces them 1 Thes 2.13 Ye received the word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God And it hath a dispensing property too whereby it payes homage to Christ in all capacities it doth not only receive the Law at his mouth as a Prophet and rest upon his merits as a Priest but subjects to his yoke as a King Faith is an active principle it doth as freely submit to the government of Christ as it readily accepts of pardon and salvation by him By faith Abraham obeyed Heb 11.8 This is one principle of obedience 2. Another principle is love And this is of as great importance as the other nay faith it self is deficient without this for faith works by love Gal. 5.6 This love as it is the Christians badge and character Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 So it is the great principle of obedience The Law being a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 Eccles 12.13 the great principle of obedience there was fear Fear God and keep his commandments but the gospel is a ministration of life and glory and the great principle there is Love if a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 Love is vertually all obedience and therefore our Lord Christ reduces all the precepts to this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matt. 22.37 39. and thy neighbour as thy self So that the substance of Religion is contained in this It is not Circumcision as the Jew would nor uncircumcision as the converted Gentile would but faith that works by love Gal. 5.6 There is no such principle of obedience as Love This will be evident if you consider but eight properties of it 1. It is an appretiative principle that prefers and values Jesus Christ above all It sees such a beauty and excellency in him that it counts all loss and dung in comparison of him Phil. 3.8 And he that thus loves Christ can't but obey him 2. Love is an opening principle Open to me my sister Cant. 5.2 and ver 6. I opened to my beloved Christ can have no entrance into the heart if love do not let him in This is the opening grace It is so in God the Father What makes him open his eternal counsels and purposes of grace and mercy to poor creatures but love It is so in God the Son What made him open heaven and come into the world open the virgins womb and be born open his side and let out his blood and so open a new and living way for us to the Father Heb. 10.20 What makes him open his arms to receive returning sinners and open the gates of glory for them but love It is so in God the Holy Ghost What makes him open blind eyes and deaf ears and hard hearts but love And look how love works in God to us so it works in us to God it opens the ear to hearken to him it opens the mouth to speak for him it opens the hand to work for him it opens the heart to entertain and imbrace him 3. Love is a liberal principle it is all for giving it is the most bountiful affection Love is all for laying out upon its object It is so with God Divine love expresses it self in acts of bounty Joh. 3.16 Luk. 11.13 Psal 84.11 Heb. 8.10 Ephes 2.5 God so loved the world that he gave his son He gives Christ He gives his Spirit He gives grace and glory He gives himself I will be their God So it is said of Christ He loved us and gave himself for us And look how love acts in God and Christ so it acts in all that are born of God he that loves God gives all to God he gives not only his time and strength and talents but he gives himself I am my beloveds Cant. 6.3 4. Love is a laborious principle It is alwayes doing Amor nescit ferias it hath no days of leisure it sets all the wheels of the soul in motion And therefore the holy Ghost joyns love and labour together God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 Your work of faith and labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 As the word of God is objectum practicum a thing not only to be known but obeyed so love is principium operativum not a meer notion swimming in the brain but a devout affection quickning the heart to obedience I have lifted up my hands to thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.48 If any thing keep a
man close to God in duty it is love 2 Cor. 12.10 for this will spend and be spent as it is right in regard of its object so it is laborious in its motion and doth so inlarge the dispositions and resolutions of the heart for God that as it knows it cannot do enough so it is apt to overlook all it doth as nothing And this is many times the reason of those complaints that are found among Christians that it is not with them as in time past they cannot pray nor act nor walk nor work for God as once they could and did the complaint arises meerly out of an improv'd affection not because duty is lessened but because love is increased He that loves but little will think he doth enough when he doth least but as love is increased so duty will be diminished in our esteem though it be inlarged in our endeavour 5. Love is a regulated principle it acts by rule and direction The motions of love are voluntary and free but its offices and acts are bounded by the commandment As the Promise is the rule of faith so is the Precept the rule of love Love to God is not a love of equals but of inferiours and therefore comes under a law it is our duty to act it but it is Gods prerogative to govern and guide it The expressions of our love are to be wholly regulated by what God requires and commands of us what ever is done otherwise though in the service of God yet it hath not love for its principle Many supererogate in the service of God and think this love to God as the Papists and among our selves how zealous are many for ceremonies and superstitious observances and think this is their love to God whereas it is in the language of God himself a hating of him as you see in the second commandment Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me Exod. 20.5 6. Who they are that hate him the former part of the command tells you they are such as corrupt the worship of God by any manner of will worship or humane institutions Though every sin hath a degree of hatred of God in it yet false worship is in a peculiar manner said to be a hating of him because it is a down right invading the rights of his Soveraignty to whom alone it belongs to prescribe how he will be worshipped and hence one says it is a less sin in the worship of God not to do what God commands than to practise what he hath not commanded because in the former we shew our weakness to do the will of God but in the latter we shew our impudence in making our selves wiser than God 1 Joh. 5 3. Herein is love that we keep his commandments 6. Love is a commanding principle it swayes the heart Every man is acted by the power of love That which gives sin its dominion in the soul is the love of it So much as a man loves sin so much power it hath over the heart and so much as we love Christ so much he rules in us for Christ and lust rule by love As love to sin abates the power of sin decays and as love to Christ increases so his interest and government advances in the soul Therefore it is that God bespeaks us to give him our hearts Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart and to love him with all our hearts Matt. 22.37 Because he knows that if he hath our hearts he hath all 7. Love is an induring principle It beareth all things indureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 Jacob served twice seven years for Rachel and indured hard things and yet the time was short Gen. 29.20 and his burden light all was nothing because of the love he had to her Nescit amor molimina love knows no difficulties how can it when it makes hard things easie Is it not a hard thing to keep the respects of the soul fixed upon God when he hides from it or frowns upon it Amare Deum cum se praebet inimicum This Luther counted a very hard work but love makes it easie Is it not a hard thing to indure reproaches and persecutions for Christ yet love makes it easie I take pleasure in reproaches and persecutions and distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 There is no man can take pleasure in these things for themselves no but for Christs sake It is love to Christ that sweetens all Is it not a hard thing to lay down our lives for Christ and yet love makes it easie I count not my life dear sayes Paul so that I may finish my course with joy Acts 20.24 They loved not their lives to the death Rev. 12.11 there is no part of Christs Yoke grievous to love no duty burthensom Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119.165 8. Love is a lasting principle The holy Ghost sayes it never faileth 1 Cor. 13.8 it is sure to hold out and persevere to the last Nay it shall not only be a principle of obedience in Saints while they are in this world but in heaven for ever A believer is acted by some principles in the present state that shall cease in heaven but love shall never cease it shall be a principle of obedience in heaven to Eternity O what an excellent principle of obedience is love and therefore see that your love to Christ be sincere and that all your services to Christ flow from this principle for without it all ye do is nothing If I give my body to be burned and have not love it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 3. The third principle of obedience to Christ is self denial There is a self denial before closing with Christ which is necessary in order to the taking up his Yoke As Christ finds every sinner in himself so he first calls him out of himself to close with him If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matt. 16.24 A man must come out of himself to Christ And there is a self denyal which is the effect of closing with Christ that follows upon our believing and is an essential part of sanctification None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself Rom. 14.7 Self-opinion self-will self-love self-confidence all must be denyed every imagination and every high thing must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Nay righteous self too is as much to be denyed in point of dependance as carnal self is in point of indulgence for trusting to self-righteousness hath undone many Not only our unrighteousness will undo us if we abide init but our very righteousness will undo us also if we trust to it and why because hereby we thrust Christ out of office Rom. 10.3 and make void his righteousness Let
It is true that a hearty resignation to God and a serious imbracing Religion by an unfeigned subjection to Christ always finds acceptance with the Lord Joh. 6.37 Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out There is a double Negative in the Greek which serves to make the promise strong and to incourage faith against all doubts and fears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not not cast him out The promise doth not only import the safety of the estate of such as are in Christ but the welcome reception of all that come to Christ As he will not cast them out that are once united to him so nor will he keep them out who desire truly to close with him whenever it be sooner or later when ever the heart is willing God is ready A sincere obedience shall find acceptance at any time but the earlier we come the kinder shall be our reception and the greater our welcome and it must needs be so First Because we resist the fewer calls and invitations of God which are the expressions of his love and good will to sinners and as nothing provokes God more than when his love is slighted so there is nothing he is more pleased with than when the Soul is won by it to a readiness of obedience and that which pleases God heightens our acceptation Secondly We save God the labour to speak after the manner of men of using other means in which he less delights there are methods which God doth not love to be found in the use of which yet he is constrained to use for our benefit he hath his thorn hedges to stop our course reduce our wandrings and bring us to himself hence we read of his strange works and his strange acts Hos 2.6 7. Isa 28.21 Things which God delights not in but is forced to by the stubbornness of the Creature that he that will not hear the word and who hath ordained it may be made to hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 Now by early imbracing the ways of Christ we happily prevent God in that work which is so contrary to his disposition as being more inclined to mercy than wrath Thirdly We gratifie him in the thing he loves and that is an early obedience Under the Law all Sacrifices were required to be young Deut. 15.19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctifie unto the Lord thy God And Exod. 22.29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors Mark It must be the firstling of the herd and the firstling of the flock and the first ripe fruits and the first liquors And why but to teach us by these Types how pleasing to God a timely conversion is and that if we would present our selves an acceptable Sacrifice to him it must be by an early subjection to the Yoke of Christ He loves a young Abijah a young Josiah a young Timothy a young Saint for a Sacrifice Joh. 20.2 Chap. 21.20 John is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 13.23 And why did Jesus love none other of the Disciples but him Yes he loved them all and that both living and dying Joh. 13.1 Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end But yet he loved John above all the rest and the reason that is given of it by some is because John was brought to Christ betimes of all the Disciples he was youngest when he took up the Yoke of Christ he loved Christ first and therefore Christ loved him best and as he had the highest affection for him so he made the greatest revelations to him All which shews the gracious acceptance of his early obedience It addeth greatly to the value of a gift when it is given readily and at first asking So when we give up our selves to the Call of God without shifting and hucking without demurrs and delays it puts a great value upon our obedience and makes it the more accepted with God Long standing off greatly provokes God and grieves the Spirit though we yield at last Many do by their lusts as Pharaoh did by the Israelites Exod. 5.2 he refuses to let them go Though God commands him till Judgment terrifies him into some kind of compliance and then he will let them go Exod. 8.28 but not far away that he may fetch them back again and when another Plague comes then he will let some go but not all Exod. 10.11 some must stay behind to be Hostages for the rest He never consents they shall all go till he is forced to it so that it was not thank-worthy when he did consent Many love their lusts more than Christ and will not part with them though at the Call of God till by judgment upon judgment he makes them weary of their communion and plagues them out of them the smart of Gods rod the coming of the evil day the wastes of nature the decay of strength the growth of diseases the prospect of another world the sense of a polluted nature a corrupt heart and a mispent life the fore-tastes of the wrath of God these set home by the Spirit may create such terrors in the conscience as may weary a sinner out of his lusts and bring him to Christ at last but he shall not have that welcome as the early Convert hath He shall be received and entertained but not made so much of as if he had come sooner He shall not have those comforts that an earlier Convert feels who took up the Yoke of Christ betimes and so hath walked in the fear of the Lord all his days His own conscience shall upbraid him and fill him with shame for the sollies of a mispent life if his bones are full of the sins of his youth Job 20.11 though they are pardoned in Heaven yet he may carry the pain of them to the grave with him and then he must needs lye down in sorrow Or if he meets with comfort in this life it may be long first and cost him many prayers and many tears much wooing and much waiting Though Christ when he stands at the door and knocks promises that if any man opens he shall sup with him Revel 3.20 Yet if Christ wait long for entrance the Soul may be made to wait long for its entertainment If his own Spouse deny him entrance he 'l deny her his presence if she suffers him to knock and call without admittance he will suffer her to seek and sue for a time without success Cant. 5.2 3 6. Delay God and God will delay you the longer you make him wait in the tenders of his Grace the longer he will make you wait in the expectation of peace and comfort Reas 5. It is the greatest business we have to attend to in the world and therefore is to be most minded and first entred upon It is the
they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Corinth 2.8 So did men but know what Religion is they would revere it and not scoff at it But the God of this world hath blinded their minds 2 Cor. 4.4 And who values the judgment of a blind man why then should any one be discouraged from owning Religion by the scoffs of such as know nothing of it or Secondly They are sensualists men soaked in sensual pleasures and swayed by brutish appetite swilling Sots Debauchees beastly Buffoons men of profligate Lives and Consciences 2 Pet. 3.3 who never had the least savour of the things of Religion and are these competent Judges of the sweetness of the heavenly life what do they know of the things they scoff at and reproach ask them what Religion is and they are not well enough catechised to make an answer They understand the newest fashions the wittiest Plays the most taking Healths the gentilest Oaths things suitable to their huffing humour but as for the ways of God they are far above out of their sight Psal 10.5 And therefore as brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption 2. Pet. 2.12 4. Consider why they scoff at Religion and at them who profess and practise it First Why do they scoff at Religion but because it would restrain their lusts and obstruct their sinful course which they are bent upon And therefore they discountenance Religion that they may the better countenance their lusts There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts 2 Pet. 3.3 mark it is for the sake of their lusts that Religion is scorned and hated It is from an evil life that any man reproaches Godliness they hate the light and come not to it lest their deeds should be reproved John 3.20 Secondly Why do they scoff at them that profess and own Religion but because they will not be Beasts nor offer violence to their Reason nor stifle the convictions of their own Consciences nor resist the spirit nor put off the Image of God and become as Devils They mock at them for taking God for their chief good for seeking his love and favour for minding and endeavouring to save an immortal Soul for labouring to avoid the wrath of God and the miseries of Hell and to secure an everlasting happiness For this is the great work and business of Religion the Object of it is God in Christ the Rule of it is the holy Scriptures the End of it is the Glory of God in our own Salvation and the whole work and business of it is to dye to sin to live to righteousness to walk after the spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 This is the sure way to that blessed end ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Rom. 6.22 This is the summ of the Christian Religian and what is here to be ridiculed and made mockery they that will scoff at men for being Religious may as well scoff at the Seaman for using a Pilot to keep the Ship from Rocks and Sands or at the blind man for walking with a guide that he may not fall into the Pit or at the sick man for seeking a Cure when his life is in danger They scoff at you for keeping the promise they have broken and for endeavouring to make good the baptismal Covenant which they have violated They have promised to renounce the world to forsake the Devil and all his works to abandon the lusts of the flesh but have not done it but are Covenant-breakers and because you labour to be true to your Covenant with God therefore they mock and scoff so that the true reason of all is because you are not as vile as they as false to God and to your ingagement they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. 4.4 and is not this most irrational and worse than brutish and why should you cease to act like rational creatures because others act below the Brutes 5. It is not you but God whom they hate and scorn it is his name and honour they wound through your sides and therefore the Apostle calls the reproach of Christians Christs reproach Heb. 13.13 For whoever scoffs at any man for that of God that is in him scoffs not at man so much as at God Were you a swinish Drunkard an unclean Brute a proud Huff an hectoring Atheist a Dam-mee like themselves they would hug and imbrace you so that the hatred and enmity is evidently against the Image and Life of God in you and therefore against God himself If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you John 15.19 Now if the holy God who is able to frown the proudest sinner into Hell in a moment is patient and long suffering towards these and bears all their scoffs and hard speeches and indignities why should you think much to bear them especially when it is for his name sake All these things will they do unto you for my name sake John 15.21 6. Set the respect of God against the scorns of the World What though the World hates so long as God loves let them reproach thee yet the holy God honours thee If any man serve me 1 Sam 2.30 him will my father honour John 12.26 He is not ashamed to be called your God Heb. 11.16 and if so why should you be ashamed to be called his People He accounts of you as the excellent of the Earth Psal 16.3 and therefore you should set that against the mocks and scoffs of wicked men Aliud judicium hominis aliud judicium Dei whose judgment is most to be esteemed the righteous Gods Rom. 2.2 which is always according to truth or unrighteous mans which is blinded with prejudice and hatred of God and all his ways and People and therefore the Apostle Paul flights the censures of men and values himself wholly upon the approbation of God With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of mans judgment but be that judgeth me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4.3 4. 7. These scoffs and reproaches which you undergo upon the account of Christ and Religion here shall add to your Crown and greaten your Glory in the last Day Every degree of suffering for Christ now shall then have its reward He that hath promised to requite your well doing to a cup of cold water Matt. 10.42 hath also promised to recompence your sufferings to the least scoff or jeer Blessed are ye when men shall revile you rejoyce and be exceeding
the case is not the same for we are bound to answer Gods precepts but he is not bound to answer our requests and yet we make him tarry our sinful leisure in the business of duty though we think much to tarry his holy leisure in the case of mercy Secondly It is down-right disobedience he that delays a duty transgresses the precept and slights the divine Authority The season is as much a part of the command as the thing commanded If God says return ye now every one from his evil way Jer. 18.11 the now is as much a duty as the returning If the Father says to his Son go work to day in my vineyard Matt. 21.28 it is flat disobedience to defer it till to morrow for the time of working is as much a duty as the work it self Thirdly It is the highest ingratitude for Christ did not adjourn his love to us one day his heart was to us from everlasting I was set up from everlasting rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth and my delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.23.31 He gave himself in the Covenant of Redemption to dye for sin and redeem sinners from the first day that sin entred And therefore he is said to be a lamh slain from the foundadation of the world Revel 13.8 Though he came not to dye actually till the fullness of time Galat. 4.4 yet in the decree of God the Father and in the consent of God the Son he was a Saviour from the beginning and his Blood was as efficacious to Salvation before ever it was shed as after he was a Saviour and Redeemer from the first entrance of sin Adam Noah Abraham and all the Saints that lived before his Incarnation were saved by his Blood as well as we His love bears date from everlasting and it breaks forth very early in the overt acts of it to particular persons Christ begins with sinners betimes who knows how soon puts upon many of them a federal holiness betimes seals them for his betimes puts his spirits into them betimes and calls them to an actual close with him betimes it is hard to say how soon but it appears to be very early in that many have been converted from their very childhood as Samuel and Timothy and others O the earliness of the love of Christ and shall we adjourn our obedience as if we were afraid of closing with him too soon he took up our burden betimes and shall we delay the taking up his Yoke for the last work of our lives This is great ingratitude Fourthly It is manifest injustice and a fraudulent detaining of Christs right For whose you are his your strength and service is and are ye not the Lords hath he not redeemed you and that both by price at the hands of God and by power out of the hands of Satan ye are the redeemed of the Lord and therefore you are his your time is his your gifts and parts are his your affections are his your estates are his your strength is his your youth is his your body and soul are his your all is his and therefore not to give up your selves body and soul to him not to love and fear and serve him is a crying injustice Nay to delay it one day one moment is to deny him his right Many boast of their honesty they are just to all and wrong none yes you wrong your redeemer you are unjust to Jesus Christ and that is the highest injustice in the world To delay any man in that which is his right is a great sin the wages of the hireling must be paid at the day and it must be done before the sun be set Deut. 24.14 15. It is a maxim in the Law minus solvit qui minus tempore solvit not to pay at the time is to pay the less because there is so much advantage for improvement lost Is it such a sin to detain a servants right what is it then to detain our Lords right must we not withhold wages for a servants work till the sun be set and yet dare we withhold doing our Lords work till the sun of our lives is setting O what base injustice is this Fifthly It is altogether unreasonable there is no man living can give a reason to excuse him from this duty You cannot say it is the wrong way to Heaven for it is the way the Lord Christ hath directed and chalked out You cannot say it is a needless Yoke for there is no Salvation without taking it upon you You cannot say it is a dangerous Yoke for it hath salvation certainly intailed upon it You cannot say it is a fruitless Yoke Matt. 11.28 for it yields perfect peace and lasting joy to all that come under it You cannot say it is an impossible Yoke for as you have the command of Christ to undertake it so you have the promise of Christ to help and inable you to bear it So that you cannot give one reason why you should neglect it and therefore he that refuses to take it up is without excuse Whoever remains graceless in a day of Grace will be found speechless in the Day of Judgement Matt. 22.12 Sixthly It is downright madness for you refuse Heaven because you will not be holy You will rather lose the eternal injoyment of God than be made like God You will rather chuse to perish under the wrath of Christ than you will consent to come under the Yoke of Christ You will be contented to be damned so you may go a pleasant way to Hell And is not this madness to the height to chuse rather to perish eternally than be tied to love and serve your maker and redeemer O what a base and low opinion have you of God and Heaven how can ye degrade and dishonour him more If a man should publish it as his opinion that darkness is better than light that Hell is rather to be chosen than Heaven that he had rather be in an everlasting society with Devils and damned Spirits than with God and Christ in the glory above what would you say of such a one but that he talked like a mad man why then reflect upon your selves a little for mutato nomine do teâ— Fabula narratur you that prefer the pleasures of sin to the service of Christ that will renounce your part in God and Christ and eternal happiness to satisfie a base lust that will stake your Souls for a few minutes of sinful delights can any man be guilty of greater madness do ye know what ye do or what ye speak when ye say in your hearts this lust shall reign but Christ shall not reign let us break his bonds Psal 2.3 and cast his cords far away from us this is treason against the Crown of Heaven your Blood Luk. 19.27 your Life your Soul must go for this Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them out and
to the Divine Will Holiness is the being of the Spiritual Life in us Obedience is the operation of that Life according to the degrees of it in the Soul For there is a great difference in the degrees of Spiritual Life in Believers it is variously Communicated to one more to another less All Believers have it but some have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 and according to the measure of the life of holiness in us such is our strength to obey and according to the strength of our obedience such will the evidence of our subjection to Christ and his Yoke be 2. What greater evidence can there be of our subjection to Christ then that which is the proper and essential act of the new creature and that obedience is It is not more essential to the eye to see nor to the ear to hear then it is for a renewed heart to obey God A Believer doth but act his nature in obeying and that appears from that pleasure and delight which so far as renewed he takes in it Acts of nature are acts of delight hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.22 I delight in the law of God after the inner man And that of David I delight to do thy will O my God And whence this delight arises the next words tell you Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The principle of grace within makes obedience to the law of God a delight and delight in obedience to the law of God proves the truth of that Principle within All delight in doing arises from a suitableness between the Principle and the Precept the heart and the work If there are precepts injoyned us and a defect of Principles in us much may be done but there can be no delight in doing the commands will be grievous But it is not every kind of Obedience that can prove the truth of our subjection to Christ A hypocrite may go far in the outward part of obedience he may have a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 and what is that but a resemblance of a Christian in all the outward lineaments of Godliness He may be able to do all external acts of obedience in common with Believers But there are some things essential to Believers as such the goodness whereof doth adhere intrinsecally to this work done as to love God to fear God to trust in God to delight in God These mingled with our outward duties make them to be obedience of the right kind and these no hypocrite can attain to and therefore cannot perform any one act of true obedience For obedience consists in a full conformity to the will of God as revealed in his word from a Principle of holiness within Many profess subjection to Christ in word but deny it in works calling him Lord Lord but not doing the things which he sayes Luk. 6.46 And many have flexible knees but stiff necks bowing the former to the name Jesus but will not bow the latter to the Yoke of Jesus being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 There is no such Testimony of your being under the Yoke of Christ as conformity to the will of Christ By this then you may make a judgment in this matter When the spies returned from searching the Land of Canaan they brought with them a cluster of Grapes and Pomegranates and Figs Numbers 13.23 and when they came to give an account of their search they shewed them the fruit of the Land and said surely it flowes with milk and hony and this is the fruit of it ver 27. q. d. the Land that yields such good fruit must needs be a good Land The fruit of being under Christs yoke is dying to sin and living to God in a Holy Obedience And by these two Characters your State may certainly be known The heart that yields such fruit is surely a good heart Pray observe that of the Apostle Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness It is not being Baptized into the name of Christ nor taking up the outward profession of Christ and Religion that can distinguish between the servants of Christ and Satan Here is a surer rule He that obeys sin is the servant of sin and he that obeys Christ is the servant of Christ CHAP. XV. Exhorts to thankfulness to God who inclined the heart to this Yoke The wisdom of taking up this Yoke manifested THE last use shall be of Exhortation and I shall direct it to two sorts of persons 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth 2. To such as have never yet taken up the yoke of Christ to this day Exhortat 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth that have made it their work to mind Religion betimes to remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth There are three duties I would commend to such by way of direction Duty 1. The first is thankfulness Though this contributes nothing to God yet it is that which he is delighted with It shews the honesty and integrity of the heart in ascribing effects to their proper causes Thankfulness diminishes the creature to himself and magnifies God It shews a man looks upon himself as nothing and God as all Therefore bless God and be thankful for this great mercy Is there not a cause For 1. How came you to take up Christs yoke Rom. 6.17 Isa 26.13 Time was when ye were the servants of sin other Lords had dominion over you Time was when you were slaves to lust How came you to take up the yoke of Christ It was not natural for by nature we are enemies to grace and holiness It was the fruit of the wisdom of God impressed upon the Soul it was he that gave thee counsel to make this choice and therefore bless him So David sayes in the like case I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Psa 16.7 Counsel for what to take the Lord for his Lord and that implies taking up his yoke O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord ver â— thou art my Lord that implies subjection Thou hast said thou art my Lord that implyes a Covenant resignation So that here he chooses God for his portion and chief good and for his highest Lord and how he came to make this choice he tells you ver 7. It was the Lord that counselled him to this and therefore he resolves the praise and glory shall be to him I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Go you and do likewise bless the Lord who hath perswaded and over power'd your hearts to close with Christ For no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 2. It is the wisest choice that ever you made to choose Christ for your Lord and
it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6.6 It is a less evil to refuse the first tenders of grace then to reject Christ after he hath been professed and own'd the former may be from ignorance and prejudice but to cast him off upon tryal argues his yoke to be uneasy and his Commandments grievous he sayes in the language of his action there is not that good to be found in God as he expected nor that comfort in his ways as was promised And what greater contempt can be put upon Christ then this 2. It hath mischievous effects with respect to our selves 1. It proves the unsoundness and hypocrisie of our hearts and shews they were never right with God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 Joh. 2.19 He that at any time shall cast off the yoke of Christ shews that his heart was never right in taking of it up In a Marriage relation love increases and firms the bond but adulterous love is only hot while new 2. Another mischievous effect is in those unspeakable losses we sustain by casting off Christs yoke 1. A loss of all we have done or suffered for Christ when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned Ezekiel 18.24 thy Faith thy Prayers thy Alms-deeds thy Fastings thy striving against sin thy zeal and fervour for Christ will all come to nothing it shall never be mentioned all thy labour and obedience and duties are lost though they have been never so many and great When a Nazarite under the Law had separated himself to the Lord if any defilement came upon him all was lost and counted for nothing Numb 6.12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation that is he shall begin all again but the days that were before shall be lost because his separation was defiled So it is with professors of Religion if they draw back all is lost In Christianis non initia quaeruntur sed finis It is not only how we begin but how we finish And therefore it is excellent counsel the Apostle gives 2 Epist Joh. ver 8. 2 Epist Joh. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which yee have wrought 2. A loss of that honour and reputation which doth ever attend sincerity and perseverance as an Apostate loses the profit and comfort of all his duties so he loses the honour of his profession Ye did run well who hindered you Gal. 5.7 Demas hath forsaken us 2 Tim. 4.10 and imbraced this present world it is recorded as an act of perpetual infamy and dishonour So Christ saith of him that begins to build and is not able to finish that all that behold it shall mock at him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Luk. 14.29 30. The Crown of profession is only secured by perseverance Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Ne honorem perseverantiae amittas Gro. Revel 3.11 3. A loss of gifts and parts and of that expediteness for service which we once had When men withdraw from and forsake Christ he causes his Spirit in his wonted operations and influences to withdraw from and forsake them So that they are not the men they once were How hath the experience of the present Age verified this Do we not see many that once had great gifts of the Spirit for praying teaching and edifying of others who by turning their backs upon Christ to a dead way of formal Worship have sinned away the gifts of the Spirit and are now become utterly dead and lifeless and thus is that of our Lord made good Mark 4.25 He that hath not not improved from him shall be taken away that which he hath Thus Christ took away the Talent from the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.28 4. A loss of that tenderness of Conscience which is necessary to a true repentance for when a man doth reject and cast off Christs yoke usually Conscience is laid wast it is sinned out of office and so lets a man sin on without check or controul And how shall that man repent who hath sinned away all tenderness of Conscience therefore the Apostle sayes It is impossible if such fall away to renew them again to Repentance Heb. 6.4 6. 5. A loss of Heaven and the salvation of their souls There are two sorts of persons that are for ever shut out of Heaven Such as never believed and such as make Shipwrack of Faith Such as never would take up the yoke of Christ and such as having taken it up do finally cast it off again If you forsake God he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 This is willful sinning and how dreadfully hath God expressed himself against this Heb. 10.26 If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries you therefore that have taken up the yoke of Christ let that severe threatening of Christ fasten it for ever upon you Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father with his Holy Angels These are the Arguments the Directions follow Direct 1. Would you not cast off Christs Yoke Then do not be weary of his service Do not count it burdensome No man loves to bear what is burdensome it makes him weary and wearyness causeth fainting Hence that of the Apostle Heb. 12.3 Consider him that indured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds There is a weariness from contrariety of Spirit to the work Mal. 1.13 Ye have said what a weariness is it And there is a weariness from despondency of Spirit under discouragements in the ways of God by reason of contradictions and sufferings but nothing should make us weary of Christs work Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well-doing 2 Thes 3.13 Christ speaks it to the commendation of that Church of Ephesus Rev. 2 3. For my name sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted Scaliger sayes lassitudo est deficientia virtutis moventis Weariness is from a failure in the moving Principle and that is the love of God in the heart So that weariness in the work of God shews that the heart is not right with God Direct 2. Look to your first undertaking in giving your selves up to Christ that it be in sincerity and uprightness of heart How can that man hold out in the service of Christ to the end
Christ You must be divorced from all sin or you cannot be Marryed to Christ therefore remove all hinderances to the duty Direct 3 Labour to be convinced of the absolute necessity of conversion A true sight of the dreadful condition you are in by nature will discover this And what is that you are by nature children of wrath under the curse from the very womb the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed lies upon you you are the devils bondslaves dead in sin Eph. 2.1 Eph. 4.18 under the power of lust alienated from the life of God Hasting to destruction there is but one step between you and Hell you stand upon the brink of the bottomless pit for whoever dies in an unconverted state shall assuredly perish the holy God hath said it and will make it good And is this a state to be rested in where is the sinner that dares dye and appear before the Righteous God in this condition therefore let this shew you the necessity of conversion Direct 4 Heartily accept of Jesus Christ as the Gospel tenders him Here is the turning point of thy Salvation Christ in bowels of pity to thy undone case tenders himself to thee as a universal remedy to pardon to purge to renew to sanctifie to save Young ones have any of you a heart thus to accept of Christ if so you are happy for ever and all your sins and lusts nay all the devils in hell can't hinder it Let an intire resignation follow this acceptation Direct 5 Having thus received Christ give thy self wholly up to Christ resolving that Body Soul and Spirit shall be the Lords so it is said of them 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves up to the Lord. A hearty subjection must follow this resignation Direct 6 No man can be fully resigned that is not intirely subject Be sure therefore let Christ bear rule let the government be upon his shoulders let him give law to thy heart and life thy affections and actions do not part with some sins and retain others this is to hold fast deceit Jer. 8.5 and to refuse to return Do not obey Christ in this or that command but in all you must take all or none An imperfect obedience may be right and sincere but a partial obedience cannot I pray remember this the yoke of Christ is made up of every Commandment not this or that but every Commandment goes to the making up his yoke and when you become willingly subject to all the commands of Christ then have you taken up the yoke of Christ Lastly this must be done without delay Direct 7 The Text prompts to this It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth What sayes David I made hast and delay'd not to keep thy Commandments Psal 119.60 As Christ said to Judas in another case What thou doest do quickly Consider 1. It is a business of life and death and what a foolish thing it is for a man to deliberate whether he shall be saved or damned go to Heaven or Hell 2. By continuance in the ways of disobedience the heart is made more obstinate as a path becomes the harder by frequent treading Sin is of a hardening nature Heb. 3.13 So that if conversion to Christ be hard to day it will be harder to morrow and so every day adds to its difficulty because the heart grows harder and harder 3. You suffer great loss by delays What grace might you have gotten e're this had you begun betimes what victories over sin what experiences what communion with God what evidences for heaven 4. There are special seasons of grace which are but for a limited time and in complying with or slighting these the happiness or misery of man is fixed Because to every purpose there is time and judgment therefore the misery of man is great upon him Eccles 8.6 If your seasons of grace are lost they are never to be redeem'd Now I pray consider in what part of life is it most probable that in the wisdom of God these are placed in youth or in old age Can you think that God would chose the infirmities and dotages of life for his service rather then the strength and vigour of your days and affections 5. The slighting of your special seasons is the way to lose them Luk. 19.42 Gen. 6.3 These three years I come looking for fruit and find none And what follows cut it down why cumbers it the ground Luk. 13.7 Three years they had injoy'd Christs ministry and yet brought forth no fruit and therefore Christ casts them off O sirs how many years hath Christ been calling of you and waiting for fruit why stand ye all the day idle Remember the foolish Virgins and tremble and get Oyl while the Market is open 6. Thou dost not know how near thy day of account may be It is many times nearest when we think it is farthest off We are many times most secure when we are least safe 1 Thes 3.5 When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction c. My Lord delays his coming said the wicked servant Mat. 24.48 And what follows The Lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of Little did the old world think of a flood so nigh when they gave themselves to sensuality Or Sodom of fire from Heaven when they burn'd in their lusts So shall it be when the son of man comes Luk. 17.30 Lastly Consider this If any of you that have heard these Sermons of taking up Christs yoke betimes shall dare yet to live in the neglect of this duty This word that I have spoken to you in the name of the Lord and this call that God hath made to you by me will be a dreadful witness against such refusers in the last day and that which I have intended for your conversion will turn to your destruction and damnation But God forbid what shall I run in vain and labour in vain nay shall the Lord Christ call in vain and his Blessed Spirit strive with you in vain Therefore I beseech you lay things to heart and let me know what you intend Will you at last be prevail'd with to submit to Christ and take up his yoke forthwith without any more delay if not let me tell you God will look upon you from this day as wilful refusers of his grace and love and it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah then for you But if you have a heart now to accept of Christ to be resigned to him and to take up his yoke without any more delay you have done your work you have saved your souls Now God is yours Christ is yours Peace Life Salvation all the good of the Covenant all the glory of Heaven is yours and therefore you are blessed and happy for ever For as your present choice is such shall your Eternal Condition be The Lord perswade sinners to know the things of their peace before they are hid from their eyes FINIS
was providing for her Saviour the other for her Soul and this was the most needful work Martha was cumber'd with much serving and this distracted her in her obedience which was the one thing needful It is more necessary to obey Christ than thus to serve him First It it necessary by a necessity of Precept that which is first pressed should be most chiefly endeavoured and that is the business of Religion First seek ye the kingdom of God and his righteousness Mat. 6.33 First before any thing else and first more than any thing else The Lord Christ here takes their hearts off from worldly cares by setting them upon a more necessary duty for as the body is more than raiment Mat. 6.25 so is the Soul more than the body hence that of our Lord Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life God is a supreme Lord to whom we all owe obedience and this puts a must upon us as to duty so it did upon Christ himself I must work the works of him that sent me Joh. 9.4 This laid that necessity upon the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.16 Necessity is laid me It is necessary God should be obeyed whatever his precepts are his charge must be kept and his will fulfilled for he is Lord of all he is not only a Saviour but a Law-giver and therefore obedience is as necessary as trust and dependance Secondly It is necessary by a necessity of means He that would arrive at a designed end must pursue it by due and proper means Eternal life and salvation is the end which the great God propounds to all he would have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 But how by an absolute Decree No though many argue thus blindly If God hath decreed me to Salvation I shall be saved let me live how I list God never made any such Decree he hath as much decreed the means as the end conversion and subjection to Christ are as much decreed as Salvation and eternal life So that no man can be saved in an unregenerate state what can be more positive and plain than that of our Lord Christ Joh. 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God He doth not say he is not like to see the Kingdom of God or he shall not see the Kingdom of God but he cannot see the Kingdom of God The Salvation of that man that cleaves to his lusts and refuses obedience to Jesus Christ is morally impossible he must perish and that upon a twofold necessity 1. A natural necessity For it is impossible that the holy God and unholy Sinners can dwell together Did God burn up Sodom and Gomorrha drown the old World cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise and the Angels out of Heaven for their sins and will he lay thee in his bosom in thy enmity and filth Darkness and light may as soon incorporate and contraries subsist together nay God may as soon change his nature and cease to be what he is as save a man in his sins and disobedience It is contrary to his Holiness Psal 101.7 if holy David would not suffer wicked persons to dwell in his house can we think the holy God will ever suffer them to dwell in Heaven 2. There is a legal necessity that he that continues in his lusts and unregeneracy must perish and that because of the Will and Law of God As God wills the Salvation of all that will turn to God and obey him so he wills the damnation of all that will not but hold fast their lusts and refuse to return As he hath made a Law that whoever will come to Christ and take up his Yoke shall find rest to his Soul and shall live for ever so he hath declared it as peremptorily that he that slights Christ and will not hearken to him and obey him shall be utterly cut off he shall perish in his enmity it shall be worse with him than with Sodom and Gomorrha he shall perish under the forest of punishments Heb. 10.29 And therefore there is as great a necessity that such should perish as there is that God should be true to his word for it is gone out of his mouth in righteousness and cannot return If God says 1 Cor. 6.9 No unrighteous thing shall inherit the kingdom of God why then the wicked must be shut out If God says He that believes not shall be damned Mar. 16.16 then damnation must be the portion of Unbelievers If God says Christ shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on all that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.8 then the disobedient must be the objects of his eternal vengeance If Christ says He that denies me before men I will deny him before my Father which is in heaven Mat. 10.33 then it is impossible that he who doth not obey his commands should have any benefit by his Intercession For God will never repeal any of those righteous Laws he hath made concerning good and evil Saints and Sinners Heaven and Hell Salvation and Damnation And if so what will be the end of them that obey not the Gospel 1 Pet. 4.17 What will become of those rebels that hold a counsel together against the Lord and his Christ that they may break their bands-asunder and cast their cords from them Psal 2.2 3. There is therefore the same necessity of Holiness as there is of Salvation Many think they may be saved without it live as they list and yet injoy God at last But what says the Scripture Without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord Heb. 12.14 There is the same necessity of taking upon you the Yoke of Christ as there is of injoying the presence of Christ Is the eternal happiness of the Soul necessary then so must the bearing Christs Yoke be for this is the means to the end non pervenitur ad finem nisi per media It doth not merit Heaven but it is the way to Heaven It is that which qualifies for glory Heaven is the purchase of Christs Blood a purchased possession Heb. 9.12 Eph. 1.14 but how can you hope for the benefit of his Blood if you do not stoop to his Yoke He is the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Slight Christ and you ruine your Souls We will not have this man to reign over us Luk. 19.14 And what is the fruit of it Christ will take you for the enemies of his Kingdom and Government and will deal with you as such Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me v. 27. O Sirs do ye know what ye do when ye despise and reject the Laws and Soveraignty of Christ You despise his Mercy ye dare his Justice you slight his Love ye trample his Blood under foot ye render
mercy impotent He could do no mighty work Mark 6.5 you make the Lamb turn Lion you lay your selves under a necessity of damnation for all wilful refusers of Christ must perish Thirdly It is necessary to preserve the rectitude of Nature if a man would be under the government of mind and understanding and keep reason in the Throne and be able to subdue the inordinacy of appetite he must come under the Yoke of Christ nothing else can do it Philosophy may give rules but it is Religion that gives power How like a brute is man that is led by sense and governed by appetite the glory of his Being is lost A beast in the shape and figure of a reasonable Creature man without but brute within There is no middle thing every man is either a Saint or a Beast If he don't conform to Christ which is the truest improvement of mind and will he is under the government of sense and swayed by appetite and what makes a man more a beast than this Fourthly It is necessary to prove your right to and interest in Christ The pretence and claim to this is very common but right and interest is very rare therefore it is good to put things out of doubt Let every man prove his own work Gal. 6.4 Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 How may this be known why the Apostle tells you 1 Joh. 2.3 Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments And v. 5. Whoso keepeth his word in him is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him Your obedience is the best test of your interest nothing proves your relation to his Person like your subjection to his Precepts Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 Joh. 3.19 Many boast great things about their interest in Christ and have great joys and transports flowing from it and yet all may be but the birth of a dream the fruit of fancy and fond opinion and it is no other where subjection to Christ is left out He that saith I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 1.4 That is a sharp rebuke of Christ to those false Disciples Luke 6.46 Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Christ hates their pretences of relation to him while they slight his Precepts and disown his Government Fifthly It is necessary to shew our gratitude to a Redeemer which can no way be expressed as it ought but by a dutiful subjection to his precepts Let us not love in word and in tongue says the Apostle but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3.18 We never express our thankful sense of redeeming love to the life till we make his Laws the rule of our life And thus doth David Psal 116.8 9. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living The greatest love that ever God shewed was to give Jesus Christ And the greatest grace that ever Christ manifested was the grace of Redemption when he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 And the highest obedience the Creature can act is when it springs from a grateful sense of the Fathers love in giving Christ and of Christs grace in giving himself When we lay the foundation of our obedience where God hath laid it in the Blood of his Son when we love God from a sense of his love to us in Christ 1 Joh. 4.19 When mercy melts and wins us Rom. 12.1 When the grace of God appearing teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.11 12. and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world this is excellent The Apostle says That faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 And it doth so two ways by way of gratitude and by way of instrumentality It first apprehendeth love and leaves the impression of it upon the Soul and so begets such a love in the Soul to God as works a dutiful subjection to all his Precepts This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 The end of Redemption is duty Christ had no design to diminish the Soveraignty of God or lessen mans duty in any of his undertakings but to make us more capable of service and to render duty more easie There is mercy provided for our failings but no relaxation of obedience the Gospel requires as perfect holiness as ever the Law did yet we have a double relief provided by sincerity on our part and mercy on God's Though there be no indulgence by Christ to the least sin yet there is pardon provided for the greatest Christ came not to be a minister of sin to deliver us from obedience but he came to deliver us from the slavery of obedience not that we might not serve God but that we might serve him without fear Luk. 1.74 that is with peace of Conscience and joy of heart And therefore great is the gratitude we owe to Christ and it can no way be expressed but by a voluntary resignation to his will and subjection to his Yoke Sixthly It is necessary for the confirming our Faith in the promises of God There is an inseparable connexion between the Precepts and Promises the one is as essential a part of the Covenant of Grace as the other there is you shall as well as I will I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people Heb. 8.10 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Ezek. 36.27 There is obedience injoyned as well as mercy promised The Covenant is of Gods contriving not ours he prescribes the conditions and propounds the rewards not we Our work is intire submission and hearty consent we are neither to alter nor debate And in this Covenant our eternal happiness is secured by an unfeigned consent of will to take Christ upon the conditions God hath prescribed and what are they Christ and his Yoke that is Christ to rule as well as to save for he came not only to be a Saviour but a Law-giver The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Isai 33.22 As Law-giver he prescribes the rule of obedience as King he rules by the Law he prescribes as Judge he will try us by the Law of his Government and save those that have sought his precepts Psal 119.94 and therefore our faith in the promise of eternal rewards must be supported by our faithfulness to the commands the greater our obedience the higher is our hope of acceptance I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept