parts and all the good common gifts of grace which are found sometimes in good nature and sometimes in the children of the Church we must part with them all that we may win Christ 1 Cor. 3.18 If any man among you seem to be wise in this world let him become a foole that he may be wise who ever would be a wise man as a wise man he cannot be if hee have not his part in Christ he must lay aside his serious and sad deliberation and communication with flesh and blood and all things in the way of God that he thinkes will be prejudiciall if any man be so wise as to see this and that danger in a Christian course let him become a foole else he shall never become a Christian if a man will be content to forsake all for Christ he must first be a foole and be content to bee counted a foole and heare every carnall man to count him a foole And I speak not onely of carnal and civill wisdom that that only is to be denyed in this case but common graces which many times choakes all the hypocrites in the bosome of the Church they are commonly choaked upon this point upon these things they trust and doe therefore verily beleeve that this and that interest God hath in them and they in God because they have received such and such gifts from him and this is the case formerly mentioned Matth. 7.22 23. they pleaded their spirituall gifts though common gifts and such as may be found in workers of iniquity they prayed to God a common gift and they prophesied in his name they had prophetical gifts some measure of the spirit of ministery and they were able to cast out devills in Christs name now when as men do trust upon these and settle themselves upon such a change truly hereby they loose that power in Christ which else they might have had It s a wonder to see what a change propheticall gifts will work in a man 1 Sam. 10.10 12. he there Saul had a spirit of prophesie came upon him and the people wondred at it it works a strange change in a man and so in the next chap. the 19 and 23 ver he prophesied til he came at such a place so that you shall see a man that is trained up in any good order though sometimes given to loose company when once God begins to poure into him any spirituall gift to inlighten his mind and to inlarge his affection that hee begins to have some love to and some joy in the Word and some sorrow in hearing of the Word and some comfort in meditation Its wonder to see what a change this will work in the spirit he forthwith begins to abandon his loose courses and sets himselfe to a more strict course then hee begins to see his acquisite learning is but a small matter to edification hee prizes his spirituall gifts and hee is able now to doe much and when a mans heart is thus changed by propheticall gifts it workes in a man such confidence in his soule that he thinkes all the Congregation shall perish before he can perish and if Ministers may be thus deceived by common gifts and graces how much more may their poor hearers bee deceived when they by hearing the Word find such comfort and illumination and inlargements that they thereby finde a great change wrought in them and yet if ministers may bee so much deceived in presuming vainly of their good estate which was not so then much more common Christians Should any man presume at Foelix his trembling Act. 24.25 At Jehues zeale 2 King 10.16 At Ahabs humiliation 1 King 21.28 29. At Herods joy in hearing you know what became of all these those be graces of God though but common graces and if the Prophets were deceived may not these be deceived also that have neither Christ nor any part in him and therefore a man that would bee sure not to goe without Christ nor without life in him he must not trust in any spirituall gift he hath received though his mind be enlightened sometimes to feare sometimes to joy to humiliation to inlargement to zealous reformation yet rest in none of these for these you may have and yet want Christ and life in him common graces may and will deceive you a man may have all these and yet not prize Christ at his cheifest good he may have all these and yet not worship him Notwithstanding all these there may bee some iniquity in their hands for which cause God will not shew mercy to them See and observe if in the midst of all these you do not worke some iniquity they were workers of iniquity alwayes at the best Matth. 7.23 you may be workers of iniquity notwithstanding all these and therefore consider if there be not some veine of pride and hypocrisie and covetousnesse that cleaves fast to your hearts which you allow your selves in which if you doe these very gifts will bee your ship-wracke your anchor will breake and your ship will bee carryed away and you fall downe in destruction but see that your hearts bee cleane and see that there bee not an ill thought or way that you allow your selves in and if so then your heart will lay hold upon God and you will prize Christ and then it is a signe those gifts you have are not in hypocrisie for in an hypocrite they are alwayes found with some sinne which if a man doe not willfully shut his eyes against hee may see for our Saviour speakes of such a sinne in them as the rest of the people of God may know them to be counterfeits from verse 15 to 23. You shall know them by this doe men gather grapes of thornes or figges of thistles have not they their ill haunts but put away these from you if you mean to have Christ Fifthly If we would have Christ and life in him we may have him in Justification but not in growth of Sanctification if you part not with confidence in the saving graces of Gods Spirit you must not looke to be justified by them for if you doe you wil discover them not to be sanctified graces nor the fruits of them the fruits of saving grace Christ shall profit you nothing if you looke to be saved by the righteousnesse of the Law Gal. 5.3 4. If therefore we thinke that for these graces sake God accepts us truly we loose the things that we have wrought and for all that we have received we have no part nor portion in the Lord Jesus Christ neither Abraham nor David hath whereon to 〈◊〉 Rom 4.4.18 But blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne and in whose spirit there is no guile Therein stands our blessednesse when the Lord imputes not sinne to us but if we looke to be justified either by the gifts of grace we have received or by the workes and acts of grace that we have performed we shall certainly fall
themselves and therefore this is the warmth of this knowledge it both burnes up their owne lusts like chaffe and all the sinfull distempers that we see in the lives and wayes of our Brethren this is one part of the heat of a Christian soule that his knowledge is a warme knowledge Look what he knowes he thinkes he must doe whereas another man knowes many things but he doth them not but a Christian if he know it to be the Will of God he must doe it And that is the reason why Gods servants are many times counted very busie as indeed the fire is ever very busily working no creature in the house so busie as the fire is and so the knowledge of Gods people makes them to be so busie in doing and therein they expresse the life of Christ Secondly 2. Where there is life there is breath where ever is true life there is this warmth a warmth in their breath both in the Naturall and Spirituall body in this Naturall body while we live it is warme and so long as we live we breath more or lesse it is but for a little time if at all breath be intercepted it may be in some suddaine fits but ordinarily if it tarry long it is a signe of death but if there be life there is breathing and that breathing is warme some warme breath comes from him that is alive And truely so shall you finde it in your spirituall life If there be any true life in the heart of a Christian soule there is alwayes some kind of warm breathing there is some measures of warmth in his prayers the prayers of an hypocrite ir alwayes but lip-labour and accordingly lust labor the words vanish away in the aire but there is ever more or lesse some kind of warmth-in the prayers of Gods servants according to what the Apostle speakes Rom. 8.26 even then when we know not what to pray for nor how to pray as we ought then the spirit helpes our infirmities that when we sometimes cannot bring out a word to God the heart is ful sometimes of anguish and discouragement in respect of inward desertions or temptations and outward afflictions but yet though in such a case we be not able to tel what to pray for yet there is ever in a Christian soule something that makes him seeke to God and the very sighs of such a soule come from ome warmeth of spirit within him The scalding sighs and deep groanes of the soule they come from a spirit of life and warmth in Christ Jesus Therefore though it be true there be many cold prayers that Gods servants do put up yet there is some kind of sighs and groans that springs from them which argues some heat and life in them And so is it As they breath thus to God-ward so doe they breath one to another so that if they speake of the things of God they speake not of God and his Word lightly and wantonly or loosely as those that have no affection to them but if they speak of the Word of God of his threatnings promises or of any of his commandements or any of the workes of his providence they speake not of them coldly as those that took no pleasure in them but if they speake of any of the things of God they speake with some reverence and desire after them and settling a confirmation in them they have love to the word and rejoyce in it and stand in awe and in feare of it and they exercise their hearts and wits about it when at any time they speak of the things of God so that there is some kind of warmth in the expression of a Chirstian in some savoury affection whereby he esteemes of the things of God above what is found in an hypocrite Thirdly Spiritual warmth digesteth Gods Ordinances There is a certaine kind of warmth by which the soule doth not only affect the Ordinances of God but by which it doth in some measure digest them there is no living man wanting some such measure of heat as makes him able to digest some kind of dyet though not alwayes strong meate especially if he be in any measure of health and that is no small measure of heate Psal 119.20 the very longing desire it alwayes hath to Gods Judgements was it that even made his soule to breake within him and so to pant after Gods Word and his presence in his Ordinances Psalm 42.1 there was a kind of panting and longing and eager desire after God by which it comes to passe that the soule of a Christian closes with God in his Ordinances and turnes them into nourishment within himselfe and so is more strongly and inwardly bent towards God in the ways of his grace whereas a dead spirit is flat and hath no affection to the word no affection to Gods presence no list to the things of this nature Fourthly things that are warm put them together and they are the more warm 4. Spiritual warmth heateth others but put cold clogs and peeces of wood together and they are never a whit the warmer but if you take but two or three of them things that are well kindled and they will set all a fire that comes nigh them though ready before to goe out for want of supply if you lay two or three warme brands together they will kindle one another And truly so it is among Christians take you a Christian that hath this spirituall warmth in him though almost benumbed for want of good company and good conference and breathing forth of Gods spirit and grace in the soule Yet if he meet with two or three like himselfe they presntly begin to kindle one another And the breath of such Christians is like bellows to blow up sparkes savoury and sweet expressions of their hearts and edifie themselves by their mutuall fellowship one with another Yea and sometimes they grow so warme by this means as that they are fit to admonish one another to exhort and to comfort and if need require to rebuke one another as occasion serves 1 Pet. 4.8 Have fervent love one to another above all things have fervent love among your selves this is a speciall thing love among Christians by which love they so kindle one another to such deep respects to God and the wayes of his grace and so burne one out of another much sinfull folly and frailety which will be in them that are so loose one to another and raiseth them up to that power of godlinesse which sometimes they had grown up unto and now almost lost for want of often joyning together for by so doing they do what they can to put out the fire when Satan means to put out the light and life of Religion out of both Church and Commonwealth hee layes one Christian in one corner and another in another that they shall when they list go to bed and sleep and then a lazy spirit shall come upon them and so they
a pleasant place if we have him for our portion we have enough therein the soul is fully satisfied and if we have lost him we chiefly mourne for that our chiefest care is to get him and we mourne most bitterly for want of him Zach. 12.10 and we make it our desire cheifely to have him and then we truly have him when we so set him up in our hearts we may affect many earthly blessings and want them as gold and silver and friends and health and yet want them all but no man desires Christ thus but he hath him I meane if he desire him as his cheifest good the having of any blessing doth not so rejoyce his heart nor the want of it so afflict him such a soul hath Christ Object But the church in Cant. 3.1 she wanted Christ and yet earnestly desired him therefore a soul may have a strong desire to Christ and yet be without him how can she be said not to finde Christ and yet to have him Ans She could neither have loved him nor have sought him nor have so known the worth of him if he had not loved her first and if she in some measure had not had him But when she saith she found him not the meaning is not in that feeling and comfort not in that measure she sought for not in that life and power her soul desired she sought him by night in a dark time but though she wanted the comfort of Christ in his ordinances as she then desired yet she had Christ and had true fellowship with him else she could never have so loved him for she saith she sought him whom her soul loved Christ when more truely worworshiped and this is indeed so much the more truer worship of him when it is so hearty in our Judgments we prize him as the chiefest blessing in heaven and in earth and in our hearts we so affect him and cleave unto him so now on the contrary let the same heart look into it selfe and in comparision of Christ he not only in his Judgement basely esteemes of himselfe but in our affections we look at our selves as loathsome in comparison of Christ This you shall finde to be true the more the heart doth inwardly love Christ the lesse we do love our selves so when God revealed himselfe to Job he cryed out I am vilde Job 40.4 and then he abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes There is no soul that hath any high esteeme of God or any strong affection to him but the more highly and deeply he affects him the more he disaffects himselfe and loathes himselfe as unmeet to come into the presence of the Lord when as Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord sitting upon the cherubins he cryed out woe is me I am undone for I am a man of uncleane lips c. Esa 6.5.6 Sweetest frame of Spirit this shal you ever finde to be the frame of the spirit of a christian the more deeply he affects Christ the more inwardly he loaths himself he looks at himselfe as fit rather to be swallowed up of Judgment then capable of any mercy not only greive for his sin against Christ or not only the more fear his sin Note or the more be ashamed of his sin by how much the more he sees the glory of Christ but he so much the more loathes himself as one cleane out of heart he abhors himself as an unclean abominable thing that if he could go out of himselfe and be severed from his own soul he would never own himself more and therefore Christ puts self denial for a principall part of his worship Luk. 9.23 this very denial of our selves is a worship of Christ hereby we so affect Christ that we are quite out of conceit and love of our selves And so loath our selves for our sins as they make us unmeet to be joyned to so glorious an head as christ and then indeed we have him 3 3. Part of the worshiping of Christ A third part of this worship of him is in our life And in our life we worship Him by obedience in doing his will and by patience in suffering his will or any thing comfortably for his sake Vniversall obedience Hearty obedience is a true and sincere and reall signe of this worship of Christ and true sincere obedience to him is a true having of him This is first when a man hath such respect to all the Commandements of God as that there is none of them but he greatly delights in it Psal 119.6 then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandements He lookes at them all with such respect as the Commandements of a great God he respects them all as Gods Commandements When as a man is willing to take up every Commandement of Christ he submits to them all every one And which is more as he hath respect to all Gods Commandements so he hath respect to all Gods Commandements in all his wayes there is a double universality of obedience and they both hold forth this truth it brings into subjection every thought and Imagination to the will of Christ 2 Cor. 10.9 now this is a marvellous subjection that a man is not to dare to allow himselfe in so much as a thought unlesse it be in a way of obedience to the will and Word of God unlesse a thought be suitable to the will of Christ and allowable to the word of Christ hee dare not accept it when a man hath such a professed subjection to Christ that as he respects every Commandement of God so he would not be at his owne choyce in so much as in any one thought and this is such solid and compleate worship of Christ as that a greater honor cannot be don to him Math. 4.10 him only shalt thou serve he will not allow himselfe in one evill thought much lesse will he allow himselfe to speak evill words or least of all to do this or that evill in the sight of God so that this is the worship of him when we subject all the passages of our heart and life to his will we serve the Lord and not man Col. 3.23.24 we do not any thing in our callings but we do it in obedience to Christ and according to the rules of Christ and for the glory of Christ and this is the service we do to Christ not a passage in our whole life but we desire to have respect to all Gods Commandements and this is a right and true having of him And as it is thus for our obedience in doing his will so is it for our patience in suffering his will there is a glorious worship given to Christ in patience when as if so be it be the will of God to call us to suffer we lay our hands upon our mouthes and sit down and quiet our selves in this that it is the will of Christ it should be so and being for the
be smooth and level before him the frame of the heart shall be as meeke as a Lamb The Lamb of God will not lye in a den of Lyons and if we breake out into harsh and unsavory distempers afterward we shal damp the life of God in us the life of Christ wil be dead in us and therefore if you desire to entertain Christ into your hearts then lay aside al harshnesse and bitternesse and roughnesse and al guile of crookednesse 1 Pet. 2.12 then you shal have life in the Word and find Christ to be yours This is the first thing whereby we receive Christ Second way of receiving of Christ Secondly Suppose he be come there is thus much more required to have him and to keep him there we must look there be no unholy thing remaining there all vaine and common things must be removed no prophain matter must stay there 2 Cor. 6.16 touch no unclean thing And if Christ be come unto you you must not onely remove all sinfull and uncleane matter but also all common matter and now every thing must be dedicated to God and you must goe about your callings as becomes Christians and you and all yours must be dedicated to God your silver and your gold must be dedicated and onely spent upon such uses as God calls for and therefore look at every thing so as God may have glory by it and let him not bee dishonoured in any thing by you all that you are and have must be dedicated to God mind and judgement and conscience and heart and affection love and hatred your whole man and all your labours and all you can reach lyes as a consecrated thing else God will not dwell livelily in you unlesse you have a care to keepe every thing cleane you shall find this to be true Christ loves to lye cleane and Religion loves to lye cleane and if hee see hasty sluttishnesse in us he will be gone and wil not tarry there he would not have naturall uncleannes to appear among you but let al such be covered and let no such defilement be seen among you he would have all kept in an holy reverent frame such as might become the presence of God The third way Thirdly The receiving of Christ into our hearts as into a Temple implyes to keep the charge of his Ordinances and holy things to offer to him all our sacrifices and to look that all be performed in such a manner as himself requireth God chargeth it as a sinne upon his people Ezekiel 44.8 ye have not kept the charge of my holy things but ye have set keepers of my Ordinances in my Sanctuary for your selves God will not dwell among them when they set up the uncircumcised to offer up their Sacrifices God will have every man to take charge over his own Temple have a care of your selves put not off your care to others you may not put off the charge of Gods holy things every man hath a charge to look to the things of God not only to see that al unclean things be removed and all common things dedicated but to see that every morning and evening Sacrifice be duly performed and all things done in a right manner else you will finde little life in Christ and if he see this care in you then Christ will come into his Temple and dwell there and you shall have life in Christ and that in abundance you cannot have God for your God but you must have a place readily prepared for him and keepe it in fitnesse and comelynesse for him trimme it up for an habitation for him this God requires of every soule that will have God for his God In a word therefore doe but consider whether your hearts have thus imbraced Christ or no is your base hearts exalted to look after heavenly things Note this and are your proud hearts brought low to the obedience of Christ do you find your ways of hypocrisie made plain before God and is your rough passions made smooth before God then you have Christ whether you see him or feel him or no and do you find that when you have Christ you dedicate your selves to him and suffer no unclean thing in your selves or yours and do you keep the Ordinances pure and offer up your morning and evening sacrifice your selves then you have received Christ and it is your faith by which you do thus receive him but if it be not thus with you then say you have not received Christ or if you have you are to be humbled for your great neglect and want of keeping of him SERMON IV. 1 JOHN 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life THere yet remaines two things for signes of having Christ for in all this point of our Christian faith there is no word but of more then ordinary and common use And therefore when he saith he that hath the Sonne hath life some signes may be gathered from the word having him and some from having him as a SONNE and some from this word Life by which we may know whether we have the Son and life in him Wee now come to speak of the second sort of signes Hee that hath the Son hath life then if we would have life in Christ we must have him as a SON The thing then to be opened is What it is to have Christ as the Son of the most high God and that will give further light to the Text and to the consciences of them that would see the ground of their hopes settled upon a foundation Hee that hath the Son hath life There bee three things implyed in having Christ as a Sonne First it implyes that such as have Christ in truth and so having him First thing considered in having Christ as a Son have life by him they do not rest in having any of the benefits of Christ though they be spirituall but they cheifely affect to have himselfe not so much his benefits as himselfe he doth not say hee that hath such and such spirituall gifts hath the Son no though you have never so many gifts and they such as doe accompany salvation but that which he principally commends to us is himselfe you shall read of a company of Professors that had Christ and affected to have him so farre as they might have Loaves from him Joh. 6.26 27. but our blessed Saviour bids them in seeking Christ seeke not for loaves that perish but labour for the meate which endureth to eternall life and that is only the Lord Jesus Christ himself Labor not for any loaves whatsoever you might finde in your pursuit after Christ It was this by which Peter did discover the hypocrisie of Simon Magus he desired the gift of the Holy Ghost but for Christ himselfe his heart was not set upon him but he only desired that in which lay most profit for had it been in his power that upon the laying on
of the soule is a power to move it selfe and in its place unto spirituall duties that is the true nature of the life of sanctification doe you therefore see a creature no further moving it selfe then according to its lightnesse You shall sometimes have men to move themselves out of their levity come to an eminent duty in the pride of their natures Note and will lift themselves up to some duties but this is not out of an inward principle but out of the lightnesse of their spirits desire to be above Lightness of spirit will move them to this and that duty and rather move from hence then from any inward principle of grace and so sometimes creatures out of their heavinesse and basenesse of minde will be doing spirituall duties but as the one doth them to be seen of men and performe the meere letter of the duty and in the pride of his heart not out of any inward affection to such duties so there be others that for profit sake will move themselves basely unto spirituall duties as Christ said of his Hearers they followed him for loaves Joh. 6.26 so that it is one thing to move to such or such a businesse or to be stirring about such duties out of an inward affection to the duty and inclination of heart and love of such a worke and another thing to be carried to such workes out of an inward levity of nature or because by such duties a man may excell others and goe beyond his neighbours and it is one thing to be acting and stirring in spirituall duties out of an inward love to them and another to performe them out of a base respect to the profit and pleasure that may be found in them in outward peace and rest as sometimes the case so stands that if a man doe betake himselfe to spirituall duties he shall perhaps finde the more favour in the eyes of men and to please authority if it take the better side and so from an heavie basenesse of their hearts to such regards they will have respect unto spirituall duties but these doe not move but as heavie things move downward and light things upward a stone will move downward and fire upward Absolom had a marvellous strong affection to be doing 2 Sam. 15.4 he tels them every man should have justice if he was but made King in the Land so all Israel desired after him but Absolom was now out of his place but as soone as ever he got into the place hee desired the first thing he intended was to cut off his Fathers life an act of the greatest rebellion that ever could be done so that men out of their places are apt to be stirring and moving but it is but either from the basenesse or lightnesse of their hearts Note this O that I were but in my Masters place saith a servant I would have duties performed in such time and place and when they come to be in place and might order and command their families then they grow as bad as their Masters and it may be worse but this are we apt to doe when we are out of our places apt to be moving but it s not true life because only that which moves in its place that only lives and yet further A thing may move in its place and yet move from some kind of outward respects as a Watch or a Clock it moves but it is from the weight that lyes and hangs upon it and so it is rather a violent motion then a naturall So is it many times with men the weight of the Law or the weight of the authority of Governours doth so carry them an end in those waies they walke in that they goe through with it and yet it is but from an outward principle from some outward weights that hangs upon them but yet suppose men should be doing in their places as Jehu was he was mighty in his place and was very much against Baal and destroyed the house of Ahab and his children and his friends but yet notwithstanding though this was all in his calling he had a speciall Calling given him of God to that end What required to a spirituall duty but though you should performe duties in your places as a tree though it move in its place upward yet it puts not forth so many a man may doe good duties in his place and yet be wanting in the graciousnesse and spirituality of them Now to make a duty spirituall requires not only that it should be for the better a good worke but that it should be wrought First in sence of our owne insufficiency without Christ and yet so as that by and from Christ we are able to doe it Secondly that we have some respect to the Word of God for our warrant Thirdly that in all we doe we have respect to the glory of God in all our performances I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 The just shall live by his owne faith As if he should say he no further puts forth a worke of spirituall life further then he denies his owne ability so farre hee lives by his faith and depends upon Christ for supply in every duty he goes about whether he pray preach or receive Sacraments or be diligent in his Calling or in his carriage towards any that stand in relation to him so farre as we are sensible of our owne failings and therefore doe depend upon him for strength these are not such as come from common graces Common gifts but doe accompany sanctification to life It is true if men be invested with common gifts they may be acted and moved to many duties in their places and put out very sweet affections to the duty and yet doe it rather out of the power of their owne strength and rather for their owne glory and applause then from any dependance upon Christ so that spirituall life hath the Lord Jesus for its root and the Word for its warrant and for its rule to walke by Psal 119.6 Then shall I never be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandements All such actions will be accpptable to God and serviceable to men and also aime at the glory of God for the end that is their last end and all such other ends as are sub-ordinate unto that the building up of Gods Kingdome Zach. 7.5 6 7. When ye did eate did ye it unto me saith the Lord nay did ye not doe it to your selves Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds Did you desire in your prayers to bring in any service to God to tend to his honour and glory And did you debase your owne soules before him that you might finde help from him Or did you not this to your selves or for your owne deliverance and redemption and freedome from such bondage and other miseries that lay upon you so that if God see men goe
obedient to his Lawes to whatever he declares to be the counsell of his will Againe there is a Covenant of Marriage between God and his people Ier. 3.14 so as the Wife promises to be to her Husband alone Hos 3.3 4. so the Church of God promiseth that she wil be for God alone and God wil be for us alone and we embrace the seed of his Word and grace in our hearts and bring forth fruit to God alone And there is also a Covenant of Friendship between God and us A covenant of Salt 2 Chron. 13.5 A covenant of Salt is to be fed with the same salt as it were to eate many a bushel of salt together that is a covenant of friendship Didst not thou give the Land to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever 2 Chron. 20.7 Covenant of Salt therein he fitly expresseth the nature of a covenant of salt by friendship for ever salt eaten together expresses familiarity and durablenesse now God expresseth himselfe thus to enter into a covenant with his people he takes Abraham as a friend for ever and Abraham takes God as his friend for ever and this league of friendship implyes not only preservation of affection but it requires a kinde of secret communication one to another and a doing one for another God he grants our Petitions for us as a friend and we doe his Commandements as a friend out of the integrity of our hearts John 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye doe whatsoever I command you I know that Abraham will command his houshold to feare mee Gen. 18.19 and therefore in vers 17. and 18. he saith How shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I am about to doe and it was concerning a secret counsell of God now when God undertakes to be our friend he undertakes to communicate sundry of his Counsels to us his secrets are to them that feare him Psal 25.14 Many secret passages shall their hearts be made privie to that others shall never be acquainted with he wil acquaint us with his secret purpose about a people sometimes in Prayer sometimes in Humiliation sometimes one way and sometimes another so as you may see he walkes towards us in a covenant of friendship and so he wil play a friends part he wil counsell us for the best he wil tell us this and that is the best course for us to take Psal 25.12 Him shall he teach He wil come and tell us what he would have us to doe Psal 32.8 Sometimes by his Word and sometimes by his Providence and when wee looke up to him as to a friend he wil doe a friends part And on the other side for our part we shall never take any businesse in hand but we shall sadly and seriously communicate all our affairs with God and think our selves bound to doe it not dare to rush upon any thing but upon consultation first with the Lord and acquainting him with such and such things We know not what to doe but our eyes are unto thee 2 Chron. 20.12 So we offer up our selves to be ready at his commandement to doe whatsoever he shall counsell us to doe let him but make our way plaine before us and we wil heare him in whatsoever he requires of us be it what it wil be if God lay it before us we wil doe it Psal 119. vers 1. of the fifth Part. Teach me thy statutes and I will keep it even to the end Observe then whether we have Christ for our Christ by way of covenant did there ever passe such a conveyance between Christ and you to God the Father about him and your soules that if God should looke upon you and consider your case your just and due desert is everlasting destruction and therefore you account your selves unworthy of an mercy from God but yet notwithstanding if he wil be but pleased to accept the death of Christ for you and to be-sprinkle you with the blessings of his grace you wil give up your selves to an acceptable service of him all your dayes and wil be ready to doe his wil and that he shall be to you as a King and Governour Have you ever passed over to him your preservation and protection and provision And looke what affection is between Husband and Wife hath there been the like affection in your soules towards the Lord Jesus Christ Have you a strong and hearty desire to meet him in the bed of loves when ever you come to the Congregation and desire you to have the seeds of his grace shed abroad in your hearts and bring forth the fruits of grace to him and desire that you may be for him and for none other and you desire to acquaint him with all your counsels and secrets and desire to doe nothing but as he shall counsell and direct you And have you therefore been willing to give up your selves you and yours to be ruled by Christ and is it the griefe of your soules if any of your Children and Servants shall not stoop to God and if you use the best meanes to draw them on to goodnesse truly then you have Christ for your Christ because you have him by way of covenant When God gives us hearts thus to agree with him he alwaies prevents us he is ever before us then Christ thou hast and in him thou hast life but if on the contrary we never come before God in acknowledgement that death was our portion and desired the bloud of Christ to be applyed to us not in an overture of speech but when it comes to the point what wil you doe Wil you accept him as your friend and as your Husband and wil you expect all good things from him and you wil not dare to venture upon any course or way further then the light and sinceritie of the Word gives liberty And if you never came to this nor was it ever your care whether your Houshold served God or no though they sin against God and sweare and lye yet all this is nothing to you but it is all one with you then there wants a covenant betweene God and you and then if you have him not by covenant you have him not at all he that hath him any way hath him every way though it be not so clearly seene every way if you have him then you have friends and enemies in common if it be not so with you that you observe not the counsels of God but you wil be at a loose end and doe what you thinke good in your owne eyes then there is no covenant between God and you and then you have not Christ and then no life much lesse in abundance Object But you say Who is there that so lookes to himselfe his Wife and Children and Servants so to his owne heart and others as that they are so wholly conformable to Gods will in all that he counsels and commands and who so expects such blessings but that they take from
a woman in true conjugall affection looke at no more but at the very bare man True love to Christ wherein it is if there be true love in her towards him she is content to have him though she have nothing else but his person so if our hearts be truly set upon Christ we are content to have him though wee should never see good day with him though wee should never see peace of conscience with him though no comfort of grace in him yet would the soule say that is truely affected to Christ give me Christ and I have enough who or what is there besides Christ What is there Why there is variety of excellent graces But whom have I in earth but thee As if ye should put all other things in comparison against or with Christ they are nothing to him then surely you have Christ But how much will this discord from the fellowship of Christ the Sonnes and Daughters of men who when they see the costlinesse of the wayes of Christ they will neither seeke after Christ nor his benefits But as for pardon of sin as it passeth all understanding so it passeth their desires And for peace of conscience they hope they have a good conscience or if not they doe not search to know it and as for the graces of the spirit and subduing of lusts they have a good hope and beleive as well as the best And for the Kingdome of glory they hope if God grant them mercy they shall come to heaven at the last These men are far from having the Lord Jesus and life in him they are so far off from seeking the Sonne as that they do not so much as seek those mercies and benefits which in Christ are conveyed to their soules they neither have him nor none of his They say to the Almighty depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy law Job 21.14 of such God saith They would have none of me Psal 81.11 not only have him but none of him that is nothing that was his not any saving benefit of his the world we would have but none of those choyce and heavenly blessings of Christ no pardon of sin no peace of conscience no care of Christianity or faithfull Ministery no feare of God nor keeping of his Commandements deare hearts for us how shall we ever conceive that ever we should have life in Christ when we doe not so much as desire the very benefits of Christ which yet a man may desire and loose all too and when a man hath not so much as an affection to the things of Christ it is very dangerous But secondly when a man is in this case that there is a desire in a man after the benefits of Christ more then after Christ himselfe all this while you want that sincerity upon which Christ wil give us a comfortable meeting and speake peace to our soules we are not yet come to that condition as in which he wil say My wel-beloved thou art all faire and there is no spot in thee he yet sees not a true conjugall affection in us towards him so as that though we should never finde grace nor glory by him yet he is the chiefe desire of our soules Suppose a woman should see a man that hath a desire after her but he chiefly aimes at her estate to provide for himselfe and looks no further wonder not if she should say to him You seek not me but mine she may wel rid her hands of him in such a case and truly so is the case here between us the Lord Jesus so long as he findes that we come to him and seek and pray and wrastle and what would we have Oh pardon of sinne and peace of conscience and power of grace to be but as other Christians are that we could pray and beleeve as they doe and finde such comfort as they have and this is the thing that the soule is chiefly set upon now all this while that we come thus to Christ we must not think that Christ is to blame if he tarry a little longer then we expect for we may seek him and not finde him because we seeke not so much him as his benefits and the rich treasures of grace and mercy and peace that are layed up in him without measure the greatest part of the world doe not love their soules nor the Lord Jesus so wel as to love him for his grace and goodnesse sake but yet among better men there is a world of selfe love many a man would have his sinne pardoned because he would have his conscience at quiet we may thanke our selves for such affections as these not but that such affections may spring from the grace of God for men by nature never dreame of such things as these be but yet though such affections may spring from the grace of God yet you shall ever finde such soules to detaine the grace of God in unrighteousnesse and out of selfe love use them all to their owne ends and looke not that God may be glorified in and by them nor that his wil be done but oh that the soule might have peace and that sinne might be pardoned and there it rests When our desires is chiefly set upon spirituall gifts if wee loose much comfort and fellowship with Christ that else we might have had we must not marvell at it for our desires are set not chiefly upon Christ but upon the things of Christ our desire is not after the person but after the goods and benefits of Christ Observe the Apostles expression Rom. 8.32 He hath given us his owne Sonne he doth not say he that hath given us peace and pardon of sinne will not he give all other things also Or wil not he give us Christ He reasons not from Christs benefits to Christ but thus he reasons He that hath given us his owne Sonne will with his Sonne and after his Sonne give us all other things At the second hand comes in all these benefits of pardon of sinne and strength of grace and power against our lusts c. these things come in as attendants upon the former and therefore if God give us first to looke at Christ that in him we have life of justification and sanctification and consolation eternall glory peace and grace and all then we have him and life in him else we may have the outward comforts but stand long enough at Christs Bed-chamber doore before he let us in Let it therefore be a word of direction and exhortation to every soul that desires to have that truth of life and peace and grace wrought in his heart that wil never dye have you respect chiefly to the Lord Jesus Christ and long and seeke more after him then after all Spirituall blessings and much more above all worldly blessings If you shall therefore refuse Christ because you thinke he is but a melancholly person you wil never have him if you stand upon
of grace for the ground of all our spiritual life as if ever we would be able to say we are begotten to a new Inheritance we must be able and are able to say we have some word of Promise which hath wrought this in our soules which hath bowed us to looke to Christ and to cleave to him for strength and increase and groweth in grace For it is true indeed The Workes of the Law may indeed cut us off from some bad wayes but when it hath don so it leaves us there leaves us in an estate wherein we would not give offence and would not displease men that are grave and wise And this we may reach unto without respect to the glory of God or any inward regard of his holy feare but when as we are quickned to live by vertue of some Promise then the love of God constraineth us to live to obedience and good ends then our respects can reach heavenly and spiritual ends And therefore observe this as of necessary use for any man that as he would be loath to be deceived in a counterfeit peece of money so much more let him be carefull in the main points of his everlasting estate on this depends our having or not having of life And therefore it behooves us to bee sure that we be not disappointed in this great mystery of godlinesse and consider seriously upon what your hopes and confidence was bred and whence it was grounded Quest You will say But is it not ordinary that the Word of the Law doth humble and cast downe the heart and spirit before God and cut them off from all confidence in the flesh before they come to lay hold of the promise of grace in Christ Answ True it is so indeed That ordinarily some word of the Law some word of conviction prevailes with the heart and makes him in sence of sinne say to his Christian friends what shall I doe to be saved this is true but yet this is not it that makes him a new man in Gods sight it may reach to the reformation of his outward man and to the alteration of sundry of his former courses which no meanes else could have reclaimed but yet this makes him not live a spiritual life until he be not onely humbled by the Law but in some measure brought on to look after the promise of grace in Christ and to long after them and to say and desire oh that I had but my part in this or that promise what a mercy of God would that be to me could I but lay hold upon them but thereupon the soule of a Christian doth stand poring and plodding and wistly gazeing upon them till in the end the very sight of a promise hath so seasoned us with a spirit of faith that we begin not only to long after that promise but to cleave to it and in time come to receive it into our hearts and come to imbrace it to rejoyce in it to acknowledge it and finde our happinesse and life and comfort to bee wrapped up in it A third cause of our spiritual life A third cause of Spirituall life Is the Spirit of grace that which is borne of the spirit is spirit whatever is borne of the flesh and no more is but carnall but that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 there is a shedding abroad the spirit of Gods grace in the heart of man that makes him of another spirit he is not the same man that he was before his spirit was changed his inclination and disposition is changed For Spirit is nothing else but the inclination and disposition the habit of it the spirit of wisdome is an habit or inclination to Wisdome the Spirit of grace is an habit of Grace the Spirit of prayer is an inclination or an habit of Prayer they are severall words but all meane the same thing Be renewed in the spirit of your mindes that is bee renewed in the inclination and disposition of your minde Epb. 4.23 And not only be renewed in the mind or judgement or understanding of a man but there must be a renewall of the whole soule of a man the disposition and inclination of the whole must be changed and altered Caleb and Ioshua was of another spirit they could judge of things otherwise then other men could doe other men not renewed in the spirit of their mind have no alteration but the truly regenerate they see a great change they never saw the danger of their sinnes before nor ever before judged themselves for their sinnes but now their spirit and soule and affection is changed and now a spirit of feare and love and care and every affection is altered now a man is turned quite off from earthly things so farre as they hinder him in the enjoyment of his Spirituall life and now we are set upon the things of God so as that he that is borne of God to a Spirituall life is become a new Creature and old things are past away 2 Cor. 5.17 He hath a new mind and a new heart new affections new Language and new employments that he was never wont to doe before now he can read Gods Word and conferre with Gods people about the things of God and can instruct others and fashion himselfe to a new mould and all upon the renewall of the spirit of his minde so that if you see that God hath put another spirit into you then ever you had before so as not only this or that part but the whole man is changed and put into another frame that though there be still a taste of the Old man yet the frame both of the body and soule is of another mould and all things are become new in some measure then you live a new life indeed else it is not a perfect change though this and that alteration bee wrought in you By these causes you may clearly discerne whether God hath given you a new life or no consider it therefore I beseech you how doe you now finde your hearts apt to speak when you speak of that estate you are in Are you in your Closets wont to say That time was when you have been thus and thus led in the vanitie of your minde and the hardnesse of your heart and custome of sinne but when it pleased God who called you by his grace when it pleased God then it tooke place you had been in good company before and had used many meanes but never any thing would worke but when it pleased God then it wrought and from that day to this it hath been so and so with me It is a good signe to you if withall you can recall that such or such a word of promise it pleased God to pitch your soules upon you have long looked and waited for salvation but in the end it pleased God to wrap up your soules in life by such a promise and if you can call to minde that such a promise
Phil. 1.23 Though the other be a lawfull desire but chiefly his desire is that he might see Christ whom from his first conversion he hath most loved and in whom he hath lived all his life and now to be wholly possessed of him and wholly acted and swayed by him not that he might have his heart filled with joy but that he might be with Christ not only as chiefest of ten thousand persons but as the chiefest of ten thousands benefits of God that should God give us pardon of sinne his Word and Sacrament and victory over all our lusts strength of every grace of God and everlasting life and therewith fellowship with all the blessed Saints and Angels yet to us Christ is the chiefest of them all none greater then the gift of Christ and this is the sincerity of a Christians soule he desires more any benefit for Christs sake then Christ for any of his benefits sake for he whose heart is set upon Christ more then upon the pardon of sinne or salvation that soule hath Christ and life in him he that hath Christ in his eye and heart above all blessings he indeed is a true Christian and hath Christ Reas Christ must so be had and we must so receive him as God gives him now God gives us first Christ in all his Ordinances and then in Christ all other things all benefits in and through Christ Act. 8.35 We preach to you Jesus we offer you him all lusts layed aside all sinfull corruptions put away whatever separates between God and us that being done away We now offer you Christ and in Christ plentious redemption but if we be without Christ we are without true life As in the Sacrament first you have the body and blood of Christ set before you Matth. 26.26 and then sealed up and confirmed to you in the Sacrament and together with that justification and further degrees of the sanctifying spirit and further pledges of everlasting life and glory No benefit but it s conveyed through him Christ first and then the benefit It is true Herod received joy but Foelix trembling and Jehu zeale but none of these received Christ they received the huske but wanted Christ they had the shell but not the marrow and kernell within they received the benefit but Christ they did not receive and for want of him they had no life at all Simon Magus hee beleeved Acts 8.13 but he had no lively faith because he would receive the benefit but Christ he minded not to receive Unlesse the heart be knit to Christ and the soule more seek Christ then pardon of sinne or subduing of lusts he hath no life in truth he that hath the Son he hath life not so he that hath the gifts and benefits of the son But Christ first and in having Christ we have all Christ must be received as God gives him we must acknowledge there is no life in any grace but in Christ Hos 14.8 On me is your fruit found and without me can you do nothing John 15.5 Now then carry this truth home with you and gather from hence a true estimate of your own estates whether you may judge of your selves as living or dead Christians Upon our having or not having of Christ depends our having or not having of life How will you know whether you have life or no you say you have Christ how know you that Whether is your hearts more set upon Christ then the gifts of Christ Whether do you labour more for gifts or for Christ himselfe And if you finde this that in the truth of your hearts you come not to the Ordinances but to find your beloved there not out of unclean and wanton spirits but to seeke him whom your soule most desires whose favour and countenance you would rather behold then to hear the voyce of a pleasant singer and you are not satisfied with any thing unlesse you find him then shal you find life in so coming to the Ordinances Can. 3.1 2 3. By night in my bed I sought him whom my soule loved c. The bed was the Temple wherein God did reveale himselfe in his Ordinances and disperse himselfe to his people in the bed of his love Shee came to the Temple not to seek any of the Preists and Levites there She goes indeed to the Watch-men and makes her moane and complaint to them that she could not finde Christ in his Ordinances and she durst not rest upon their opinions but saith have you not seen him whom my soul loveth can you tel me any newes or give me any intelligence of my beloved Saviour Thus she inquires of the Watch-men And from them she goes to the Daughters of Jerusalem to her Christian friends and chargeth them to tell him that she is sick of love Now if thus to desire him is to find Christ then there is no more to be doubted of in such a case as this But the heart thus seeking him in his Ordinances and the affections gon after him there more then after any of his benefits then in truth we have the Sonne he could not have our hearts if we first had not him And therefore it is a strong evidence we have him because our hearts are set upon him We search for nothing so much as for him This is part of the meaning of that place in Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee or in earth in comparison of thee he desires nothing more then him neither peace of conscience nor joy in the Holy ghost nor any thing so cheifly and principally as God but if wee have a longing affection after pardon of sinne and peace of conscience and assurance of salvation after subduing of lusts and growth in grace these be blessed desires and usually upright and sincere but there may be hypocrisie even in these very desires and in using the meanes to attaine these for sometimes by this meanes we seek Christ and him in his Ordinances not so much for himself as for the benefits we have by him which is a spirit of harlotry As in a woman that it may bee hath a strong affection to match with such a man but it is but that hee might pay her debts and that she might be well provided for for the world and that he might be availe and a protector to her these be lawfull ends to aime at but if it be only and cheifly for these ends it is not true conjugal affection for if another man could do this for her as well as he she could make choyce of another as well as of him and she desires him not for his but for her own ends And just so it is alike in this case If a man desire the Lord Jesus Christ to this end that he may have his sinne pardoned and be furnished with grace though these be spirituall ends yet so much as wee prize the benefit above Christ so much are we halting in the truth of our affection to him If