frequently to the test and to the tormentors They loved not their lives to the death their liberties to bands and suffered joyfully the spoyling of their goods Rev. 12.11 Act. 20.23,24 Hebr. 10.34 What mean these subterfuges and shifting fetches that shyness and straitning fear which so hold or oppress you Come shew your selves men if not Saints Yea be followers of them who through faith and patience do inherit the promises Hebr. 6.12 III. Look you to what is past of your own selves Remember that time when you were without Christ Oh! How long How long did ye outstand his calls oppose his commands cause and concerns in the world oppress your own Spirits and offend his holy Spirit Brethren should not the time past suffice you should you not study to repair his honor and right holiness as much as in you lieth 1 Pet 4.1 Rom. 6 19. If you are indeed in Christ let your strict confessions now make some amends for your loose conversations then Though you cannot intrinsecally repair his honor you may and should extrinsecally Paul was not so eminent a persecutor but he willingly becomes as eminent a professor when the power of transforming grace hath once past upon him He had lived more adversly to Christ then all before his conversion and labors more abundantly for Christ then they all after his conversion 1 Cor. 1.5 9,10 4. § Fourthly look you forward Oh! how will the confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded How will the contrary thereunto be reciprocated and revenged I. First How will your confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded confesse him and he will confesse you confesse him on earth and he will confesse you in heaven confesse him before men in your day end he will confesse you before men before Angels and before his father in his day Mat. 10.32 Rev. 3.5 Luke 12.8 Plead his cause and he will plead yours vindicate His Name and he will vindicate Yours contend for him and he will contend for you and contend against them that contend against you Psal 35.51 Lam. 3.58 Isa 49.25 51.22 Sirs how would you that Christ should carry it towards you when he cometh in his glory Would you be cleared and confessed by him then would you that he acquit acknowledg and approve you then As ever you would be found on his side then with the glorified comprehensors in patriâ fall in with his side now amongst the gracious Confessors in viâ II. Secondly how will the contrary be reciprocated and revenged Deny him and he will deny you deny him before men on earth and he will deny you before the Angels of God and before his Father in heaven 2 Tim. 2.12 Mat. 10.33 Luke 12.9 Are you ashamed of him he also will be ashamed of you If you are ashamed of him and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation he also will be ashamed of you when he cometh in his own glory and in his Fathers and in the holy Angels Mark 8.38 Luke 9.26 He will admit no claim of theirs to him then who will not assert his claime to them now but will abandon them for ever with an I never knew you Mat. 7.22,23 Luke 13.27 5. § Fifthly look you inward I. First for this are all those holy principles from God imparted to you and his holy and pure Law imprinted within you Psalm 40.8,9,10 There is not one talent but is to trade with Holy faith hope love c. are all for exercise and imployment and so for evidence to the praise and honour of the giver though not for popular ostentation by the user All the fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 True grace is compared to light to fire c. which are not only communicative of their vertues but carry a self-evidence Love and faith are not without their evident works and labour and become effectual by the acknowledging every good thing Rom. 13.12 Psal 39.3 1 Thes 1.3 Philem. 5.6 Can you then believe in Christ with your hearts and not confesse Christ with your mouths These two are connexed Rom. 10.9,10 Can there be hope in you and you abide wholly carelesse to render a reason of it when thereunto required and the object of your hope will be thereby also honoured 1 Pet. 3.15 II. Secondly upon this the holy presence and inhabitation of God is insured to you Whosoever shall believe and confesse that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 John 4.15 O sweet promise O the signal priviledge of sincere professors God and the godly confessour have a mutual cohabitation with one another a mutual inhabitation in one another Every new act of your holy confession will be a new advance in this happy communion Now ordinarily is the most soul enriching intercourse with God and the most soul-ravishing illapses from God even to joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.6,7,8 Now it was that Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God And that he said to others Behold I see the heavens opened c. Now when the showers of stones like a storm of haile fell upon this holy Confessour who was yet full of the holy Ghost and of power Act. 7.55,56 III. Thirdly to this all those holy relations whereinto you are called ingage you You are his subjects his servants nay his friends his brethren his bride Who should witnesse to and for him if you do not You are my witnesses saith the Lord Is 43.10 Sirs you are neerest related to him of all the world May I not say to you in the words of Pilate Behold your King Treason of the deepest dye to say with those wicked Jews Away with him away with him and crucifie him rather then adventure to confesse him Iohn 19.14,15 Behold your master your friend that calls you not henceforth servants i. e. comparatively not so much servants as friends for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But saith he I have called you friends John 15.15 What! and yet loath to confesse him Where is the loyalty of a servant Where is the love and ingenuity of a friend Behold your elder brother one that is not ashamed to call you brethren though lifted up to the throne far above all principality and power Heb. 2.11,12 And are you ashamed to call him brother that yet lie upon the dung-hill In short Behold your beloved husband you are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones This is a great mystery How should your thoughts be taken up in expatiating touching his honour and your happinesse How should your tongues be tuned to the imblazoning of his excellencies How should you tell every one that asketh you in the language of the spouse Cant. 5.9 ad finem He is the chiefest among ten thousand he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O ye daughters of
1 Tim. 1.18 c. 3. All mens confessions are not of a like influence to the ends thereunto appointed Their Examples and Exhortations are not of like efficacy and extensiveness to and upon others for the glorifying of God for the good of Souls or for the growth of the Gospel by which ends our confession of Christ should be mostly regulated as will be shewn hereafter Propos 4. They are especially ingaged to the confessing of Christ who do actually know and believe in Christ There is a bond of duty lies generally upon all to confess Christ to whom the Gospel comes by vertue of his Authority and his Fathers Appointment But as these may have the special blessing of acceptation in it so they have a special bond and obligation to it For 1. These are specially qualified for this work having the Spirit of God dwelling in them which is not a Spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound minde and will give testimony to the Lord Jesus in whomsoever he is and abideth Rom. 8.11 2 Tim. 1.7 1 John 4.2 2. These are specially charged with it not onely that they really and actually do give but that they be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope not onely that is before them but that is in them of the grace as well as object of hope with meekness and fear 1 Pet. 3 14,15 3. These are specially called his Witnesses in relation to it whom God therefore Sub-poena's and summons to it once and again Isa 43.10 44.8 as if the gain or less of his interest in and before the world did depend upon their giving or withholding their evidence to his truths and wayes 4. These have specially covenanted it This is one and a main Article on their part that they will walk in his wayes witness to his cause confess his Name and keep his commandments And hereunto they have not onely given him their word but their hand in their effectual calling Jer. 50.5 Deut. 26.3,17 Isa 44.5 Propos 5. They are more signally and eminently ingaged to confess Christ then others who do or have communicated of more signal means and mercies by Christ then others for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more Luke 12.48 So then 1. If you are continued and blessed with more eminent means then others you are bound to know and confess Christ more then others The more Receipts by you the more Returns are due from you Every Talent is to trade with If God hath laid out two or five or ten talents upon you he looketh for as many again from you and that your ministrings to his glory bear proportion to his manifold grace towards you Matth. 25 14-29 1 Pet. 4.10 2. If you have communicated of more eminent mercy by Christ then others you are concerned to confess Christ more then others Every mercy infers a bond of duty You are under a fourfold obligation to a more open and observed confession A bond of Ingenuity a bond of Gratitude a bond of Justice and a bond of Religion How signal therefore how celebrous were Manasseh's Magdalens and Paul's confessions that had formerly been so great sinners and had now seen so great salvation 2 Chron. 33 13-17 Luke 7.37,38,44 c. Mat. 28.1 c. 1 Cor. 15.10 Propos 6. They are most signally ingaged to confess Christ who are most signally inabled and intrusted by Christ These owe most to him and are obliged most in point of justice and gratitude unto him To them is most committed and therefore from them will there be most called for and required Luke 12.48 Let all Superiors in authority in gifts in grace in government in relations in religion look well to it Give me leave to mention some which are of most eminent remark and so according to their several intrustments are most required Such are Magistrates Ministers Martyrs First Magistrates who reign by Christ and therefore should rule for Christ and bring their glory and honour to his Church and Cause Prov. 8.15,16 Rev. 21.24 These are most eminently called upon to Kiss the Son i.e. to express and evidence their love to reverence for and subjection unto him which is indeed their best policy and will insure them the best prosperity Psal 2.11,12 This the precedents of Joshua of David Hezekiah c. among Superior Magistrates of Mordecai Obadiah c. among subordinate Magistrates rehearsed in the Old Testament and the Prophesies therein relating to the New Testament do sufficiently incourage and strongly ingage unto Yea and the proper end of Magistracy which is to be for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well and that their people may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Isa 49.23 60.3,16 1 Pet. 2.14 Rom. 13.3,4 1 Tim. 2.2 Secondly Ministers who are in his stead and must therefore appear beyond others for his sake 2 Cor. 5.20 2 Tim. 4.1,2 c. This is 1 Required by Christ most eminently from them and with the most instant iterated express and soul-ingaging arguments and inducements that they be not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord but adhere to his truths profess preach the word in season out of season make full proof of their ministry and be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.8 6.13,14 2 Tim. 4 1-6 2 Their Relation to Christ exacts it These are his Stewards his Embassadors c. 1 Cor. 4.1 2.5,20 and therefore may not be ashamed or afraid to serve and satisfie his commands and their commissions seal their confessions justifie his honour insist upon and inculcate his Order and their own homage whoever else of the family or of their fellow-sâ—…cts desert him or whoever else deny or despise him 3 Their Receptions from Christ ingage them their qualifications commissions office honour ministry maintenance c all look hitherwards and without this they cannot be good Ministers however they are or may be called Gods Ministers 1 Tim. 4.6,11 c. 4 And their Remark is most eminent in the Churches of Jesus and in the Kingdoms of men These are the Light of the world set on a candlestick and are not therefore to shut up their light under a bushel but to shine before men and to give light to all that are in the house Mat 5 14-16 These are a city set on an hill and are most eminently exposed to the imitation and observation of others As these witness for or withhold from him who are by office to be paterns of good works Tit. 2.7 1 Tim. 4.12 so the Church cause and concerns of Christ usually wax or wane increase or decrease in the world and especially in the Churches of the Saints Thirdly Martyrs to what degree soever of Martyrdome They who are called forth by Christ to
act as you would keep and crown your Profession and Testimony to the truth of Jesus Lo here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Rev. 119.14,12 Patience is that which must compose you to and for Confession VVhen you are out of a spirit of patience you are out of your self-possession and therefore unfit for this sacred Profession or to suffer persecution Therefore our holy Master who hath given us an example of patience in profession gives us also this exhortation in order to our profession that in patience we possess our selves 1 Pet. 2.21 Luke 21.19 with 14. c. Patience will compleat you in confession and compensate other wants and adversities which befall you therein by giving you a self-composedness a sweet constancy and serene conscience and sweet communion with and experience of that God that Christ which you suffer is and for Let patience have but its perfect work and ye shall be entire wanting nothing Iam. 1.4 Patience will quiet and comfort you also therein notwithstanding persecutions For patience works experience by and under them and this again works hope which maketh not ashamed and it waits also for the expected end and happy issue promised Rom. 5.4,5 Ia. 5.7 Mic. 7.7 c. Be patient therefore Brethren The more patience the better profession and the more perseverance Stablish your hearts against the difficulties that discourage you and in and to the duties to be discharged by you And be you followers of them who through faith and patience have accomplished their Profession and do inherit the Promises Isa 5.8,10,11 Hebr. 6.11 3 Keep up a spirit of prayer The most eminent for the spirit of prayer have been most eminent for sincere and steady Profession Witness Elijah Jacob Moses Daniel c 'T is true a listless saying prayer will not produce any such signal effects But a lively praying in prayer as is said of Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prayed in prayer they will both prevail with God and preserve you and the interest of Godliness Ja. 5 17. There were in Iudes time such as had exchanged their strict profession for a sensual practice But by what meanes might the Saints to whom he writes be preserved therefrom By praying in the Holy Ghost So might they keep themselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life Iude 19,20 The spirit of Prayer bears down what stands in the way of Profession both inwardly in your selves and outwardly amongst sinners The Priests of Baal fell before it and Peter bound with two chaines was freed by it 1 Kings 18.36 c. Acts 12.5,6 c. The spirit of prayer brings in divine skill and strength and whatever else is requisite to make good our Profession or to make our Profession good Ia. 1.5 Acts 4.29 Rom. 8.26,27 The spirit of prayer binds also devout soules to a strict and steady perseverance suitable to their own prayers and this holy Profession Eph. 6.18 Rom. 8.15,17 Cease not prayers then which ingage God interess the Gospel and improve his perfections and promises unto thy strengthning and that without might and unto all patience suffering with joyfulness Col. 1.11 Thus far of the meanes how we may the manner followeth how we should confess Christ And though the former parts of this discourse may afford directions at least implicit I shall yet adde some things to direct you more explicitely You must confess Christ then 1. Vnderstandingly With your own and to others understanding With your own Far be it that you should not understand what you say or whereof you affirm The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Unless you have how can you give a reason of the hope that is in you And indeed without understanding what you profess you act therein the part of a Parrot rather then of a Professor 1 Tim. 1.7 Eph. 5.17 1 Pet. 3.15 Prov. 14.8 Your Confession must be to others understanding also You should rather speak five words with your understanding that by your voice you may teach others also then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue or which is to the same effect in unknown termes Else you speak to the aire rather then to advantage and edification and are Barbarians to others who did you speak words easie to be understood might happily bless God for you and be built up in godliness by you 1 Cor. 14 2 20. Let thy mouth then speak of wisdom and the meditation of thy heart be of understanding Psal 49.3 2. Vndoubtedly As beleevers should not be of doubtful mindes so nor of doubtful mouthes but without cloudie obscurities should confess openly as things are according to the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel and the present circumstances wherein they are after the precedents of Jesus himself and John his fore-runner Luke 13.8 2 Cor. 12.13 Iohn 10.24,25 1.19 24. Your discourses should drive home to the consciences of them that hear you that by manifestation of the Truth you may commend your selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God That if their consciences do not acquit you as the Pharisees once did Paul yet they may awe and accuse them 2 Cor. 4 2,5,11 Act. 23,9,24,25 3. Vndauntedly With boldness of spirit within and boldness of speech without yea with all boldness alwayes Phil. 1.20 Act. 4.29 you should open your mouth with boldnesse to make known the mystery of the Gospel This will shake the confidences of sinners and both search and seize the consciences and spirits of the hearers strengthen the communion of Saints and is sealed with the concurrence of God himself Eph. 6.19 Act. 4.13 13.46 4.31,32 14.3 Consider I beseech you the precious consequence the pattern of Christ the primitive Confessors the prints of God and his Gospel upon your Cause and Call and what then may daunt or dismay you Sirs you should wax confident not cold by our bonds and be much more bold not more backward to speak the Word of God without fear Phil. 1.14 Eph. 6.20 4. Vndividedly both as to your selves and as to other Saints Confession is a work that requireth a ready concourse of your whole selves of the soul and spirit and body for the outward act and inward animation Rom. 10.9 1 Pet. 3.15 And a real concurrence of all the Saints Gebal and Ammon and Amalek combine in ungodliness and shall the godly quarrel one the other in the Gospel Oâ—… Where are the golden taches of the Tabernacle that should unite the many Curtains into one tent of Confessors Alas for the staffe of beauty and for the staffe of bands so strangely broken When shall Christians stand fast in one spirit with one mind and strive together for the faith of the Gospel and no more against one another in ungodly factions The unity of Confessors will be their glory and his also to whom they confess 'T is