nothing more poor and dastard-like Such a one is as great a stranger to this enterprise as the craven souldier is to the exploits of a valiant Chieftain The Christian in prayer comes up close to God with an humble boldnesse of faith and takes hold of him wrestles with him yea will not let him go without a blessing and all this in the face of his own sins and divine justice which let flie upon him from the fiery mouth of the Law while the others boldness in prayer is but the childe either of ignorance in his minde or hardnesse in his heart whereby not feeling his sins and not knowing his danger he rushes upon duty with a blinde confidence which soon quails when conscience awakes and gives him the alarâ—m that his sins are upon him as the Philistines on Samson alas then in a fright the poor-spirited wretch throwes down his weapon flies the presence of God with guilty Adam and dares not look him on the face Indeed there is no duty in a Christians whole course of walking with God or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties which shoot like enemies through the hedges at the Christian whilest he is marching toward Heaven so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes They are only a few noble-spirited soules who dare take Heaven by force that are fit for this calling For the further proof of this Point see some few pieces of service that every Christian engageth in First the Christian is to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcileable war against his bosome-sins those sins which have layen nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet So David I have kept my self from my iniquity Now what courage and resolution doth this require you think Abraham was tried to purpose when called to take his son his son Isaac his only son whom he loved and offer him up with his own hands and no other yet what was that to this Soul take thy lust thy only lust which is the childe of thy dearest love thy Isaac the sin which hath caused most joy and laughter from which thou hast promised thy self the greatest return of pleasure or profit as ever thou lookest to see my face with comfort lay hands on it and offer it up poure out the blood of it before me run the sacrificing knife of mortification into the very heart of it and this freely joyfully for it is no pleasing sacrifice that is offered with a countenance cast down and all this now before thou hast one embrace more from it Truly this is a hard chapter flesh and blood cannot bear this saying our lust will not lie so patiently on the Altar as Isaac or as a Lambe that is brought to the slaughter which is dumb but will roar and shreek yea even shake and rend the heart with their hideous out-cries Who is able to expresse the conflicts the wrestlings the convulsions of Spirit the Christian feels before he can bring his heart to this work or who can fully set forth the Art the Rhetorical insinuations which such a lust will plead with for its life one while Satan will extenuate and mince the matter It is but a little one O spare it and thy soule shall live for all that Another while he flatters the soul with the secrecy of it Thou mayest keep me and thy credit also I will not be seen abroad in thy company to shame thee among thy neighbours shut me up in the most retired room thou hast in thy heart from the hearing of others if thou wilt only let me now and then have the wanton embraces of thy thoughts and affections in secret if that cannot be granted then Satan will seem only to desire execution may be stayed a while as Jephtha's daughter of her father Let me alone a monthor two and then do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth well knowing few such reprieved lusts but at last obtain their full pardon yea recover their favour with the soule Now what resolution doth it require to break through such violence and importunity and notwithstanding all this to do present execution Here the valiant Sword-men of the world have shewed themselves meer cowards who have come out of the field with victorious banners and then lived yea died slaves to a base lust at home As one could say of a great Romane Captain who as he rode in his triumphant Chariot through Rome had his eye never off a Courtizan that walk't along the street Behold how this goodly Captain that conquered such potent Armies is himself conquered by one silly woman Secondly the Christian is to walk singularly not after the worlds guise Rom. 12.2 we are commanded not to be conformed to this world that is not to accommodate our selves to the corrupt customes of the world The Christian must not be of such a complying nature to cut the coat of his Profession according to the fashion of the times or the humour of the company he falls into like that Courtier who being ask't how he could keep his preferment in such changing times which one while had a Prince for Popery another while against Popery answered he was Esalice non ex quercu ortus he was not a stubborn oake but bending osier that could yield to the winde No the Christian must stand fixt to his principles and not change his habit but freely shew what Country-man he is by his holy constancy in the truth Now what an odium what snares what dangers doth this singularity expose the Christian to Some will hoot and mock him as one in a Spanish fashion would be laugh't at in your streets Thus Michal flouted David Indeed the world counts the Christian for his singularity of life the only foole which I have thought gave the first occasion to that nick-name whereby men commonly expresse a silly man or a fool Such a one say they is a meer Abraham that is in the worlds account a foole But why an Abraham because Abraham did that which carnal reason the worlds idol laughs at as meere folly he left a present estate in his fathers house to go he know not whither to receive an inheritance he knew not when And truly luch fooles all the Saints are branded for by the wise world You know the man and his communication said Jehu to his companions asking what that mad fellow came for who was no other then a Prophet 2 Kings 9.11 Now this requires courage to despise the shame which the Christian must expect to meete withal for his singularity Shame is that which proud nature most disdaines to avoid which many durst not confesse Christ openly many lose heaven because they are ashamed to go in a fooles coat thither Again as some will mock so others will persecute to death meerly for this non-conformity in the Christians principles and practices to them This was the trap laid for the three children they
this Point will fall in under the next which is CHAP. IV. Of acting our faith on the Almighty Power of God as engaged for our help THat it is the Saints duty and should be their care not only to believe God Almighty but also strongly to believe that this Almighty Power of God is theirs that is engaged for their defence and help so as to make use of it in all straits and temptations SECT I. First I shall prove that the Almighty Power of God is engaged for the Christians defence with the grounds of it Secondly why the Christian should strongly act his faith on this First the Almighty Power of God is engaged for the Saints defence God brought Israel out of Egypt with an high hand but did he set them down on the other side the Red-sea to finde and force their way to Canaan by their own policie or power When he had opened the iron gate of their house of bondage and brought them into the open fields did he vanish as the Angel from Peter when out of prison No as a man carries his son so the Lord bare them in all the way they went Deut. 1.31 This doth lively set forth the Saints march to heaven God brings a soule out of spiritual Egypt by his converting grace that is the day of his power wherein he makes the soule willing to come out of Satans clutches Now when the Saint is upon his march all the countrey riseth upon him How shall this poore creature passe the pikes and get safely by all his enemies borders God himself infolds him in the arme of his everlasting strength We are kept by the Power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 The Power of God is that shoulder on which Christ carries his sheep home rejoycing all the way he goes Luke 15.5 These everlasting armes of his strength are those Eagles wings upon which the Saints are both tenderly and securely conveyed to glory Exod. 19.4 There is a five fold tie or engagement that lies upon Gods power to be the Saints life-guard First the near relation he hath to his Saints they are his own dear children every one takes care of his own the silly Hen how doth she bussle and bestir her self to gather her brood under her wing when the Kite appears No care like that which Nature teacheth How much more will God who is the Father of such dispositions in his creature stir up his whole strength to defend his children He said They are my people so be became their Saviour Isa 33.8 As if God had said Shall I sit still with my hand in my bosome while my own people are thus misused before my face I cannot beare it The Mother as she sits in her house heares one shreek and knowes the voice cries out O 't is my childe away she throws all and runs to him Thus God takes the alarm of his childrens cry I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself saith the Lord his cry pierced his eare and his eare affected his bowels and his bowels call'd up his power to the rescue of him Secondly the dear love he beareth to his Saints engageth his power He that hath Gods heart cannot want his arme Love in the creature commands all the other affections sets all the powers of the whole man on work thus in God love sets all his other attributes on work when God once pitch't his thoughts of doing good to lost man then wisdom fell on projecting the way Almighty power that undertook to raise the fabrick according to wisdomes modell All are ready to effect what God saith he likes Now the believing soule is an object of Gods choicest love even the same with which he loves his Son John 17.26 First God loves the believer as the birth of his everlasting counsel when a soul believes then Gods eternal purpose and counsel concerning him whom he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world and with whom his thoughts went so long big brings forth And how must God needs love that creature whom he carried so long in the wombe of his eternal purpose This goodly Fabrick of heaven and earth had not been built but as a stage whereon he would in time act what he decreed in heaven of old concerning the saving of thee and a few more his Elect and therefore according to the same rate of delight with which God pleased and entertained himself in the thoughts of this before the world was must he needs rejoyce over the soule now believing with love and complacency unconceivable and God having brought his counsel thus far towards its issue surely will raise all the power he hath rather then be disappointed of his glory within a few steps of home I mean his whole design in the believers salvation The Lord who hath chosen his Saints as Christ prayes for Joshua their representative will rebuke Satan and all their enemies Secondly God loves his Saints as the purchase of his Sons blood they cost him dear and that which is so hardly got shall not be easily lost He that was willing to expend his Sons blood to gain them will not deny his power to keep them Thirdly God loves the Saints for their likenesse to himselfe so that if he loves himself he cannot but love himself appearing in them and as he loves himself in them so he defends himself in defending them What is it in a Saint that enrageth hell but the image of God without which the war would soon be at an end It is the hatred the Panther hath to man that makes him flie at his picture For thy sake we are slain all the day long and if the quarrel be Gods surely the Saint shall not go forth to war at his own cost Thirdly the Covenant engageth Gods Almighty power Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me There is a League offensive and defensive between God and his Saints he gives it under his hand that he will put forth the whole power of his Godhead for them 1 Chron. 17.24 The Lord of Hostes is the God of Israel even a God to Israel God doth not parcel himself out by retaile but gives his Saints leave to challenge whatever a God hath as theirs and let him whoever he is sit in Gods throne and take away his crown that can fasten any untruth on the Holy One as his Name is so is his Nature a God keeping Covenant for ever The Promises stand as the mountains about Jerusalem never to be removed the weak as wel as the strong Christian is within this line of Communication Were Saints to fight it out in open field by the strength of their own grace then the strong were more likely to stand and the weak to fall in battel but both castled in the Covenant are alike safe Fourthly the Saints dependance on God and expectation from God in all their straits oblige his power for their succour whither doth a gracious soule
beautiful colours that were drawn on them but not laid in oyle and therefore soon wash't off again The foolish Virgins made as great a blaze with their lamps and did expect as good a day when Christ should come as the wise Virgins but alas their lamps are out before he appeared and as good never a whit as never the better The stony ground more forward then the best soile the seed comes up immediately as if a crop should soon have been reap't but a few nipping frosts turns its hue and the day of harvest proves a day of desperate sorrow All these instances and many more in Scripture do evince that nothing short of solid grace and a principle of divine life in the soul will persevere How forward soever Formalists and slighty Professours are to promise themselves hopes of reaching heaven they will finde it too long a step for their short-breathed souls to attain The reasons are First such want a principle of divine life to draw strength from Christ to persevere them in their course That by which the gracious soule it self perseveres is the continual supply it receives from Christ as the arme and foot is kept alive in the body by those vital spirits which they receive from the heart I live saith Paul yet not I but Christ in me that is I live but at Christs cost he holds as my soul so my grace in life Now the carnal person wanting this union must needs waste and consume in time He hath no root to stand on A carcase when once it begins to rot never recovers but every day grows worse till it runs all into putrefaction no salve or plaister will do it good but where there is a principle of life there when a member is wounded nature sends supplies of spirits and helps to work with the salve for a cure There is the same difference between a gracious person and an ungracious see them opposed in this respect Prov. 14.17 The righteous man falls seven times a day and riseth but the wicked falleth into mischief that is in falling he falls further and hath no power to recover himself When Cain sinned see how he falls further and further like a stone down a hill never stayes till he comes to the bottome of despair from envying his brother to malice from malice to murder from murder to impudent lying and brazen-fac't boldnesse to God himself and from that to despair so true is that 2 Tim. 3 13. Evill men shall waxe worse and worse But now when a Saint falls he riseth because when he falls he hath a principle of life to cry out to Christ and such an interest in Christ as stirs him up to help Lord save me said Peter when he began to sink and presently Christs hand is put forth he chides him for his unbelief but he helps him Secondly an unregenerate soul hath no assurance for the continuance of those common gifts of the Spirit he hath at present they come on the same termes that temporal enjoyments do to such a one A carnal person when he hath his table most sumptuously spread cannot shew any word of promise under Gods hand that he shall be provided for the next meal God gives these things to the wicked as we a crust or a nights lodging to a beggar in our barne 't is our bounty such a one could not sue us for denying the same so in the common gifts of the Spirit God was not bound to give them nor is he to continue them Thou hast some knowledge of the things of God thou mayest for all this die without knowledge at last thou art a sinner in chaines restraining grace keeps thee in this may be taken off and thou let loose to thy lusts as freely as ever And how can he persevere that in one day may from praying fall to cursing from a whining complaining conscience come to have a seared conscience Thirdly every unregenerate man when most busie with Profession hath those engagements lie upon him that will necessarily when put to it take him off one time or other One is engaged to the world and when he can come to a good market for that then he goes away he cannot have both and now he 'll make it appear which he loved best Demas hath forsaken us and embraced this present world Another is a slave to his lust and when this calls him he must go in spight of Profession conscience God and all Herod feared John and did many things but love is stronger then feare his love to Herodias overcomes his fear of John and makes him cut off at once the head of John and the hopeful buddings which appeared in the tendernesse of his conscience and begun Reformation One root of bitternesse or other will spring up in such a one If the complexion of the soul be profane it will at last come to it however for a while there may some religious colour appear in the mans face from some other external cause This shews us what is the root of all final apostasy and that is the want of a through change of the heart The Apostate doth not lose the grace he had but discovers he never had any and 't is no wonder to hear that he proves bankrupt that was worse then nought when he first set up Many take up their Saintship upon trust and trade in the duties of Religion with the credit they have gain'd from others opinion of them They believe themselves to be Christians because others hope them to be such and so their great businesse is by a zeal in those exercises of Religion that lie outmost to keep up the credit which they have abroad but do not look to get a stock of solid grace within which should maintain them in their Profession and this proves their undoing at last Let it therefore make us in the feare of God to consider upon what score we take up our Profession Is there that within which bears proportion to our outward zeal Have we laid a good bottome Is not the superstructive top heavy jetting too far beyond the weak foundation They say trees shoot as much in the root under ground as in the branches above and so doth true grace O remember what was the perishing of the seed in the stony ground it lacked root and why so but because it was stony Be willing the plough should go deep enough to humble thee for sin and rend thy heart from sinne The soul effectually brought out of the love of sin as sin will never be through friends with it again In a word be serious to finde out the great spring that sets all thy wheels on motion in thy religious trade Do as men that would know how much they are worth who set what they owe on one side and what stock they have on the other and then when they have laid out enough to discharge all debts and engagements what remaines to themselves they may call their
Apostle Peter in his second Epistle chap. 1. ver 5 6 7. presseth the Christian to a joynt endeavour to encrease the whole body of grace indeed that is health when the whole body thrives Adde saith he to your faith vertue Faith is the file-leading grace Well hast thou faith adde vertue True faith is of a working stirring nature without good works it is dead or dying Fides pinguescit operibus Luther 'T is kept in plight and heart by a holy life as the flesh which plaisters over the frame of mans body though it receives its heat from the vitals within yet helps to preserve the very life of those vitals thus good works and gracious actions have their life from faith yet are necessary helps to preserve the life of faith thus we see sometimes the childe nursing the Parent that bare it and therein performes but his duty Thou art fruitful in good works yet thou art not out of the devils shot except thou addest to thy vertue knowledge This is the candle without which faith cannot see to do its work Art thou going to give an almes if it be not oculata charitas if charity hath not this eye of knowledge to direct when how what and to whom thou art to give thou mayest at once wrong God the person thou relievest and thy self Art thou humbling thy selfe for thy sin for want of knowledge in the tenour of the Gospel Satan may play upon thy ignorance and either perswade thee thou art not humbled enough when God knowes thou art almost quackled with thy teares and even carried down by the impetuous torrent of thy sorrow into despair or else shewing thee thy blubber'd face may flatter thee into a carnal confidence of thy humiliation Perhaps thou seest the Name of God dishonoured in the place where thou livest and thy spirit is stirred within thee as Pauls at Athens now if knowledge sits not in the saddle to reine and bridle in thy zeal thou wilt be soon carried over hedge and ditch till thou fallest into some precipice or other by thy irregular acting Neither is knowledge enough except thou beest arm'd with Temperance which here I conceive is that grace whereby the Christian as Master of his own house so orders his affections like servants to reason and faith that they do not irregularly move or inordinately lash out into desires of cares for or joy in the creature-comforts of this life without which Satan will be too hard for thee The Historian tells us that in one of the famous battels between the English and French that which lost the French the day was a shower of English arrowes which did so gall their horse as put the whole army into disorder their horse knowing no ranks did tread down their own men The affections are but as the horse to the Rider on which knowledge should be mounted if Satans barbed arrows light on them so that thy desires of the creature prove unruly and justle with thy desires of Christ thy care to keepe thy credit or estate put thy care to keep a good conscience to disorder and thy carnal joy in wife and childe trample down or get before thy joy in the Lord judge on which side victory is like to fal Well suppose thou marchest provided thus far in goodly array towards heaven while thou art swimming in prosperity most thou not also prepare for foule way and weather I mean an afflicted estate Satan will line the hedges with a thousand temptations when thou comest into the narrow lanes of adversity where thou canst not run from this sort of temptation as in the Champaigne of prosperity Possibly thou that didst escape the snare of an alluring world mayest be dismounted by the same when it frownes though temperance kept thee from being drunk with the sweet wines of those pleasures yet for want of patience thou mayest be drunk with the wine of astonishment which is in afflictions hand therefore saith the Apostle to temperance adde patience either possesse thy self in patience or else some raving devil of discontent will possesse thee An impatient soule in affliction is a bedlam in chains yea too like the devil in his chaines that rageth against God while he is fettered by him Well hast thou patience an excellent grace indeed but not enough thou must be a pious man as well as a patient Therefore saith the Apostle to patience adde godlinesse There is an atheistical stupid patience and there is a godly Christian patience Satan numbs the conscience of the one and no wonder he complains not that feels not but the Spirit of Christ sweetly calmes the other not by taking away the sense of paine but by overcoming it with the sense of his love Now godlinesse comprehends the whole worship of God inward and outward If thou beest never so exact in thy morals and not a worshipper of God then thou art an Atheist If thou doest worship God and that devoutly but not by Scripture-rule thou art an idolater If according to the rule but not in Spirit and truth then thou art an hypocrite and so fallest into the devils mouth Or if thou doest give God one piece of his worship and denyest another still Satan comes to his market Prov. 28.9 He that turneth back his eare from hearing the Law his prayer is an abomination to the Lord. Yet Christian all thy Armour is not on Thy godlinesse indeed would suffice wert thou to live in a world by thy self or hadst nothing to do but immediate communion with God But Christian thou must not always dwell on this mount of immediate worship and when thou descendest thou hast many brethren and servants to thy Father who live with thee in the same family and thou must comport thy self becomingly or else thy Father will be angry First thou hast brethren heires of the same promise with thee therefore you must adde to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse If Satan can set you at odds he gives a deep wound to your godlinesse You will hardly joyne hearts in a duty that cannot joyne hands in love Secondly there are not only brethren but servants a multitude of profane carnal ones who though they never had the names of sons and daughters yet retain to Gods family and thy heavenly Father will have thee walk unblameably yea winningly to those that are without which that thou mayest do thou must adde to brotherly kindnesse charity by which grace thou shalt be willing to do good to the worst of men when they curse thee thou must pray for them yea pray for no lesse then a Christ a heaven for them Father forgive them said Christ while they were raking in his side for his heart-blood And truly I am perswaded the want of this last piece of armour hath given Satan great advantage in these our times We are so afraid our charity should be too broad whereas in this sense if it be not as wide as the world it is too strait for the
Satan though a General will shew little pity to a souldier that should traiterously throw down his armes and run to the enemy yet if another in fighting receives a wound and be worsted it will be no dishonour for him to expresse his pity and love no though he should send him out of the field in his own coach lay him in his own bed and appoint him his own Chirurgion God doth not encourage wickednesse in his Saints but pities weaknesse Even when the Saints fall into a sin in its nature presumptuous they do not commit it so presumptuously as others there is a part true to God in their bosomes though over-voted Moses spake unadvisedly but the devil had his instruments to provoke him quite against the good mans temper David numbers the people but see how the devil dogg'd and hunted him till at last he got the better 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan stood up and provoked David to number Israel How bravely did Job repel Satans darts no wonder if in such a shower some one should get between the joynts of his armour And for Peter we know good man with what a loyal heart yea zealous he went into the field though when the enemy appear'd his heart fail'd him Secondly consider but the way how God communicates his love after his Saints falls not in sinning or for sinning but in mourning and humbling their souls for their sins Indeed did God smile on them while acting sinfully this might strengthen their sin as wine in a feaver would the disease but when the fit is off the venome of the disease spent and breathed out in a kindly humiliation now the creature lies low Gods wine of comfort is a cordial to the drooping spirit not fuel for sin When David was led into temptation first he must be clad in sack-cloth and mourning and then God takes it off and puts on the garment of joy and praise 1 Chron. 21.10 15. Job though he exprest so much courage and patience yet bewraying some infirmities after he was baited long by so many fresh dogs men and devils he must cry peccavi and abhor himself in dust and ashes before God will take him into his armes Job 42.6 and the same way God takes with all his children Now to his Saints in such a posture God may with safety to his honour and their good give a larger draught of his love then ordinary their feares and sorrow which their sin hath cost them will serve instead of water to dash this strong wine of joy and take away its headinesse that it neither fume up into pride nor occasion them to reele backward into Apostasie Quest But why doth God now communicate his love Answ 1 First from his own pitiful nature You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lordis very pitiful and of tender mercy God loves not to rake in bleeding wounds he knowes a mourning soul is subject to be discouraged A frown or an angry look from God whom the Saint so dearly loves must needs go near the heart therefore God declares himself at hand to revive such Isa 57 15. and he gives the reason verse 16. For I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wreth for the spirit should faile before me Whose spirit is there meant not of the presumptuous sinner he goes on and never blunks but of the contrite and humble ones As the father observes the disposition of his children one commits a fault and goes on rebelliously despising his fathers anger another when offending him layes it to heart refuseth to eat gets into some corner to lament the displeasure of his father the father sees it and his bowels yerne towards him Indeed should he not put his childe out of feare by discovering his love the spirit of such a one would faile 't is not possible there should be a long breach between such a father and such a son the one relenting over his sin the other over his mourning son Secondly God doth thus to poure the greater shame upon Satan who is the great make-bate between God and the soule How is the man ashamed that hath stirr'd up variance between husband and wife father and son to see the breach made up and all set themselves against him It went ill on Christs side when Herod and Pilate were made friends and can it go well with Satan to see all well between God and his children If Esther be in favour Haman her enemy shall have his face covered Indeed this covers Satans face with shame to see a poor Saint even now his prisoner whom he had leave to rob and plunder tempt and disquiet now sitting in the Sun-shine of Gods love while he like a ravening Lion takes on for the losse of his prey Secondly Satans aime is to weaken the Saints faith on God and cool his love to God but befool'd in both for first God turnes their temptations yea their falls to the further establishment of their faith which like the tree stands stronger for its shaking or like the Gyant Anteus who in his wrestling with Hercules is feigned to get strength by every fall to the ground False faith indeed once foiled seldom comes on again but true faith riseth and fights more valiantly as we see in Peter and other Scripture-examples Temptation to faith is as fire to gold 1 Pet. 1.7 The fire doth not only discover which is true gold but makes the true gold more pure it comes out may be lesse in bulk and weight because severed from that soile and drosse which embased it but more in value and worth when Satan is bound up and the Christian walks under the shines of divine favour and encouragement of divine assistance his faith may appear great if compared with another under the withdrawings of God and buffetings of Satan but this is not equall judging as if to try who is biggest of two men we should measure one naked and the other over his clothes or in comparing two pieces of gold weigh one with the drosse and dirt it contracts in the purse with the other purged from these in the fire faith before temptation hath much heterogeneal stuffe that cleaves to it and goes for faith but when temptation comes these are discovered Now the Christian feels corruption stir which lay as dead before now a cloud comes between the soule and the sweet face of God the sense of which latter and the little sense of the other bore up his faith before but these bladders prick't he comes now to learne the true stroke in this heavenly Art of swimming on the promise having nothing else to beat him up but that and a little of this carries more of the precious nature of faith in it then all the other yea is like Gideons handful of men stronger when all these accessaries to faith are sent away then when they were present and here is all the devil gets in stead
of the world John 14. Princes have their thrones where they sit in state Satan hath his Rev. 2.13 Thou dwellest where Satan hath his throne and that such a one as no earthly Prince may compare few Kings are enthroned in the hearts of their subjects they rule their bodies and command their purses but how oft in a day are they pull'd out of their thrones by the wishes of their discontented subjects But Satan hath the heart of all his subjects Princes have their homage and peculiar honour done to them Satan is served upon the knee of his subjects the wicked are said to worship the devil Rev. 13.4 No Prince expects such worship as he no lesse then religious worship will serve him 2 Chron. 11.15 Jeroboam there is said to ordain Priests for devils and therefore he is call'd not only the Prince but the god of this world because he hath the worship of a god given him Princes such as are absolute have a Legislative Power nay their own will is their law as at this day in Turkey where their Laws are writ in no other Tables then in the proud Sultans breast thus Satan gives law to the poor sinner who is bound and must obey though the Law be writ with his own blood and the creature hath nothing but damnation for fulfilling the devils lust 't is call'd a Law of sinne Rom. 8.2 because it comes with authority Princes have their Ministers of State whom they employ for the safety and enlargement of their Territories So Satan his 2 Cor. 11.15 who propagates his cursed designes therefore we reade of doctrine of devils Princes have their Arcana Imperii which none knowes but a few Favourites in whom they confide thus the devil hath his mysteries of iniquity and depths of Satan we reade of which all his subjects know not of Rev. 2.24 these are imparted to a few Favourites such as Elymas whom Paul calls full of all subtilty and childe of the devil such whose consciences are so debauched that they scruple not the most horrid sins these are his white boyes I have read of a people in America that love meat best when 't is rotten and stinks The devil is of their diet the more corrupt and rotten the creature is in sinne the better he pleaseth his tooth some are more the children of the devil then others Christ had his beloved disciple and Satan those that lie in his very bosome and know what is in his heart In a word Princes have their Vectigalia their tribute and custome so Satan his Indeed he doth not so much share with the sinner in all but is owner of all he hath so that the devil is the Merchant and the sinner but the broker to trade for him who at last puts all his gaines into the devils purse time strength parts yea conscience and all spent to keep him in his throne SECT II. Quest But how comes Satan to this Principality Answ Not lawfully though he can shew a faire claim As First he obtained it by Conquest as he won his crown so he weares it by power and policy But conquest is a crack't title A thief is not the honester because able to force the traveller to deliver his purse and a thief on the throne is no better then a private one on the road or Pyrate in a Pinnace as he boldly told Alexander Neither doth that prove good with processe of time which was evil at first Satan indeed hath kept possession long but a thief will be so as long as he keeps his stollen goods He stole the heart of Adam from God at first and doth no better to this day Christs Conquest is good because the ground of the war righteous to recover what was his own which Satan cannot say of the meanest creature 'T is my own Secondly Satan may lay claim to his Principality by Election 'T is true he came in by a wile but now he is a Prince elect by the unanimous voice of corrupt nature Ye are of your father the devil saith Christ and his lusts ye will do But this also hath a flaw in it for man by law of Creation is Gods subject and cannot give away Gods right by sin he loseth his right in God as a Protectour but God loseth not his right as a Soveraign Sin disabled man to keep Gods Law but it doth not enfranchise or dis-oblige him that he need not keep it Thirdly Satan may claim a deed of gift from God himself as he was bold to do to Christ himself upon this ground perswading him to worship him as the Prince of the world Luke 4.5 6. He shewed unto him all the Kingdomes of the world saying All this will I give thee for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it Where there was a truth though he spake more then the truth as he cannot speak truth but to gain credit to some lie at the end of it God indeed hath delivered in a sense this world to him but not in his sense to do what he will with it nor by any approbatory act given him a Pattent to vouch him his vice-Roy not Satan by the grace of God but by the permission of God Prince of the world Quest But why doth God permit this Apostate-creature to exercise such a Principality over the world Answ First as a righteous act of vengeance on Man for revolting from the sweet Government of his rightful Lord and Maker 'T is the way that God punisheth rebellion Because ye would not serve me with gladnesse in the abundance of all things therefore ye shall serve your enemies in hunger c. Satan is a King given in Gods wrath Chams curse is mans punishment a Servant of servants The devil is Gods slave man the devils Sin hath set the devil on the creatures back and now he hurries him without mercy as he did the swine till he be choak't with flames if mercy interpose not Secondly God permits this his Principality in order to the glorifying of his Name in the recovery of his Elect from the power of this great Potentate What a glorious Name will God have when he hath finished this war wherein at first he found all possessed by this enemy and not a man of all the sons of Adam to offer himself as a Voluntier in this service till made willing by the day of his Power this this will gain God a Name above every name not only of creatures but of those by which himself was known to his creature The workmanship of heaven and earth gave him the Name of Creatour Providence of Preserver but this of Saviour wherein he doth both the former preserve his creature which else had been lost and create a new creature I mean the Babe of Grace which through God shall be able to beat the devil out of the field who was able to drive Adam though created in his full stature out of Paradise and may not all the
All is done at Christ his cost with whom God indented and to whom he gave the promise of eternal life before the world began as a free estate to settle upon every believing soul in the day they should come to Christ and receive him for their Prince and Saviour so that from the houre thou didst come under Christs shadow all the sweet fruit that grows on this tree of life is thine with Christ all that both worlds have falls to thee All is yours because you are Christs O Christian look upon thy self now and blesse thy God to see what a change there is made in thy state since that black and dismal time when thou wert slave to the Prince of darknesse how couldest thou like thy old Scullions work again or think of returning to thy house of bondage now thou knowest the priviledges of Christs Kingdomes Great Princes who from basenesse and beggery have ascended to Kingdomes and Empires to adde to the joy of their present honour have delighted to speak often of their base birth to go and see the mean cottages where they were first entertained and had their birth and breeding and the like And 't is not unuseful for the Christian to look in at the grate to see the smokie hole where once he lay to view the chaines wherewith he was laden and so to compare Christs Court the divels prison the felicity of the one and the horror of the other together But when we do our best to affect our hearts with this mercy by all the inhancing aggravations we can find out Alas how little a portion of it shalwe know here this is a nimium excellens which cannot be fully seen unlesse it be by a glorified eye how can it be fully known by us where it cannot be fully enjoyed thou art translated into the Kingdome of Christ but thou art a great way from his Court That is kept in heaven and that the Christian knows but as we far countreys which we never saw only by map or some rarities that are sent us as a taste of what grows there in abundance Vse 3 Thirdly this Christian calls for thy loyalty and faithful service to Christ who hath saved thee from Satans bondage Say O ye Saints to Christ as they to Gideon Come thou and rule over us for thou hast delivered us from the hand not of Midian but of Satan Who so able to defend thee from his wrath as he who broke his power who like to rule thee so tenderly as he that could not brook anothers tyranny over thee In a word who hath right to thee besides him who ventur'd his life to redeem thee that being delivered from all thine enemies thou mayest serve him without feare in holinesse all the dayes of thy life And wee it not pity that Christ should take all this pains to lift up thy head from Satans house of bondage and give thee a place among those in his own house who are admitted to minister unto him which is the highest honour the nature of men or Angels is capable of and that thou shouldest after all this be found to have a hand in any treasonable practice against thy dear Saviour surely Christ may think he hath deserved better at your hands if at none besides Where shall a Prince safely dwell if not in the midst of his own Courtiers and those such who were all taken from chains and prisons to be thus preferr'd the more to oblige them in his service Let devils and devillish men do their own work but let not thy hand O Christian be upon thy dear Saviour But this is too litle to bid thee not play the traitour If thou hast any loyal blood running in thy veines thy own heart will smite thee when thou rendest the least skirt of his holy Law thou canst as well carry burning coales in thy bosome as hide any treason there against thy dear Soveraign No 't is some noble enterprise I would have thee think upon how thou mayest advance the Name of Christ higher in thy heart and world too as much as in thee lies O how kindely did God take it that David when peaceably set in his throne was casting about not how he might entertain himself with those pleasures which usually corrupt and debauch the Courts of Princes in times of peace but how he might shew his zeal for God in building a house for his worship that had rear'd a throne for him 2 Sam. 7. And is there nothing Christian thou canst think on wherein thou mayest eminently be instrumental for God in thy generation He is not a good subject that is all for what he can get of his Prince but never thinks what service he may do for him Nor he the true Christian whose thoughts dwell more on his own happinesse then the honour of his God If subjects might chuse what life stands best for their own enjoyment all would desire to live at Court with their Prince But because the Princes honour is more to be valued then this therefore noble spirits to do their Prince service can deny themselves the delicacies of a Court to jeopard their lives in the field and thank their Prince too for the honour of their employment Blessed Paul upon these termes was willing to have his day of coronation in glory prorogued he to stay as companion with his brethren in tribulation here for the furtherance of the Gospel This indeed makes it opera pretium vivere worth the while to live that we have by it a faire opportunity if hearts to husband it in which we may give a proof of our real gratitude to our God for his redeeming love in rescuing us out of the power of the Prince of darknesse and translating us into the Kingdome of his dear Son And therefore Christian lose no time but what thou meanest to do for God do it quickly Art thou a Magistrate now it will be soon seen on whose side thou art if indeed thou hast renounced allegiance to Satan and taken Christ for thy Prince declare thy self an enemy to all that bear the name of Satan and march under his colours Study well thy commission and when thou understandest the duty of thy place fall to work zealously for God Thou hast thy Princes sword put into thy hand be sure thou use it and take heed how thou usest it that when call'd to deliver it up and thy account also it may not be found rusty in the sheath through sloth and cowardise besmeared with the blood of violence nor bent and gap't with partiality and injustice Art thou a Minister of the Gospel thy employment is high an Ambassadour and that not from some petty Prince but the great God to his rebellious subjects A calling so honourable that the Son of God disdained not to come in extraordinary from heaven to perform it call'd therefore the messenger of the Covenant yea he had to this day stay'd on earth in person about it
prisoner I cannot shake off my fetters and set my self at liberty to come unto Christ Well poor soul canst thou groan heartily under thy bondage then for thy comfort know thy deliverance is at the door he that heard the cry of Israel in Egypt will hear thine also yea come and save thee out of the hands of thy lusts He will not as some who entangle thy affections by making love to thee and then give over the suit and come at thee no more If Christ has won thy heart he 'll be true to thee and be at all the cost to bring thee out of thy prison-house also yea take the paines to come for thee himselfe and bring with him these wedding-garments in which he will carry thee from thy prison to his Fathers house with joy where thou shalt live not only as a subject under his Law but as a Bride in the bosome of his love and what can be added to thy happinesse more when thy Prince is thy husband and that such a Prince to whom all other are vassals even the Prince of the world himself and yet so gracious that his Majesty hinders not his familiar converse with thee a poor creature but addes to the condescent thereof therefore God chooseth to mixe names of greatnesse and relation together the one to sweeten the other Thy Maker is thy husband thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel The God of the whole earth shall he be called Isa 54.5 And to usher in those promises with titles of greatest dread and terrour to the creature that hold forth the greatest condescensions of love How can God stoop lower then to come and dwell with a poor humble soule which is more then if he had said such a one should dwell with him for a beggar to live at Court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in this cottage Yet this promise is usher'd in with the most magnificent titles Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit Isa 57.15 and why such titles but to take away the feares which his Saints are prone to take up from them Will the high and lofty One saith the humble soule look on me a poor worme will the Holy God come near such an unclean creature saith the contrite one Isaiah himself cried he was undone at the sight of God and this attribute proclaim'd before him Isa 6. Now God prefixeth these that the creature may know his Majesty and holinesse which seems so terrible to us are no prejudice to his love yea so gracious a Prince is thy husband that he delights rather his Saints should call him by names of love then state Thou shalt call me Ishi and shalt no more call me Baali Hos 2.16 that is my Husband not my Lord. SECT IV. The second point follows Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soule to Satan a knowing man may be his slave but an ignorant one can be no other Knowledge doth not make the heart good but it is impossible that without knowledge it should be good There are some sins which an ignorant person cannot commit there are more which he cannot but commit Knowledge is the Key Luke 11.52 Christ the door John 15. Christ opens Heaven Knowledge opens Christ In three particulars the Point will appear more fully First ignorance opens a doore for sinne to enter Secondly as ignorance lets sin in so it locks it up in the soule and the soule in it Thirdly as it locks it up so it shuts all meanes of help out First Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his troops of lusts where the watch is blinde the City is soon taken an ignorant man sins and like drunken Lot he knowes not when the tempter comes nor when he goes he is like a man that walks in his sleep knowes not where he is nor what he does Father forgive them said Christ they know not what they do The Apostle 1 Cor. 15. having reproved the sensuality of some verse 32. who made the consideration of death by which others are awed from sinne a provocative to sinne Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die he gives an account of this absurd reasoning All have not the knowledge of God An ignorant person is a man in shape and a beast in heart There is no knowledge in the land saith the Prophet Hosea 4.2 and see what a regiment followes this blinde Captain swearing lying killing stealing and what not We reade 2 Tim. 3.5 of some laden with sins here are trees full of bitter fruit and what dung shall we finde at the root that makes them so fruitfull but ignorance silly women and such who never come to the knowledge of the truth Secondly ignorance as it lets sin in so it locks it up and the soule in it such a one lies in Satans inner dungeon where no light of conviction comes darknesse inclines to sleep a blinde minde and a drowsie conscience go together When the storme arose the mariners who were awake fell a praying to their God but the sleeper feares nothing Ignorance layes the soule asleep under the hatches of stupidity God hath planted in the beast a natural feare of that which threatens hurt to it Go to thrust a beast into a pit and it hangs back nature shewes its abhorrency Man being of a nobler nature and subject to more dangers God hath set a double guard on him as a natural feare of danger so a natural shame that covers the face at the doing of any unworthy action Now an ignorant man hath slipt from both these his Keepers he sins and blusheth not because he knowes not his guilt he wants that Magistrate within which should put him to shame neither is he afraid because he knowes not his danger and therefore he playes with his sin as the childe with the waves that by and by will swallow him up Conscience is Gods alarm to call the sinner up It doth not alwayes ring in his eare that hath knowledge being usually set by God to go off at some special houre when God is speaking in an Ordinance or striking in a Providence but in an ignorant soule this is silent The Clock cannot go when the weights are taken off Conscience is only a witnesse to what it knows Thirdly ignorance shuts out the means of recovery Friends and Ministers yea Christ himself stands without and cannot help the creature as such threatenings and promises all of no use he feares not the one he desires not the other because he knows neither Heaven-way cannot be found in the dark and therefore the first thing God doth is to spring in with a light and let the creature know where he is and what the way is to get out of his prison-house without which all attempts to escape are in vain There is some shimmering
of these then the other There is hardly a fleshly lust but hath some spiritual sinne analogical to it as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sinnes answering carnal lusts for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom for sensual drunkennesse there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares for carnal pride in beauty riches honour there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them I shall of many pick out two or three As first Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel sowing his darnel assoon almost as Christ his wheate which sprung up in pernicious errours even in the Apostles times which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands and in all their Epistles labour to countermine Satan in this design Now Satan hath a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men especially Professours with errour SECT I. First he doth this in despite to God against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth which God hath so highly honoured Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Every creature bears the Name of God but in his Word and truth therein contained 't is writ at length and therefore he is more choice of this then of all his other works he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it so he keeps his Word and saves his truth Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame the heavens and earth shall passe away but the Word of the Lord endures for ever When God will he can make more such worlds as this is but he cannot make another truth and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof Satan knowing this sets all his wits on work to deface this truth and disfigure it by unsound doctrine The Word is the glasse in which we see God and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit If this glasse be crackt then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye Secondly he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken if not destroy the power of godlinesse in them The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together 2 Tim 1.7 Indeed the power of holinesse in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement Godlinesse is the childe of truth and it must be nurst if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if this milk be but a little dash't with errour it is not so nutritive All errour how innocent soever any may seem like the Ivy draws away the strength of the souls love from holinesse Hosea tells us Whoredom and wine take away the heart now errour is spiritual adultery Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ when a person receives an errour he takes a stranger into Christs bed and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd do not many shew more zeal in contending for one errour then for many truths how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the wayes of God their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes which controuls Christ and his truth as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her childe Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soule till like Abraham he turns these out of doors Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it it is as unwholesome food to the body that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body which seldom passeth away and not break out into sores As the knowledge of Christ carries a soule above the pollutions of the world so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts whose hands it had escaped Thirdly Satan in drawing a soule into this spiritual sin hath a designe to disturb the peace of the Church which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them I hear saith Paul there are divisions among you and I partly beleeve it for there must be heresies 1 Cor. 11.18 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie Errour cannot well agree with errour except it be against the truth then indeed like Pilate and Herod they are easily made friends but when truth seems to be overcome and the battel is over with that then they fall out among themselves and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbour to truth O Sirs what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago me thinks the looking back to those blessed dayes in this respect though they had also another way their troubles yet not so uncomfortable because that storme united this scatters the Saints spirits is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't that the Persecutors of those times might have said as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times See how they love one another but now alas they may jeere and say See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out SECT II. The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him O beware of this soul-infection this leprosie of the head I hope you do not think it needlesse for 't is the disease of the times This plague is begun yea spreads apace not a flock a Congregation hardly that hath not this scab among them Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after and he presseth this home upon the Saints yea in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon Acts 20.30 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work Take heed to your selves and to all the flock for I know this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things therefore watch And then he presents his
thy own works thou doest worse by Christ and shalt thou excel in grace Perhaps some of you have been long Professours and yet come to little growth in love to God humility heavenly-mindednesse mortification and 't is worth the digging to see what lies at the root of your Profession whether there be not a legal principle that hath too much acted you Have you not thought to carry all with God from your duties and services and too much laid up your hopes in your own actings Alas this is as so much dead earth which must be thrown out and Gospel-principles laid in the room thereof try but this course and see whether the spring of thy grace will not come on apace David gives an account how he came to stand and flourish when some that were rich and mighty on a sudden withered and came to nothing Lo saith he this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches But I am like a green olive-tree in the House of God I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever Psal 52.7 8. While others trust in the riches of their own righteousnesse and services and make not Christ their strength do thou renounce all and trust in the mercy of God in Christ and thou shalt be like a green olive when they fade and wither Secondly Christian you will not thrive in true comfort so long as you rest in any inherent work of grace and do not stand clear of your own actings and righteousnesse Gospel-comfort springs from a Gospel-root which is Christ Phil. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Now a soule that rests on any holinesse in himself he graffs his comfort upon himself not Christ he sucks his own breast not Christs and so makes Christ a dry nurse and what comfort can grow on that dry tree The Spirit is our Comforter as well as our Teacher and Counsellour Now as the Spirit when he teacheth comes not with any new or strange truth but takes of Christs owne what he findes in the Word so where he comforts he takes of Christs own his righteousnesse not our own Christ is the matter and ground of his comfort all cordials are but Christ distill'd and made up in several promises his acting not ours his suffering not ours his holinesse not ours he doth not say Soul rejoyce thou art holy but Soule triumph Christ is righteous and is the Lord thy righteousnesse Not Soul thou prayest sweetly feare not but thou hast an Advocate with the Father Christ the righteous so that the first step to the receiving of comfort from the Spirit is to send away all Comforters of our own As in learning of the Spirit he that will be taught by him must first become a fool that is no way lean to his own understanding so he that would be comforted must first be emptied of all self-supports must not lean to his owne comforts As a Physician first bids his Patient cast off all others he hath tampered with he asks what Physick he hath had from them takes off their plaisters throws away their Physick and goes about the work de novo So the Spirit when he comes to comfort a poor soul First perswades the soule to send away all its old Physicians O saith the soule I have been in the hand of such a duty such a course of obedience and have thought sure now I shall be well and have comfort now I do this duty set upon such a holy course Well saith the Spirit if you will have me do any thing these must all be dismist in point of confidence Now and not till how is the soule a subject fit to receive the Spirits comforts And therefore friends as you love your inward peace beware what vessel you draw your comfort from Grace is finite and so cannot afford much 'T is leaking and so cannot hold long thou drinkest in a riven dish that hast thy comfort from thy grace 'T is mixt and so weak and weak grace cannot give strong consolation and such thou needest especially in strong conflicts Nay lastly thy comfort which thou drawest from it is stollen thou doest not come honestly by it and stollen comforts will not thrive with thee Oh what folly is it for the childe to play the thief for that which he may have freely and more fully from his Father who gives and reproacheth not that comfort which thou wouldest filch out of thy own righteousnesse and duties behold it is laid up for thee in Christ from whose fulnesse thou mayest carry as much as thy faith can hold and none to check thee yea the more thou improvest Christ for thy comfort the more heartily welcome we are bid to open our mouth wide and he will fill it CHAP. XI The third kinde of spiritual Pride viz. Pride of Priviledges THe third kinde of pride spiritual pride I mean is pride of Priviledges with which these wicked spirits labour to blow up the Christian to name three First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Secondly when God honours a Saint to suffer for his truth or cause Thirdly when God flowes in with more then ordinary manifestations of his love and fills the soule with joy and comfort These are Priviledges not equally dispensed to all and therefore where they are Satan takes the advantage of assaulting such with pride SECT I. First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Indeed it requires a great measure of grace to keep the heart low when the man stands high The Apostle speaking how a Minister of the Gospel should be qualified 1 Tim. 3.6 saith he must not be a Novice or a young Convert lest he should be lift up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil as if he had said this calling is honourable if he be not well ballast with humility a little gust from Satan will tople him into this sin The Seventy that Christ first sent out to preach the Gospel and prevailed so miraculously over Satan even these while they trod on the Serpents head he turn'd again and had like to have stung them with pride which our Saviour perceived when they return'd in triumph and told what great miracles they had wrought and therfore he takes them off that glorying left it should degenerate into vain glory and bids them not rejoyce that devils were subjest to them but rather that their names were writ in Heaven As if he had said It is not the honour of your calling and successe of your Ministery will save you there shall be some cast to the devils who shall then say Lord Lord in thy name we have cast out devils and therefore value not your selves by that but rather evidence to your soules