Love is our Breast-plate that guards the vitals of Christianity and Hope is our Helmet that covers our Head that we may hold up our Head in the midst of all the troubles and sorrows of the present Life 1 Thess. 5. 8. Both Graces are necessary therefore it will not be unprofitable to insist upon them I begin now with the former The Lord direct your Hearts to the love of God Where note 1. The Grace prayed for the Love of God 2. The Efficiency which is necessary to produce it the Lord direct your Hearts The word direct notes sometimes conduct and guidance and sometimes bending or setting streight the thing that is crooked Conduct and Guidance as we guide Men that they may not go wrong Psal. 119. 5. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Ships that are best rigged need a Pilot and they that love God most need to have their love ordered and directed to the best advantage of his Glory and Service This for the first signification guidance and direction But at other times it signifies the bending inclining or making streight what is crooked and what bends and tends another way in this Sence I take it here Our Hearts are distorted and writhed and averse from God and all good naturally yea and after Grace received are apt to wander and return to their old bent and byas again therefore the Apostle prays that God would form and set their Hearts streight that they may be more indeclinably fixt towards God And this Prayer he makes for the Thessalonions whose work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope he had so much commended before and of whose sincerity he had such great confidence for those he prays that their Love might be directed and their Hearts more fixedly set towards God The Note then will be plain and easy Doct. That we cannot have or keep up any true Love to God unless the Lord set our Hearts streight and keep them bent towards himself I shall inquire here 1. What is Love to God Love is the complacency of the Soul in what is good Love to God is the complacency and well-pleasedness of the Soul in God as our all-sufficient Portion To open it to you I shall describe it I. By its Radical and Internal Acts. II. By its External Effects III. A little touch upon the Properties of it and then you will see what the Love of God is 1. The Radical and Internal Acts are two Desire and Delight Desire after him and Delight in him 1. Desire after him Love affects union with the thing Beloved and so love to God implies an earnest seeking after him in the highest way of enjoyment that we are capable of in this World This appears partly by the kind of Mercies that we affect and partly by the fervency of our endeavours after him 1. By the kind of Mercies that we affect There are some Mercies vouchsafed to the Creature that lie nearer to God than others do and do least detain us from him as his Image and Favour or his renewing and reconciling Grace When we love God these are sought in the first place As you shall see how the temper of the Saints is described and distinguished from the temper of the brutish Multitude Psal. 4. 6 7. The Many say Who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and this will put gladness into our Hearts The Many the brutish Multitude seek an uncertain good and they seek it from an uncertain Author Who will shew us They do not acknowledg God in these common Mercies but the Children of God must have his Favour Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us As the Beams of the Sun do chear and refresh the Earth this is that that doth revive their Souls So Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Well then they that desire to be like God in Purity and Holiness and to recover his Favour lost by Sin do certainly more love him than those that only seek temporal Mercies from him God's sanctifying Spirit witnessing his love to us is the greatest gift can be bestowed in this Life and will more witness his love than any thing else can be given us This the Saints seek after that they may be like God that they may be accepted and well-pleasing unto God this is all their Ambition 2 Cor. 5. 9. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord. Other things may please the Flesh but that is not their design those things that bring them nearer to God take up their Mind and Heart Now as it appears by the Mercies we affect so it appears 2. By the fervency of our endeavours after these things For if the Image of God and Favour of God be sought superficially or as things that we may be well without and the Wealth Honours and Pleasures of the World be most earnestly sought after surely we do not love God Psal. 63. 8. My Soul followeth hard after thee The whole Spiritual Life is but a pursuit of the Soul towards God and the more constantly and earnestly we seek him to enjoy more of his saving Graces and Benefits the more we have of the love of God in us Therefore David expresseth this desire as exceeding all other desires Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple He sought not the glory of the Kingdom Success in battel Victory over his Enemies in the first place or not so much as Converse with God and Attendance on his Worship in the Tabernacle all was nothing to this that he might have Communion with God Therefore this is the radical Act of Love this fervent burning desire that carries the Soul thorow all Duties Ordinances Services they are still making their way to a nearer access to God and larger participation of his Grace till they come eternally to enjoy him in Glory 2. There is another Internal Radical Act of Love that is a Delight in him Our full joy is reserved for the other World but delighting our selves in God is a great Duty now for Love being the complacence of the Soul in God as a apprehended to be good or a delightful adhesion to God as our all-sufficient Portion and Happiness it cannot be imagined Love can be without any delight in God even now Now in this Valley of Tears the hope of enjoying him hereafter is our Comfort and Solace in the midst of our Weaknesses and Afflictions that there is a time coming when we shall more perfectly see kim as he is and be like him 1 Ioh. 3. 2. the Apostle tells us We rejoyce now in the hope of the Glory of God that we have this in
expectation that we shall have an Estate of compleat Felicity and excellent Holiness that we shall behold our Nature united to the Godhead in the glorified Redeemer and our Persons admitted into the nearest intuition and fruition of God we are capable of and live in the exercise of a constant uninterrupted Love and be perfectly capable of receiving his highest Benefits Surely this Joy we have in our Pilgrimage But there is not only our hope but our partial enjoyment of it is matter of Happiness to us his Favour is as Life and his Frown as Death to the Soul that loves him The Saints look on God reconciled as the best Friend God displeased as the most dreadful Adversary therefore if they have any taste of his Love their Souls are filled as with Marrow and Fatness Psal. 63. 3 4 5. Because thy loving-kindness is letter than Life my Lips shall praise thee I will bless thee while I live my Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips But if God hide his Face if God be altogether a stranger then they are troubled indeed Psal. 30. 7. But yet we are not gone to the bottom of the matter of delighting in God Those whose Souls are possessed with the Love of God are so well pleased with him that every thing is sweet to them by the relation it hath to God It is a delight to them to think of God Psal. 104. 34. I will be glad and rejoyce in him my meditation of him shall be sweet It is a delight to them to speak of God Eph. 5. 4. Not foolish jesting but giving of Thanks The Delight of God's Children or that which serves instead of jesting to Christians is the grateful remembrance of the Lord's Mercies especially of our Redemption by Christ. To draw nigh to him in Ordinances there this delight is exercised again There is Prayer A gracious Soul cannot be a Stranger to it because it cannot have a greater refreshing than to be alone with God and unbosome himself with God The Hypocrite is rejected from being capable of this Character Job 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God Sometimes he will call upon God he is frighted into a little Religiousness it may be when Death is at his Back in great Afflictions or time of great Judgments but he hath no constant delight in God The constant delight in God is that that brings the Saints into his presence So for all other Christian duties Psal. 122. 1. I was glad when they said unto me Come let us go into the House of the Lord there they entertained Traffick and Commerce with God about matters of the highest concernment to their precious and immortal Souls nay all their work the whole course of their Obedience is sweetned to them because it is commanded by God and tends to the enjoyment of God as Psal. 112. 1 Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments they not only keep the Commandments but delight and that greatly to keep the Commandments And Psal. 119. 14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies as much as in all riches Delight in God is a great act of Love to which we should not be Strangers even in the house of our Pilgrimage though we have no assurance or sensible enjoyment of his Favour For it is a Duty of the first Commandment that results from the owning of God as our God II. For the External Effects of Love they are Doing and Suffering his Will when we are contented to do what God will have us do and be what God will have us be 1. For Doing If we love God we shall be loth to offend him we shall be desirous to please him Faith I do confess is a marvellous Grace it can apprehend things strange to Nature but it can do no worthy thing for God till it be accompanied with Love Gal. 5. 6. When the Apostle tells us of that Faith that carries away the prize of Justification he describes it to be a Faith working by Love Faith itself serves as the Bellows to blow up this Flame in our Hearts as the next and immediate principle of Action In short Love is the overruling bent of our Souls the weight and poize upon us that inclines us to God And look as all noble Qualities when restrained cannot produce their consummate Act so Love suffers a kind of imperfection till it can thus break forth into some Act of Thankfulness to God but then it is perfected 1 Joh. 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his Word in him the Loue of God is perfect that is hath attained its consummate Act that which it aims at No Man certainly can be owned as a perfect sincere lover of God but he that makes conscience of doing what he commands none but they have a deep sence of his Majesty none but they have an esteem of his Favour therefore they dare not hazard it by a breach or neglect of their Duty 2. For Suffering his Will For when the Apostle prays here God would direct their Hearts to love him he means that they should endure any thing rather than deny the Faith and confess Christ whatever it cost them As Obedience is virtually contained in Love so also Courage and Resolution Solomon represents Love as a powerful thing as an Affection that will not be bribed nor quenched Cant. 8. 7. Many Waters cannot quench Love nor can the Flouds drown it if a Man would give the whole substance of his House for it it would be utterly contemned It is true of Love in general much more of Love to God In carnal matters Love is a venemous Poison when it hath invaded the Heart nothing will reclaim us but in Divine matters it is a sovereign Antidote against Temptations both on the right hand and on the left For right-hand Temptations all the Riches Pleasures Honours are contemned they cannot bribe them over from Christ that really love him All the Flouds of Persecution cannot quench this holy Desire This is the Genius and Disposition of Love when once the bent of the Heart is set towards God and Heaven they are vehemently set against any thing that would turn them out of the way and divert them from their purpose III. To speak of the Properties if it be sincere 1. It is not a speculative but Practical Love not consisting in lofty airy strains of devotion too high for the common rate of us poor Mortals no it is put upon a surer and infallible Test our Obedience to God Again it consists not in a bold familiarity but in an humble subjection and compliance with his Will He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that loves me God's love is a love of Bounty but ours a love of Duty therefore we are properly said to love God when we are careful to please him and fearful to offend him
Defects of Love in the best To give some Instances First Love signifies a strong Inclination or an earnest Bent of Heart towards God as our chief Good and last End Well then our End is our Measure by which we judge of all Means of the Aptness and Fitness of what is to be avoided and imbraced The Seasonableness of all Means must be determined by the End that all Means that are inconsistent with and impertinent to our great End may be cut off Now all Sins are inconsistent with making God our great End and all vain and foolish Actions are impertinent thereunto Judge you by this if we have such a perfect Love to God if this be love as questionless it is But now with how many impertinent and extravagant Actions do we fill up our Lives How many Purposes Desires Words and Actions have we that have no respect to our great End at all How much do we live to our selves and how little to God How great a Passion have we for earthly things so that they can occupy and intercept the far greatest part of our Lives and then judg whether we had not need have the bent kept up and the tendency towards God as our End and Happiness Psal. 86. 11. Unite my Heart to the fear of thy Name It is the natural disease of Man's Heart to be loosed from God and to be distracted in variety of worldly Objects which obtrude themselves upon our Sences offer themselves to us daily therefore it is not enough for a Man once to resign over his Heart to God as we do in Conversion when this Love was first wrought in us but we need often to beg that God would reclaim us from this ranging after carnal Vanities that he would direct and keep us streight and true to our end that we may love him more and at a better rate So if you consider the nature of Love the thing is obvious and plain unless the Lord maintain this Love in us and keep it up what will become of us The 2d Evidence is those slavish fears which do oppress us and hinder our delight in God and comfortable Communion with him in the means of Grace Certainly the more we are under slavish fear the less love we have to God and thankfulness for his Grace The Apostle tells you 1 Joh. 4. 18. There is no fear in Love but perfect Love casteth out fear because fear hath Torment he that feareth is not made perfect in Love Surely we should seek after such a Spirit of Love that all we do for God may be done with great delight that we may not serve him by compulsion but by inclination not as injoined only but as inclined not as putting a force upon our selves but as delighting in our work And then 3dly Another Instance is our frequent preferring the Profits and Pleasures of the World before the Service of God and if it doth not go so far as to forfeit our right yet how often do we expose and put our spiritual Comforts to hazard for every trifle As Esau that sold his Birthright for a Morsel of Meat Heb. 12. 15 16. The best of us shew too much lothness to cut off the right Hand and to pluck out the right Eye or to do that which is signified by it This shews a weakness of Love for where Love is strong there is a thorow inclination to God we dare Love nothing above him or against him or without him 4thly Our backwardness to Obedience and the tediousness we find in it shews a great Imperfection in our Love All goes on easily sweetly acceptably where Love is at the bottom Gen. 29. 20. Seven years to Iacob seemed as a few days for the Love that he had to Rachel and so Love sweetens our Obedience His Commandments are not grievous But when we are wedded to worldly things and will not be reclaimed from them then every heavenly business is an interruption to what we would be at what we delight in 5thly The many conflicts we have with Carnal self-Self-Love or our own foolish and hurtful Lusts shew our Love is not perfect as the weakness of Faith is seen and felt by the remainders of unbelief and our frequent conflicts with doubts and fears Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Mark 9. 24. So the weakness of our Love is known by the opposition of carnal and inordinate Self-love The Flesh will say sometimes Favour thy self or what a weariness is it Mal. 1. 13. and grudg every thing that is done for God It doth excuse us in our straglings and deviations from our great End and applaud us in our negligent course of living as the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven Men that can render a reason Prov. 26. 16. Nay sometimes it will urge us to please our selves to the grief of the Spirit and to take our fill of carnal delights All this belongs to the first Reason 2. There needs much to be done about our Love after it is planted in the Soul we need to get it rooted to get it increased to get it continually excited and kept in act and exercise 1. We need to get it rooted Our first Affection to God and Heavenly things may hastily put forth it self as the early Blossoms of the Spring do but they are soon nipt and those high Tides of Affections which we find in our first acquaintance with Religion afterwards sink low enough Love is more passionately exprest at first partly by reason of the novelty of the things represented to us and partly because of our great necessity as Men that are in a violent thirst take large draughts with pleasure and because our Love is not as yet dispersed into the several Channels of Obedience but wholly taken up with admirations of Grace but yet this may vanish and decay Our business is to be rooted and grounded in Love as the Apostle saith Eph. 3. 7. to get a more solid durable affection to God 2. After it is Planted it needs to be more Increased Phil. 1. 9. I pray God your Love may abound yet more and more At first Love is but weak there is Fire but it is not blown up into a Flame afterwards God gets a greater interest in our Hearts and then the constitutions of our Souls become more Holy and Heavenly Love being the Heart of the new Creature he that hath most Love hath most Grace and is the best and strongest Christian. 3. After it is planted in the Soul it needs to be excited and kept in Act and Exercise This is mainly intended here For 1. All Religion is in Effect but Love Faith is a thankful acceptance of Christ and thankfulness is an expression of Love Repentance is but Mourning Love as she wept much to whom much was forgiven Luke 7. 47. Diligence in the Holy Life is but seeking Love Obedience is pleasing Love Self-denial is the Mortification of inordinate self-Self-Love Sobriety is a retrenching of
Debts and using Justice Equity and Honesty in all their Dealings they are Robbers Thieves and Enemies to Human Society 4. Opera Charitatis Misericordiae as to relieve the Poor to be good to all to help others by our Counsel or Admonition We are often called upon for these thus Acts 9 36. Dorcas is said to be full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Charge them to be rich in good Works It is not left arbitrary to you but laid upon you as Part of your Charge and Duty a Debt we owe to God Now if you do not mind these kind of good Works you are unfaithful Stewards in the good things committed to your Trust. You must not deny God his own when he or any of his have need of it 5. I think there is another Sort of good Works which concern our selves and that is Sobriety Watchfulness Mortification Self-denial A Man oweth Duty to himself Tit. 2. 12. Teaching us that denying Ungodliness and worldly Lusts. we should live soberly c. These conduce to our Safety 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober be vigilant for your Adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour And belong to our Fidelity to Christ. Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof Therefore take in these also and call them Opera Militiae Christianae the Works of our Spiritual Warfare by which we guard our selves from the Enemies of our Salvation that our Hands be not weakned and enfeebled in God's Work that we may carry it on without unevenness and interruption Secondly The Requisites to a good Work are 1. That the Person be in a good State Mat. 7. 17. A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit. Married to Christ. Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead that we should bring forth Fruit unto God A Believer Tit. 3. 8. Let them which believe in God be careful to maintain good Works A carnal unregenerate Man may do that which is for the matter good but till he be changed in his Heart and State his Works are not acceptable to God 2. The Principles of Operation must be Faith Love and Obedience Faith owning God's Authority Psal. 119. 66. Teach me good Iudgment and Knowledg for I have believed thy Commandment Love inclining the Heart 2 Cor 5. 14. The Love of Christ constraineth me Obedience swaying the Conscience 1 Thess. 4. 5. This is the Will of God your Sanctification 1 Tim. 1. 5. The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and good Conscience and Faith unfeigned There we have the Pedigree of good Works Faith unfeigned begets a good Conscience and that a pure Heart and that Love to God and then all particular Duties succeed 3. A due Regard of Circumstances that it may be not only good but done well Luk. 8. 15. with that Diligence Reverence Seriousness Alacrity which the Nature of the Work doth require 4. The End that it be for God's Glory Phil. 1. 11. Filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Christ Iesus to the Praise and Glory of God II. How new Creatures are obliged to these good Works 1. With respect to God He hath ordained that we should walk in them If you refer it to his Decree he will have his Elect People distinguished from others by the Good they do in the World that they may be known to be followers of a good God as the Children of the Devil are by their Mischief His Eternal Decree is made evident to us by our making Conscience of good Works and so we make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. If you take it for his Precept and Command surely we should make Conscience of what our Father giveth us in charge he hath appointed us to do so sent us into the Vineyard to work and shall we say I will not Mat. 21. 29 30. or loiter and neglect when we have given our Consent or pretend to go and never set about it To a gracious Heart the Signification of God's Will is instead of all Reasons 1 Thess. 5. 18. In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God concerning you 1 Pet. 2. 15. For this is the Will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. 2. With respect to Christ who died to restore us to a Capacity and Ability to perform these good Works Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works not only to do them but do them with Alacrity and Zeal As Christ came to raise the Comfort of the Creature to the highest so also the Duty of the Creature to the highest that his People might be eminent in Holiness Justice Goodness and Truth above all others 3. With respect to the Spirit who reneweth us for this end We are new made that we may look upon doing good as our Calling and only Business All other things are valuable according to the Use for which they serve the Sun was made to give Light and Heat to inferior Creatures and we are enlightned by Grace and inclined by Grace that our Light may shine before Men Mat. 5. 16. 4. With respect to Heaven and Eternal Happiness They are the Way to Heaven We discontinue or break off our Walk when we cease to do Good but the more we mind good Works the more we proceed in our Way Phil. 3. 14. Pressing onward to our final Reward and at length our Entrance is more full and with greater peace 2 Pet. 1. 11. III. How they are fitted and prepared by this new Nature that is put into them for good Works Answ. There is a remote Preparation and a near Preparation 1. The remote Preparation is an Inclination and Propensity to all the Acts of the holy and heavenly Life All Creatures have an Inclination to their proper Operations so the new Creature As the Sparks fly up and the Stones downward by an Inclination of Nature so are their Hearts bent to please and serve God The Inclination is natural the Acts are voluntary because it is an Inclination of a free Agent The Law of God is in their Hearts Psal. 40. 8. Psal. 37. 31. Others force themselves but here there is an Affinity between the Work and the vital Principle which is in us so that we need not much enforcement 1 Thess. 4. 9. As touching Brotherly Love I need not write unto you for you are taught of God to love one another Now God's teaching is not by Expression but by Impression he hath inclined suited our Hearts to it As there need not many Arguments to move the Mother to give suck to her tender Infant Nature hath taught her
qualified for these Priviledges or he that thankfully and humbly accepts of the offered Saviour and consents to the Covenant made with God the Father Son and Holy Spirit he is washed from his Sins in the Blood of Christ reconciled adopted into God's Family and made an Heir according to the hope of Eternal Life Tit. 3. 7. This first Faith by which we believe and consent to the Covenant implieth both a dependance on God's Mercy and Christ's Merits and also a consent of Obedience or hearty Subjection to God 4. When we have consented to accept Christ and his Benefits and do give our selves to him then Works or new Obedience follow as necessary to continue our right to Pardon and Life For none have benefit by God's Covenant but those that keep his Covenant as well as make it and without this we cannot have Communion with God 1 John 1. 7. If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another Nor evidence the reality of our Faith and Repentance St. Paul was sent to Preach to the Gentiles That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance Acts 26. 20. Besides we cannot preserve our claim and right if we do not still go on to do good 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ezek. 18. 24. When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity shall he live all his Righteousness shall not be mentioned in his Trespasses that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die It is true of the Hypocrite without Scruple and of the real righteous Man if you suppose the one you may suppose the other Well these things must not be confounded nor opposed not confounded but we must distinctly consider what is proper to the Grace of God proper to the Merit of Christ proper to Faith proper to Works not opposed so as to make the one exclude the other As the Grace of God to exclude the Merit of Christ or serve instead of it nor the Merit of Christ his Blood and Righteousness to exclude Faith and Repentance nor be instead of them nor Faith to exclude good Works 5. All the applying Grace is from first to last wrought in us by the Spirit He doth renew and heal our Natures as coming to us from the Grace of God and Merits of Christ. Tit. 3. 5 6. According to his Mercy he saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour By the Holy Spirit working in us habitual Grace and exciting it we believe repent obey do whatever is necessary to be done to obtain Eternal Life Therefore this must not be omitted but acknowledged as a great part of this Grace III. Use. To exhort us if we would shew our selves to be new Creatures indeed to be full of good Works The Arguments to move us are 1. It is a necessary fruit of inward Grace and so doth plainly shew that you are partakers of Heavenly Wisdom Iames 3. 17. The Wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of Mercy and good fruits The carnal Worldling all his Wisdom is to grow rich to himself which indeed is but Folly Luke 12. 21. His business is to live to the Flesh Gal. 6. 8. He layeth out all his Strength Time and Care and Wealth for the feeding his own carnal Desires but the other soweth to the Spirit layeth out himself in works of Piety and Charity 2. External Acts which flow from an Internal Principle increase the Habit the more you do good the more you are inabled to do good as bodily Strength is increased by Exercise Why is the right Hand more agil stronger and bigger than the left it is oftner exercised and so fuller of Blood and Spirits So in Grace the more you act Faith the more is Faith increased Love groweth more fervent being kept in a constant Exercise and Hope more lively and affective Always Actions increase the Principles which did produce them partly of their own Nature 1 Iohn 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the Love of God perfected The more acts of Love he puts forth towards God the more doth his Love increase in him partly by Divine Reward Heb. 6. 10. He is not unrighteous to forget your labour of Love which ye have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister God rewards them temporally 2 Cor. 9. 12. God is able to make all Grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may aboud to every good Work That is to give you to be liberal at all times And when he saith God is able it not only implieth that God is the Fountain of all Plenty and Sovereign Disposer of it and so hath power to make you the richer rather than the poorer by your Liberality to make every Alms you give like the Oil in the Cruse to multiply as you pour it out that there shall be enough for every Object and every Occasion but also he is sure to make it good for he quotes it again in the next Verse as it is written He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the Poor his Righteousness remaineth for ever It is taken out of Psalm 112. where there are signal Promises of Wealth and Riches in the House of the liberal Alms-giver God rewards them eternally 2 Cor. 9. 6. He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Now is the Seed-time hereafter is our Harvest and Crop we shall have a liberal reward from God in the general Resurrection God also rewards his obedient Servants Spiritually Internally and that not only with more Comfort and Peace but by increasing the Grace it self for God that punishes Sin with Sin doth reward Grace with Grace Wells are sweeter for draining on the other side a Key that is seldom turned rusts in the Lock An intermission of good Works makes us more unable and unready for them 3. It is a greater Honour to God John 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much Fruit. Phil. 1. 11. Being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Iesus Christ unto the Glory and praise of God 2 Thess. 1. 11 12. Wherefore we pray for you that our God would count you worthy of this Calling and fulfil all the good Pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith with Power that the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him Christ's Religion is not a barren Religion but full of good Works It is a mighty credit to Religion in you that profess it when Goodness is the Constitution of your Hearts to do good the business of your Lives 4. It edifieth others and provoketh an holy Emulation Heb. 10. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works We provoke them most by our Example when they are cold negligent and backward to Works of Piety and Mercy In all things we should be an Instance of Divine Vertues 5. This is the fruit which God expecteth from us that the Trees of Righteousness should bear the Fruits of Righteousness If we frustrate his expectation he will hew us down and cast us into the Fire Mat. 3. 10. Therefore good Works are not needless things The means to enable us are 1. Be sure that you are renewed The Dead cannot do the works of the Living Neither do Men gather Grapes of Thorns nor Figgs of Thistles Mat. 7. 16. Our first business is to look to our Conversion to God All outward Duties begin in the Heart they are valued no further than they come from it sanctified 2. Keep your Hearts under a Sence of God's Authority that you may feel something in your own Bosoms that may tell you you are bound to obey him and may plead God's right with you This is done by a frequent Meditation upon your Creation and Redemption Your Creation giveth God a full right to you and Redemption maketh it comfortable by both you see you are his Acts 27. 23. There stood by me this Night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve 3. You are intrusted with his Talents and of their improvement you must give an account Mat. 25. 14. A Lord called his Servants and delivered to them his Goods in order to Improvement 4. What encouragement we have from a gracious God and Covenant which takes not advantage of involuntary Weaknesses but accepteth their endeavours who sincerely do their best Mal. 3. 17. I will spare him as a Man spareth his Son that serveth him 5. Remember often your great obligation to God you can never do so much for him as he deserveth of you Psal. 116. 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his Benefits towards me 6. Do all as in God's Eye and with a constant dependance upon him Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me Make him your Pay-master Governour and Judg and it will not only keep you sincere but diligent in good Works The work is not sincerely done when you look to Man nor throughly done Such have their reward only here Mat. 6. 7. Love your Work A little thing will stop him that doth it unwillingly Psal. 119. 47 48. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved And I will lift up my Hands to thy Commandments which I have loved 8. Account your selves much beholden to God that he will employ you in any Service for his Glory FINIS ERRATA PAge 5. line 3. for Condemned read Contemned P. 41. l. 18. f. Love r. Fear P. 79. l. 31. f. it r. the Promises P. 92. l. 24. f. that r. if P. 104. l. 8. f. Hearty r. Heart P. 125. l. 3. f. External r. Eternal P. 128. l. 26. after they were r. not P. 150. l. 17. after Obedience dele partly P. 168. l. 17. f. Conversations r. Consolations P. 181. l. 23. f. of Cognisance r. of our Cognisance P. 212. l. 33. after ever-blessed add Life P. 113. l. 17. f. overaweth r. outlaweth P. 252. l. 20. f. them r. him P. 167. l. 11. dele partly P. 289. l. 9. f. to evince r. towards its ruine Gal. 5. 24. Gen. 3. 7 10.
The Back-slider in Heart shall be filled with his own Ways and a good Man shall be satisfied from himself There are two different Persons commencing and setting forth in the pursuit of Happiness the Backslider in Heart and the good-Man The Backslider in Heart is one that continues in the Apostacy and Defection of Mankind that indulgeth his Lusts and vain Pleasures and for a seeming Good leaves God who is the chief Good But the good Men are those who make it their business to keep their Hearts chast and loyal to God They both desire to be filled and to be satisfied the one takes his own Way and the other God's Counsel and in the event both are filled The Backslider in Heart hath enough of his own Ways when they have brought him to Hell and the good Man hath enough when he comes to the Enjoyment of the Blessed God And there is one Truth more there they are both filled from themselves their own Ways The Backslider shall have the Fruit of his own Choice and a good Man is satisfied with that Course of Godliness that he hath chosen Prov. 1. 31. Those that turn away from God it is said They shall eat of their own Ways and be filled with the Fruit of their own Devices And Isa. 3. 10. Say unto the Righteous It shall be well with him for he shall eat of the Fruit of his own Doings 2. Consider the doleful Condition of those that indulge their carnal Affections and that either threatned by God or executed upon the wicked 1. Consider it as it is threatned by God If God threaten so great a Misery it is for our Profit that we may take heed and escape it There is Mercy in the severest Threatnings that we may avoid the Bait when we see the Hook that we may digest the Strictness of an holy Life rather than venture upon such dreadful Evils Why did our Lord repeat it three times Where the Worm never dies and the Fire is never quench'd but that we may have it often in our Thoughts that we may not buy the Pleasures of Sin at so dear a rate so hard a Price as the Loss of our precious Souls 2. Consider the Punishment as executed upon the Wicked How many are now burning in Hell for those Sins which you are ready to commit The serious Consideration of it will check the Fervour of your Lusts that you may not easily venture upon an everlasting Hell 3. Consider which Trouble is most intolerable to be salted with Salt or to be salted with Fire with unpleasing Mortification or the Pains of Hell the Trouble of Physick or the Danger of a mortal Disease Surely to preserve the Life of the Body Men will endure the bitterest Pill take the most loathsom Potion why their Lives ly on it And shall we be unwilling to such a necessary Strictness to these wholsom Severities which conduce to save you with an everlasting Salvation There is no Remedy Trouble must be undergone Surely a strict Diet is better than a speedy Death and the pricking of a Vein by a Chirurgion is not so bad as a Stab at the Heart by an Enemy Better be macerated by Repentance than broken in Hell by Torments Which is worse Discipline or Execution Here the Question is put you must be troubled first or last Would you have a Sorrow mixed with Love and Hope or else mixed with Desperation Would you have a Drop or an Ocean Would you have your Souls cured or tormented Would you have Trouble in the short Moment of this Life or have it Eternal in the World to come 4. Be sure you be a Sacrifice dedicated to God really entred into Covenant with God and set apart for his Use that this may be your End your Business your Scope to please glorify and enjoy him 2 Cor. 1. 9. We can the better speak to you when you are under a Covenant-Engagement Christ bound you to this when he died for you He sanctified himself that you might be sanctified through the Truth that is dedicated to God John 17. 19. And by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified that is them that are consecrated to God or entred into a holy Covenant with God Christ bound you to it and your own Gratitude will suggest it to you I beseech you by the Mercies of the Lord present your selves c. Nay the new Nature will incline you to it Rom. 6. 13. Yeeld your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God The new Life will presently discover it self by its Tendency and End if this be indeed your End and Work to be faithful to God's Covenant 5. You will see a need of denying worldly and fleshly Lusts you will see nothing can be done in the spiritual Life without Mortification that being dead to all things here below you may be alive to God That this must be your daily Work your Necessity will sufficiently shew Are there no rebellious Desires to be subdued No corrupt Inclinations to be broken Do not you feel the Bias of Corruption drawing you off from God David did therefore he saith Incline my Heart to thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness Do not you find the sensitive Lure prevail upon you enticing your Minds and drawing you from the purity of your Hopes and strictness of Conversation Every Man is drawn away when he is enticed by his own Lusts Jam. 1. 6. Consider the sad Condition of a Believer that is under the corrective Discipline of God though he do not vacate his Justified State A sinning Believer that hath made bold with forbidden Fruit how doth he smart for Sin What a Wound in the Conscience will wilful heinous Sins make Witness David Psal. 32. And Psal. 51. He gives an account how uneasy his Heart did sit within him he was afraid of God who before was his Joy and Delight and speaks as one ready to be cast out of his Presence SERMON VI. 2 THESS 3. 5. And the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. THere are two things keep Religion alive in the Soul a Love to God and a hearty intent upon the coming of Christ. These are the two necessary Graces which the Apostle prays for in the Text Here is the love of God that is the first Grace and the earnest or patient waiting for Christ. Love respects God because he is the chief Object of it primum amabile as being the first and chiefest good but hope or patient expectation respects Christ who at his glorious coming will give us our full reward Love is the Life and Soul of our present Duties and by patient expectation we wait for our future hope The Love of God urgeth us to the Duties of Religion and Hope strengthens us against Temptations whether they arise from the allurernents of Sence or the troubles of the World
The Scripture declares both the first This is love to keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous The second Psal. 97 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil When we are fearful of committing or omitting any thing may be a violation of his Law a grief to his Spirit or a dishonour to his Name then we are said to love God What ever lofty and luscious strains of devotion we may otherwise please our selves with here will our Trial rest He doth not love God that can most accurately discourse of his Attributes or soar aloft in the nice speculations of contemplative Divinity or pretences of Secrecy with God but he that is most awful serious and consciencious in his Duty 2. It is a Transcendental Love we owe to God we must love him above all other things For he must be loved as our Felicity and End He must have the chiefest place in our Hearts and our principal design must be to please serve and glorify him If we seek God in order to other things we do not love him but our own Lusts nay if all other things be not sought after in order to God we do not set him up as our chief good or last end He that loves Father and Mother more than me is not worthy of me Luke 14. 26. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Many have a partial half-love to God but a greater love to other things then God's interest will be least minded For there is something nearer and dearer to us than God which will be soon preferred before the Conscience of our Duty to him No all must be subordinated to our supream Happiness and last end or else God is not loved as God But now the second thing propounded is the nature of that influence upon Love which is exprest here by the Apostle in the word direct The Lord direct your Hearts in the Love of God What doth this Imply 1. It implies that God works upon us as Rational Creatures He changeth the Heart indeed but he doth it by Direction he draws us to himself but it is with the Cords of a Man he teacheth while he draws Joh. 6. 44 45. None can come unto me but those whom the Father draws and he proves it by this because they shall be all taught of God God's drawing is teaching it is both by the attractive force of the Object and the internal Efficacy of his Grace the Spirits conduct is sweet yet powerfull accomplisheth the Effect but without offering violence to the liberty of Man We are not forced but directed There is not a violent compulsion but an inclination sweetly raised in us by victorious Grace or the overpouring sweetness of his Love For we love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 19. And this love is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost who by giving us an esteem and serious remembrance of his Benefits blows up this holy flame in our Hearts We do not love God we know not why or wherefore An account can be given of all the Spirits operations Look as in an impression there must be a Seal and Wax to the Seal and the hand that stamps it so all concurr here The Word doth its part that is the Seal and the Heart of Man receives the Impression but to make it effectual and durable the hand of God concurs or the power of his Spirit The Object is the Gospel wherein God commends his Love to us by the Incarnation Death and Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ as also by the new Covenant because he will work upon Man after the nature of Man by Love he will work upon Love Beside all this there is an internal powerful Agent the holy Spirit The external objective means cannot do it without the inward cause Though God's Love doth so gloriously and resplendently shine forth in the Gospel yet the Heart of Man is not affected with it till it be shed abroad by the illuminating sanctifying Spirit The Heart of Man is dark and dead to these things till changed by Grace and when that is once done that Impression is according to the Stamp 2. The Inclination to God as our Felicity and End which is the Fruit of this Grace is the inclination of a reasonable Creature so the Inclination is necessary but the Acts are voluntary therefore you must keep them up still There is an Inclination put by God into inanimate things as in light and airy Bodies to move upwards and in heavy Bodies to move downwards as a Stone falls to the Earth but Fire and Smoak ascend they cannot do otherwise because they have no choice But now in Man there is an Inclination to God and Heaven which is the Fruit of Grace The Inclination is necessary why because all those whom the Spirit sanctifies he sanctifies them not in vain he certainly begets this Tendency in them towards God therefore so often they are said in Scripture to be converted or turned to God Their Hearts were averse before but then they tend and bend towards him but the Acts are voluntary There is a Duty lying upon us to stir up the Gift of Grace that is in us the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 6. When this holy Fire is kindled in our Bosoms we must blow it up and keep it burning We must not be negligent and secure for we cannot reasonably imagine the idle and diligent should fare alike that the Holy Ghost will direct our Hearts into the Love of God whether we will or not therefore not only as we are rational Agents but as we are new Creatures we are obliged to use the Means and then expect his Help and Blessing What is a Prayer in the Text the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God to the patient waiting for Christ is an Exhortation Iud. 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto everlasting life There is both again you must look to your Love that your Hearts be kept streight and bent towards God and not distracted with worldly Vanities The Blessing is from God but you must use the Means this Direction is not to encourage Slothfulness but Industry We must charge it upon our selves as our main Work and Duty the Spirit stirs and quickens we must rouse up our selves 3. It implies there are many things would writhe and crook and turn our Hearts another way the Devil the World and the Flesh. The Devil seeks to draw us off from God to abate the Fervor of our Love towards him therefore we are bidden to flee youthful Lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. that we may not be taken captive by him at his will and pleasure Some tamely yeeld to his Temptations and he doth unto them as he listeth but there is more tugging
and drawing to get a serious Christian into his Snare Therefore we are bidden to be sober and watchful for your Adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion goes about seeking whom he may devour Sobriety is a sparing Use of worldly Delights and Vigilance is a serious Diligence in the use of all those holy Means whereby Temptations may be vanquished And as the Devil so the Flesh Iam. 1. 14. A Man is tempted when he is drawn away by his Lusts being enticed that is by seeking to please his fleshly Mind and Appetite And then the World would pervert us and offers many Baits to that End and Purpose 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. Love not the World nor the things of the World for if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him For whatsoever is in the World is either the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh or the Pride of Life that is Pleasures Riches and Honours These seem sweet Baits but there is a dangerous Hook in them and your Love to God may soon be lessened Well then this Directing is opposed to Wavering by reason of any of these Temptations on the one or the other side that the Holiest may keep in us that ardent Love of God which of duty we owe to him 4. Directing notes the Orderliness of the new Creature There is not a more beautiful thing in the World when the Motions thereof are directed by the Spirit for then we are in a due posture both to God our Neighbour and our selves To God for then the Creature is kept in a due subjection to Him and all our Motions and Actions are subordinated to his Glory When we sin we are in rebellion against God and set up the Creature against Him as if it were more amiable and fitter to content and delight the Soul than God and so disturb the Order and Harmony of the World abusing both our selves and all things within our grasp to a wrong End Look as in the Motions of a Watch there is such a Proportion in every part that if one Wheel be wrong the whole is put out of Frame So the World that was made for us and we for God is all disordered when we use the World for our selves and not for God So as to our Neighbour Self-lovers and Self-pleasers will never heartily do good to others The most sincere Commerce in the World is among those that love God So for our selves Till the Love of God rule in our Hearts all is out of order Look as in the Body if the Feet were there where the Head should be the Disorder and Deformity would be great so it is in the Soul when the Beast rides the Man and Conscience and Reason are made Slaves to Lust and Appetite But when once a Man is gained to love God every thing is in frame again Self-government is restored due Obedience to God is well provided for 3. To give you some Reasons to shew you the Necessity of this both as to Persons Regenerate and Unregenerate 1. The Necessity of God's Direction to Persons unregenerate They cannot love God till the Lord direct and set their Hearts streight It is a hard thing to say but we must not mince the matter that in the carnal State we were all Haters of God Rom. 1. 13. And it were well if this Enmity and Hatred were throughly got out of our Hearts How can this be Nature tells us that he from whom we have received Being and Life and all Things deserves our Love I answer Though Men may see some Reason of Love to God as he is our Creator and Preserver but as he is a Law-giver and a Judge so we all hate him Three Reasons there are of that natural Enmity that is in the Hearts of Men against God I would have you consider them seriously that we may feelingly bewail our own Aversion from God 1. Our Inclination to carnal things which prepossesseth our Hearts and then there is no Room for any Inclination to God Naturally Men are addicted to vain and sensual Delights for that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh 2 Joh. 16. Having no Principle to incline them to God they wholly seek to please the Flesh. When Men once lost Original Righteousness they took up with what came next to hand and so became Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. And this Inclination we cannot devest our selves of till it be cured by Grace Therefore the Lord promiseth this Cure Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul The Heart must be circumcised before it can love God Till God pare away the Foreskin and till this carnal Love be mortified there is no place for Divine Love to be raised and quickned in our Hearts We are intangled in the Love of worldly things and shall so remain till God bend the crooked Stick the other way and God set our Hearts right to himself 2. The second Reason is Carnal Liberty and so we hate God as a Law-giver who would bridle our Lusts. There is in the Law the Precept and the Sanction The Precept is to our purpose the Sanction will come to be considered in the next Because of God's Restraint we cannot enjoy our Lusts with that freedom and security we desire his Law is in the way therefore the Heart riseth up against God because he hath made a Law to forbid those things that we affect Rom. 8. 7. The natural Mind is Enmity to God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Col. 1. 21. Enemies in your Mind by evil Works We love Sin therefore we hate God who forbids it and makes it so penal and damnable to us 3. Slavish Fear is the Cause of this Enmity This relates to the Sanction and Penalty of the Law Thus we hate God because we fear he will call us to account for our Sins and punish us For a condemning God barely apprehended under that Notion can never be loved by a guilty Creature Thus Adam when he had sinned ran away from God and hid himself in the Bushes Now it is in vain to come and tell them of the Goodness of God and his Perfections till he change their Hearts As you do in vain induce a guilty Prisoner to love his Judge to tell him he is a discreet Person a Man of solid Judgment one well skill'd and verst in the Law this sticks he is one that will condemn him Therefore the Gospel as a Means to induce us to love God sets him forth as a Sin-pardoning God There is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared 2. Come we to the Regenerate The Thessalonians did excell in all Graces and yet the Apostle prays that the Lord would direct their Hearts to the Love of God Why 1. Because there are many
our carnal Love 2. If Love be not acted and kept at work carnal Love will prevail The Soul of Man cannot lye idle especially our Affections cannot either they are carried out to God or they will leak out to Worldly things When our Love ceaseth yet concupiscence ceaseth not and the Love of the World will soon grow Superiour in the Soul for the neglected Principle languisheth whilst the other Principle gets strength and secures its Interest to God The 3d. Is The Benefit we have by keeping Love in Act. This makes us more sincere and to act purely for God 2 Cor. 5. 14. The love of Christ constrains us for we thus judg that they that live should no more live to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again The constraining Influence of Love is that that keeps us from living to our selves And this makes us more diligent Labour and Love are often coupled in the Scripture Knowing your labour of love the work of Faith and Patience of Hope And God is not unrightoeus to forget your labour of Love The Church of Ephesus lost her first Love she left her first work Rev. 2. 4 5. Use. Oh then let us seek this Benefit from God that our Hearts may be directed into his Love 1. The sanctifying Spirit is given us for this end to stir up love to God Joh. 41. 4. The Water I will give him shall be a Well of Water always springing up unto eternal Life 'T is not in the Heart a dead Pool but a living Spring And the same is intimated Joh. 7. 38. He that believes in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water this he spake of the Spirit 2. The Ordinances were appointed for this End The Word to represent God amiable to us both for the goodness in him and the goodness proceeding from him especially in our Redemption by Christ and also for those rich preparations of Grace he hath made for us in another World to blow up this holy Fire And this is the end of the Sacrament All the Dainties that are set before us in the Lord's Supper do all taste and savour of Love Our Meat is seasoned with Love and our Drink flows into our Cup out of the Wine-press of Love Why do we eat of the Crucified Body of Christ but that we may remember Iesus who loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2. 20. And also the Drink that is provided for us at this Feast is the Blood of Christ. Rev. 1. 5. Who loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood 3. All the Providences of God tend to this End that we may love God All God's Mercies are as new Fewel to keep in this Fire I will love the Lord because he has heard the Voice of my Supplication Psal. 116. 1. And thou shalt love the Lord who is the strength of thy Life and the length of thy Days Deut. 30. 20. All the Mercy we have from God is to refresh and revive our Love that it may not languish and die nay all the sharp corrections God sends are to recover our Love to God Isa. 26. 9. My Soul hath desired thee in the Night saith the Prophet and early have I sought thee and when was that when thy Iudgments were abroad in the World when great and sharp afflictions were upon them SERMON VII 2 THESS 3. 5. And into the patient waiting for Christ. THe Words are a Prayer and the Apostle prays here for those things which are most necessary to Christians Love to God and patient waiting for Christ. I come now to handle the second Branch The Point is this Doct. That when the Heart is bent by love to God we need also the direction of his Grace to keep it intent upon the coming of Christ. Four things I must speak to I. What this patient waiting for Christ is II. The Connection between it and the Love of God III. That it hath a great influence upon the spiritual Life or keeps Religion alive in the Soul IV. The Necessity of God's concurrence hereto the Lord direct your Hearts into the patient waiting for Christ. I. What is this patient waiting for Christ I answer it is the Grace of Hope fortifying our resolutions for God and the World to come that we may continue in our Duty till our work be finished and our warfare ended The Act of Hope is three ways exprest Sometimes by Looking which notes a certain expectation Tit. 2. 13. Looking for the blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Sometimes by Loving or Longing which notes a desirous and earnest expectation 2 Tim. 4. 8. Not to me only but to all that love his appearing Sometimes by Waiting which notes a patient Expectation 1 Thess. 10. He makes it there the Fruit of our Conversion He saith we are turned to God that we may wait for his Son from Heaven This last Notion is expresly mentioned in the Text the other are implied as looking there can be no waiting for that we do not look for and longing for delay is only troublesome to them that earnestly desire his coming and build their Hopes upon it Faith adds certainty and Love earnestness and both give strength to Patience Let us open all these things As 1. Looking for the coming of Christ. Phil. 3. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. It is not a matter of conjecture but of Faith Reason saith he may come but Faith saith he will come Nature will teach us it is very likely for a guilty Conscience fears the Judg and the course of things is so disordered in the World that there needs a review But Scripture tells us it is very certain that he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 37. Therefore in the Eye of Faith it is sure and near As Rebecca spied Isaac at a distance so Faith looks upon Christ as if he had begun his Journey and were now upon the way and makes the Believer stand ready to meet him and welcome him Though it come not to pass presently the thing is promised and the time certainly determined in God's external purpose which is enough for Faith 2. There is a Longing or a desirous Expectation 2 Pet. 3. 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God It is good to observe how differently this Coming of Christ is entertain'd in the World It is questioned by the Atheist it is dreaded by the Wicked and Impenitent but it is longingly expected by the Godly 1. For the first sort 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. There shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming They would eternally enjoy the Pleasures of the present World and therefore labour to dash all thoughts of this great Day out of their Hearts and take up all obvious
to stain the Reputation of others 2. It is a wrong to Man because it robbeth him of his good Name which is so deservedly esteemed by all that would do any thing for God in the World Prov. 22. 1. A good Name is rather to be chosen than great Riches and loving Favour rather than Silver and Gold The meaning is in order to Service and as it more nearly respects both Life and Livelyhood So Eccles. 7. 1. A good Name is better than precious Oyntment Their Oyntments were reckoned by those Oriental People amongst their most precious Riches and Treasures yet a good name is preferred before them which inferreth this Conclusion that the Man himself should prize it so for he that is lavish of his Fame is not usually over-tender of his Conscience Therefore as he himself should not prostitute his good Name so others should not blast it and blemish it for it is a greater Sin than to steal the best Goods which he hath and it is such an evil as scarce admits any sound Restitution for the imputation even of unjust Crimes leaveth a Scar though the Wound be healed 3. The causes it proceedeth from They are these 1. Malice and Ill-will which prompteth us to speak falsly of others so to make them odious or do them wrong or hurt Now to hate our Brother in our Heart is no way consistent with that Goodness and Charity which the impression of the Love of Christ should beget in us The Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4. 8. Above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover a multitude of Sins If nothing but Love and servent Love will restrain us surely where hatred is allowed Men care not what they think or speak or do against others Now as there is a Brotherly Love due to our Fellow Saints so there is a Love due to all Men. 2 Pet. 1. 7. I am to hate no Man but to seek their good There is a twofold Hatred the Hatred of Offence and Abomination and the Hatred of Enmity The Hatred of Offence which is opposite to the Love of Complacency may be justified as to the Wicked Prov. 29. 27. An unjust Man is an Abomination to the Iust and he that is upright in the way is an Abomination to the Wicked But then we should first and most abominate our selves for Sin this very hatred and abhorrence should begin at Home and we should be most odious to our selves for Sin for we know more Sin by our selves than we can do by an other But for the other Hatred the Hatred of Enmity which is opposite to the Love of Benevolences that should be quite banished out of the Heart of a Christian. And it is not enough for God's People to keep themselves free from Hatred and Malice against one another but against all Men. Tit. 3. 2. Put them in mind to speak evil of no Man to be no Brawlers but gentle shewing all Meekness to all Men For we our selves were sometimes disobedient c. If this old Hatred were gone a multitude of Offences would be covered 2. It comes from uncharitable Credulity whereby Men easily believe a false report and so propagate and convey it to others Jer. 26. 10. I have heard the defaming of many report say they and we will report it All my Familiars watched for my halting c. The Prophet complaineth Many and those no mean ones have I heard reproaching and taunting me so that he was a Terrour to himself and to all his-Friends Many had combined by false suggestions and malicious informations against him to work his ruine If any will raise a report tending to the discredit of another some will foster it and it loseth nothing in the carriage till by additions and misconstructions it groweth to a downright and dangerous Infamy 3. It comes through rashness and unruliness of Tongue some Men never learned to bridle their Tongues and the Apostle Iames telleth us that therefore their Religion is vain Jam. 1. 26. Till we make Conscience of these evils as well as others we content our selves with a partial Obedience and therefore cannot be Sincere But many never set themselves to learn this part of their Duty and therefore divulge a Report before they try it or receive any just proof of it Possibly it may not come from downright Malice but their Tongues hang too loose without the coercion and just restraint of Grace and so they either report false things or speak Truth to an evil end Prov. 11. 13. A Tale-bearer revealeth secrets but he that is of a faithful Spirit concealeth the matter Whisperers must be talking and be it true or false out it comes Certainly it is a Sin as long as you knew it not to be true or if you do when you have no warrantable call to mention it To reveal Secrets which you may conceal without wrong to God or your own Consciences or the common Good or the Good of your Neighbour is Loquacity or the Sin of Idle and impertitent Talkativeness the Disease of a Whisperer and Tale-Bearer 4. It comes from carnal Zeal which is nothing else but Passion for our different Interests and Opinions The bitter Envying which the Apostle speaketh off Iam. 3. 14. hath made mad work in the World as to Strifes and Confusions and Quarrels and Bloodsheds and Persecutions But usually it venteth it self in evil speaking for the Apostle maketh Backbitings and Whisperings the fruits of Swellings and Tumults 2 Cor. 12. 20. Oh what false and lying Tales are there carried to and fro that a Man knoweth not what or whom to belive So many Lies walk under the disguise of Religion that not to credit them or countenance the Report seemeth a decay of Affection but surely not to Religion but only the Interest of a Faction But a Question ariseth Is all speaking evil of another unlawful Answ. I cannot say so but yet it is hard to keep it from Sin 1. He that doth it without just cause is plainly a Detractor and so a grievous Sinner before God You may impose and impute false Crimes upon others which is properly called Slander and God thereby convinceth the Professor of the true Religion to be an Hypocrite Psal. 50. 20. Thou fittest and speakest against thy Brother and slanderest thy own Mothers Son God doth not only reject the Liars for Hypocrites but also the Backbiters and Slanderers Those that allow themselves in the frequent practice of this Sin what hopes can they have of acceptance with God since he hath entred his plea against them For the Act to be sure is sinful there can be no other end in it but the wronging of our Brothers Fame and Reputation to his loss and hurt The Nature of the thing sheweth it 2. He that doth but speak what he hath heard from others without any Assertion or Asseveration of his own as not knowing the Truth of the report can hardly be excused from Sin For if without just
many as received him c. He gave Power to become the Sons of God to as many as believed on his Name 1. It is not a rash Consent but such as is deliberate serious and advised When we assure Men that God in the Gospel calls them to accept of Christ as their Lord and Saviour and that they shall be pardoned and saved they are ready to say with all their Heart but they do not consider what it is to receive Christ and therefore retract their Consent almost as soon as it is given Therefore Christ directeth us to sit down and count the Charges that we may allow for Opposition and Temptations Luke 14. 28 to the 73. When you have considered his strict Laws made a full allowance for incident Difficulties and Temptations and can resolve forsaking all others to cleave to him alone for Salvation 2. It must not be a forced and involuntary Consent such as a Person maketh when he is frighted into a little Religiousness for the present but would never mind it nor yeild to it if he were in a state of full Liberty It may be in a distress or pang of Conscience by all means they must have Christ or when sick are afraid to die or under some great Judgments as the Israelites when they heard the Thundring on Mount Sinai All that thou hast commanded us we will do Deut. 5. 29. No this will not serve the turn the Will must be effectually inclined to Christ and to God the Father by him as our utmost Felicity and End All Christ's People are a willing People Psal. 110. 3. 3. It must be a resolved Consent a fixed not an ambulatory Will which we take up for a purpose or at some certain times for a solemn Duty or so No you must cleave to him with full purpose of Heart Acts 11. 23. Trample upon every thing that would separate you from him Phil. 3. 8 9 Rom. 8. 36 to the end It must not be a feeble Consent such as is contradicted by every foolish and hurtful Lust but a prevalent Consent such as can maintain it self against Difficulties and Temptations and the Oppositions of the Flesh and controll all other Desires and Delights 4. It must not be partial but a total universal Consent not only a Consent of Dependance or Trust to accept of Christ as our Saviour but a Consent of Subjection to him as our Lord. Col. 2. 6. As ye have received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk in him Many would have Christ and his Benefits but they would not yield that he should reign over them Luk. 19. 27. Those mine Enemies that would not I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me But the true Believing implieth a taking of Christ and his Yoak Mat. 11. 29. Take my Yoke upon you c. Christ and his Cross. Mat. 16. 24. If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me It is accompanied with a Resolution to obey his Laws and keep his Commandments that we may abide in his Love 3. The third thing in Faith is Trust spoken of Eph. 1. 13. In whom ye trusted after ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation Trust is a Dependance upon Christ for the Blessings which he hath procured for us and promised to us and is represented by the Metaphors of Staying the Mind on God Isa. 26 3. Thou keepest him in perfect Peace whose Mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee By the staying of the Mind is intended its Fixedness and Stability when being satisfied with the Promises we can comfortably wait for the Event and Issue The other Metaphor is committing ourselves to God 2 Tim. 1. 12. For I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day When we can trust our All in Christ's Hands knowing that he can give us that Righteousness whereby we may stand before God and have comfortable access to him and at length give us that Eternal Life which is our Supreme Happiness When you can trust him for Deliverance from the Guilt Power and Punishment of Sin and for the beginning strengthning and preserving of Grace in us to Everlasting Life you have obtained a good degree of Faith Only for the farther opening of this Trust I must observe to you 1. That this Trust respects all Christ's Offices which are Prophet Priest and King You trust him as a Prophet when you give up your selves as his Disciples to the conduct of his Word and Spirit being perswaded that he will infallibly teach you the way to true Happiness Joh. 6. 68 69. Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the Words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God This Trust is our Remedy against all false Religions for what should draw us from the true and chief Doctor of the Church You trust him as a Priest when you believe the value of his Merit and Sacrifice and comfort your selves with his gracious Promises and Covenant and come to God with more boldness and hope of Mercy upon the account of his intercession especially in your great Extremities Heb. 4. 14 15 16. Therefore we may pray confidently and make an open and free discovery of our wants and requests to God who will relieve us and do what is best for us in a fit Season when we most want it and least expect it We must trust him as a King when we become his Subjects and are perswaded that he will govern us in Truth and Righteousness in order to our Salvation and defend us by his Mighty Power till he hath brought us to Glory and Blessedness 2 Tim. 4. 18. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom 2. That this Trust is practical and is not to be determined by our Confidence so much as Obedience and resolution to take the way which God hath prescribed that we may obtain the Blessings which he hath promised to us This consideration is necessary partly because God or Christ will be trusted no farther than he hath obliged himself and so far we may depend upon him Now Christ hath only obliged himself to be the Author of Eternal Salvation to those that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Partly because this obedience is difficult Self-denial is required Mat. 16. 24. Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself c. A surer note of our Faith than a confidence or a presumption that we shall fare well enough though we indulge the ease and desires of the Flesh and gratify our Interest in the World And therefore Faith being an obediential confidence doth confute these vain conceits Many think they may the more boldly venture on Sin the more they believe or seem to believe the Grace of God in Christ. Others
Restraint and groan for our Liberty we would fain have an opportunity of glorifying God if God should hear us in these kinds should not we be like affected to our Fellow-Servants and not seek to hunt every one that do a little dissent from us as Vermine to Death and as unworthy to be allowed among us A Man which is in Debt how grievous is it when others deal rigorously with him Now for him to deal so with others is a double Crime as being a Sin against a Law and against Experience You complain to God in the bitterness of your Soul when ye are under these Oppressions so will they complain against you therefore it is more evil in you The 3. Observation is this That this Rule is Spiritual and concerneth the inward Man as well as the outward not only Actions Words and Practises though it be said whatsoever Men do unto you but the Thoughts The whole Law of God is Spiritual Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the Soul not only guides the Motions of the outward Man but reacheth to the workings of the Heart As is the first Table so is the second for we are told Mat. 22. 39. The second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self How like to it 'T is as Spiritual as the first and therefore not only what I do but what I would think and purpose to do to others is comprehended in it Christ therefore speaks of Adultery committed in the Heart by impure and wanton thoughts and desires This Rule which concerns the whole second Table not only concerns the Actions but your Dispositions and Inclinations and not only provides against hard Speeches and outward Behaviour but the secret grudgings in your Hearts against others that your Affections may not be alienated from them For mark what is here What ye would Men should do to you do the same to them In other places it is Love thy Neighbour as thy self Gal. 5. 14. So that all the Duties and Practices which concern the good of our Neighbour must proceed from a Principle of Love The Justice of the second Table as required of Christians is a Justice tempred and excited by Love Though our outward Acts be never so pleasant yet if Love be not at the bottom of it it is not right As 1 Cor. 13. 3. If I give all my Goods to the Poor and have not Charity it signifieth nothing You will think that 's excessive Charity to give all my Goods Yea but if it be not done with Love it 's nothing worth not accepted nor rewarded by God And so we must refer these Words not only to the outward Man but the Principle of Love which is in the Heart 4. Proposition That all which is done by virtue of this Rule must be done not only out of Love to Man but out of Love to God and as an act of Obedience For when Christ gives us this Direction Whatsoever ye would c. he doth not give it as a Politick Course to establish Peace in the World but as a Compendious Rule to guide us in the Duties of the second Table Self-Love is the Measure but 't is not the Reason Ground or Principle of our Actions a Measure it is for we will certainly do right to our selves but to make it an act of Obedience so it is accepted of God It is a common Rule All Moral Duties must be done as in and to the Lord out of the Love of God Fear of God and Obedience to his Blessed Majesty Therefore it is said Eph. 5. 21. Submitting your selves one to another in the fear of God That must be the great Principle which swayeth us not Policy or respect to our own Interest but Conscience there must be a right Principle of Motion as well as a just Action if we will do exactly and according to the Law of Christ. Therefore here is the great difference between a Christian and an other Man in the Duties of the second Table in his Moralities he turns second-Table-Duties into first-Table-Duties it is a thing carried on throughout the whole Scripture Thus if he gives Alms his Alms is a Sacrifice Sacrifice is a Duty of the first Table but Alms is clearly a Duty of the second Table So all his Commerce I do but instance in one for all what he doth to Men must be done in and to the Lord. So here in this very Case Love to Man it is but a Stream which comes from a higher Fountain and that is Love to God A Christian loves God first and indeed he loves nothing but God for he loves God in all his Creatures In Men we love his Natural Image but in the Saints his Spiritual Image 1 Joh. 4. 21. This Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also Our Love to our ordinary Brother must be excited and measured by our Love to God and our Love to our Christian Brother our Fellow-Saints must be from the Love of God 1 Joh. 5. 1. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him So much for the Negative part Secondly Now let us come to the Affirmative part which establisheth Charity For it is not enough if we do not hurt others but we must do them good Now Charity is seen in two things both in Giving and Forgiving First in Giving What you would Men should do to you do you the same to them Be as ready to do good as to receive good A Man is never in a right frame of Spirit untill he takes as much delight in doing others good as he would take in having good done to himself nay more for our Lord tells us That it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Acts. 20. 30. Why a more blessed thing because this comes nearest to the Nature of God who gives all and takes of none And therefore as we would imitate God in other things we should in this also for all God's Works should leave an Impression upon us his Election should make us choose him and his ways his Love to love him his Giving should make us to give As a Child hath Part for Part Limb for Limb answerable to his Father so should a Child of God answer God in all his moral Perfections especially in his Goodness As you come behind saith the Apostle in no Gift so do not come behind in this also 2 Cor. 8. 2. And the Rule of Christ here is that which doth inforce this As ye would c. do you afford to others that Comfort that Succour that Relief in all their Distresses which you would desire they should afford to you if you were in the same Case and in the same distress Alas you will say Pity should be shewed to a Man by his Friend and will you be Merciless and shut up your Bowels and not shew this pity to others If you were pined with Hunger and your