by and we shall stand or fall according as they are sound or corrupt The Apostle hints this to us Rom. 2.16 in telling us that at the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Now principles are the great secrets of men hid from all but God and a mans own heart Nothing is more latent they are as the spring to a Clock you see the hand move but that which causes the motion is not seen Actions are manifest and may be seen by all but principles are secret and discerned by none but God takes strict notice of them and will judge us according to them Nothing therefore concerns a man more than to see that the principles of his obedience be right Now the great principles that a man is acted by and that carry him on in gospel obedience are these three Faith Love Self denial 1. Faith This is the great principle of all acceptable obedience without which no obedience can please God the Apostle is peremptory in it Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And therefore all gospel obedience is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 There is a twofold obedience to the gospel 1. Obedience to the call of the gospel whereby fallen sinners are invited and by various methods of grace perswaded to return to God and live Now there can be no obeying the gospel in this sense without faith For how can a man turn from his sins and take Christ upon the terms of the gospel resigning himself to the guidance of his word and spirit without faith 2. There is obedience to the rule of the gospel which directs and guides us how to live and walk so as to approve our wayes to God For the gospel is not only the power of God to salvation Rom. 1 16. but it is the will of God also for our guidance and direction and all obedience to it as such is the fruit of faith Therefore we are said to live by faith Gal. 2.20 and to walk by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 And living and walking take in the whole course of a Christians obedience in the language and sense of the Scripture As the gospel hath not only its credenda but its agenda not only truths to be imbraced but duties to be practised so faith hath both a receptive and a dispensing property it receives the truths of the gospel and imbraces them 1 Thes 2.13 Ye received the word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God And it hath a dispensing property too whereby it payes homage to Christ in all capacities it doth not only receive the Law at his mouth as a Prophet and rest upon his merits as a Priest but subjects to his yoke as a King Faith is an active principle it doth as freely submit to the government of Christ as it readily accepts of pardon and salvation by him By faith Abraham obeyed Heb 11.8 This is one principle of obedience 2. Another principle is love And this is of as great importance as the other nay faith it self is deficient without this for faith works by love Gal. 5.6 This love as it is the Christians badge and character Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 So it is the great principle of obedience The Law being a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 Eccles 12.13 the great principle of obedience there was fear Fear God and keep his commandments but the gospel is a ministration of life and glory and the great principle there is Love if a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 Love is vertually all obedience and therefore our Lord Christ reduces all the precepts to this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matt. 22.37 39. and thy neighbour as thy self So that the substance of Religion is contained in this It is not Circumcision as the Jew would nor uncircumcision as the converted Gentile would but faith that works by love Gal. 5.6 There is no such principle of obedience as Love This will be evident if you consider but eight properties of it 1. It is an appretiative principle that prefers and values Jesus Christ above all It sees such a beauty and excellency in him that it counts all loss and dung in comparison of him Phil. 3.8 And he that thus loves Christ can't but obey him 2. Love is an opening principle Open to me my sister Cant. 5.2 and ver 6. I opened to my beloved Christ can have no entrance into the heart if love do not let him in This is the opening grace It is so in God the Father What makes him open his eternal counsels and purposes of grace and mercy to poor creatures but love It is so in God the Son What made him open heaven and come into the world open the virgins womb and be born open his side and let out his blood and so open a new and living way for us to the Father Heb. 10.20 What makes him open his arms to receive returning sinners and open the gates of glory for them but love It is so in God the Holy Ghost What makes him open blind eyes and deaf ears and hard hearts but love And look how love works in God to us so it works in us to God it opens the ear to hearken to him it opens the mouth to speak for him it opens the hand to work for him it opens the heart to entertain and imbrace him 3. Love is a liberal principle it is all for giving it is the most bountiful affection Love is all for laying out upon its object It is so with God Divine love expresses it self in acts of bounty Joh. 3.16 Luk. 11.13 Psal 84.11 Heb. 8.10 Ephes 2.5 God so loved the world that he gave his son He gives Christ He gives his Spirit He gives grace and glory He gives himself I will be their God So it is said of Christ He loved us and gave himself for us And look how love acts in God and Christ so it acts in all that are born of God he that loves God gives all to God he gives not only his time and strength and talents but he gives himself I am my beloveds Cant. 6.3 4. Love is a laborious principle It is alwayes doing Amor nescit ferias it hath no days of leisure it sets all the wheels of the soul in motion And therefore the holy Ghost joyns love and labour together God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 Your work of faith and labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 As the word of God is objectum practicum a thing not only to be known but obeyed so love is principium operativum not a meer notion swimming in the brain but a devout affection quickning the heart to obedience I have lifted up my hands to thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.48 If any thing keep a
which the Gospel brings upon impenitent sinners Their Judge will be severer Their Hell will be hotter Their Season of Grace and time of the Spirits striving will be shorter For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth Rom. 9.28 Secondly The more profligate and desperate in sinning men grow under the Gospel the sooner will the Spirit cease striving For a man may and many a man doth by his own sin shorten his day of grace and provoke God to strive by his Spirit no more Eliphaz speaking of the sinners of the old World says They were cut down out of time and their foundation overflowed with a flood Job 22.16 And therefore what shall we think of England's Priviledges Will they last long I am afraid they will not considering the desperate wickedness of the Nation that reigns in all sorts this may justly cause God to cut them down out of time and cause a flood of judgments to overflow their foundations The abominable pride gluttony drunkenness uncleanness swearing lying Covenant breaking oppression injustice perjuries together with the Errours Heresies Schisms Blasphemies Idolatries and Atheism of the day and I will add the unrighteous persecution of the Ministers and Members of Christ for nothing but their adhering to the word and Kingly Office of Christ these things I fear have brought the Nations day and mercies to a near period And though I speak it with trembling yet I must say it That without a speedy repentance the Lord will shortly do one of these two things either he will remove this generation from the Gospel or else he will remove the Gospel from this generation Thus you see where the force of this reason lies delay of so great a Duty is greatly dangerous whether you look to the indisposition it works or to the uncertainty of life or to the uncertain duration of the day of grace which may be sinned away and then if you would come to Christ you cannot Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer Prov. 1.28 29 30. they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof Salvation is not a thing to be had at your time but at Gods time and Gods time is now in your youth Most agree that it is a reasonable thing that sin should be forsaken that the Yoke of Christ should be taken up but not so soon it is too early and this is it upon which most men perish they slight Gods time When I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered Hos 7.1 A man never discovers more iniquity and more love to sin than in setting light by Gods time of healing The foolish Virgins would fain have entred in with the Bridegroom but when they should have entred their oyl was to get and when they would have entred the door was shut Mat. 25.10 Ye read in Revel 10.1 2 6. of an Angel that hath in his hand a little book open and he swears by him that lives for ever and ever that time should be no longer This Angel is interpreted of Christ and the little book in his hand is the Gospel and it is said to be open because he makes known the whole counsel of God for our Salvation it is Christ that gives out the Gospel and means of grace and it is he that limits the time of mans injoying it beyond which he cannot injoy it for he sweareth that time shall be no longer CHAP. VII Containing the last Reason viz. from the good of Obedience It is a necessary good a profitable good an honourable good a comfortable good Reas 8 THE last but not the least reason is what is hinted here in the Text viz. the goodness of the undertaking there can be no greater reason of obedience than the goodness of it All true obedience springs from love and the object of love is good and when a man loves and obeys God because of the goodness of his Precepts this is excellent Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loves it Psal 119.140 There is nothing proves our regeneration and being made partakers of the divine nature like this 1 Pet. 1.4 for then we have the same object of love as God hath Purity and goodness is the object of Gods love and it cannot but be so because of its suitableness to his nature and therefore to have the same object of love with God argues the Soul changed into the likeness of God Carnal minds have no relish of heavenly things They that are after the flesh savour the things of the flesh Rom. 5.8 That man is undoubtedly born of God that loves the word because it is good and obeys it because it is pure The great argument by which Duty and Obedience is inforced upon the Creature is the good of obedience Deut. 5.29 The Lord commanded us to do all these Statutes to fear the Lord our God Deut. 6.24 Hear it and know it for thy good Job 5.27 And Deut. 10.12 13. What doth the Lord require of thee but to fear him and to walk in his ways and to love him and serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soul To keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good And here in the Text It is good for a man that he bear the Yoke in his youth And the great motive upon which good men labour to confirm themselves in heart and life to the precepts of God is the goodness of them The commandment is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The mandatory part of the word hath an inviting loveliness Manton on Psal 119. p. 456. As the promises of pardon and eternal life suit with the hunger and thirst of the Soul and the natural desires of happiness so the holiness and righteousness of the precept suit with the notions of good and evil that are in mans heart and this draws forth compliance and consent I consent to the Law that it is good Rom. 7.16 It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73.28 There is no likelier means to prevail upon considering minds to come under the Yoke of Christ betimes than to let them see how much duty is their real interest and that obedience is not burden so much as blessedness for that there is an universal good in Religion It is a necessary good a profitable good an honourable good a pleasant good First It is a necessary good Nothing in the world is of equal necessity with this there are many things useful but this is that one thing needful So our Lord Christ says One thing is needful Luke 10.42 and that is subjection to Christ Martha was careful about his entertainment but Mary sate at his feet one
man close to God in duty it is love 2 Cor. 12.10 for this will spend and be spent as it is right in regard of its object so it is laborious in its motion and doth so inlarge the dispositions and resolutions of the heart for God that as it knows it cannot do enough so it is apt to overlook all it doth as nothing And this is many times the reason of those complaints that are found among Christians that it is not with them as in time past they cannot pray nor act nor walk nor work for God as once they could and did the complaint arises meerly out of an improv'd affection not because duty is lessened but because love is increased He that loves but little will think he doth enough when he doth least but as love is increased so duty will be diminished in our esteem though it be inlarged in our endeavour 5. Love is a regulated principle it acts by rule and direction The motions of love are voluntary and free but its offices and acts are bounded by the commandment As the Promise is the rule of faith so is the Precept the rule of love Love to God is not a love of equals but of inferiours and therefore comes under a law it is our duty to act it but it is Gods prerogative to govern and guide it The expressions of our love are to be wholly regulated by what God requires and commands of us what ever is done otherwise though in the service of God yet it hath not love for its principle Many supererogate in the service of God and think this love to God as the Papists and among our selves how zealous are many for ceremonies and superstitious observances and think this is their love to God whereas it is in the language of God himself a hating of him as you see in the second commandment Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me Exod. 20.5 6. Who they are that hate him the former part of the command tells you they are such as corrupt the worship of God by any manner of will worship or humane institutions Though every sin hath a degree of hatred of God in it yet false worship is in a peculiar manner said to be a hating of him because it is a down right invading the rights of his Soveraignty to whom alone it belongs to prescribe how he will be worshipped and hence one says it is a less sin in the worship of God not to do what God commands than to practise what he hath not commanded because in the former we shew our weakness to do the will of God but in the latter we shew our impudence in making our selves wiser than God 1 Joh. 5 3. Herein is love that we keep his commandments 6. Love is a commanding principle it swayes the heart Every man is acted by the power of love That which gives sin its dominion in the soul is the love of it So much as a man loves sin so much power it hath over the heart and so much as we love Christ so much he rules in us for Christ and lust rule by love As love to sin abates the power of sin decays and as love to Christ increases so his interest and government advances in the soul Therefore it is that God bespeaks us to give him our hearts Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart and to love him with all our hearts Matt. 22.37 Because he knows that if he hath our hearts he hath all 7. Love is an induring principle It beareth all things indureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 Jacob served twice seven years for Rachel and indured hard things and yet the time was short Gen. 29.20 and his burden light all was nothing because of the love he had to her Nescit amor molimina love knows no difficulties how can it when it makes hard things easie Is it not a hard thing to keep the respects of the soul fixed upon God when he hides from it or frowns upon it Amare Deum cum se praebet inimicum This Luther counted a very hard work but love makes it easie Is it not a hard thing to indure reproaches and persecutions for Christ yet love makes it easie I take pleasure in reproaches and persecutions and distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 There is no man can take pleasure in these things for themselves no but for Christs sake It is love to Christ that sweetens all Is it not a hard thing to lay down our lives for Christ and yet love makes it easie I count not my life dear sayes Paul so that I may finish my course with joy Acts 20.24 They loved not their lives to the death Rev. 12.11 there is no part of Christs Yoke grievous to love no duty burthensom Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119.165 8. Love is a lasting principle The holy Ghost sayes it never faileth 1 Cor. 13.8 it is sure to hold out and persevere to the last Nay it shall not only be a principle of obedience in Saints while they are in this world but in heaven for ever A believer is acted by some principles in the present state that shall cease in heaven but love shall never cease it shall be a principle of obedience in heaven to Eternity O what an excellent principle of obedience is love and therefore see that your love to Christ be sincere and that all your services to Christ flow from this principle for without it all ye do is nothing If I give my body to be burned and have not love it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 3. The third principle of obedience to Christ is self denial There is a self denial before closing with Christ which is necessary in order to the taking up his Yoke As Christ finds every sinner in himself so he first calls him out of himself to close with him If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matt. 16.24 A man must come out of himself to Christ And there is a self denyal which is the effect of closing with Christ that follows upon our believing and is an essential part of sanctification None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself Rom. 14.7 Self-opinion self-will self-love self-confidence all must be denyed every imagination and every high thing must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Nay righteous self too is as much to be denyed in point of dependance as carnal self is in point of indulgence for trusting to self-righteousness hath undone many Not only our unrighteousness will undo us if we abide init but our very righteousness will undo us also if we trust to it and why because hereby we thrust Christ out of office Rom. 10.3 and make void his righteousness Let
chief end of our being as creatures and as new creatures Creation Redemption Regeneration all bespeak us to this and do fit us for this This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise Isai 43.21 If God hath formed us for himself then we are to live only to himself Whether we live says the Apostle we live to the Lord Rom. 14.8 And what is it to live to the Lord but to take up the Yoke of Christ making Religion the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief business of our life First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness Mat. 6.33 Nothing can be of equal moment with this All other work is but industrious idleness and all labour but painful trifling while this is neglected O how busie and solicitous are most men about present things and yet how unconcerned about the service of Christ and the salvation of their Souls Which is as if a man that were shot through should mind to have the rent in his garment mended but neglect to gett he wound cured in his body And yet thus brutish and besotted are the most of men serious in trifles but trifling in serious matters busie like Domitian in catching flies but little concerned about Soul-concernments Reas 6. This is the fittest and most proper season of Religion there is no time like youth The life of man consists of three parts Infancy Youth and Old age and of all this is the most proper and therefore the duty here is not commended to the first part of life for Infancy is too soon to know God when we cannot know our selves nor is it commended to the third for Old age is too late to serve God when we cannot serve our selves but it is commended to the time of Youth that being the most proper season for service and obedience In infancy we are too young to obey being but in our imperfect beginnings in age we are too old to obey being in our droops and declinings youth therefore is the fittest time Hence that of Solomon Remember thy Creator that is love and serve him for words of knowledge imply affection and practice in the days of thy youth in the Hebrew it is in the days of thy choice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 12.1 Youth is called the day of a mans choice either because it is the choicest time of a mans life for any imployment and service or because it is that time which every one would chuse to live in infancy is a burden and old age is a greater we long to grow up that we may injoy our selves but we fear to grow old lest we should be deprived of our selves Desire is the fruit of love and yet there is one thing which all desire but none love and that is old age all desire to live to it and yet no man takes pleasure in it Or because it is a time wherein a man makes his choice every one then chuses his condition of life for the future Infancy is too early to make a choice for want of judgment to distinguish Old age is too late to make a choice for want of time and strength to pursue no time therefore to chuse either for this world or the next either for our outward estate or for our spiritual advantage and comfort like our youth Reas 7. Because of the danger of delays It is very dangerous to defer so great and concerning a matter as your subjection to Jesus Christ is and that First Whether ye look to the indisposition that delays work to The longer sin hath possession the faster it will rivet it self to the Soul and so strengthen it self and harden the heart against conversion and therefore he that is unwilling to be subject to Christ to day will be more unwilling to morrow Or Secondly Whether ye look to the uncertain duration of life it is not only short at best but uncertain no man knows either how or where or when he shall dye I am old saith Isaac and know not the day of my death Gen. 27.2 He hath no security of living another day the body is subject to above three hundred diseases and to as many thousand casualties One hour may dispatch thee into another world as well as a year a tile from the house may be as mortal as a disease a flye a hair or a raisin-stone may end thy days as certainly as a Plague or Feaver One dyes eating another drinking another laughing another weeping another walking another praying another cursing and swearing one dyes at an Ordinance of God another at a Play-house one of the Devils great Ordinances One dyes at Sea another at shore One asking a Sea-man where his father dyed saith he at Sea and where dyed your Grandfather says he at Sea I wonder then said he why you will venture to go to Sea The Sea-man asked him Where dyed your father He answered In his bed and where dyed your Grandfather He answered In his bed too why then said the Sea-man I wonder you will venture to go to bed There is death in the bed as well as on board Death will find a man where-ever he is and how can a man that seriously considers the uncertainty of life delay closing with the Call of God one moment lest death surprize him in an unconverted condition Would any of you be willing to go out of the world in a state of enmity to God and to launch into Eternity in an unpardoned state Hath God ever told you you shall live to old age that you dare defer your conversion till then Hath God said you shall not dye next sickness or the next voyage you take or the next time you go out of doors Do not you see twenty dye young to one that lives to old age And why may not you If God had told you that so many years you shall continue in the world this might be a temptation to you to entertain your lusts a little longer and put off the thoughts of turning to God till hereafter but God hath in his Wisdom hid from us our last day Ideò latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes that we might thereby be stirred up to watch every day and do the great work out of hand for which we came into the world Thirdly It is very dangerous if you consider the shortness and uncertainty of the day of grace the time of life is short but the day of grace may be shorter it is the counsel of our Lord Joh. 12.35 Yet a little while the light is with you walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you The words imply three things 1. That the season of Grace is but short it continues but for a little while 2. That it is a great Duty to improve it while we have it Walk while you have the light 3. They that have it and do not improve it may soon be deprived of it Lest darkness come upon
mercy impotent He could do no mighty work Mark 6.5 you make the Lamb turn Lion you lay your selves under a necessity of damnation for all wilful refusers of Christ must perish Thirdly It is necessary to preserve the rectitude of Nature if a man would be under the government of mind and understanding and keep reason in the Throne and be able to subdue the inordinacy of appetite he must come under the Yoke of Christ nothing else can do it Philosophy may give rules but it is Religion that gives power How like a brute is man that is led by sense and governed by appetite the glory of his Being is lost A beast in the shape and figure of a reasonable Creature man without but brute within There is no middle thing every man is either a Saint or a Beast If he don't conform to Christ which is the truest improvement of mind and will he is under the government of sense and swayed by appetite and what makes a man more a beast than this Fourthly It is necessary to prove your right to and interest in Christ The pretence and claim to this is very common but right and interest is very rare therefore it is good to put things out of doubt Let every man prove his own work Gal. 6.4 Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 How may this be known why the Apostle tells you 1 Joh. 2.3 Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments And v. 5. Whoso keepeth his word in him is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him Your obedience is the best test of your interest nothing proves your relation to his Person like your subjection to his Precepts Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 Joh. 3.19 Many boast great things about their interest in Christ and have great joys and transports flowing from it and yet all may be but the birth of a dream the fruit of fancy and fond opinion and it is no other where subjection to Christ is left out He that saith I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 1.4 That is a sharp rebuke of Christ to those false Disciples Luke 6.46 Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Christ hates their pretences of relation to him while they slight his Precepts and disown his Government Fifthly It is necessary to shew our gratitude to a Redeemer which can no way be expressed as it ought but by a dutiful subjection to his precepts Let us not love in word and in tongue says the Apostle but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3.18 We never express our thankful sense of redeeming love to the life till we make his Laws the rule of our life And thus doth David Psal 116.8 9. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living The greatest love that ever God shewed was to give Jesus Christ And the greatest grace that ever Christ manifested was the grace of Redemption when he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 And the highest obedience the Creature can act is when it springs from a grateful sense of the Fathers love in giving Christ and of Christs grace in giving himself When we lay the foundation of our obedience where God hath laid it in the Blood of his Son when we love God from a sense of his love to us in Christ 1 Joh. 4.19 When mercy melts and wins us Rom. 12.1 When the grace of God appearing teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.11 12. and to live soberly righteously and godly in the world this is excellent The Apostle says That faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 And it doth so two ways by way of gratitude and by way of instrumentality It first apprehendeth love and leaves the impression of it upon the Soul and so begets such a love in the Soul to God as works a dutiful subjection to all his Precepts This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 The end of Redemption is duty Christ had no design to diminish the Soveraignty of God or lessen mans duty in any of his undertakings but to make us more capable of service and to render duty more easie There is mercy provided for our failings but no relaxation of obedience the Gospel requires as perfect holiness as ever the Law did yet we have a double relief provided by sincerity on our part and mercy on God's Though there be no indulgence by Christ to the least sin yet there is pardon provided for the greatest Christ came not to be a minister of sin to deliver us from obedience but he came to deliver us from the slavery of obedience not that we might not serve God but that we might serve him without fear Luk. 1.74 that is with peace of Conscience and joy of heart And therefore great is the gratitude we owe to Christ and it can no way be expressed but by a voluntary resignation to his will and subjection to his Yoke Sixthly It is necessary for the confirming our Faith in the promises of God There is an inseparable connexion between the Precepts and Promises the one is as essential a part of the Covenant of Grace as the other there is you shall as well as I will I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people Heb. 8.10 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Ezek. 36.27 There is obedience injoyned as well as mercy promised The Covenant is of Gods contriving not ours he prescribes the conditions and propounds the rewards not we Our work is intire submission and hearty consent we are neither to alter nor debate And in this Covenant our eternal happiness is secured by an unfeigned consent of will to take Christ upon the conditions God hath prescribed and what are they Christ and his Yoke that is Christ to rule as well as to save for he came not only to be a Saviour but a Law-giver The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Isai 33.22 As Law-giver he prescribes the rule of obedience as King he rules by the Law he prescribes as Judge he will try us by the Law of his Government and save those that have sought his precepts Psal 119.94 and therefore our faith in the promise of eternal rewards must be supported by our faithfulness to the commands the greater our obedience the higher is our hope of acceptance I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept
apply the marks of Grace to his own heart as he finds them laid down in the word he might certainly know that his state is good for the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 are as manifest as the works of the flesh As God is principium essendi the cause of the being of Grace so the word of God is principium cognoscendi the rule by which we judge of the truth of Grace and therefore to the law and to the testimony Isai 8.20 Solomon says The commandment is a lamp and the law is light Prov. 6.22 as a lamp it is the guide of our way as a light it is the tryal of our state And so the former verse clears it when thou goest it shall lead thee there it is a lamp to guide us when thou awakest it shall talk with thee there it is a rule to try us Try your state therefore by this rule and believe nothing either for or against your selves but according to the word of God This is the rule God will try us by and therefore we should try our selves by it The judgment of God concerning us will be according to the word John 12.48 Rom. 2.16 So should ours be But in making use of the word for a rule of tryal it will be your wisdom to observe these three directions 1. You must take negative and positive signs together Many judge themselves by negative signs only and not by positive but this is to deceive themselves for negative holiness can never commend us to God whose commands are positive as well as negative A man may abstain from that which is positively evil and yet be but negatively good So did the Pharisees Luke 18.11 2. In trying your selves by the word you are not to look so much to the habit and principle of Grace in its being as to the properties and effects of Grace in its working for properties best prove principles and effects bear witness to their causes That which constitutes godliness is the habit and principle of Grace but that which evidences godliness is the properties of it Formae nos latent We do not know the internal forms of things but their natures become known by their properties and effects Our knowledge is for the most part à posteriori from effects the principles of Grace in us are not evident to us but by the motions and effects of them in our souls and lives 3. In judging your estate by the word you are not to look for perfect signs in your selves I mean such as do exactly answer to the latitude of the Law for these are not to be found in any Believer upon earth And if we look for such signs we shall be so far from receiving any satisfaction concerning our state that the more we try the more we shall distrust the more we prove our subjection to Christ the more we shall disapprove it We are to look for true signs but not for perfect for such as are common to the weakest believer not for such as are above the strongest The least grace discovered in a believer if sincere and true is a sure sign of his good estate in Christ though it be not enough to satisfy his desire yet it is enough to satisfy his judgment though it be not sufficient to fill up his measure in Christ yet it is a sufficient sign to make out the truth of his interest in Christ And that is the seventh general rule laid down for the carrying on the tryal of our state that we be sure to make use of a right rule Rule 8. As the word of God must be your rule so Conscience must apply it and give testimony according to it for the word of it self proves nothing but as conscience applys it and argues from it The word doth no where say this or that man is converted to Christ is a child of God and in a state of salvation no but it describes that state to which salvation is promised and then Conscience evidences that to be our state and so infers a certainty of salvation from the word The word lays down things in plain propositions Conscience makes the assumption and then draws the conclusion The word says Any man that is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 there is the proposition now the good mans Conscience helped by the spirit as I shall shew anon that makes the assumption thus but I am in Christ and then draws the conclusion therefore I am a new creature The word says They that are Christs sheep hear his voice and follow him John 10.27 Conscience says but I hear his voice and follow him and thence concludes therefore I am one of Christs sheep And this is that wherein the true testimony of Conscience doth consist in giving evidence according to the rule laid down and by that either condemning or acquitting Hence that of the Apostle He that believes on the son of God hath the witness in himself 1 John 5.10 truly so hath the unbeliever too for Conscience by the light of the word witnesseth against him if he would but hear it The word says the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 but says Conscience Thou art unrighteous and thence concludes therefore thou shalt not inherit the kingdom of God And hence the Apostle speaks of a condemning Conscience 1 John 3.20 If our hearts condemn us It witnesseth in the sinner to condemnation and in the Believer to justification Object 1. But you will say if it be thus why doth not every Believer know his own state why are they so often calling the goodness of their state into question and so full of doubts and fears about their condition if they have a witnessing Conscience why is it thus Answ It is possible they may have witnessing Consciences and yet may know little of the goodness of their state For First They may not possibly be acquainted with their own Consciences nor keep up a communion with their own hearts as they ought Psal 4.4 It is no new thing for a good man to be a stranger to himself who might otherwise be satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 Secondly They may have Conscience witnessing to the goodness of their state and yet not credit the testimony As a bad man is deaf to the testimony of his Conscience when it witnesseth against him from the power of self-self-love so is a good man to the testimony of his conscience when it witnesseth for him from the power of jealousie and suspicion He can look forward to apprehend the right object but can't look inward to apprehend his own act He can believe the testimony of the word but cannot believe the testimony of his own Conscience though it speaks according to the word though he hath truly received Christ yet he will not receive the testimony of Conscience witnessing to his state in Christ Thirdly Many may have witnessing Consciences and yet