us to all holy endeavours of Obedience this is sometimes called the activity or working of Grace Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 Sometimes Zeal or an earnest burning of affection towards God or that holy Ardor whereby we repress those affections unruly motions and desires which are contrary to his Will and do excite and stir up our selves more and more to honour him and please him Titus 2.14 Zealous of good works Sometimes Alacrity and Chearfulness as we prevail in striving against sin and our Love to God increaseth 1 John 5.3 4. All these are as so many degrees First We make Conscience of doing our Duty but that 's not enough a Convinced man may have his Conscience stirring and pleading for God but a Converted man or a renewed Heart hath an inclination and not only an inclination but some fitness and not only some fitness but there is an impulsion which discovereth its self either by stirring or exciting to that which is good though with difficulty which is the lowest degree All Grace is stirring and would fain break out into action for 't is not a dead and sleepy habit but seeketh to break forth and is called by the Apostle The Lustings of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 Another Degree is Zeal and Love to the glory of God whom they honour and desire to exalt continually which maketh them complain of Corruption and to strive against it and to shake off sloathfulness and the weights of sin that hang upon us when the Spirit gets the upper hand but the flesh is not easily subdued Then we are more at liberty to serve God and so Alacrity followeth when a man hath Pleasure in good actions and the Flesh is so overcome and subdued that it can make little or no opposition and so we perform our Duty with more ease and delight which is the highest degree SERMON III. MATTH XXV v. 3 4. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oyl with them But the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps I Come now to the Second Effect Secondly An habitual Aversation to that which is evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil 'T is as natural to Grace to hate evil as to love good As Love was made for God and the things which he hath Commanded and tends to the enjoyment of him so Hatred was made for sin and what is contrary to God Man hath an eschewing faculty as well as an embracing and choosing faculty and Grace falleth upon both and sanctifyeth the one as well as the other Amos 5.15 Hate the evil and love the good Love was given us for good and Hatred for evil Love was made for the chiefest good and all things that tend to it and Hatred for that which is truely and properly evil Now concerning this Effect of Grace I shall observe these things 1. Grace produceth an Hatred of sin not a bare abstinence from it Sin may be restrained by forreign reasons not proper to Grace as a Dogg that hath a mind to the Bait may abstain for fear of the Cudgel So Men may abstain because of the Penalty of Laws Infamy shame in the World or other reasons as Haman refrained himself that he might the better take Revenge upon the whole race of the Jews Men may refrain from sin when there is not a rooted Enmity against it whereas in the Saints there is a constant Principle of resistance against it 1 John 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seed of God abideth in him The Grace of Sanctification doth change the nature of a man and his Heart is set against that he loved before Look as the Lord will not respect mens external practice of Good when it may be their Hearts abhor and loath it and are bent on other courses he requireth chiefly that they be rooted in the Love of good and delight in it so he will not accept a simple not-doing or forbearing evil while it may be their Hearts are going a Whoring after it but will have them really hate and detest it that there should be an abiding Enmity in their Hearts against it and where 't is so that there is an habitual Love of good and hatred of evil Christ will pass by many failings in practice as you may see Rom. 7.22 23 24 25. that is the Case there The evil that I hate that do I and I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Clear these two once and the remainders of sin will not be your ruine 2. Grace produceth an hatred of sin as sin out of a principle of Love to God and as it is contrary to his Law and the new nature planted in us Ye that love the Lord hate evil and he that is born of God sinneth not that is the principle because the Seed of God abideth in you The School-men distinguish of two sorts and kinds of Hatred Odium abominationis and Odium inimicitiae the first is defined by Aquinas to be Dissonantia quaedam appetitus ad id quod apprehenditur ut repugnans noxium an aversation of the Appetite to what is apprehended repugnant and contrary to us Such an hatred there is in the regenerate for they apprehend sin as repugnant and contrary to their renewed Will to the unregenerate 't is agreeable and suitable as Draffe to the appetite of a Swine or Grass and Hay to a Bullock and Horse The other is an Hatred of Enmity so called both for the ground of it and the effect of it the ground as an evil that which is an Enemy and hurtful to us as sin is to our Peace and Happiness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal but chiefly as to the effect of it Hatred is a willing of evil and mischief to the thing or person hated Both these Hatreds are in the Children of God They hate sin not only as it may bring Loss and Detriment horrour of Conscience and Damnation but out of the pure Love of God as 't is contrary to his Image and Will and they hate it with an hostile Hatred so as to seek the destruction of it Non cessat in laesione Peccati sed in exterminio it doth not scratch at the Face of sin but is seeking to mortifie and subdue it and therefore are alwayes Mourning Praying Watching Striving Famishing it by cutting off its Provisions and denying its Satisfactions and still following the work close 'till we get the Mastery of it 3. I Observe That renewing Grace doth so far obtain and produce this effect in the Hearts of those that are under it that their Hatred to sin is greater than their Love to it and sin is thereby more and more weakened and subdued in the Soul We flatter our selves with notions of Love and Hatred unless there be some answerable Success and Prevalency It cannot be Imagined that sin should Live in its full strength where there is a fixed settled frame of Heart against it that there should be in the Soul
as no Temptations do assault or sensual Objects stand up in any considerable strength to intice them but then they bewray their weakness But that Faith that is serious and hearty doth so believe the Promises of the Gospel as to seek Happiness in them to make it his business so to believe the mysteries of our Redemption as to build all his Comfort and Peace upon them so believe the Commands of God as to frame his heart to observe them in short to improve every thing to the use of Holy Living II. The next Theological â—race is Hope Here was an expectation of the Bridegrooms coming as well as a belief of it all Christians profess that they expect Christ to come to Judgment and many desire and hope to be entertained at the Nuptial feast as well as others and hope to goe in with him into coelestial Joyes Now there may be much of this in temporaries not only a bare Profession but some real motions this way Oh how often are they pressed to keep on this joy and comfort Heb. 3.6 Whose house are we if we hold fast the Confidence and rejoycing of the hope firm to the end And Heb. 3.14 For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedfast to the end And to maintain it with all serious diligence Heb. 6.11 that it may grow into more certainty But to evidence this to you let us see what Christian Hope is It seems to be described by the Apostle Rom. 2.7 Those that seek for Life and Immortality by patient continuing in well doing or a Looking for the Mercy of God unto Eternal Life Jude 21. Or more formally a certain earnest or desirous expectation of blessedness promised in that way wherein 't is promised We believe there is such a blessedness therefore wait with earnestness and patience 'till it come to pass and exercise our selves with all diligence for the obtaining it True hope ever quickeneth our diligence Act. 24.16 And herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Most Interpreters say Hereupon do I exercise my self he had spoken of the hope of Israel so that 't was upon the account of his hope he did use that diligence But more plainly Acts 26.6 7. Vnto which hope our twelve Tribes serving God diligently hope to come A man that hopeth for any thing will earnestly pursue it in the way wherein 't is to be obtained and follow his work close day and night There is an Hope that is but a devout sloth but the true Christian is lively and active 1 Joh. 3.3 He that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself as Christ is pure Ignorant People say they hope well that he that made them shall save them but live as if they fled from Heaven and Salvation but the true hope encourageth us to hold on our course with diligence and chearfulness notwithstanding the troubles and difficulties and temptations we meet with in the way to it They make it their constant work and business now they that are unrenewed may go far in hope especially when they are under the Initial work of the Spirit they may have not only the careless mans hope which is a sleight and superficial hope which groweth upon them they know not how without any warrant or ground nor a dead and cold hope which is the fruit of Opinion a loose and fond conjecture rather than a certain expectation but an Hope that hath some Life in it nor the Presumers hope which is a lazy loytering Hope that severeth the end from the means but may have some lively tasts which for a while sets them a work in the spiritual life but the fault is 't is not so fixed as it should be neither doth it beget in us that constant assiduous labour seriousness and Self-denyal but enough to keep up a blazing Profession but doth not make them so earnest for the Possession of what they hope for III. The third Theological Grace is Love or Charity Love to God and love to our Neighbour there is somewhat of both here they were well affected to the Bridegroom they went forth to meet and carry Lamps before him for his Honour as well as Light and they went in consort and company with their fellow-Virgins So some are so well affected to the wayes of God as to make Profession of them to the People of God so as to walk with them But let me speak of Love to God Love to God is not a fellow-like familiarity but ready subjection to his Laws If ye love me keep my Commandements John 14.15 and 1 Joh. 5.3 For this is Love that we keep his Commandments Now they may so far do this as to make Profession of the wayes of God and walk blameless in them as to men yet strangers to Heart-mortification and a true preference of God in the Soul The knowledge of Christ may make men cleanse their external Conversations but live in secret love with some lusts which they serve in a more cleanly manner They love Happiness more than Holiness they love God but do little for him Labour and Love are often spoken of they have not that active and serious diligence that is commanded in doing the things that please God Then for Love to the Brethren they may magnifie the People of God Acts 5.13 joyn with them and do many offices of Love for them but the Heart needs to be purified before there can be that unfeigned love to the Brethren 1 Pet. 1.22 And 't is not easie to hold on in the wayes of God in all Conditions There are many sins contrary to the grace of Love pride envy self-seeking self-love wrath it must be such a Love as floweth from holy Principles and breaketh out in real performances And this to be carryed out in a Christian manner will be found very hard to doe 2. Second Reason Though a common work may go far 't is not likely to hold out Their Lamps went out and they had no Vessels to supply them Notwithstanding the sudden pangs and fervours and forward Profession of Temporaries yet usually they fail in the issue they believe for a while Luke 8.13 and hope for a while Col. 1.23 If ye continue stedfast and be not moved from the Hope of the Gospel Love for a while Matth. 24.12 The Love of many shall wax cold and good reason partly because they have not the grace to which the Promise of Perseverance is made There is Donum perseverantiae there is such a thing as the gift of Perseverance and 't is assured by Promise to special saving Grace Now they that have not this radicated state of Grace have not this Promise for Christ saith John 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be a well of water springing up to eternal Life A Cruse may fail a Bucket emptied a Pond dryed up but a Fountain is ever flowing and never dryed
yet Gods merciful Justice respecteth the degree of our Service Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your work of Faith and labour of Love 'T is an act of remunerative Justice according to the New-Covenant The higher Service hath an ordinability to the greatest Reward 4. God doth in this world give the greatest Blessings to those that do most eminently glorifie him therefore signal Faithfulness is eminently rewarded in the World to come as God promiseth to make a Covenant with Phineas because he was zealous for God to make an atonement for the People Numb 25.13 This the rather holdeth good because the Rewards of the Old Testament were a kind of Figure of Eternity 5. In the Punishment theâ—e are degrees therefore in the Reward God will punish men differently more or less according to the rate of their sins we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more tolerable So he will reward men more or less according to the different degrees of their faithfulness So Mat. 11.21 22. It shall be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for you So Luk. 12.47 48. we read of many Stripes and few Stripes 'T is true the Reward is not of debt yet there is an Equity observed in his Bounty 6. The Glorified State of the Saints in all probability suiteth with all the rest of the Creation There is a difference and disparity in every thing else Among men in the World in Wisdom and Rank and Quality and Riches In the Church some have meaner some larger Gifts There are degrees among the Devils we read of Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Among Angels there are Arch-Angels Principalities Powers Thrones Dominions So 't is likely among the Saints 7. The Profit It encourageth to Godliness This inequality of Rewards giving greater things to those that do more and be more faithful than to imagine that they who sow more sparingly shall reap as plentifully as those that sow liberally It is a great damp to all worthy dealing and signal excellency that all shall fare alike but it quickneth us to our utmost activity to remember that as our work is our Reward will be VSE Is to quicken us to be more faithful to God for these Considerations 1. Heaven being the perfection of Holiness if you do not desire more degrees of Holiness you do not desire Heaven it self 1 Joh. 3.2 3. Behold now ye are the sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure 2. 'T is gross Self-love to go as near the brink of Hell and Destruction without falling into it and to beat down the price of Salvation as low as we can and he that will do nothing more than what is simply necessary to Salvation will never be faithful with God To save the stake of their Souls they will serve God as little as they can SERMON XIV MATTH XXV v. 24 25. Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sowed and gathering where thou hast not strawed And I was afraid and went and hid thy Talent in the Earth Lo there thou hast that is thine WE have seen the Account and reception of the faithful Servants We now come to the Masters Reckoning with the unfaithful one The Order is observable First He rewardeth the faithful Servants and then punisheth the careless and negligent His own Nature inclines him to Reward he doth good and sheweth Mercy out of his own Self-inclination but our Sins force him to punish And mark he that had received one Talent is called to an account as well he that had received more That no man may think to be excused for the meanness of his Gifts and place 'T is true he giveth an account for no more than he hath but for so much as he hath he must give Account Christians that have five or two Talents must give an Account for five or two But Heathens that have but one Talent the light of Nature give an account for one The Apostle telleth us That as many as have sinned without the Law shall perish without the Law but as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law Rom. 2.12 Every one according to the Dispensation they have lived under The Apostle intimateth a distinction of two sorts that are to be judged 2 Thes. 1.8 In flaming fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those that have great parts and great opportunities will not be accepted with the same Improvement that others are that have fewer neither from the same person will God accept a like Service when sick as when well but according to their abilities and opportunities he doth expect Well but let us see what Account he bringeth that had but one Talent The Parable offereth First The Servants Allegation or Excuse Secondly The Masters Answer or Reply We are now upon the former and there 1. The remote Cause of his neglect his prejudice against his Master Lord I knew thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sowed and gathering where thou hast not strawed 2. The Effect of this Prejudice and so the next and immediate cause of this neglect I was afraid 3. His Negligence and unfaithfulness it self in bringing his Talent without Improvement I went and hid thy Talent in the Earth and lo there thou hast what is thine 1. In the Prejudice Christ impersonateth our natural thoughts and the secret workings of our minds we dare not say so but many think so as if God were an hard and morose Master whom 't is impossible to please The Servant in the Parable had as little cause for his pretence as we have for our hard thoughts of God He knew the contrary if he would consult his own experience he might have found his Master to be good and kind who had taken him into his Family intrusted him with a Talent waited long for his Improvement But this is the nature of man self-Self-love will rather blame God than acknowledge our own Fault and Sin tax his Severity than confess its own Negligence 2. In the Servants being afraid Christ would teach us that ill Opinions of God beget Pusillanimity and slavish fear And Lastly In his Non-improvement but rendring the Talent as he received it That Pusillanimity or slavish fear and sloath go together or those that are afraid of God will never do him Hearty service I cannot handle all the Points that will arise from this Paragraph yet I shall discuss one that will take in the Substance and Effect of all And that is Doct. That slavish Fear is a great hinderance to the faithful discharge of our Duty to God
3.6 compared with Gen. 18.12 He will own a Pearl on a Dunghil the least Act of sincere Obedience though there be many failings But I must return 3. The usual ill thoughts of God are these three 1. That He is rigorous in his Commands 2. Niggardly and tenacious in his Gifts and helps of Grace 3. And as to Acceptance that he is hard to please and easie to offend All these may be gathered out of the words of the unfaithful Servant and all these lye deep in the Hearts of men against Gods Sovereignty 1. Hyppocrites accuse God of Tyranny in his Laws as if he dealt hardly with his Creatures to leave them with such affections in the midst of the Snares and Temptations of the present Life and requiring such Duty from them Certainly all that God hath required of us is holy just and good conducing not only to his Glory but to the Rectitude and Perfection of our Natures man would not be man if such things were not required of him so that if we were in our right wits and were left to our own Option and Choice we would preferre Subjection to such Laws before Exemption and freedom Micah 6.8 Are Justice Temperance Chastity Piety Patience Gives and Fetters to Humane Nature We cannot be without these and preserve the Nobleness of our being and the good of humane Societies 'T is true this lower World furnisheth us with many Temptations to the contrary but these Temptations work not by constraining Efficacy but only by inticing Perswasion and have we not more earnest Perswasions to love God and please God Are not God and Christ and Heaven more lovely Objects than all the Pleasures and Profits and Honours of the World These things do not force the will but draw your consent and surely God hath propounded more lovely things in his Covenant to draw this consent from them The great fault is in our Lust 2 Pet. 1.4 As the Poyson is not in the Flower but in the Spider 2. He accuseth God as backward to give Grace and help our Impotency and as if he did require more than he giveth This is obvious and express in the words of the naughty Servant Reaping where thou hast not sowen and gathering where thou hast not strawed But this also is an unjust charge for God requireth nothing but according to the Talents received Now he needeth not take any thing from the Creatures for he giveth all he had one Talent and God expected the Improvement but of one Let men try to the utmost and see if they have cause to make this Complaint they will find that the way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.29 and that all these jealousies are but a slander against Gods Government Why do you complain that he would reap where he hath not sowen Is it because you would have God force you to be good whether you would or no and by an absolute constraining Power drive you out of your flesh-pleasing course Consider how unbeseeming it is the Wisdom of God that men should be holy and good by Necessity and not by Choice Vertue would then be no vertue not a moral but a natural Property as burning is to Fire And it were no more praise-worthy to mind Heavenly things than it is for a Stone to move downward 'T is true God must make make us willing but willing we must be now there is no such thing on your parts when you wilfully refuse the hopes God offereth Acts 13.46 Since ye put away the Word of God from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternal life lo we turn to the Gentiles At least you do not apply your hearts to work with God or frame your doings to turn to him as 't is in the Prophet you do not improve Means and Mercies and Providences and Helps vouchsafed And will you after all this think God a Pharaoh that requireth Brick and giveth no Straw Here 't is verified Prov. 17.3 The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. We usually ruine our selves and then complain that God giveth no more Grace But do not we justifie this conceit of wicked men when we say God requireth Duty of the fallen Creatures who have no power to perform it I answer 1. We must so maintain God's Goodness as still to keep up his Sovereignty and right of Dominion Man had power which was lost by his own default but God doth not lose his Right though Man hath lost his Power Their Impotency doth not dissolve their Obligation A Drunken Servant is bound to the Duty of a Servant still 'T is against all reason the Master should lose his right to command by the Servants default A prodigal Debtor that hath nothing to pay yet is liable to be sued for the debt without injustice God contracted with us in Adam and his obedience was not only due by Covenant but by Law and immutable right not by positive Law only or Contract And therefore he hath a right to demand Obedience as the fruit of Original Righteousness 2. 'T is harsh men think to answer for Adam's fault to which they were not conscious and consenting But every man will find an Adam in his own heart the Old Man is there wasting away the relicks of natural light and strength and shall not God challenge the debt of Obedience from a proud prodigal Debtor We are found naked yet we think our selves cloathed poor yet we think our serlves rich and to have need of nothing Therefore God may admonish us of our Duty demand his right to convince us of our Impotency and that we may not pretend we were not called upon for what we owe him Man is prodigal we spend what is left lose those relicks of Conscience and moral Inclinations which escaped out of the ruines of the fall 3. God requireth it that we may acknowledge the Debt and confess our Impotency being practically convinced thereof and so humbly implore his Grace 4. God is still offering recovering Mercy and never forsaketh any but those that forsake him first 1 Chron. 18.9 If thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 2 Chron. 5.2 If you forsake him he will forsake you Did you improve your selves and beg Gods Grace and carry on the Common work as far as you can then 't were another matter He that useth Gods means as well as he can he lyeth nearer to the blessing of them than the wilful despiser and Neglecter of them Unsanctified men may do less evil and more good than they do Therefore if they neglect the means they are left inexcusable not only as originally disabled but as wilfully graceless So that no such prejudice can lye against God he offereth grace and power and men will not have it 3. The third Prejudice is That he is hard to please and easily offended As if he did watch advantages to ruine and destroy the Creature Oh! No This cannot be thought of
most when we are like him Heb. 12.14 Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man can see God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Masculine Article referreth to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho they have not Peace with Men whatever Entertainment they meet with in the World they are sure to have the Favour of God Peace with God That seeing God referreth to the Enjoyments of the other World the degrees of Vision are according to the degrees of Sanctification 1 John 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as as he is but it holdeth good also in the present World A dusky Glass cannot represent the Image so distinctly we cannot have such a sight of God we cannot expect any Communion and Intimacy with him till we be holy It is said Psalm 5.4 Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with thee The Idols of the Heathen are stained with filthy Practices God is not such an one Likeness is the ground of Delight God loveth himself for his own Holiness and they are best loved and liked that are most holy for others God professeth he will have no Intimacy with them he will have nothing to do with Sinners nor be of their Fellowship and Communion and they shall have nothing to do with him Psalm 50.16 What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy Mouth Nay God will not afford Sinners one good Look Habbak 1.13 Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and canst not look upon Evil. As the Prophet to profess his Detestation of that prophane Prince said 2 Kings 3.14 Were it not that I regard the Presence of Jehosaphat the King of Judah I would not look towards thee nor see thee God would not look towards a Congregation were it not for his People in it But what shall we do and who can say My Heart is clean and who is able to stand before this holy God I answer God hath provided a Remedy in the Gospel in the Gospel-sence he only is pure who is purged and washed from the Guilt of his Sins in the Blood of Christ. In a Child of God there are many Failings but God in Christ giveth him an Acquittance But this is not all there must be an habitual Disposition of Purity and a Man must enter into a true course of Sanctification if he would be accepted in God's Eyes 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are justified but ye are sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The Work of the Spirit and the Merit of Christ are inseparable There is a relative and a real Change not only a judicial Abolition of Sin but a real If you would come to God as your holy One you must be his holy Ones as David was called God's holy One Psal. 16.10 Somewhat answerable there must be to God's Nature before he can take pleasure in you You will find it 1. By an hatred of Sin Where God doth change a Soul he breedeth a Disposition in it in some sort like himself Those Sympathies and Antipathies that God hath the Soul hath Now God is an Holy God he cannot endure Sin so it is with an holy Heart What have I to do with Sinners saith God and what have I to do with Sin saith the Soul the displacency is keen and strong they have a Nature put into them like God's and therefore hate what he hateth It is said Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate Evil In what measure we love God we hate what is contrary to God In Grace there is a Love to the chiefest Good and an Hatred of the chiefest Evil the one as well as the other is natural to the Saints Let us never talk of Love to God except there be a Zeal to reform what he hateth It 〈◊〉 true we have a mixed Nature there is the Divine Nature and the Carnal Nature a Believer is partaker of both Flesh and Spirit there will be Slips and Failings but the prevailing part of the Soul abhorreth Sin It is the Evil which we hate and tho a Child of God falleth into Sin yet he cannot rest in it A Fountain may be troubled but it will work it self clean again The Needle in the Compass may be joggled but it rests not till it turns to the Pole A neat Man may be dirtied but he cannot endure any Filthiness should lie on his Cloaths impure Men are in their own Element if they abstain from Sin their unholy Nature likes it they forbear it but do not abhor it as Phaltiel forsook Michal only for fear of David's Displeasure Sinful Affections continue in their full Force and Strength when the Act is suspended 2. By an Act of Duty and Conformity to God's Will and Nature Ephes. 4.24 That ye put on the New Man which is after God created in Righteousness and true Holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a counterfeit Holiness and true Holiness the true Holiness is such a Holiness as God's is answerable in Quality tho not in Equality Now what is God's Holiness such an Attribute by which he loveth himself above all things and all other things as they do more or less partake of his Nature So when we are holy in Truth we love God out of a Principle of the new Nature God is lovely not only for his Benefits but for his Essence as he is deligibilis naturâ it is eminently in him what is in us in a weaker degree So there will be a Delight in the Saints because of the Resemblance they bear to God Psal. 16.3 To the Saints that are in the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my Delight Certainly they have cause to question their Holiness to whom good Company is a Prison and a Burden they have not such Dispositions as God hath So they delight in Duties as they exhibit much of God And they delight in the Practice and growth of Holiness as it maketh them more like God Thus Christians should you strive to come up to the Divine Patern more and more You will think a Child uncapable of Learning when the longer he hath been at the Writing-School the more he swerveth from the Copy and certainly that Holiness that doth not grow up into a greater Likeness and Resemblance of God is to be suspected Thus must you look to come in an holy State 2. With holy and prepared Affections You should remember you have to do with the holy God Josh. 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God Do you know what it is to worship him Rash entring upon the Worship of God is not without Sin and to come reaking from your Sins into God's Presence it is but as Cains's approach from Blood to Sacrifice Before Worship there must be a special purging When Joseph came before Pharaoh he
animated by one Spirit Christ is the Head of the Church and the Spirit is the Soul of the Church There is a Spirit of Communion Look as it is said Ezek. 1.21 When the Beasts went the Wheels went and when those stood these stood and when those were lifted up from the Earth the Wheels were lifted up over against them the Reason is because the Spirit of the living Creature was in the Wheels So because the same Spirit is in one Christian that is in another therefore they have the like Affections to procure the good of one another as much as may be Christ giveth us the Spirit to make us One But of this Spirit of Communion more hereafter 6. This is the End of his gracious Dispensations he giveth us Grace and assurance of Glory to this End John 17.22 And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be One even as we are One. Understand it of the privilege of Filiation we are made Sons that we may live as Brethren or of the Gift of Grace the glorious Image of God is impressed on all the Saints that Likeness may beget Love or of an Interest in Glory that those that expect to live in the same Heaven may not fall out by the way and disagree on Earth 7. It is the End of his Ordinances and Appointments in the Church Baptism and the Lord's Supper are to keep the Saints together It is sad indeed that the World maketh them Apples of Strife when Christ made them Bonds of Love We are all baptized by one Spirit into one Body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 It notes our Union with Christ and one with another And 1 Cor. 10.17 We being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread The Sacraments are Banners under which we do encamp and profess our Union and Brotherhood in the Army of Christ. Vse 1. How contrary are they to Christ that love Strife and sow Discord among Brethren they are the Devil's Factors Agents for the Kingdom of Darkness they wholly frustrate the Design and Undertaking of Jesus Christ he was incarnate preached prayed died c. that his People may be one Yea they do not only what in them lieth to frustrate Christ and make void his Aim but do also disparage him before the World he holdeth out to all the World that his People are one Body one Family one House and yet they are crumbled into Factions Divisions in the Church beget Atheism in the World Oh let it not seem a small thing to rend the Unity of the Church But where shall this be charged Every one will excuse himself from the guilt of the present Breaches Certainly we have all cause to reflect upon our own Hearts and not make Application for others It is usual with us to do as Judas when Christ told his Disciples somewhat that concerned him he looked round about upon the Disciples So we look about upon others when we should smite upon our own Thigh One of the Bellows of Strife is Crimination and Recrimination therefore let us see a little who is guilty The Unity is two-fold One in Mind One in Heart One in Judgment One in Affection Now what hast thou done contrary to either of these Unions 1. If thou hast been a stickler in Novel Opinions whereby Division hath been caused in the Church thou hast disserved the Aim of Christ. Christians are bound to be of one Mind 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally be ye all of one Mind c. Phil. 2.2 Fulfil ye my Joy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one Accord of one Mind 1 Cor. 13.2 Tho I have all Faith so as I can remove Mountains and have no Charity I am Nothing But you will reply Will you inforce Judgment or impose Belief and make me an Hypocrite and your self an Usurper And what are Novel Opinions You condemn others and they you you preach against them and they against you Yea but yet Christians should strive as much as is possible to be all of a Mind and it should trouble thee if forced to differ from the general Judgment of the Church 〈◊〉 doubtful Matters take not up an Opinion which will offend beware of doubtâ—ul Disputations He that dissents had need have plain Evidence and that the Truth should be brought with much demonstration to the Conscience Arguments had need be express and clear and he had need pray much and consult and confer with others But when singularity and diversity of Opinions is affected Homini congenitum est magis nova quà m magna mirari and without any fear and jealousy Men let loose their Hearts to Novelties this is blame-worthy When we have the Consent of the Church a a less Light will serve the turn than for a Dissent 2. Hast thou done any thing to hinder the Church from being of one Heart 1. By professing Principles of Separation certainly it is a Crime It is against Love as Error is against Faith it cuts asunder the Bands and Sinews of Christ's Mystical Body In these Times the Charge of this Sin is so frequent that the Sin is little regarded Every modest Dissent and Unconformity is branded with the Name of Schism that Men think Schism no such Matter or no such Crime Jude 19. These be they who separate themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now it is dangerous to separate and hard to discern when it is lawful The Question of Separation lieth in the dark but the Enforcements of Love are plain and open Divers allow but three Grounds of Separation Intolerable Persecution Damnable Heresy and Gross Idolatry We should hold Communion as long as Christ will Scandal is a Ground of Mourning but not a Ground of Separation and when-ever it is done it must be with Grief 2. They that prosecute Controversies in such a way as will not stand with Love viz. with Passion bitterness of Spirit damning all Opposites suppressing them by the Power of the Sword Wrath exulceration and bitterness of Spirit are opposite to Love Michael durst not bring a railing Accusation The worst Adversaries are overcome with soft Words and hard Arguments Railing and Reviling makes Men deaf to the Tenders of Reconciliation Psal. 120.7 I am for Peace but when I speak they are for War So is damning all Opposites casting them out of Christ urging things beyond the weight and consequence of the Opinion censuring others as not Spiritual 1 Cor. 14.37 Interest makes Men passionately and irregularly zealous 1 Cor. 1.2 To all that in every place call on the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours not as a Party impropriating Christ I am of Christ. So is domineering over Mens Consciences and obtruding Opinions by Force these are said to go in the way of Cain Jude 11. Vse 2. Let us be as earnest for Unity as Christ let us think of Charity more than we
is to sanctify God when we can say he is thus and none like him Now it is fit that you should be acquainted with the Grounds and Reasons of your holy Profession with the distinct Excellency that is in it above all other Religions in the World God counts no Assemblies in the World to be like the Church therefore we should be always studying the Excellencies and Perfections of God that we may see there is none like our God That Phrase Who is like unto thee is twice used in Scripture Of the Church Deut. 33.29 Who is like unto thee O People saved by the Lord And of God Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee who pardoneth Iniquity c. The Church should in gratitude return this upon God where is there such a Pardon to be had such a Satisfaction for Conscience and such a Fountain of Holiness Christ and the Church are thus brought in mutually pleasing themselves in one another Cant. 2.2 Christ begins with the Church As the Lilly among the Thorns so is my Beloved among the Daughters It is not meant in regard of scratching as if the Church were in the midst of Thorns but by way of Comparison Look as a Lilly excells Thorns so the Church excells all the World And then the Church begins Verse 3. As the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons Look how much the Fruit-bearing Tree excells the barren and rotten Trees of the Forest so doth Jesus Christ excell all others Upon these grounds it will not be amiss to enter upon the Discourse concerning the Divine Authority of the Scriptures IV. Whether a wicked Man remaining wicked may be convinced of the Truth of the Word I should think they can have no absolute Assurance till they have some Work of Grace because that is the Fruit of Grace Col. 2.2 That your Hearts might be comforted and knit together in Love and unto all Riches of the full Assurance of Vnderstanding to the Acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. 2 Cor. 4.4 If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned He receives not the things of God that is doth not perceive them with demonstration nor receive them with acceptation A natural Man may have an Opinion a light Conjecture a slight Conviction upon his Heart enough to beget an Awe so as he knows not how to contradict the Truth of the Scriptures but not an absolute Assurance of the Truth of the Word It is Christ's Sheep only that are able to distinguish his Voice John 10.27 My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me They that look upon the Scripture in the Light of the Spirit they are only able to see that it is from God We may convince them and use preparative Inducements but they cannot be absolutely assured of the Truth of the Doctrine and that for two Reasons 1. Because all external Arguments without the Light of the Spirit work but an humane Faith He that inspired the Scriptures must open our Eyes to know them and incline our Hearts to believe them otherwise we shall look upon them but as a Traditional Report Isa. 53.1 Lord who hath believed our Report The Church maketh Report What is the reason wicked Men do not entertain it 1 John 2.20 Ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things Men may speak of Christ by hear-say as a Parrot talks after a Man but it is the Spirit only that must reveal him to the Heart The Disciples themselves knew not the Truth of the Gospel so much by Christ's outward Ministry as by the inward Illumination of the Spirit So Christ himself saith John 16.13 Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he shall guide you into all Truth Christ had brought it out of the Bosom of the Father and had taught them by an external Ministry but the Comforter was to bring it into their Hearts to lead them into all Truth Therefore tho carnal Men may have a rational Conviction and may be so over-powered with Reason that they cannot contradict the Word and so far understand it as to be condemned by it yet they have not an absolute Assurance it is accompanied with Atheism Doubts and Dissatisfactions 2. Because the Spirit worketh not by way of Certioration and full Assurance but when he sanctifieth And therefore the Apostle saith 1 Thess. 1.5 Our Gospel came not to you in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy-Ghost and in much Assurance It cleanseth and sanctifieth the Heart And in the Text it is said Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth Where-ever there is an inward plenary Conviction there is the Spirit and where the Spirit of God works he changeth the Heart It is true a wicked Man remaining carnal may have common Gifts from the Spirit Heb. 6.4 They may be inlightned and taste of the heavenly Gift and be made Partakers of the Holy-Ghost and taste the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come They may be able to make use of the Model and Form of Knowledg that is in the Brain but there is not an absolute Assurance This partial Conviction is soon lost it is led in by Man and led off by Man A natural Man being in the Church may have great Presumption and Probability he may know nothing to the contrary why it is not God's Word nay he may in Bravery die for his Profession but he dies in his own Quarrel and for his own Humor not for the love of the Truth because it is his not because it is God's because his own Profession may not be disparaged But a true Certainty they cannot have such as is affective transforming setled Vse 1. To wicked Men that stagger about the Truth of the Scriptures and are haunted with a Spirit of Atheism and continued Doubts 1. Wait upon common Grounds Consent of the Church and probable Arguments You ought out of respect to search into it whether it will be found to be the Word of God or no. You read in Jugdes when Ehud said to Eglon Judges 3.20 I have a Message from God unto thee he rose out of his Seat If a King's Letter threatning great Peril were brought to a Man he doth not know whether it be the King's Letter or no but because the Peril is great he will enquire further into the Matter So when the Word of God is brought unto you propounding everlasting Hope threatning everlasting Death this should make you wait enquire and see if it be the Word of God or no. We venture far for great Gain upon a probable Hope If there were but a loose probability of having a great Prize for a Shilling a Man
vid. Willingness Did not fall out by chance Page 180 Were appointed by the Father Page 7 Foretold by the Prophets Page 8 Always attended with some Glory Page 9 Sufferings of God's People short Page 8 God's People to prepare for them Page 194 vid Troubles When they come do not think strange at them Page 195 How to know when God is about to bring Trouble on the Church Page 164 Cautions in suffering for Christ. Page 117 Christ hath Experience of his Peoples Sufferings Page 134 T. TEaching of Christ the manner of it Page 69 Christ the great Teacher of the Church Page 74 Temptations fitted to every State Page 135 To every Condition Calling Action Place Page 214 215 Lust within gives advantage to Temptations without Page 129 260 Tender God is tender of his Truth and Saints Page 239 337 Threatnings of the Word always fulfilled Page 250 Objections answered Page 250 Titles of God in Scripture suited to Requests made to him Page 136 349 367 Toleration Arguments against it Page 236 Treason against Christ one of Judas's Sins Page 175 To be avoided Page 178 Trinity the Doctrine of the Trinity opened and proved Page 37 vid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Person How we are to imitate the Trinity Page 168 309 Truth a great Treasure Page 236 Truth of the Scriptures Scriptures must be fulfilled Page 182 vid. Scriptures Divine Authority U. VIctory over evil to be preferred before Exemption from it Page 213 Vision of Christ in Heaven ocular and mental what Page 358 359 Why our Happiness lies in it Page 359 Vision the cause of all Fruition in Heaven Page 359 It shall be comfortable Page 361 Who are they that shall see Christ in Heaven Page 361 Union moral of Believers one with another what it is vid. Unity Page 106 303 Union mystical of Believers with Christ what it is Page 160 301 389 The whole Trinity is concerned in this Union Page 301 Whole Christ is united to a whole Believer Page 301 This Union is secret and mysterious but real Page 302 Illustrated by the Union of Head and Members Page 302 And by the Conjugal Union Page 390 All the Ordinances have an aspect on our Union with Christ. Page 332 How this Union is brought about and in what order Page 389 What the Act of Faith is whereby we are united to Christ. Page 389 The end of it Page 333 The advantages Believers have by it Page 305 Glory the Fruit of Union as well as Grace Page 326 The Honour and Happiness of those that are united to Christ. Page 304 305 The Resemblance between the Mystical Union and the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ. Page 308 The disagreement between these two Unions Page 308 The Resemblance between the Mystical Union and the Union of Father and Son in the Trinity Page 308 Why Christ prayeth for this Union Page 303 How we may know we are united to Christ. Page 305 391 Those who are united to Christ to look for greater things than they enjoy Page 326 This should teach us Dependance Page 331 What those Fruits are of it whereby the World is convinced of the Truth of Christianity vid. Conviction Page 311 320 Unity of Believers hath some resemblance of the Unity of the Divine Persons Page 167 What is contrary to it Page 165 To be prayed for Page 163 Believers to be earnest for it Page 165 How much Christ's Heart is set on the Unity of his Members Page 161 vid. Love of Brethren Why Christ so earnestly prays for it Page 162 Arguments to press it Page 166 It is possible to be attained Page 163 What an excellent Blessing it is Page 162 The need the Church hath of it Page 163 Directions to attain it Page 166 Directions to restore it Page 166 How God keepeth the Saints together Page 168 Unity between God and Christ. Page 307 Unworthiness what we should do when dejected with a sense of our Unworthiness Page 344 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original and Signification of the Word vid. Person Page 38 W. WAiting â—n God a Duty tho we want outward Supplies Page 172 Walk Christians to walk wisely towards them that are without Page 203 Warning Sinners to take warning by Iudgments on others Page 180 Watching what a Believer should watch against Page 216 Watching and Prayer should go together Page 216 Welcome of Christ by the Father at his Ascension Page 123 Willingness of Christ to undertake the Work of Redemption Page 286 And to suffer Page 9 287 Word of God the necessity of God's giving us a Word Page 238 VVhat it is Page 240 To be reverenced Page 250 How given to Christ. Page 88 The proper means to work Faith Page 88 vid. Faith It will work without Miracles Page 89 The Spirit will not work without it Page 89 The Power of it to convert Souls Page 89 The Truth of it vid. Scripture Divine Authority It helps our Ioy. Page 190 Work every Man hath his Work Page 52 This Work is given to him by God Page 53 This Work must be finished Page 54 World why God permits his People to be in the World Page 131 The weakness of the World Page 105 The danger of living in the World Page 129 214 The Enemies we meet with in the World Page 130 Christ apprehensive of his Peoples danger in this World and why vid. Daâ—ger Page 133 VVhy we should grow weary of the World Page 135 How Christians are not of this World Page 204 VVhy Christians are not of this World Page 204 Characters of those that live as if they were of this World Page 206 How to know whether our Hearts are set on this World vid. Heart Page 206 207 How should a Christian know when the Worâ—d incroacheth upon him Page 217 VVe can never enough be cautioned against the World Page 222 Worldly Conversation wherein seen Page 209 Worldly Men their dangerous Estate Page 106 Men of the World apt to defile the People of God Page 130 How the People of God differ from the Men of the World Page 191 Worldly Spirit to be avoided Page 224 Worldly things are frail Page 148 Worldliness expressed by Adultery and Idolatry and why Page 217 223 Arguments against it Page 223 Worldliness of Professors brings Troubles on the Church Page 195 Worship God to be worshipped in an holy manner Page 142 VVe should go away the more holy from Worship Page 142 A TABLE Of the Places of Scriptures explained in this PART    Pag. GEn. 3. 15. 197 19. 17. 216 Ex. 28. 12 29. 265 29. 4. 230 1 Sam. 2. 9. 171  25. 86 264 Job 1. 5. 105 4. 18. 138 31. 14. 56 Psalm 14. 1. 33 16. 3 4. 106 19. 7 8 9. 235 24. 7 8. 253  11. 122 25. 14. 372 62. 10. 209 93. ult 140 112. 96. 235 259 Proverb 8. 12. 91 13. 17. 281 14. 13. 187 18. 10. 152 29. 27. 197 30. 8 9. 214 Eccles. 2. 2. 187
Antidote or to wound our selves mortally to try the virtue of a Plaster God made advantage of the sins of the World for the honouring of his Grace in Christ but they that presume to sin greatly that God may pardon greatly run a desperate adventure whether God will pardon them or no. 2. There is a difference between the remission of sins past and allowance of sin future Our fixed purpose must be not to sin but if we sin we have the use of Gods remedy 1 Joh. 2.1 My little children these things I write unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous If God made advantage of sins past to honour his Grace we also by sins past may make an advantage for a renewed use of Faith in our Redemeer and renewed desires and expectations of pardon by his Intercession but it is a wrong conclusion to think we may heap up new sins for time to come and still make more work for pardoning Mercy and be content to offend God again that he may still be pardoning and we never forsake sin In short we must not sin that grace may abound but when we have sinned we must make use of abounding grace Faith and Repentance may draw good out of sin it self to make the remembrance of it a means of our hatred and mortification of sin and of more gratitude to our Redeemer but not to take liberty to indulge sin antedating our pardon before the fact 3. It is contrary to all ingenuity and love to God or Christ. This is the difference between Faith and Presumption or a sound and a blind confidence of pardon by Christ namely that Faith maketh us hate sin and Presumption maketh us secure and bold in finning and slightly to pass it over with little remorse and reluctancy when we are guilty of it He who presumeth doth the work of an Age in a breath God is merciful Christ dyed for sinners and all our confidence must be in Christ But the true Believer is more affected with sin as she wept much and loved much to whom much was forgiven Luc. 7.47 and Ezek. 16.63 That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done They express their gratitude for remission of sin by a careful keeping from it pardoning Mercy maketh God amiable to us and his Laws acceptable our Duty sweeter and Sin more grievous Secondly It is absurd and contrary to the Doctrine of Grace true Christianity is of a far different make from this conceit 1. It is not consistent with the Grace that goeth along with Pardon for God sanctifieth all those whom he justifieth we receive together with the remission of sins the gift of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are justified but ye are sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God these are inseparable the application of the Merit of Christ and the gift of his Spirit which reneweth us to the image of God and mortifieth the life of sin in us the heart broken with compunction seeketh this double benefit 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness as a Malefactor that hath a Leprosie on him needs not only a Pardon but a Medicine and in a broken leg not only ease of the pain is desirable but that the bone be set right Therefore we are both justified and sanctified continuing in sin cannot consist with the truth of Regeneration 2. It is contrary to the order of Gods grace in the New Covenant who requireth of us Faith and Repentance if we would be partakers of Christ Now to continue in sin is to be under the bondage of it without restraint or any change of heart and life 1. It is against Faith take it for assent it is a belief that he will save all those that submit to be sanctified and ruled by him in order to their Salvation Heb. 5.9 Being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him If you hope to be saved by him and will not be ruled by him you do not believe Christ but the Devil for if you believe Christ you must believe that you cannot be saved unless you be converted Mat. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Take Faith for acceptance of Christ it is an hearty consent both of subjection to him and dependence upon him as the Saviour and Redeemer of the World the Mediator's blessing is to turn every one of you away from your iniquities Acts 3.26 he is a Saviour to save his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 to say nothing of receiving Christ the Lord which the Scripture presseth Col. 2.6 2. It is against Repentance which implieth a sorrow for sin with a serious purpose to forsake it 1. There is in it godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 this is requisite to check the sensual inclination or love of pleasure which is the heart root and life of all sin it dyes when our affection to it dyes In Repentance with bitterness of Soul we bemoan our selves for offending God now if we lick up our vomit again and go round in a track of confessing sin and committing sin our hearts are not found with God we undo that which is done and so build again the things we have destroyed if while we seek to be justified by Christ we are still found sinners Gal. 2.17 18. a man that truly seeks after pardon seeks with it the ruine and destruction of sin Sin was his greatest trouble the burden that lay upon his Conscience the grievance from which he sought ease the wound which pained him at heart the disease that his Soul was sick of is all this real What will you say if this man should delight in his former trouble and take up his burden that he groaned under and prefer it before liberty to tear open the wounds which were in a fair way of healing willingly relapse into the sickness out of which he is recovered with so much ado if he should desire the bonds and chains again of which he was freed by infinite mercy Surely then you may question the reality of all that he hath done in the anguish of our Souls we groaned under sin as the heaviest and most intolerable burden we could ever feel now should we stoop to it and take it on again after it was lifted from our backs who would pity us 2. There is a renouncing and forsaking of sin it is called Repentance from dead works Heb. 6.1 not only Repentance for but from
them The heart is so turned from sin that it is turned against it we do not repent of the sins we still live in Now if Grace be dispensed in this order what more contrary to the Tenour of the Gospel-Covenant 3. This Faith and Repentance are solemnly professed in Baptism which is the initiating Ordinance wherein we profess to be baptized into the Death of Christ that is to say to express the virtue to be conformed to the likeness of it and dye unto sin When we first gave our Names to Christ our Baptism strictly obligeth us to continue no longer in sin it is a vowed death to sin therefore if we continue in it we renounce or forget our Baptism 2 Pet. 1.9 if we wallow again in the mire after we are once washed all that is done in Baptism is but a Nullity or empty Formality That is the Apostles Argument here How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein There you solemnly renounced sin that you might have no more commerce with it than the dead have with the living therefore for us to continue in sin and indulge sin is to break our solemn Covenant with God You have promised to give neither mind nor heart nor sense nor any faculty or member of Soul or body to accomplish it but so carry your selves as if you were dead And besides you deprive your selves of the Grace of the Covenant which you might have if you did not ponere obicem you might be delivered from the reigning power of indwelling sin therefore you must carefully see that it have not the upper hand in your Souls that the Flesh be made subject to the Spirit that the Reign and Dominion of Sin be indeed broken that you run into no wilful sin and walk with all holy strictness and watchfulness 4. It is contrary to Gods design to call us out of our sinful estate to sincere reformation this was Gods end that we that fly from him as a condemning God might return to his love and service as a pardoning God Psal. 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mightest be feared he pardoneth what is past upon condition of future obedience he calleth us to Repentance Acts 17.30 Now he commandeth all men every where to repent not to encourage them to continue or go on a minute longer in a course of sin or flatter them with hope of impunity if they do so Ezek. 18.30 Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Isa. 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Thirdly It is wicked and blasphemous 1. Because as much as in you lyeth you make Christ a Minister of sin or an incourager of sin Gal. 2.7 If while we seek to be justified by Christ we are found sinners is Christ a minister of sin God forbid 2. They prevent the highest Institution in the World for the recovery of men to God Jude 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turning the grace of God into wantonness The Gospel is the only way of taking away sin you make it the only way to countenance sin Grace is there taken for objâ—ctive Grace viz. Grace held forth to us in the Doctrine of the Gospel The Doctrine of the Gospel doth not tend to make men sinners nor incourage them to lay aside all care of Holiness or good Works Vse 1. Caution against this abuse 1. Be not prejudiced against the Doctrine of Grace as if it yielded these conclusions it is a misunderstood and misapplied Gospel the World hath not a right understanding in this Mystery Christ came into the World to save sinners but not to reconcile God to our sins to make him less holy or his Law less strict or sin less odious and his free pardon is not to incourage us to go on in our sins but a wicked heart like a Spider will suck poyson from those flowers from wheâ—â—e a Bee â—uâ—keth honey 2. Let us not give occasion to others to think so either 1. By entertaining Opinions that may countenance this abuse as the setting up a naked dependence on Christ without a care of Holiness or Christs Merit against his Spirit relying on his reconciling and neglecting his renewing Grace that we are justified before we repent or believe that all sins past present or to come aâ—e pardoned at once that we need not trouble our selves with scruples about offending God that the greatest confidence of our own good estate is the strongest and best Faith 2. Nor by Practices Christians must be most averse from sin and all enormous Practices else you dishonour Christ in the World but let the blame and shame lye on us and not on the Gospel 3. Let us not harbour this mistake in our own bosoms we are marvellous apt to do so but hereby we forfeit the comfort and priviledge of Christians and it concerneth God to avenge the quarrel of his Grace against us Now harbour it we do if we grow more careless and negligent in Duties less circumspect in our Conversations less humble for Sins and venture upon them with greater boldness and security If you think you need to be less troubled for sin less earnest and watchful against it as if since Christ dyed for the expiation of it it were a smaller matter than before to sin against God you are guilty of this abuse Vse 2. To exhort you to three things 1. To carry your selves as those that are dead to sin be sure that its Dominion and Reign be broken and its strength and power every day more weakened you subdue it throughly root and branch and let your minds be more intent on this that you may not sin 1. Joh. 3.9 Whoso is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God see how this is fulfilled in you and what Conscience you make of your Baptismal Vow every day 2. Honour Grace you should not only esteem it and advance it in your minds but set forth the glory of it in word and deed Eph. 1.5 12. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will that we should be to the praise of his glory The whole strain of your life and conversation should be to the praise of Grace that our actions might speak for it though we be silent To this end consider God hath trusted you with the honour of his Grace therefore you should be eminently much better than other men Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven 1 Pet. 3.9 and set forth the genuine and kindly workings of it 3. Fortifie your minds against this abuse which is so
God is cured As Moses pleaded many things why he should not be sent to Egypt he was not eloquent and the like Exod. 4.19 Go return into Egypt for all the men are dead which sought thy life he had never pleaded this but God knew where the pinch was and that was the main ground of his tergiversation and therefore gently toucheth his privy sore So some complain of other things this and that is amiss but the main thing is neglected and slightly passed over 2 We rather complain than give over sinning resistance is certainly a greater evidence of a sincere heart than complaining We should not be so haunted with Temptations if we did resist more Jam. 4.7 Resist the devil and he shall flee from you Satan only hath weapons offensive as fiery darts he hath none defensive as a Christian hath namely sword and shield and we should not be so much troubled with the ill consquents of sin who will pity that man that complains of soreness and pain and doth not take the gravel out of his shoo If you wound and goar your selves no question but your smart and trouble is real you do not complain in Hypocrisie but who is to be blamed your business is to remove the cause We read of the young man Mat. 10.22 He was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions His grief was a real grief but the cause was in himself he would have Christ and yet keep his love to the World still so many complain of their Lusts not as a burden for they indulge them but because of their inconvenience they cannot reconcile their sense of Duty with those corrupt affections which it apparently disproveth 2. When it is opposed weakly and with a faint resistance It is not enough for men to see their sins and blame them in themselves or purpose to amend and forsake them but they must strive to overcome them and in striving prevail for otherwise sensuality carrieth it because our Reason and Will make too weak an opposition Jesus Christ our Head and Chief resisted Satans motions with indignation Get thee behind me Satan so must we when we speak faintly and coldly the Devil reneweth the assault with the more violence therefore our resistance must be valid and strong Many purposes there are that come to nothing because they are not deep and serious Pharaoh in his qualms proposed to let the Children of Israel go and yet when it came to it he would not let them go Saul purposed in his heart not to kill David yea bound it by an Oath yet afterwards he attempted it 1 Sam. 19.6 compared with 10 and 11. So many times they purpose to avoid the sin by which they have been foiled but when the Temptation returneth they are over-born with it as marish ground is drowned with the return of every Tide Many are perswaded that sin is evil as contrary to God and hurtful to themselves hereupon they have some mind to let it go yea some wishes and weak desires that Christ would save them from it yet still have a Love that is greater than their Dislike the bent of their hearts is more for it than against it and their habitual inclination is more to keep it than leave it Therefore we must look not only to our endeavour but to the success that we have against sin for if our Will were more strong and our endeavour more serious we should have more success if there were a firm ratified resolution of mortifying and crucifying every sin and an endeavouring against sin with all speed and diligence the old man would more decay in us and the life of Grace be set up with greater power and efficacy I would not leave this point without distinct information 1. Then there are certain unavoidable infirmities which the Saints cannot get rid of though they fain would such as the Apostle speaketh of Rom. 7.19 When I would do good evil is present with me As those swarms of noisom and unsavoury thoughts which are injected on a sudden and do hinder us and distract us in the best imployment wandring thoughts in the time of Prayer never distinctly consented to rash words spoken of a sudden sudden unpremeditated actions In these cases watching and striving is conquering for you do prevail in part though not in whole it preventeth many of them Of this nature are want of degrees of Love to God and that liberty and purity in his service which the holy Soul aimeth at and the first stirrings and risings of corruption in the heart 2. There are a smaller sort of sins as the sins of daily incursion Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all of us There is no man so exact but his watch is intermitted and then he will be sinning other cannot be looked for in this state of frailty wherein we now are We bewray too much dulness weariness formality in our Duties to God our domestick crosses put us into fits of anger and discontent in our publick actions some intermixture of Hypocrisie and vain Glory some high-mindedness in our Prosperity some distrust and uncomely disquiet of spirit in our Adversity Our Lord telleth us Joh. 13.10 He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet they that are in an holy state by walking up and down in the World in the several businesses and employments thereof contract some filth which must be washed off every day by a renewed application of the Blood of Christ which is the Fountain God hath opened for uncleanness Though the Saints do not like Swine voluntarily wallow in the puddle yet in a polluted World they contract some filth In this case every failing must make us more wary and watchful and teach us wisdom that we do not lapse another time 3. By the sway of great and head-strong Passions some that make Conscience of their ways in the general may fall into sins more hainous but they do not make a trade of it or settle in such an evil way To lapse ordinarily frequently easily into these sins will not stand with Grace The Saints may fail in their Duty strangely on occasions as David Peter Lot c. as a man sailing into France a Tempest may drive him into Spain or some other Country their face is towards Heaven but a sudden Passion may drive them another way as the wicked are good by fits but evil by constitution so the Children of God the constitution and bent of their hearts is towards God for a fit or so they may do things misbecoming the new Nature but assoon as awakened they retract their sins by a special Repentance Psal. 51.3 4. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight 3. As sin in general should not bear sway in our hearts so no one sin should have dominion over us Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let
so outgrow all feelings of Conscience 2. To stir up in the People of God this holy shame by reason of sin past and present It is a great help to the spiritual Life for when we make light of sin we are in danger of being overcome by it Therefore rouse up your selves Is the offending of the eternal God a slight thing Surely God doth not make his Laws for nought nor doth he make such a stir by his Word and Providence against a tame and harmless thing nor threaten men to Hell for small indifferent matters neither needed Christ to have dyed and done all that he hath done to cure a small and little disease More particularly 1. Sin is the Creatures Rebellion and Disobedience to the Law of the absolutely universal Soveraign 1 Joh. 3.4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the Law for sin is the transgression of the Law 2. The Deformity of the noblest Creature upon earth Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God 3. A stain so deep that nothing could wash it away but the Blood of Christ Rev. 1.5 6. To him that loved us and washed our sins with his own blood c. 4. It hath yielded a flood that drowned the World of Sinners yet it did not wash away their sins 2 Pet. 2.9 Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly 5. Hell it self can never do it nor purge out the malignity of it therefore it hath no end Mark 9.44 Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched 6. God himself doth loath the Creature for sin and nothing else but sin Zech. 11.8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month and my soul loathed them Deut. 32.19 When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters Psal. 78.59 When God saw this he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel II. As it sets forth the evil and the odiousness of Sin shame dogs Sin at the heels Doctrine That Sin is really the matter of Shame 1. It is so for the present it will make you loathsom to your selves infamous to others odious to God 1. Loathsom to our selves therefore a wicked man dareth not to converse with his own Heart but doth what he can to fly from himself to divert his thoughts from the sight of his own Soul or the view of his own natural face in the Glass of the Word Joh. 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved There is a secret bosom-witness which they fear Job 27.6 My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live There needeth a great deal of do to bring a man and his Conscience together 2. Infamous to others he bringeth a blot upon himself Prov. 13.5 A righteous man hateth lying but a wicked man is loathsom and cometh to shame They are a disgrace to the Socieâ—y in which they live 2 Pet. 2.13 Spots are they and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you Those that love sin in themselves hate it in another Tit. 3.3 We our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another 3. Odious to God Psal. 14.2 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one and they are sensible of it and therefore grow shy of God 1 Joh. 3.20 21. 2. It will be much more so hereafter First At the Day of Judgment Shame is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fear of a just reproof and that chiefly from one in Authority most of all from the Judge of the World This is principally intended not shame of Face before men so much as shame of Conscience a lothness to come into Gods Presence Gen. 3.10 I was afraid or ashamed because I was naked and I hid my self There was Verecundia before an awful Bashfulness but not Pudor fear of Reproof and Blame that entred with sin much more when all things shall be opened and brought to light as at the great Day 1 Joh. 2.28 That we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming Wicked persons that are void of Righteousness and all Hypocrites that have been unfaithful and unthankful to him will then be ashamed Secondly In Hell Shame in the Damned is that troublous confounding sense of their lost Estate past Folly and evil Choice having now no hope of his Grace Dan. 12.2 Some shall arise to shame and everlasting contempt they shall be rejected by God as much as they now reject and disowne him Vse Well then let us walk more cautiously not return again to our wallowing in the mire lest we provide matter of grief and shame to our selves It is a Grace to be ashamed in a penitent manner but it is a sin to provide matter of shame anew The godly and wicked are both ashamed the one to get sin pardoned the other would have Conscience deadned the one to get sin mortified the other only to have ease within themselves though they wallow in sin and be not reconciled to God Gods Children are more watchful for the time to come but the other would only get rid of trouble Now if we cannot hope to prevail with the one we have great confidence the other will weigh his motive Will you once more render your selves odious to God a burden to your selves and live contrary to him whose Favour is your Life You have more to do with him than with all the World your happiness is to hold communion with him will you now you have eyes to see the odiousness of sin break through all the restraints which Light and Love lay upon you Thirdly The Apostles Argument is à damno it is harmful the end of sin is death The End may be taken for the Scope or for the Effect it is not scopus peccantis but finis peccati this is the issue it cometh unto we incur the penalty of eternal Death The Sinner hopeth for a better issue but the end of the work is Death it is finis operis though not operantis Doctrine If we continue in Sin we cannot expect other or better Fruit and Conclusion than eternal Death Now we find the Shame hereafter Death All that I shall say now shall be referred to these three Heads 1. It is terrible 2. It is just 3. It is certain 1. It is terrible if we consider the loss a separation from the blessed Presence of God the Disciples wept when Paul said Ye shall see my face no more O what will be our case and plight when God shall say Depart ye cursed ye shall see my face no more
The same is true of words also they declare the Life and Vigor of our spirits for there is a quick intercourse betwen the Tongue and the Heart 1 John 4.5 They are of the world and speak of the world and the world heareth them mens speeches are as their temper is Prov. 10.20 The tongue of the just is as choice silver but the heart of the wicked is little worth When the heart is stored with knowledg and biassed by spiritual affections they will inrich others with their holy savoury profitable discourse but a drowsie unsanctified heart in man bewrayeth it self by his speeches and communications with others 3. By actions or what we seek after If all our business be to gratifie the flesh Luk. 12.21 or sowing to the flesh Gal. 5.8 it argues a fleshly mind On the other side they that have a spiritual mind make it their business to grow in grace Phil. 3.13 This one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind I press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus They labour for spiritual and heavenly things John 17.27 Seek the things that are above Col. 3.1 They mind the things of the spirit 2. Comparitively so the mark must be interpreted The simple Consideration is not so convictive as the comparative 1. Partly because all minding the flesh is not sinful but an over-minding the Flesh the body hath its necessities and they must be cared for yea take the flesh for sensitive Appetite to please it with lawful satisfactions is no sin for it is a Faculty put into us by God and in due subordination to Religion may be pleased to please it by things forbidden is certainly a sin and to prefer it before the pleasing of God is a great sin indeed for it is a Character of them who are in a state of damnation that they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 Therefore tho we must observe our Thoughts Words and Actions Yet it must be thus interpreted not to condemn every act but that we may know in what proportion the vigor of mind is manifested and carried out to either of these Objects by Thoughts Words or Actions If our thoughts of the world shut out all thoughts of God Psal. 12.4 God is not in all their thoughts If our thinking of spiritual things be too rare unfrequent and unpleasing to us we are after the flesh so for words if we are heartless in our talk of heavenly things and we are in our element when speaking of carnal things and when a serious word is interposed for God we frown upon the motion so for actions compare mens care for the world with their care for their souls if they more earnestly and industriously seek to please the flesh than to save their souls it is a sign the flesh and its interests are predominant in them all things are done superficially and by the by in Religion not as becomes those that work from and for life with any diligence and Fervency There is no proportion between endeavours for the world and their preparations for eternal life all is earnest on one side but either nothing is done or in a very slight manner on the other side their thoughts and love and life and strength are wholly occupied and taken up about the things of the flesh 2. Partly Because we must distinguish between the sin of flesh-pleasing and the state of flesh pleasing for a man is to judg of his spiritual condition not by single acts but his state or the habitual frame of his heart Who is there among Gods own Children who doth not mind the flesh and too much indulge the flesh but they who make it their business to please the flesh are over careful about it Rom. 13.14 Who make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof And so indulge the minding of the flesh as not to mind the things of the spirit so that vain pleasures do exceed their delight in God and kill it yet more and more and bring a slavery upon themselves which they cannot help Tit. 3.3 Serving divers lusts and pleasures and being captivated by the fleshly part they have contracted a strangeness and enmity to God and his ways Rom. 8.7 They that have no relish for the joys of faith and the pleasures of Holiness and do habitually prefer the natural good of the body before the moral spiritual and eternal good both of body and soul these are in a state of carnality II. The Observations 1. This minding of the flesh must be interpreted not with respect to our former estate for alas all of us in times past pleased the flesh and walked according to the course of this world and had in time past our conversation in the lusts of the Flesh fulfilling the will of the Flesh and of the mind Eph. 2.3 It was God that loosed our shackles Tit. 3.3 We our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures c. but after the kindness and love of God appeared towards mankind c. If we yet please the flesh we are not the servants of Christ but if we break off this servitude God will not judg us according to what we have been but what we are 2. To know what we are We must consider what Principle liveth in us and groweth and increaseth and on the other side what decreaseth the interest of the Flesh or the interest of the spirit for these two are contrary and the one destroyeth the other the love of the world and the flesh estrangeth us from God 1 John 2.15 Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him On the other side minding the things of the spirit deadneth our Affections to the world and the baits of the flesh The Conversation in Heaven is opposed to the minding of earthly things Phil. 3.19 20. Whose God is their belly whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things but our conversation is in Heaven So much of affection as we give to the one we take from the other Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above and not on things of the earth Now we are to consider if we grow more brutish forgetful of God unapt for spiritual things the flesh gaineth But if the spiritual inclination doth more and more discover it self with life and power in our Thoughts Words and Actions the flesh is in the wane and we shall be reckoned among those that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit we have every day a higher estimation of God and Christ and Grace and Heaven and thereby we grow more dead to other things 3. Some things more immediately tend to the pleasing of the flesh others more remotely Immediately as bodily Pleasures and therefore our inclinations to them are called fleshly lusts as distinguished from worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 or
the general Term by which it is expressed Three Objects there are about which this sin of Flesh pleasing is exercised 1 John 2.16 The lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life Credit or Honour Profit or Riches sensual Pleasure or carnal Delight Now see which of these things do you savour or mind most What carnal interest suiteth with your hearts and groweth there 2. Weaken and subdue them It is your uprightness and faithfulness Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquities Let a Christian observe the increase or decay of his master sin and other things will succeed the more easily fight not against small nor great but the King of Israel when we can deny our selves in our dearest Lusts Satan is more discouraged Sampsons strength lay in his locks so doth the strength of sin in one part more than another every man is sensible of his darling sin more or less but the next thing to be lookt after is what we do with it Herod raged when John the Baptist touched his Herodias Foelix trembled when Paul touched his bribery and intemperance but puts it off The Young Man went away sad and troubled when Christ told him of selling all that he had for he had great possessions Mar. 10. Many are troubled in Conscience not so much for want of assurance as loathness to part with some bosom lust but when we must pluck out right eyes and cut off right hands Matth. 5 29 30. it is hard to them when you pray and strive against this sin and grow in the contrary grace this sheweth the truth of a mans self-denyal as Abrahams love appeared in that he did not spare Isaac 2. As to evil motions Prevent them and Suppress them 1. Prevent them 1 Pet. 1.11 Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against your souls Which implies not only an abstinence from the outward act but that you weaken the power and root of sin that it do not so easily bud forth those impetus primo primi are sins not only infelicities but sins they would not be so rife with us if the heart were more under command We are guilty of many sins whereunto we do consent because we do not more strongly dissent and more potently and rulingly command all the subject Faculties as a man is guilty of the murder of his Child if he seeth his servant kill him and doth not his best to hinder it but chiefly when some partial consent followeth when the heart is tickled and delighted with them so an unclean glance is adultery Mat. 5.28 If a man look on a woman so as to lust after her he hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart The more they are mortified the heart is the less pestered with them 2. Suppress them speedily When we cannot keep sin under let us crush it when the mind dwelleth on it lust is conceiving which bringeth forth sin James 1.15 The flesh riseth up in arms against every gracious motion so should the spirit against every sinful motion if you let it alone it will break out to Gods dishonour dash Babylons brats against the stones 3. As to sinful actions Prevent them as much as may be repeat them not lest they grow into a habit 1. Prevent them as much as may be it is good to stop at last to hinder the Action when lust hath gained the consent of the will let it not break forth into Action the very lust is a grief to the spirit but the act will bring dishonour to God and give ill example to men Micah 2.1 VVo to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their bed when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hands if fire be kindled in thy bosom it is dangerous to let the sparks fly abroad 2. Repeat not these acts Lest they grow into a Habit and setled disposition of soul evil customs increase by many Acts and so the mischief is more remediless Jer. 13.27 I have seen thy adulteries and thy neighings the lewdness of thy whoredoms O Jerusalem Wilt thou not be made clean When shall it once be It is a very difficult thing for a man to leave his inveterate Customs customary exercise in the use of earthly things begets worldly dispositions not easily cured Augustin saith of his Mother Monica ad illud modicum quotidiana modica addando in eam consuetudinem de lapsa erat ut plenos jam mero calices inhianter hauriebar Vinolency crept upon her by degrees To be gratifying carnal desires now with one thing now with another what doth it do but bring us under the power of a distemper which we cannot remedy Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily whilst it is called to day lest ye be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Yield a little to sin and it prevaileth more till at last you are brought under the power of it 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient all things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any thing 2. Positively as to the things of the spirit 1. Mind the things of the spirit more than ever you have done many stick there in the very acts that properly belong to the mind never so much as trouble themselves or come to any reasoning within themselves about Pardon of their sins Peace with God the sanctification of the spirit or hopes of eternal life Psal. 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Alas What have you been doing since you came to the use of Reason How have you spent your time in Youth or riper Age If you have never thought of God and his Grace nor regarded the offers of Mercy in the Gospel certainly you have lost your time neglected your duty and betrayed your souls what have you been doing Have you been governed by the flesh or by the spirit If all your care hath been about back and belly and your thoughts have reached no higher than the riches and honours and pleasures and applause and esteem of the world and Heaven and heavenly things have been little regarded alas for the present you are in the high-way to hell and everlasting destruction if you do not correct your error in time and more earnestly mind other things 2. You must not only mind the things of the spirit but prize and chuse them for your work and happiness for some of them belong to your duty and some to your felicity Luk. 10.42 One thing is necessary and Mary hath chosen the better part which shall never be taken from her Give your hearty consent to seek after that happiness in that way without choice or a determinate fixed bent of heart you will never throughly ingage your selves to God determine not only that you must but you will walk in
exercised with many vexations and sorrows But the relicks of the corruption were his greatest burden not when shall I come out of these afflictions but who shall deliver me from this body of death 2. By endeavours and striving against it There may be some dislike of sin in a natural heart for conscience will sometimes take Gods part and quarrel against our lusts otherwise a wicked man could not be self-condemned and hold the truth in unrighteousness but checks of conscience are distinct things from the repugnancies of a renewed heart a wicked mans conscience telleth him he should do otherwise when his heart inclineth him to do so still But a renewed heart hateth sin and therefore there is a constant earnest endeavour to get it subdued and doth watch pray plead for God use means dare not rest in sin or live in sin Yea 3. Prevail against it so far that the heart is never turned away from God to sin 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God His heart cannot easily be brought to it he looketh upon it as a monstrous incongruity Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! 2 Cor. 13.8 For we can do nothing against the truth and Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard There is a natural cannot and a moral cannot the natural cannot is an utter impossibility the moral cannot is a great absurdity the new life breedeth such an aversion of heart and mind from sin such constant rebukes and dislikes of the new nature A Child of God is never in a right posture till he doth look upon sin not only as contrary to his duty but his nature they have no satisfaction in themselves till it be utterly destroyed 3. As a spirit of love the great work of the spirit is to reveal the love of God to us and to recover our love to God for the spirit cometh to us as the spirit of Christ by vertue of his redemption now the infinite goodness and love of God doth shine most brightly to us in the face of our Redeemer in the great things which he hath done and purchased for us and offered to us we have the fullest expression and demonstration of the love of God which we are capable of and which is most apt to kindle love in us to God again Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love to us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and 1 John 2.1 2. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world and Eph. 3.18 19. That you may be rooted and grounded in love and comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and may know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledg Now the spirit attending this dispensation surely his great work and office is to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts Rom. 5.5 and Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba Father That being perswaded of Gods fatherly love we may love him again and study to please him Therefore nothing doth stir us up against sin so much as the sense of Gods love in Christ shall sin live which is so contrary to God Shall I take delight in that which is a grief to his Holy Spirit cherish that which Christ came to destroy Live to my self who am so many ways oblged to God displease my father to gratify the flesh Alas how many read and hear of this who are no way moved into an indignation against sin 'T is not the love of God called to mind by a few cold thoughts of ours that worketh so but the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the spirit that melts the heart maketh us a shamed of our unkindness to God and stirreth up an hatred against sin 6. After conversion and the spirits becoming a spirit of light life and love to us after grace is put into our hearts to weaken sin still we need the help of the spirit partly Because habitual grace is a created thing and the same grace that made us new creatures is necessary to continue us so For no creature can be Good independently without the influence of the prime good all things depend in esse conservare operari on him that made them In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 If God suspend his influence natural agents cannot work as the fire cannot burn as in the case of the three Children much less voluntary and if there be this dependance in natural things much more in supernatural Phil. 2.12 13. Will and Deed are from God first principles of operation and final accomplishment Partly because in the very heart there is great opposition against it there is flesh still the warring law Rom. 7.23 gratia non totaliter satiat The cure is not total as yet but partial therefore they need the spirit to guide and quicken and strengthen them Partly as it meeteth with much opposition within so it is exposed to temptations without Satan watcheth all advantages against us and the soul is strangely deluded by the treachery of the senses and the revolt of the passions and our corrupt inclinations when temptations assault us so that unless we have seasonable relief how soon are we overtaken or overborn Adam had habitual Grace but gave out at the first assault A City besieged unless it be relieved compoundeth and yeildeth so without the supply of the spirit we cannot stand out in the hour of trial Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man Secondly The necessity of this Concurrence and Co-operation 1. Of the Spirt with us 2. We by the Spirit 1. Of the spirits work we cannot without the spirit mortifie the deeds of the body 1. From the state of the person who is to be renewed and healed A sinner lying in a state of defection from God one that hath lost original Righteousness averse from God yea an enemy to him prone to all evil weak and dead to all spiritual good and how can such an one renew and convert himself There is no sound part left in us to mend the rest 'T is true he hath reason left and some confused notions and apprehensions of good and evil but the very apprehensions are maimed and imperfect and we often call evil good and put good for evil Isa. 5.20 However to chuse the one and leave the other that is not in their power We may have some loose desires of
the Saints partly by shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts Rom. 5.3 4 5. Gods smiles are infinitely able to counterballance the worlds frowns and partly by a clearer sight of their blessedness to come remember your eternal blessings and how far your afflictions prepare you for them 2 Cor. 4.16 17. For this cause we faint not but though our outward man perâ—sh yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory The greatest trouble cannot make void this hope yea it doth prepare you for it your Spiritual estate is bettered by them 2. Doct. That prayer is one special means by which the Holy Spirit helpeth Gods children in their troubles and afflictions 1. Troubles are sent for this end not to drive us from God but to draw us to him Psal. 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Trouble in its self is a part of the curse introduced by sin when God seemeth angry we have a liberty to apply our selves to him In trouble we are apt to think God an enemy and that he putteth the Old Covenant in suit against us but then God expects most to hear from us 2. Prayer is a special means to ease the heart of our burdensome cares and fears Phil. 4 6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God When the wind is got into the Caverns of the earth it causeth Earthquakes and terrible Convulsions till it get a vent we give vent to our troublesome and unquiet thoughts by prayer when we lay our burden at Gods feet 3. 'T is a special means of acknowledging God as the fountain of our strength and the Author of our blessings First As the fountain of our strength and support we have it not in our selves and therefore we seek it from God he is able to keep us from falling Therefore we pray to him 1 Pet. 5.10 But the God of all grace who hath called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you Secondly As the Authour of our deliverance 2 Tim. 4.18 He shall deliver me from every evil work 1. USE Is to exhort us to prayer First He delights to give out blessings this way Jer. 29.11 12 For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall you call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And Ezek. 36.37 Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do them good And our Lord Christ as Mediator was to ask of the Father Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession Secondly All mercies come the sweeter to us as they increase our love to God and trust in him Psal. 116.1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 2. USE Is Information If we would have the spirits help let us pray there we have most sensible feeling of his assistance our strength lyeth most in asking and when we are at a loss what to do your hearts are more eased in prayer than in any other work every condition is sanctified when it bringeth you nearer to God if crosses bring us to the throne of Grace they have done their work your trouble is eased 3. Doct. That the prayers of the godly come from Gods Spirit That the Spirit hath a great stroke in the prayers of the saints is evident by many other Scriptures besides the text as Jude 20. praying in the Holy Ghost that is by his motion and inspiration Look as we breathe out that air which we first suck in so the prayer is first breathed into us before breathed out by us first inspired before uttered so Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon them a Spirit of grace and supplications A Spirit of grace will become a Spirit of supplications Where he dwelleth in the heart he discovereth himself mostly in prayer so Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Spirits gracious operations are manifested especially in fitting us for and assisting us in the duty of prayer affectionate and believing prayers are ascribed unto him God hath put forth the Spirit of his Son crying c. Here I shall enquire 1. In what manner the spirit concurreth to the prayers of the faithful 2. What necessity there is of this help and assistance 3. Caution against some abuses and mistakes of this doctrine For the first 1. These three things concur in Prayer as different causes of the same effect The spirit of a man the new nature and the Spirit of God First there is the Spirit of a man For the Holy Ghost makes use of our understandings for the actuating of our will and affections the Spirit bloweth up the fire tho it be our hearts that burn within us Secondly the new nature in a Christian is more immediately and vigorously operative in Prayer than in most other duties and the exrcise of Faith Love and Hope in Prayer doth flow from the Renewed Soul as the proper inward and vital principle of these actions so that we and not the Spirit of God are said to repent believe and pray Well then there is the heart of man and the heart Renewed and Sanctifyed for the Spirit as to his actual motions doth not blow upon a dead coal But then there is the Spirit of God who createth and preserveth these gracious habits in the Soul and doth excite the Soul to act and doth assist it in acting according to them as for instance the natural spirit of man out of selâ— love willeth and desireth its own good and its own felicity in general and is unwilling of destruction and apparent misery or whatever may â—ccsion it But then as we are renewed this will to good is sanctified that God is chosen as our portion and felicity or as the principal good to be desired by us Faith seeth that the favour and fruition of God in a blessed immortality is our true happiness and love desireth it above all things And on the contrary shunneth damnation and the wrath of God and sin as sin and all the apparent dangers of the Soul Hope waiteth and expecteth the fruition of God and the good things which leadeth to him accordingly we address our selves to God and put forth and act this Faith Love and Hope in Prayer this our renewed Spirit doth but
and partly in the means and occasions which God useth to convert us 't is many times dispensed in a contrary way to human expectation Paul when pursuing the people of God some when scoffing and mocking at least when they dreamt of no such matter But of that hereafter 2. In this effectual calling God sheweth forth his love and grace 1. That the rise of all was his elective love None are in time effectually called but those that before all time were chosen to life for it is said here called according to purpose From all eternity he had a purpose to be thus gracious to us those that were in the corrupt mass of mankind are distinguished from others in his eternal purpose before the foundations of the world and were in time called out from others and vocation is but election broken out therefore called election Trace the stream till you find the Well-head and you will discern that you can ascribe your calling to nothing else but even so father because it pleased thee Matth. 11.26 God before time elected us in the fulness of time Christ gave a ransom to provoked justice for us and in due time the effects of Gods eternal love and Christs purchase are applied and so we come to have a right to the blessedness we were chosen unto and was purchased for us Oh admire this grace 2. God needed us not he had an only Son to delight in Prov. 8.31 Millions of Angels to serve him Dan. 7.10 What loss would it be to him if the world of mankind had been destroyed Acts 17.25 God is not worshipped with mens hands as if he needed any thing No to the fulness of his happiness nothing can be added 3. He was highly provoked and offended by us for we had cast off the mercies of our Creation and from his Creatures were become his Rebels and then in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 and upon his death and propitiation is the offer grounded sinners are called to repentance Matth. 9.13 4. Great was our misery we fell into by reason of sin Eph. 2.3 Children of wrath indeed we were sensless of our misery careless of our remedy loath to come out of that wretched estate into which we had plunged our selves John 3.19 And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Oh what mercy was this that God had such pity and compassion upon us when we had none upon our selves how freely then did he love us How powerful did he work upon us calling and conquering ruling and over ruling all matters wherein we were concerned that he might convert us to himself 5. That he should call us who were so inconsiderable when others were left to perish in sins 1 Cor. 1.26 Ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh are called When so many were passed by who are before us in outward respects learned great and wise and God shewed mercy to us we were as deep in the common pollution as they and for many natural abilities and perfections came far short of them surely this is meerly the love and good pleasure of God! 6. This calling bringeth us into such an estate as intituleth us to the peculiar and special protection of God We are his charge that he may guide all things about us for his own glory and our good This is intimated in the text When once you believe Gods offers and yield heâ—rty obedience to them you are a peculiar people Why Because called out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 All his creatures are the work of his hands and under the disposal of his Providence but you have a special propriety and peculiar interest in his love and care whom he will maintain and never forsake 7. By this calling you are interessed in his kingdom and glory to be had hereafter For 't is said 1 Pet. 3.9 You are called to inherit a blessing That is a blessedness which consists in the clear vision and full fruition of God Surely they that were naturally under the curse should be more apprehensive of this great priviledg 3. 'T is an act of Power Rom. 4.1 〈◊〉 Even God who quickneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as tho they were God only can work so great a change by his creating power which spake all things out of nothing Certainly he that can do what he will both in Heaven and in Earth Psal. 135.3 can subdue the heart of man when he peaseth The will of man tho never so deeply engaged in a course of sin and wickedness cannot resist it but yieldeth to it Psal. 110.3 They shall be a willing people in the day of thy power Of graceless they become gracious of unwilling willing and God sheweth more power in this than in other his works for here is a principle of resistance as to break a skittish Horse is more than to role a stone 2. The ends with respect to man 'T is a great mercy this external internal and effectual calling take it all together 1. It giveth us notice of the remedy provided for us by the propitiaton of Christ and the covenant founded thereupon Light is come into the world John 3.19 A sure way to direct us to true happiness without it the world had been a dark dungeon wherein guilty Malefactors are for a while permitted to live 2. This calling bringeth home this grace to us and layeth it at our doors and leaves it upon our choices if we will accept it well and good Acts 13.26 To you is the word of salvation sent What say you to it God hath sent a gracious message to you in particular Will you accept or refuse And Acts 3.20 And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you It doth excite us in particular to look after the remedy of our lapsed estate 3. This calling is our warrant plea and claim which giveth us leave to apply these priviledges if we consent to the duties required as the Apostle saith of an office so 't is true of the dignity of being Christians which is a spiritual Priesthood Heb. 5.4 And no man taketh this honour upon himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron For a man to take or receive to himself honour and priviledg which doth not belong to him is usurpation which will succeed ill with him but by calling we have Gods consent or as those Matth. 20.7 Why stand ye here idle all the day No man hath hired us Before we can with any tolerable satisfaction to conscience assume such great priviledges we must produce our warrant 'T was incouragement to the blind man to come near to Christ Arise the Master calleth thee Mark 10.49 The same hath the trembling sinner The Master calleth thee and wilt thou draw back 4. The internal effectual call giveth us an heart to
Excellencies of this inheritance Page 177 178 Holiness distinct from Godliness Page 16 The better part of our deliverance Page 38 Holiness and Goodness is the very nature of God Page 38 Holiness compleated ere we enter Heaven Page 38 Holiness visible to be charitably judged Page 77 Wherein it now consisteth Page 300 Honesty binds us to obey God Page 104 Hope and fear motives to duty Page 105 Saving Hope Page 230 Twofold of expectation and experience Page 165 Great and glorious Page 202 Saveth Page 222 What 't is Page 223 Its object Page 223 Ground Page 224 Very necessary Page 225 Vanquishes Page 225 Respect between Faith and Hope Page 226 May every one Hope for Salvation Page 227 Distinguisht into its kinds Page 229 May be interrupted Page 232 Mercy object of Hope Page 232 So is the promise Page ib. 233 How we brought to Hope Page 233 234 How increased Page 234 235 Brings Heaven to us on earth Page 235 Proper object Page 237 Built on promises Page 238 These confirmed sufficiently Page 239 How far seen Page 239 Real Page 240 Should over-rule our Hearts Page 241 Its qualifications Page 242 Humiliation what where begins and ends Page 145 I IGnorant we may be of some thing without danger Page 201 Incarnation of Christ with the ends and fruiâ—s of it Page 28 29 30 Immunnities we have by Christ Page 205 Inclination of the flesh what Page 41 Not alike to all sins Page 121 Indulgence to the flesh what Page 43 44 Image of God None so fit to restore as Christ Page 300 301 Image of God Must be restored ere we can have communion with God Page 34 35 It is mans glory Page 300 Immensity of God thence Omniscience Page 257 Immutability of God and eternal merit of Christ foundation of our eternal glory Page 183 Immortality known or guessed at by nature Page 141 Impotency of mind is from unmortified heart Page 130 To prayer without the spirit Page 251 Impeccable no Saint on earth is Page 148 Infirmities in Believers and occasions to the World to misjudge them and the spirit Page 77 They sin but design it not Page 103 Innocent Creatures punisht for mans sin and why and how Page 198 Impossibilities may be imagined not hoped Page 237 Interests of flesh what Page 41 Prevails in some without any controul Page 103 Our true Interest by God made motive to our duty Page 140 Intercession of Christ and of the spirit Page 244 How these differ Page ib. Invisible World to be sought Page 241 Joys of good conscience are foretasts of Heaven Page 148 Judgment to come not so generally known as Immortality and a state of Eternity Page 141 Yet known and own'd by some Page ib. Presag'd by fears of guilty conscience Page 240 Justice of God joins sin and punishment Page 22 60 Justification excludes not Mortification Page 125 What it implyeth Page 333 How many ways this done Page 334 How consistent with Gods Justice c. Page 334 335 336 Sinner Repenting and Believing is justified Page 335 336 Shall not be reversed Page 336 And why Page 336 337 Justified ones are Sanctified Page 335 K KIndness to be shewed to the creature subjected to vanity by our sin Page 199 Kingdom of God some far off Page 47 Knowledge of our selves and our state how to be obtained Page 43 44 That carnal men have of God is cold and lifeless Page 55 Knowledge of sin by the spirit necessary to mortification Page 133 L LEadings of God by which Saints are kept in their way Page 146 147 To be Led what Page 148 Its branches Page 148 149 Great mercy Page 151 It is through all duty Page 152 Legality partial or predominant and what each is Page 158 Law of spirit of Life what Page 8 Of sin what Page 9 Why so called Page 9 Its effects Page ib. Of God constitutes and directs duty Page 11 Given to man in innocence Page 11 And what Page ib. Of nature left in fallen man Page 11 Its effects Page ib. 155 Of man what tends to Page 11 Law what it includes Page 12 The New Covenant or Law of God and man differ and in what Page 13 Law could not put away sin Page 26 Nor justifie us ib. and Page 27 Was next to Christ and the Gospel most Divine Page 26 Cannot sanctifie us Page 28 Nor save Page 154 Irritates sin Page ib. Is not abrogated Page 35 36 37 Hath twofold office Page 154 Continues in force in Heaven Page 37 How fulfilled by a Believer Page 37 Law pretended against persecuted Christians Page 363 Law ceremonial what Page 206 Law-giver God Page 101 Legal spirit what and its operations Page 154 155 158 'T is timerous towards God and for truth Page 158 159 How removed Page ib. Liberty from sin and death by Christs merit and intercession Page 23 On what terms to be had Page 24 These terms cannot by man be changed Page 24 Of Gods children what now Page 201 Liberty mistaken Page ib. 'T is not to live as corrupt nature listeth Page 204 205 Liberty future glorious what Page 206 207 Compar'd with our present Liberty Page 207 Light and Life brought to Light by the Gospel Page 360 Life natural Beast-like Rational Spiritual Page 75 What this is Page ib. Of Grace vigorous as sin languisheth Page 126 Grieved with opposite sins Page 133 Spiritual both beginning and pledge of Life eternal Page 139 What it is Page ib. Natural and eternal compared Page 144 Eternal and Spiritual compared Page ib. Life must be ventured for Christ and why Page 363 Love of God to Believers engaging motive to love him and obey Page 330 To suffer also Page 369 Love of God to what Page 36 Lesser love to God is accounted hatred Page 62 And why Page ib. Love or hatred as we respect Gods Law Page 63 Love to God is principle of mortification Page 128 Surest way to assurance Page 160 Love that you may Live Page 140 And go possess the blessed hopes Page 242 Longings spiritual shall not be frustrated Page 140 For God giveth them that he may satisfie them Page ib. The objects of them Page 219 Lusts contrary to each other Page 48 Love to God what Page 280 281 282 Its properties Character of such as God will benefit by all and why Page 284 285 Best seen in sufferings for God Page 285 Twofold sincerity of Love and what each is Page 286 God Lovely for himself Page 286 For his Love to us Page 286 M MAn subject to God and on what grounds Page 10 11 Owes him a voluntary obedience Page ib. and 71 Men are of two sorts different in original principles c. Page 39 Discover what they are by respect to different objects Page 42 Three sorts of Men in the World Page 46 Mankind fallen under Gods displeasure Page 69 Corrupted wholly Page 106 Of two sides Page 314 315 Man pleasing what c. Page 72 Master sins like great diseases
signs of grace as the acts of the understanding and will there is a possibility of a greater decay in them you cannot weep for sin but you would give all that you have to be rid of sin A man may groan more sorely under the pains of the tooth-ach which is not mortal than under the languishings of a Consumption 4. The effects of solid esteem are these 1. When Christ is counted more precious than all the World no affections to the Creature can draw us to offend him 1 Pet. 2.7 But all our love to them is still in subordination to an higher love Love was principally made for God and 't is many ways due to him Those excesses and heights which are in the affections will become no other object The Genius or Nature of it sheweth for whom 't was made However as God hath placed some love and holiness in the Creature so some allowance of affection there is to them Worldly comforts are valuable as they come from God and lead to him as effects of his bounty and instruments of his Glory and service All the value we put upon them should be this that we have something of value to esteem as nothing for Christ And when God tryeth us when Christ and Worldly matters come in competition then to be found faithful and despise the riches pleasures and honours of the World This is a sensible occasion to shew the sincerity of our love which do you choose the favour of God or earthly friends The light of his countenance or the prosperity of the World 2. When you can for Gods sake incur the frowns and displeasure of the Creature 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 3. When a man maketh it his main care rather to please God than to gratifie the flesh and promote his carnal interests Your great business is to walk worthy of God to all pleasing Col. 1.10 You labour to get Christ above all and to live in his love All cares and businesses give way to this and are guided and directed by this His favour is the life of thy love and his love is thy greatest happiness And thou darest not put it to hazard nor obscure the sense of it by any indulgence to carnal satisfactions And thy greatest misery is his displeasure and thereupon sin which is the cause of it is most hateful to thee This is our constant tryal and certainly sheweth how the pulse of the Soul beateth SERMON XXV 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus Iudge that if one dyed for all then were all dead THe fourth case of Conscience is about the decay of love The heart is not so deeply affected as it was wont to be with the love of God in Christ nor is there such a strong bent of heart towards him nor delight in him and we grow more remiss in our work feeble in the resistance of sin some that thus decay in love are not sensible of it others from the decay infer a nullity of love Therefore because this is a disease incident to the new Creature something must be said to this case both to warn men and to direct them in the judging of it In answering this doubt take these Propositions 1. Leaving our first love is a disease not only incident to Hypocrites but Gods own Children To Hypocrites Matth. 24.12 The love of many shall wax cold To Gods own Children Revel 2.4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love They were commended for their labour in the Lords work zeal against Hypocrites patience in adversity yet I have some what against thee what 's that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only here is this difference though the disease be common to both yet with some difference as to the event and issue Hypocrites may make a total defection and there may be in them an utter extinction of love In others there is not a total failing but only some degrees of their love abated The love of Hypocrites may utterly miscarry and vanish many seem to be carryed on with great fervour and affection in the ways of God for a while yet afterwards fall quite away Partly because it was a love built upon forreign motives as the favour of the times the air of education the advantage of good company Christ might be the object but the World the ground and reason of all this love Jesus is not loved for Jesus sake He must be both object and reason otherwise when the reasons of our love alter the object will not hold us When times grow bad we grow bad with them 't is no wonder to see hirelings prove changelings and many that loved a Christ triumphing to forsake and hate a Christ crucified When the grounds alter their affections are removed Their affections to Christs Cause and Servants will cease also As Artificial motions cease when the poise is down by which they are moved flying Meteors when the matter that feedeth them is spent will vanish and disappear or fall from Heaven like lightning when the Stars those constant fires of Heaven shine forth with a durable light and brightness What is in one Evangelist take from him that which he hath is take from him that which he seâ—meth to have in another Luke 8.18 Partly because if Jesus were loved for Jesus sake yet not with such a prevalent radicated love as could subdue contrary affections There is a love of God and a delight in his ways which is cherished in us upon right motives and reasons Such as the offer of pardon and Eternal Life by Christ but this did but lightly affect the heart not change it A tast of the good word Heb. 6 4 5 6. At first men find a marvellous sweetness in the way of godliness hugely pleased with the possibility of pardon and Happiness But these sentiments of Religion are afterwards choaked by the cares of this World and voluptuous living and all that delight and savour which they had is lost and comes to nothing when Temptations rise up in any considerable strength Therefore we are warned to keep up the confidence and rejoycing of hope Heb. 3.6 14. That well-pleasedness of mind that liking that comfortable savour which we had in the serious attending upon the business of Religion 2. Gods own Children may find their love cold and languishing and that they go backward some degrees and suffer loss in the heat and vigour of grace but though grace do decay 't is not utterly abolished The Church of Ephesus left her first love but not utterly lost it The seed of God remaineth in them 1 John 3.9 There is some vital grace communicated in regeneration which cannot be lost This is more radicated than the former 't is a deeper sense of Gods love and doth more affect the
heart that 't is not so easily controlled by contrary affections but chiefly because 't is preserved by the influence of Gods grace with respect to his covenant wherein he hath undertaken not to depart from us so to keep afoot that love and fear in our hearts that we shall no depart from him Jer. 32.40 In the new covenant God giveth what he requireth donum perseverantiae as well as praeceptum Well then though this love may suffer a shrewd abatement yet 't is not totally extinguished Gradus remittitur actus intermittitru sed habitus non amittitru Not only may the acts and fruits be few but the measure of their inward love toward Christ may be abated and yet not the habit lost or totally fail 2. That we may understand this disease the better let us consider what is not it 1. Not every lighter distemper which the gracious heart observeth and rectifieth There are failings and infirmities during the present state and nothing is so uncertain as to Judge of our selves by particular actions in every act love doth not put forth its self so strongly as at other times but a coldness and deadness seiseth upon us which we cannot shake off Or there may be failings and we walk in darkness Isa. 64.7 for one act or so and yet cannot be called a decay of love every act of known sin is not apostacy and defection nor a degree of it as every feaverish heat after a meal in the spring is not a feaver Alas for the generation of the just if every vain thought or idle word or distempered passion were a decay of love Some obstruction of love there may be for the present which the Soul taketh notice of and retracts with sorrow and remorse but still we hold on our course yet 't is a stopping in our course Gal. 5.7 Ye did run well who did hinder you 2. Every loss and abatement of those ravishments and transports of Soul or love qualms which we feel sometimes is not this decay There are some raised operations of love which cannot be constant in two cases especially we find them 1. At first conversion There are then strong joys and liftings up of Soul upon our first acquaintance with God Partly From the newness of the thing new things strangely affect and transport us and no doubt there are greater and more express admirations of grace when first called out of darkness into light And that 's the reason why 't is called marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 The change is more admired by them who are newly plucked out of that woful condition they were in before and possessed of such excellent Priviledges as they have in their new estate it makes them wonder the more at their own happiness as a man in deep thirst hath a more sensible pleasure when he first cometh to meet with drink his tast is more lively then though he be thankful to God for the comfort of ordinary meals Partly because then our Love wholly sheweth its self in sensitive expressions whilst as yet love is not dispersed and diffused into the several channels of obedience the tide may be high and strong our only work at first being the thankful entertainment and welcom of grace but when a man cometh to see how many ways he is to express his love to God he may have a true zeal and affection to God in his Christian course a more rooted and grounded love though he have not those ravishments and transports of Soul Eph. 3.17 And Partly Because the first edge of our affections is not yet blunted by change of cases A young Christian may be dandled upon the knee have a more plentiful measure of Gods sensible presence than afterwards is afforded to him not yet tryed with smiles and frowns and variety of conditions and things prosperous and adverse And do you think that the seasoned Christian doth not love God as well as he who hath been faithful to him in all estates and not only past the pangs of the new-birth but sundry encounters of temptations Surely the tryed man hath the stronger love though it may be not such stirrings of affections as he who is under Gods special indulgence and from whom God for a while restraineth the violent assaults of furious Temptations till he be a little more confirmed and ingaged in the profession of godliness 2. After great comforts and inlargements In the days of Gods royalty and magnificence sometimes a Christian hath high affections to God and joys in the sense of his love when God hath feasted him and manifested himself to him Psa. 63.6 My Soul is filled as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips There are rich experiences of the love of God in his Ordinances which are vouchsafed to us to which all the pleasures of the creature are no way comparable Now these are very great mercies but very doubtful evidences to try our estate by for these overflowings of love are accidental things Possunt adesse abesse They are fitted for special spiritual occasions We cannot always bear up under them A setled calm and the peace of the Soul is a greater mercy than these Spiritual suavities or passionate joys if we have have our tast kept up and our relish of Heaven and Spiritual things or a fixed bent of heart towards them 't is a more constant and less deceiving experience Paul had his raptures but withal his thorn in the flesh to keep him humble 2 Cor. 12.7 We cannot expect that God should entertain us always with a feast if he give us the constant diet and allowance of his family let us be thankful And though we are not to rest in a dull quietness but raise our hearts often to delight in God in more than an ordinary manner yet no wise man can expect this should be our constant frame 3. Though we should not lightly judge our selves guilty of a decay of love yet we should not lightly acquitt our selves of it For it is a great evil and a common evil and many that are surprized with it are little sensible of it 1. 'T is a great evil Partly Because the highest degree of love does not answer to the worthiness of Christ nor to the duty of the regenerate who are called by him from such a depth of misery to such a height of happiness And therefore when a man falleth from his first love and that measure which he had attained unto and doth come short not only of the rule but of his own practice it is the more grievous To come short of the rule is matter of continual humiliation to us but to come short of our own attainments is matter of double humiliation and the rather because he that pleaseth himself in such an estate doth in effect Judge the first love to be too much as if he had been too hot and earnest and done more than he needed when he had such a strong love to
Heaven The whole genius of the Popish religion runneth this way where the worship of Christ is turned into a theatrical pomp and the simplicity of the Gospel is changed into weak and silly observances and beggarly rudiments which betray it to the contempt scorn of all considering men and is no more pleasing to Christ than the mockage of the Jews Souldiers that put a purple robe upon Christ and cryed Hail king of the Jews when they spit upon him and buffeted him In Christians 't is but to complement Christ to feast and make mirth for his memory and deck our bodies and houses whil'st we look not after rejoycing in the Spirit to be all for sumptuous Temples and costly furniture and rich Altar Cloaths and Vestments while his Laws are trampled under foot and those that would sincerely worship Christ and make it their â—usiness to go to Heaven are despised and maligned and it may be condemned to the fires 'T is not the pomp of Ceremonies but Faith and brokenness of heart and diligence in his service and living in the Spirit that Christ mainly looketh after Religion looketh more like a worldly thing in a carnal dress but the Kings daughter is glorious within Psa. 45.13 The glory of the true Church and every member thereof is in things spiritual as knowledge faith love hope courage zeal sobriety patience humility these are the true glories of the Saints not golden Images and rich accommodations and outward triumph and carnal revilings and the great thing Christ hath commended to us in his Doctrine is an holy heart and an holy life Psa. 93.5 Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever Not pomp and gaudry of worship but purity and holiness that 's a standing ornament 4. By herding with a stricter party whil'st yet our hearts are not subdued to God There are three places prove this Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new creature And Gal. 5 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith that worketh by love 1 Cor. 7 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God Men hug others because they are of their party and fellowship 't is religion enough to be one of them of such a party and denomination as obtains the vogue and is of most esteem among Christians in that age yet how strict so ever our party be if our hearts be not subdued to Christ all is as nothing in the sight of God till a man be a new creature 't is but a fleshâ—y knowing of Christ a man may change his party as a piece of Lead will receive any Impression either Angel or Devil or what you stamp upon it 3. This knowing Christ after the flesh will do us no good be of no comfort and use to us as to the salvation of our Souls 1. Because God is no respecter of persons 1 Pet. 1.17 If you call him Father who without respect of persons Judgeth every man according to his works The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the outward appearance but God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that doth not judge by outward respects The Prosopon of the Jew was his knowledge of the Law and injoying the Ordinances of God The Prosopon of the Christian is his profession of respect to Christ and esteem of him but God judgeth not by the appearance but by the internal habit and constitution of the heart manifested by an uniform obedience to his whole will otherwise circumcision may become uncircumcision or Christianity as Paganism Therefore 't is not enough to profess you are for Christ of his Faction and Party for there is a Faction of Christians as well as a religion they are of the Faction of Christians whose interest and education leadeth them to profess love to Christ without any change of heart or serious bent of Soul towards him Now this is the Prosopon according to which God may be supposed to judge for you do not think riches or poverty fear or love can so much as be supposed to be in God but profession or not profession is that he looks to 2. Because Christ hath put us upon another tryal than a fond affection to his outward person and memory namely by our respect to his commandments John 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me There 's the main other things will not pass for love though they be taken for such in the World And John 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Perfect friendship consists in harmony or an agreement in mind and will If you have any true love to Christ it will make the Soul hate every thing which it knoweth to be contrary to his nature and will Psa. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil and constraineth the Soul to set about every thing which it knoweth will please and honour him 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us If we do but love him and be sensible of the obligation he hath left upon us So it will be in a real spiritual love 3. Because they cannot truly challenge the name of Christians that do only know Christ after the flesh Christ being now exalted requireth a spiritual converse with him When Christ hath laid aside his mortal life we should lay aside our carnal conceits and affections There were some Jewish Impostors that Eusebius writeth of Mungrel Christians Chocabites and Nazerites who called themselves the Lords kinsmen a sort of Cozening and Heretical companions they were who for their own purposes forraged the Countrys up and down as the Gipsies now do amusing the World with genealogies and drawing the vulgar after them with many vain fancies denyed the Resurrection interpreting all said about it of the new creature pretending belief in Christ but observing the Law of Moses against whom the Epistle to the Galatians is supposed to be written And there were some that knew Moses after the flesh and seemed to pretend much zeal to the Law of Moses Now the Apostle saith they deserved to be called the concision rather than the circumcision whereof they gave out themselves to be patrons and defenders The true believers had right to that title because they had the thing signified by circumcision worshipping God with the inward and spiritual affection of a renewed heart and trusting in Christ alone for salvation who was the substance of the shadows and renouncing confidence in fleshly priviledges worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus So for Christians glorying in externals is scarce worthy the name of Christianity if they have the name not the reality 4. Because this knowing Christ after the flesh is inconsistent with his glorious estate in Heaven It pleased him not in the days of his flesh A Divine spiritual affection doth only befit the state of glory to which he is exalted Now
we might yield up our selves to God to love and serve and please him for we by his blood are purged from dead works that we might serve the living God Heb. 9.14 3. Believers are said to reconcile themselves to God 2 Cor. 5.20 We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God As they do imbrace the offered benefit and lay aside their enmity and love God that loveth them and devote themselves to his use and service 2. More particularly I shall do three things 1. State the foregoing breach 2. Shew you the nature of this reconciliation 3. Shew you how Christ is concerned in it 1. To state the foregoing breach take these Propositions 1. God and man were once near friends Adam was the Lords favourite You know till man was made 't is said of every rank and species of the Creature God saw that it was good But when man was made in his day Gen. 1.31 God saw what he had made and behold it was very good An object of special love God expressed more of his favour to him than to any other Creature except the Angels Man was made after his Image Gen. 1.26 When you make the Image or Picture of a man you do not draw his feet or his hands but his face his tract or foot-print may be found among the creatures but his Image and express resemblance with man and so he was fitted to live in delightful Communion with his Creator Man was his Vice-roy Gen. 1.27 God intrusted him with the care charge and dominion over all the Creatures Yea he was capable of loving knowing or injoying God other Creatures were capable of glorifying God of setting forth his Power Wisdom and Goodness objectively and passively but man of glorifying God actively as being appointed to be the mouth of the Creation 2. Man gets out of Gods favour by conspiring with Gods grand Enemy His Condition was happy but mutable before Satan by insinuating with him draweth him into Rebellion against God and upon this Rebellion he forfeiteth all his priviledges Gods Image favour and Fellowship God would deal with him in the way of a Covenant Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Do and live sin and die The comminatory part is only expressed because that only took place So that by this Rebellion he lost the integrity of his nature and all his Happiness he first run away from God and then God drove him away he was first a fugitive and than an exile 3. Man faln draweth all his posterity along with him For God dealt not with him as a single but as a publick person Rom. 5.13 Whereas by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all for that all have sinned And 1 Cor. 15.47 The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from Heaven There 's a first man and a Second man nos omnes eramus in illo unus homo Adam and Jesus are the two great Institutions the one consistent with the Wisdom and Justice of God as the other with the wisdom and grace of God so that Adam begets enemies to God Gen. 5.3 Adam begot a Son in own likeness And 1 Cor. 15.49 we read of the Image of the earthly one Every man is born an enemy to God his nature opposite his ways contrary to God and so is eternally lost and undone unless God make some other provision for him 4. The Condition of every man by nature is to be a stranger and an enemy to God Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds That double notion is to be considered Strangers there is no Communion between God and us we cannot delight in God nor God in us till there be a greater suitableness or a divine nature put into us If that be too soft a notion the next will help it we are enemies there is a perfect contrariety we are perfectly opposit to God in nature and ways We are enemies directly or formally and in effect or by interpretation formally men are enemies open or secret open are those that bid open defiance to him as Pagans and Infidels and Idolaters Secret so are all sinners their hopes and desires are that there were no God they would fain have God out of their way rather than part with their lusts they would part with their God Psa. 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God 'T is a pleasing thought and supposition that there were no God In effect and by Interpretation they do things or leave things undone contrary to to Gods will and take part with their sins against him As Love is a Love of duty and subjection so hatred is a refusal of obedience Love me and keep my Commandments Exod. 20.6 They are angry with those who would plead Gods interests with them But how can men hate God who is summum bonum fons boni The School-men put the Question We hate him not as a Creator and Preserver but as a Law-giver and Judge As a Law-giver because we cannot injoy our lusts with that freedom and security by reason of his restraint God hath interposed by his Law against our desires Rom. 8.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity to God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be As a Judge and avenger of sin not only desire of carnal liberty but slavish fear is the cause of this enmity Men hate those whom they fear We have wronged God exceedingly and we know that he will call us to an account we are his debtors and cannot answer the demands of his Justice And therefore we hate him what comfort is it to a guilty prisoner to tell him that his Judge is a discreet person or of a stayed Judgment he is one that will condemn him A condemning God can never be loved by a guilty creature as barely apprehended under that notion 5. God hateth sinners as they hate him For we are Children of wrath from the womb Eph. 2.3 And that wrath abideth on us till we enter into Gods peace John 3.36 And the more wicked we are the more we incur Gods Wrath. Psal. 7.11 He is angry with the wicked every day They are under his curse Gal. 3.10 Whatever be the secret purposes of his grace yet so they are by the sentence of his Law and according to that we must Judge of our condition 2. The nature of this reconciliation 1. As the enmity is mutual so is the reconciliation God is reconciled to us and we to God On Gods part his Wrath is appeased and our wicked disposition is taken away by regeneration for there are the causes of the difference between him and us his Justice and our sin His Justice is satisfied in Christ so that he is willing to offer us a new Covenant Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased He is
beseeching doth not only note Meekness in the Proposal but perseverance also notwithstanding the many delays and repulses yea rough entertainment that we meet with at the hands of Sinners 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil One reason why God will make use of the Ministry of Man is because they know the Heart of Man how much he is wedded to his folly how angry he is to be put out of his fools Paradise and to be disturbed in his Carnal Happiness Titus 3.2 3. Shewing meekness to all men for we our selves were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures And therefore we must wait exhort warn and still behave our selves with much love and gentleness that compassion to Souls may bear the chief rule in our dealing with them 4. The Matter Be reconciled to God We have heard much of the way of God's Reconciliation with us now let us speak of our Reconciliation with God What is to be done on Man's part 1. Let us accept of the Reconciliation offered by God Our great business is to receive this grace so freely tendred to us 2 Cor. 6.1 We as workers together with him beseech you not to receive this grace in vain That is by a firm assent believing the Truth of it 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a true and faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation And Eph. 1.13 For God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And thankfully esteeming and prizing the benefit for our acceptance is an Election and Choice Phil. 3.8 9. I count all things to be dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Matth. 13.45 46. And having found one goodly Pearl of great price he sold all and bought it depending upon the merit worth and value of it 2 Tim. 1.12 I know in whom I have believed And venturing our Souls and our Eternal Interests in this bottom sue out this Grace with this confidence Psal. 27.3 One thing have I desired of the Lord and that I will seek after that I may dwell in the House of God for ever 2. We must accept it in the way God hath appointed by performing the Duties required on our part What are they Repentance is the general word as Faith is our acceptance In it there is included 1. An humble confession of our former sinfulness and rebellion against God I have been a grievous Sinner a Rebel and an Enemy to God and this to the grief and shame of his heart Jer. 3.13 I am merciful and will not keep anger for ever only acknowledge thine iniquity which thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God and disobeyed my Voice saith the Lord. And 1 John 1.9 If we confess and forsake our sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins When they begged the favour of the King of Israel they came with Ropes about their necks 1 Kings 20.31 The Creature must return to his Duty to God in a posture of humiliation and unfeigned sorrow for former offences 2. We must lay aside our Enmity and resolve to abstain from all offences which may alienate God from us If we have any reserve we draw nigh to God with a treacherous heart to live like Rebels under a pretence of a friendship Heb. 10.22 Let us draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water And Job 33.31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do so no more Unless you put away the evil of your doings the anger continueth and 't is inconsistent with a gracious estate to continue in any known sin without serious endeavours against it What peace as long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel remaineth 3. We must enter into Covenant with God and devote our selves to become his 2 Chron. 30.8 Yield your selves unto the Lord. And Rom. 6.13 But yield your selves unto God There must be an entire resignation and giving up our selves to be governed and ordered by him at his will and pleasure Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do Give up the keys of the heart renouncing all beloved sins We then depending upon the merit of his Sacrifice put our selves under the conduct of his Word and Spirit and resolve to use all the Appointed Means in order to our full recovery and return to God 3. Our being reconciled to God implyeth our loving God who loved us first 1 John 4.19 For the Reconciliation is never perfect till there be an hearty love to God there is a grudge still remaining with us Faith begets Love Gal. 5.6 Repentance is the first expression of our Love the sorrowing humbling part of it is mourning Love the Covenanting part either in renouncing is Love abhorring that which is contrary to our Friendship into which we are entred with God The devoting part is Love aiming at the glory of him who hath been so good All our after-carriage is Love endeavouring to please You will never have rest for your Souls till you submit to this course and be in this manner at peace with God Matth. 11.28 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and you shall find rest for your Souls For my yoke is easie and my burden is light God complaineth of his People by the Prophet that they forget their resting-place Jer. 5.6 Men seek Peace where 't is not to be found try this Creature and that but still meet with vanity and vexation of Spirit like Feverish persons who seek ease in the change of their Beds SERMON XXXIX 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled to God DOct. The great business of the Ministers of the Gospel is to perswade men to reconciliation with God VSE Let me enter upon this work now 1. To sinners 2. To those reconciled already as these were to whom he wrote He presseth them further to reconcile themselves to God 1. To sinners Will you be reconciled to God sinners Here I shall shew you 1. The necessity of reconciliation 2. Gods condescension in this business 3. The value and worth of the priviledge 4. The great dishonour we do to God in refusing it 1. Motive is the necessity of being reconciled by reason of the enmity between God and us Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled We are enemies to God and God is an enemy to us I shall prove both The