't is rather than to go out of it and that is not heartily afraid of death Answ 1. I answer Among sincere Christians many are weak and of little growth Though a man have not attained such a willingness to entertain death as some have he may be sincerely godly and growing to it Answ 2. You must take these conjunctly A desire to depart and be with Christ. So Christians can ordinarily subscribe and say I desire to depart and be with Christ. Looking on the one as enough to sweeten the other and make it desirable else it were better for a Christian to be with Christ as he is than die and not be with him This Paul intimates in the next words which is far better As a dinner of herbs where love is Prov. 15.17 is better than a stalled ox with hatred A Wilderness with Manna is better than the Flesh-pots in Egypt So to be gone out of this world and be with Christ is far better than to be in this world Answ 3. The one part must be understood as absolutely desired the other but relatively to that in its relation to the other To be with Christ a Christian desires absolutely he aims at it in all his faith and holiness but die he desires not at all save only as it serves to bring him to Christ as Christ laid down his life to take it up Joh. 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again So earnest willingness excludes not real unwillingness as a man desires to have his Leg or Arm cut off to preserve his Body yet is really unwilling to have the one or the other cut off 4thly The best of Christians are not always actually assured of this conjunction and relation of death and being with Christ and then they cannot desire death at all Death cannot be desired but as it 's a passage to Jesus Christ tâ—ke away that order which it has to a Christians being with Christ and 't is undesirable and a Christian is not always sure that when he dies he shall be with Christ 5thly Though a Christian do heartily desire to depart and be with Christ yet he cannot fix his desire upon any particular point of time for them as to say Now I desire to depart and be with Christ. For 1. Christians usually desire somewhat between them and death which they apprehend conducing to their better dying as David requests of the Lord Spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and as Moses Lord let me go over Jordan c. But now it 's not the case of every Christian that he can fix upon the time and say as Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Every Christian cannot say so though he has a desire to depart and be with Christ. 2. They must be determined by the Will of God however for the time and not by their own assignment as Simeon Now dismissest thou thy servant in peace Luke 2.29 So Paul I know not which to chuse Philip. 1.22 And so much for the proof of this Point That well-setled and established Christians do live in an earnest desire to leave this world and be with Christ in Heaven I come now to the Uses And first 1 Use By this we may judge of our Attainments in Christianity If our hearts stick fast to the world and we have no mind to leave it If our desires after Heaven be loose and cool 't is a sign we have made little progress in Christianity If we be Christians at all natural motion is stronger toward the end as a Stone falling to the earth the nearer it comes to the ground the swifter 't is in motion So the further we grow in Christianity the more heavenly-natur'd we grow and so the more desirous to be there every thing tends to its natural place The more we grow in Grace the more sight we have of the excellency of Heaven and so are more willing to leave the world Heaven is the Christian's Centre and the nearer he comes to it the faster he moves toward it Time and experience of the world may make us less esteem earthly things but Grace only makes us willing to leave them because it only raises our desires to Heaven for till we know and hope for better we are never content to leave what we have though it be never so sorry and undesirable Secondly Use 2. This serves to humble us for our unwillingness to leave the world and weak desire to be with Christ. 'T is an evidence of our little proficiency or improficiency under means of Grace when 't is little in our minds and unpleasing we hardly leave the world and join with Christ a little while a Sabbath an hour when it 's grievous to us to part with any thing in the world for Christ when we take little care to get and keep that communion with him which we might have in this world Thirdly Use 3. This serves to perswade Christians to set their affections on things above Coloss 3.1 That they may be loose from these earthly things and live in a desire to depart and be with Christ. For 1. This will assure you of your attainment of your desire Earnest desire to depart and be with Christ is a certain evidence that when you depart you shall be with Christ in Heaven as the Apostle speaks in 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing that is his coming to receive them to himself c. that long to see the very first glimpse that is to be had of him as when a man looks for a Friend coming by Sea he longs to see the top of the Sails of the Ship that brings him so the Soul that loves the appearance of Jesus Christ if there be any sign of his coming to receive them to himself they rejoice to see the very tops of the Sails of that Ship that brings Jesus Christ to them The Lord will never frustrate such a desire open thy mouth thus wide and it shall be filled if Heaven be enough to fill it 2. It will make all easy that is to be suffered by the way If once you attain to this that you can desire to die and be with Christ you will not stick at sufferings on this side death that being the King of Terrors all other Fears are but its Subjects and terrible only as they serve under its Banner to subdue men to it and bring them under its power as Paul argued Acts 21.13 I am ready not only to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus If to die no doubt to be bound ACTS XX. 24. That I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of
newness of the way of Christianity to them is very much a cause of their pleasure in it They take up Duty in obedience to God and love it for its goodness and so far Grace acts them and works in them But besides there is a natural pleasure which they take in it as a new course of life to which they have not been used And this serves for a while to hold them up to a great deal of forwardness and activity which afterwards wears off with its cause and leaves but so much activity behind as there is Grace in the Soul to produce and maintain it This sometimes makes Christians seem to others to have been but Hypocrites in their former diligence in Christianity because they are now more remiss and commonly themselves at some time or other are brought to suspect that they have no saving Grace in them at all because as they think they are grown worse whereas indeed there is but an accidental Motive fallen off which makes the Motion slower than it was though the true and proper Principle remains As if a Man pulls a Clock or Jack by the Line when 't is going it goes apace but when he withdraws his hand it goes more slowly and yet it goes as fast as the proper weight made it go before and is not grown a worse Clock or Jack but only the Hand-help is withdrawn This newness is it which causes that first love which the Ephesians are blamed for leaving Rev. 2.4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love Now this some take to be the zeal and forwardness of Christianity for the newness of it But some may object and say Object This may seem to be no fault in the Ephesians and not reprovable in them 't is no fault to leave it I answer Answ 'T is Sin in others as in them when we do not love Duty still in as high degree for Christ's sake when such accidental motions fall off as when they are at the highest as a School-boy should love his Book when 't is old as when it was fresh and new so perhaps new Converts loved Christianity better at first than afterward but it 's their fault Thus far have I been speaking concerning Christians that are hopefully and comfortably in a state of salvation I now proceed to the reason of this why Christians that are comfortably assured of their safe estate do give up themselves to the practice of godliness why they are so active and forward in the Duties of Religion First 1 R. Christians comfortably assured of their Justification or Interest in Jesus Christ do therefore heartily give up themselves to the service of Righteousness because they love God and this is the proper exercise of their love The grace of love to God is implanted in their Souls in their first Conversion when as yet they have no clear assurance of their salvation but when they come to a comfortable perswasion that they are in a state of grace they love God because he has first loved them see Psal 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice And in 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us Secondly 2 R. The trouble and torments which their Sin has brought upon them makes them gladly betake themselves to a course of Holiness in hope to be at ease Psal 25.12 13. What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse His soul shall dwell at ease c. Obedience seems to flesh and blood a very hard and wearisom course of life and therefore it pleases God so to order it that men should return to him wearied with the troubles and vexatious fears and despairs which attend on Sin that they may be the more willing to give up themselves to Holiness and Obedience 3 R. Thirdly They know it is the way to their compleat happiness Tho Heaven be not merited by Holiness yet 't is not to be obtained without it as Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It 's a usual saying of Divines That Holiness does not merit Heaven but it is the way to it and this Christians understanding are more willing and forward in the practice of Holiness I come now to the Uses Use 1. This confutes the usual Objection against the Doctrine of Assurance of Salvation that it leads to the neglect of duty for say they that deny Assurance attainable If once men be persuaded that they are in a state of Salvation and shall be saved they will presently think it needless to take more pains about their Salvation But we have seen that a comfortable persuasion of their being in a safe Estate is an effectual argument to duty and Christians never set so couragiously and resolvedly upon the practice of Godliness as when they have attained a good assurance of their Salvation Use 2. This Doctrine which I have been propounding to you may convince men of their Self-deceit who neglect duty and take liberty to sin because they hope to be saved It 's a false Opinion of an interest in God that stands with the neglect of his Commands especially when 't is the ground and argument of that neglect I am God alsufficient walk before me and be perfect Gen. 15. So God indents with them whom he receives for his people and they consent with him You that live beside the known Rules of Christianity without any stated worship of God in your Families without the Exercise of Secret Prayer and meditations in your Chambers and Closets you that ordinarily profane the Sabbath and lay it common to your worldly Uses that are ordinarily guilty of swearing lying defrauding and injuring your Neighbours that are intemperate in eating and drinking c. and you that so clearly know your sin that you use your art and skill to hide it from the eyes of men Do you not know that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against such unrighteousness of men Yea but possibly some may say We have believed in Jesus Christ and are justified through his Blood and hope to be saved as well as those that live the strictest lives Certainly your hopes deceive you and you are in a perishing estate For the knowledge of being in a state of Grace will make them apply themselves to the practice of Godliness being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Such is the case of those that encourage themselves in the Examples of Noah and David Fore-fathers or of men reputed godly Use 3. It helps much to confirm Christians in their hopes of Salvation who find themselves moved and excited to Obedience 't is a sign your Persuasion is rightly grounded And thus much for this third Step of Converts toward their Salvation A resolved setling upon a course of Christian Practice 2 COR. V. 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of
and for all that ever they can do you may be strengthning your selves in your love to God lowering your selves in humility bowing your souls to patience and perswading your hearts to love them that use you most unkindly and injuriously while men are acting their enmity against you you may be confirming your love to them which will be no small advantage to you Against these there is no law Gal. 5.22 2d Use The second Use shews the unsoundness of their Religion who rest in external Reformation Christians indeed begin there but they cannot rest there nor suffice themselves with it It 's that which our Saviour charges on the Scribes and Pharisees that they made clean the outside only You are temperate and abstain from Excesses just and honest in your dealings you worship God in publick and in Families as others But what do you within doors Thirdly 3d Use It shews how far they are from true Christianity that are not careful so much as to rectify the course of their Lives who make not clean the outside that are not ashamed to appear outwardly Ungodly Atheistical Voluptuous Intemperate Fourthly 4th Use The Fourth Use is to perswade Christians to the mortification of Sin 1. Resolvedly deny the motions of Sin when first you observe them As Asaph when he found his heart about to speak bad language against God Psal 73.15 presently recollects his thoughts and says If I speak so I shall offend against the generation of thy children 2dly When you are overtaken in any signal act of Sin take an early opportunity to humble your selves for it So what Sin gains by your Fall it will lose and somewhat more by your Humiliation 3dly In all your resistances to Sin look up to Heaven for help As the Apostle says 1 Pet. 5.3 Whom resist stedfast in the faith 4thly Interest all your Crosses and Afflictions into Rebukes for Sin that you may set your hearts against it 5thly Aim still at perfection of Holiness As in the Text Perfecting holiness in the fear of God Keep up an awful fear of God And thus much for the fourth Period of a Christian's motion towards Perfection A laborious endeavour to mortify indwelling Sin ROM VII 24. O wretched man that I am THE Fifth Step or Period of a Convert's motion toward Perfection that I shall treat of is the Sou's Conflict with Discouraging-troubles arising from the sense of indwelling Sin which as 't is the main Subject of the latter part of this Chapter so is most emphatically exprest in these words O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or as 't is in the Margin from this body of death I confess I cannot well say how long Paul had been converted when he wrote this Epistle the time of his writing it being uncertain but 't is certainly evident first 1. That he speaks of himself as a converted Person and in the state of Grace renewed and sanctified in some good degree his Will being habitually determined against the evil which he did and to the good which he did not as verses 15 16. and verses 18 19. He speaks of himself of his inner man delighting in the law of God verse 22. which is the very practice of a godly man as David speaks in Psal 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart The Law is always grievous to a wicked man though he may like well of some Duties required by it yet the Law it self is a burden to him which he is not willing to bear c. All this that he professes of himself to wit that he had such a will to good against evil and delighting in the Law was highly good and that for which he is thankful verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But he utterly denies any good to dwell in him as carnal verse 18. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing So that if he had now been altogether fleshly and carnal thus much good could not have been in him nor any at all 2dly That he speaks of himself as labouring to do the Will of God in a course of Obedience He did some good and intended and was desirous to do all the rest even that he did not and though he did many evil actions yet his intention and endeavour was against them all which is manifestly the case of a man applying himself to holiness of life 3dly That in his endeavouring thus to obey God in all his Actions he found a strong and vigorous Inclination in his heart to Sin and against Holiness As appears verse 21. I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me And ver 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind 4thly That upon this discovery of so much wickedness within him he turned his hearty endeavours against it As appears by these words verse 23. Rebelling Warring leading Captive In his mind he had as before entertained the Law of God and in obedience thereto he made resolute Decrees against his contrary Inclinations But they rebelled he fought against them and they against him for a War cannot be without fighting on both sides And when he sinned at any time he was carried Captive by his indwelling Sin which plainly argues he made resistance against it for they are Adversaries one to another that carry one another Captive 5thly That in this War against his evil Inclinations he found himself too weak of himself to obtain the Victory and therefore cries out as a distressed man in these words O wretched man that I am No man will so bewail his case that finds it in the power of his hand to keep himself O wretched man that I am it's the same word that 's translated Misery Rom. 3.16 Destruction and misery are in their ways And Jam. 5.1 Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you O miserable man I It 's made of two Greek words which signify Suffering and Lamentation that is to say I am a lamentable Sufferer Hence we observe this Doctrine Doctr. That Christians heartily endeavouring and labouring against Indwelling Sin are subject to much discouraging and afflicting trouble about it O wretched man that I am The very Phrases of mortifying the members of the body of Sin Coloss 3.5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication c. Crucifying the Flesh imply much pain and anguish killing and crucifying are painful things Object Yea you will say to them that are killed now that is Sin not the man that kills it I answer Answ Sin in a man is so near to him and has such an union with him that it is not unfitly called himself And so the man that mortifies Sin as he is spiritually renewed mortifies himself as he is sinful and unsanctified therefore the Apostle
to the means is called Faith As we are saved by faith Eph. 2.8 or as Rom. 8.24 We are saved by hope I shall therefore for plainness treat of fiducial Faith and Hope as one Act not as affecting to follow the Schoolmen or others who go that way but as intending the best advantage of the Understanding which is usually disturbed by an unnecessary multiplication of things And if Scripture commonly speaks of both as one Act which is confessed why may they not be so handled Obj. If any object that in 1 Cor. 13.13 Where Faith Hope and Charity are enumerated as three distinct Graces Ans I answer If we take Faith for Assenting Faith which is primarily and most properly Faith the number is made good and indeed it is most probable that the Apostle intends that Faith whereby we believe those thing now which we shall hereafter see as by Hope he means the confident expectation of that Good which we shall hereafter enjoy These things premised I proceed to the Description of fiducial Faith Viz. A Resting or trusting in the mercy of God in Christ in hope of his Salvation tendered to Sinners in the Gospel Here we are distinctly to consider 1. The end of Faith the Salvation of God 2. The tendency of Faith to that end and that is in Hope 3. The foundation of that Hope the mercy of God in Christ First The End of Faith i. e. that which it looks to attain is the Salvation of Christ propounded in the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.9 What this Salvation is was shewed before Viz. Pardon of Sin and an holy union and conjunction with God John 3.16 not to perish i. e. to be condemned for Sin but to have everlasting life i. e. he united to God and enjoy him which is the Soul's life Sin separates from God meritoriously and legally by virtue of the Curse binding the Sinner over to an everlasting Separation from his glorious presence and to everlasting Destruction And it separates from him naturally and formally though there were no punishment by Law assigned to the Sinner for what fellowship has light with darkness Now separation from God is man's spiritual Death even as the separation of the Body and Soul is his natural Death So men are by nature dead in Trespasses and Sins as well as liable to death for them Death is the work of Sin as well as its wages And the Salvation of Christ consists as well in delivering men from Sin it self as from the punishment of it Matth. 1.21 And if he did not this as well as the other he could never make them happy Sin would keep them miserable still though they were redeemed from the pain of sense Then a man is saved when he is brought to God 1 Pet. 3.18 i. e. into an union and conjunction with him And indeed pardon of Sin is but in order to this part as the principle of mans Salvation The Law subjecting the Sinner to his Sin and giving him up to Satan as the most signal part of his punishment it is impossible that he should be delivered from Sin unless the bond of the Law the Curse I mean which holds him under Sin be loosed 1 Cor. 15.56 This then is the End of Faith Salvation from Hell and Sin Pardon and an holy Conjunction with God Secondly The tendency or motion of fiducial Faith to this end i. e. toward Salvation is in a way of Hope Faith rests on Christ in hope of everlasting Life All fiducial Reliance or trusting in any thing or person in reference to any good to be attained is in hope of that good When a Man trusts in a Physician for his Health 't is in hope of obtaining it When a rich Man trusts in his Riches 't is in hope of safety and favour among Men c. When the Jews trusted or were said to trust on the broken Reed Egypt it was in hope of aid from thence So to trust in Christ for Salvation is to hope for his Salvation Tit. 1.2 The faith of God's elect is in hope of everlasting life Now Hope as was said before is the Intention or Desire of the Soul to some good thing which is looked upon as attainable Some put in difficulty but that is not always competent to the object of hope Hope therefore implies First 1. An earnest desire of the thing hoped for Secondly 2. A Perswasion in the mind that it may be attained Where-ever these two meet there is Hope and no where else No man hopes but as the word is sometimes used Catachrestically for that which he desires not A Man may desire that which he has no hope of As Men totally despairing under sense of God's Wrath have a desire of Pardon else they could not be grieved as they are for want of it but they have no hope of Pardon A Man may wish himself an Eagle or a Swallow as David but can have no hope to be so For besides desire Hope always implies a Perswasion that the good desired may be attained or which is more that it shall be attained Devils may have a desire to be out of Torment and 't is certain they have so but no hope of it because they cannot believe it attainable The lame man Acts 5. hoped to receive Money of the Apostles as desiring it and thinking they had it to give him But as for a Cure he desired that also but hoped not for it because he did not believe at first that they had such an healing-power about them He that hopes for any thing looks on it as attainable and the more likely he apprehends it to be attained the more confident he is in his hope And if he looks upon it not only as probable but as certain then 't is full Assurance of hope as Heb. 6.11 Now to apply this to the case in hand When God has brought the humble Soul to an hearty believing of the Gospel he thereby works him up to an hearty desire of the Salvation therein propounded and withal perswades him that he may for his own part attain it and so the Soul begins to hope for everlasting Life The Soul understanding already and believing the Gospel sees such an excellency in the Salvation of God as makes him vehemently desire it he now accounts it the greatest happiness in the World to be delivered from Sin and Hell and joined unto God though he made never so light of it before and earnestly crys out Oh that I might have peace with God Union with God and God to be my God for ever Oh that I might eat Bread in my Father's house Luke 15. Thus the Merchant having seen the Pearl like Achan presently fell in love with it and so importunately desired it that he stuck not at selling all he had to buy it This is that Hunger and Thirst to which the promise is made Matth. 5.6 Isaiah 55.1 and elsewhere This is that willingness which makes a Soul capable of the Water of
rather And if you tell the humble Soul that they that Sin against the Holy Ghost never heartily repent of it and no Man in this Life can certainly conclude himself reprobated because for ought any knows he may repent and turn to God He will yet object Object 6. It may be God will be so merciful as to save Sinners that are deeply and kindly humbled for their Sins and full of the Spirit of mourning and 't is Mercy indeed if he will save such But I have an hard heart and an uncontrite Spirit I cannot grieve for Sin to any purpose though I know my self to be one of the chief of Sinners All these and many more such Objections will be unanswerable if the Soul considers only the absolute Mercy of God For God may indeed be merciful and gloriously merciful in saving Sinners though he should only save some of the most restrained and least provoking the soonest yielding and most signally humbled and mourning Sinners and so the Soul that judges worse of himself can have no hope of his Salvation But the Mercy of God in Christ is such as that he freely offers his Salvation to all even the worst of Sinners to whom the Gospel is preached inviting and commanding them to accept it and rely upon him for it And this answers all Objections The worst the Soul can say against himself exempts him not from the number of Sinners and Salvation is freely offered to all Sinners in general He is one of them let him make as bad of himself as he can And though he thinks it never so unreasonable for him to hope for Mercy yet no reason in the World can have any force against the Command of the most High God which requires him to repose his hope and trust in Christ for his Salvation Thus 't is evident that the ground of a Christian's hope or that which he relies and rests upon in his hope of Salvation is the free Mercy of God in Christ And therefore is Faith commonly in Scripture called a trusting or believing in Jesus Christ because the Satisfaction which he has given to the Law and the free tender of Salvation which he makes in the Gospel to Sinners in general is the only sufficient ground that any Soul has to stay and rest upon in hope of his Salvation John 3.15 16 18 36. John 6.35 1 Pet. 2.6 Acts 11.17 Acts 16.31 and many other places Faith is a believing in God But 't is a believing on him looked upon and considered as he is in Jesus Christ The Soul cannot believe or trust in God for Salvation but as he trusts in Christ 1 Pet. 1.21 Who by him believe on God who raised him from the dead c. It is a trusting or hoping in the Mercy of God Psalm 15.5 Psalm 147.11 But 't is a trusting in Mercy only as 't is expressed displayed and offered to Sinners in Jesus Christ It is a trusting or hoping in the Word Psalm 119.42 74. in as much as it declares and propounds that Mercy of God in Christ on which alone the Soul may rest it self in hopes of Salvation Thus have we seen the Sinner brought by the several Steps of Consideration Conviction Humiliation c. to a fiducial Faith or believing on Jesus Christ And now is he in the state of Effectual Calling or Conversion 1 Thess 2.13 Then Men are called and converted when they believe in Jesus Christ as 't is fully proved in Rom. 1.16 with 1 Cor. 1.24 Now is the Soul set safe from Condemnation and therefore is this Faith called Justifying Faith Rom. 5.1 Now is the Soul adopted and entitled to everlasting Life And therefore is Faith called saving Faith or believing to Salvation Heb. 10. Yea now the Soul is by the work of the Spirit possessed of all Graces necessary to qualify and prepare him for Heaven the heart being purified by Faith Acts 15.9 and taken up by the Lord Jesus for his Habitation Ephes 2.22 with Ephes 2.17 where-ever there is Faith in Christ there is also Love to God Obedience Patience Humility Self-denial and all other Graces in which the Law is written on renewed Hearts The Exercises and Encreases whereof come next to be considered The Sum of all is 1. The Sinner takes the estate of his Soul into serious Consideration Ezek. 18.28 He considereth and turneth away from his Transgression 2. He finds himself to be in a lost and perishing Condition Luke 15.17 I perish for hunger 3. The sight of himself in this estate affects his Soul with deep Sorrow and distressing Trouble Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were pierced at the heart 4. This distress puts him upon a studious consultation and enquiry for a Remedy of his Estate And they said Men and Brethren what shall we do 5. Upon this enquiry God directs him to a serious and heedful attention to the Gospel Acts 11.14 Send for Peter he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy House shall be saved And Acts 10.33 We are all c. 6. Thus attending the Gospel he comes to understand and believe the Doctrine therein contained and to receive it for certain truth upon God's Testimony Acts 2.41 They that gladly received his word were baptized John 6.45 They shall be all taught of God Every one therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me 7. Upon the belief of the Doctrine of the Gospel he proceeds to an hearty reliance on the free Mercy of God in Christ in hope of his Salvation For Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Christ Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ 1. Believing the Gospel he is informed of the excellency of Christ's Salvation and so desires it earnestly for himself 2. Believing the Gospel he sees this Salvation is freely offered to Sinners in general and so conceives hope that he may have it 3. Believing the Gospel he sees that Salvation is procured and granted only through the Mercy of God in Christ and therefore he rests only upon that Mercy in hope of his Salvation PART II. Of the Progress of a Believer from his Conversion to his Perfection under the work of Sanctification 1 PETER II. 2. As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby THE Text is an Exhortation to an earnest desire after the Word Where note first 1. The Persons exhorted they are lately converted Christians compared to new-born Babes so young and incompleat Christians are called 1 Cor. 3.1 And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ Babes in Christ because the work of Sanctification had gone on but a little way in them they being hitherto very Carnal 2. The matter of the Exhortation a desire after the Word Where note First First The object of this desire
the Word compared to pure Milk the sincere Milk of the Word that is the Word which is for you as pure Breast-milk is for the new-born Babe sweet and pleasing nourishing and strengthening the means appointed to the perfecting of the Work of Sanctification John 17.17 Sanctify them by thy truth thy word is truth And Edification unto Glory Acts 20.32 The word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Secondly Secondly The desire it self described by the appetite of new-born Infants to the Nurses Milk that is a vehement and importunate desire and such as will not otherwise be satisfied Thirdly The end of this desire growth in Grace that ye may grow thereby What that is in which they should intend a growth appears plainly by the Sequel of the Apostle's Discourse to be Faith and Holiness The Grace wherewith the Souls of Christians are qualified by the Spirit of God unto Salvation as 't is expressed in the last words of the next Epistle Grow in Grace Growth is the gradual process of living Creatures to their due Measures and Maturity And of all the growths the growth of Children which is here the Apostle's Similitude is a very slow and imperceptible Motion Such is the tendency of saving Grace in the Souls of Christians towards its proper and purposed Perfection Mark 4.27 the Seed springs and grows up we know not how And hence we way observe Direct 1. That saving Grace begun in converted Souls goes gradually on to its perfection under the sanctifying work of God Justification is perfected at once and with it Adoption But the work of Holiness is begun in low degrees and brought on by steps to it its intended height and fulness See this proved in Phil. 1.6 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ So again in Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day So likewise Hosea 6.3 His going forth is as the morning And Mark 4.26 The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground c. The Kingdom of God is his work of Grace in the Souls of Men in which he begins that which in its perfection is the Kingdom of Glory So Grotius and some others understand those three Ages 1 John 2.12 13. I write unto you little Children because your sins are forgiven you I write unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young Men because you have overcome the wicked one But I shall prosecute this Doctrine in a distinct Consideration of the several advances of Grace in the Souls of Christians towards perfection from their first Conversion And that in ten successive periods of their Motion First The first Period or Point of a Christian's Motion towards Perfection that I shall speak of is 1. A vehement pursuit of some clear and comfortable assurance of Salvation When once Men are brought through the Terrors of the Law by the Invitations of the Gospel to believe in Christ for his Salvation they presently become very laborious to get some comfortable Assurance that they are in a saved Estate They do not indeed neglect the duties of Obedience the mortifying of Lusts well ordering of their Lives and the glory of God as the end of all But that which they especially and most ambitiously intend now at their first setting out is a Soul-quieting certainty that all is well between God and them Though they do believe in Christ and know that he that believeth shall be saved yet 't is usually a great while before they can clearly understand themselves to be Believers in Christ and by Faith saved Persons A man must be of necessity a Believer before he can know himself to be so and Faith is sometimes very long unevident to him that has it And though he do perceive the believing act in himself and dares not deny it yet he is very doubtful whether it be true saving Faith or no and very impatient of the doubt And this is commonly the main Intention of young Converts and their great affair to assure themselves that they are in Christ and not perishing with the World 'T is true the very act of Faith through the Grace of Christ brings in a sweet calmness of Spirit easing the Soul of those despairing and tormenting fears with which 't was overwhelmed before and therefore Faith it self is in Scripture called a resting on the Lord and a staying of the mind on God Isa 26.3 But a positive Assurance of ones being in the state of Salvation is a further benefit and must be sought after in the use of means appointed to the making of our Calling and Election sure And this is usually the great study of new Converts as Hosea 6.2 He will receive us that was it in prosecution whereof they stirred up themselves to follow on to know the Lord. And that they do mainly intend and follow this appears First In their eager desire after Ordinances and means appointed to this end to confirm Faith and work assurance As soon as the Eunuch was converted he was presently ambitious to be baptized upon the first opportunity Acts 8.36 37. And the Eunuch said See here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized And Philip said If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayst And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And they went down both into the water both Philip and the Eunuch and he baptized him Baptism being a confirming Ordinance a seal of the Promise and Covenant of Grace he was very desirous to have that Doctrine sealed to him by washing which he had lately heard preached out of Isa 53. And Paul when converted assayed to join himself with the Church Communion with Saints being a good means to inform us of our own good estate Acts 9.26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem he assayed to join himself to the Disciples 2dly Their earnest hearkening after Promises and such parts of the Word as declare the love of God to poor Sinners They are not at first so studious of that Word which sets forth that Reward which Saints shall have in Heaven as of that Word of Promise which serves to give humbled Souls notice of their Interest in Christ and the Love of God They go to every Sermon that they hear in hope of a word of peace And are mightily taken with that Word which sets forth the love of Christ descending and stooping down to poor unworthy Wretches Though they heartily like a Boanerges a Son of Thunder and bless God that ever they have heard the Terrors of the Lord in the Doctrine of the Law yet now they are sore and wounded and most earnestly desire after Barnabas the Son of Consolation to pour some Oil into their Wounds
seasonably found me out I thought I had been armed sufficiently and could have endured the force of a Sermon as easily as any man in the Congregation and have born up my face undauntedly against all Rebukes and Threatnings but the Word was too strong for me and brought me down upon my Knees and blessed be God that it did so blessed be God that prepared it so sharpened it so timed it and so followed it with powerful motions of his Spirit that I could never acquit my self of it till I was perswaded to return and yield my self up to God Secondly 2dly Their thankful acknowledgement of the goodness of God to them in that they died not in their former Estate As Hezekiah when he was recovered of his Sickness and found himself well again wrote a Memorial of the goodness of God to him in his Restitution wherein he recorded the danger he had been in and how near he was to Death and what a narrow escape he had Isaiah 38.9 So Christians when once they apprehend themselves passed from Death to Life are even afraid to think what an Estate they were in before and mightily taken with the Mercy of God that suffered them not to perish in that Condition I was in love with my own perverse way when I was running headlong to Destruction I thought my self safe enough when I was even in the midst of all Evil I trusted to my own Works when I was working out my Damnation Prov. 5.14 I was almost in all evil I despised reproof and hearkned not to the voice of my Teachers and if the Lord had then taken me off by Death I had certainly perished O! blessed be God that had pity on me when I had no care of my self and awakened me when I was sleeping the Sleep of Death Thus Paul I was a persecutor a blasphemer and injurious but I obtained mercy c. Now to the King eternal the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever 1 Tim. 1.13 So all the followers of the Lamb the Lord Jesus are said to sing the Song of Moses Rev. 15.3 Blessing God that suffered them not to dye under Egyptian Bondage or perish in the Red-Sea 3dly Their readiness to tell others what God has done for their Souls Christians are hardly ever so communicative of their experiences as about this Age. As Children when first they get use of their Tongues are most apt to talk Thus Christians when they have newly got the sense of saving love are often saying with David Come and hear ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul Psalm 66.16 I was perishing unawares and he shewed me my danger and then I thought I must needs perish without remedy I walked up and down trembling like Cain and could neither eat nor drink lye down nor rise in peace All was black and dark about me Every word of God seemed to be against me and the Wrath of God was always ready as I thought to swallow me up till such a Word came and such a Promise was set home to my heart And them my Fears vanished and my Soul was quieted my Mourning turned into Joy c. Never was a poor fainting Soul so revived O taste and see that the Lord is grocious he belivered my soul from death my eyes from tears my feet from falling Psalm 116.8 4thly Their great contentedness under outward Troubles because God has spoken peace to their Souls Though they be poor it may be and low in the World and meet with many Enemies though they are reproached by their Neighbours and their old Companions and suffer the displeasure of their Friends for betaking themselves to a new course of Life yea though they are watcht and kept in and are fain to make hard shift to get out to Ordinances and into Christian Communion yet all is easy to them and they bear it patiently because God has manifested himself to their Souls and given them good hopes through Grace of everlasting Glory Now let Friends reject them Father and Mother forsake them since God has taken them up Their acquaintance disown them but God owns them the World frowns upon them but Heaven smiles They are in danger to suffer loss of all but they have found Christ and won Christ and 't is enough they rejoyce in their Portion Fifthly 5thly The sweet Savour which they find in the Gospel and the word of promise Joy sweetens our Meat and Drink to us and makes us relish what is set before us So Christians in this Estate are strangely taken with spiritual Promises and find a sweetness in them which they never perceived before so that they wonder at themselves to think how many times they have read and heard such a Portion of the Word and never understood it never found any relish in it But now they cry out O what a good Word is this Oh delicacies of our Father's House What Nourishment what Cordials are in his Evangelical Provisions This is bread from Heaven Angels food indeed What a Table is here spread What a Cup is here filled The Word of God is quite another thing to such a Soul from what it was before Sixthly 6thly Their affectionate Thoughts of God and Christ as David expresses himself in Psalm 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications So Christians raised up out of their Sorrows Terrors and Despairs highly admire and love Jesus Christ in whom they have now believed as the Apostle Peter speaks in his first Epistle Chap. 2. Verse 7. To you that believe he is precious Though they were yet but as new-born Babes Now let me give you a few Reasons First Reas 1. No marvel that Christians are so much rejoiced upon the first receit of such Assurance because it is usually the fruit of much studious Pains and Labour many Prayers much waiting and many strict Examinations of themselves That is naturally pleasant which is hardly attained They that sow in tears reap in joy Psalm 126.5 Secondly Reas 2. It has in it the beginning of Heaven 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls Believers now receive the beginning of that Salvation which is the end of their Faith Salvation is the intended end of Faith that which Faith is always seeking and aiming at that which Faith seeks and waits for and it is the end of the Faith of Christians as that in which it ceases as believing and is turned into Vision So Faith of Assurance is a very joyous thing Thirdly Reas 3. They commonly think their doubts and fears now gone for all they think they shall despair no more distrust God no more As David Psalm 30.6 said I shall not be moved But this third Reason has a mistake in it as it ordinarily proves of which I shall speak afterward Fourthly Reas 4. God gives this comfort to facilitate his Peoples way to Heaven If
towards you and have no bad suspition of them you are not moved but if you be informed and assured they are Thieves and Murderers then you think they are many more than you accounted them and your heart trembles at the sight of them Now the more Grace is in the Soul the worse opinion Men have of Sin and the more afraid they are of it I come now to the Uses First Use 1. This shews their unsoundness in Christianity whatever their Profession and external Practice may be who are untroubled about their indwelling Sin All Christians are disquieted and grieved for the Sin of their Natures and they especially that have made some progress in Christianity But if a Man lives at ease from sorrow and trouble about the internal Estate of his Soul the condition of things within him sure he is no sincere Christian Use 2. The second Use is for comfort to Christians labouring under such Fears and Troubles about indwelling Sin but against these fears there is this comfort 1st They are all Arguments of sincerity For if we only intended a form of Godliness we should be at peace with our indwelling secret Sin 2dly God has fit comforts in a readiness for them Blessed are they that thus mourn Heaviness may endure for a Night but joy comes in the Morning ROM VIII 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ THE sixth Period or Step of a Christians motion toward Perfection which I shall speak of is His renewed Comfort after a time of Soul-trouble about his indwelling Sin and I shall settle what I have to say of it upon these words Who shall separate us from the love of Christ They are words of triumph over all the Enemies of the Salvation of Christians among whom the Apostle plainly reckons himself as appears by this word us Who shall separate us Having spoken in the third Person concerning Justification of the Elect Verse 33 and 34. he concludes with a manifest insertion of himself among the Elect and Justified for whom Christ makes Intercession in Heaven Who also makes Intercession for us and thus proceeds to a challenge to all the World to separate him or any of them from the love of Christ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ The love of Christ in this place is not the love that Christians bear to Christ though none can abolish that but it 's the love of God to them as Verse 39. Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This love cleaves fast to them settles immoveably upon them as if it should say This is my resting-place here will I dwell Psalm 132.14 This is the love of Christ unto Christians according to that in Zeph. 3.17 God rests in his love and this happiness the Apostle Paul assumes to himself None shall separate me from the love of Christ It 's observable That Paul in the former Chapter expresses so much trouble about indwelling Sin and cries out O wretched man that I am now declares himself a happy Man among the Saints as he speaks here Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ And hence we may observe Doct. That spiritual Comfort interrupted by Soul-troubles revives in greater measures and higher degrees As the Day is more pleasant after the darkness of the Night and the Spring after the coldness of the Winter Now I shall shew you how spiritual Comforts revive after Soul-trouble for Sin 1. By advantage of Soul-trouble Christians do attain to a better discovery of the Work of Grace in themselves It serves in the end to give a Man a right understanding of himself When the Physician has shaken the Glass he the better observes the Symptoms and Indications appearing in the Water So to put a Man into a Passion is usually accounted a likely way to know what kind of Nature he is of and how he stands affected Thus Christians by Soul-trouble especially about indwelling Sin 1st They perceive that the Sin that 's in them is very grievous and a sore burthen to them 2dly That there is some better Principle in them that makes earnest opposition to it 3dly That they really hunger and thirst after a full freedom from it in Holiness and Righteousness Who shall deliver me So then I my self serve the law of God Rom. 7.25 Thus Peter by the advantage of his great trouble about denying Christ came to perceive clearly that he loved him John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Indeed unquietness of the mind makes a Man unable to judge of himself but afterward he lies more open to his own view as the Water after a Commotion being setled again is more perspicuous 2dly After Christians have been a while exercised with Soul-trouble God usually disposes and enables them to devolve the wearisome burden of their cares and fears upon his alsufficient Grace To lay their aking Heads and fainting Hearts in his Bosom as David perswades himself Psalm 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my soul Hope thou in God and so the Soul returns to its rest As Psal 116.7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 3dly He ordinarily imploys some special part of his Word in his message to comfort the Soul As David was quickened Psalm 119.50 Thy word hath quickened me hath made me alive again as the word signifies So those comforting words in Jer. 31.3 Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love come in as an answer to a troubled Soul's discourse with it self The Lord hath appeared to me of old they are says Junius on the place the words of the godly acknowledging God's former gracious appearing and bounty to them but complaining implicitely of the cooling of his love to them at present To which the Lord gives a present answer of kindness Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love The Word saying is allowed by our Learned Translators to be left out as you may see by the change of the Character into Italian as if he had said Did I love thee of old Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love Some have been mightily revived in this case by that in Micah 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea Some with that in Psalm 138.8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me that is though I walk in midst of trouble as Verse 7. Many with that in Hosea 14.4 I will heal their backslidings and love them freely And many with that in Isaiah 50.10 Who is he among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord. As if that Text and this Chapter Rom. 7. were written on purpose as sure they were for establishing of comfort to
Souls that have been troubled about Sin remaining in them 4thly God raises great Joy in their hearts in consideration of that immutable love of God on which their Salvation depends When they come to see and consider that 't is not their love to God but his love to them that saves them This mightily refreshes their Souls after a weary Combate wite Despair and Diffidence occasioned by the sense of Sin remaining and much prevailing in their Soul Now then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ c. Rom. 8.1 That is to say I see now my safety is not in that I can do for my self against my Sin but in what Christ Jesus has done and suffered for them that are in him who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit 5thly God gives them a delightful prospect of their future Happiness When they have known the trouble of Sin and are wearied with it he shews them their remaining rest as Psalm 73.24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory Then no more Sin in my Soul No more Temptation in my way but pure Holiness shall enrich adorn and delight my Soul for ever Now a word or two of the Reason why God is pleased to quiet the Souls of his People when revived after Soul-trouble for Sin Reas 1. God revives them in greater Measures Because he pities them in their Sorrow and Trouble they have had about their Sin remaining as Jer. 31.19 Surely after that I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth As if he had said I cannot but affectionately think how his heart has been troubled at what I have said against him therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I earnestly remember him still As Christ had compassion on his poor Disciples when he saw them toiling in the Storm Matth 14.24 and so in Lam. 3.32 Though he cause grief yet will be have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Because 2dly Soul-trouble prepares a Christian for good measures of spiritual Comfort Sorrow is not given to Christians for it self but to fit them for the receipt of Comfort they are cast down that they may be lifted up Particularly they are thus afflicted with Sorrow in themselves for a time 1. That they may know 't is a free gift and not meerly raised up and reasoned out by themselves They may have Grace in their Souls and Promises to that Grace and yet little comfort till God sends it in to them 3dly That they may the better manage it when it comes Men must be well humbled or comfort will make them forget themselves As Paul was in danger to be lifted up 2 Cor. 12.7 lest I should be lifted up above measure there was given me a thorne in the flesh Soul Trouble and Affliction is a gift of God to a Christian when in danger to be lifted up 4thly It 's given them in a way of gracious recompence to all their Labour and Pains in striving against their indwelling Sin Heaven indeed is the great recompence and this is some beginning of it God freely rewards Christians for the care and pains they take in preserving their own Souls against the hurt of Temptations when they are tempted to despair in time of Trouble and crying out O wretched man that I am It 's a remarkable thing the story of Pharoah's Daughter who had Compassion on Moses when she saw him weeping It 's said she hired Moses's Mother to nurse her own Child Exod. 2.9 Take this child away and nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages Now for the Uses Use 1. Is to inform us of the exceeding great love of God to believing Souls that has so much pity to them when they are troubled in themselves and is so careful to revive them When the poor disquieted Soul is thinking Sure God has no favour for me has cast me off and left me to my self and Satan Then is he meditating mercies and comfort to that Soul and preparing the Soul for the receipt of it Isa 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord thoughts of peace Jer. 20.11 Use 2. Is to encourage Christians labouring under Soul-troubles especially about Sin dwelling and remaining and working in them such trouble serves to prepare Christians for comfort and lays a good foundation for it Your Comfort is at hand Say to your Souls as David to his in the 42d Psalm ver 5. Hope in God for I shall yet praise him PHIL. IV. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me THE seventh Period of a Christan's motion or progress toward perfection that I shall treat of is A setled dependance on the strength and power of Christ for the performance of the whole Work and Charge of Christianity When a Christian under some comfortable persuasions of his peace with God has set upon reformation of his Life and finding himself strongly hindred in that work by his indwelling Sin has made earnest essays to mortify his Lusts and cleanse his heart from wickedness and when by reason of the difficulty of that Design he has been sadly troubled and disquieted in himself it pleases God in sitting time to raise up and revive the weary and disheartened Combatant with spiritual consolation of which lately and now the Soul having had so much experience of it self and of God his own insufficiency and the All-sufficiency of Divine Grace resolvedly betakes himself to a fiducial reliance on the gracious Power of Christ for the carrying on and management of all the duty incombant on him as a Christian which is intimated in this Text I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me That we may clearly understand them it 's to be noted 1st They are words of self-encouragement to so great and weighty undertaking As Joel 3. Let the weak say I am strong i. e. Let him put on a noble and generous Resolution and gird up the loins of his mind to warlike Enterprizes Thus Paul here I can do all I am strong for all things ready armed and furnished with strength for all things which God sets me to do 2dly The work to which he so encourages himself is the whole duty of Christianity to do that which is to be done in a state of Prosperity and to suffer what is to be undergone in a day of adversity as verse 12. to do and suffer as a Christian this is all That is it comprehends the Work and Duty of a Christian as Eccles 12.13 Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man This is all of man 3dly The Argument wherewith he thus encourages himself is not any opinion of his own strength yea his words import a denial of any such confidence I am strong for