and the power and goodness of the promiser Love lives upon Faith we can love God no longer than we believe When the imaginary Faith of wicked men like a candle dyeth within them their supposed love to God goeth out with it also They hate him in Hell and can do no other we love God no longer than we have a good opinion of his love to us 't is Faith that seeds this Lamp with Oyl We love him because he first loved us And therefore when the spring of Faith is low the stream of Love is very ebb Prayer lives upon Faith we pray no longer than we believe Prayer shall be heard We knock no longer at Gods door than Faith seeth we are welcom When a man feels guilt of sin yet Faith seeth the Lord will pardon it for his own name-sake Who is a God like unto Mica 7. 18. thee that pardons iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage He will turn again he will have compassion on us he will subdue i. e. pardon our iniquities so the word signifies and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea When a man feels the strength of sin yet Faith seeth that the Lord will waste and subdue it and doth not this bear up grace from sinking With what courage doth grace fight against sin when Faith tells her God is on your side and you shall overcome Faith finds and feels rest in trouble Vnto the upright there Psal 112. 4. ariseth light in the darkness The life of a Christian is a life of Faith which is a life contrary to sense and reason when the Lord kills what Doth he intend then to save me yes that he doth saith Faith and therefore Though he kill me yet will I trust in him and thus is grace inlivened When the Lord binds me in Cords of misery doth he intend me any good Yes saith Faith he intends to teach thee and instruct thee Blessed is he whom thou chastenest O Lord Psal 94. 12. Vers 13. and teachest him out of thy law that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity WHILE the pit is digged for the wicked Faith informs the Soul that God is upon a good work whilst he is binding and breaking his people Oh! he is teaching them some high and holy lesson his corrections are their instructions He is preparing them for a day of prosperity As 't is in the next verse That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity while the pit is digged for the wicked Where take notice of these two Things 1. While God is chastising his People he is preparing them for a day of smiles and felicities When he was breaking Job upon the wheel of Affliction he was but preparing him for a greater day of Honour and Prosperity 2. While God by chastisements is preparing his people for some greater happiness at that very time he is preparing a Gallows for the wicked he is digging their pit to bury them in That thou mayst give him rest from the day of adversity while the pit is digged for the wicked While the Jews were under a Cloud and God preparing deliverance for them he was at that very time preparing Hamans Gallows The wicked like condemned men are suffered to live till their Gallows and Grave be made ready Now Faith is well read in Divine Mysteries in Gods proceedings she acquaints the soul that God by chastising and touching the Body is teaching her that his strokes are not huntful Nocumenta sunt Documenta Secondly The Lord increaseth grace in his People by preserving a tenderness upon their Consciences 't is grace that makes the Conscience tender and that tenderness nurseth up grace with exquisite care in the soul The most tender hearted nurse is not more chary of her dear Babe to give it suck keep it clean preserve it from harms and see it come on and prosper than the tender Conscience is of her grace the sweet Babe of the Holy Ghost within her Blessed yea thrice blessed are they to whom God hath given a tender conscience As grace withers and shrinks up by an hardness coming upon the heart so grace improves mightily in a soft and tender soyl 1. The tender Conscience startles at secret sins as well as open sins to sin in the dark as well as in the light his Memento or if you please his Motto is Shall not God search this out Psal 44. 21. He fears Gods Eye more than all the Worlds eye The tender Conscience trembleth at your cunning arts and ways of sinning whereby in your bargains you can bring about your covetous desires under hand and no man discern you You call only those sins secret that are done in a corner but if in your publick dealings you can by your subtilties come over another Are not these secret sins too Tender conscience cannot swallow them And is not grace growing now 2. Tender conscience is quick and sensitive of small sins vain thoughts idle words lesser oaths wanton glances wishes and motions to sin He knows no duty small because there 's no Commandment small he calls no sin little because there 's no poyson little no death little no hell little and doth not this give strength to grace 3. The tender conscience smites the Saint after he hath sinned as oft as he sinneth After sin committed his heart gives him no rest till he hath made his peace with God If corrupt nature cannot but sin yet renewed conscience cannot but repent of sin it cannot but rise again if God be offended it cannot but meet him with humiliation if Man be wronged it cannot but make restitution or satisfaction as Zacheus did When David had sinned in numbring the people his heart smote him I have sinned greatly in that I have done Surely 2 Sam. 24. 10. grace gets ground by this 4. Tender conscience trembles at the appearance of evil as some eyes cannot abide to look on the Picture or Image of a Toad that which looks like sin he abhors it it scares a holy soul from any enterprize if it be but male coloratum an ill aspect Every thing that might any way redound to the wounding of Religion or at which any offence might be taken he entertains it not and doth not this give nutriment to grace 5. Tender conscience is jealous of the appearance of good as it hates the appearance of evil so it dares not always trust every appearance of good The tender conscience as far as it hath light will try all things and hold fast only what is good not what seems so Satan deceives more easily and destroys more dangerously when he assumes the shape of an Angel of light That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination Luk. 16. 15. in the sight of God 6. Tender conscience takes heed of what he knows lawful He doth not only fly what appears evil and try what appears good but
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
appear admirable in beauty and comeliness That which Paul speaks to Timothy bidding him do the work of an 2 Tim. 2. 15. Evangelist bidding him shew himself a work-man that needs not to be ashamed is most true concerning the great God he will do all his works so that he needs not to be ashamed AN ACCOUNT OF GODS TEMPTATIONS Gen. XXII 1 2. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham And he said Behold here am I. And he said Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of THIS Chapter presents you with a story that hath no parallel all ages have stood amazed at it not knowing whether they should more wonder at Gods Command or Abrahams Obedience Here is an admirable composure or mixture of joy and sadness sadness and joy you may so we do it with holy reverence liken it to a Comedy whose property as some have said is to begin with trouble and end in cheerfulness The subject-matter of this story is Abraham tempted to sacrifice his Son Isaac or if you please God tempting Abraham to sacrifice his only Son You have here 1. The Temptation 2. The effect of it First The temptation is that Abraham must sacrifice his Son Secondly The effect of it was an Obligation upon Abraham to perform this service and therefore you shall find at the third verse that Abraham rose up early in the morning and sadled his ass to dispatch quickly what he was commanded Gods Command and Mans Obligation are Relatum Correlatum Relatives Indeed Gods Command and the Creatures Obedience are not Relatives for where God commands obedience doth not always follow but his command and our obligation to obey are Relatives secundum esse the one doth necessarily put the other in being In the temptation you have 1. The efficient God 2. The act did tempt 3. The subject of the Temptation Abraham God did tempt Abraham 4. The means whereby God did tempt him by giving him an extraordinary command such as was never before nor since given to any man for the Father to sheath his sacrificing knife in the throat of his own son verse the second Where the Hebrew words are wondrous emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take now thy Son thine only one or thy only begotten one unigenitum so some render it whom thou lovest even Isaac Rabbi Salomon observes a Gradation thus Take thy Son but saith he that is Abraham I have two Sons therefore saith God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thine only son saith Abraham either of them is the only son of their mother therefore saith God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him whom thou lovest saith Abraham I love both therefore saith God Isaac whom thou lovest so well But how was Isaac his only son when he had Ishmael also because he had Ishmael therefore the septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy beloved one so at the 12 and 16 verses the septuagint render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Isaac was his only Son remaining in his Family for Ishmael was gone Thy only son by thy wife thy legitimate Son as opposed to Ishmael begotten of the Bond-woman thy only son to whom the promise is made and of whom the Messiah is to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take him now do thou thy self take him and offer him for a burnt-offering do thou do it by thy self not by another by thy own hand not by anothers This Command of God was just and no ways contrary to that standing Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt not kill For though it be unjust and against that law for any man to take away the life of a party not guilty of a Capital Crime deserving death yet just it is and God may justly command man to take away the life of a person never so innocent for these reasons 1. Because that law thou shalt not kill did not bind God 2. And chiefly a potestate Dei from the Authority of God because God is the supream Lord and hath jus vitae necis in omnes an absolute Dominion of life and death over all which no creature hath or can have 3. A potentia Dei the power of God And that 1. Because God could restore life taken away and raise up Isaac again which man cannot do nay it is above the sphere of all created activity 2. God if he never restore the life on earth that he takes away yet he can give a better life an everlasting life in the room of it You see then the command was just and this was the Medium or the means whereby God tempted Abraham 5. The end of this Command was 1. To try Abraham and make proof of him whether he loved God or his Son Isaac more 2. And to manifest unto Abraham himself his faith and love to God 3. And to make him a rare example and pattern of both to all future generations 6. You have the circumstance of time when God tempted Abraham or if you will the order and succession of this temptation at the first verse After these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies words But that signification cannot stand here it signifies as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek also things and matters Which will give occasion to explain a Text to you Psal 65. 3. Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away Where by iniquities you must by no means understand Davids iniquities or sins as if he had said My sins or iniquities prevail against me but the iniquities or unjust courses of his adversaries they prevailed against him But the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of iniquity words put for things things or matters of iniquity not Davids own but his Adversaries practised by them against him that is their unjust courses prevailed against him to the trouble and vexation of him and of Gods People yet saith he as for our transgressions which had given their Adversaries such power against them thou upon our serious seeking of thee hast purged them away that is hast pardoned them Well then to return to my Text God tempted Abraham after these things that is those things that went before but how long this was after it appears not by the Text save only that Isaac was then of sufficient age and strength to carry a burden of wood for sacrifice being then as Josephus saith five Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 14. and twenty years old Abraham one hundred and twenty five and Sarah one hundred and fifteen though the Hebrews some of them say that Isaac was thirty seven years old After these things God tempted Abraham after all the preceding passages of his life more particularly after so many and so great promises made to him
yet Heb. 4. 15. without sin But in our infirmity of the flesh we are seldom tempted by afflictions without sin Although affliction doth not quite vanquish and overcome us yet always almost at the very first on-set it doth like a great blow dizzy the brain and makes us give back If we be not thrown down yet we reel and stagger and sometimes it lays us flat and our faith lyes sprawling upon the ground In affliction there are two things 1. Sensation And 2. Temptation 1. In affliction there is Sensation doloris sensus the sense of pain and grief and this Christ felt as well as we we cannot and he could not taste affliction without pain as we are affected with Dolour when evils lye upon us so was Christ he felt sharp and keen pain and thus Christ was tempted in all things and in the same manner as we are as to sense of pain and grief yet without sin But 2. In affliction there is also temptation to sin and because it is so true that great temptations arise out of afflictions therefore are afflictions Antonomastice called temptations they tempt sadly to murmuring and impatience to wrangling and expostulation with God to unbelief and doubting of his love nay to cast off God Doth God himself tempt me thus and afflict me thus and shall I serve such a Master Ah! look how ye are under your daily afflictions Vse 8. Doth God tempt Abraham Abraham his friend Then you may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord God tempts and tries his dear ones all 's in love 1. He tempts his dear ones he tempts those whom he loves dearly Abraham was high in Gods Books one of his intimate and bosom-acquaintance and yet God tempts Abraham Nay to give you a greater instance than Abraham Jesus Christ was tempted I say Jesus Christ was Heb. 4. 15. in all points tempted like as we are and yet the beloved of the Lord he was the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord he was tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently superlatively more than us all and yet he was beloved of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and superlatively above us all So that ye may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord nay Jesus Christ was tempted of God himself he was not only tempted by the tempter but by his dear Father God himself My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 2. All is in love he tempts in love he not only tempts his beloved but he tempts them in love that he may love them the more and they in the Issue love him the better How much more did God love Abraham when he saw him forget himself to be a Father and his own child to be his Son for his sake By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou Gen. 22. 16 17. hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies And did not this message from heaven think you kindle a greater flame of love in Abrahams bosom toward God without doubt it did God loves Abraham more Abraham loves God more than ever he did When Abraham saw Gods design and had his Son delivered safe to him again How was his heart filled with a spiritual torrent of joy He gained the experience of Gods love to him and of his love to God and would not have unwished the temptation again upon any terms 3. God tempts and all is in wisdom God tempts his Beloved in wisdom he corrects his Children as well as his Enemies but when he corrects them it is in much prudence and wisdom Quest But how shall I know that God tempts me for my good How shall I know that God afflicts me and tempts me in love 1. Why first because he loves thee whom he loves he tempts and proves them in love you imagine he loves you but you do not feel that he loves you the sense of Gods love would put all these out of doubt 2. You may know he tempts you in love if ye be faithful unto him in temptations if you depart not from God in the day of temptation God is trying and tempting his people at this day and it may be it will be a sad day and a dark day of temptation it may be it will be a strong day of temptation and of long temptation and you would know whether he tempts you at this day in love then make choice of suffering rather than sin of affliction rather than defection The Heb. 10. 38. just shall live by faith saith the Apostle that is shall hold out by faith in the day of temptation But if any man draw back my soul saith God shall have no pleasure in him Would ye know whether God proves you at this day and tries you in love then put on the whole armour of God that ye Eph. 6. 11 14. may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth c. Watch ye 1 Cor. 16. 13. stand fast in the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quit your selves like men be strong Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ Gal. 5. 1. hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together Phil. 1. 27 28. for the faith of the Gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God So stand fast in the Phil. 4. 1. Lord my dearly beloved 3. Cleanse your hearts from hypocrisie see that your souls are right before the Lord and then Gods Temptations are all in love all goeth right with upright hearts The upright Prov. 11. 20. in their way are his delight 4. You may know whether God tempts you in love by the issue and fruits of your temptations Abraham sin'd in temptation and Saints may sin in temptation In a temptation you would know whether you shall hold out I will not prophesie but I will give you a sign have you held out through former temptations thou mayst hold out through others Vse 9. You beloved of the Lord bear Gods Temptations with willingness and patience The Apostle stirs up the Hebrews to learn practically this lesson Despise not thou the chastening Heb. 12. 5 9. of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Furthermore saith he we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live Gods Temptations are your gain not your loss but your Gods Temptations are your gain
Christ Jesus Christ doth all in us acting and referring all our actions to the glory of his Father as Christ did so must the Christian his center must be the bosom of God all his actions and sufferings must be pure and referred to the glory of God his intentions must look only upon God his desires must be only to please God his care only to follow God his contentment wholly in God Thus I say his thoughts his designs his works must bear the Image of Jesus Christ he must do all of God all to God and all for God 3. We must imitate Jesus Christ in self-denial 4. We must imitate Jesus Christ in accepting humiliations and sufferings If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me The Apostle also who is but the eccho of Christ resounds the same lesson when he saith That Jesus Christ suffered for us and that 1 Pet. 2. 21. we must imitate him leaving us an example that we should follow his steps After this surely we cannot in reason find any thing hard for if Christ from his birth to his death hath espoused sufferings and embraced the cross Wherefore should we refuse being his Children to live and dye as he did For as the Christian must be the Image of Christ so he must bear with Jesus Christ all sorts of commotions and pains humiliations and sufferings that our life may be an express Image of his life which appeared always in desertions lowness and sufferings so ours must be but the same state of sufferings when he calls us thereunto 5. Imitate Jesus Christ in love the love of a Christian must be the same with that of Jesus Herein appears the great difference between Christian vertues and Moral or Humane For instance The love that God requires of a Christian must not be 1. That of a Pagan who loves them that love him 2. Nor that of a Politician who loves according to his humour or interest 3. Nor that of a Jew who loves not but out of an hope of reward promised or a fear of judgments The love of a Christian must be the same with that of Jesus Christ that is he must love with the same love wherewith Jesus loves he must love with the love of Jesus as he must live the life of Jesus Walk in love as Jesus Christ hath John 13. 34. loved you I give you saith Christ a new Commandment that ye love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOV To love is no new Commandment this law was imprinted in our hearts from the beginning of the world but the manner of loving is new that is to love by the same love wherewith Jesus loved us Now thus must we love we must love with a new love the new love of Jesus hath made it a new Commandment Oh! how great is this love how pure how free from all self-interest how strong and powerful since it is the same love that made Jesus to be born and dye for us even then when we were his enemies and sin reigning in us And therefore we must love our enemies with the love of Jesus Christ we must love our enemies with the same love wherewith Christ loved us when we were his enemies And therefore we must pray for enemies for so did Christ for his Father forgive them so did Steven Lord lay not this sin to their charge 3. Christians are in Christ Jesus as in the conserving and supporting cause of their graces The Saint is in Christ much like as the accident is in its subject for as Accidentis esse est inesse the Being of an accident consists in its being in the Subject so the very being of a Christian lyeth in his being in Christ he lives and his graces live while he is in Christ he is lost and all his graces are lost if he be once separated from Christ Abide in me and I in you as the branch John 15. 4. cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me Sirs Are ye in Christ be sure you keep in him then for out of him ye dye and give up the ghost as the fish dyes out of the water and the coal dyes out of the fire so grace dyes and expires out of Jesus Christ 4. This expression In Christ Jesus All that will live godly in Christ Jesus speaks subjection to Christ We cannot be in Christ but we must be in him as our Head and Sovereign we are in him as Regnum in Rege as the Commonwealth is in a King that is in the Power of a King and as the members are in the head under its Regency to be ruled by its Influence and Authority so are we in Christ we are in him that we may be under him to be ruled and guided by him The Son of God hath infinite rights to VS and we have infinite obligations to him which the shortness of our days will not give us leave sufficiently to admire nor the weakness of our spirits to comprehend The law of subjection to Christ is fundamental and belongs to the constitution of Gods spiritual Kingdom for government in the very essence of it is an order of superiority and subjection the constitution of government lyes in determining the person that shall govern and the parties that shall be governed so the constitution of this Divine and Spiritual Kingdom of God is in his appointment of the Soveraignty of Christ and the Subjection of Man to him Soveraign and Subjects are the essential or integral parts which give essence to government and constitute its being and existence to obey is the essence of Subjects this subjection is the very essence of the Church and so of the Christian Our subjection to Christ consists 1. In an act of Honour and Adoration 2. In an act of Oblation 1. In an act of honour and adoration The Lord Christ the Son of God is infinitely adorable and we are obliged to honour and adore him with so much necessity that the very Devils and Damned are forced in some way to do it To form this Act we must acknowledg Jesus Christ the Son of God both God and Man we must regard him as our Soveraign and Redeemer as the cause and principle of all our happiness we must annihilate our selves before him and humble our selves even to the bottom of our souls we must accept him as our God King and All. 2. Another act of subjection to Jesus Christ is an act of Oblation whereby the soul offers her self wholly to Jesus Christ and renouncing her self resigns into his hand all that she is all the power that she hath over her self over all her actions over all things and to make her self more the servant to Jesus in a perfect condition she renounceth her own liberty and all the use she can make thereof giving it up into the hands of the Son of God of whom she
discovers are no other for substance but those very things which are in Scripture only he gives a clearer light to discern them by To Instance That God is Every man saith he knows this and believes it as well as the godly doth But I must tell him That the godly man seeth a great deal further into it he seeth that God is as truly as he seeth that the Sun is when it shines upon him And therefore God is in all his thoughts The wicked man will tell you he knows that God is present in all places and yet he will be drunk in God Presence swear and lye in Gods Presence cheat and deal unjustly in Gods Presence How can this man say he believes that God is present where he is But now the godly Man seeth that God is present in all places as clearly as if God appeared visibly to him Secondly They know feelingly they feel what they know what they know in the head they feel in the heart And they count themselves to know no more than they feel as Melancthon makes mention of a godly Woman who having strong conflicts upon her Death-bed and was afterwards much comforted brake out into these words Now and not till now I understand the meaning of those words Thy sins are forgiven thee The Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is rather a spiritual sensation than speculation It lyeth more in sense and feeling than in understanding of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul it self hath its sense as well as the body And therefore when David would teach us how to know what the Divine goodness is he calls not for speculation but sensation Taste and see how good the Lord is Know God as thou wouldest have God know thee know Christ as thou wouldest have Christ know thee Thou wouldest have God know thee and take care of thee so must thou know him and take care of his Glory Thou wouldest have God know thee and succour thee in dangers as the Disciples when the Waves covered the ship said to Christ Master carest thou not that we perish So must thou Mark 4. 38. know God and his Cause so as to prop it up in difficult times lest it perish Thou wouldest have Christ know thee so as to dye for thee Lord if thou dye not for me I must be damned so must thou know Christ so as to dye for him and his Truth I am ready Acts 21. 13. not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Thou wouldest have Christ know thee so as to love thee and put thee in his bosom Who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. So must thou know Christ so as to love him and put him into thy bosom Lord thou knowest that I love thee John 21. 16. Charity or love is the most eminent of all the Graces inasmuch as Faith shall fail when there shall be nothing to believe nor to have confidence in and Hope shall fail when Christ returning and the resurrection of the just being made there shall be nothing more to hope for Only Love shall never fail for there shall be always what to love and what to taste For in eternal life we shall love God and Christ and we shall find a perpetual relish and savour in the contemplation of God and of Jesus Christ Know the things that are prepared and given thee of God Therefore is the spirit given us that me may know the things 1 Cor. 2. 12. that God hath given us What is it to know Heaven unless thou knowest that Heaven is given thee of God What is it to know Christ unless thou knowest that Christ is given thee of God What is it to know God himself unless thou knowest him to be thy God What is it to know the Scriptures unless Valdesso Consid 70. thou believest and holdest for certain all that is contained in the Scriptures and hast confidence in the Divine promises as if to thee properly and principally they had bin made Forgiveness of sin is a blotting out of iniquity as a cloud Isa 44. 22. A Cloud is by the Power of the Heavens nullified neither form nor matter to be found not any circumstances like it to note that ever such a thing was Forgiveness notes Remission which is the Term in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remission Remittere quasi Remittere to send a thing back again the unravelling and undoing of a thing misdone the nullifying of an unlawful Action As sin makes void the Law and nullifies it so doth forgiveness nullifie and make void sin When we are remitted we are retromissi sent back again to our first Condition as when we were in Paradise no more mentioned and no more thought of than of Adam before his fall Know thy self what need thou hast of them a Damned man and therefore need of eternal life a guilty man and therefore need of Justification a lost man and therefore need of a Saviour A man under Satans power and therefore need of Redemption Thirdly They know powerfully Their Knowledg comes like an Armed man upon them and carrieth them Captive into the Tents of those things they know 2 Cor. 10. 5. And therefore Christ is said To ascend up on high and to lead Psal 68. 18. captivity captive It binds the soul up in chains Lord I am thy Prisoner I yield to thee and will be no more a Rebel It layeth a soul flat at the feet of Christ as it did Paul he fell to the Earth Lord what wilt thou have me to do I 'le swear no more only pardon me Lord and I 'le be drunk no more I 'le persecute the Saints no more pardon me only and I 'le deal unjestly no more I 'le serve thee upon thine own terms and do what ever thou bidst me Fourthly They know delightfully Their Knowledg stamps upon their hearts Impressions of delight in the things they know because true Knowledg presents the Mysteries of Heaven lovely to them and layeth a Net to catch their souls in love with them Spiritual Science is steeped in affection taking delight in the things known not barely apprehending but relishing and savouring what it apprehends with abundance of love and complacency Fifthly They know admiringly Their Knowledg catcheth them up into the third Heaven of admiration They that know aright the Mystery of Redemption know and admire the Wisdom of God in contriving such a curious piece of reconciling Justice and Mercy to save a poor sinner As Paul calls it The manifold wisdom of God For consider Gospel-Mysteries Eph. 3. 10. are the Mysteries of a Kingdom and fit for admiration For 1. Kingdoms have Majesty Solomon had Lyons about his Throne to set forth the Majesty of it to make Transaction between that and all other people with Awe So Christ manageth his way in this World with Majesty Heaven and Earth tremble at his Presence he utters
his voice to the great World and the Rocks rend Thunder is the voice of God to the great World and in what Majesty doth he express himself to all Creatures below in that voice As there be Thundrings without so there be Thundrings within In great Majesty doth Christ speak to the soul sometimes Ask your Consciences else ask Faelix the Jaylour and Cain else yea ask your Father Adam else what a case were all these in when Christ did but reason with them Yea I ask you Hypocrites if any here is not the way of Christ full of Majesty What means those loads that gather about your hearts and that fearfulness which surpriseth you Thou dost but touch the mountains and they smoke saith the Psalmist so God doth but touch your Consciences and they smoke he doth but whisper within and your spirits fly about every where into the fingers into the face and up into the head and the heart within beats for want of them ready to swoon away Ask wounded spirits whether Gods Word be not full of Majesty Twenty years time not enough to heal the wound of a word of Gods mouth Oh the Majesty of that word Look upon the whole Creation upon the Earth upon the Sea upon the Heavens do they not all-speak the Majesty of Christ God is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the Mighty waves of the Sea The tossings rollings and roarings of the Sea Do they not speak loudly the Majesty of Christ But ah sinner The tossings rollings and roarings of a troubled soul speak the Majesty of Christs word much more Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2. Kingdoms have Supremacy This is Basis Majestatis Christ is a great King over all as the Psalmist titles him Psal 29. God hath set Christ over all so should we as God hath set him so do you over all in all things Now self-denyal is an excellent means that Christ may Reign Thou must deny thy Kingdom that Christ may have his you must lay down your Crowns at his feet that he may wear his Crown upon his Head And this is a sweet Testimony of Grace in the heart if the heart can endure Tribulation that Christ may Reign If it can suffer all things that Christ may do all things if it can lye low that Christ may be exalted when we are most annihilated our Lord and his Mysteries are most admired Sixthly They know thankfully The beams of Knowledg that shine into them melt them into pangs of Thankfulness that they should have the Honour and Happiness to know those things that they know They would not be without Christ whom they know not for a thousand Worlds They would not be without the miracles of love and peace and pardon in Christ which they have and know for all the Worth of India They count themselves to have been no better than brutes and beasts all the time they were without the Knowledg of those Divine Rarities which now they lay up so close in their hearts They adore God that they should know and see those saving secrets which are hid from the eyes of so many round about them Seventhly The true Knowledg of spiritual things doth spiritualize True Knowledg of Religion makes a man Religious Religion in Scripture is called Godliness Without controversie great is the Mystcry of godliness that is The principles of 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christian Religion Godliness is great gain i. e. Christianity The Christian Religion is great gain Thus the Truths themselves are called Godliness Why so Because the true Knowledg of them begets an inward godliness As Religion it self is called Faith and the grace in the soul is also called Faith Why so To shew that Faith begets Faith that is the Truth revealed begets Faith and must be received by Faith Therefore one word includes both the Object the thing believed and likewise the Disposition of the soul to that Object So Religion is called Godliness because the true Knowledg of it begets Godliness Oh! See then what makes a true Christian What when a man nakedly believes Divine Truths When he knows the Principles of Faith doth that make him a true Christian No But when Religion makes him Religious when these Tit. 1. 1. Truths work Godliness for Religion is a truth according to godliness Where the Truths of Religion are embraced there is Godliness with them A man cannot embrace Religion in Truth but he must be godly because Religion is Godliness so it is called for that it tends to beget all Piety and Virtue and Godliness in the heart And therefore if the Mysteries of Heaven work not Godliness a man hath but an Humane Knowledg of Divine things When Lucius a bloody Persecutor offered to confess his Faith hoping thereby to gain an opinion that he was Orthodox Russin Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 6. Moses a Religious Monk refused to hear him saying The eye might sometimes judg of one's Faith as well as the Ear and that whosoever lived as Lucius did could not believe as a Christian ought A man knows no more of Christ than he is sanctified he knows no more of Divine things than he esteems and affects he knows no more of the Mysteries of Heaven than he brings the whole inward frame to be like the things He that saith 1 John 2. 4. I know God and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him No doubt but Hophni and Phineas being Priests had a literal Knowledg of God yet being prophane they are said expresly not to have known him They were sons of Belial they knew 1 Sam. 2. 12. not the Lord. Eighthly If we know God aright we know God in us for we come to know God savingly by Regeneration and so by little and little we come to know God in us knowing in our selves those Divine perfections which the Holy Ghost attributes to God We know the Holiness of God by the Beam of Holiness which he hath irradicated into our hearts We know the love of God by the working of love in us towards him and towards his Saints We know hatred of sin in God by knowing in our selves an hatred of sin we know the Mercy of God by finding in our selves an Image of his Mercy towards our Enemies As Christ saith Be ye merciful as your heavenly Fathers is merciful Luk 6. 36. And it is a clear case We could never know in God Truth Justice Goodness were we not in some measure true just and good it being natural for Man to judg of others according to that which he knows in himself The spirit makes me to know Omnipotency in God through the great Power which he shews in me mortifying me and making me alive The spirit makes me know Wisdom in God by the Wisdom which I get through his Holy Spirit he makes me know Justice in God because he justifieth me in Christ he makes me know Truth
rich in faith Some would argue that they were chosen because rich in faith as if their faith foreseen were the cause of their choice but the meaning is Hath not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is understood as in many other Texts Fourthly Christ Jesus in the dispensations of grace preferred strangers above natural relations He gives not grace according to natural relation he passed by many of his kindred For neither did his brethren believe in him John 7. 5. Trap. in Loc. And this the Jews at this day read with such wonderment that they take occasion from this Text to slander our Saviours miracles sith his own kindred believed not in him but they are ignorant of the Mystery of Free-grace And indeed a man would have thought that Christ Jesus would have given grace to his kindred before others that he would have passed by none of his kindred but though they were kin to him in the flesh yet he was God and so above all Kindred and Relation to them In respect of his Humane Nature he was of the same blood with them but as God he had no relation to them Kindred and Consanguinity is below the God-head Consanguinity runs in a line of blood but God partakes not of flesh and blood Obj. But you will say methinks the Humane Nature of Christ should have desired the conversion of his kindred more than others and prevailed with the God-head for grace for them Resp 1. The nearer one is united to God the less he partakes of himself and the more of God Christs Humane Nature united to the Deity willed nothing with a private will but all with an elevated will moving according to the will of the God head 2. A Saint as far as he is sanctified wills nothing but what God wills but Christs Humane Nature was united personally to the God-head The Saints are mystically united to God by Faith morally united to God in love and affection but Christs Humane Nature was personally united to the God-head and therefore was more nearly united to God than to all natural relation or kindred Fifthly Sometimes he passeth by the Children of Saints and graffs in the Children of a prophane stock he takes pearls out of Toads-heads and digs golden mines out of a barren and dry earth for ordinarily golden and silver Mines grow in the most barren Grounds and Mountains not in your fruitful and rich soyls Samuel was a noble plant yet his Children degenerate 1 Sam. 8. 3. branches His sons walked not in his ways but turned aside after lucre and perverted judgment Josiah was a curious and rare flower yet his Sons that came 2 Kings 23. 30 32 34 37 verses from him were the worst that might be Sixthly Sometimes he puts a difference between Sons of the same Womb takes the one and passeth by the other Seals the one and leaves a blank on the other Jacob and Esau were twins of the same Womb two Kernels in the same Pomgranate and the Lord put a difference between them betimes The children Rom. 9. 11. being not yet born neither having done either good or evil makes choice of the one repudiates the other Jacob have Vers 13. I loved but Esau have I hated Seventhly Sometimes he prefers the younger before the elder and so makes the first last and the last first and thus the Lord crosseth man for man writes Praerogaetive upon his first born and makes him the first in his love but God comes and writes quite contrary and faith I chuse this for mine and leave the elder As Zachary when all his friends would have his Son called Luk. 1. 57. 63. Zachariah his Fathers name he when the writing Tables are brought him writes his name John and they admired at it So when men write their eldest Sons heirs of Heaven God comes and strikes out their names and writes the younger in his Book of Life Thus did God by Jacob and Esau the elder Rom. 9. 12. shall serve the younger And when Isaac resolved to lay the blessing upon Esau God ordered it so that Jacob the younger should have it As when Joseph brought his two Sons to Jacob to bless he prefers the younger before the elder David was Jesses youngest Son despised among his Brethren 1 Sam. 16. 6. 7 14. verses he was Jesses youngest Son but the Lord made him the eldest Among the three Sons of Noah there is a controversie about their Primacy Cham though the youngest yet will be preferred above his Brethren if we stand to the judgment of the Poets who derive Jove or Jupiter from Cham. Again We shall give the first place to Japhet who was the eldest Son if we follow the order of Nature but to Sem if we follow the order of Grace whom God prefer'd before his Brethren not of merit but out of free grace and meer indulgence That Cham was the youngest of the Sons of Noah you have an express in Gen. 9. 24 and that Sem was not the first-born Gen. 9. 24. it is manifest out of Gen. 11. 10 Where 't is said That Sem Gen. 11. 10. was one hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood That is in the year of Noah's age six hundred and two for the flood came in the six hundredth year of Noah Gen. 7. 11 It follows that Noah begat Sem in his year five Gen. 7. 11. hundred and two seeing he had begotten his first-born two years before for he began to beget Children in his year five hundred Gen. 5. 32. Therefore Sem was two years younger Gen. 5. 32. than his brother that was first-born that is Japhet who is therefore called the elder Gen. 10. 21. Gen. 10. 21. Therefore Japhet being the first-born of all the three yet God prefer'd Sem before him to shew that his Election was fire and not tyed to the prerogative and worthiness of Age and to shew that there was not the same order of Grace which is of Nature For nature gave many priviledges to the first-born and presently from the beginning of the World God subjected Abel to Cain his elder brother unto thee shall be his desire Gen. 4. 7. and thou shalt rule over him yet in grace he subjected Cain to Abel The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering Vers 4 5. but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect Eighthly He prefers the child before the father he gives grace to the child which he denieth the father makes choice of the child refuseth the father The Prophet said of the wicked Jeroboams Son All Israel shall mourn for him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave 1 King 14. 13. because in him there 's found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel And sometimes he chuseth the Father and passeth by the Child he forgave Adam his sin
is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and falling at his feet thou ragest Well Christ rides on still in the Chariot of his word conquering and to conquer one or other way conquer he will if he cannot conquer thee with love he 'l kill thee in wrath Those that do yield he saves those that will not he slays 4. Christ will Preach over all these Truths again in Hell-flames to thee Thou keepest thy sins and lusts and wilt by no means send them away thou makest nothing of the Word of God because dispensed by Man I tell thee all the Sermons thou now hearest against thy sins all the Truths of God shall one day be Preach'd over again in flames of Fire to thine eternal horrour and that will be a long Sermon All the Sermons of Repentance and Grace thou heard'st here in thy life-time shall in Hell be brought fresh to thy memory thy Conscience shall then Preach them all over to thee in Hell-flames and then 't wil be a woful Sermon Now the Sermon is but an hour long look upon the glass 't is turned and while the glass is running we are Preaching Preaching thee if it be possible into a state of grace this Sermon is but a short Sermon it will end anon and while this glass is running thy glass is running and thy life is hastening but in Hell there 's no glass turned up This and all the Sermons thou ever heard'st will there in flames be Preach'd over to thee again throughout eternity Oh tremble at it It will be a woful Sermon and a long Sermon 't will never have an end Vse 3. Here 's rare comfort to weak grace To them that are but new beginners you complain your grace is but little My Beloved you shall have more 1. Grace at first is but little An Infant when 't is new-born is but little a Tree when 't is first planted is but a little Graff The Cloud that over-spreads the Heavens was at first no bigger than a mans hand Object 1. But I am a Christian of long standing and yet my grace is but little Were I but a new beginner 't were something but I am a long stander yet a short Christian Answ 1. Truly my Beloved blame thy self then chide thy self that thou art a Christian of a long standing and of a short stature It is a disgrace to be so as 't is a disgrace to be an old man and yet a dwarf Christ chides his Disciples for it though they were but of one or two years standing in his School yet he chides them because they had so little Matth. 8. 26. Faith Besides Those that have less Grace shall have less Glory But yet I must say this much 2. That every thing in this life is but little David saith Psal 39. 5. Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth A small measure the Lord knows David lived in all probability threescore years and ten he was King of Judah and Israel forty years and yet he called it but an hand-breadth 3. Thou measurest thy grace with what thou should'st be and then it seems but little A great deal of grace measured with what thou should'st be is but little As Augustine saith Maxima eorum quae scimus Minima eorum quae Ignoramus The much nay most we know is the least of what we do not know so the most we are is the least of what we should be the most we do is the least of what we should do Great Saints are but little to what they should be 4. Compare thy grace with times past and then it may be it is not little and that thou must do Object 2. But I have trifled away my time the time I should have got grace in The Ant provides her meat in summer and gathers her food in the harvest But I have spent my time of gathering and is there any hope that I shall have more 1. Humble thy self for 't is a wondrous sin to lose time because we have but a time to glorifie God here and by our losing of time God doth lose his Glory 2. Yet though thou hast loytered away thy time do not limit Gods time because thou hast past away thy time do not say that Gods time is past 3. It may be thy time of growing is not come yet As Children some shoot up presently in their first years others do not grow till they are sixteen or twenty years and these at last out-grow the others some Saints grow more at first others grow more at last Trees bring forth their fruit in different seasons some sooner and some later There is the first ripe fruit and there is the latter fruit some Trees have their fruit ripe and ready with the spring others not till August others not till Winter there 's the Summer-fruit and there is the Winter-fruit One tree goeth before and hath her fruit ripe one month another hath its fruit the next month another follows and hath its fruit the next month after that And this is the Masters Wisdom that he may have new fruit every month to serve his Table and please his palate so doth God Object 3. But I am a withered tree I did bear fruit but now do not I was once fresh and green but now am dry and blasted I am in part an Apostate I am fallen from my first love I was good and now am worse I do not bear the fruit I did Is there any hopes for me Answ Yes thou mayst recover and therefore away to Prayer and send quickly for the spirit Lose no time I will give you an Instance in another case Nebuchadnezzar was a great tree whose height did reach Dan. 4. 11. 12 14 15. to heaven and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth The leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof much the beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof and all flesh was fed of it And this great Tree Nebuchadnezzar was lopt down fearfully and withered dreadfully he was driven from among men and cast off from his Kingdom seven years But yet the stump of his roots was left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass To signifie that his Kingdom was reserved for him and that he should revive again So thou hast been it may be an high Tree whose top of profession did reach up to Heaven and all the fowls of the air the Saints that live about thee were wont to fly and sit under the boughs and branches of thy gifts to receive Counsel and Direction from thee And now thy leaves are fallen and thy branches cut thy graces lopt thy gifts withered and thou thinkest therefore thou art forsaken But oh man Is not there a stump of thy roots left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass A stump of Faith and Repentance and panting after Christ As long as there is a stump left thou wilt revive again Vse 4. Shall more grace
we all fell so in Christs standing we all stand the Lord Jesus having stood they cannot fall because by virtue of his standing they have the eternal Presence of the Holy Ghost I say the ground is Christs standing for though there are many reasons why the Saints shall not fall from Christ as the immutable love of God the Covenant of Grace the spirit of Grace and the Intercession of Jesus Christ yet all these are bottomed upon Christs standing and fulfiling the first Covenant For therefore is the Covenant of grace unchangeable and the federal love of God to us in that Covenant immutable and the dwelling of the spirit eternal and the sealing of the spirit indelible because built upon the unchangeable Priesthood of Jesus Christ such a Priest as stood and finished the work so stood as to satisfie Justice and vanquish Satan And the Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for us is built upon the standing and perseverance of Jesus Christ had not Christ stood his Intercession had not now been standing had he fell that had fell to the ground also had he fell the Holy Ghost had not been given Hence it is that the Covenant of grace reigns to life Rom. 5. 21. eternal Hence it is that they who receive Christ shall be sure to Vers 27. reign with him Hence it is that our Justification by Christ is not a tottering or fallible Justification that may be lost but a Justification Vers 18. unto life In a word hence it is that the Spirit when he comes he comes to dwell and abide in Believers Rom. 8. 11. He is called the spirit that abides for ever And now I am returned where I began Saints your perseverance is certain in it self though not perhaps to you because in Jesus Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ the spirit dwelling and abiding in you 1. The spirit knits the soul to the Lord and never suffers that Love-knot to be untied again This knot the spirit makes is stronger than the Gordian-knot which cannot only not be loosed but cannot be cut asunder The Gordian-knot Alexander the Great when he could not loose it cut it asunder but this knot whereby the Saints are tyed to Christ 't is such a knot as can neither be untied nor cut asunder 2. When the poor soul is careless of himself the spirit keeps him he sleeps and the spirit sits by him The wise virgins took a nap as well as the foolish they fell into a sleep of carnal security but the spirit watcht by them and awaked them 3. When the poor soul is weak the spirit helps him 4. When the froward soul offers to run from the Lord the Spirit follows him Jonah run from God but the Spirit follows him into the Sea and into the Whales belly and there he prayeth and looks again toward the holy Temple Is not this your wonder 5. When the unkind soul grieves the spirit yet the spirit still keeps the house and will not depart from him and so not suffer the soul wholly to depart from the Lord When David sinned and defiled himself he grieved the spirit he polluted the house and yet the spirit would not leave the house the spirit stai'd to keep grace alive in the embers and to blow it again into a new flame at Nathans Sermon Vse 10. You to whom God hath given grace the beginnings of grace here 's a great deal of work for you to do 1. Give the Lord the Honour of his grace And now the Lord knows I know not to whom I speak The Lord knows who are his Some that make the least appearance may have the greatest grace and some that cast the greatest lustre may have no grace a slight Impression upon the soul among men goeth for grace But you that have searched your hearts and found the pearl there give the Lord the Honour of his grace that ever he should plant such a flower in your bosoms For the last end of all the Elect is to admire and honour the riches of Gods grace Eph. 1. 5 6. Beloved This is Heavens work Oh! learn this song before you go thither which none learn but the redeemed and sealed Rev. 14. 3. of the Lord. The Lord in all his dealings with his people seeks lastly to bring about the glory of his grace 1. He leaves them a long time in their graves of sin before he gives them the resurrection of grace that they live like other men wallow in sin as other men which is strange that he that loved them so long should leave them so long to be as bad as any yet this he doth because it makes for the praise of his grace Eph. 2. 2 4 7 8 verses And this doth so confound Gods People that they wish not only Heaven but Earth and Ages to come may record this love 2. Out of men fallen he picks out usually the poorest and the vilest The younger Brother most despised and least respected in a Family and leaves the elder Jacob have I loved Rom. 9. 11 13. 1. Cor. 1. 26. Esau have I hated This is strange that the Lord should chuse thus but this he doth to blur the Glory of all the World 3. The Lord leaves many wants in his People under which they sit sighing and sometime very long Sometimes he takes away those feelings those enlargements they had hides his face from them that if ever he returns in love his grace may be the sweeter and last the longer 4. Sometimes he refuseth to hear their Prayers that when he doth answer them at last his free-grace may be adored and cryed up 5. Sometimes he humbleth them with vexing sins and pricking distempers and it is to advance grace 2. Cor. 12. 7 9. 6. In a word you shall find the Lord so strangely carrying on matters as if he did not love nor care for his people against the hair and grain of their desires and when all comes to winding up 't is to advance grace All a mans good days and bad days all Gods frowns and smiles all the Lords food and physick all God cares for works and plots for 't is to do his people no more hurt than this To advance his grace in them and by them All his hewings and hammerings of you his knocking you a pieces and new melting and new casting of you 't is that you may be vessels of his glorious grace that you may be able to live in the Air of Gods grace to suck in and breathe out grace and let all the powers of Hell seek to blur it yet grace shall conquer Who would not be under grace Oh poor creature Satan is tempting sin vexing yet grace must reign 2. Act for Jesus Christ Do the work of Christ and finish it Christ gives grace because he hath given work for grace to do Christ sets up a work in you that he may do work by you
ever doubt of I say Satan tempts before Conversion namely to hinder us from entring the ways of grace and to keep us out of Christ For if we be once in Christ we are gone from him he can hurt us no more than he can Christ and you may see how far his malice can reach The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head that is his power The seed of the serpent shall bruise his heel that is his humanity When thou art once in Christ he can bruise but thy heel he may stir up affliction bring thee to thy grave but shall never bring thy soul to Hell At the best pain can but restrain your lusts it cannot heal them A disease can but abate the acts of sin it can never destroy the life of sin Death it self cannot kill sin the sins of wicked men live when they are dead The grave cannot consume them nor the fire of hell waste their strength the sins of unbelievers shall remain not only in their guilt but in their power to all eternity Quest But how does Satan hinder our conversion Answ By kindling a stronger love in us to sin There is in all men by nature a love to sin and Satan comes and blows that fire into a flame and so our love becomes predominant and afterwards it becomes a great work to un-un-love that sin 2. Satan tempts the unconverted these two ways 1. By inspiring his false Prophets and Ministers Thus he 1 King 22. 22. 1 King 22. 4 5. devised Ahabs destruction I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets And again Ahab King of Israel asked Jehosaphat King of Judah who came to see him whether he would go with him to Battel to Ramoth Gilead Well the King of Judah promised the King of Israel and told him saying I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses Afterwards Jehosaphat said nnto the King of Israel enquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord to day Then the King of Israel gathered the prophets that is Vers 6. the false prophets inspired by Satan together about four hundred men and said unto them Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battel or shall I forbear and they said go up for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the King Consider it seriously They that admininister the Oracles of God are the greatest mercies or greatest curses When they drop from their lips nothing but Gods mind they are mercies if not they are curses 2. Satan tempts the unconverted by numbering more false prophets than true For when Satan cannot act for Truth on his side he will act by number He will weigh the balance by number when he cannot by truth he will disgrace truth by the greatness and multitude of number against it for he knows what will take among carnal and ignorant men they are carried with quantity more than quality What are you saith Satan that are but one or two wiser than so many Can truth sit upon the lips of so few If it were truth why should not others know it as well as you Why should so many be ignorant of it Thus he carried his device upon the wings of multitude against Ahab to hatch his design against 1 Reg. 22. 6. Ahab he did sit upon the spirits of four hundred prophets against one Micajah so there are many loose lives against one Christ though there be many now a days that teach men by their words and doings that men may live loosely yet Christ saith Broad is the way to destruction and narrow is the way to life So that the fewness of those that carry on the way to life is a Testimony of the truth of it 3. Satan tempts the unconverted by putting men out of conceit with the godly that they are proud and Hypocrites Secondly Satan tempts men in conversion He can play his part here also he is cunning everywhere to destroy if he cannot keep sinners from conversion he will hinder them in conversion Now Satan temps men in conversion 1. By putting hard thoughts of God himself into them and therefore no marvel if they have hard thoughts of godly men When such a soul is coming unto God he is by Satan way-laid with this namely that God will never pardon him he would repent but dares not he takes God for his Enemy Satan would fain make a poor soul that 's coming unto God think that God is his Enemy and will not save him it is one of his Master-pieces to bring the love and good-will of God into suspition Oh! saith he why should I repent I shall not be accepted and this is no small weapon And thus Satan deals with grown Saints and strong Christians and therefore surely the temptation is a strong Engine it hath more than ordinary strength in it He practised thus against Job 1. 16. Job The fire of God saith the messenger is fallen from heaven and hath burnt up the sheep Mark ye why did Satan consume Jobs sheep with fire He stirred up the Sabeans Vers 14 15. to take away his Oxen and Asses and why not the sheep why to provoke Job if he could to be passionate against God and for that was his great design to curse and blaspheme God to beget an opinion in Job that God was now his Enemy as well as Man The fire of God is fallen upon the sheep thou canst not put this off as thou mightst do the other and say this is but the malice or covetousness of the Sabeans that rob me of my goods no thou shalt see now that God himself is angry heaven frowns upon thee the fire of God consumes thee Turn over the Records of all antiquity and see whether ever God dealt thus with any but those cursed Sodomites upon whom God rained fire from heaven Was God their enemy in that punishment Behold he sends such an one upon thee though God hates nothing so much as sin yea nothing but sin yet he would fain save the sinner Now then bring your souls to this either I will be a natural man still or else I will get into Jesus Christ Sirs If you live in sin you will lose your souls if you throw away sin you shall be received into the bosom of Christs love 2. In conversion one device by which Satan tempts is when poor creatures are coming home to God to fright them with fearful blasphemies As for example he will first tempt or suggest to thee that there is no God and this temptation springs immediately from Satans hatred of God he would annihilate God But now to oppose Satan in this his device how shall I encounter him Thou must arm thy self against this temptation thus Answ 1. Tell him Satan thou knowest there is a God thou wouldst have me believe there is no God and yet thou knowest that there is a God The Devils also believe
he poor soul is as brag and brisk of his little Tenement as he that hath his hundreds and indeed a little grace is a great deal in respect of nothing There 's a vast difference between the least entity and nothing Contradiction which is between ens and nonens is the greatest opposition There is a far greater difference between little and nothing than between little and great for there is some proportion between a little and great but there is no proportion at all between nothing and little between no being and little being because in that which is not there is nothing to answer the Being of that which is though it be never so little 3. Because a new unexperienced Convert thinks he can do a great deal with what he hath As a man that 's in health seeing a log or a burden lying before him thinks that he can easily lift it till he comes to try and a young spark that feels some blood in his veins and vigour in his sinews thinks that he is able to beat or cope with a man of great stature So a young Saint thinks that he is able to do great matters Matth. 20. 22. When Christ asked the Sons of Zebedee Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with They say unto him we are able 4. Because their graces are fresh and lively and active therefore they think they are strong and great 5. The young Convert is unexperienced 1. He knows not what a great measure of grace is required to grapple with a little corruption A sin that is but little in compass hath a great deal of weight in it as a Bullet of Lead that is but little in circumference yet weighs heavy and weighty 2. Satan tempts young Converts by laying burdens upon them 1. To make the way of grace unpleasant to them 2. By laying burdens on them greater than their graces too heavy for their young graces to bear Grace at the first birth is but weak and tender a soul newly sanctified is like a glass you know a fly may walk upon a glass you have oftentimes seen a fly to go up and down being a light body whereas a great weight put upon it would break it and shatter it all to pieces So a light affliction may walk up and down upon a new Convert but a heavy one would break him Now Satan would lay heavy afflictions upon young Saints great burdens upon little Christians 2. He tempts the Saints a while after their Conversion to security lukewarmness and worldliness You seldom see a new convert troubled with these sins for then they are altogether upon the wing they are newly awakened out of sleep and therefore as a man that hath slept a long time and is awakened cannot suddenly fall asleep again so they having slept so long in the bed of nature and being awakened cannot in the morning of their conversion fall asleep presently again and they mind not the world they can do nothing but pray and hear and read and meditate for a while the business of the new life takes them up But I say Satan observes his time and when they have been up and spent a good part of the day then he tempts them to take a nap and after much exercise and glorious duties they fall asleep and grow secure Thus the Angel of the Church of Ephesus he left his first love And the Angel of the Church of Rev. 2. 4. Rev. 3. 15. Laodicea he became luke-warm and was neither hot nor cold 3. Satan tempts them into sin to the worst of sins that 's Satans delight to make the Saints sin as David to adultery 1. Satan brings a Saint into sin by making him confide in his habitual graces as if his inward grace were enough to carry him out against a temptation whereas hadst thou Adams grace without effectual assistance from God it could not uphold thee against one assault Thus he brought Peter upon the stage by making him presume upon his inherent love to Christ and so he fell and lost the day 2. Satan brings a Saint into sin by making him confide in his former experiences Because he hath overcome such a temptation and baffled such a lust therefore he thinks he can do it again or bear the shock of another temptation as strong But though former experience may be our comfort yet it is not our present support Our standing for the future depends not on the former experience but on renewing and corroborating grace from God 3. Satan tempts men into sin by representing the world to them in glory as Satan took Christ into an exceeding high Matth 4. 8. mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world and the Glory of them Satan can set a curious paint upon foul faces he sets a gloss upon the world and so men become covetous and self-seekers 4. By blowing up old lusts to sparkle afresh as fire almost out may be blown into a flame Like David was blown up 1 Sam. 25. 22. into a wild fire of Revenge that none of Nabals house should live 5. Satan tempts men into sin by perswading them it is for God by making you intend it for the Lord Thus when Israel made the golden calf and committed idolatry Aaron made Exod. 32. 5. proclamation and said To morrow is a feast to the Lord unto whom a feast should have been kept and to him they intended this their service see Satans depth they commit idolatry and pretend it for service to the Lord. Fourthly Satan tempts to duty You will think this a strange phrase that Satan should drive you to duty to pray or hear and that I should call doing duty a temptation 1. Thus Satan tempted Saul to duty to offer sacrifice he should not have offered sacrifice till Samuel came and Satan 1 Sam. 13. 8 9. tempted him to offer sacrifice before Samuel came Satan will tempt us to duty when it is not our duty when duty is a sin he will tempt us to it as sometimes Satan tempts to prayer when we should not neglect our calling sometimes Satan tempts to fasting when we should not neglect our bodies 2. So he will tempt us to duty so as to make duty a cloak for sin As the Israelites thought they might take liberty to sin as long as they served God in his new moons and sabbaths and sacrifices and thus it is with many amongst us they presume the rather to sin because they think to make amends for it afterwards by duty or by some good deeds as Prayer Confession Alms c. an horrible thing to think that God will be thus corrupted and made to wink at our sin But the greatest service will not excuse the least sin 3. He will tempt us to duty when it is death to do the duty Thus he tempts men to the sacrament when it is death
to go to the Sacrament unsanctified and unprepared as he tempted the Israelites to long for flesh when it was death to long for it While the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed Numb 11. 33. the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague 4. Satan tempts from duty by plausable reasonings Thus Satan tempts a soul to leave duty and bid farewel to Prayer and Sacraments and Sermons Why so I am not the better by Prayer nor Hearing nor Reading nay methinks I am far the worse and therefore I 'le never hear more nor attend Sacraments more for my condemnation will be the greater To this I answer and observe arm your self thus Answ 1. It is better to perish in duty than out of duty Whatever comes on thee let God find thee doing his will be the event what it will Let death take thee praying and hearing let death take thee waiting upon God for Faith and Grace It is better for thee it should be so because thou art doing thy Masters will And therefore say I 'le pray and dye praying though I be never heard because praying is my duty and for Gods Glory Let me dye in a duty that glorifieth him 2. Thou canst never perish in duties if thou art found in them in Obedience to God thou mayst be like to perish in thy own sense but thou shalt never perish I say if thou art found in them in Obedience to God Obedience never went without success God will lose himself as soon as he will let obedience lose it self Duty may lose a soul but Obedience to God in duty never yet lost a soul to this day 3. It is but a may be if thou perish in duty and in ordinances It is a shall be unto thee to perish out of duty for duty is thy food thou must live by duty If a man eat food it may be he may perish though he doth eat but if he will not take food at all he shall perish so it may be thou mayst perish in praying and hearing and receiving Sacraments but thou shalt certainly perish in the neglect of these 4. God will at last speak to thee in duty for it is his way wherein he will be found God speaks not at first 1. To shew us the worth of the mercy As when a man is hardly intreated to part with a thing it is because it is a thing of some value a mean gift he will part with at the first word or it may be without asking So God gives mean things as riches and honours in this life to men without asking to them that never call upon his name But spiritual mercies as peace of soul joy and assurance of his love these he doth not give suddenly and casily not because he is hard to be intreated for he doth purpose to give them before we ask him but to shew us the worth of those rare and matchless mercies of what value they are of 2. To strengthen and breathe our faith As wrestling doth add strength to arms and body so praying and praying again doth strengthen faith as use and exercise in running strengthens the lungs and lengthens the breath so by much praying faith is well breathed Jacob by wrestling all night is stronger to wrestle in the morning the Angel said Let me go for the Gen. 32. 26. day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go till thou bless me He grew stronger and stronger I will not let thee go he was stronger at last than at the first 3. To keep us in the exercise of some other graces He doth not at first give us assurance of his love to keep us in the exercise of Prayer and longing after his loving-kindness He doth not presently as soon as we ask him Crown us with victory over a temptation that he might keep us in the exercise of humility and self-loathing he denieth us for a while some one comfort or grace for the exercise of another For this thing saith Paul I be sought the Lord thrice that it might 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. depart from me And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness 4. To let us know that the grace or comfort we ask is his gift of grace of free grace not a debt unto our persons or our prayers that when we have prayed never so long yet he gives freely 5. To discipline us in humble obedience and waiting on him to teach us our place that we may know our selves that it is our duty to wait upon him as long as he pleases and that we may understand his greatness and distance above us God will keep up his place in the hearts of his people and therefore will make them wait long before he gives in the things they pray for Yet I say for all this God will at last speak unto thee in duty for it is his way wherein he will be found He bids thee pray therefore thou shalt speed in Prayer He bids thee hear therefore thou shall meet him one time or other in hearing his word When God seeth a Saint resolves to pray for a mercy promised as soon as ever he begins to pray for it God resolves to bestow it though he doth not manifest it to thee after many a prayer that he will give it See Dan. 9. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the Commandment came forth that is God hath revealed to us Angels and to me especially the secret of his Counsel concerning the Restauration of Jerusalem Isa 65. 24. and the Duration thereof even to the Messiah 6. Sometimes such is Satans depth a Saint doth sin out of love to Christ You would think this very strange yet it is very true a Saint I say doth commit some sins out of love to Christ Thus Peter sinned fearfully when Christ told them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Matth. 16. 21 22. elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Peter took him that is took him by the hand and led him aside as they use to do who would talk familiarly with a friend or took him that is embraced him be it far from thee that is thou hast deserved no such shameful death this shall not be unto thee that is we will not suffer thee to go to Jerusalem to be slain or let not this be Peter did all this out of his love to Jesus Christ yet Christ called him Vers 23. Satan So again when Christ washed his Disciples feet Peter would John 13 8. not let Christ wash his feet Thou shalt never wash my feet This was out of love and respect to Christ Peter thought Christ too good to wash his feet and therefore put
tree of knowledg was a standing object in our parents eye to try them every day It was there in their eye yet forbidden fruit they could not but see it yet they must not touch it So Sirs Gods Providence presents you with various objects it presents some with beauties with honours with a rich protion with a wedg of gold What should we do now in this case say here 's a temptation a trial from the Lord upon me and be sure we be jealous of our eye and affections Some it may be will think Providence lays this object in my way therefore I may be medling with it Oh no we must not make the Providence but the Precept of God our only Rule and know that God tempts us and tries us by objects and occasions 6. God tempts by delays Sinners tempt God by their delays of repentance and God tempts his people by his delay of answers they pray and he defers they press him to answer and he delays God as you heard promised Abraham a Son and by his delay as it were denieth performance for delay bears the image and semblance of denial and God makes him wait five and twenty years for performance Afflictions are heavy they are biting and cutting temptations A short affliction seems long but length of affliction adds weight unto it and puts many grains into it Oh! it is a sore temptation and yet thus God tempts and tries his people they call to day and he comes not then they cry and cry aloud and yet he hears not and this makes them cry How long how Psal 35. 17. long Lord Lord how long wilt thou look on Rescue my soul from their destructions my darling from the lyons How long Psal 79. 5. Lord wilt thou be angry for ever shall thy jealousie burn like fire These how longs are great temptations to our natures and this may be thy case poor soul and then you will find this how long a bitter temptation 7. God also tempts by way of Denial and in some things this is a sore trial for if delay be a great temptation Denial must needs be a very great one we sue to God for a thing that is desirable we long for it and God saith no to our suits We ask for the life of such a friend or relation and God replies with a negative vote we lift up our hands for deliverance out of the Cloud of such afflictions and the hand of God makes it thicker and darker on us we move God for great mercies and he gives us great Denials This is to put our submission to the trial to put our resignation to his Will and Wisdom to the trial our patience under his Soveraignty to the trial Vse 1. Did God tempt Abraham what Is God himself wont to tempt and try his people How should this make us walk before the Lord in fear and trembling Pray and tremble profess and tremble meditate and tremble Sirs It is no wonder to hear that Satan will tempt us or that the world will tempt us or to hear that our own flesh or corruption will tempt us all this is no wonder but to hear that the Great God himself will try and tempt us that God will be at this work with us and set upon us ah what a wonder and astonishment is it How should it fill our hearts with fear and reverence How should we entertain this truth with holy and humble trembling Surely this should extinguish onr frolicks and annihilate our pride and awaken our security God himself is resolved to be a tempter I mean to try his people and call their graces out to service Oh! then watch and pray and fear for the Devil to come and charge you with his Pistol is matter of fear enough but if God himself will come with his Pistol cock't and charg'd upon you oh this is formidable I say then watch and pray and fear Vse 2. Learn here to act faith you must act faith in the greatest and most gain-faying temptations Difficulties and Impossibilities are the true objects of faith you must believe when it seems a contradiction to believe Abraham was to believe that he should have an innumerous posterity in Isaac and yet he is commanded to kill Isaac Can these two stand together Isaac shall live to be the Father of many Nations and yet Isaac shall dye by the hand of his Father When Isaac is once gone where is my seed where is my blessing And yet Abraham believes and his faith triumphs over the difficulty his faith makes him an acute logician and solves the knot of contradiction Abraham knew that he had to do with a God he believed that God for his promise sake would raise up the same Isaac when he had kill'd him Sirs It is hard and mysterious to believe when Gods own Providences seem to cross his own promises Yet then we must believe I say believe in God when his own Providences seem to go against his own promises God will one time or other be as if he were killing you now Sirs to believe is a work indeed and you must now believe Quest How shall we in this ease at this dead-lift believe and act faith Answ 1. Fill the soul with Gods infiniteness Gods way is not your way saith faith nor his thoughts as your thoughts but as the Heavens are above the earth so are his thoughts beyond yours and his ways beyond yours Faith lodgeth this principle in the soul that God is infinite and having laid that principle there when difficulties and discouragements arise saying You see now in what distress you are brought now you see there is no hope at all of your deliverance true indeed saith the believer I see there 's no way in reason in any ones reason but God is infinite I see many difficulties but God is infinite the soul by faith being filled with the apprehensions of Gods Infiniteness is carried unto him through all difficulties and discouragements Now to him that is able to Eph. 3. 20 21. do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen 2. Let thy faith lay up and lay hold on this principle that Gods love is immutable Soul whom God once loves he ever loves hath he loved thee then he can never unlove thee With him there 's no variableness nor shadow of turning Fix here then it is a strong electuary in a day of fainting afflicted Saint what 's the matter My stroaks are from God himself yet he loves thee But God hath hid his face from me yet he loves thee 3. Act faith in temptation that God will be with you he will be at thine elbow you know that blessed promise I will not fail thee nor forsake thee 4. In trials and temptations act your faith in this that God governs and moderates all
interpretative tempting of God when though we intend not to tempt him yet we do the same thing which he doth who hath a design and desire to tempt God So that this sin may be committed when you do not intend it you may tempt God when you have no express purpose to do it when you do that which is ordinable to nothing else but to make a tryal or experience of God and to prove his Power or Goodness or Knowledg As when a man goes on in a wretched course of life and yet hopes to find mercy at the hour of death he intends not it may be to try Gods mercy yet he doth that which is good for nothing but to make an experience of his mercy 3. You must know that 1. There is a good or lawful tempting of God 2. There is a sinful tempting of God There is a commendable and there is an unwarrantable tempting of God 1. There is a good and commendable temptation of God which is lawful which is so when it springs 1. A bono principio from a good principle or an holy heart and purpose 2. When it is done in a lawful way or by a good action 3. When it is bottomed upon a good ground that is 1. When we have a call from God to it his command and promise to bear us out 2. When we have a just necessity to do it 4. It is a lawful tempting of God when it tends to a good end This is a lawful tempting of God when it proceeds from a good principle and is done by good means and tends Tentatio bons est quae ex principio bono seu animo sancto ac bono medio seu modeâ—â—â— bonum finem tendit to a good end and as you heard also is bottomed upon a good ground a lawful call and a just necessity to tempt and try God 1. To make our tempting and trying of God lawful and good it must spring from a good principle or an holy heart that is a love of knowing the Truth or Power or Justice of God When we make a Tryal of God out of love to God and his glorious Attributes that we may be ravished with the beauty and splendour of them 2. It is a lawful tempting of God when we have a command to try him and then we sin in not tempting God Isa 7. When the Lord had promised what he would do for Judah and the house of David and what he would do against Syria and Ephraim saith he to encourage Abaz faith in ver 11. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God ask it either in the depth or in the height above As if he had said For the confirmation of thy faith and the assurance of the truth of Gods word ask a sign that is try God by asking somewhat to be done some unusual and extraordinary thing to be done by him thus make a tryal and experience of him whether he means as he saith whether his heart agrees with his word to know this ask a sign make a tryal put him to it No saith Ahaz I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord. You Vers 12. would think this was Religiously but it was Hypocritically spoken he pretended he would not sin that if he ask't a sign he should go against the Command in Deut. 6. 16. Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God as ye tempted him in Massah As if a man should tempt God by doing that which he is invited by God himself to do Ahaz here had a Command to try God it was Gods gracious indulgence and kind condescent to Ahaz to bid him ask a sign that is if thou art hard to believe me ask a sign and try me I give thee this offer but he would not it was his rebellion not to tempt or try God when he had a Command to tempt and try him And herein was his sin also the greater because God would have given King Ahaz a sign not for himself only but for the edification and instruction of the whole people and therefore he is reproved as an hinderer of the common good and publick salvation in that he would not ask a sign 3. It is a lawful tempting or tryal of God when there is a just necessity when we really stand in need of his extraordinary appearance when ordinary means fail then to trust in him and expect his unusual presence it is not unlawful Thus when Pharaoh pursued Israel and his Army was in the Rear of them and the Red-sea before them Moses said unto them Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which Exod. 14. 13. he will shew to you to day And when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and could have no bread nor could meet with water then they were to try what God could do for them and to expect relief from him out of the ordinary course they were called by God into the wilderness and therefore had a call to try God and seek experiments of his mercy and power for them 4. It is a lawful tempting of God when it is to a good end 1. As for confirmation of our faith thus Gideon tempted or proved God Judg. 6. 36 37 38 39 40 verses And Gideon said unto God If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said Behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor and if the dew be on the fleece only and it be dry on all the the earth beside then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said And it was so for he rose up early on the morrow and thrust the fleece together and wringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water Where faith he at the 39th verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let me tempt or prove I pray thee but this once with the fleece Gideon being conscious of his own infirmity and weakness and out of a desire to obey God and for the confirmation of his faith and his more cheerful obedience in a most dangerous design which God had set him upon asked and obtained a sign I suppose he ask'd this sign by an instinct and impulse from God himself 2. When it is for Gods glory and the publick good for the salvation of souls and the progress of the Gospel and the splendour of Christs name And thus the Apostles prayed that God would be with them in their Ministry by stretching forth his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might Acts 4. 29 30. be done by them 2. There is a sinful tempting of God A sinful tempting of God is which wants those conditions or ingredients spoken of before Briefly thus Quae principio medio aut fine peccat a sinful tempting of God is that which fails in principle means or end You shall see an instance of this sinful tempting of God in Matth. 22. 15. to 22. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they
his own word or no constant to his own sayings or no this is Facere Deum ludionem ridiculum I say this is to make God a meer stage-player ridiculous in his most grave transactions What is this but to make him light and unconstant to his most solemn pronunciations 12. They tempt God who live in known sins against the manifest word of God they make a tryal of him whether he will punish them for their sins or no whether he can be angry or will be angry with sin or no this is Interpretativa tentatio a tempting of God by Interpretation Sirs as oft as men sin against their own consciences they do presumptuously tempt God or try whether God will be just or no whether he be holy or no thou lovest such a sin and livest in it now thou temptest God whether he loves it and likes it also and at length thou thinkest that God is such a one as thy self 13. They tempt God who attempt things above their parts and power confiding in the Divine assistance which is not promised them thus many tempt God by entring into the Ministry they undertake a great work and are not underlaid with a stock of abilities but they venture upon confidence of Divine assistance but where has God promised thee his assistance he never promised his assistance to those that are unable he fits for the Ministry but never promised assistance to the unfit 14. They that put off their repentance from the present to the future-time and doubt not but God will give them grace and conversion whensoever they list tempt God exceedingly To repent and turn to God is a work above the sphere of mans ability who can change his own heart Oh! but God will meet me with his assistance hereafter poor man Who told thee so I am sure God never did 15. They tempt God who bring Gods Actions to the test and tryal who subject his dealings to unjust examinations 16. To conclude Some men tempt God to sin were he capable of such a temptation Indeed James saith of God Jam. 1. 13. that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God cannot be tempted with evil or tempted to evil yet many are so audacious as to tempt God to do evil Vse 1. The Vse is this Oh let this point humble us for who of us have not been tempters of the Lord both in our days of unregeneracy and since we gave up our names unto him both in our days of unbelief and since also in our days of faith When we loved and lived in sin how did we continually tempt God and since he manifested and revealed himself unto us how oft how oft have we tempted him most unkindly and unfriendly God may say to every one of us You Numb 14. 22. have tempted me these ten times How have we indulged known sins and favoured secret lusts and prayed free-grace to accept of us in our beloved sins and tryed his mercy to pardon us in our love to sin against his revealed will How coldly have we prayed against an endeared corruption nay have we not secretly prayed oh that God would spare me this sweet sin oh that God were of my mind that I might enjoy this pleasing sin have we not at least tacitly wooed God to a compliance with us and how indifferently have we conflicted with our pleasing sins as if we were loth to over come them How often have we tempted God with our impatience our murmurings our unbelief and discontents How often in our afflictions have we called God to an account brought his Actions to the test and subjected his dealings to our unjust examinations and tryed them by our touchstone Vse 2. The second Vse Oh then let us take heed of this great sin of tempting God Sirs you may trust him you may not tempt him God by all his promises meant to encourage your faith not your presumption 1. To tempt God is a grieving of God The Psalmist brings in God speaking thus to the Jews When your Fathers Psal 95. 9 10. tempted me and proved me and saw my works Forty years long was I grieved with this generation Tempting of God through unbelief and not submitting to his Government is a vexing of his Spirit and a provoking of him to reject the sinner Forty years long was I grieved with this Vers 11. generation unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest They tempted God and this grieved him and vexed him and then he sware they should not enter his rest 2. To tempt God is a destroying sin Neither let us tempt 1 Cor. 10. 9. Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents Vse 3. A last Vse shall be to give you some antidotes and then I have done 1. You must get the clear eye of faith by faith sometimes we understand the promises when we do not the work of faith is to commit the soul to God as unto a faithful creator Faith will tell thee when God frowns upon thee he loves thee Faith will help thee to commit thy soul unto God Jobs afflictions made way for him to heaven 2. Stay his leasure whatever your wants and conditions are stay his leasure go not before God stay his leasure if thou wilt be but content to stay Gods leisure thou wilt never go out of the way set faith and grace at work to help thee to look upon the time as short the mercy when it comes will be infinitely sweeter than if thou shouldst pull it off with thine own hand this will help thee to wait Gods leisure 3. Contentation is a rich antidote against tempting of God The defect of this Contentation leads us into many temptations and sins both against God while we murmur at his will and dealings with us And against our neighbour whose prosperous estate being better than ours we envy at And therefore sirs if we have food and rayment let us be therewith content that we may not trouble the waters nor disquiet God nor our own souls AN ACCOUNT OF Christian Piety 2 Tim. III. 12. Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution PAVL was the Author of this Epistle the person to whom he Writes it was one that had much of Paul's heart 2 Tim. 1. 2. Timothy whom he stiles his dearly beloved Son not by natural but 1. By spiritual generation Paul begot him to God by the Ministry of the Gospel 2. And Timothy was also Pauls Son by imitation he took Pauls stamp upon him and resembled him as a natural Son doth his Father and therefore Paul in his first Epistle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his right Son his true Son one that followed him to an hair 1 Tim. 1. 2. not spurious nor degenerate 3. And therefore he was Pauls Son in affection Paul loved him as any Father ever did a Son and he Paul as any Son ever did a
at If you mean to shine as Angels do the Work of God with Angels if you would be where Christ is be at the work that Christ was And let me tell you your time is but short and you have done but little work none at all to purpose and 't is not long till your Crown shall be put upon your head and will you not be ashamed then to wear so rich a Crown for so poor a Service To have God pay you so great wages for so little work done Certainly if ever it come to your share to be saved you will when the Crown is putting upon your head blush for shame to think of your cowardise and your laziness that you should wear a Crown that have done so little work Fifthly The Lord will do thy work do thou but his work and he will do thine The Lord will take the care and charge of thee to bring about thy ends for thee many of you are sparing in Christs work because of so many distractions of your own others of you wave Christs work out of love to your own I mean the World What will become of my Family Wife and Children Oh unbelieving wretches set your hearts to do Gods Work and he 'l take the care of your Families and Children upon himself set thy face to the Sun and these shadows will follow you The Lord is a sun and a shield the Psal 84. 11. Lord will give grace and glory the Lord will give grace i. e. honour and esteem among men the favour of men and glory too in the World No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Set thy face then toward this glorious Sun serve him and these shadows will follow thee Solomon you know askt for Wisdom that he might discern between good and bad and judg the people and God tells him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked riohes and honours therefore I will give thee riches and honours Solomon his great care and work was to rule a State well and the Lord gave him all the rest he set his face to the Sun and the shadows followed him Oh then Sirs Act for God up and be doing do his work and he 'l do yours There are these three Things attend the man that gives himself to do work for God 1. There shall not any evil hurt thee The three children were in the fire and yet the fire did not could not hurt them In the fire and in the water saith God I will be with thee there shall not any evil hurt thee Whereas if thou dost not thy good things shall they shall hurt thee Thy riches and thine honours they shall lift thee up and there make thy head giddy upon the top of thy glory and then thou comest tumbling down like a drunken fool into shame and hell it self Tolluntur in altum ut lapsa graviore ruant 2. All creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve the man that serves his God The Whale shall serve Jonah to carry him to the shore Indeed the poor man at that time ran from Gods work yet because he was his Servant the fish shall swallow him that it might save him The Ravens shall feed Elijah I will hear the heavens saith God and they shall Hos 2. 21. 22 hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Thus all creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve that man that serves his God Whereas else they all groan under thee and above thee The Heavens above groan over the sinner and cry out How long Lord how long shall we bestow our influence upon this Enemy of thine The Earth groans under the unprofitable servant and crys out How long Lord how long shall I bear this useless burden Nay Christ himself is weary of this fruitless Tree how long shall we stand Cut it down why cumbers it the ground 3. Thou that art at thy Lords work the Angels shall come out of Heaven to guard thee thou art a greater man than the greatest General under the Sun thou hast the Angels to be thy Life-guard Are they not all ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore let 's see who dare touch thee Take heed Matth. 18. 10. saith Christ that ye despise or hurt not one of these little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Jacob saw a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and Angels descending and ascending Vse 10. The last Vse shall shew you how God makes Additions to his Saints graces And herein his Methods are various if not unsearchable yet by fathoming we may sound some of them though not the bottom As grace it self is a Mystery so the increase of grace especially being carried on by such Mysteries And therefore the contrivement whereby God increaseth grace is excellent worth the knowing that we may know what he is doing with us in his Providences and may read the Mind of God in many of his proceedings In a word how shall we help on the work if we know not Gods Method in working 1. The Lord increaseth grace in his People by their Faith Faith is one of the Graces and therefore needs support her self but she is the mouth of all the rest that speaks for them to God in Prayer and sucks nutriment for them out of the Breasts of the Promises Sirs The case is this Faith lives upon Christ and all the Graces live upon Faith When there is a famine in the Land of the soul Faith goeth up to our Brother Joseph in Egypt and brngs home Corn Faith is the Mother-grace and as the old bird the Dam flyeth abroad and fetcheth in food to her young ones and distributes it to them all in the nest So Faith takes Wing when the graces sit hungry and in want at home I say then Faith takes Wing and flyeth to Christ in the promise she comes home with her mouth full and serves all the graces they are fed by her And therefore the Scripture saith That the just lives by faith Which expression the Apostle Paul makes use of in two of his Epistles First in Rom. 1. 17 The just shall live by faith that is in respect of forgiveness of sin and in respect of Righteousness or Justification before God But in Heb. 10. 38 where he useth this same phrase The just shall live by faith The Apostle speaks of the Saints perseverance and standing fast in all their troubles and temptations Now Faith is the prime grace that helps and succours all the rest Hope lives upon Faith for the hope of a Christian is but poor in fruition we can hope no longer than we believe He that hopes and expects the things promised must by Faith live upon the certainty of the promise
him off But it was a great sin insomuch that Christ saith If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me So again when the Samaritans would not receive Christ his Luk. 9. 54. Disciples James and John said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did 7thly Satan tempts to extreams Satan will not have you do a thing in season and when it is too late then he will make you mad upon doing of it Thus he would not let the children of Israel go into Canaan when they had the gate of season open and when they had Gods good will to go in But when 't was too late when 't was a sin to desire to go when God had shut the gate of opportunity and set a lock of prohibition on it as you know when you walk or travel you shall find gates not only shut but a lock also put upon them for security and then you conjecture that not only you cannot but you must not go through such a place or piece of ground or where there was a stile to go over a mans land when you come again and find the stile taken up and a hedg made you conclude that now it is not the owners pleasure that any passengers should make a thorow-fare there any more So it was with Israel God offered them and made a stile for them to step over into Canaan The Lord thy God hath set the Deut. 1. 21. land before thee go up and possess it and then they would not for they sent spies to search the land and upon their report wept and murmured and wisht Would God we had dyed in this Numb 14. 2. wilderness Vse 2. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then humble your selves in that you are so capable and receptive of Satans motions He is a willing agent so we are willing patients we are wont to say that the receiver is as bad as the thief and the harlot that entertains the motion is as bad as the adulterer So my Beloved when Satan tempts and you sin you are as bad as the tempter you are his Harlots that consent to his adulterous motions thy consent to his temptation makes thee one with him What makes two persons at any time one Consent Thus consent makes two persons one in marriage and consent makes two persons one in a Design or Action so thy consent with Satan makes thee one with Satan and as bad as he is If an adulterer should tempt a mans wife to lewdness though he would hate the Adulterer yet he would lay the greatest blame upon his wife and take it most unkindly from her and break his heart with grief that she whom he loved so well should deal so ill with him So when Satan that great Adulterer tempts thee to sin though Christ hates him for it and will at last be revenged on him for jealousie is the rage of a man Prov. 6. 34. therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance yet he takes it most unkindly at thee that thou Saint whom he loved so well that thou sinner for whom he shed his blood that thou professor who art his bride should hearken to such a base fellow as Satan is And therefore do not put your sins off from your selves to Satan do not think that because he tempts you you shall not answer for them I will give you two noted Instances to the contrary The first is Adam and Eve Eve was tempted by 2 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 14. 1 Chr. 21. 1. the Serpent and mark ye she was deceived and beguiled by him and yet see how God curseth Adam and Eve for that sin and entails curses to all their posterity for it The second Instance is that of David who was tempted by Satan to number the people Now to discover our vileness note these two things 1. Satan cannot compel us to sin only perswade us he hath only a perswading slight not an enforcing might And therefore James tells you that every man when he is tempted is enticed James 1. 14. and drawn away of his own lust Though Satan hath a hand and that no small one in tempting of us yet because he doth only allure us and lay baits for us but not constrain us because he cannot make us sin against our wills because our own lust carrieth the chiefest stroke therefore he saith Every man is tempted and drawn away not by the Devil but by his own lust for Satan can do nothing but by our own lusts 2. Because in obeying Satans Temptations we do our own wills We do not sin to serve Satan but to please our selves Eph. 2. 2 3. As wicked men in doing Gods work aim at themselves so in doing Satans work we do it to serve our own selves and therefore it is our sin Vse 3. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then watch against Satan 1. We talk of Travellers that have seen the world over 1. Satan a Traveller one ever saw so much as Satan he hath seen Earth seen the Sea seen Hell seen Heaven as he saith himself that he came from compassing or from going to and fro in the earth 2. Great Conquerors have been crowned for Victories and 2. Satan a Conqueror Extention of their Kingdoms Satan is beyond them all Saul hath slain his Thousands David his ten thousands but Satan his millions 3. If we know that we have an adversary at the next door 3. Satan an Accuser that pryeth into all our courses and upon the least error will sue us on an Action of Trespass we will be circumspect to disable him of advantage Satan no sooner spies our wandrings but he presently runs with a complaint to God and prefers Bills against us in the Star-chamber of Heaven where the matter would go hard with us but for the Great Lord Chancellor of Peace our Advocate Jesus Christ Vse 4. Resist him It is the Apostles precept Whom resist 1 Pet. 5. 9. stedfast in the faith Quest But you will say How shall I resist him Answ 1. Resist thy self and thou resistest Satan I say thou must resist him by resisting thy self Resist thy self and thou shalt resist Satan for Satan tempts thee by thy self he tempts us by making us do our own works oppose thy self and thou opposest Satan stand on thy guard against thy self for Satan tempts thee by thy self Store up Wisdom against him that thou mayst be an Artist against his Temptation Encounter with him find out the out-goings of Satan Answ 2. Satan doth tempt thee by not tempting thee As God is said to punish us by not punishing us not to punish us Hos 4. 14. is the greatest punishment so Satan doth tempt you by not tempting you he tempts you to pride by not tempting you to gross