crosse that is upon us when conscience is troubled I say in these cases to doe it the Lord regards it not This therefore is the Condition that is required to be done out of love it is a rule in the Civill-law Contractus qui fit per minas nullus est The contracts that are gotten by threatnings are no contracts at all but if a Virgin consent when she is free when it is done without compulsion that makes the match So it is betweene Christ and us for us to take him and keepe his Commandements and to doe it out of feare and other respects this Christ regards not it is love that makes the match If we take him out of love if all we doe be done out of love then there is a match betweene us otherwise not And there is good reason for that because feare is of a fleeting nature it soone passes and vanishes away but when it is rooted and grounded in love when that which we doe comes from this principle then we hold out and cleave to Christ without separating againe when that proceeds from feare we doe it not with delight we doe it not with propensenesse with proclivity of minde with an inward willingnesse Now the Lord so loves a chearefull giver a chearefull servant and a chearefull performer that he loves no other And therefore that Condition is required to Delight in the Law in the inward man that we doe not only keepe his Commandements but that they be not grievous to us that what we doe be done out of love and therefore it is required when we doe this that we love the Lord Iesus Christ I will be bold to say a man may pray day and night as earnestly as Hannah did he may keep the Commandements of God without reproofe as Zachary and Elizabeth did for the outward act he may abound in the worke of the Lord but whatsoever he doth if he doe it not out of love God looks upon such workes as upon a dead carkase so they are called Hebr. 9. Dead workes that is workes that are good for substance and for circumstance too but yet they are dead because they come not from love there is no life in them Therefore in 1 Cor. 16.22 Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus saith the Apostle let him be accursed Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus that is whatsoever a man doth besides let him professe what he will and performe what he will if he love not the Lord Iesus he is accursed And that I speake not this without ground looke 1 Cor. 13. Take the most glorious actions that a man can performe if a man give his body to be burnt that is to be a Martyr if he gives his goods to the poore which is an high action for a man to part with all he hath if he doe that which Christ required of the young man to deny himselfe If a man were able to preach the Gospell if he had gifts as an Angell as the Apostle speakes If he were able to speake with the tongue of men and Angels and if it were without love God regards it not Love is a distinguishing Character an Hypocrite may goe very far but love he cannot it is love therefore that sets an high price upon all that we doe And therefore you shall finde from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation the Promise is made still to the Affection and it is the Affection that makes a man a good man he that feares the Lord and he that loves the Lord and he that delights in the Commandements of God c. And therefore it is not enough that we take Christ and that we beleeve in him that we doe the workes that he commands us but that we doe them out of love And this is the Condition that is required on our part So you see now what the Gospell is what the summe of it is that is sealed in the holy Sacrament it is this Covenant on Gods part that he is ready to forgive us wherein you must strengthen your faith when you draw neare to him And againe this condition on your part Faith and obedience out of love as you have heard This is the first use that you are to make I should proceed The end of the First Sermon THE CUPPE OF BLESSING DELIVERED IN THREE Sermons upon 1 Cor. 10.16 The Second SERMON 1 CORINTH 10.16 The Cup of blessing that we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ c. SEEING we have the same occasion for which I tooke this Text being to receive the Sacrament againe the next Sabbath and so along I thought it better to continue it than to divert to another When we handled it the last time we told you there were these three parts in the words First there is a true Communion of the body and bloud of Christ. Secondly the meanes by which it is conveyed to us the bread and wine the outward elements which God hath Sanctified to that purpose The third is the adopting or fitting these elements for such an end and that is by sanctifying them by blessing them by setting them apart The Cup of Blessing which we blesse c. The point we delivered was this â—hat in the Sacrament there is a reall and true Communion of the body and bloud of Christ to every Receiver We told you the difference betweene the Papists and us we both agree that Christ is really in the Sacrament they say it is corporally we say it is only done by faith But to use an expression of Augustine which he hath upon the very Text saith he Iohn Baptist said he was not Elias and yet Christ saith Iohn was Elias Why saith hee how shall wee reconcile these two they are thus reconciled Iohn speakes properly and Christ spake figuratively and therefore they crosse not one another he gives this very instance so saith he when Christ saith This is my body and we say it is not his body but bread they are Augustines owne words saith he the meaning is this It is the body if we take it figuratively and it is not his body if we speake properly so that as it was with the Temple of his body when he spake of it I will destroy this Temple and build it in three dayes they understood it of the materiall Temple and saith the Text They were reckoned as false witnesses against Christ So when Christ speaks thus of his body This is my body when they understood it materially and corporally when it is a thing so frequent and usuall with him to speake Metaphorically I say they shall be found false witnesses against him in applying this to his materiall and corporall body that he understands of his mysticall body which is received by faith I will not stand to repeat more of that I delivered then lest the time prevent us in that which remaines Onely one thing which I then omitted and that is a great objection of
againe and so kindle the fire of Gods wrath which shall smoake to our destruction Thus by your words learne to know the sinfulnesse of your natures Lastly see it by your Actions Now sinnes in actions are of two sorts either sinnes of Commission and here you are to goe backe and consider what sinnes you have committed whether drunkennesse uncleannesse inordinate affections or injuries to men what provocations or rebellions against God and when you see them look on the number of them and on the greatnesse of them Consider their circumstances and among the rest the frequencie of them your relapses into them and that will make you with David Psal. 19. to cry out Lord who can understand his faults But we will not stand on this because iâ— is obvious every one knowes that actions are sinnes we will come to the second sort And that is sins of Omission which we are ready to slight and forget as no great matters but they are other things than wee take them to bee nothing hath more cause to humble us than they I say the sinnes of Omission the barrennesse and unfruitfulnesse of our lives may humble us as well as the rebellions and sinfulnesse of them We will run thorow them As first to be idle on the Sabbath-day is a sin of Omission and provokes God to anger as well as polluting it and breaking it with positive Acts. So the restraining of Prayer to neglect it to omit it or to performe it slightly for God takes prayers by weight and not by number this is not a small thing Againe to neglect the hearing of the Word to neglect the Sacraments a fault we have much cause to be blamed for in this place and thing you have often beene admonished to I beseech you learne by our Admonitions for they are the Admonitions of God let them I say learne that are guilty of it So Communion of Saints is a thing we thinke not of But Heb. 10.25 You shall see what a matter it was to neglect that Ordinance So Fasting and Prayer we thinke are not required at our hands and if nothing but the neglect of that were laid to our charge it were nothing But see what that is when the time is that God cals for it I say the very omission of that when God cals for it is a sin saith the Prophet which shall never be purged away by sacrifice but shall remaine to death Besides these omissions of Acts come to the omission of Graces I meane the want of them as the want of Love to Iesus Christ. Yet who confesses this want of love although 1 Cor. 16.22 Hee is pronounced accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus let him be had in execration to the death So the want of Delight in God who thinkes of it Come to our Callings and see our negligence and idlenesse in them shall we give account for every idle word we speake and not for every idle houre wee spend Let young Gentlemen looke to this that passe from vanity to vanity spending their time idly and unprofitably trifling out their Seed-time Consider what this sin of Omission is And so for growing in spirituall graces and knowledge that we gather not more knowledge it being the key of heaven that wee grow not in good workes but are poore in them omitting our times and opportunities Againe our sinfull silence not speaking when we should either out of sluggishnesse or feare of men or by-respects this is no small thing God will call thee to an account for it Consider whether you have let goe occasions of doing good denying of meat and drinke kils a man as well as poison so the neglecting of duties the omission of what tends to salvation shall be death as well as actuall sinnes by which you provoke the eyes of Gods glory to vengeance Therefore in that sentence of Christ he doth not tell them what they have done but what they have not done You have not clothed me you have not visited me Learne therefore to judge aright of these sinnes of omission that they may helpe to amaze us and so much for actuall sins And so much for the Law the first part of our rule wherein we have runne thorow the corruption of the Faculties and so have discovered our habituall sins and now thorow the three kinds of actuall sinnes in Thought in Word and in Action The second rule which I told you we are to observe is the Gospell And here you thinke you shall scape well enough for the Gospell brings damnation to no body But if you consider of it right you shall finde that the Gospell is much more terrible in this case than the Law that it will humble us more and that the sins against the Gospell are much greater than those against the Law Marke this in briefe The refusing of Iesus Christ when God offers him and remission of sins by him that you may have him when you will if you will have him on such consequent conditions as are required which is to deny your selves to take up your crosse and follow him this wee preach continually I say this contempt of the Gospell your unwillingnesse to take Christ is a great sin and that that should humble you above all the rest And that you may know that I have reason to say so consider Christs speech It shall be more easie for Sodome and Gomorrah than for such a people for such a City as when the Gospell of the Kingdome was preached to them neglected it so that the sin of Sodome is not so great a sin as the refusing of Christ. You know the greatnesse of that sin the punishment shewes it yet it is not so great as this Againe it is said of Moses and Christ being compared together That if they that sin against Moses Law are condemned how much sorer punishment shall they be worthy of that breake the Law of Christ that beleeve not the Gospell It exceeds the sinne against the other Againe consider is it a small thing to cause the bloud of Iesus Christ to be shed in vaine to trample it under foot and to count it a common thing But so doth every man that neglects it that hearkens not to it that is not ready to receive it that is not poore in spirit and so doth not hunger and thirst after Christ. Againe consider It is the chiefe Command and the breach of the chiefe Command must needs be the greatest sinne When the Disciples asked Christ what was the great Commandement he said This is the greatest of all To beleeve on him whom the Father had sent So 1 Ioh. 3.23 This is his Commandement that we should beleeve in the name of Iesus Christ. Againe the Gospell is the uttermost the Law makes way for the Gospell therefore the sentence and condemnation of the Gospell is peremptory and terrible and nothing beyond it Againe consider God was angry for the contempt
is fallen into sinne continues in it the guilt and power of it remaines upon his soule and he excuses himselfe with the smalnesse of it This is a common fault and therefore I will presse it the more Consider that which Christ saith Heaven and earth shall passe but the least jot of this Law shall not passe What is the meaning of that It is as if he had said somethings in the Law of God you may thinke small which are but ïotas though other things be greater but take you heed that you keepe every particular for there is not a jot of it but the Lord will have all his servants regard it exactly they shall have respect to every Commandement and to every part of that Commandement the least particular in his Law shall not passe away For consider if it were not so it would bee a prejudice to the Lords wisdome for there would bee something that hee commands which wee might slight But the Lord that hath commanded all both great and small knowes that it is best that all shall bee kept and therefore though heaven and earth shall passe yet the least jot of that Law shall not passe that this is the meaning of the place you may see by Christs exposition of the Law The Pharisies said Adultery must not be committed but I say saith CHRIST He that lusts hath committed adultery in his heart They said You must not sweare by the Temple but I say Sweare â—ot at all they said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say You must forgive your brethren Thus we must labour to resist sin in every even the least particular and reforme our selves in the omission of the least particle of the Law And so much likewise for the second point Thirdly we come now to consider what it is that turnes away his wrath and that is Zeale Phineas hath turned away my wrath while hee was zealous for my sake so that Zeale turnes away the Lords wrath You shall see it exemplefied in Elijah's answer to the Lords demand 1 Kings 19.4 What dost thou here Elijah As if he had said what hast thou done abroad in the world Sayes hee I have beene zealous for the Lord of Hosts because the children of Israel have broke thy covenants throwne downe thine Altars and killed thy Prophets and I onely am escaped As if he had said I have done the most I could for the safety of the Church I have beene zealous for the Lord and therefore hee prevailed with God for his owne deliverance You may see it likewise in Iehu who being zealous not in word onely but in deed also turned away the wrath of the Lord. And you may know it by the contrary that it is zeale that turnes away the Lords wrath because it is coldnesse and luke-warmenesse that brings on his wrath Rev. 3.16 consider there what is the reason why the Lord will spue out the Church of Laodicea and cast it away Because it was luke-warme and therefore the meanes to continue or procure his favour is it not heate and zeale Againe Rev. 2.4 The Church of Ephesus fell from her first love what then Therefore I will come against thee shortly and remove thy Candlestick Then to abound in love so that our workes may be more at last than at first to bee zealous for the LORD is the way to stay the Lord among us and to continue his Gospell of peace Therefore by the way it is not only the great sinnes of the Land that are causes of Gods wrath but the coldnesse of them that are otherwise good that causeth the Lord to remove the Candlesticke The very coldnesse of the Church of Ephesus in falling from her first love the luke-warmenesse of the Laodiceans the LORD would not endure in them Let every man consider this is his zeale now as much as it hath beene if not let us know that it is reckoned coldnesse and luke-warmenesse the falling from our first love is the cause of bringing Gods judgements on a Nation But what is this zeale Zeale is nothing else but the intention of all holy affections and actions I will goe no further than this Text to shew the nature of it Phineas was zealous that is he not onely did the thing but his heart burned within him with zeale for GOD. So as First there must be a stirring up of affection Secondly it must be holy it must bee for the Lord and this is it that discovers true zeale to looke onely to the Lord to have no by-respects as there may be zeale that makes a great deale of heaâ—e and yet it comes from the earth although it makes as great a show as the best Againe there must bee intention not only of affections but also of action Therefore it is said while hee was zealous for my sake among them as if he had said this zeale of Phineas was not kept smothered in his owne brest but it brakâ— forth into action hee did something for the Lord. And indeed it is action that glorifies GOD and that benefits men onely actions stand on our reckoning for you know God judgeth every man according to his workes It is action that doth our selves good that makes us usefull and serviceable to men and the Church that makes us instruments of Gods glory Therefore adde action to affection and know that zeale stands in both for it is the intention of holy actions and affections I will adde no more in the explication but will briefly apply it And first if it bee zeale that turnes away the Lords wrath then why should wee discourage zeale by it I dare bee bold to say the Citie stands Why doe wicked men cry downe all religion and zeale under the name of precisenesse and overmuch strictnesse of life walking bouldly in the streets and reckoning it their glory to wound God through the sides of men So that they make those that beare the name of Christ ready to reckon that their shame which is their glory to hang downe the wing and to seeke corners to hide their heads in whence it is that the servants of Christ follow their Master a far off as if they were halfe ashamed of his service when as they should weare his Livery in open view as accounting that their greatest honour It were well if some meanes were used to prevent this If it be zeale that turnes away the wrath of God wee should doe well then to nourish and cherish them that are zealous Are not religion and zeale the two which hold all up Are they not the pillars that beare up the Church and Common-wealth Are not they the rescues that deliver the Citie Yet doe not wicked men with them as those that to lop the Tree are still hacking at the boughes But the Lord still holds them up and the world for their sakes For why is this heape
of his sins and that he in recompence of this kindnesse should serve his lusts Therefore he reasons as Ioseph did with his Mistresse Shall I doe this and so sinne against God and my Master he hath committed all to me hee hath done thus much for me and shall I thus requite him And as Nathan taught David to reason Hath the Lord made thee King over Israel and done thus and thus for thee and wilt thou serve him thus So that I say there is an holy Ingenuity bred in us whereby out of thankfulnesse wee will shun whatsoever may offend him Besides this we are taught that we sustaine another person and every man desires to maintaine the dignity of the person hee sustaines When a man is once in Christ he thinkes not the courses he lived in before to be sutable to the condition he is now in Therefore the Apostle reasons 1 Pet. 1.14 Fashion your selves no longer after the lusts of your former Ignorance but be holy as he is holy that is if you take your selves to be in Christ and that you be come unto God admit not any more those lusts which though they suted with your former yet not with this condition he reasons as Nehemiah did Shall such a man as I doe this Lastly which is the chiefest reason of all As soone as a man hath taken Christ and is justified there is a strong impression made upon his Soule by which he is caused to cleave unto him and to long after him as the Iron doth after the Load-stone that cannot bee at rest untill it hath attained it A man shall set himselfe in the wayes of God though it were but to give satisfaction to the desires of his Soule And indeed were it not for this wee should not serve the Lord this makes us New Creatures I say there is a strong inclination in every man that is justified that he can doe no lesse than serve the LORD even to satisfie that For example when Eliah had called Elishah hee could not choose but follow him all the reasons in the world could not keep him back At the time when he cast his mantle on him there was an impression made on him as when Christ said to Levi and Peter and Andrew and the rest follow me their profits and nets and fathers were nothing they needed no more perswasion for there was a secret impression made upon their hearts together with Christs Word and to satisfie that they must needs follow him Such an impression as this was made on the heart of Ruth to follow Naomi you know how she put her to it but Ruth would not goe backe for she loved her and therefore nothing but death should separate them And the same was in Iacob to Rachel seven yeeres and seven yeeres service the length of time and hardnesse of labour could not keep him from his Vncles house nor drive him off such a strong desire was planted in his heart towards her and such a desire is planted in the heart of every Christian that is justified a strong Instinct as I may call it a strong affection after Iesus Christ and he must needs goe on in the wayes of Sanctification seeing there is no other way to satisfie himselfe So that putting all this together when a man shall see such reason for holinesse when he shall have affections of delight therein of love thereto when he shall see it best for him and that it is impossible hee should have the Lord Iesus Christ whom he so much desires if he serve him not in the duties of Sanctification he must needs come to a fixed resolution I will be another man and runne another course I will change my life altogether I will serve him in holinesse and in the duties of new obedience And after this manner doth Sanctification arise from Iustification first from a worke of the Spirit and then by all these passages that goe thorow the minde of a man which though they be not marked distinctly yet are truely in the heart And so much for the first point Now we will come to the second which is That Iustification and Sanctification are inseparable they cannot bee disjoyned But you will say this is a point that needs no proving I would my Brethren it did not I would that men were perswaded of the truth of it but we may see by the lives of men that they are not perswaded of it for their lives be loose and they thinke that if they can call on Christ in the day of death and cry for pardon it will be enough and that without such strictnesse a man may be saved Therefore to make it cleare to you you must remember this as a ground No man can be saved by the second Adam except hee bee borne of the second Adam As no man could be condemned by the first Adam that was not borne of the first Adam for the reason why all mens natures are corrupted is because all are borne of him If a man were created and did not descend by generation from him he should be free from Sinne and so could not be condemned but comming out of his loynes puts us into a condition of condemnation And so on the other side except you be borne of the second Adam you shall not be saved What is that You must be made New Creatures Ioh. 1.12 As many as received him he made the sonnes of God What is that a meere title No verse the thirteenth They are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God that is they are borne of the second Adam and Ioh. 3.5 Whosoever is not borne of the Spirit shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Now as our nature was corrupted in the first Adam there being a compact and covenant betweene God and him that if Adam stood all his seed should stand with him but if he fell then that all that were borne of him should by vertue of that covenant compact or agreement have his sinne imputed to them and so should be corrupted as hee was and die the death So there was a second covenant betweene us and the second Adam which is the new Testament spoken of in Ier 31 and in Heb. 8. I will make a new Covenant saith God And what is that I will put may Law in your minde and write it in your inward parts that is by vertue of the compact and agreement which is the new Testament following upon the former all that shall be saved by Christ shall be borne of him they must be new men whosoever shall be justified by him must be a new Creature Secondly because it is the will of God It is true God might have saved us without it if it had beene his pleasure it had beene no more but calling men at the houre of death but is otherwise 1 Thess. 4.3 This is the will of God even
he keepes you safe If our eyes were opened to see this as the Apostle Pauls were we should magnifie it and stand amazed at it when he comes to expresse what we have by Christ he knowes not how to expresse it In him are all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge and they are ours he hath a Kingdome that is ours He is a Sonne so are we he is an Heire so are we nothing can hurt us but it hurts him Therefore make use of this when any thing is objected that is terrible and grievous answer it with this I am in Christ When thou wantest any thing know thou canst not be denied for thou art in CHRIST Set all your thoughâ—s on worke to looke to all the things mans nature is capable of that you desire to make you happy we have them all in him O the length and height and depth of his mercy Indeed it is such a depth that we cannot fadome and a height we cannot reach and a length we cannot measure all this we have by Christ If we had but Pauls spirit to apprehend it and a little crevise of light opened to us as there was to him that we might see into this unsearchable riches of Christ we would stand amazed I cannot stand to inlarge it any further you see what it is to be united to Christ and of what moment Now we will come to make some use of it If it be so glorious a condition to be united to Christ it should inflame us then with a desire to be in him with a desire to be in this condition for if you have the Sonne you have life 1 Iohn 5.12 He that hath the Sonne hath life and all things else pertaining to life godlinesse and happinesse He that hath not the Sonne hath not life that is he is yet in death and condemnation have Christ and have all things therefore it is an happy and glorious condition Therefore let those that have it desire to inlarge it more and more and those that want it let them seeke to get it First I say those that have it let them labour to inlarge it You will say If a man be in Christ how can he be more If he be united if he be married to him how can he be more Iustification admits of no degrees Therefore this is a point worth your consideration That you may bee more in Christ. It is true Iustification in this sense admits of no degrees but it is indivisible either you are married or not married either you are in him or not in him so farre indeed it admits of no degrees But now when a Spouse takes an Husband shee hath so much will as to resolve to make such an one her husband yet there may be degrees of willingnesse she may will it more there may be more desire of it there may be a greater approbation of it so though it be true that every man that is justified in Christ is within the Covenant within the doore yet he may goe in further or lesse farre when he is within So I say you may be within the Covenant but this taking of Christ this being in Christ this receiving of him admits of degrees because though one be married to an husband that there is so much will as to resolve to take him rather than refuse him yet this very wil of taking may be stronger as her affections to him are more the reasons are stronger and larger that invite her to take him So the union with Christ may be neerer yet the knot may be yet straiter and as that increaseth so all the effects and consequences of it increase Therefore the thing we would exhort you to is to be more in Christ to get yet neerer to him You will say How shall that be done Consider what it was that drawed you to him and to labour to intend all that that when you have taken him you may yet make the union neerer and better than it was And these five things will doe it First consider your misery without him you did consider it before which caused you to take him for your Husband when you saw you could not live without him but when you finde that misery to be yet more your resolutions wil be stronger you will more approve your action of taking him you will prize him more Therefore if you will be yet neerer Christ reflect often on your selves on your owne condition and see what you are without him Consider what your sinnes are how you should have perished if you had not taken him how miserable you are still how unable to helpe your selves and the more humble you are the poorer in spirit and the more greedily you will receive him the more degrees will be added to the taking of the Lord Iesus For that is one great meanes to teach us to prize Christ even to know our misery The Prodigall sonne was taught to prize his being in his fathers house by the extremity of want he was in the more he felt the want of it the more he prized it Labour therefore to know what you are out of Christ to feele the want of it to know that you cannot subsist you cannot be without him Againe secondly labour more to know the vertues and the excellencies of your husband for as they are more explicated and discovered to you so you will love him more As one that is married the more she sees in her husband the more she desires him the more glad she is that the match is made there is the greater degree of will to take her husband Labour to see this beauty in Christ to see what he hath done for you Was he not crucified for you Hee loved me saith Paul and gave himselfe for me he died for me Consider all that he hath done consider the great dowry the riches he brings with him all the benefits and priviledges he brings with him and you have by him looke well upon him consider the number of them and the waight of them thinke of all the advantages you get by him the more you see this the more those vertues and excellencies of Christ are explicated and unfolded and made manifest unto you the more you will love him and the nearer is the union betweene you Thirdly be perswaded of his love to you the more you are perswaded of your husbands love the nearer your hearts grow to him Think what it was that made Paul love the Lord Iesus so much it was the strength of his faith he knew the Lord loved him and that Christ had received him If wee could but once get into Pauls condition that we could see the unsearchable riches of Christ the beauties of our husband the advantages we have by him if we had Pauls faith to beleeve his love we should be able to doe as he did to reckon all as drosse and dung wee should prize nothing but CHRIST and
how in this respect thy nature is full of all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse Next we will come to the Memory and you shall finde that out of order likewise that the things God commands us to remember those we are exceeding ready to forget and the things we should forget we are too ready to remember wherein I will be briefe First for the things he commands us he doth command Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth In your youth you shall serve me and yet how apt is youth to forget God And for the Sabbath he bids us Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day How apt are we to neglect it to disobey it it is out of our minds So Psal. 78.11 He would have his wondrous workes and the great Acts he did for the children of Israel Remembred but they remembred not saith hee his wonders in Aegypt And so we may go through any thing else Hebr. 12. You have forgot the Consolations c. Againe wee are ready to remember what God bids us to forget We are apt to remember Injuries yea one Injury will be thought on more than many yeares good service or many good turnes We should not do thus but should remember the benefits from God and man for the encrease of love So Idle tales we are ready to remember but good things though they be accompanied with the motion and quickening of the spirit goe out like sparkes in wet tinder they goe out againe quickly as if they had not beene So for hearing the Word Iam. 1. we are called forgetfull hearers when we are about that duty if a tale be told us in a Sermon that we can remember but what is profitable and wholesome that we forget Our minds are like strainers all the milke passes thorow them that that we should grow by that which is wholesome and necessary for nourishment runs thorow but the drosse remaines Trifles and vaine things we can remember and carry away with us and this is the sinfulnesse of our memories You may call it weaknesse of memory and may thinke that it is not so great a matter No it is not the infirmity of thy memory but the corruption of thy nature if we forget other things as much it were another case but because holy things are spirituall and the frame of the heart is nought our corrupt ill disposition makes us ready to forget them and more than that there is a carelesnesse in our minds we regard not the things of God but every vanity we regard and our minde is instant thereon and that is the reason we remember it but forget the things that concerne God and our Salvation Come we from the Memory to the Conscience The Conscience of a man is that which should have life It should be like Iobs last messengers to bring us word that all the rest is dead There should be a remaining light of Conscience to tell us that all the rest of our faculties are dead disordered and corrupted but looke upon the Conscience you shall see how short it is in that which belongs to it and it is a great matter to have that out of order There be but three Acts of the Conscience and it is disordered in them all The first Act of the Conscience is to be a Remembrancer to be a faithfull Register to set all downe and to present it to us but it is a false Register like the Steward in Luke that when there were hundreds set downe fifties So the Conscience sets downe things by halfes it thinkes not what is done it recals them not if it were as it should be it would recall our sins and their Circumstances in another manner than they doe And so is in that regard corrupt The second Act or office of Conscience is to instigate to good and to restraine from evill but in this you shall finde it exceedingly corrupted In this Act there be three Vertues which should be in the Conscience The first is Clearnesse the Conscience should be so cleare as to see all things that are amisse but in this it sailes exceedingly Tit. 1. It is said Their minde and Conscience are defiled marke that looke as in a Glasse which is in it selfe cleare when it shall be covered with dust it showes nothing it presents not things clearely for it is defiled so the Conscience of man should be cleare as a bright looking-glasse that should present every thing that is amisse in a mans heart or life but it is defiled and you can see nothing by it The second vertue in this Act of Conscience is as to see sins clearely so to feele them to be sensible of them like a fine flesh which is sensible of the least prick or like the eye that is sensible of the least mote Now in this it failes more than in the other there is a brawninesse growne over the Conscience and in some it hath lost all sense and therein you may see the Corruption of it If you looke to the Glasse and there finde swearing to be a sin you are not sensible of it you feele it not But there is a third Vertue wherein it failes more than in these two It should stir us up and give us no rest till it had constrained us to doe the good thing God commands and restrained us from the Evill he forbids it should awaken us but it being dull and sleepie stirres up sometimes good purposes thereby awaking us but it lets us fall asleepe againe we can rest in sin we can sin and our minds be quiet in it and can put off our turning to God This is a great Corruption of the Conscience which should amaze us This is the sinfulnesse of it which should perswade us that our natures are full of all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse Last of all the third office or Act of the Conscience is to accuse aright and excuse and in this we shall see it failes as much as or more than in any of the other But you will say the Conscience is ready enough to accuse it is true but the light it hath by which it is able to see sin and to accuse us for sin it abuses and perverts to a wrong end for this you shall finde in the Conscience when we preach the Law and the Conscience should joyne with us to accuse then it excuses making every thing seeme small and little And againe when we preach the Gospel and the Conscience should excuse then it accuses my sins are so great and many that there is no mercy for me And this perverting of the light this excusing when it should accuse and this accusing when it should excuse causeth us Declinare Ictum to scape the blow of Law and Gospell and we are robbed of the fruit of both because the Conscience doth not his part aright And so you may see how farre off you are from a good Conscience But
that they have you shall finde a double difference First though in the Truths they know they goe exceeding farre as I have shewed you yet in this they fall short that they understand not the secrets of God There be certaine secrets which God reveales to none but to them that feare him There is something in these Truthes that civill men doe not understand Consider that speech spoken by our Saviour to Ierusalem O Ierusalem that thou hadst knowne the things belonging to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes What was hid from them not the things themselves simply considered for they were fully revealed Christ himselfe Preached there there wanted no light to shine to them yet it was hid from their eyes that is there was a certaine secret which if God had revealed it would have perswaded them to have turned to him effectually but that was hid from their eyes and so they were strangers from the life of God So the life of holinesse and religion these men understand not there is something spirituall which they cannot comprehend There light goes as farre as it may when a man hath a naturall a common light it will apprehend common objects such as are sutable to it it apprehends but that which is spirituall it cannot reach unto 1 Cor. 2.14 A naturall man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are spiritually discerned that is the very thing wherein the Image of God consists wherein true holinesse expresseth it selfe they do not understand Therefore it seemes a strange thing to them as in 1 Pet. 4.4 that others runne not into the same excesse of ryot It seemes strange now marke that word nothing seemes strange but when a man is ignorant of its cause is not acquainted with it and therefore he is still finding fault with it Therefore unholy men have a light that reaches to common Iustice and to a common care of serving God to common morall vertues and to an upright behaviour to men but further they cannot goe they know not what it is to be exact and strict in all things and that is the first difference they know not the secret of God they may goe thorow the whole course of Divinity and be acquainted with all the mysteries of Salvation but that secret of his they understand not Secondly there is this difference in the things they doe know they know them indeed I speake of them they doe know that are within their owne sphere their owne compasse but they have not the savour of what they know that is it which the Scripture cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the savour of these Truthes they want and therefore they receive the Truth but not the love of the Truth they doe not relish it they apprehend it not aright and for that cause they practise it not You have them excellently set downe in Iude 14. they speake evill sayes the Apostle of the things they know not You see there be some things they know not and therefore they speake evill of them And what things they doe know as beâ—sts without reason in them they corrupt themselves that is they doe not practice according to their knowledge though they are acquainted with the wayes of God in that measure that they know they ought to abstaine from these and these sins yet in these things that they know naturally they are corrupt So you see the difference betweene them and the truly regenerate in matter of understanding Secondly to keepe the same method I did in the other for matter of Conscience you shal finde this difference and in this they fall short Though they doe make Conscience of many things notwithstanding they have not a good Conscience for Conscience is good in two respects either because it witnesses good to us and so wee commonly use it or as it is subjectively good and so the love of God is good and the feare of God is good and in this they have not a good Conscience for it is required that the Conscience be inherently and subjectively good that a man make Conscience not out of slavish feare but out of willingnesse as a chaste wife desires to please her husband because shee loves him shee is loth to displease him will not lose his favour for any thing and therefore shee observes him exactly and will not offend him when the Conscience stands in this reference to God it is a good Conscience On the other side let a man make Conscience of never so many things yet if it be out of feare as a servant feares his Master or as the Theefe feares the Iudge his Conscience is not good So that the civil men cannot be said to have a good Conscience in the things they abstaine from out of Conscience because they doe it not willingly but as of necessity Now all God lookes to is to have what is done done willingly and therefore it is no wonder that Divines give this as a sure rule that Desire is a signe sure enough of Grace If a man hath a true desire to please God it cannot deceive him for the desire is more than the deed as Saint Paul saith in 2 Cor. 8. In matter of giving You have not onely beene ready to doe but to will and to be forward as if the will were more than the deed and so it is indeed A man may performe many actions of Religion abstaine from many sins reforme his life in many things but it is another matter to desire to please God according to that of Nehemiah 1.11 Let thine eare be attentive to the prayer of thy servants that desire to feare thy Name there is none but the servants of God that desire to feare him If others be asked whether they could not be content there were no law to restraine them that no necessity of holinesse lay on them they will answer they could desire that there were none that they were at liberty and therefore when they make Conscience of any thing it is not out of willingnesse but out of a slavish feare though it be out of Conscience yet the Conscience is not good and in this respect they fall short Thirdly for matter of morall vertues they may have many excellent vertues planted in their hearts which are the gifts of the Holy Ghost for the Holy Ghost doth not only enlighten the understandings of some that shall never be saved but also places many gifts in their will and affections But this defect they have they neither come from a right Principle nor tend to a right end they come from no higher a Well-head than Nature they be common to them that be only naturall and therefore it cannot be proper to them that shall be saved I say Nature is able to bring forth these vertues even as the earth for that similitude will expresse it is able to bring forth two things Weeds and Grasse You know weeds are unprofitable and many of
them hurtfull but grasse is good and usefull But corne and flowers of the chiefest sort the earth cannot bring forth without plowing and sowing so it is with mans nature Take it as secluded from Grace it is able to doe two things to bring forth Sinne and Lust which comes from the corruption of it and likewise many excellent vertues which proceed from common nature which is in a man unregenerate as well as sinfull nature These things be good and very commendable but this is their fault they goe no further there is no more than nature in them they are very like true Grace as false Iewels are like true ones and as your wilde corne is like true corne there is a great similitude betweene them but yet there is a great deale of difference if you looke on them with a curious eye and judge of them with a righteous judgement Fourthly for matter of Actions it is true they doe many things but they fall short in these two respects First they doe not all they are alway wanthing in something It is not said Herod did all but many things He heard Iohn gladly and did much this rule will not faile they are not general in their obedience there is not a generall change Now the effect cannot goe beyond the cause but it is true of the regenerate They are New Creatures every way and therefore there is a generall observation of the Law of God I speake of an Evangelicall observation competent to the Saints I say they have a respect to all the Commandements the other have not because their hearts are not fully not generally changed they have light but it is shut up within the compasse of one faculty it turnes not the soule into light and therefore they know many things and doe many things yet because the worke is not generall they have still some exception something there is wherein they favour themselves some duty there is that they omit and that constantly from time to time Againe as they doe not doe all so what they doe they doe not in sincerity they doe it not to the Lord but for other respects for themselves for credit or applause to winne love and good will among men or to avoid shame or they doe it to escape judgement and to attaine that safety which Nature it selfe may desire or else to satisfie naturall Conscience many other respects there be but they doe it not in sincerity to the Lord. But it may be objected when they do things in secret doe they not doe them to the Lord It is true they doe it to him as to a naturall good as a Iudge that punishes and rewards as a Dispencer of good and evill so they doe it to the Lord but not to him as a Father as holy and pure as abstracted from all punishment and reward they doe not fix their eye on the Person of God to love him to desire favour and Communion with him after this manner they desire him not and so they faile in the good actions they doe Fifthly and lastly there are two men in Civill men before Regeneration that is an instigation to that which is good and a reluctancie to it a renitencie against it something contrary thereto as well as in the Regenerate but you shall finde them to fall short of the Saints in these foure regards First this Combate in them differs from that in the Saints in respects of the subject it being betweene the Conscience and all the rest of the Soule The Conscience sayes such things must be done but the rest of the faculties rise in rebellion against it because as I told you the light is shut up there and all the Soule is not enlightned but in the Saints the Controversie is between every faculty and it selfe between the understanding and it selfe betweene the whole Soule as it is compared with it selfe there is something good in every part of it and something ill and these two conâ—end Secondly as it differs in the subject so likewise in the object the contention is about different things A civill man that is one that hath many excellent and good things in him but yet is unregenerate for that I meane by a civill man may have a controversie with himselfe about many things belonging to honesty vertue sins of the greatest extent such as he is able to see as in a darke night we see the Starres of a greater magnitude but the other are hid from us but there is something spirituall things that belong to the Image of God to the life of Grace which he makes not Conscience of cannot contend about for he understands them not He may be troubled about many evils and if he fall into grosse sins there may be a Contention in him after he hath committed them as well as before but the spirituall perfomance of duties which belong to godlinesse and true holinesse is not controverted and so they differ in the object Thirdly it differs in regard of the effect and issue of the Combate In a naturall man where there is a strife you shall finde this the issue the better is the loser and the worse is the gainer as it was the speech of Medea Deteriora sequor but it is not so with the Saints for in their Combate ordinarily they have the better as Paul when this combate and strife was within him he was still so sustained by the Grace of God that he had the victory and that I take to be the meaning of that in 2 Cor. 12.9 when there was that strife in him about the thorne in the flesh that is some strong lust that Satan had sharpned against him The Grace of God was sufficient for him and in the issue thereof he did Meliora sequi but the other goes away with the worst Fourthly and lastly there is a difference in regard of the Continuance and durance of this Combate in carnall men it continues not to the end but they give over and this you shall also finde they stand not at a stay but grow worse and worse for that is a generall Truth Evill men shal wax worse and worse there may be a contention for a time the two men may for a Time be in an Aequilibrio the ballance may hang equall for a while but at last they give the raine to their lust they are weary of contending but the Spirit in the Saints growes stronger and stronger as it was said of the house of Saul it waxed weaker and weaker but the house of David grew stronger and stronger And as it was said of Peter When he should be old he should be carried whither he would not shewing by what death he should glorifie God that is this strife should continue til he was old till the latter end of his dayes yea and about that which is hardest of all that is to resist the desire of life to be content to die for CHRIST So you see how farre they
of chaffe preserv'd from burning Is it not because there is some Corne some Wheate mixed therewith If the Corne be once out will not the Lord as men use to doe after winnowing set the chaffe on fire As women with childe are grieved to be delivered so the Lord stayes till the world be delivered as it were of all his Elect ones of all the Saints of all his holy and zealous ones and then shall be brought forth the Iudgement of the great day The World may cast out these men as the Sea doth Pearles among mire and dirt but they are Pearles notwithstanding God knowes them to be so and wise-men know them to be so yea Pearles excelling other men as much as Iewels doe common stones as much as Lilies and Roses doe Thornes and Bryers among which they grow What 's the reason that Elijah is called the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof but because hee was an holy man that did much for Gods glory that did more advantage the State at home and did more prevaile abroad than all the Chariots and Horsemen And may not we apply this to the zealous among us Therefore when we injury any of them doe not wee cut off the haire from Sampsons head wherein the strength of every Countrey and Nation and every Citie and Towne consists Yea the cutting off of them is like the cutting off of his lockes which the more the grow the more strength a Kingdome hath I say no more but commend it to every man in his place wishing that you would let it be your generall care to encourage true Religion and Zeale the omitting whereof I am perswaded is one of those things which causeth the Lords hand to be stretched forth against us Secondly if it be Zeale that turnes away the LORDS wrath then where is the Zeale that should be among us Are wee not rather fallen into those later times the Apostle speakes of which should have a forme of Religion without the Zeale and Power and Life of it And if Zeale turnes away Gods wrath certainly then this formalitie this overlinesse of Religion this coldnesse without Zeale and Power is it that brings on his wrath It is true and we cannot deny but knowledge abounds amongst us as the waters in the Sea But where is the Salt That is where is that Zeale and holinesse that should season all our knowledge Where is the Fire that should adde practice to our knowledge and make it an acceptable sacrifice to GOD Wee have the light of former Times but not their heat As he complaines Ignis qui in Parentibus fuit calidus in nobis lucidus The Fire which in ancient Times was hot is now onely light We thinke it enough to goe to Church to receive the Sacrament and so to keepe a round as it were to doe as most doe being carried about with the generall course of the World as the Planets are with the rest of the Spheres contrary to that which should bee their proper motion But I beseech you consider it Is this Religion Is this the Power of Godlinesse is this to be Baptized with the Holy Ghost which is as Fire Surely Religion stands not in these outward formalities but in changing the heart in making us New Creatures in mortifying our Lusts and thorowly purging out the love of every corruption Therefore if you will turne away Gods wrath turne your formality into Zeale that is content not your selves with the performance of the duties of Religion externally but get that wherein the power of godlinesse consists else the outside of Duties will not divert Wrath. Againe did Zeale turne away the wrath of the Lord then where are our zealous affections Why are we not zealous for the Lord and zealous against sinne You know Christ died for this end that hee might purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes Titus 2.14 Men doe good actions as a Taske they are glad when they be over but doe you them with much intention much fâ—rvencie much desire be you a people zealous of good workes Therefore in Rom. 12.11 They are put together be fervent in spirit and serving the Lord implying that the Lord respects no service but as it is joyned with fervencie Therefore know that it is not enough to serve the Lord in an ordinary Tract you must mend your pace to heaven it is not enough to goe but you must runne the way of Gods Commandements And as you must be zealous for him so you must be zealous against evill For you must know this and marke it well it is not enough to abstaine from sinne it is not that alone that God will accept but he lookes that you should hate sinne As it is said of Lot his righteous soule was vexed with the uncleane conversation of the Sodomites that is his heart rose against them there was an inward distaste against them the like you shall see in David and Moses You will say I hope I detest sinne and am angry with it It may be so perhaps you are angry with sinne but Zeale you know is an intention of the affection of hatred and it is required that you hate sinne Revel 2.6 This thou hast that thou hatest the worke of the Nicolaitans which I also hate You will say How doe they differ You shall know hatred by this First it is a constant affection it abides with us Anger goes away as all passions doe it is but for a fit for a flash on some occasion Againe hatred is alwayes of generals the sheepe hates all Wolves we hate all Toads all Serpents I say wheresoever there is hatred it turnes to the whole Species Now doe you hate all sinne all kindes of sinne one as well as another Doe you not only abstaine from them but also hate them of what sort soever they bee Lastly Hatred seekes the utter destruction of the thing hated Anger would have but a proportion of Iustice as Aristotle sayes Now is it so with you Doe you seeke the utter destruction of sinne abstaining not onely from grosse sinnes but from all dalliances from the least touch of sinne cleansing your selves from all pollusions of the flesh and spirit If you will be zealous for the Lord then know that this is required that you not onely doe things but that you doe them zealously that you not onely abstaine from sinne but that you hate it Againe if it be Zeale that turnes away the wrath of the Lord then where is our boldnesse our courage our forwardnesse for the Truth Why are we so fearefull and shie of doing the thing that otherwise we thinke meet to bee done For Zeale hath that prâ—pertie among the rest it makes men bold the Zeale of the Apostles was knowne by their boldnesse But you will say A man may be too bold It is very true when the horse runnes up and downe and is at libertie
Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature LONDON Printed by R. B. for NICOLAS BOURNE and are to be sold at his shop at the Royall Exchange 1633. CERTAINE SERMONS VPON THE NEW CREATVRE 2 COR. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature WE have propounded to our selves this method First to shew what we are out of Christ and there our worke was to humble men Secondly to shew what we have by Christ and how we are made partakers of him and that is done by faith The third is to shew what we should doe for Christ and here begins the worke of Sanctification for as I told you these were the three parts of the Apostles Ambassage To preach the Law first that it might be a Schoole-master to bring us to Christ And then to preach Iustification by Christ Thirdly to preach Sanctification Now we have chosen this Text as a ground for the last having finished the two former We will shew you in a word how it depends upon what goes before that you may see the scope of the Apostle in these words In the thirteenth and fourteenth verses of this Chapter the Apostle tells them that hee was ill used by them Some of you saith hee thinke we are no better than out of our wits It is no matter whether we are in our wits or out of our wits yet we must goe through the worke of the Ministery of the Gospell committed to us for Christs sake that is wee looke not to you It is the love of Christ that constraineth us we can doe no otherwise When he had said this hee gives the reason why the love of Christ carried him along to doe his duty whether he had wages or not whether he had good report or not yet for the love of Christ he did it For saith he we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead that they that live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that died for them As if hee had said Is there not reason that wee should thus neglect our selves for Christ seeing hee died for this end that wee should no longer live to our selves but to him that is he hath bought us at a deare rate therefore we should no longer make our selves our end but we must live to him wee must thinke what Christ would have us doe what worke he will set us about Now when he had said this hee insisteth in one particular wherein he shewed that he did not live to himselfe but to Christ Wherefore henceforth we know no man after the flesh no not Christ himselfe that is we doe not regard any man for any outward respects we do not magnifie any man for any outward honour and excellencie that he hath Againe we doe not vilifie any man for the want of any outward excellencies but we magnifie every man as hee excels in grace yea Christ himselfe though hee had outward excellencies as other men yet we love him now only in spirituall respects as he is our Mediatour we behold now every thing according to the Spirit Now when he had gone thus farre he drawes this conclusion Therefore if any man be in Christ let him bee a new Creature As if he should say this is a consequence that must needs follow If this bee true that Christ died that every man that lives should live to him then if any man will have part in Christ if any man thinke he have any interest in him to be justified by him he must be another man than he was before he must be a new Creature hee must know no man nor thing after the flesh he must live to the Lord and not to himselfe in all things So that now hee drawes it from himselfe and raiseth it to a more high and generall conclusion It is required saith he of every man living that if he be in Christ hee must be a new Creature that is hee must put off himselfe altogether he must be no more the same man he was hee must lay aside himselfe and put on Christ Iesus he must be made like him We will not stand longer to open the words because wee shall doe that in the handling of the severall points that shall be delivered to you out of them And first wee will take this plaine point that the words afford us That Sanctification must needs follow Iustification Or if you will take it in the words that are laid downe in the Text Whosoever is in Christ that is whosoever will be justified by Christ must have a new Nature created in him by God for that is the meaning of it whosoever is in Christ must be made a new man he must have another Nature which is created in him by GOD that is intimated by this word Creature Now in the handling of this point we will doe these two things First we will shew how Sanctification ariseth from Iustification because that is the main scope for which we chose this Text. Secondly wee will shew you the reasons why they are inseparable why the one must needs follow the other and then further open this doctrine to you that whosoever is in Christ must have a new Nature created in him by God The first thing that we have to do is to shew you how Sanctification ariseth from Iustification and it hath a double rise The one is from the Spirit that is infused into us presently after we are justified or at the same time only there is a difference in the order of Nature Secondly it ariseth from some actions wrought in the minde whereby a man comes to this conclusion If Christ have accepted me for his if he be mine and will justifie me and free me from my sinnes then I will serve him in all things For the first as soone as any man hath taken Christ and received that Righteousnesse of his by faith there is an union betweene Christ and him and upon this union the Spirit of Christ is shed into him Gal. 4.6 Because you are sonnes God hath set the Spirit of his Sonne into you that is as soone as you receive him you have the same Spirit sent into your hearts that dwells in Christ and so Gal. 5.2 Received you the Spirit by the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith preached that is by hearing the doctrine of faith I say as soone as a man is justified he receives the Spirit So likewise Rom. 8.9 You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit c. and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his that is as soone as we are justified God sends the Spirit of his Sonne into us and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is not yet justified And the like you have Rom. 6.2 when some had made this objection If grace abound why doe we not sinne the more that grace may more
him off But you will say these things that you speak are wonderfull things how shall we have this wrought in us By being in Christ this wonder is wrought in us when a man is once ingrafted into Christ when hee hath once received him this great worke is wrought in him in his heart hee is made a new Creature But if you adde to this the second way of raising this Sanctification from our Iustification then you will understand it yet more fully and distinctly There are certaine actions wrought in our soules by which this Sanctification followes Iustification and those are these First when a man seeth great reason for it for when a man is once convinced of a thing that it is best for him to doe it and takes a resolution to him to performe it Now when a man hath beene humbled and knoweth what sinne is when he hath had his heart prepared when he comes in once to take Christ that is when he seeth his owne basenesse and Christs excellencie what he was without Christ and what he hath by Christ that when he expected nothing but death then the Gospell came and said Thou shalt live when he seeth that Christ deales with him after this manner then hee thinkes surely It is good reason that I should serve him before indeed we thinke his service to be an hard service and we doe with him as people that are under a tyrannous King they refuse to obey such an one so doth all the world with Iesus Christ they thinke his Law to be an hard Law written with bloud and they thinke him to be an hard Governour such a King as they know not how to be subject unto But when a man is once convinced by the Spirit when he sees reason for it when he is perswaded that Christ will governe him for his wealth that Christ hath suffered for him and freed him from the wrath of God then hee thinkes thus There is reason that I should suffer him to rule over me and when a man seeth reason for it he comes then willingly to submit himselfe to Christ. This is the worke of the Spirit whereby he perswades a man that there is reason for it and it is attributed to the Spirit Iohn 16 The Spirit convinceth of Sinne of Righteousnesse and of Iudgement that is it shewes us that we are sinfull and that there is a Righteousnesse in Christ to heale that And thirdly it convinceth us that there is reason for it why we should serve God in Sanctification and Iudgement The meaning of the word He shall convince is that the Spirit shewes us reason why we should embrace Sanctification and serve the Lord in all things Now when the heart of man is brought to this to see reason and equity in this then a man takes resolution to cleave to Christ to serve him Secondly as he deales with the reason so he doth likewise with the affections for he begets love in us which love sanctifieth us it sets us on worke and turnes the whole heart as the Rudder turnes the Ship for it sits in the sterne of a mans Soule and the reason that when we are justified we love Christ is because when as before a man magnified himselfe setting himselfe at an high rate like a virgin that is coy and curious thinking no man good enough for her now the Law comming and convincing him of the need he stands in of CHRIST and shewing him what he is in himselfe he is hereupon content to marry with the Lord Christ Nay further the Spirit of God not only shews him the need that hee stands in of an husband he being not under covert and deepely in debt the whole weight of his debt lying on himselfe but it goes further and shewes him the beautie of Christ as Ioh. 14.21 To him that loves me I will manifest my selfe that is I will declare my beauty and when the Spirit shewes Christ to the Soule it makes it in love with him We may shew him to you an hundred times over and yet beget not this affection in you but the Spirits shewing is effectuall to that end and when you love him you must needs please him in all things it being the care of the married wife to please the husband So that when the heart is prepared by humiliation and takes Christ love is wrought in the Soule and love sanctifies for Sanctification is nothing else but a setting our selves apart from common uses and keeping of the heart close to God making it peculiar to him and this love makes us to doe when the wife loves the husband shee will be his altogether she will be only to him she will be divorced from all Adulterers and have nothing to doe with them and thus the Lord deales with the affections Thirdly there is wrought not only a love to the Lord but a perswasion that it is good for our selves to serve him in holinesse Indeed many times to satisfie our affections we love a thing too much though wee doe not thinke our selves gainers thereby but in this matter the Lord perswades us that it is best for our selves to sanctifie him in all things to draw neere unto him to sanctifie his Name in our hearts so that now not only love to Christ but even selfe-love also is set on worke to the making us New Creatures for the wayes of God are propounded as good and profitable and pleasing things and when the heart lookes on them it sees them as good for it selfe so that the heart turnes towards them as it cannot but doe to every thing that it apprehends to be good and profitable to it So that when the Holy Ghost shall perswade a man that it is best for himselfe that he shall best provide for himselfe every way by taking Christ hee cannot choose but come in when hee shall see it is best for him to goe to the Citie of refuge that he cannot live else and that if he comes there he shall have life and not only life but a kingdome too and that the way that leads thereto is grace and holinesse hee will goe and goe fast enough When a man is perswaded Christ is the Citie of Refuge to whom I must go else I cannot be safe and that the way to him is to be a new Creature this makes him to goe on and willingly too for it is out of selfe-love Againe when a man is justified and hath taken Christ there is bred in him an holy Ingenuitie which makes him so thankfull to Christ that hee is ashamed to joyne Christ with any sinne As Rom. 6.21 What profit had yee in those things whereof yee are now ashamed you are now ashamed to commit them any more A man will thinke it now an unreasonable thing that Christ should doe so much for him be crucified for him and so give him life being before dead men that he should take flesh for the remission
carried the matter fairly but like the Eagle hee had his eye upon the prey this secret eye marres all Doe not thinke that this is but a notion doe not say who is it but doth sinne and we may goe to heaven although we be not so exact as the Preacher saith we should be No it is more than so we may see good reason for it if we observe it well It is a good argument which we have in Philosophie A cup or a dish that is boared thorow is no dish yet there is but one hole in it because it is now of no use which makes it none because it is as good as none Take a dish boared thorow powre water into it it will hold none so take a mans heart for the reason will hold good in that and let there be but some secret leake in it or some secret evill disposition although Saul doth well in every thing else yet if he harbour any sinne or although Balaam doth well in all things else yet if there be respect unto the wages of Iniquity they are both but like a dish with an hole boared thorow that take up any thing there will be an issuing out Therefore deceive not thy selfe thou art no New Creature except thy heart be perfect in all things This which wee deliver unto you take it no otherwise than what with reason you shall finde grounded upon a sure word in Ier. 2. They sought mee not with their whole heart but fainedly When a man seekes God but not with his whole heart God reckons it but a counterfeit seeking of him Therefore I beseech you looke unto your selves see whether you be holy in all manner of conversation I cannot goe thorow particulars but I must leave this to every mans brest who must reflect upon his owne heart Consider with thy selfe if sometimes thou givest libertie to thy selfe in ill or in the duties of new obedience to performe them slightly as good never a whit as never the better if thou doest any duty which thou knowest to be a duty and not truly know it is not accepted If you continue in sinne and will not know it to be a sin as in your inordinate gaming and the vanity of your speeches although thou thinkest them small yet they are able to kill thee the biting of a Viper is as small a thing yet it will bring death with it so if any sin be allowed in thee thou art not a New Creature thou wantest this new moulding thou art not yet cast into a new frame So much for the First part The second thing which we observed in this description of a New Creature is that A man must be cast into a new mould by the infusion of a new quality of Grace A mans heart is not put into a new frame by the transient Acts of the Holy Ghost as in building of an house there is no more for a man to doe but with his hands to joyne one thing with another but it is done by the infusion of a new quality As in Adam there was not onely a defect of weaknesse but of wickednesse so there must be a new quality infused into thy heart else thou art no New Creature In all things in the world that have actions there is a quality as the fire moves upward and there is a quality of heat in it as our Saviour Christ saith of the tree it must be good before it can bring forth good fruit and as in the Heb. 12.28 Wherefore seeing we receive a Kingdome that cannot be shaken let us have grace whereby wee may so serve God that wee may please him with reverence and feare that is there must bee a new quality wrought in the heart whereby we may be enabled to serve the Lord with reverence and feare The question you will aske me will be what is that new quality Not to stand upon generals for it is not that which profits but to pitch upon it I will shew you what it is by two places of Scripture Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a New Creature Compare this with Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Would you know what this new quality which is infused is It is faith and love that is when this is once wrought in thy heart that thy heart is humble and broken which makes thee to know what sin is and what the wrath of God is for sinne and thou desirest Christ and thou hast thy heart calmed againe through beleeving thou doest beleeve that God offers his Son unto thee and thou art willing to take him not as a Saviour only but as a Lord also to obey him not as a Priest only but as a King to bee subject to him not as a friend only but as an husband if this be done it is properly faith Againe consider whether it be done out of love or out of fear lest thy Creditours should come upon thee and cast thee into that eternall prison where thou shalt pay every farthing this is not out of love Againe doest thou take him for his kingdom and his wealth only That is the disposition of an harlot who takes her husband for his wealth and not because shee loves him but thou must take him for love The Virgins love thee Cant. 1.2 The harlots doe not so but the Virgins love thy goodly person Againe thou must not take him in a good mood but till death doe part you thou must love him for ever No man loves a man truely but he is rooted and grounded in his love when thou doest find thy heart so humbled that thou doest reckon sinne the greatest evill and doest hunger after Christ and doest keepe him as thy life when thou doest all this from a love unto him thou art a New Creatures when thou takest Christ with love and such an one as is a working love now be assured that thou art a New Creature for this is that wherein it consists I observe this by the way for those that thinke they never have beene humbled enough the New Creature consists not in that but in faith and love Hast thou faith and love Then thou hast the thing it selfe and if thou hast that thou hast the preparation That is the first expression Another is in Ephes. 4.22 23 24. That yee cast off concerning the conversation in times past the old man which is corrupt through deceiveable lusts and be renued in the Spirit of your minde and put on the new man which after God is created in Righteousnesse and holinesse proceeding from truth There you have the thing named what it is to be a New Creature and what it is to be the old man still To be the old Creature or the old man is nothing else but to bee guided by lust which comes from errour in judgement and understanding But
wherein consists the new man The new man consists in holinesse wrought in the will which proceeds from truth revealed unto the understanding so when the understanding and the judgement is rectified thou art made a New Creature Againe when the will is corrupt by lusts proceeding from errour in the understanding thou art in state of an old Creature The old man stands properly in lusts therefore saith Peter 2 Pet. 1.4 Fly the corruption which is in the world through lust All the corruption of mankind stands in these inordinate lusts Others wee may looke on as the fruit but this as the Root What are those lusts Iohn shewes them by three heads 1 Ioh. 2.16 The lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life The old man stands in these three Take the first Lust even the lust of the Eye A man lookes upon wealth to make him happie in this life I meane no otherwise and looking upon this he lusts after it Doe but rectifie his judgement and let wealth be presented to him as it is in it selfe and hee will come to be affected with it as Paul was who accounted all but drosse and dung hee will say then why should I set my heart upon that which is nothing but vanity I say when the understanding is rectified you will looke upon wealth aright and as you shall see it at the day of death for then wee are as a man awakened out of a dreame we will looke on it then as it is Iam. 1.10 Let the Rich-man rejoyce that hee is made low for as a flower of the grasse so shall he vanish The meaning of this is when a man is made a New Creature he is brought downe in his conceit whereas before hee thought himselfe a great man because of his wealth Now Religion comes and that makes him low and let him be glad of it Why What reason hath a man to be glad of it Indeed if wealth were a thing of moment it were another matter but he was deceived Riches are but as the flower of grasse A wise man lookes on Riches as flowers of the Garden with children and the weakest doe much magnifie Indeed if they were of great moment he lost by it but as Iames saith They are but as flowers of the grasse worth little For the Lust of the flesh that is another thing whereby this old man is seene A man lookes on outward pleasures or delights as able to give satisfaction and as the greatest delights in the world let his Iudgement be rectified he looks upon them as Enemies that fight against the Soule as the workes of darknesse which he abhorres and so he comes to Lots disposition Whose righteous Soule was vexed to see the filthinesse of the Sodomites When his Iudgement is right hee lookes on them as base and vile things as Enemies unto his Soule that will be his destructioâ— For the Pride of life Man lookes on outward things as the onely excellencies which makes him admire them so but when his Iudgement is once rectified hee lookes upon them as the Apostle doth who accounted them but empty things as bubbles blowne up by Boyes To conclude when the Iudgement is rectified in stead of Errour and Deceit which is the Root of the old man whence comes these three great Lusts which are the maine and from which all the rest will follow then the lusts are dissolved and the new man comes from truth as the other is corrupted and comes from deceit So you see what it is to have this new quality to have the Iudgement rectified and the lust dissolved And not so onely but there must be new desires wrought in thee A carnall man over-values carnall things and in spirituall things hee comes farre too short like a man that lookes upon a banquet when his belly is full he hath no appetite unto it So a carnall man lookes upon Sinne and forgivenesse But when a man hath his Iudgement rectified he comes to have many holy desires and in this stands the New Creature Againe it comes from knowledge of the Spirit But you will say we have knowledge and if that would doe it then they that know most are best men But you must know what kinde of knowledge this is The new man must be renued in knowledge This is such a knowledge of holinesse as the Holy Ghost reveales unto us and except this knowledge be revealed unto you our revealing is nothing We preach Wisdome which the Princes of the world know not neither can know Take Aristotle or others which are the Princes of the world for wisdome they know not these things nay if they were taught them they could not learne them for they are revealed by the Spirit and if wee preach unto you never so oft if the Spirit doe not reveale them unto you it is nothing We see that by experiience that a man that can reason against these and these sinnes can speake of the vanity of these things can give twenty better reasons against them than another man yet hee seekes after them as much as any The wise-men and strongest wits which can say most against them yet have not their lusts dissolved when a poore man that is truly sanctified although he cannot say the hundreth part against sinne as another man yet he doth hunger after Iesus Christ. Therefore it must be the worke of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. ult But we all behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord that is when wee looke into the Word wee see the Image of God so may another man too but he doth not see the glory of it he doth not looke on it as a desirable thing as a thing he is in love withall God shewes Moses his glory hee never shewed his glory but to the Saints The greatest request that Moses desired was to see the glory of the Lord I will shew thee my glory saith God that is thou shalt see as much as shall be needfull for thee to see in this life God shewes himselfe unto us in his Word and when hee will shew a man his glory he makes him to have a love to it and then hee is transformed into his Image Another sees it but he is not transformed into such a knowledge as convinceth the minde of sinne when wee teach knowledge it is as the Sparkes in a darke roome or as the Starres in a darke night the roome is darke still so it is with all knowledge till the Holy Ghost doth teach it wee may beget a thousand sparkes in you but they will not turne the darknesse into light But when the Holy Ghost comes it doth not onely appeare there but it changeth us from darknesse into light You must know that when we preach only it is as when the light shines the windowes being shut against it there
that what he hath said and sworne he will performe Heaven and earth shall passe away but his Word shall not passe This indeed is our chiefest consolation that our saith is not built upon perswasions and imaginations of our owne that our sinnes shall be forgiven but it is built upon the sure Word of God And as Saint Paul saith Gal. 1. If any Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospell you should not receive it from him So when you have this sure Word that God hath given you a generall pardon Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavie laden c. You may build upon this sure Word Now when you put all these together that the Lord hath said it and put his seale to it if he should not doe it the death of Christ should be of none effect no flesh should be saved no man would worship God Againe there is nothing can be an impediment to us not of greatnesse and multitude of our sinnes nor our relapse into sin not our unfitnesse Why should we doubt But now this is the Condition on Gods part Then see the Condition required on our part What is that First it is required that we take the Lord Iesus Christ for though the Lord give him in the Sacrament though he offer him in the Gospell except we take him he is not ours If we beleeve that one will give us a thousand pound that makes not a man rich if he be ready to give it it is the taking that makes us rich If we beleeve that there is such a soveraigne Electuary that is able to heale that beleeving doth not heale it is the taking of it if it be not taken it heales not And therefore there is required a taking of Christ So many as received him Ioh. 1. he gave power to be c. So many as received him If a Virgin beleeve that such a Suitour is willing to take her for his wife except she take him for her husband it is no match And so to beleeve that Christ is ready to forgive and pardon our sinnes to beleeve that God the Father will give Christ to you as he hath To us a Son is given Esay 9.6 To beleeve this except we take him doth not profit he is not ours till then This taking is that which the Scripture cals Faith this is a beleeving in him If you would know what this taking is it is nothing else but the very accepting of Christ for our King for our Lord and Husband So that look what it is among men if you would aske what it is for a spouse to take such an one for her husband for a servant to take such an one for his master for a subject to take such an one for his King it is no more but this the very act of the will whereby they consent and accept such an one for their Husband for their Master or King it is the taking of him and this is the taking of Iesus Christ I say when we shall accept him when we see God hath given him to us and that he hath given himselfe when we take him for our Lord and Master that is the very act of the will whereby we resolve to make him ours and resolve to give up our selves to him as he is given to us That is the first condition that is required we must take him and this the Scripture cals faith Is this all No there is somewhat else required you must take him in deed aswell as in will that is you must so take him as to serve him and only him to turne from all evill wayes and therefore the pardon runnes so though it be a generall pardon as there is a generall proclamation whatsoever your rebellions be it is no matter for all kinde of rebellions there is neither any sinne nor any person excepted but then this condition runnes along with it you must take him for your King Is that all No you must lay downe your armes of rebellion you must renounce the Colours and Tents of the Enemie and come in and be subject to him you must live by his Lawes And therefore besides taking of him there is required that we be ready to obey Christ in deed and not to take Christ onely as a Saviour Every man is ready to take him as a Priest to save them from their sinnes but to take him as a King and a Lord so as to be subject unto him here all the world is at a stand as the young man when he came to Christ and he tels him what he must doe Goe sell all c. He would not take him with this condition here every man is ready to refuse him We are willing to follow Christ thorow faire way but not thorow foule and rough way we are willing to take him with a Crowne of glory but not with a Crowne of thornes we are willing to take the sweet but not the sowre But we must know if we will take Christ we must likewise obey him and take him as an Husband our will must be subject to his will we must take him as a Lord we must be subject to him in all things we must keepe his Commandements and therefore he hath so exprest it If you will suffer with him you shall reigne with him not else If you will obey me and keepe my Commandements then you shall be my Disciples if you will follow me and deny your selves and take up your crosse c. Take up my crosse daily Therefore a second Condition is this which the Scripture cals sometimes repentance and conversion to God sometime obedience But is this all No there is one more required that we doe all this out of love for when a man is in extremity when he is driven to an exigent now to take Christ and to keepe his Commandements perhaps he will be willing to doe to expedite himselfe out of such a strait but will the Lord regard this Surely no except it be from love therefore Gal. 5.5 you shall finde them all three put together Neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith that worketh by love there you have the first Condition which is faith The second which worketh it is not an idle faith but it is a faith that sets you a worke and then you have the third they are workes that come from love A man will be ready to doe any thing to save his life you know a Merchant when he is on the sea casts away his goods when he is in extreme danger not because he and his goods are fallen out but to save his life he will doe it Take a covetous man let him be on the racke he will be ready to doe any thing but yet the man is the same And so for a man to do much for Christ to doe as we are ready to doe in the time of extremity when death comes when sicknesse comes when we are under some great
of their owne Writers Cajetan upon the third part of Thomas the 80. Question saith plainly To eat the flesh of Christ is to beleeve in Christ. And Biel in the Canon of his Masse and Canisius upon the Corinthians and others of their owne Writers which is enough to make it cleare to them that this is the meaning of the words that we have said before So much shall serve for the answering of that Objection We shewed the last day in what manner Christ is in the Sacrament I will not stand to repeat it we came to draw some consectaries from the point that there is a reall Communion of the body and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament The first was for the strengthning of our faith If God had said it only it had beene enough God that cannot lye But I told you he had not only said it but sworne it and not only sworne it but hath put to his Seale And therefore we have reason to beleeve him only I told you what was required if we will partake of Christ First we must take him by faith Secondly that is not all we must take him in deed aswell as in word that is we must obey him and live by his Lawes we must lay downe the armes of rebellion and come in if we will have pardon Thirdly it is not enough to doe this but we must doe all out of love Now when a man heares of this that all this is required in taking of Christ here I told you all the world is at a stand there is no body will be content to take him when they heare these conditions that they must deny themselves in every thing in their profit in their pleasures in their credit and must take up every crosse and when they meet a crosse they must not balke the way but they must goe thorow when they heare they must follow him and serve him I say when men heare this they refuse Christ they will not come in to God Now what is our businesse but to invite men to come in to God and to compell them as he saith That my house may be full we are the Messengers of the Lord sent that we may invite men to this Banquet I meane not to this Sacrament but to the thing And therefore we will make it the second Consectary and so proceed If there be here a reall Communion of the body and of the bloud of Christ then here is the gift or offer of his body and bloud Consider therefore the greatnesse of Christs love that he should regard us so much as to take our Nature to cloath himselfe with our flesh and bloud that he might be crucified in that I say this is an extraordinary love Compare but our condition with the Angels that were fallen and we shall see the greatnesse of this love The Angels that were fallen and we were sunke in the same mire when God looked downe from heaven and saw the miserable condition of both saith the Author to the Hebrewes he had compassion on us but on the Angels he had not compassion Which difference shewes his liberty and magnifieth his mercy toward us as you shall finde in Malachy the Lord reasoning with Israel Thus have â—â—oved you and yet you say Wherein hast thou loved us saith he Was not Esau Iacobs Brother and yet Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated So I say the Lord hath loved us in doing this for us in giving this body of his to be broken and his bloud to be shed he hath loved us and hated them And why hath he put this difference but because he loved us And therefore Paul as he is excellent when he comes to set forth this point Ephes. 2. he saith When wee were children of wrath when we were dead in trespasses and sinnes when we were enemies he that is rich in mercy according to the greatnesse of his love hath quickned us and set us together with Christ in heavenly places marke it when we were in this condition dead it was he that was rich in mercy according to the greatnesse of his love c. You shall finde that the Apostle whensoever he comes to this matter knowes not how to expresse himselfe but as a man that stood amazed at the greatnesse of Gods love he had his thoughts swallowed up with it Ephes 3. That you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you may comprehend the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ c. which cannot be measured that is the love of Christ was exceeding great And this is that you are to doe now when you come to the Sacrament and not only then but at all times For it is profitable for us to doe this Doe that saith Christ in remembrance of me what is that we should remember His love And why his love to gaze upon it only to know it No but to be moved with it to love him againe to take him to feare him to serve him to obey him for that end you should remember it When Paul was going to Damascus you know the Loâ—â— met him by the way and when he had met hiâ— Paul saith he I am IESUS whom thou persecutest I am IESUS that was crucified for thee I am IESUS that gave my body for thee and as many as receive me You know when Paul heard this it melted it softned his heart and drawes from him that holy and good and humble expression Lord what wilt thou that I doe As if he should say I will doe whatsoever thou wilt have me I say it was this love I am IESUS whom thou persecutest that melted the heart of Paul So I may to every one that heares me at this time If there be any among you that live in any sinne whatsoever it is be it swearing be it drinking be it fornication be it Sabbath-breaking be it what it will I may say to him as if a voyce should come from heaven as it did to Paul It is Iesus whom thou provokest it is he whom thou offendest whom thou wrongest whom thou dishonourest it is Iesus that was crucified for thee that Iesus that gives his body and bloud for thee shall not this melt thee shall not this affright thee somewhat shall it not bring you on your knees and make you say I am a sinfull wretch not worthy to be received into the number of the Saints Lord what wilt thou that I doe I will doe it I will continue to doe this no more Surely this is a strong motive Paul thought so I beseech you by the mercies of God that you would come in Take it in the Prodigall sonne when he comes home and expects little as he had reason to expect little from his father when he had carried himselfe so rebelliously when his father used him in that manner when he provided a feast for him and put the robes upon him and rings upon his fingers how
thankfull was he how was he affected how would a man be affected in such a case So I say that is our condition we have cause to looke for nothing but death thereupon comes the Gospell that comes and offers life that overcomes with kindnesse as it were the Lord comes and tels us Well notwithstanding all this you shall be received to mercy goe Take this is my body which is given for you I say this would move an ingenious disposition You know Mary Magdalen was moved with this when she was such a sinner and saw that God had received her in that manner that melted her heart so that she watred his feet with her teares So should we be affected if we did seriously consider the greatnesse of CHRISTS love I will give you my body and my bloud this is a great thing if we were able to consider it aright that the Lord should give us his body and his bloud There is no love like this Hee hath loved me saith Paul and hath given himselfe for mee And this is that indeed which should bee the most effectuall motive of all others that there is a pardon that Christ still makes offer of to you indeed there is nothing else brings us into Christ but this other things may prepare us but nothing brings us in but this You know a Pirate as long as a proclamation of rebellion is out against him will not come in but a pardon being promised and advancement annexed to it that if any thing will bring him in The theefe runnes away as long as he is pursued with Hue and Crie but the promise of pardon makes him returne back So I say it is not the Law that brings you in that may prepare you but it is this Gospell for as I told you the Sacrament preacheth the Gospell to the eye as we doe to the eare and when mercy is promised when a pardon is promised a generall pardon without exception of persons or sinnes my thinkes this should affect you and bring you in As it is said Ier. 3. Saith the Lord If one of you have put away his wife will he returne to her againe No but you have played the harlot in many places and many times and yet returne to me saith the Lord And so I may say to every man that hears me though thy sins be never so great like that sin of Idolatry like that sin of playing the Harlot though that were frequently committed though it were done oft many times yet returne saith the Lord if thou wilt come in thou shalt be pardoned and not so only but whosoever receiveth me saith Christ shall be made the sonne of God Consider this be affected with it let it not be in vaine unto you when you heare those patheticall speeches 1 Iohn He came to his owne and his owne received him not And againe Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thee c. I say when you heare these things it may be you thinke with your selves these were rebellious people to use Christ thus you thinke if it had beene the case if you had beene there among them you would not have done it Well I say it is the case of every man that continues in any knowne sin Christ offers himselfe we make offer of him when we preach the Gospell in the Sacrament he is offered he is made like a common dole all may come that will and certainly all that hunger doe come but when thou goest on still in thy sinnes thou art one of them to whom Christ is come and thou wilt not receive him thou art one of them whom he would gather and thou wilt not No but thou wilt goe on thou takest the Grace of GOD in vaine thou tramplest the bloud of CHRIST IESUS under-foot as a common thing thou doest what thou canst that the death of CHRIST should be of no effect thou recompencest to the Lord evill for good doest thou thinke that the LORD will beare this at thy hands No surely he will be revenged on such a man on such a people as this But you will say it is an hard thing to doe this that you exhort us to And therefore that I may not onely shew you what the duty is without affording you some helpe to doe it we will adde some things that may invite you to come in And take Christ thus offered in the Sacrament and which is continually offered by and in the Gospell And what is it that should invite you But two things to goe no furâ—her one is the misery out of Christ the second is the happinesse you shall have by him And that is the businesse we have principally to doe at this time that we might invite you to take the body and bloud of Christ that is to take the Lord himselfe who is offered effectually and freely to you He makes proclamation to all that will come and take of the waters of life freely Now if we consider what should invite the sons of men to come in these two things will doe it their misery out of Christ and their happinesse by him As the Prodigall what did invite him to come home The misery he was in he saw he could not live he could not get huskes to sustaine him On the otherside in his fathers house there was bread enough those two together wrought on him and brought him home So we when we invite men to the marâ—iage of â—he Kings Sonne that is to marry the Sonne himselfe What should we say to invite them We bring them to consider on the one side I cannot live without Christ I am undone I perish if I doe Againe on the otherside by matching with him I shall have all by Grace that he hath by Nature I shall be a son of God a King and heire of all things I shall have all that Christ hath I say these two should invite us to come in and therefore we will doe these two First shew you the misery you are in out of Christ Iohn 3.18 saith the Evangelist there He that beleeves not in Christ is condemned alreadie Marke he needs not a new condemnation but he that beleeves not in Christ is condemned already He that hath not the Sonne hath not life Is not this misery enough to be in a state of condemnation Iohn 5. Hee that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him And what is that wrath of God If the wrath of a King be a messenger of Death what think you of the wrath of God Who knowes the power of his wrath Rom. 9. What if he will to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne suffer with patience the vessels of wrath appointed to destruction that is when the Lord shall come to execute his wrath on evill men he will use all the power he hath to execute the fiercenesse of his wrath on them And therefore it is a terrible thing to be subject to the wrath of God But
Christ which goes farre beyond the pompe and plenty and abundance of any other Kingdome But besides this That you shall have the liberty the plenty and abundance of Kings you shall likewise have the power of Kings as the Apostle saith The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power that is you shall not onely say I wish I could live a holy life as others doe I wish I could mortifie such and such lusts I wish I could abstaine from such sinnes and doe such duties but you shall have power and ability to doe them I am able to doe all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthens me Againe besides this you shall have the victory of Kings you shall be overcome of nothing to be in disgrace to be in Prison is not to be overcome But to be diverted from a mans way to be put besides his intention to fall from a mans stedfastnesse this is to be overcome Thus saith the Apostle We are in poverty but not overcome Such Kings were all the Apostles they marched as Kings in the world they triumphed over all the oppositions they found they tread under foot Satan and the power of the Enemie Againe besides all this you shall have the glory of Kings For what are you when you come to Christ but sonnes of God heires apparant in Psal. 45. Princes in all Lands others are but Princes in their owne dominion but he will make you Princes in all Lands But you will say we see no such things No but Eccles. 10. You are Princes though you walke on foot as servants and they are but servants although they ride on horse-backe like Princes Therefore 1 Ioh. 3. You are the sons of God but it appeares not yet what you shall be When we have acted our part and are gone off the stage when the part that we have sustained shall be taken from us and them then they shall appeare that they are servants and that those that are come into Christ are Princes You will say This were a goodly thing if it were a reall Kingdome but these are imaginary things I answer it is not so the kingdome of Christ is as reall as these outward externall kingdoms are and why should it be worse esteemed because it consists not in outward things for what is the body but the sheath the sachell the shell of the soule it is the soule that is the man the perfecting of the soule is perfecting of the man Therefore the kingdome that is spirituall must needs be beyond that which is outward and corporall especially such a kingdome as this that consists not in the titles of authority but is such a kingdome as the wise Philosopher speakes of saith he Some nature hath made Kings as the Eagle the king of birds the Lion the king of beasts there is an excellencie in some and those Nature hath made Kings I say such Kings Christ will make you for when the Kingdome of Grace comes into the heart it puts a Royall disposition into you it makes you excell other men as much as Eagles excell other birds as much as Lions excell other beasts as much as Lilies exceed other flowers such a Kingdome you shall have if you will come into Christ you shall have the liberty of Kings the abundance and plenty of Kings the power of Kings the victory of Kings and the glory of Kings And this is the fourth thing you shall have by him if you will come in and take him But is this all you shall have by him No You shall not have an empty kingdom but you shall have riches with it Christ will make you rich and Riches you know is that which all the world seekes after In Revel 3. I counsell thee come and buy gold tried by the fire that thou mayest be rich And Revel 2. to the Church of Smerna I know thy poverty but thou art rich Luke 12. Such are those that are rich in the world and not rich towards God So that there is another kinde of Riches the Riches that Christ gives And what are those Riches are but a Metaphor that is you shall have abundance of good things for if we have much if it be drosse it is not Riches if we have gold if we have little it is not riches but when there is that which is precious and abundance of it then it is said to be Riches I say you shall have abundance of good things by Christ. But you will say what are those First you shall be made rich in all graces in faith in love in patience in temperance in meeknesse these are riches these graces you shall have from him that shall make you ready to every good worke as you have it 2 Tim. 2. You shall be vessels of honour prepared for every good worke It is a Metaphor taken from vessels that as you would take any vessell as a Salt or a Spoone or a Cup they are fit and ready for your service that they are applyed to So if you would know what you shall have by these Graces when we tell you shall have Grace they shall fashion and fit your hearts as vessels are fitted for the doing of all the duties of new obedience this you shall have by grace and without these graces you are able to do nothing as without the faculty of hearing without the faculty of seeing without the faculty of memory you are not able to doe any of these but with them you are able to doe them with facility without wearinesse A man that hath the faculty of seeing sees easily the eye is not weary of seeing nor the eare of hearing This benefit you shall have you shall be made rich in these graces that shall make you ready to every good work it shall fill your lives with the fruits of righteousnesse As when a tree is full of sap it will soone bee filled with blossomes and with fruite So will you when you are rich in grace therefore the Saints are said to be rich in all speech Why For they were rich in knowledge first and every grace that is the way to make you rich to be rich in grace But is this all No you shall likewise be rich in good works as Christ saith Iohn 15. Without me you can doe nothing but by me you shall be able to doe all things But you will say what are these riches worth to bee rich in grace and to bee rich in good workes They are much worth every manner of way for first why doe you prize riches but because they can procure any thing that you need If you need Wine if you need Bread if you need apparell if you need convenient houses riches you know will procure them of the hands of those that have them when you want them So these riches will procure at the hands of God what you need If you need counsell in difficult cases if you need
Master you must take him for your husband so as to bee divorced from all other lovers for this know that Christ and good fellowship that Christ and fornication Christ and swearing Christ and ambition Christ and serving your selves and the times will not stand together you must be divorced from all these If you will have Christ you must take him as a husband to be to him a love to love him to have your wils subject to his will you must take him for better for worse you must take him with all variety of conditions denying your selves and taking up your crosse and following him if you take him thus you shall have him and when you shall have him you shall have all things with him As Christ saith to his father We are one thou in mee and I in thee and then all mine are thine and thine are mine So wee may say every one that takes Christ is made one with him all Christs is yours and yours is his that is hee takes your names hee takes your debts and you beare his name and have interest in all that is his what he hath by nature you have by grace and when you have him once then you may bee bold to come and take these Elements of Bread and Wine but if you have not him then know that you are but intruders upon the Lords Table for his Table is provided for his friends and if his enemies and strangers come in and intrude on it hee will not take it at your hands but command you to be bound hand and foote and to bee cast out I say consider therefore the offers of Christ are large you that are to receive the Sacrament at this time or at any other time I say consider it if you have Christ himselfe then you may boldly come if you have not the Lord you have nothing to doe with these And know if it was such a fearefull thing to touch the Arke which was but a type of Christ and had but a legall holinesse in it that God struck Vzziah with death because he was so bold as to doe it If it were so dangerous a thing to meddle with common fire as we see in Nabab and Abihu that was but a type of this what will it be when wee shall dare to take the body of the Lord Iesus not being worthily prepared Hee is the substance there is the holynesse of which that was but a type therefore take heed of medling with them except you have taken him indeed except you have changed your hearts except you be new Creatures except you have the Lord himselfe you may not meddle with the Bread and Wine the Sacrament of his body and bloud and so I end FINIS THE TABLE A Abilitie MEN excuse their sin from want of Ability Part 1 Page 223 Ability of Christ to sanctifie us 2 31 Accusing Conscience corrupt in the office of Accusing 1 56 Actions Corruption in our Actions 1 73 Actions of carnall men 1 153 Actions of naturall men defective in two things 1 159 Intention of Action in zeale 1 285 Activenesse Activenesse of conscience corrupted 1 56 Adam God just in requiring of us according to that he gave to Adam 1 38 Adams sinne charged on us ibid. Two conditions of Adam 2 38 Our condition in Christ better than it was in Adam 2 154 See Borne Affections Affections corrupted 1 63 Affections must be wrought upon in the performance of duties 1 251 God esteemes us according to our Affections 1 67 What should draw our Affections to God 1 265 Zeale a stirring up of the Affections 1 285 Want of Affections to God argues want of zeale 1 289 Worke of the Spirit upon the Affections 2 12 Afflictions Forgivenesse of sinnes takes the sting out of Afflictions 2 188 Altered Nature cannot be Altered 2 97 Custome hardly Altered 2 123 Alike All sinnes not Alike 1 275 All. Carnall men doe many duties but not All 1 159 Anger Difference betweene hatred and Anger 1 290 Zeale for the Church acceptable to God when hee is Angrie with it 1 293 Apparell Apparell one benefit by Christ 3 93 What that Apparell is 3 94 How to make use of this Apparell 3 97 Apprehesion The Apprehension makes happie or miserable 1 241 Assurance Assurance encreased by humiliation 1 31 Authoritie To preach with Authoritie what 2 163 B Baptisme BAptisme tends to sanctification 2 21 Beleever Beleeving Difference betweene temporarie and true Beleevers 2 47 Beleeving difficult 3 19 Blindnesse Blindnesse of mans understanding 1 44 Why mans understanding is Blinde ibid. Boldnesse Excesse of Boldnesse how prevedted 1 291 Forgivenesse of sin causeth Boldnesse 2 188 Bondage Spirit of Bondage an help against sinfull excuses 1 108 Spirit of Bondage how it works 1 109 Borne Those that are saved by the second Adam are Borne of him 2 18 Burthen Sinne in what respect a Burthen 2 190 Businesse Too much Businesse a great impediment 1 207 C Causes GOd workes by second Causes 1 263 Change How to know we are Changed 2 109 To give God the praise of our Change 2 144 Christ. What keepes men from Christ 1 11.2 23 What makes us prize Christ 1 81 End of our ingraffing into Christ 2 19 Sanctification by the bloud of Christ 2 21 How to take Christ 2 73 What should move us to love Christ 2 156 Before we are new Creatures we are in Christ 2 169 To be in Christ what 2 171 Priviledges of being in Christ 2 174 See Righteous Church Pillars of the Church 1 286 Want of zeale for the Church 1 292 Danger of wronging the Church 1 293 Directions what we must doe for the Church 1 294 Circumstance Consideration of Circumstances helpe Humiliation 1 28 Circumstances aggravating sinne 1 89 Civill Difference betweene prophane and Civill men 1 127 Clearenesse Clearenesse of conscience corrupted 1 55 Cloud Sin like a stormie Cloud 1 174 Coldnesse Coldnesse provokes God as much as sinne 1 284 Combate Combate to be expected of Christians 2 137 Difference of the Combate in Christians and others 2 138 Comfort Comfort the end of the Scriptures 1 2 Sanctification for our Comfort 2 89 Comfort from the change of Nature 2 121 Comming The end of Christs Comming 1.20.2 20 Compell The Spirit Compels men to come in 2 7 Communion Communion of Saints sets the truth at liberty 1 174 Communication Communication of the body and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament 3 2 See Truth Condemnation Imprisoning Truth brings great Condemnation 1 136 God just in the Condemnation of men 1 234 Conflict Conflict in carnall men 1 153 Conflict in wicked men failing in foure things 1 60 Content He that trusts in God is Content with him only 1 258 Conscience Conscience corrupted by nature 1 45 Wherein Conscience is corrupted 1 55.56 Signe of a good Conscience 1 57 Conscience in naturall men may doe many things 1 152 Conscience good in two respects 1 156 Contrary Contrariety Contrariety of