what are they think you they are just in such a case as God threatneth Babylon shall be Isa 13.14 God says that Babylon shall be as the chased Roe and as a Sheep that no man taketh up This is the case of every one that is yet out of Christ exposed to be a prey to that roaring Lyon that walketh about seeking whom he may devour those that have not an interest in Christ God threatens them Hos 4.16 I will feed them as a Lamb in a large place I will feed them the same Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies to feed signifies to let them wander Num. 14.33 God let the children of Israel wander in the wilderness for forty years together So God lets those that have not an interest in Christ to wander in the Wilderness to their own destruction Oh that God would open the eyes of those that have not yet secured their interest in Jesus Christ that they may see what they are and where they are and what danger they are exposed to So much of the first Use of Instruction The second Use is by way of Examination How nearly does it concern every one of us to call our selves to an account whether we be in the number of Christs Sheep or no otherwise we can have no comfort by this Doctrine But may be you will say to me How shall we do certainly to know that we are the Sheep of Christ and that Christ is that Shepherd that feeds us like a Flock For answer to this We cannot curiously pry into Gods decree to tell you who are not his Sheep for it may be there are many that belong to the Election of Grace that is many are the Sheep of Christ that are not yet called nor converted that are wandring in the Wildernes yet and though the Lord will not suffer them to wander to Destruction yet for the present they are not brought into the Folds therefore we cannot say who are not his Sheep we cannot say who are Reprobate we may know who are Elected but we cannot know who are Reprobated we can tell who are his Sheep but we cannot tell who are not his Sheep Now they that are his Sheep that are Converted and brought home to the Folds of Christ they may be known by these four signs First If thou art a Sheep of Jesus Christ certainly the Shepherd hath set his mark upon thee whereby he does know thee and will own thee at the great day of his appearing John 10.14 I am the good Shepherd and know my Sheep and am known of mine I know every one of my Sheep 2 Tim. 2. 19 The Lord knoweth them that are his he knows them with a distinguishing knowledg There are and will be at the great and dreadful day of Jesus Christ abundance that will claim acquaintance with Jesus Christ Oh what seeking will there be to find his favour at that great day seeking and suing and crying with tears of blood for his favour at that day many will claim acquaintance and say Lord Lord Matt. 7.22 23 Have not we prophesied in thy name have not we heard thee teach in our Synagogues have not we heard thy Messengers which thou hast sent in thy name teaching on the Lords day and on the week-day nay have not we sate at thy Table with thee in the use of the Sacrament of thy Body and Blood to whom the Lord Christ will say I know you not Why because he does not see his Mark upon them nay they themselves when their consciences are once awakened and they begin to look and search for the Mark they cannot find it upon themselves and therefore they will hear that dreadful sentence Matth. 25 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But you will say What is this mark whereby Jesus Christ knows his sheep and whereby they may know that they are his I answer This mark is the holy Spirit of God which he bestows upon every true believer 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit that is he that is united to Christ hath the same spirit that Christ hath hath one and the same spirit that Christ hath Rom. 8.9 Now if any man hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of his If any man have not this mark upon him the spirit of Christ our Saviour will never own that man for his Hence it is the Spirit of God is compared to a Seal or Mark Ephes 1.13 After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise If thou hast received this mark this seal of the Spirit of God upon thy soul thou maist be as sure that thou art one of Christs sheep as if thou didst see thy name written in the Book of Life I but here it may be demanded But may not this Seal or this mark be counterfeited may not a man be mistaken and deceived in thinking he hath this mark the Spirit of God when indeed he hath it not To this I answer Yes it is possible for a man to be mistaken and therefore the Apostle so often presses this duty of Examination 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates And let every man prove his own works the work of grace in his heart let him prove it Gal. 6.4 Then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another he shall have rejoycing in the testimony of his own conscience and not in the witness of anothers tongue therefore we should be examining our hearts what operations the Spirit of God hath had upon our spirits whether it hath been an enlightning a quickning a convincing a heart-warming a sealing and a healing spirit certainly the healing and sealing-work of the Spirit goes together as I have formerly shewed you Many boast of the Spirit of God they question not but they have the Spirit of God but I told you the Spirit of God never sets his feal to a blank there is first some work of the Spirit of God upon the soul enlightning convincing quickning and drawing the heart to Jesus Christ So we should examine the fruits and effects of the Spirit of God upon our souls Now there are four fruits especially whereby a man may know he hath received not the spirit that is of the world but the spirit that is of God 1 Cor. 2.12 by these four effects First An unseigned love to the servants of Jesus Christ that is one effect of the Spirit of God that proves Jesus Christ hath set his mark upon him that hath it John 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another This is a mark I set upon my sheep So 1 John 4.7 8 12 Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love And in ver 12 If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 2. We may know the Spirit of God is bestowed upon us by constancy in our profession and stedfastness in the ways of truth this is one certain mark of the Spirit of God when a man can hold fast his profession and that without wavering can keep close to the truth How did Job approve himself to be one that belonged to God My foot hath held his steps saith he his way have I kept and not declined Job 23.11 And how did David prove himself to be one of his sheep I have chosen the way of truth and I have stuck unto thy testimonies Psal 119.30 31. That is a dreadful Scripture in John 2.9 Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He speaks of transgression in Judgment in running into corrupt Opinions and he that abides not in the Doctrine of God but falls from the Truths of Christ he hath no part in God 3. By a zeal for Gods Glory his Cause his Truth especially in evil times That man that can stand up for God when others forsake him and sin againsthim that man that can be most zealous in maintaining of Gods Truth and can say with David in Psalm 69.9 The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me And Psalm 119.158 I beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy word By this may we know the Spirit of God is in us 4. By sympathy and compassion towards our Brethren that are in afflictions and misery if one member suffer all the rest of the members suffer with it when we can sigh in their sorrows and bleed in their wounds and be affected with their miseries and calamities as if they were our own By these effects we may know whether we have received the mark of Christ that is the Spirit of Christ That is the first sign if you have received the Mark of Christ Secondly If thou be a Sheep of Christ thou art returned from thy former wandrings 1 Pet. 2.25 Ye were as sheep going astray but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls Canst thou say there hath been a work of Conversion wrought on thy soul Once thou wast unprofitable but now art profitable once thou wert wandring in the wilderness of sin but now thou art brought home to Jesus Christ Is there a work of Conversion wrought in thy soul canst not thou say now I am not the same man I was the same woman I was Certainly if there be a returning from your ways of wandring and walking in paths of new obedience and keeping in the Fold of Christ then you are the Sheep of Christ Thirdly If thou be a Sheep of Jesus Christ thou mayst know it by thy carriage towards thy Shepherd if thou art a Sheep of Christ thou wilt know thy Shepherd thou wilt know and see so much sweetness fulness and all-sufficiency in him that thou wilt say None but Christ none but Christ thou wilt count all things but dross and dung in comparison of Christ Thirdly Thou wilt hear his voice My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me John 10.27 Now to hear the voice of Christ is to be able to discern his voice from the voice of strangers The Spouse was able to discern the voice of her Beloved Cant. 2.8 The voice of my Beloved The great work he was to do was to work out redemption for me he was to do and suffer much but all could not daunt him But he comes leaping on the mountains and skipping on the hills Then they follow him Christ sheep have not only the Ear-mark to hear his voice but also the foot-mark they follow him whithersoever he goes when Christ calls them they say Lo here we are They follow him by imitating him in his Patience Meekness Humility c. And if thou wilt study how to be like him that thou mayst be made more and more conformable to his Image by thy carriage towards thy Shepherd thou mayst know if thou art his Sheep thou wilt know him hear his voice follow him and labour to be made conformable to him A fourth mark whereby thou mayst know whether thou art a Sheep of Jesus Christ is this Thou mayst know it by thy carriage towards the Flock that is towards thy fellow Servants towards those that are the members of Jesus Christ It is observed of Sheep that they are the most profitable creatures you can name so if thou be a sheep of Jesus Christ thou wilt not be an unprofitable burthen in thy station but thou wilt be fruitful in thy place and profitable to others 1 Cor. 10.33 Even as I please all men in all things not seeking my own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved And sheep as they are profitable so they are innocent and harmless creatures they wrong they injure none so if thou be one of the sheep of Christ thou wilt be harmless Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation The Greek word for Harmless is there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies without Horns not pushing one another if you be the sheep of Christ you will dearly love one another but if you bite and devour one another you are Dogs and not Sheep Fifthly Sheep are contented with their Pasture Oh! if thou be a sheep of Jesus Christ thou wilt bless God in any state and condition whatsoever thou art in thou wilt say If I have gotten Jesus Christ no matter how poor and low and despicable my condition on earth be Sixthly Sheep usually are united one to another they go in Flocks and Herds they do not willingly forsake one another If thou be a sheep of Christ thou wilt keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 Thou wilt not forsake the assembly of Gods Saints Heb. 10.25 Oh my Brethren you should labour to find these sneepmarks upon your souls A third Use it is for Exhortation If Jesus Christ be the blessed Shepherd as you have heard him described that hath the greatest care and love and power and reward Oh! what an invitation might this be to every one to come to Jesus Christ and to stand out no longer many perswasions have been tendered to you many hundred times and yet some of you never brought home to Jesus Christ to this day Oh that this might be that blessed day wherein Jesus Christ and some wandring sheep may be brought together Consider who calls thee it is not a Judg but a Shepherd and consider why he calls not to hurt but to heal thee not to kill but to cure thee not to
Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation Luke 17.20 it cometh not with outward Pomp and Splendour it comes not with observation because it is a hidden Kingdom a spiritual Kingdom inward Faith and Love and self-denial and other inward Graces because these are the things belonging to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and being not obvious to carnal eyes therefore they see no beauty in them Therefore this is a plain token they see no beauty in Christ they that see no beauty in Christs Kingdom in his Ordinances and in his Spiritual comforts certainly they see no beauty in Christ There wants no beauty in him but carnal men want eyes to behold him certainly spiritual things they are the most precious and invaluable Commodities that are therefore because thou feest no beauty in Heaven and in heavenly things spiritual things the graces of the Spirit and the comsorts of the Spirit thou art one that dost not prize the Lord Christ Secondly They do not prize the Lord Jesus Christ that prefer their lusts before him that prefer the wills of the Flesh and of the Mind as the Greek word signifies before him in Ephes 2.3 Those that say in their hearts though it may be they will not speak it with their mouths but it is the language of their hearts We will not have this man to reign over us we will walk in our own crooked ways and not in the ways of Christ in the ways of holiness Certainly they that prefer their lusts before him they do not prize him Thirdly They that do not prize the Messengers of Jesus Christ they do not prize Jesus Christ himself So says our Saviour himself expresly Luke 10.16 speaking to his Disciples and in them to his succeding Ministers He that heareth you beareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me When Hannun the King of the children of Ammon cast contempt on the Messengers and Ambassadors of David and so wickedly entreated them by cutting off their Garments in the middle to their buttocks and shaving off the one half of their Beards 2 Sam. 10 it was a plain token that he despised David also because he despised his Ambassadors Fourthly They do not prize the Lord Christ that can keep the best room they have I mean their hearts for creature-comforts but the Lord Jesus Christ as I may say with reverence is thrust into the Stable But you will say How does that appear Thus when a mans Liberty or Estate or Friends or outward reputation come to be hazarded if Christ be owned that man now that can prefer any of his creature-accommodations rather than run any hazard for the Lord Jesus Christ certainly that man does not prize Christ When it comes to a point that a man must part with some or all of his comforts and accommodation rather than part with his Saviour that man that can part with his Saviour rather than his comforts certainly that man does not prize Christ Thus was it with the Gadarens when it came to the Point that they must part with their Swine or with Jesus Christ they would part with Christ rather than with their Swine Fifthly They that do not prize his Ordinances that do not keep close to him to his way of worship those that do not set their hearts and souls to seek him to seek his Truth to seek his Face to rejoyce in his Love to content and satisfie themselves in him to say If I have but Jesus Christ though I be as poor as Job upon the Dunghil yet I am rich enough certainly these do prize the Lord Jesus Christ Oh that we could learn to be true to our own Souls and to love our selves so well as not to beguile our own Souls in the latter end That 's the second Use of Conviction Thirdly A third Use is this If Christ be thus precious to all true Believers then there are these three or four Lessons or Doctrinal Inferences that may be gathered from this conclusion or point of Doctrine First If Jesus Christ be so precious to Believers then it follows that Faith is an exceeding rich and precious Grace it is called precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 Simon Peter a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious Faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ But why is Faith so precious a Grace because it makes Christ so precious to our Souls it makes a man look upon Christ with an admiring eye it ravishes the Soul with the love of this precious Redeemer and it makes him break out and say There is no Beloved like my Beloved Oh the Dignity of his Person Oh the Vertue of his Blood Oh the value of his Sufferings Oh the sweetness of his Graces Oh the Comforts of his Spirit Oh the excellency of those glorious and transcendent Hopes that are laid up in him You read of Moses that he scorned all the Treasures of Egypt Why because by Faith he beheld him that was invisible Heb. 11.26 27. By the eye of Faith he lookt upon Jesus Christ and he saw more beauty in him than in all the Treasures of Egypt more sweetness in one smile of his Face than in ten thousand Worlds Oh therefore that you and I could learn to trade for Faith more a great deal than for the World Oh let us trade for this rich and precious Grace look out for Faith and long for Faith and strive to believe for until this Grace of Faith be planted in your hearts Jesus Christ and you are strangers Christ and you stand at a very great distance but as soon as ever Faith is planted in the Soul then there is instantly a closing with Christ as quick a closing between Christ and the Soul as there is between the Loadstone and the Iron the Soul presently closes with him and cleaves to him as soon as ever it begins to believe Secondly If Jesus Christ be so prrcious to Believers then learn this Lesson by way of Inference That Believers are rich and honourable Persons Why because Jesus Christ is to them both Riches and Honour I gather this from the signification of the word in the Greek Text Jesus Christ is both a Price and an Honour to his for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both a Price and Honour Jesus Christ therefore is a Price to Believers he is a Pearl to them First He is a Pearl of inestimable Price to all those that have got an interest in him this Pearl of Price is better worth than ten thousand worlds by him we are enriched in all things 1 Cor. 1.5 I thank my God always on your behalf for the Grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every thing ye are enriched by him And you read of the unsearchable Riches of Christ Ephes 3.8 Vnto me who am less than the least
last verse For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted p. 116 Fear of losing Salvation the way to obtain it on Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it p. 139 The persevering Saint shall be the Crowned Saint on Rev. 3.11 Behold I come quickly hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown p. 185 Mercy despised and God provokd thereby on Psal 106.24 Yea They despised the pleasant Land and believed not his Word p. 218 Christs Preciousness on 1 Pet. 2.7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious p. 269 The Necessity of Humiliation on Acts 16.29 30 Then he called for a Light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas c. p. 330 Christ the Bread of Life on John 6.35 I am the Bread of Life c. p. 360 Christs true Disciples Doers of Gods Will c. on John 7.17 If any man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self p. 383 These two Books of Mr. Tho. Brooks are lately Printed for and to be sold by Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultrey A Golden Key to open hidden Treasures or several great Points which refer to the Saints Blessedness and their future Happiness with the Resolution of several important Questions c. Paradise opened or the Secret Mysteries and Rarities of Divine Love of infinite Wisdom and of Wonderful Counsel laid open for Publick View Also the Covenant of Grace and the high and glorious Transactions of the Father and the Son in the Covenant of Redemption Opened and improved at large c. Believers Mortification of sin by the Spirit or Gospel-Holiness advanced by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the Faithful Whereunto is added the Authors three last Sermons on Gen. 3.5 By the Learned and Pious Mr. Alexander Carmichael formerly of Scotland and late Preacher of the Gospel in London Published by his own Copy The Crown and Glory of a Christian consisting of a sound Conversion and a Well-ordered Conversion Mr. Wadsworth's Legacy being his serious Exhortation to a Holy Life Also his Funeral Sermon Sayings and Elogy MANS PETITION AND GODS COMPASSION A SERMON Preach'd Septemb. 6. 1657. Psalm CXXXVIII 3. In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthened me with strength in my soul THis Psalm for the kind of it is Eucharistical a Thanksgiving-Psalm The occasion of penning this Psalm in the judgment of Interpreters was this Davids establishment in the Kingdom after that he had been hunted like a Partridg upon the Mountains driven from his own Country and banished into a Wilderness and pursued like a Traitor when after all these dangers and fears and snares and opposition that he met with from Saul and from his bloody and implacable enemies God had now setled him in the Kingdom brought his hope into his hand and had lifted up his head above his adversaries and had trodden his enemies under his feet now what he had won by prayer he wears with thankfulness I will praise thee says he in the foregoing verses with my whole heart I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth for thy loving-kindness in promising and for thy truth in performing for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name In the 2d verse it is a dark sentence at the first view but as a judicious Expositor upon the place well observes the words may be thus read and will better agree with the Hebrew Thou hast magnified thy name above all things in thy word that is in fulfilling thy word thou hast magnified thy name above all things in that thou hast fulfilled thy word what thou freely promisedst thou hast faithfully performed what thou hast spoken with thy mouth thou hast fulfilled with thy hand for which thy name is wonderfully to be magnified The name of God is that whereby God is known thy name is wonderfully magnified in fulfilling thy word nay thy name is magnified above all things that is the meaning of the phrase For the proof and evidence of this truth That God is wonderfully to be magnified for fulfilling his promise for making good his word to his Servant for the proof of this David brings in his own experience to set seal thereto in the words of the Text for says he In the day when I cryed to thee thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul So then in this verse you may take notice of these two particulars First You have Gods free favour and gracious dealing with David in the day of his fears and of his straits in these words In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me Secondly You have the evidence or proof of this free favour of God towards him in an experience that he had of it for says he Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my soul and accordingly there are these two points of doctrine that may be fairly deduced from this Text. Doct. 1. That the Lord is ready to answer the Prayers of his poor servants when they cry unto him Doct. 2. It is one gracious way of answering our Prayers when God does strengthen us with spiritual strength when he gives us strength in our souls I begin with the first The Lord is very ready to hear and answer the prayers of his poor servants when they cry unto him For the proof of this point I could bring you a whole cloud of witnesses out of the book of God but I will content my self with three or four That in the 107 Psalm Then they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses and it is four times repeated in that one Psalm for the confirmation of our faith because we are so backward to believe the truth of it and he gives four instances of men that were brought into great straits and still when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord delivered them out of their distresses and remarkable is that Scripture Isa 30.19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem thou shalt weep no more he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he shall answer thee Mark he will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry you shall see the experience of it in two of Gods Saints and Servants that had tasted of Gods goodness in this particular and have set it down for our encouragement one was the Prophet Jeremy in the Dungeon Lam. 3.55 56 I called upon thy name O Lord out of the low Dungeon thou hast heard my voice hide not thine ear at my breathing at my cry God had an ear for his very breathing The other example
is that of the Prophet Jonah in the Whales belly in that remarkable place Jonah 2.2 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and said I cryed by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cryed I and thou heardst my voice If you would know a reason why God is thus ready to hear and answer the prayers of his Servants when they cry take these three or four reasons briefly First Because of Gods faithfulness He is very faithful that hath promised Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear and answer and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.15 So in Isa 65.24 And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and whiles they are yet speaking I will hear God is faithful to his promises All his promises in Jesus Christ are yea and in him they are amen Our unfaithfulness cannot make him unfaithful if we believe not he remains faithful he cannot deny himself Secondly God hears his Servants prayers Because of that compassion that is in him towards them as he is very faithful so he is very pitiful as he hath beams of Majesty so hath he also bowels of mercy and his bowels yearn towards his poor children when they cry to him Can a mother forget her sucking-child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Isa 49.15 A tender-hearted mother if she hear her little child whimper in the cradle that does not move her but if the child cry to purpose then her bowels yearn towards it she can stay no longer from it but runs in all haste to it so here when we do but whimper pray coldly God may be is not ready to hear but if we cry in prayer if we follow God with our supplications then his bowels cannot but yearn towards us Third reason Because Gods servants have Jesus Christ to pray for them We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous he is pleading our cause 1 John 2.1 And he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 Nay his very presence with the Father is our intercession he appears in the presence of God for us he appears as our advocate in our stead for our good Heb. 9.24 For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us The fourth reason is this Because the servants of God have not only Christ to pray for them but they have the Spirit of Christ to pray in them Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered If you ask me But how does the spirit of God help our infirmities I answer These four or five ways First The spirit of God helps our infirmities by affecting us with them with our wants and weaknesses that being humbled and lying low at the feet of God we may be vessels more capable of mercy God will not pour in the oyl of his mercy but into the vessels of a broken heart now the spirit of God by a sight and sense of our manifold infirmities doth empty us and work in us some kind of brokenness of heart and so fits us for mercy Secondly Again the spirit of God helps our infirmities likewise by acting his own graces in us by acting those beginnings of faith and love and humility and self-denial which he himself hath wrought in us Thirdly By stirring up in us holy motions holy desires and pantings and breathings after our heavenly Father even such breathings as these Psal 42.1 2. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God when wilt thou come to me when shall I come to thee And my soul followeth hard after God Fourthly The spirit of God helps our infirmimities by working in us a childlike-boldness enabling us to cry Abba Father we can come to God as a child to a Father Father I want this I want that God is delighted to hear the moan-makings of his poor children Fifthly By restraining Satan that he may not interrupt us and distract us in holy services for this is certain we seldom go to duty but Satan still stands at our right-hand When Joshua the high Priest stood before the Angel of the Lord Satan stood at his right-hand to resist him Zach. 3.2 But now Jesus Christ he is stronger than Satan and he by his spirit does rebuke him But there is one great objection I know will be ready to arise in every one of your hearts You say God is ready to hear and answer the prayers of his poor servants when they cry to him but some will say Experience seems to deny this Gods own servants pray oft and yet they have no answer nay God is sometimes angry with the prayers of his servants Psal 80.4 O Lord God of Hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people the prophet Jeremy he professes he cryed to God and shouted and yet God shut out his prayers and wrapt himself in a cloud that his prayers should not pass through Lam. 3.44 Thou hast covered thy self with a cloud that our prayers should not pass through It may be some will say I have been praying for such a grace twenty thirty years together and yet have not got it for strength against such a corruption and yet have not got it For answer to this objection you must know First Gods people sometimes pray not when they seem to pray Secondly God hears his people when sometimes he seems not to hear First Gods people pray not when they seem to pray as when they pray coldly and carelesly this is as no prayer as the Apostle said in the like case When ye come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.20 as if he should say irregular unprepared receiving is not receiving at all as good never a whit as never the better so here cold careless formal customary prayer is as no prayer Dan. 9.13 All this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that me might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth for these seventy years hath thine hand been heavy upon us yet we have not made our prayers before the Lord our God we made a shew of praying but our careless praying may be said to be no praying Again Gods people in praying may be said not to pray at all when they exercise only gifts in prayer and have not the grace of prayer for you must know the power and prevalency of
and they that shall put their hands to the Plow and look back are not fit for the Kingdom of God Oh great is the danger of Apostacy but now without some considerable strength you will not be kept from failing and those failings will turn to fallings and those fallings to fallings away and at last falling into everlasting destruction Now these fallings and fallings away do usually follow this want of spiritual strength not being strengthened with strength in our souls But may be you will say to me What course must we take that we may get this spiritual strength in our souls I answer briefly make use of these rules and helps First Be very sensible of your weakness and infirmity be humble be base in your own eyes be nothing in your selves that you may be able to say In Jesus Christ have I righteousness and strength Isa 45.24 It was a sweet Meditation of Saint Augustin Lord I will be weak in my self that I may be strong in thee And the Apostle hath such a phrase For when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12.10 that is when I am most weak in my self then am I most strong in a Saviour Secondly If you would have this strength in your souls be acting the Grace which you have received already for action increaseth strength and strength will help action forwards the more you are doing duty the more will you gather strength to do duty It was the Motto of an eminent Divine in this Nation now with God The way to Holiness lyes in the works of Holiness so the way to get spiritual strength lyes in doing the work you have to do with that strength you have use strength and you shall have more strength Thirdly If you would have strength in your souls grow especially in corroborating and strengthening Graces What are those strengthning Graces 1. Faith that is a very strengthning Grace you read of the strength of Faith Abraham was strong in Faith and that made him do great things that he could against hope believe in hope that is against hope of sense believe in hope of a promise Rom. 4.18 so be strong in Love Love to Jesus Christ Love is a very strengthening Grace Love is strong as death Cant. 8.6 7 Death you know is so strong that it hath conquered all men that ever were in the World never was there any Gyant so strong but could be conquered by Death there is no discharge in that War the meaning is this never any man encountred with Death that came off but Love is stronger than Death If thy heart be fired with Love to Jesus Christ it will carry you with a great deal of strength through all difficulties and sufferings with patience and perseverance 3. Again Get more sincerity Job 17.9 The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Oh the more sincere you are the more strong you are For example Wherein consists the strenth of a Pillar it is in the uprightness of it if it begins to bow and bend and be crooked then it falls but the uprightness of it is the strength of it 4. Joy Joy that is another strengthening Grace Nehem. 8.10 Neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord shall be your strength Oh the more inward joy in the Holy Ghost you have the more chearful you are the more strong you are grow in these strengthening Graces Fourthly Would you have this strength in your souls then take heed of rushing into any known sin for sin as it wounds the conscience it weakens the soul also sins against conscience are like a thief in the Candle which weakens our strength and wasts our joy Nothing weakned Sampson so much as his sporting with his Dalilah Never had he lost his strength had it not been for his running into that sin take heed therefore of sins against conscience Fifthly If you would have strength in your souls take heed of evil company shun them as a Pest-house for many times evil company weakens the soul more than any outward temptation Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye wicked for I will keep the Commandements of my God It is as if he should say he could never set about the work of Obedience so long as he kept company with the wicked Sixthly If you would have strength in your souls then get more intimate and bosom-communion with Jesus Christ every day for the truth is all our strength is from him I am able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 The more you are acquainted with Christ the more will you have of this strength which David here in the Text speaks of Lastly If you would have this strength be much in prayer that is an excellent Scripture Psal 119.28 My soul melteth away for heaviness strengthen thou me according to thy word Oh the more we are in Prayer and Care and Watchfulness and Humility and Self-denial and in the exercise of Grace the more we shall find our spiritual strength increased then we shall experimentally say with David Thou hast strengthened me with strength in my soul LIGHT DISCOVERED AND MAN RECOVERED A SERMON Preach'd Augst 17. 1656. 2 Tim. 1.10 the latter part of the Verse And hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel THE Apostle in the beginning of this Chapter exhorting Timothy to a faithful discharge of his Ministerial Calling puts in this weighty caution in the 8 verse Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God that is be not ashamed of the Gospel that he calls there the Testimony of our Lord Jesus Though it may be thou maist meet with afflictions and oppositions in the profession of it yet seeing these afflictions are but sufferings for the Gospel-sake therefore bear them patiently it is better that thou shouldest suffer than that the Gospel should suffer This Caution or Exhortation the Apostle presses from an Argument drawn from the unspeakable benefit and advantage that comes streaming to us by the Gospel namely Eternal life and that the Apostle might be rightly understood he lays down the three causes of this Eternal life or Salvation First The principal and moving cause of this Salvation that is the Grace of God in the foregoing verse ver 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began Secondly He lays down the meritorious cause of our salvation that is the Lord Jesus Christ who hath merited this salvation by dying for us in the middle part of the 10th verse who hath abolished death that is who hath taken away the sting and curse of Death Thirdly He lays down the instrumental cause of our salvation that is the
of grapes if there be but one cluster If there be but one Cherry on a tree it shews there is some life in the tree one Cherry upon a tree it shews there is life as well as if there was twenty Pounds upon it one Cherry shews that it is a living tree and a man will not cut down that tree The Lord Christ will cherish the least beginnings of grace if there be but a spark of grace in the soul he will not quench it but blow it up into a flame Look as Physicians deal with diseased Patients they do not administer purging Potions according to the greatness of their distempers but according to the strength of their Patients So the Lord Jesus Christ deals with his own children not according to the diseases and distempers that are in them not according to the distempers of their sins but according to the measure of their strength he will not lay on them more than he will give them strength to bear These are the reasons of the point Before I come to the Application of the point Because this is Childrens bread and Dogs are ready to snatch at it that yet have no right to it therefore for the explication of the point there are these three Quaeries that would be satisfied First What an Infirmity is Secondly What are the causes of those Infirmities Thirdly What are the signs and symptoms of those Infirmities First What an Infirmity is An infirmity briefly in the soul is this Some sickness or indisposition of the soul that arises from the weakness of grace Or an Infirmity is this When the purpose and inclination of the heart is upright but a man wants strength to perform that purpose when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26.41 when a man can say with the Apostle To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not Rom. 7.18 When the bent and inclination of the soul is right but either through some violence of corruption or strength of temptation a man is diverted and turned out of the way As the needle in the Seamans Compass you know if it be right it will stand always Northward and the bent of it will be towards the North-Pole being jogged and troubled it may sometimes be put out of frame and order yet the bent and inclination of it is still Northward This is an infirmity That 's the first Secondly What are the causes of these Infirmities there are divers causes you must know of our infirmities as First An infirmity may arise from want of age for want of time to gather strength The Lord Christ you must know hath Lambs in his Fold as well as Sheep and he hath plants in his Orchard as well as stronger Trees and Babes as well as strong Men. Now says the Apostle I write to you Babes and little Children because your sins are pardoned for his name-sake 1 John 2.12 Observe there that remission of sin is bestowed not only upon young men that are strong to resist temptations not only upon aged men that are well experienced in the ways of grace but it is bestowed even upon Babes I write unto you little Children because your sins are pardoned for his name-sake Secondly Our infirmities may arise also from a want of the means of grace either when men want milk or the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.2 or have but little of it Thirdly Infirmities may arise from some secret corruption that was undiscovered in our first conversion This may be an occasion of an infirmity for that may both weaken the soul and exceedingly distemper and disquiet it Fourthly Our infirmities may arise from forsaking sound and solid truths and disquieting our thoughts with doubtful disputations as the Apostle calls them Rom. 14.1 when men trouble their heads with trifles or with matters of less moment and in the mean while neglect the marrow of Religion even as little Children that forsake wholsome food and feed on green apples and so put their bodies into distempers Fifthly Our infirmities may arise from this when our affections are too much carried out after the World and the things of the World for certain it is look how much the soul is carried out after the world so much the weaker it is the stronger our love to the world is the weaker is our love to Jesus Christ and to grace and spiritual things Sixthly Our infirmities may arise from the not right ordering of our company dead company dead and barren company many times make dead and barren hearts Seventhly Our infirmities may arise from our losing our first love remitting of the zeal and intention and forwardness that once we had in the ways of grace when we grow loose and slothful in the service of our God and do not stir up the grace of God that is in us 2 Tim. 1.6 Exercise you know encreaseth strength but want of exercise many times occasions weakness When a man prays coldly hears the word of God coldly communicates at the Lords Table coldly The more coldness there is in the performance of the Duties of Religion the more weakness there will be in the soul These are the causes of our infirmities Thirdly It may be demanded What are the signs and symptoms of an Infirmity briefly I shall give you these four First Where there are infirmities there is spiritual life though there be want of spiritual strength this is a certain sign of an infirmity You know there is a great deal of difference between a dead man and a weak man a dead man that hath not life and a weak man that hath life and wants strength It cannot be said of any wicked man that he is a weak man but he is a dead man neither can it be said that he does any thing weakly but he does it wickedly Observe what our Saviour speaks of a bruised reed he speaks of it as a thing that yet hath some life in it for a reed though it be exceeding weak that it is shaken with every wind yet by the side of the water it grows it hath life in it Make this sure to thy self that thou hast life in thee or else the comfort of this Doctrine cannot belong to thee if so be thou hast life in thee though thy Grace be weak yet if thou hast life it is but an infirmity But you will say How may I know I have life in me I answer You may know it thus First Thou mayst know it by thy spiritual feeling thou wilt feel what hurts thee thou wilt feel sin to be a great burthen and thou wilt groan under it and thou wilt bemoan thy self like Ephraim Jer. 31.18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoak turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God surely after that I was turned I repented and after that
2 Cor. 1.4 5. The grace of God is given for this end to dispence to others Fourtly A fourth reason is this If you do not act your graces God shall lose his glory and his glory should be dearer to you than your liberty and all your outward comforts It is a true speech of him that said the truth of grace doth save my soul but the acting of grace makes for the honour of God the truth of Grace makes for my safety but the acting of grace makes for the service of God in the place I am in Now a child of God hath the glory of God lying near his heart says a child of God I would lose my life rather than the end of my life I would be usefully spent for God for the honour of God for the name of God in living in suffering in dying rather than to enjoy all the honours or pleasures or treasures that the world can afford Thus you see the point opened and made good to you Now for the Use of it and there are three Uses I shall make of it First By way of Information If they that have grace must be acting and increasing of it then certainly it follows That they that have no grace had need to get it If they that have received Christ Jesus must walk in him then they that have not received him certainly they have great need infinite need to close with him O the miserable and doleful and damnable condition of all those that for the present are in a Christless condition in a graceless condition no tongue of men or Angels is able sufficiently to express it no tears of blood can sufficiently bewail it If any of you die in such a condition you must resolve to die everlastingly and to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. you must resolve to be satisfying of a sin-revenging God in hell and yet never be able to satisfie him you must be always dying and yet never die Rev. 6 And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them This will be the condition of all those that die Christless that die graceless that have not received Christ into their hearts and that have not got grace into their hearts oyl into their lamps they shall be alway dying and yet never die O with what weeping and wailing and wringing of their hands and tearing of their hair and renting of the cawl of their hearts shall they cry out O that I might dye and dye and never have a being more O that I might dye the most cursed the most tormenting the most painful death that ever creature on earth dyed so I may but dye But this is the misery of all misery I live to dye and must live eternally This is the condition of all those that have not got Christ in their hearts O then why do you rest in such a condition one week nay one day O if ever there were any love to your souls kindled in your breasts any desire of salvation wrought in you any care of escaping those unconceivable tortures and torments resolve to receive Jesus Christ upon his own terms and say O Lord rule in me as thou pleasest so I may be but thine resolve to receive him as a Prince as well as a Saviour It was a point I pressed upon you with all my might from Acts 5.31 Receive Jesus Christ to give you repentance as well as remission of sins He is a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins He gives repentance before he gives remission if he gives nor repentance for sin he never gives remission of sin O resolve to trade for him some of you know no other trade but to treade in the world to be tumbling up and down in dirt and clay and to provide for your Families a Heathen man may do as much as you do O that you would be perswaded to drive a Trade for heaven for grace for saving-grace That which Solomon speaks of wisdom I may say of every grace Prov. 4.7 Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding So say I grace is the principal thing therefore with all thy getting get grace It is no matter though thou be poor in the World if thou beest rich in grace If thou shouldst be rich in the World and get thy Coffers full of gold and silver yet if thou get no grace in thy heart it had been better that thou hadst never been born Secondly By way of reproof Here is a just and sharp reproof even of Gods own children that have received Christ and yet do not walk in him do not walk worthy of him in all well-pleasing that have received grace and yet do not act grace but rather wrap it up like a Talent in a Napkin I cannot speak it without indignation How many Christians are there some of whom I am really perswaded they are the Servants of Jesus Christ yet they are sick of a spiritual Lethargy Appoplexy they are in a spiritual slumber a man in an Appoplex hath his reason he is a reasonable man but he cannot make use of his reason what is man the better for his wealth if he does not make use of his wealth so what am I the better for grace if I do not make use of it for the glory of God and the good of others In Matth. 25 you read the five wise Virgins slumbered as well as the five foolish It is a sad thing when even Gods own children true Professors shall be slumbering yet the five wise Virgins slumbered as well as the five foolish Yet this is the condition of the Servants of God at this day I can hardly meet with any but their grace is suspended they are fallen asleep their activity for for God and their acting of grace is lull'd asleep I pray God he do not thunder against us as once the Mariners did to Jonah What meanest thou O sleeper arise call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not Jonah 1.6 When the wind roars and the waters rage and the storms arise and there is but a step between thee death and thou asleep is it not a shame for thee to be snorting when the ship is in danger of sinking so may it be said of all us who are asleep in security I pray God that he do not awake us with a rushing wind It may be the rod may come sooner on us than we are aware and a sharper rod than we are aware of Oh that I could but awaken my own soul then I might hope to help to awaken you out of this spiritual slumber then you would say to me as David did to Abigail Blessed be God and blessed be thou that hast given me this counsel this day 1 Sam. 25.32 33. Blessed be God that thou hast awakened me out
fine voluble Tongues in Prayer that a man would think them to be Angels in prayer but look into their lives and O how crooked are they in their paths and conversation So A man may have the gift of Government so much prudence and policy a man may be such a deep Polititian that he may be able to ballance the affairs of a Kingdom and yet have no grace at all that was the case of Achitophel he was so prudent and politick in his counsels that he was esteemed as an Oracle of God 2 Sam. 16.23 And yet for all this such a one may come short of Heaven and that may be said to those men that have those parts and gifts and qualifications and are not sanctified that have the gifts of preaching and praying and Government which was said to Simon Magus Thy money perish with thee so they and their gifts and parts and qualifications perish with them Thirdly Again you shall see in another particular how far Professors may go and yet come short of Heaven namely he may have some superficial beginnings and tasts of grace and holiness and yet have no truth of grace and so come short of Heaven let me shew you this in these four particulars 1. He may be able to give his assent to the truth he may consent to this truth That the Bible is the word of God and that he believes it is so so Simon Magus did Acts 8.13 the Text saith that he believed 2. He may have so much knowledg as may move his affections with joy that he may rejoyce in the word that he knows thus the Pharisees They rejoyced in John Baptists light for a season John 5.35 And it is said of the second ground in the Parable that they received the word with joy Luke 8.13 And God speaks of the Hypocrites Isa 58.2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did rigteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching to God and yet all this it was but like a Land-flood that is quickly dryed up or like a flash of lightning which quickly passeth away 3. He may have such a tast and superficial beginning of grace that he may be moved so much at a Sermon as to have some kind of purpose and resolution of amendment of life 1 Sam. 26.21 you may read there that wicked wretch and Hypocrite Saul had sometimes good purposes and resolutions Then said Saul I have sinned Return my son David for I will no more do the harm he was convinced in his conscience that it was out of malice that he did persecute that innocent Servant of God so it may be you may have some Drunkard when he lyes under the smarting Rod of Gods displeasure to vow that he will never be drunk more 4. A man may have this tast and superficial beginning of grace that he may attain to some external reformation he may escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2.20 A natural carnal man an Hypocrite may get so much soap out of the Word of God as may wash his outside but yet he may return to the mire again because he is a Swine still he may be washed like a Hog on the outside but yet he is a Swine still Hypocrites may abstain from many sins out of a slavish fear and perform duties out of by-respects Jezzabel fasted the Pharisees prayed and gave alms Felix feared and trembled here was the beginnings and tasts of grace these tasted of the heavenly gift Heb. 6.4 they had a tast of the water of life but they spit it out again But then it may be demanded What is the reason that a Professor may go so far in the ways of Christianity and yet come short of Heaven For answer I shall give you reasons for all these three particulars First A Professor may go thus far in the way to Heaven and yet come short of Heaven for these two reasons 1. Because there is some failing in his profession his profession wants either root or sincerity or love to Jesus Christ It may be his profession wants root he hath taken up the profession of Religion but he was never yet humbled the Plow of humiliation never went deep enough he was never convinced of the indispensible need that he hath of Christ to say Give me Christ or I dye he was never convinced of the evil of sin of the burden of sin of the loathsome nature of sin of the Hell that is in every sin Or it may be he wants Sincerity he takes up Religion for by-ends or for self-interest or it may be he follows Christ for the Loaves for indeed there are but few that follow Christ for Christs sake It was the complaint of Austin Jesus is seldom sought for Jesus sake And as God complains Zech. 7.5 When ye fasted and mourned did ye at all fast unto me even unto me Ephraim is an empty Vine bringing forth fruit unto himself Hos 10.1 Or it may be his profession wants love now love is an inward principle and where the inward principle of love is in the heart there profession never fails Ephes 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity But now it may be outwardly he hath some love to Jesus Christ as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of his Hearers or God to him concerning them Son of Man the children of thy people come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but will not do them for with their mouths they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness Ezek. 33.30 31. And the Lord Christ may say to them just as Dalilah said to Sampson How canst thou say thou lovest me when thy heart is not with me Judg. 16.15 That is one Reason 2. A second is this Men may go so far in the way to Heaven and yet come short of it because though they have an outward lamp of profession yet they have no oyl in their lamps that is no reality they have not that faith that works by love they have not that repentance which teacheth them more mortification which crucifieth the flesh these are the Reasons of the first Branch Secondly It may be demanded How comes it to pass that men may be so confident that they are in a state of grace and yet come short of Heaven The reason is this because of their own self-flattery and self-delusion They think themselves something when they are nothing and so deceive themselves they think themselves rich and increased in goods and stand in need of nothing whereas they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked They think they have grace when indeed they have none they think their Grace is true when it is but counterfeit they think
the Popish Religion is a loose and licentious Religion a Sintolerating Religion for the Pope can dispence with murthering of Princes and the like if it will promote his interest forbidding Priests marriage and yet suffering at the same time Stews and Brothel-houses It was a saying of Sir Walter Raleigh Were I to chuse a Religion for liberty and wickedness I would chuse the Popish Religion therefore in Gods fear hold fast the truth against Popery And hold it fast likewise against the errour of Arminianism which advances mans free-Will above Gods free-Grace And hold fast the Truth against Socinians that deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ In brief be rooted setled and established in the present truth stick close unto the Word of God as David did stand for it plead for it chuse to lose Liberty Estates Comforts Life and all rather than to part with the Truth David made the Truth his Inheritance Now as Naboth said to Ahab The Lord forbid it me that I should give the Inheritance of my Fathers unto thee 1 Kings 21.3 Could he say so of a temporal Inheritance and shall not we say so of a spiritual Inheritance which is transmitted to us by the blood of Martyrs Shall the Ministers of the Gospel have cause to complain as in Jer. 9.3 And they bend their tongue like their bow for lyes but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth Shall we deal with the truth as the Priest and Levite did with the man that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among Thieves left him wounded and half dead nay dying in the streets Hath God said Buy the truth and sell it not Prov 23 and shall we sell it for our lusts and profits God forbid Consider who it was that abode not in the truth it was Satan a Lyar who hath no truth in him John 8.44 Even so all wicked men are said to be destitute of the truth and to hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 that is they strive against the light of truth in their hearts those common principles of truth which they had in their understandings they suppressed and choaked that so they might sin more freely but God forbid that we should do so Will not this make the Spirit of truth to forsake us when we forsake the truth What an heroical resolution was that in holy Paul 2 Cor. 13.8 For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth Oh what an honour is it to a Christian when truth hath such soveraignty in his heart that it is dearer to him than his own life Tit. 1.9 Holding fast the faithful Word Hold forth the word of Life and hold fast the word of Truth hold forth the word of Life by a true profession and conversation and hold fast the word of truth by courage constancy and resolution 1. But may be you will ask me What means may we use thus to hold fast the truth I answer briefly 1. Embrace the truth not only in the light of it but in the love of it what you love you will be sure not to part with Oh get your hearts fired with love to the truths of the Gospel that you may say Lord I love thy truth exceedingly 2. Love not the truth for the person's sake but love the person for the truths sake love no mans parts or person to admire him and be a folower of him farther than he follows Christ Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 saith the Apostle It was a great fault in Barnabas Gal. 2.13 that he was carried away by Peters dissimulation by his admiring Peters person so much by his resting and relying too much upon Peter he fell into Peters errour 3. Be ever jealous of your own strength and trust not too much to your own ability this will provoke God to leave you to your selves and then you will fall fearfully 2 Cor. 12.10 For when I am weak then am I strong when I am weakest in my self then am I strongest in a Saviour but when I am strongest in my self in my own opinion then am I weakest in a Saviour no man stands by his own strength for by humane strength can none prevail 4. And lastly Get your hearts established with grace Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace be ballasted with grace as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies A Ship that is well balasted is not so ready and apt to reel as one that is not and when the Apostle puts in a caveat against unsetledness and falling from grace what means does he prescribe 2 Pet. 3.17 18 Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ says he O that you and I could grow more in grace O that we could grow more in the practical part of Religion in our hearts and houses in our lives and conversations I beseech you therefore hearken to this first Exhortation and Duty here prest upon you namely to hold fast the truth you have received hold it fast in your memories in your affections and in your conversations so much for the first branch of the doctrine That Christians must hold fast the truth they have received with constancy and perseverance I come now to the second Proposition or second branch of the Doctrine that is this Christians must hold fast that Grace that they have received with constancy and perseverance For the proof of this the Scripture is abundantly plain and pregnant in Psal 119.23 Teach me the way of thy Statutes O Lord and I will keep it to the end Matth. 24.13 He that endures to the end he shall be saved it is not setting our feet in the way of Christianity but it is a continuance in that course that will bring you to the end of your hopes the salvation of your souls So in Heb. 3.14 We are made partakers of Christ saith the Apostle if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end this will be an evidence that we are partakers of Christ indeed if we persevere and continue in the grace we have received to the end of our days so we are commanded to serve the Lord not some few days but all the days of our lives Luke 1.75 He that puts his hands to the Plow and looks back saith our Saviour is not fit for the kingdom of God Luke 9. ult and in John 8.31 If you continue in my words then are you my disciples indeed without this perseverance we are but nominal not real Disciples But if you ask me Why must Christians continue in grace and hold fast the grace they have received Hear but some Scripture Arguments strongly pleading for this truth First Unless Christians hold fast the grace and holiness
General it is a dishonour to him 2. Then it is damnable in the effects of it because it puts Religion to open shame it makes the Name of God to be blasphemed Rom. 2.24 It is a scandal to the weak it staves men off from the profession of Religion and it opens the mouth of Adversaries to speak evil of the ways of God thus it is damnable in the effects Thirdly It is destructive in the end and issue of it for First God will reckon Apostates amongst Reprobates God will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity those that turn aside to their crooked ways Psal 125. ult Lead them forth that is put them in the same condition with the most profligate and scandalous sinner that is 2. Their latter end shall be worse than their beginning as our Saviour shews in the Parable Mat. 12.43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man and returns again he brings seven Devils more and the end of that man is worse than his beginning The Apostle tells us in 2 Pet. 2 and the two last Verses It had been better men had never known the way of holiness than having known it to turn aside from the holy commandment it fares with them according to the Proverb the Dog is turned to his vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Before I come to make Application of this truth there is one doubt to be resolved You say Christians must hold fast the grace they have received Why may some say Can a man that hath received saving grace lose that grace he hath received To this I answer No He cannot lose saving-grace totally or finally this is Mary's part which cannot be taken away Mary hath chose that good part which cannot be taken away Luke 10.42 The Apostle saith he that is born of God sins not cannot sin to death because the seed of God as a principle of spiritual life abideth in him 1 John 3.9 therefore he cannot sin unto death the righteous are said to be built on an everlasting foundation Prov. 10.25 that is he abides unmovable in grace till grace be turned into glory and the reason of this is saving-grace bestowed upon the Elect is built on four immutable and unmovable Pillars 1. The love that God bares to his people it is an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love we are very fickle and unconstant in our love to God but God is not fickle or unconstant in his love to us 2. The Covenant of grace is a stedfast Covenant so saith David in the last words of that sweet Singer of Israel when he was to leave the world He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant sure and stedfast and ordered in all things 2 Sam. 23.5 It is a Covenant sealed with the blood of Christ therefore it is called the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 this everlasting Covenant cannot be broken True indeed sin may break the peace of the Covenant but it cannot break the bond of the Covenant of Grace it may break the peace of the Covenant Psal 89.31 If thy children break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with a red and their iniquities with stripes but I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth 3. The third Pillar is this the Power of God which is irresistible and unconquerable on this Pillar our blessed Saviour builds the salvation of his Elect John 10.29 My father that gave me these sheep is greater than all and none can take them out of my fathers hand and on this Pillar St. Paul built his hope of Salvation He is able to keep that I have committed to him he is able to keep my depositum 2 Tim. 1.12 4. The fourth Pillar is the Intercession of Christ and his intercession is a prevailing intercession Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them Whence was it that Peter though he fell fearfully yet he did not fall finally because our Saviour prayed for Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Luke 22.31 But mark though this be true That saving grace once wrought in the heart cannot be lost for it is built on these four immutable Pillars the Love of God the Covenant of Grace the Power of God and the intercession of Christ yet it is possible for a man in the state of grace to have his declinings as I shewed you not long ago he may have his declinings in regard of the measure of grace and the comfortable feeling of grace and in the operations and vigour of his grace First A child of God may lose the former heat and fervency that he had The Church of Ephesus fell from her first love Secondly He may lose the comfortable feeling of Grace David prays Restore to me the joy of thy salvation 3. Grace may be as a spark of fire covered over with a heap of ashes that yields neither light nor heat and so he may lose the vigour of his grace therefore Christians should take heed of these declinings and should hold fast the grace they have received Now to make some Application 1. By way of Reproof How justly taxable and reprovable are they that do not hold fast the grace they have received but fall from their first love Oh how many back-sliders are there many that did begin well but they are weary of well-doing the Lord awaken them out of their drowsiness know you not it will be bitterness in the latter end will you lose all you have and all you hope for God forbid Therefore to close up this Point with a word of Exhortation I beseech and exhort you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ That you will hold fast the grace you have received the savour of Religion that you have got the principles of Religion and the practice of a holy Conversation hold fast these Take heed of Apostacy as you love your God as you love your Souls as you tender your own everlasting Salvation be not found in the number of those that draw back to perdition but be stedfast and immoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult That you may persevere and not be weary Let me give you these three or four helps 1. Be not content with a notional and traditional Faith for such a Faith will change as the time changes but labour for a divine well-grounded lively working effectual Faith experimental Faith such as the Samaritans had Now do we believe say they not because thou toldst us this is the Christ but because we have heard him our selves and we know indeed this is the
poured upon Aarons head run down to the skirts of his cloathing so from that fulness of Grace which is in Jesus Christ Believers receive and grace for grace a continual supply of grace from him he is the Author of all their graces he is the Author of their Faith he is called The Author and Finisher of their Faith Heb. 12.2 He is the Author of their Love Christ first warms their hearts with a sense of his Love before they can love him We love him because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 He is the Author of their Repentance God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins to his people Acts 5.31 Thirdly And then they receive spiritual comforts by him too My peace I give unto you my peace I leave with you not as the world giveth give I unto yon let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid John 14.27 He gives Believers that peace that the World can neither give nor take away from them that peace and comfort that can hold up their heads in all outward storms In the world says he you shall have tribulation but in me you shall have peace John 16. ult At the same time when they have tribulation in the world they may have peace in Christ at the same time when there is ratling upon the Tiles there may be Musick in the Chamber outward tribulations and inward consolations they may stand together at the very same time In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul Psalm 94.19 So though there may be multitude of troubles within yet there may be comforts to refresh the Soul This is the third Reason why Jesus Christ is so precious to Believers Because they have much in hand from Christ they have Temporal Mercies and Spiritual Mercies Spiritual Priviledges Justification Sanctification and Adoption and Spiritual Graces and Spiritual Comforts Reas 4. Jesus Christ is very precious to Believers because they expect much from him As they have much in hand by him so they have more in hope from him they have much for the present but more for the future for what do they expect from him but an Inheritance incorrupted undefiled reserved in Heaven for them an everlasting Kingdom a Kingdom that cannot be shaken everlasting Communion with himself bosom-Communion with himself in Glory to have their Souls bathed in those Rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand for evermore yea the following the Lamb. wheresoever he goes to be triumphing in his Praises to be sounding forth those Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne for ever to live and lie in his continual embraces Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath laid up for them that love him Now because with the eye of Faith they look upon these things and they fully expect to enjoy them therefore hence it is they do so highly prize Jesus Christ Reas 5. Jesus Christ is very precious to Believers they do most highly prize him Because Faith you must know is a uniting grace an espousing grace it is the Wedding-Ring as I have sometimes told you that makes up the Match between Jesus Christ and the poor Soul as soon as ever a man comes to be a Believer to take Jesus Christ to be his Head his Husband his Portion then is the Match made up between them Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 Now then Believers being thus espoused to him thus united to him they cannot but dearly love him As a Wife that hath pitcht her affections upon a Husband and forsaken all others and hath vowed to cleave to him and him only while they both shall live therefore she does prize him above all the men in the World so when the Soul is once united to Christ marryed to him Thy Maker is thy Husband when the Soul is espoused to Christ it cannot but dearly love him and forsake all others in comparison of him Reas 6. Jesus Christ is very precious to Believers Because true Faith ever works by Love Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love True Faith will make a man dearly love the Lord Jesus Christ now if we love him we cannot but prize him whom we love so dearly The Use I shall make of this Point briefly First For Examination And O that you and I could engage our own hearts a while and call our selves to account in sad and serious thoughts whether Jesus Christ be precious to us yea or no Is he highly prized by you even by you that hear me this day Can you say with the Church My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand And with St. Paul I esteem all things but dross and dung in comparison of Jesus Christ the whole World the glory the beauty and treasures and pleasures of it but as a heap of dung in comparison of him this pitch and frame you must come unto or else you can never have any assurance that Christ is yours and that you are his for as our Saviour saith in the like case He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me c. Matth. 10.37 So here if any thing be more prized than Jesus Christ you can have no assurance that Christ is your portion if any thing be preferred before him or prized more highly than he is there not great need then that you should enquire whether Jesus-Christ be precious to you yea or no That I may press you to this enquiry consider but this one Motive this is one of the surest Characters to distingnish between a sincere-hearted Christian and an Hypocrite For he that is sincere and upright-hearted does lay Jesus Christ the nearest to his heart and says None but Christ nothing but Christ whereas ever observe it and you shall see a Hypocrite hath always something that lies nearer to his heart than Jesus Christ does however he may shew much love to Christ with his mouth yet his heart goes after his covetousness or after some base lust or other as God told the Prophet Ezek. 33.31 And they come unto thee as my People and they sit before thee as my People and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness So that Jesus Christ hath not the heart of a Hypocrite he may have the mouth of a Hypocrite a shew of love but there is something still that doth lie nearer his heart than Christ does Look into the parable of the Sower and you will find that Seed that was sown in the stony-ground it sprung up and made a fair shew for a while but there was something that lay between the seed and the Soil so there is something that lies between
first work of his Conversion and it is called A Passive Humiliation because the Sinner is wholly Passive and doth nothing at all conducing to his Conversion and of this the Text speaks of Secondly There is An Active Humiliation and this is that whereby a Sinner humbles himself before God of this you read 2 Chron. 12.7 They have humbled themselves therefore I will not destroy them Now it is not this latter I am to speak of this to speak properly is nothing but the act of renewed Repentance but I am to speak of the first namely that whereby God in the first work of Conversion lets a man see the need that he hath of Jesus Christ and it may be thus described Passive humiliation is a work of the Spirit of God whereby a poor Sinner being stricken with a sense of his sin and fear of wrath doth fly out of himself and closeth with Jesus Christ I say It is a work of the Spirit of God because it is the Spirit that convinceth of sin and by convincing of sin he humbles the Soul and hence it is the Spirit of God in the first work of Conversion is called the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Why is it called the spirit of bondage not because the Spirit of God brings the Soul into bondage for the Spirit of God is a free Spirit Psalm 51.12 Vphold me with thy free Spirit and where the Spirit of God is there is liberty But he is called a Spirit of bondage because he discovers to us our bondage and lets the Sinner see the bondage and slavery wherein he is miserably captivated under sin and Satan A man before the work of Conversion is wrought thinks himself a Free-man We are Abrahams Seed and were never in bondage to any how sayest thou we shall be made free John 8.33 But now the Spirit of God comes and lets a man see himself in the glass of Gods Law whereby he discovers sin to be out of measure sinful and it lets him see himself in the glass of Conscience and so comes to the Sinner and says to him just as Nathan did to David Thou art the man thou art he that lieth under the guilt of sin and under the wrath of God and under the condemnation of the second death therefore look to it When the Spirit of God lets a man see himself and his bondage and that state of wo and misery in which he is then he confesseth he is in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Again I say in the description of it that the poor Sinner is stricken with the sense of his sin and with the fear of wrath Before a man is humbled he is just like a man in a dead sleep in a drunken sleep he hears not he fears not he feels not like the Drunkard that Solomon speaks of Prov. 23.34 35 Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the Sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a Mast they have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not when I shall awake I will seek it yet again But when once the Spirit of God comes to strike the Sinner to the purpose now sin is revived and Conscience awakened and convicted as the Apostle Paul saith I was alive once without the Law alive in my own apprehension alive without the spiritual knowledg of the Law but sin revived and I died Rom. 7.9 Then the Law shewed me I was but a dead man O Conscience now began to be awakened and convicted Sense of sin brings with it a fear of wrath and hence it is that the spirit of bondage is called a Spirit of fear 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of Power of Love and of a sound mind And this fear doth awaken a man and leave some kind of impression upon the spirit of a man so that he is awakened and looks out for help out of himself Again I say A Sinner thus stricken with the sense of his sin flyes out of himself and flyes to Jesus Christ That is he despairs of all hope and help in himself I dare say he was never a true Believing Sinner that was not a despairing Sinner understand me thus There is a Religious desperation as well as a damning-desperation I say a Sinner that is stricken with the sense of his sins despairs of help in himself this is an holy despair whereby a man renounceth all hope of help in himself and flyes to Jesus Christ This is a certain Rule The less a man trusts in himself the more he trusts in a Saviour That 's the first thing What this Humiliation is A second Question to be satisfied is this Whether the like measure of humiliation be wrought in all those that are brought home to Jesus Christ I answer No some have more and some have less according to the different tempers of mens spirits some men are more froward and some are more ingenious those that are openly prophane stout stubborn Sinners they usually have a great measure of humiliation but now those that are more flexible have a less measure of humiliation to the first God comes like a mighty rushing wind to the second sort he comes like a still wind in a more mild and melting way sometimes God breaks in upon the Sinners heart with open violence as he did upon St. Paul when he was smitten down to the ground Acts 9. Sometimes again God opens the heart without any noise as he did the heart of Lydia Acts 16. Sometimes God suffers a Sinner to lie long under the spirit of bondage those especially that he hath appointed for some special use and service to himself as the Timber that is appointed for some special service lies long a soaking before it be made use of Sometimes again Sinners are set free from Legal terrors suddenly now this is the least measure of Humiliation wrought in those that are brought home to Jesus Christ to make sin odious and loathsome to a man and to make a man fly out of himself to Jesus Christ There is a twofold Passive humiliation 1. A Legal Humiliation 2. An Evangelical Humiliation The Legal humiliation is that which consists in Legal terror and fear of wrath and the sense of Gods wrath and horror of Conscience and fear of Hell-fire Secondly There is an Evangelical humiliation and that consists in the operation of Gods blessed Spirit convincing a man of sin when the Spirit of God convinceth the Sinner and by convincing him empties him of himself and by emptying him fits him for a Saviour Legal humiliation Pray mark though it makes a greater noise yet it is not always absolutely needful for all persons which I prove thus It is not a grace
Lesson That such and so great is the indispensable need that we have of the Lord Jesus Christ that without him we are undone for ever In the 53d verse of this exeellent Chapter Verily verily I say unto you except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you He speaks there of eating of his flesh and drinking his blood in a spiritual manner You know there are many desires of the Soul that may be dispenced with but hunger is a desire that must be satisfied unless you have bread for your sustenance the body dies so unless you have Jesus Christ for your spiritual sustenance your Souls die and drop down into Hell for ever for look as the union of the Body with the Soul is the life of the Body so the union of the Soul with Jesus Christ is the life of the Soul O hearken to this thou that art yet in a natural and unregenerate estate uncalled unconverted that never was yet transplanted from off the old rotten stock of Adam and replanted into the true Vine the Lord Jesus Christ if thou livest in this estate and diest in this estate thou art undone for ever the poorest worm that crawls upon the ground is in a better condition than thou art in Acts 26.27 Believest thou the Prophets said St. Paul to King Agrippa I know that thou believest Believest thou this Doctrine say I to thee that art yet uncalled unconverted I know thou believest it not for if thou didst believe it thou couldest not rest contented in a Christless condition for one week no not for one day but wouldest by prayers and tears and supplications cry out Lord Jesus give me thy self whatever thou denyest me give me thy self though I be as poor as Job upon the Dunghil But we cannot perswade men that the danger of a natural estate and condition is so great as indeed it is but the Lord convince you and perswade you of it A second Doctrinal Inference that may be hence deduced is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then it follows the vanity and emptiness and insufficiency of all Creature-accommodations is exceeding great name what you will of these outward accommodations that the World do so greedily gape after whether Riches or Honours or Pleasures or goodly brave Buildings this and that alas we may say of them they are not bread Isa 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread Your money that is your precious opportunities your time that is your money to make your Markets for Eternity with for Moments are the Markets for Eternity Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Alas alas these outward things they are neither satisfactory nor permanent they are not satisfactory for Solomon tells us that He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Eccles 5.10 As soom may you hope to fill a Chest with Wisdom and Knowledg as to fill a Soul which is a spiritual substance with temporal things And as these outward things are are satisfactory so neither are they permanent or lasting 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall deslroy both it and them Look as the belly devours the meat so the worms at last shall devour the belly and so both meat and belly perish together But if you can but once get this spiritual bread the Lord Christ you shall never perish Alas alas consider your own folly and brutishness in seeking for satisfaction here below where none is to be found your bread without Christ is but gravel in your throats your moral Vertues without Christ are but glittering sins your bodies without Christ are but dust and ashes dust that will drop down into the Grave and ashes that are fitted for the Furnace of Hell-fire your Souls without Christ are but the Devils Palace your lives without Christ is but the service of sin and your deaths without Christ will be nothing else but the wages of sin Oh who would rest then in a Christless condition Who would sit down contented with these poor transitory shadowy comforts A third Lesson we may learn by way of Inference is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then our main end and errand in coming to the Lords Table is not to feed the Body but to feed the Soul 1 Cor. 11.21 What have you not Houses to eat and to drink in saith the Apostle So that it is not the end of your coming to the Lords Table therefore you eat but a little piece of Bread and drink but a little draught of Wine to put you in mind that it is not the Body that you come to feed but you come to feed the Soul and therefore you should labour to get a preparation suitable to that spiritual bread that you are to taste of But what is that you will say I answer There should be something done before your coming and something done in the Administration of the Elements and something done after the receiving of the Elements First There should be something done before you come Oh beg a blessing upon your spiritual bread Man lives not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Matth. 4.4 I may apply it thus Your Souls will not live by this Sacramental Bread but by the Word of Gods blessing If God will bless this spiritual food to you your Souls shall live On therefore beg the Blessing of God upon this Heavenly Bread Secondly And then there is something to be done while you are eating this Bread you should get your hearts all on fire with love to this blessed Redeemer that was contented to be made bread to be prepared food as I told you even now to be threshed and winnowed and ground and bak'd and scorch'd in the Oven of his Fathers Wrath Oh how should your hearts be all on a flame with Love as the two Disciples were going to Emaus As Jesus Christ brake bread and gave it to them and opened to them the Scriptures their hearts did burn within them Luke 24.32 they were as it were all on a fire So should it be with you when you come to the Lords Table you should have your meditations wholly taken up with that which is the life of the Sacrament even the death of our Saviour let not your hearts be roving and wandering about watch them narrowly you will hardly keep them close to a duty two Minutes without great watching Thirdly There is something to be done after when you have eaten of this living bread that is to be exceeding thankful study to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing That 's the first Use of Information The second Vse is of Exhortation Is Jesus Christ that living bread that gives eternal life to all those that have a
To him that hath shall be given he that well useth his Talent shall have more Talents given to him Thirdly Because God doth love to reward his Servants Just as a Master deals with his Factor beyond the Seas when he sees that he deals faithfully with him in smaller matters he intrusts him with more of his Estate so when God sees us faithful in a little he trusts us with more when he sees us to use one talent well he will give us five talents to trade with Fourthly Because the more grace is acted the more it grows and is encreased Remarkable is that Scripture Heb. 5. ult But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil By reason of use have their spiritual senses exercised Use legs as we say and have legs the more a man sets about this Heavenly Employment of acting of grace the more grace he shall have in his heart Now for the Application of this Point and first by way of Instruction it serves to let you see what is the reason of that truth which carnal men will hardly helieve That Godly men are the only wise men and that wicked men though they are never so knowing are errant fools this is a truth plainly set down in this Scripture The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom Prov. 9.10 None are wise but those that fear the Lord none are prudent in Gods account but those that are obedient those that practise what they know practical Christians are the only prudent Christians in Gods account Remarkable is that Scripture Deut. 4.5 6 Behold I have taught you Statutes and Judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so in the Land whither ye go to possess Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the Nations that shall hear these Statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding People But now on the contrary wicked men let them have never so much knowledg let them have as much knowledg as the wicked Angels who are knowing Spirits the Devils are intelligent Spirits if he do not put his knowledg into practise if he be a wicked man he is in Gods account an errant fool he is but a very Sot He is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because darkness hath blinded his eyes 1 John 2.11 The second Use it is by way of Exhortation and let it be a powerful perswasion to every one here present and Oh that I could leave this Exhortation warm upon your hearts Oh that I could put you upon the practise of what you have heard I beseech you as ever you desire that Jesus Christ should take you by the hand and kiss you with the kisses of his mouth and manifest his love to you as ever you desire that Jesus Christ should make fuller discoveries of himself to you labour to practise what you know live up to your light do not foster or favour any known sin nor bauk nor decline any known Duty but live up to your light Now that I may press you to it consider First We live in times of Libertinism and loosness wherein many hold the truth in unrighteousness The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against them that imprison the Truth that sin against the light of their knowledg and Conscience that blow out the Candle lest it should discover truth to them Light is come into the world but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil John 3.19 And this is the condemnation to them with a witness who shut the light out of their Souls The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 Let me set on this Consideration with this Motive First Consider how little it is that we know of God The very best of Gods Saints and Servants how little do they know of him To use Jobs phrase Job 26. ult How little a portion is heard of him What a little knowledg is it that the most knowing men have There is a thousand times more excellency and sulness and sweetness and Soul-satisfaction and beauty and all sufficiency in God in the Lord Jesus Christ than ever yet was known or discovered How little a portion do we know of God! The greatest part of our knowledg is the least part of our ignorance we are ignorant of a thousand times more than we know There are unsearchable riches in Jesus Christ as the Apostle calls them Ephes 3.8 There is a thousand times more riches in Christ than ever was discovered Mines of Wisdom and Knowledg that you were never yet acquainted with now if you would know more practise what you do know Secondly Consider the more you know of God the nearer do you come to Heaven for the fulness of the Saints happiness in Heaven will be this when they shall see God as he is and know him as he is 1 John 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Heaven consists in the Beatifical Vision of God a sight of God seeing of him as he is in Heaven David gives you a glimpse of Heaven in one Verse Psalm 17. ult As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Heaven consists in the Vision of God in conformity to God and in satisfaction in God this is Heaven Vision of God I will behold thy face in righteousness Conformity to God When I awake with thy likeness Satisfaction in God I shall be satisfied then our Knowledg will be perfected Thirdly Consider that this experimental Knowledg that springs from Obedience will make you sound and solid Christians that you shall not take up Religion upon trust but you shall know upon what grounds you believe upon what grounds you have the hope of eternal happiness you shall not have your Religion upon trust or Tradition you shall have a certain evidence of your interest in Jesus Christ and your hope of Eternal happiness you shall be able to read your names written in Heaven On the contrary take away that experimental Knowledg that springs from Obedience and a man may be a Turk upon the same ground that he is a Christian because he takes his Religion upon trust Take away this experimental Knowledg a man may be of any Religion as well as a Christian O get this Knowledg that springs from Obedience then you will know upon what grounds you take up Religion and your hopes of Heaven and happiness will be upon good grounds Fourthly Consider God looks upon all your Knowledg as nothing worth unless
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.5 6. Secondly This Knowledg is a reflective knowledg it makes a man turn in upon his own heart it makes a man to be wise for himself Prov. 9.12 If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self There is many a man that knoweth how to teach others but yet he cannot teach himself Job 5.27 Lo this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good In the Hebrew it is Hear and know it for thy self Thirdly This assured Knowledg is an experimental knowledg for it will make a man read some Sculpture or ingraving of the Spirit of God upon his own heart that his heart will be Christs Epistle written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God 2 Cor. 3.3 The truth is my Brethren and I would have you to remember it that all the truths of God to a carnal and unregenerate man are Mysteries No man for example knows what Repentance is but the repenting Sinner no man knows what Faith is but the true Believer no man knows what Regeneration is but he that is regenerate no man knows what Union with Christ is but he that is united to Christ no man knows what it is to have Communion with Christ in his Life and Death and Resurrection and Graces and Comforts but he that hath felt them in his own heart no man knows it savingly until he knows it experimentally A sick man doth better know what his disease is than all the Physicians in the World because he feels it A blind man may talk of Colours that never saw them A hungry man may talk of a rich Banquet that he never tasted of But now this is sure knowledg it is an experimental knowledg Fourthly It is a heart-warming knowledg other knowledg a notional knowledg is but like the light of the Moon it enlightens indeed in a dark night but it doth not warm But now this assured Knowledg is like the light of the Sun it doth not only enlighten you but it heats and warms your hearts it will make you in love with Jesus Christ and to long for more Communion with him in Grace here and in Glory hereafter Thirdly You may know this certainty of Knowledg by the Effects of it and I shall name but these two First This assured Knowledg will make you to hold fast the Name of God notwithstanding all the opposition that you meet with it will make you stick to the Truths of God Psalm 119.31 I have stuck unto thy Testimonies O Lord put me not to shame In Rev. 2.13 God speaks to the Church of Pergamus Thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denyed my Faith even in those days where Antipas was my faithful Martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth Thou hast kept my Name there in the midst of opposition Secondly It will make a man run any hazard rather than part with the Truth See the courage of Saint Paul Acts 20.24 The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying Bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so I may finish my course with joy The truth is a little light if it be spiritual will make a man to resist temptations that the allurements of the Flesh and the World and the Devil shall not biass him and carry him away On the contrary a great light if it be not spiritual will yield to every temptation and hence it is that sometimes you see a man of weak parts stand out in an hour of temptation and tryal when a man of strong and great parts if he wants this spiritual Light falls fouly and fearfully A man that hath once got this assured knowledg of the Truth he will say I will lay down my life rather than I will part with the truth another man that hath not received this Light how will he shift and shuffle and temporize and part with the truth and swim with every stream and sail with every wind How will he be a double-minded man in all his ways and will be carried about with every wind of Doctrine Vse 3. Now to shut up all with this one word of Exhortation I beseech you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would labour for this full assurance of Understanding that you would be rooted and setled and established in the truth get a setled understanding Now to press you to this let me use but these two Motives The first is this The truth is there is no proper Knowledg where this certainty is wanting it is at the best else but matter of conjecture See an instance in Saint Paul before he had this spiritual Light in Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things against Jesus of Nazareth It was but his thought and conjecture whereas when a man hath once gotten this certainty of Knowledg then he understands the Scriptures indeed Luke 24.45 Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures And you may observe in the Parable of the Sower and the four Grounds three whereof were naught and one good of the three first it is not said that they received the Word with understanding but only the fourth Ground heard the Word and received it with understanding Matth. 13.23 A second Motive is this it will be of singular use to you in erroneous and backsliding times it will be of singular advantage to your poor Souls when you shall have that Knowledg that you can discern Truth from Error and Gold from Copper and Food from Poyson Our Saviour here in the Text speaks of it as the Priviledg of a Believer or obedient Christian that he shall be able to discern true Doctrine from false Certainly in such times as we live in wherein the Name of God is so much blasphemed and the Truth is eclipsed and the Sun of the Gospel is so much darkned by those fogs and mists of Error it is a singular Priviledg for a man to have a setled knowledg in the Truth that he may not be carried about with every wind of Doctrine But it may be you will say What course must we take to get this certainty of knowledg I shall tell you that in three words First If ever you desire to have this full assurance of Knowledg you must resolve to walk humbly with your God Psalm 25.9 The meek will be guide in Judgment and the humble will he teach his way Secondly Strive to be growing Christians That is an excellent Scripture Hosea 6.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Thirdly If you would get this full assurance of Understanding I cannot give you a better direction than the Text gives you which our Saviour here prescribes you do but the Will of God that is