Rev. 22.17 And let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Augustin Where there are sincere desires of grace there are the seeds of grace the conception of grace the buds of grace Sincere desires of grace are those holy seeds those divine beginnings of grace in the soul out of which grace springs and grows up to its measure and perfection O Sirs look as no man can sincerely seek God in vain so no man can sincerely desire grace in vain A man may love gold yet not have it but no man loveth God but is sure to have him Wealth a man may desire and yet be never the neerer for it but grace no man ever sincerely desired and missed it And why it is God that hath wrought this desire in the heart and he will never frustrate the desire that himself hath there wrought let no man say I have no faith no repentance no love no fear of God no sanctifying no saving grace in me Doth he see a want of those things in himself yes that is it which so grieves him that he cannot love God stand in awe of him trust in his mercy repent of sin as he should yea but doth he seriously and unfeignedly desire to do thus yes he desires it above all things in the world and would be willing as it were to buy even with a whole world the least measure or dram or drop only of such grace Now let me ask him who is it that hath wrought this desire in him Not the Devil for he would rather quench it than kindle it in him not his own corruption for that is naturally averse to every thing that is good it must needs then be the work of the Spirit of God who works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and who pronounceth all them blessed that thus desire after grace Kemnitius Ursini Catechis When I have a good desire saith one though it doth scarcely shew it self in some little slender sigh I must be assured that the Spirit of God is present and worketh his good work Wicked men do not desire the grace of the holy Spirit whereby they may resist sin and therefore they are justly deprived of it for he that earnestly desireth the holy Ghost hath it already because this desire of the spirit cannot be but from the Spirit Taffnies Book of the marks of Gods children Our faith saith another may be so small and weak as it doth not yet bring forth fruits that may be lively felt in us but if they which feel themselves in such an estate desire to have these feelings namely of God's favour and love if they ask them of God's hands by prayer this desire and prayer are testimonies that the Spirit of God is in them and that they have faith already for is such a desire a fruit of the flesh or of the Spirit it is of the holy Spirit who bringeth it forth only in such as he dwells in c. Then those holy desires and prayers being the motions of the holy Ghost in us are testimonies of our faith although they seem to us small and weak As the woman that feeleth the moving of a child in her body though very weak assureth her self that she hath conceived and that she goeth with a live child So if we have these motions these holy affections and desires before mentioned let us not doubt but that we have the holy Ghost who is the Author of them dwelling in us and consequently that we have also faith Again saith the same Author 1. If thou hast begun to hate and flie sin 2. If thou feelest that thou art displeased at thine infirmities and corruptions 3. If having offended God thou findest a grief and a sorrow for it 4. If thou desire to abstain from sin 5. If thou avoidest the occasions of sin 6. If thou doest thy endeavours against sin 7. If thou prayest to God to give thee grace all these holy affections proceeding from none other than from the Spirit of God Phil. 2.13 2 Cor. 8.10 12. ought to be as so many pledges and testimonies that he is in thee It is as impossible for us naturally to do the least good or to desire the least grace as 't is for a Toad to spit Cordials Sincere desires after God and Christ and Grace is sometimes the all that the people of God find in themselves This was all that Nehemiah could say of himself and the rest of his brethren Neh. 1.11 That they did desire to fear God's name And so the Church Isa 26.8 The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thy holiness And vers 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night So the Spouse Cant. 3.1 2 3. So David Psal 27.4 Psal 42.1 2. Psal 63.1 They must needs be sure of grace that have an unfeigned desire of it This is a Maxim that we must live and die with viz. That no man can truly desire grace but he that hath already grace certainly he that desireth grace hath grace to desire it It is an infallible sign that that man hath already some measure of grace that doth seriously desire to have it he would never seriously desire to fear God who stands not in some awe of him already nor he would never seriously desire to love God who has not in him some love to God already nor he would never seriously desire to believe who has not in him some faith already nor he would never seriously desire to repent that hath not repented already nor he would never seriously desire sanctifying grace whose heart in some measure is not already sanctified by the spirit of grace It is the very essence of righteousness saith one of the Ancients for a man to be willing to be righteous Angustine Pars magna bonitatis est vellâ— fieri boâ—um Sen. Ep. 34. And the poor Heathen could say It is a principal part of goodness for a man to be willing to be good It is natural for every one to desire his own natural good but to desire spiritual grace holiness sound sanctification faith unfeigned the true fear of God serious repentance c. is more than ever any natural man did or can do No man did ever desire to eat which had not eaten before nor no man did ever desire to believe that did not believe before all true desires after faith spring from faith as the root of them Certainly wicked men don't nor can't so much as desire saving grace Job 21.14 Isa 53.2 and that First Because grace is above the reach of nature 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned The water riseth no higher than the springs from whence it came so natural men can ascend no
subject as in the Prince in the buyer as in the seller c. Look as all our delight must be in the Saints so our delight must be in all the Saints 'T is sad sinful to contemn our poor brethren and yet this was the very case of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.21 22. for they in their love-feasts carried it so unequally that one was hungry to wit the poor and another was drunken to wit the rich And this made the Apostle put that question to them What have ye not houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not or put them to shame that have nothing And the Apostle Iames doth very roundly reprove and condemn that partial love that was generally among the Jews in his dayes Iam 2.1 2 3 4. My brethren have not the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons for if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay cloathing and say unto him sit thou here in a good place and say to the poor stand thou there or sit here under my footstool are ye not then partial in your selves and are become judges of evil thoughts Not that the Apostle doth simply or absolutely prohibit a civil differencing of men in place from others for it cannot be denied but that there is a holy and warrantable respect of persons in respect of their age callings gifts graces and greatness in the world but when the rich mans wealth is more regarded than the poor mans godliness and when men carry it so to the rich as to cast scorn contempt disgrace and discouragement upon the godly poor They that respect a rich man that has but a little grace before a poor man that is rich in grace are worthy of blame All true born sons love to see the image and picture of their father though hung in never so poor a frame and in never so mean a cottage So the true born sons of God they love to see the image of God the picture of God upon the poorest Saints 'T is sad to prefer a worldly lustre before heavenly grace a gold ring before a rich faith a chain of gold before a chain of grace Non ex personis fidem sed ex fide personas Tertul. Ver. 5. Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom It is a vile thing saith one of the Ancients to have the faith of Christ in respect of persons We do not judge of faith by persons but of persons by faith 'T is the great wisdom of a Christian not to judge of men by their outwards but by their inwards not by their externals but by their internals not by what they are worth for this world but by what they are worth for that other world The poorest Saints are God's portion Deut. 32.9 They are his pleasant portion Jer. 12.10 They are his peculiar treasure Exod. 19.5 They are his jewels Mal. 3.17 They are the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 They are his glory Isa 4.5 They are the crown of his glory and royal diadem Isa 62.3 and therefore 't is a dangerous thing to flight them to disown them to look frowningly upon them or to carry it unworthily towards them Pompey told his Cornelia It is no praise to thee to have loved Pompeium Magnum Pompey the Great but if thou lovest Pompeium miserum Pompey the miserable thou shalt be a pattern for imitation to all posterity So I say it is no great matter to love those that are rich and pious great and gracious high and holy but to love the poor Saints of God in their lowest and most miserable condition when they have not a rag to cover them nor a crust to refresh them nor a fire to warm them nor a friend to stand by them nor a penny to help them this is praise-worthy this speaks our much of God of Christ of grace within Romanus the Martyr who was born of noble Parentage intreated his persecutors that they would not favour him for his Nobility For it is not said he the bloud of my Ancecestors but my Christian faith that makes me Noble 'T is not race nor place but grace that makes a man truly noble without a peradventure he that loves one Saint for the image of God that is upon him he cannot but fall in love with every Saint that bears the lovely image of the Father upon him he cannot but love a Saint in rags as well as a Saint in robes a Saint upon the dunghil as well as a Saint upon the throne usually those Christians that have least of the world have most of Christ commonly those Christians that have least of the world have most of heaven in their hearts houses and lives But Fourthly True love to the Saints will extend to those that are most remote in respect of place Rom. 5.26 as well as to those that are near They of Macedonia and Achaia made a contribution for the poor Saints at Jerusalem 3 John 5. The Saints of Macedonia and Achaia did freely and cheerfully contribute to the poor Saints at Jerusalem whose faces probably they had never seen And Gaius is commended for his love to strangers A gracious man that has an estate a treasury an inheritance he is like a common fountain that freely gives out to strangers as well as to near neighbors A great fire will warm those that sit far from it as wel as those that sit neer unto it So sincere love will extend and stretch out it self to those Saints that are most remote gracious souls do dearly love and highly value those Saints whose faces they have never seen nor are like to see in this world and from whose hands they have not received the least civility and all upon the serious reports that they have had of the grace of God that has been sparkling and shining in them Rom. 12.9 1 Pet. 1.22 1 John 3.18 whose habitations are at a great distance from them A sincere love an unfeigned love a hearty love will be running out towards those that live most remote from us if we do but understand that God is in them and with them of truth But Fifthly Our love to the Saints is right when we love them best and most in whom the spiritual and supernatural causes of love are most sparkling and shining where grace draws the affections there the more grace we see the more we shall love Psal 16.3 My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psal 45.19 There are Saints and there are excellent Saints The Hebrew word that is here rendred excellent signifies
in a way of sin but the gracious soul sayes with Job Job 34.32 If I have done iniquity I will do it no more He laments over sin and leaves it he confesses it and forsakes it and he is as willing to forgo it as he is willing that God should forgive it Seventhly All and if you please I shall give you many things in one godly sorrow is the fruit and effect of Evangelical faith it flows from faith as the stream from the fountain the branch from the root and the effect from the cause Zech. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born Look as all legal sorrow flows from a legal faith as you may see in Ahab's and the Ninevites so all Evangelical sorrow flows from an Evangelical faith They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn All gracious mourning flows from looking from believing nothing breaks the heart of a sinner like a look of faith all tears of godly sorrow drop from the eye of faith godly sorrow rises and falls as faith rises and falls faith and godly sorrow are like the fountain and the floud which rise and fall together The more a man is able by faith to look upon a pierced Christ the more his heart will mourn over all the dishonours that he has done to Christ the more deep and wide the wounds are that faith shews me in the heart and sides of Christ the more my heart will be wounded for sining against Christ Again godly sorrow is not an enemy but a friend to holy joy I have read of a holy man who lying upon his sick bed and being askt which were his joyfullest dayes that ever he had cryed out O give me my mourning dayes give me my mourning dayes again for they were the joyfullest dayes that ever I had The higher the springs of godly sorrow rise the higher the tydes of holy joy rise his graces will flourish most who Evangelically mourns most Grace alwayes thrives best in that garden that heart that is watered most with the tears of godly sorrow He that grieves most for sin will rejoyce most in God and he that rejoyces most in God will grieve most for sin Again the more a man apprehends of the love of God and of the love of Christ and the more a man tastes and is assured of the love of the Father and of the love of the Son the more that person will grieve and mourn that he has offended provoked and grieved such a Father and such a Son Remember this as a man's assurance of peace and reconciliation with God rises so his grief for sin rises the more clear and certain evidences a man has of the love and favour of God to his soul the more that man will grieve and mourn for sinning against such a God There is nothing that thaws and melts the heart that softens and breaks the heart like the warm beams of divine love as you may see in the case of Mary Magdalen Luk. 7. she loved much and she wept much for much was forgiven her a sight of the free grace and love of Christ towards her in an act of forgiveness broke her heart all in pieces A man can't stand under the shinings of divine love with a frozen heart nor yet with dry eyes the more a man sees of the love of Christ and the more a man tastes and enjoys of the love of Christ the more that man will grieve and mourn for all the dishonours that he has done to Christ The more an ingenious child sees and tastes and enjoys of his fathers love the more he grieves and mourns that ever he should offend such a father or provoke such a father who has been so loving and indulgent towards him Injuries done to a friend cut deep and the more near and dear and beloved a man's friend is to him the more a man is afflicted and troubled for any wrongs or injuries that are done to him and just so 't is between God and a gracious soul The free love and favour of God and his unspeakable goodness and mercy manifested in Jesus Christ to poor sinners is the very spring and fountain of all Evangelical sorrow nothing breaks the heart of a poor sinner like the sight of God's free love in a Redeemer A man can't seriously look upon the firstness the freeness the greatness the unchangeableness the everlastingness and the matchlessness of God's free favour and love in Christ with a hard heart or with dry eyes Ezek. 36.31 compared with vers 25 26. O! who is there that has but one spark of ingenuity that can read over that heart-breaking Scripture with dry eyes Isa 43.22 23 24. See Isa 57.17 18 19. But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel thou hast not brought me the small cattel of thy burnt offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor wearied thee with incense thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities Now a man would think after all this horrid abuse put upon God this would certainly follow Therefore I will plague and punish thee therefore my wrath shall smoak against thee therefore my soul shall abhor thee therefore I will shut up my loving kindness in displeasure against thee therefore I will shew no more mercy towards thee therefore I will hide my face for ever from thee therefore I will take vengeance on thee therefore I will rain hell out of heaven upon thee c. O! but read and wonder read and admire read and stand amazed and astonished read and refrain from tears if thou canst ver 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins The Prophets expression in that Zech. 12.10 is very observable They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son Now 't is observable in a fathers mourning for an only son there is nothing but pure love sincere love hearty love but in a sons mourning for his father there may be and often is a great deal of self-love self-respect because the child may run and read in his father's death his own loss his own ruin his own undoing but in the father's mourning for an only son a man may run and read the integrity purity and ingenuity of the father's love and 't is only such a love as this as sets the soul a mourning and a lamenting over a crucified Christ The thoughts and fears of wrath of hell and of
earth Rom. 7.22 23. do carry about with them a body of sin and death they have in them a fountain of original corruption and from this fountain sin will still be arising bubling and a boyling up as the scum in a pot over the fire but mark as in wine or honey or water though scum and filth may arise yet the wine the honey the water will be still a purging and purifying it self and a working and casting it out so though sin though corruption though spiritual filth may and too often doth arise in a gracious heart yet there is a spring of grace a spring of living water in him John 4.14 All resistance of sin in a Scripture phrase is called conquest for in the resistance of it there is as much love shew'd to God as in the conquest of it though there be not so much power seen there is a holy cleansing and purifying disposition in a regenerate person that will still be a working and casting it out But now mark in men of impure hearts and lives the scum doth not only arise but it seeths and boyls in Ezek. 24.12 She wearied her self with lyes and her great scum went nâ—t f râ—h out of her notwithstanding all the threatnings of God and all the judgments of God upon her yet her scum and filthiness boyled in though God boyled Jerusâ—lem in the pot of his judgments yet her scum and filth stuck to every side of her wicked mens scum and filth doth not only arise but it also seeths and boyls in and mingles together with their spirits but so doth not the scum and filth that rises in a gracious heart a Sheep may fall into the mire but a Swine delights to wallow in the mire But Fourteenthly A godly man may argue thus Such as sin hath not a dominion over are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 But sin hath not a domiâ—ion over me therefore I am not under the Law but under grace Sin may rebel in a Saint but it shall never reign in a Saint Look as those beasts in that Dan. 7.12 had their dominion taken away though their lives were spared and prolonged for a season and a time so when Christ and grace enters into the soul they take away the dominion of sin though they do for a time spare the life of sin To prevent mistakes premise with me briefly these few things First Rom. 7. that in every regenerate man there are two men an old man and a new man or if you please flesh and spirit Secondly The old man the fleshly part will incline the soul and byass the soul as well to sins against the Gospel as to sins against the Law and to great sins as well as to small sins witness Noah's drunkenness Lot's incest Assur's oppression David's murder and adultery Solomon's idolatry and Peters blasphemy Thirdly The old man the fleshly part is as much in the will as in any other part of the regenerate man and therefore when he falls into hainous sins he may fall into them with consent delight and willingness so far as his will is unrenewed 1 Thes 5 22. Though a real Christian be chang'd in every part yet 't is but in part and imperfect Fourthly The old man the fleshly part is in a regenerate mans members as well as in his will and therefore they may be exercised and imployed in and about those sins they have consented unto Fifthly High sinnings do waste and wound the conscience of a regenerate man and lay him open to the sore rebukes of God and call for great repentance and fresh and frequent applications of the bloud of Christ These things being premised a Question may be propounded viz. Quest What does the dominion of sin import and wherein does it consist Now to this considerable question I shall give these eight following Answers First Sin is in dominion when it hath the absolute and soveraign commaâ—â— of the soul when it hath an uncontradicted power when it hath such an authority in the soul to command it as a King doth his subjects or as the Centurion did his servants Mat. 8.9 For I am a man under authority having soldiers under me and I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doth it Now when sin has such a universal and easie authority and command over the whole man body and soul as that it can use them in the service of sin when and where and how it pleaseth then sin is in dominion where there is a peaceable Eph. 2.2 3. uncontrouled willing universal subjection of the whole man unto the commands of sin there sin reigns But Secondly Sin is in dominion when in a course when ordinarily there is a quiet free willing and total yielding of subjection to the authority Law and command of sin Mark 't is a full possession a plenary delight and a constant content in sin Rom. 6.13 14 15 16. that speaks out the reign and dominion of sin Dominion of sin imports a compleat and universal resignation of the whole will and man to the obedience of it That man that is wholly addicted and devoted to the wayes of sin that man is under the reign of sin that man whose whole heart is universally married to his lusts that man is under the dominion of his lusts when a man does as freely cheerfully universally and readily obey his lusts Eph. 2.3 1 King 21.25 Micah 7.3 A man may be subjects as a captive in this or that particular tyranny of sin who is not obedient as a servant to all the government of sin for that takes iâ— the whole will and an adequate submission thereof to the peaceable and uncontrouled power of sin Rom. 7.15 19 23 as a child does his father or a wife her husband or a servant his Master or a subject his Prince then sin is in dominion when a man sins with greediness when with Ahab he sells himself to work wickedness when he commits wickedness with both hands when he gives himself up or over to all uncleanness and filthiness when he freely and voluntarily resigns and surrenders up his body and soul to the obedience of sin then sin reigns then it keeps the throne where the dominion of sin is erected there it sits in the heart as a King in his Throne and gives forth its Laws and commands to the soul and body and those commands are listned and consented to approved and delighted in c. A subject can't in a course more freely willingly universally and cheerfully obey the commands of his Prince than a sinner doth in a course freely willingly universally and cheerfully obey the commands of his lasts and where ever this sad temper of spirit is there is sin in dominion But now mark The Apostle as Chrysostom and Theodoret observe on Rom. 6.12 doth not say Let not sin tyrannize for
then his desire Luke 17.5 are most for faith you shall then find him with the Disciples crying out Lord increase our faith But now though a wicked mans heart rise against every grace yet it rises most strongly against those particular graces which are most opposite and contrary to those particular lusts which are a wicked mans bosom lusts Mat. 26.8 9. his darling sins c. Hence the covetous heart rises and swells most against liberality as you see in Judas Rev. 3.15 16 17. Luke 19. What need this waste Flesh and bloud looks upon all as lost that is laid out upon Christ his servants and services And the luke-warm Christians heart rises and swells most against zeal and fervency and the griping Userers heart rises and swells most against restitution Job 21.14 15. and the adulterers heart rises and swells most against purity chastity continency and the ignorant mans heart rises and swells most against light and knowledge Eccles 7.10 the ignorant man is willing to go to hell in the dark and ready and bold enough to conclude that we never had such sad and bad times as we have had since there hath been so much preaching and so much hearing and so much fasting and so much praying and so much light and knowledge in the world But now it is quite otherwise with a true child of God Rom. 7.22 23. for his heart rises and swells most against the Toad or Toads that are in his own bosom and the daily and earnest desires of his soul are that God would make him eminent in every grace yea that God would make him most eminent in those particular graces which are most opposite and contrary to those particular lusts and corruptions which more peculiarly more especially he hath cause to call his iniquity Psal 49.5 or the iniquities of his heart and of his heels Look as we have some dirt more or less that will still cleave to our heels whilst we are in a dirty world so there is some defilements and pollutions that will still be cleaving to all our duties services wayes and walkings in this world which we may well call the iniquity of our heels Now a gracious heart rises most against these c. Thirteenthly No man can truly love grace in another but he that has true grace in his own soul 1 John 3.10 No man can love a Saint as a Saint but he that is a real Saint no man can love holiness in another but he that has holiness in his own soul no man can love a good man for goodness sake but he that is really good We know that we have passed from death to life 1 John 3.14 This Text you have opened in the first Maxim of this Book because we love the brethren Sincere love to the brethren is a most evident sign of a Christians being already passed or translated from death to life that is from a state of nature into a state of grace such a poor soul that dares not say that he has grace in his own heart yet dares say before the Lord that he loves delights and takes pleasure to see the holy graces of the Spirit sparkling and shining in the hearts lives and lips of other Saints secretly wishing in himself that his soul were but in their case and that dares say before the Lord Psal 15.1 4. Psal 16.3 He that loves his brother saith Augustine better knows his love wherewith he loves than his brother whom he loves that there are no men in all the world that are so precious so lovely so comely so excellent and so honourable in his account in his eye as those that have the Image of God of Christ of grace of holiness most clearly most fairly and most fully stampt upon them When a poor Christian can rejoyce in every light in every Sun that out-shines his own when he sees wisdom and knowledge shining in one Saint and faith and love shining in another Saint and humility and lowliness shining in another Saint and meekness and uprightness shining in another Saint and zeal and courage shining in another Saint and patience and constancy shining in another and then can make his retreat to his closet admiring blessing of the Lord for the various graces of his Spirit shining in his children and be frequent and earnest with God that those very graces might shine as so many Suns in his soul doubtless such a poor soul has true grace and is happy and will be happy to all eternity In Tertullian's time the Heathen would point out the Christians by this mark See how they love one another Now to prevent mistakes I shall shew you the several properties of sincere love to the Saints First True love to the Saints is spiritual it is a love for the Image of God that is stampt upon the soul 1 John 5.1 Every one that loveth him that begat 1 John 4.7 loveth him also that is begotten of him A soul that truly loves loves the father for his own sake and the children for the fathers sake If the Image of God be the load-stone that drawes out our love to the Saints then our love is real to them he that does not love the Saints as Saints he that does not love them under a spiritual notion he hath no true affection to them Naturally we hate God Gen. 3.15 1 John 3.12 because he is a holy God and his Law because it is an holy Law and his people because they are a holy people 'T is only the Spirit of God that can inable a man to love a Saint for the image of God that is in him many there are which love Christians for their goods not for their good they love them for the money that is in their purses but not for the grace that is in their hearts many like the Bohemian Cur fawn upon a good suit Love to the Saints for the Image of God stampt upon them is a flower that does not grow in natures garden No man can love grace in another mans heart but he that hath grace in his own men do not more naturally love their parents Prov. 29.10 Ezek. 25.15 and love their children and love themselves than they do naturally hate the image of God upon his people and wayes I have read of one who was so lusty and quarrelsom that he was ready to fight with his own image so often as he saw it in a glass O! how many are there in these dayes that are still a quarrelling and fighting with the image of God wherever they see it True love is for what of the divine nature for what of Christ and grace shines in a man it is one thing to love a godly man and anther thing to love him for godliness Many love godly men as they are Politicians or Potent or Learned or of a sweet nature or affable or related or as they have been kind to them
magnificent ones noble ones glorious ones wonderful ones O Sirs there are some Saints that are magnificent in grace noble in grace glorious in grace wonderful in grace Now this is certain if grace be the true reason why we love any then the more excellent the more magnificent any are in grace Psal 15.4 the more highly we shall prize them and the more dearly we shall love them and the more abundantly in our hearts we shall honour them Look as grace rises higher and higher in the same person so we shall rise higher and higher in our love to the same person Dan. 9.23 John 21.20 Daniel was greatly beloved and Iohn was singularly beloved and why but because they were more eminently gracious than others were Where there is most grace there God is most honoured and there Christ is most exalted and there the Spirit is best pleased and there Religion is most adorned and there Satan is most dethroned and there the world is most conquered and there sin is most subdued and there duties are most exactly performed and therefore there the gracious soul can't but love best and most There are some that seem to love such and such godly men whose judgments are weak and light little and parts low and grace small who yet look with a squint eye an envious eye upon every Sun that outshines their own upon every ones graces and excellencies that are more sparkling than their own Though pride and envy have received their deaths-wound at the souls first conversion yet they are not quite slain in a believer there is an aptness even in real Saints Luk. 7.16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. to grudge and repine at those gifts graces and excellencies in others that outshine their own John's disciples muttered and murmured because Christ had more followers and admirers than John and that spirit that lived in John's disciples is still alive to this very day This is and this must be for a lamentation Well Sirs look as the fairest day hath its clouds the finest linnen its spots the richest jewels their flaws the sweetest fruits their worms so when many precious Christians are not themselves when they are in an hour of temptation when their corruptions are up and their graces down they may and too often do Num. 11.29 envy and repine at those graces excellencies and abilities that do over-cast cloud Heb. 12.15 darken and outshine their own The best of men are but men at the best and there is still those bitter roots of pride vain-glory self-love envy c. remaining in them that occasions their hearts to rise and swell yea sometimes to cast disgrace upon those excellencies in others that themselves want As that great man that could not write his own name Eusebius speaks of him in his Ecclesiastical Histâ—ry c. and yet called the liberal Arts A publick Poyson and Pestilence This spiritual disease is mostly to be found among Christians that are got into some of the highest forms in Christianity take your ordinary common Christians and they commonly rejoyce most where they see most grace And so do your Christians in a higher form too when they come to themselves and to make up their accounts and have wept over those cursed roots of bitterness that are so apt to be sprouting out Now there is no greater argument that our grace is true and that we do love others for grace sake than our loving them best that have most grace though they have but little of the world A pearl is rich if found on a dunghil though it may glister more when set in a ring of gold so many a poor believer is rich in grace and precious and glorious in the eye of Christ and should be so in ours though like Job he sits upon a dunghil though in the eyes of the world he may seem to glister most when adorned with riches honour and outward pomp If grace be the true reason why we love any person then the more grace that person hath the more we shall love him A godly man loves all that are godly but he loves them most that excel most in the power purity and practise of godliness c. But Sixthly and lastly True love to the Saints is constant 't is permanent John 13.1 15.12 c. 1 Cor. 13.8 Love never faileth Heb. 13.1 Let brotherly love continue 'T is a love like that of Christ's who loved his to the end 1 Joh. 4.16 He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Our love to our brother must not only lodge with us a night and away but we must dwell in brotherly love Look as our love must be sincere without hypocrisie so it must be constant without deficiency that love was never true that is not constant true love like the pulse will still be beating it will still be working and running out to the person beloved true love will not fawn upon a Christian when high and frown upon him when low it will not kiss him upon the throne and kick him upon the dunghil The grounds and causes of their love are constant viz. God's commands their spiritual relations and the truth of grace in their souls and therefore their love can't but be constant Prov. 17.17 Christian friendship makes such a knot that great Alexander cannot cut c. A friend saith Solomon loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity Euripides hit it when he said That a faithful friend in adversity is better than a calm Sea to a weather-beaten Mariner He that truly loves will love in adversity as well as in prosperity in storms as well as in calms in winter nights as well as in Summer dayes he that sincerely loves the Saints he will love them as well when men frown upon them as when they smile upon them as well when men strike them as when they stroke them as well when men cast them down as when they lift them up as well when men cry Crucifie them crucifie them as when they cry Hosanna Hosanna to them Consalvus a Spanish Bishop and Inquisitor wondred how the Christians had that Commandement Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self so indelibly printed in their hearts that no torture could blot it out and make them confess and betray one another or cease from loving one another Hieron I have read of one Ursinus a Christian Physician who being to suffer Martyrdom for the Gospel of Christ began to waver and faint which when Vitalis a holy man saw he stept to him and though he knew it would cost him his life yet he thus comforted and encouraged him saying What have ye been heretofore so industrious to preserve mens bodies and will you now shrink at the saving of your own soul Be couragious fear not c. For which faithful counsel he also was condemned to death and suffered accordingly Ruth 1. A true friend is neither
of Christ above all Isa 61.10 I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the role of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with her jewels It is matter of joy Knolls Hist and a sign of great favour from the great Turk when a rich garment is cast upon any that comes into his presence O then what matter of joy must it be to a sincere Christian Isa 28.16 to have the rich and royal garment of Christ's righteousness cast upon him A sincere Christian rests on the righteousness of Christ as on a sure foundation Isa 45.24 Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength It was a very sweet and golden expression of one when he thought himself to be at the point of death I confess said he I am not worthy I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven by Guliel Abbâ—s in vita Bern. lib. 1. cap. 12. but my Lord had a double right thereunto an hereditary right as a son and a meritorious right as a sacrifice he was contented with the one right himse f the other right he hath given unto me by the vertue of which gift I do rightly lay claim unto it and am not confounded A sincere Christian looks upon the righteousness of Christ as that which renders him most splendid and glorious in the eyes of God Phil. 3.9 And â—e found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith The Church saith Marlorat which puts on Christ and his righteousness is m re illustrious than the Air is by the Sun A sincere Christian looks upon the righteousness of Christ as his only security against wrath to come 1 Thes 1. ult wrath to come is the greatest wrath wrath to come is the purest wrath wrath to come is infinite wrath wrath to come is everlasting wrath Now the sincere Christian he knows no way under heaven to secure himself from wrath to come but by putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness The story tells us if we may believe it that Pilate being called to Rome to give an account unto the Empeperor for some misgovernment and male-administration Rom. 13.14 he put on the seamless coat of Christ and all the time he had â—hat coat upon his back Caesar's fury was abated There is nothing that can abate the wrath and fury of a sin-revenging God but the seamless coat of Christ's righteousness Well for a close remember this There is never an hypocrite in the world that is more pleased satisfied delighted and contentâ—d with the righteousness of Christ than with his own c. Though an hypocrite may be much in duties yet he never lives above his duties he works for life and he rests in his work and this proves his mortal wound But Sixthly An Hypocrite never embraces a whole Christ he can never take up his full and everlasting rest satisfaction and content in the person of Christ in the merits of Christ in the enjoyment of Christ alone No hypocrite did ever long and mourn after the enjoyment of Christ as the best thing in all the world no hypocrite did ever prize Christ for a sanctifier as well as a Saviour no hypocrite did ever look upon Christ or long for Christ to deliver him from the power of his sins as much or as well as to deliver him from wrath to come no hypocrite can really love the person of Christ or take satisfaction in the person of Christ 1 Thes 1.10 the rayes and beamâ— of Christs glory has never warm'd his heart he never knew what bosom communion with Christ meant An hypocrite may love to be healed by Ch ist and to be paâ—doned by Christ and to be saved by Christ c. but he can never take any complacency in the person of Christ his heart never seriously works after union with Christ The love of a sincere Christian runs much out to the person of Christ heaven it self without Christ Cant. 5.10 Phil. 1.21 3.7 8 9 10. would be to such a soul but a poor thing a low thing a little thing an uncomfortable thing an empty thing 't is the person of Christ that is the sparkling Diamond in the ring of glory No hypocrite in the world is sincerely willing to receive Christ in all his Offices and to close with him upon Gospel terms 1 John 11 13. Mat. 16.24 The terms upon which God offers Christ in the Gospel are these viz. That we shall accept of a whole Christ with a whole heart Now mark a whole Christ includes all his Offices a whole heart includes all our faculties Christ as Mediator is King Priest and Prophet and so God the Father in the Gospel offers him Salvation was too great and too glorious a work to be perfected and compleated by any one Office of Christ Christ as a Prophet instructs us and as a Priest he redeems us and intercedes for us and as a King he sanctifies and saves us The Apostle hit it when he said He is made to us of God wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Consider Christ as our Prophet and so he is made wisdom to us 1 Cor. 1.30 consider him as our Priest and so he is made righteousness and redemption to us consider him as our King and so he is made sanctification and holiness to us An hypocrite may be willing to imbrace Christ as a Priest to save him from wrath from the curse from hell from everlasting burning but he is never sincerely willing to imbrace Christ as a Prophet to teach and instruct him and as a King to rule and reign over him many hypocrites may be willing to receive a Christ Jesus that are not willing to receive a Lord Jesus they may be willing to imbrace a saving Christ but they are not willing to imbrace a ruling Christ a commanding Christ Luke 19 27. This man shall not rule over us O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets how often would I have gathered thy children together Mat. 23.37 Psal 2.2 3. John 5.40 John 1.11 Isa 8 14. 1 Pet. 2.7 8. even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not And ye will not come to me that ye might have life He came to his own and his own received him not An hypocrite is willing to receive Christ in one office but not in every office and this is that stumbling stone at which hypocrites stumble and fall and are broken in pieces Certainly Christ is as lovely and as comely â—s desirable and delightful as eminent and excellent in one office as he is in another and therefore 't is a just and righteous thing with God that
tells you of some that speak evil of the things that they understood not they did reprehend that which they could not comprehend Ignorance is a breeding sin a mother sin all sins are seminally in ignorance ignorance is the mother of all the mistakes and of all the misrule in the world Christ told the Sadduces Mat. 22.29 That they did err not knowing the Scriptures and so I may say many err in crying down such signs and evidences of grace which are bottomed upon Scripture because they are ignorant of what the Scripture saith in the case But Fifthly The generality of Christians are but Lambs Babes and Children in grace Isa 40.11 2 Pet. 2.2 3. 1 John 2.1 the springs of grace runs low in them their fears frequently over-top their faith and their strong passions and corruptions do often raise such a dust and smoak in their souls that 〈◊〉 they might have all the world yea if their salvation lay upon it they were not able to discern the least measure of grace in their own souls A little grace is next to none small things are hardly discerned he had need to have a clear light and good eyes that is to discern a hair a mote or an atome A little grace is not discoverable but by a shining light from above There are none so full of fears and doubts and questions and disputes about the truth of their faith in Christ and the sincerity of their love to Christ as those that least believe and least love The Kingdom of God in most Christians Mark 4.30 31 32. is but as a grain of mustard-seed which is the least of all seeds and therefore 't is no wonder they see it not The root of the matter in most Christians is but small and that small root is often covered over with many sinful infirmities and weaknesses and therefore we are not to look upon it as a strange thing if we see such Christians not sensible of the root of the matter that is in them Weak habits put forth such faint actions and with so much interruption that it is not an easie thing to discern whether they are the products of special or of common grace Now most Christians having but small measures of grace holiness and sanctification in them and these small measures being much obscured and buried under the prevalency of fears doubts and unmortified lusts can speak but weakly and darkly for them upon this ground they are not fond of bringing in this witness of sanctification to speak for them In civil Courts men are not ambitious to bring such witnesses to the Bar as can witnes but weakly faintly in their case T is so here Sixthly Satan is a grand enemy to the peace joy comfort assurance settlement and satisfaction of every poor Christian and therefore he will leave no stone unturn'd nor no means unattempted Psal 77. Psal 88. whereby he may keep them in a low dark unsettled and uncomfortable condition When once a poor soul is brought over to Christ how does the Devil bestir himself to keep such a soul so under fears doubts and bondage as that it may not in the least have an eye to any thing that may have a proper tendency to its comfort joy assurance peace or quiet The Devil will do all he can to furnish such as arâ—â—egotten again by the resurrection of Christ from the dead with all sorts of deadly weapons one of his Armoury to fight against those Arguments and evidences which make for the peace and comfort of their own souls He that shall look seriously and impartially upon the subtile close strong 2 Sam. 2.19 and rhetorical arguings of many distressed Christians above their own natural parts against the peace rest comfort and settlement of their own souls may safely conclude that a hand of Joab a hand of Satan yea a strong hand of Satan has been with them He that shall please to read the life of Francis Spira though he be no great Philosopher yet he may easily discern with what subtilty and wonderful 2 Cor. 11.14 Sophistry Satan helpâ— him to argue against the pardonableness of his sins and the possibility of his salvation Satan knows how to transform himself into an Angel of light Satan does not alwayes appear in one and the same fashion but he appears in as many several shapes fashions and changes as Proteus did among the Poets To deceive some he has assumed a lightsom body as if he were an Angel of heaven as if he had been a holy one cloathed with the brightness of celestial glory To deceive others he has appeared as an Angel of light suggesting such things to them and injecting such things into them under fair and specious shews and pretences of Religion Piety Zeal and Holiness which have had a direct tendency to the dishonour of God the wounding of Christ the grieving of the Spirit the clouding or denying their evidences for heaven the strangling of their hopes and the death of all their comforts and joy But Seventhly and lastly Some Christians live under high enjoyments and singular manifestations of God's love to them they have God every day a shedding abroad of his love into their hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 Psal 63.2 3 4. God is every day a filling their souls with life light love glory and liberty Mat. 17.4 Christ every day takes them up into the Mount and makes such discoveries of himself and his glory to them that they are ready frequently to cry out Bonum est esse hic Dan. 9.22 23 Cant. 2.6 It is good to be here Christ often whispers them in the ear with an O man O woman greatly beloved Christ's left hand is every day under their heads and his right hand doth embrace them they sit down every day under his shadow with great delight and his fruit is sweet unto their taste he makes out every day such sweet and clear manifestations of his admirable favour to their hearts Psal 63.2 3 4 5. that their souls are daily satisfied as with marrow and fatness There are some precious Christians I say not all Cant. 8. I say not most who live daily under singular glances of divine glory and who are daily under the sensible embracements of God and who daily lye in the bosom of the Father Cant. 1.13 and who every night have Christ as a bundle of myrrh lying betwixt their breasts Now these choice souls who live daily in the glorious manifestations of the Spirit and enjoy a little heaven on this side heaven these many times are so taken up with their high communion with God with their spiritual enjoyments and with their tastes of the glory of that other world that they do not much mind such evidences as we have had under our consideration And thus much for the Reasons why some cry down Scripture marks signs and evidences of grace of holiness of sanctification and
wanting to relieve a people so that must needs be a well ordered Covenant where there is nothing wanting to govern poor souls or to relieve poor souls or to save poor souls and such a Covenant is the Covenant of grace And sure the Covenant of grace is a sure Covenant Jer. 31.31 33 35 36 37. Psal 19.7 Rev. 3.14 Isa 54.10 Deut. 7.9 The Lord thy God he is God the faithful God or the God of Amen which keepeth Covenant with them that love him Psal 89.33 My Covenant will I not break Hebrew I will not prophane nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips All God's precepts all God's predictions all God's menaces and all God's promises are the issue of a most just faithful and righteous will God can neither dye nor lye Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began There are three things that God can't do 1. He can't dye Nor 2. He can't lye Nor 3. He can't deny himself Josh 23.14 And behold this day I am going the way of all the earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof O Sirs the Covenant of grace is bottomed upon God's everlasting love John 13.1 upon Gods unchangable love upon God's free love whom God loves once he loves for ever Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love God can as well cease to be as he can cease to love those whom he has taken into Covenant with himself And as the Covenant of grace is bottomed upon God's everlasting love so 't is bottomed upon Gods immutable counsel Heb. 6.17 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath And as the Covenant of grace is bottomed upon the immutable counsel of God so it is bottomed upon the free purpose of God 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standeth sure that is the decree and purpose of God's election stands firm and sure Now the purpose of God's election is compared to a foundation because it is that upon which all our happiness and blessedness is built and bottomed and because as a foundation it abides firm and sure And as the Covenant of grace is bottomed upon the free purpose of God so 't is bottomed upon the glorious power of God The power of God is an infinite power Isa 33.11 Isa 41.2 Mal. 4.1 1 Cor. 1.25 it is a supream power a power that overtops the power of all mortals What 's the stubble to the flames the chaff to the whirlwind no more is all created power to the power of God The weakness of God is stronger than men and did not Pharaoh find it so and Haman find it so and Sennacherib find it so and Nebuchadnezzar find it so and Belshazzar find it so and Herod find it so In all the ages of the world the power of God hath bore down all before it the power of God is an independant power a matchless power an incomparable power an enduring power an eternal power And as the Covenant of grace is bottomed upon the power of God Heb. 6.17 18 Psal 89.34 35. so it is bottomed upon the oath of God Luke 1.72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy Covenant Ver. 73. The oath which he sware to our father Abraham To think that God will break his oath or be perjured is an intollerable blasphemy Once more give me leave to say the Covenant of grace is bottomed not only upon the oath of God but also upon the precious blood of Christ The blood of Christ is called the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 Mat. 26.28 This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Heb. 9.15 And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the fiâ—st Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Ver. 17. A Testament is of force after men are dead It is called a Covenant and a Testament 1. A Covenant in respect of God and a Testament in respect of Christ 2. A Covenant in respect of the manner of agreement and a Testament in respect of the manner of confirming Jesus Christ died as a Testator and by his death confirmed the Testamentary gift before made of Life and Salvation Now the Covenant of grace being thus gloriously bottomed as you seâ— it must roundly and undeniably follow that thâ— Covenant of grace is a sure Covenant For this is all my salvation and all my desire i. e. This is the great ground of all my hope concerning my salvation and of all the happiness and blessedness which I look for in another world This everlasting Covenant this sure Covenant is the great Charter of Charters that I have to shew for eternal bliss David was drawing neer to his eternal home and whether his graces and gracious evidences for heavens happiness were bright and shining or blotted and clouded I shall not at this time stand to enquire it is enough that he stayes his soul upon the Covenant of grace and that he comforts and solaces his soul in the Covenant of grace And O that all Christians when their graces and gracious evidences are either clouded or blotted or else sparkling and shining that they would frequently eye these three royal Forts viz. 1. The free-grace and favour of God 2. The Mediatory righteousness of Christ 3. The Covenant of grace Now that I may the more effectually prevail with you to look upon these royal Forts and to delight in these royal Forts and to prize these royal Forts and to improve these royal Forts Give me leave to offer these three things briefly to your consideration First Our best graces and performances are not commensurate and square payment in the eyes of pure justice all of them as inherent in us and acted by us are but imperfect excellencies No man hath so much grace and holiness as is required nor doth he so much as he is obliged to do Every particular grace though it be of an heavenly and divine original yet it is like the Stars twinkling though placed in the heavens so that if God should enter into judgment with the most righteous person even the righteousness that is in him Psal 143.2 Job 14.3 4. Rom. 3.20 would not be safety and defence unto him for what a deal of pride have we mixt with a little humility and what a deal of passion have we mixt with a little meekness and what a deal of hypocrisie have we mixt with a little sincerity and what a deal of earthly-mindedness have we
This is made good by ten Arguments Page 60 to 65 Six considerable things about probabilities of grace Page 65 66 67 68 69 If a Christian can't say he has grace yet he should not say he has no grace for he may have grace and yet not know it Page 81 82 He that prizes the least dram of grace above ten thousand thousand worlds certainly that man has true grace in him Page 200 T is the wisdom and ought to be the work of every Christian to own the least measure of grace that is in him though it be mixed and mingled with many weaknesses infirmities Page 332 333 'T is the wisdom and should be the work of every Christian to look upon all his graces and gracious evidences as favours given him from above as gifts dropt out of heaven into his heart as flowers of Paradise stuck in his bosom by a divine hand Page 333 334 335 When you look upon your graces in the light of the spirit it highly concerns you to look narrowly to it that you don't renounce and reject your graces as weak and worthless evidences of your interest in Christ c. Page 335 336 337 The spirit does four things in respect of our graces Page 348 Christians may safely rejoyce in their graces Page 349 350 351 The more grace any man hath the more clear the more fair the more full the more sweet will his evidences be for heaven c. Page 378 379 380 381 382 When your graces are strongest and your evidences for heaven are clearest and your comforts rise-highest then in a special manner it concerns you to make it your great business and work to act faith afresh upon the free rich and glorious grace of God and upon the Lord Jesus Christ Page 382 383 384 385 H Of the hatred of sin An Hypocrite can't hate sin as sin Page 303 304 305 True hatred of sin includes six things Page 305 306 307 308 Of the heart and of keeping of it Where the constant standing frame of a mans heart desires and endeavâ—urs are set for God Christ Grace Holiness there is a most sure and infallible work of God upon that mans soul Page 127 128 129 130 131 132 A gracious heart is an uniform heart Page 161 162 163 164. A gracious heart sets himself most against his darling sin his bosom sin his constitution sin c. Page 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 He that has given up his heart and life to the Rule Authority and Government of Christ he has a saving work of God upon him Page 203 204 That man that will cleave to Christ with full purpose of heart that man shall certainly be saved Page 204 205 That man that makes it his principle care his main business his work of works to look to his heart to watch his heart to reform his heart that man doubtless hath a saving work of God upon his heart Page 205 206 207 208 209 210 Ten wayes shewing how men should keep their hearts Page 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 There are many that are great strangers to their own hearts Page 339 Of Hypocrites First an Hypocrites inside is never answerable to his outside An Hypocrites inside is one thing and his outside another thing Page 287 288 Secondly no Hypocrite under heaven is totally divorced from the love and liking of every known sin Page 288 289 290 291 Thirdly an Hypocrites heart is never throughly subdued to a willingness to perform all known duties Page 291 292 293 Fourthly There is never an Hypocrite in the world that makes God or Christ or holiness or his doing or receiving good in his Station Relation or Generation his grand end his highest end his ultimate end of living in this world Page 294 295 296 297 Fifthly no Hypocrite under heaven can live wholly and only upon the righteousness of Christ the satisfaction of Christ the merits of Christ for justification and salvation Page 297 298 299 300 Sixthly an Hypocrite never embraces a whole Christ he can never take up his full rest satisfaction and content in the person of Christ in the merits of Christ in the enjoyment of Christ alone Page 300 301 302 303 Seventhly an Hypocrite can't mourn for sin as sin nor grieve for sin as sin nor hate sin as sin nor make head against sin as sin Page 303 304 305 Eighthly no Hypocrite is habitually low or little in his own eyes no hypocrite has ordinarily mean thoughts of himself or a poor esteem of himself Page 308 309 310 311 312 Ninthly no Hypocrite will long hold out in the work and wayes of the Lord in the want of outward incouragements and in the face of outward discouragements Page 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 Tenthly no hypocrite ever makes it his business his work to bring his heart into religious duties and services Page 318 319 320 321 Eleventhly an hypocrite never performs religious duties from spiritual principles nor in a spiritual manner Page 321 322 323 324 325 Twelfthly no hypocrite in the world loves the Word or delights in the Word or prizes the Word as 't is a holy Word a spiritual Word a beautiful Word a pure Word a clean word Page 325 326 327 328 329 Thirteenthly and lastly an hypocrite can't endure to be tryed and searcht and laid open Page 329 330 331 I Of judging our selves We must not judge our selves Hypocrites by those things that â—he Scripture never makes a character of an Hypocrite Page 74 75 76 77. We must not judge our selves hypocrites for such things which being admitted and granted to be true would unavoidably prove the whole generation of the faithful to be Hypocrites Page 77 78 79 In judging of our spiritual estates and conditions we must alwayes have an eye to our natural tempers complexions c. Page 79 80 81 Of judgments Spiritual judgments are the worst of judgments Page 338 L Of love to the Saints No man can truly love grace in another but he that has true grace in his own soul Page 189 190 Six wayes whereby men may certainly know whether their love to the Saints be real or not Page 190 to 200 M Of singular manifestations Some Christians live under the singular manifestations of divine love Page 341 342 Of Melancholy The evil effects of Melancholy Page 72 73 74 Of merciful men Such as are truly and graciously merciful are blessed c. Page 34 35 36 Of true mourners Such as are true mourners are blessed Page 32 N Of Name and of a great Name Many Professors take up in a great Name Page 337 338. O Of Obedience If your obedience springs from faith then your estate is good then you have assuredly an infallible work of God upon your souls Page 132 Seven wayes to know when your obedience is the obedience of faith with the resolution of some considerable questions about obedience worthy of serious consideration Page 132 to 161 P Of the Promises The
that have not the image of God the image of grace and holiness stampt upon them I pray God saith Mr. Marshal that many of God's people do not want these evidences If our souls saith another shall like of Christ for a Suiâ—or when we find no other jointure but the Cross Mr. Dod on the commandments page 313 314. we may be sure we are Christians A man may want the feeling of his faith and cry and call again and again for it and feel nothing all this while and yet nevertheless have true and sound faith For the feeling of and mourning for the want of faith and the earnest and constant desire of it is an infallible sign of faith For this is a sure Rule that so long as one feeleth himself sick he is not dead and the high estimation of faith joined with a vehement desire of it is a singular evidence that there is a sound and lively root of faith in our hearts 1. Pet. 1.2 Mr. Love his zealous Christian pag. 29. last part All the elect of God shall have the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ upon their hearts sooner or later I do not press the having of these things gradually but sincerely an elect person may want many a degree of grace but if he have them in sincerity Dr. Sibbs his commentary on the first Chapter of the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ver 22. pag. 491 492. though in the least measure it is a sufficient evidence of his election An earnest is little in regard of the whole perhaps we have but a shilling to secure us of many pounds so then the point is this That howsoever we may be assured of our estate in grace and likewise that we shall hold out yet the ground of this assurance is not from any great measure of grace but though t be little in quantity it may be great in assurance and security As we value an earnest not for the worth that is in it self but because it assures us of a great bargain we have an eye more to the consummation of the bargain than to the quantity of the earnest so it is here grace is but an earnest yet notwithstanding though it be little as an earnest is yet it is great in assurance and validity answerable to the relation of that it hath to assure us Though grace be little yet as little as it is seeing it is an earnest and the first fruits as the Apostle saith which were but little in regard of the whole harvest yet it is of the nature of the whole and thereupon it comes to secure A spark of fire is but little yet it is fire as well as the whole element of fire and a drop of water is but little yet it is water as well as the whole Ocean When a man is in a dark place put the case it be in a dungeon if he have but a â—ittle light shining into him from a little crevice that little light discovers that the day is broke that the Sun is risen Put the case there be but one grape on a Vine it shews that it is a Vine and that the Vine is not dead So put the case that there be but the appearance of a little grace in a Christian perhaps the Spirit of God appears but in one grace in him at that time yet that one grace sheweth that we are Vines and not thistles or thorns or base plants and it shews that there is life in the root Thus you see how fully this Reverend Doctor speaks to the case That friend that writes the life and death of Mr. John Marcol once Preacher of the Gospel at Dublin saith See his Treatise published by Mr. Winter Mr. Chambers Mr. Eaton Mr. Carryl and Mr. Mantou pag. 36 37. That in preparation for the Supper-Ordinance he would bring himself unto the Test and to say the truth was very clear in the discovering and making out his own condition being well acquainted with the way of Gods dealing with the soul and with the way of the souls closing with Christ Instance April 3. 1653. Upon search I find 1. My self an undone creature 2. That the Lord Jesus sufficiently satisfied as Mediator the Law for sin 3. That he is freely offered in the Gospel 4. So far as I know my own heart I do through mercy heartily consent that he only shall be my Saviour not my works or duties which I do only in obedience to him 5. If I know my heart I would be ruled by his Word and Spirit Behold in a few words saith he that writes his life and death the sum and substance of the Gospel By these Instances we may see that some of the precious servants of God have found a great deal of comfort support rest content and some measure of assurance from a lower rank of evidences than those that many strong Christians do reach unto c. But The seventh Maxim or Consideration SEventhly consider That all men and women that are desirous to know how it will go with them in another world they must peremptorily resolve to be determined by Scripture in the great matters of their interest in Christ the blessed Scripture is the great uncontroverted Rule This we believe when we first begin to believe that we ought not to believe any thing beyond Scripture Tertullian and therefore if a person can prove from Scripture that his graces are true or that he is in a gracious estate or that he has an interest in Christ or that he has sayingly graciously stricken Covenant with God then he must resolutely and peremptorily resolve to grant so much as unchangably to acquiesce in it to stick fast to it and to hear nothing against it from the world the flesh or the devil God hath plainly told us in his blessed Word who shall be saved and who shall be damned though not by name yet by the qualifications by which they are described in the Bible there are the Statute-Laws of heaven and the standing Rule by which all must be tryed every man must stand or fall be eternally blessed or eternally miserable as his condition is consonant to or various from the infallible characters of saving grace contained in the holy Scripture witness that Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light or no morning in them So John 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day Mat. 5.18 For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass on jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled So John 10.35 And the Scripture cannot be broken or violated or made void but though this be an indispensable duty yet certainly there is especially in
fear O to what a height of holy boldness and familiarity with God had this man of God arrived to But Ninethly a godly man may argue thus To such who are poor in spirit the Kingdom of heaven belongs Mat. 5.3 By poor in spirit is not meant poor in substance that not being a thing praise worthy in it self Chrysost in loc but the broken and humble in heart who hath no high thoughts or conceits of himself but is lowly in his own eyes as a young child Blessed are the poor in spirit that is non habentes inflantem spiritum who hath no lofty or puffed up spirit Augustin Hilar. Tertullian The poor in spirit are those that are lowly being truly conscious of their own unworthiness Nulli pauperes spiritu nisi humiles none are poor in spirit but the humble Blessed are the poor in spirit that is blessed are they whose spirits are brought into such an humble gracious frame as willingly quietly and contentedly to lye down in a poor low condition when it is the pleasure of the Lord to bring them into such a condition Blessed are the poor in spirit that is blessed are they who are truly and kindly apprehensive and sensible of their spiritual wants poverty and misery There are some that are poor in estate and others that are poor in spirit and there are some that are poor spirited in the cause of God Christ the Gospel and their own souls and there are others that are poor in spirit there are some that are spiritually poor as all are that are destitute of grace and others that are poor in spirit there are some that are Evangelically poor and others that are superstitiously poor as those Papists who renounce their estates and vow a voluntary poverty The poverty that hath blessedness annexed to it is only an Evangelical poverty that see their need of God's free grace to pardon them that see their need of Christs righteousness to cloath them that see their need of the Spirit of Christ to purge change and sanctifie them that see their need of more heavenly wisdom to counsel them that see their need of more of the power of God to support them and of the goodness of God to supply them and of the mercy of God to comfort them and of the presence of God to refresh them and of the patience of God to bear with them c. that see their need of greater measures of faith to conquer their fears and of greater measures of wisdom to walk holily harmlesly blâ—mlesly and exemplarily in the midst of temptations snares and dangers and that see their need of greater measures of patience to bear their burdens without fretting or fainting and that see their need of greater measures of zeal and courage to bear up bravely against all sorts of opposition both from within and from without and that see their need of greater measures of love to cleave to the Lamb and to follow the Lamb whither ever he goes and that see their need of living in a continual dependance upon God and Christ for fresh influences in-comes and supplies of grace of comfort of strength whereby they may be inabled to act for God and walk with God and glorifie God and bring forth fruit to God and withstand all temptations that tend to lead the heart from God and that see nothing in themselves upon which they dare venture their everlasting estates and therefore flie to the free rich sovereign and glorious grace of God in Christ as to their sure and only sanctuary Luke 18.13 Phil. 3.9 Blessed are the poor in spirit that is blessed are they that are truly apprehensive and sensible of their spiritual poverty that see themselves fallen in the first Adam from all their primitive purity excellency and glory There are five things we lost in our fall 1. Our holy Image and became vile 2. Our Sonship and became slaves 3. Our Friendship and became enemies 4. Our Communion and became strangers 5. Our Glory and became miserable And that see an utter inability and insufficiency in themselves and in all other creatures to deliver them out of their fallen estate But I am poor in spirit therefore the Kingdom of heaven belongs to me Tenthly a godly man may argue thus Such as are true mourners are blessed shall be comforted Mat. 5.3 That is such as mourn for sin with an exceeding great mourning that mourn for sin with a funeral sorrow as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies that mourn for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beati lugentes Blessed are they that mourn The way to Paradise is through the valley of tears Some report of Mary Magdalen that she spent thirty years in Galba weeping forâ—er sins as a man mourneth for the loss of his only Son Zech. 12.10 or as Jacob mourned for Joseph or as David mourned for Absalom or as the people mourned for the loss of good Josiah 2 Chron. 35.24 25. That mourn for secret sins as well as open for sins against grace as well as for sins against the Law that mourn for sin as the greatest evil in the world that mourns for his own sins Ezek. 7.16 as David did Psal 51. or as Ephraim did Jer. 31.18 19. or as Peter did Mat. 26.75 or as Mary Magdalen did Luke 7.38 And that mourns for the sins of others as well as for his own as David did Psa 119.136 158. and as Jeremiah did Jer. 13.17 or as Lot did 2 Pet. 2.7 8. or as they did in that Ezek. 9.4 That mourns under the sense of his spiritual wants that mourns under the sense of his spiritual losses as loss of communion with God loss of the favour of God loss of the presence of God loss of the exercise of grace loss of the joyes of the Spirit loss of inward peace c. or that mourn not only for their own afflictions and miseries but also for the afflictions and miseries of Joseph as Nehemiah did Neh. 1.2 3 4 or as Ieremiah did Ier. 9.1.2 or as Christ did when he wept over Ierusalem Luke 19.41 42. or that mourns because he cannot mourn for these things or that mourns because he can mourn no more or that mourns because God has so little honour in his heart in his house in his life in the world in the Churches But I am a true mourner therefore I am blessed and shall be comforted Eleventhly a godly man may argue thus They which truly hunger and thirst after righteousness are blessed and shall be filled Mat. 5.6 They are not therefore blessed because they hunger and thirst but because they shall be filled blessedness will be in fulness not in hunger but hunger must go before filling that we may not loath the loaves Aug. de verbis Domini Serm. 5. Or they that are hungring and thirsting as the Greek runs being the participle of the present tense intimating that where ever this is the present disposition of
mens souls they are blessed He that sees an absolute necessity of the righteousness of Christ to justifie him and to inable him to stand boldly before the throne of God he that sees his own righteousness to be but as filthy rags Isa 64.4 to be but as dross and dung Phil. 3.7 8. He that sees the Lord Jesus Christ with all his riches and righteousness clearly and freely offered to poor sinners in the everlasting Gospel he that in the Gospel-glass sees Christ to be made sin for them that knew no sin that they may be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5 21. He that in the same glass sees Christ to be made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to all those that are sincerely willing to make a venter of their immortal souls and eternal estates upon him and his righteousness and he that sees the righteousness of Christ to be a most perfect pure compleat spotless matchless Some take hungering and thirsting here litterally comparing of it with Luke 6.21 Others understand the words morally by hungering and thirsting they understand a moral hunger and thirst which is when men hunger and thirst for justice and judgment to be rightly executed Psal 119.5 10 20 131. Judg. 15.18 1 Chron. 11.18 Psal 42.1 2. infinite righteousness and under these apprehensions and perswasions is carried out in earnest and unsatisfied hungerings and thirstings to be made a partaker of this righteousness and to be assured of this righteousness and to put on this righteousness as a royal robe Isa 61.10 he is the blessed soul and he that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of Christ imparted as well as after the righteousness of Christ imputed after the righteousness of sanctification as well as after the righteousness of justification he is a blessed soul and shall at last be filled The righteousness of sanctification or inherent righteousness lyes in the spirits infusing into the soul those holy principles divine qualities or supernatural graces that the Apostle mentions in that Gal. 5.22 23. These habits of grace which are severally distinguished by the names of faith love hope meekness c. are nothing else but the new nature or new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 He that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of sanctification out of a deep serious sense of his own unrighteousness he that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of sanctification as earnestly as hungery men do for meat or as thirsty men do for drink or as the innocent person that is falsly charged or accused longs to be cleared and righted or as Rachel did for children or as David did after the water of the Well of Bethlehem or as the hunted Hart doth after the water brooks he that hungers and thirsts not after some righteousness only but he that hungers and thirsts after all righteousness he that hungers and thirsts not only after some grace but all grace not only after some holiness but all holiness he that hungers and thirsts after righteousness out of love to righteousness he that hungers and thirsts after righteousness from a sight and sense of the loveliness and excellency that there is in righteousness Phil. 3 10-15 he that hungers and thirsts after the highest degrees and measures of righteousness and holiness Psal 63.1.8 Jer. 15.16 he that primarily chiefly hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness he that industriously hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness he that ordinarily habitually constanly hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times By judgments we are to understand the statutes and commandments of God Mark that word at all times Bad men have their good moods as good men have their bad moods A bad man may under gripes of conscience a smarting rod the approaches of death or the fears of hell or when he is Sermon-sick cry out to the Lord for grace for righteousness for holiness but he is the only blessed man that hungers and thirsts after righteousness at all times and that hungers and thirsts after righteousness according to the other forementioned short hints he is certainly a blessed man heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven that hungers and thirsts in a right manner after the righteousness of justification and after the righteousness of sanctification But I do truly hunger and thirst after righteousness therefore I am blessed and shall be filled c. Twelfthly A godly man may argue thus Such as are truly and graciously merciful are blessed and shall obtain mercy Mat. 5.7 Micha 6.8 Luke 6.36 August de civit Dei 9.13 Mercy is a commiserating of another mans misery in our hearts or a sorrow for another mans distress or a heart-grieving for another mans grief arising out of an unfeigned love unto the party afflicted Or more plainly thus Mercy is a pitying of another mans misery with a desire and endeavour to help him to the uttermost of our ability The Hebrew for godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chasid signifies gracious merciful The more godly any man is the more merciful that man will be Blessed are the merciful that is blessed are they that shew mercy to others out of a deep sense of the mercy of God to them in Christ Blessed are such who shew mercy out of love to mercy out of a delight in mercy blessed are such as shew mercy out of love and obedience to the God of mercy blessed are such as shew mercy to men in misery upon the account of the image of God the glory of God that is stampt upon them blessed are such as extend their piety and mercy not only to mens bodies but also to their precious and immortal souls Soul-mercy is the chief of mercies the soul is the most precious jewel in all the world it is a vessel of honour 't is a spark of glory 't is a bud of eternity 't is the price of bloud 't is beautified with the image of God 't is adorned with the grace of God and 't is cloathed with the righteousness of God such are blessed as shew mercy to others from gracious motives and considerations viz. 'T is free mercy that every day keeps hell and my soul asunder 't is mercy that daily pardons my sins 't is mercy that supplies all my inward and outward wants 't is mercy that preserves and feeds and cloaths my outward man and 't is mercy that renews strengthens and prospers my inward man 't is mercy that has kept me many times from committing such and such sins 't is mercy that has kept me many a time from falling before such and such temptations 't is mercy that has many a time preserved me from being swallowed up by such and such inward and outward afflictions Such as shew mercy out of a design to exalt and glorifie
the God of mercy such who shew most mercy to them to whom God shews most mercy these are blessed and shall obtain mercy Now mark to such who are thus graciously thus spiritually thus divinely merciful do these precious promises belong Psal 41.1 Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy Prov. 22.9 He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor Prov. 14.21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth but he that hath mercy on the p or happy is he Prov. 11.25 The liberal soul shall be made fâ—t and â—he that watereth shall be watered also himself That 2 Cor. 9.8 is very remarkable And God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye alwayes having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work Behold how words are here heaped up to make grace and all grace and all grace to abound and who is it to unto the liberal man the merciful man Job 29.13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy Luke 6.38 Give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom Behold and wonder at the height of these expressions that you have in this Text we account it good measure when it is heaped up but when it is heaped up and pressed down that 's more but when it 's heaped up and pressed down and then heaped up and running over again this is as much as possible can be made this is as much as heart can wish O Sirs those that are of merciful spirits they shall have mercy heaped up pressed down and running over certainly that man must needs be in a happy and blessed condition that can be in no condition wherein he shall not have mercy yea mercy heaped up and running over to supply all his necessities Mat. 25.35 Come ye blessed of my father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world Come ye blessed that 's their estate receive the kingdom that 's the issue and reward and why so I was hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink c. But I am truly and graciously merciful therefore I am blessed and shall obtain mercy c. But Thirteenthly A godly man may argue thus They that are pure in heart are blessed and shall see God that is enjoy him and live for ever with him Mat. 5.8 But I am pure in heart therefore I am blessed and shall see God By the pure in heart here in the Text we may safely understand the sincere and single hearted Christian 1 Tim. 1.5 Jam. 1.8 1 Pet. 1.22 Prov. 20.6 Eccl. 2.21 1 John 1.8 James 10.3 John 3.2 Luke 1.5 6. in opposition to the double minded Christian as you may easily perceive by comparing the Scriptures in the margent together Mark purity is two-fold First simple and absolute and in this sense no man is pure in this life no not one Secondly respective and in part and that is the purity here meant A pure heart is a plain simple heart without fraud or guile like Nathaniel in whom there was no gâ—ile 't is a heart that is evangelically blameless and sincere But secondly purity is opposed to mixture purity consists in the immixedness of any thing inferior that metal we account pure metal which hath not any baser than it self mixed with it if you mix gold with silver the silver is not made impure by the mixture of gold but if you mix lead or tin with it it 's made impure Remember once for all viz. that a pure heart is such a one as hath cast off and cast out the love and allowance of every known sin and mingles not with it though never so small such a heart as hath renounced every known way of sin though there is corruption remaining in it c. yet it can solemnly and seriously appeal to God that there is no known way of sin but it hates and abhors and strives against and will upon no terms allow of This heart in the language of the Gospel is a pure heart yea 't is such a heart as dares venture upon the trial of God himself Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me or any way of pain or of grief or of provocation as the Hebrew hath it or any course of sin that is grievous to God or man A gracious heart a pure heart can neither allow of any way of wickedness nor wallow in any way of wickedness nor make a trade of any way of wickedness nor give up it self to any way of wickedness Though sin may cleave to a pure heart as dross doth to silver yet a pure heart will not mix nor mingle with sin and lead me in the way everlasting or in the way of eternity or in the way of antiquity as the Hebrew hath it that is Jâ—r 6.16 that good old way that leads to peace and rest to heaven and happiness Evangelical purity of heart lies in this that it will not admit any known sin to mingle with the frame and purpose of the heart a pure heart like a pure fountain will still be a working and a casting out the mud and filth that is in it Though sin may cleave to a regenerate man as dross doth to the silver yet it mingles not with the regenerate part nor the regenerate part mingles not with it no more than oyl mingles with the water or water mingles with the oyl Now you know though the water and the oyl touch one another yet they do not mingle one with another so though grace and sin in a regenerate man may as it were touch one another yet they don't mingle one with another Dear hearts look as we truly say that that gold is pure gold that is digged out of the Mineral though much dross may hang about it and as we truly say that such and such an Air is pure Air though at times there be many fogs and mists within it and as we truly say that such and such springs are pure springs though mud and dirt and filth may be lying at the bottom of those springs and as we truly say that face is a fair face though it hath some freckles in it so we may as truly say that such and such a heart is a pure heart though there may be much sinful dross and filth cleaving to it The Jews report that when Noah sent forth his sons to people the world he delivered to every one of them some Reliques of old Adam it may be fabulous for the history but 't is true in the morality the Reliques of his sinful corruptions cleaves close to us all Beloved the best the wisest the holiest and the most mortified Christians on
that Jesus Christ may still set up his Laws in my heart and exercise his dominion over me Now doubtless there is not the weakest Christian in the world but can venture himself upon such an appeal to God as this is and without all peradventure where such a frame and temper of spirit is there the dominion of Jesus Christ is set up and where the dominion of Christ is set up there sin has no dominion Mat. 6.24 but where the dominion of Christ is not set up there sin is in full dominion Christ's dominion cannot consist with sins dominion nor sins dominion cannot consist with Christ's dominion Now by these eight things if men are not resolved before hand to put a cheat upon their own souls they may know whether their sins have dominion over them or no and so accordingly conclude for or against themselves But Fifteenthly and lastly A godly man may argue thus There is no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh Walking in Scripture signifies to hold on a course of life Gen. 5.22 17.1 but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 But I walk not after the flesh but after the spirit therefore there is no condemnation to me Walking after the flesh notes a course of sin and walking after the spirit notes a course of godliness Now to such as keep off from a course of sin and that keep on in a course of godliness there is no condemnation there is not one condemnation for God the father won't condemn such a person nor Jesus Christ won't condemn such a person nor the holy spirit won't condemn such a person nor the word of grace won't condemn such a person nor no commandment or threatnings will condemn such a person no nor such a mans own heart nor conscience if it be rightly informed won't condemn him and therefore well may the holy Ghost say to such a one there is no condemnation to such a one there is not one condemnation c. ☞ Now thus you see by comparing spiritual things with spiritual things and by a rational arguing from Scripture a man may attain unto a comfortable certainty of his gracious state and safely and groundedly conclude his interest in Christ Now this assurance of Gods favour by the witnessing of our own spirits which assurance is deduced by way of argument syllogistically is more easily attained than many may I not say than most Christians imagine for let a gracious man but clear himself of heart-condemning sins 1 Joh. 3.20 21. and rationally argue as before has been hinted and he will speedâ—ly reach to some comfortable supporting soul-satisfying and soul-quieting assurance there being an infallible connexion between the forementioned graces and future glory These fifteen arguments may well be lookt upon as fifteen sure and infallible evidences of the goodness and happiness of a Christians estate O that you would often every day think on this viz. That the undoubted verity of Gods promises proveth an inseparable connexion between true faith and eternal glory John 3.14 15 16. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 5.24 Verily verily these serious asseverations or protestations amount almost to an oath I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life He hath it in the promise he hath it in the first Fruits Rom. 8.23 he hath it in the earnest Ephes 1.13 14. and he hath it in Christ his Head Ephes 2.6 Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is Baptised shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Sion a chief Corner stone Elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded John 6.40 And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Verse 47. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting Life John 2.25 Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Verse 26. And whosoever liveth and believeâ—h in me shall never dye John 20.31 But these are written that ye may believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Look as certainly as the unbeliever shall be cast into outer darkness so certainly shall the Believer be partaker of the glorious inheritance of the Saints in light for certainly the Promises are as true as the threatnings Acts 16.30 31. Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Josh 23.14 chap. 21.45 The Apostle speaks not doubtingly perhaps thou shalt be saved nor they do not say Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and it may be thou mayest go to Heaven but they speak boldly confidently peremptorily believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved O my Soul what greater certainty and security can any man have than the infallible promise of that God that is truth it self who will not who cannot deny his word but the same love and free Grace that moved him to infuse grace into his childrens souls will move him also to keep the word that is gone out of his mouth and to make good whatever he hath promised thus you evidently see that the Promises prove an inseparable connexion between Grace and glory between Faith and everlasting Life so that let me but prove that I have a saving Faith and the Scriptures last cited prove infallibly that I shall be saved O labour as for life daily to give a firm and fixed assent to the truth of those blessed Promises last cited and hold it as an indisputable and inviolable Principle That whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ or whosoever hath received Christ as his Lord and Saviour shall be certainly saved 1 Tim. 1.15 1 John 1.9 Heb. 6.17 18. â—zek 32.11 and chap. 18.32 1 John 5.10.14 Jam. 2 19. This is the person that hath the Word the Promise the Covenant the Oath of that God that cannot possibly lye or dye for the pardon of his sin and for the Salvation of his Soul Now O my Soul what security couldest thou ask more of a deceitful man than that which the great Iehovah â—he faithful God of his own accord hath given to thee viz. his word and his Oath Now not to believe God upon his Promise and Oath is to make him a Lyar yea the worst of Lyars yea 't is
of Dispensations in his dealings with a man When God sets a man up before all the world as a mark to shoot at as he did Job Now a poor Christian is ready to doubt and conclude Job 7.20 c. 16.12 Surely the Lord has no regard of me he has no entire love for me his heart is not certainly towards me seeing all these sore tryals make so much against me but here the poor Christian is mistaken as Jacob once was Gen 42.36 And Jacob their Father said unto them Me have ye bereaved of my children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye will take Benjamin away all these things are against me Gen. 45.5 6 7 8 9. But Jacob was out for all those things made for him and for the preservation of the visible Church of God in the World Certainly all the afflictions that befall the people of God Rev. 3.19 Heb. 12.5 6. are but his love-tokens As many as I love I rebuke and chasten and therefore those Christians are miserably mistaken that take them for testimonies of his wrath and effects of his disfavour O Sirs what can be more absurd displeasing and provoking than for a Christian to make that an Argument of Gods hatred that he intends for an instance of his love and yeâ— Christians are apt thus to act It is observable the Apostle reckons affliction amongst Gods honoraries and tokens of respect Judg. 6.12 13. Exod. 17.7 Phil. 1.29 For to you t is given saith he not only to believe but also to suffer Which saith Father Latymer is the greatest promotion that God gives in this world Job 7.17 18. Job when he was himself could not but admire at it that God should make such an account of man and that he should so magnify him and dignify him as to think him worthy of a rod a whiping as to think him worth a melting Prov. 1.32 Psal 73.5 Eccles 9.1 2. and trying every morning yea every moment T is certain that great prosperity and worldly glory are no sure tokens of Gods love and t is as certain that great troubles and afflictions are no sure marks of Gods hatred and yet many poor Christians when the waters of affliction rise high and are ready to overflow them O how apt are they to conclude that God hates them and will revenge himself upon them and that they have nothing of God or Christ or the Spirit or Grace in them Or 5. Lam. 1.16 When the Spirit the Comforter stands afar off and witholds those special influences without which in a common ordinary way a Christian cannot divinely candidly clearly and impartially transact with God in order to his own peace comfort and settlement Or 6. When either a Christians evidences are not at hand or else they are so soiled darkned blotted and obscured as that he is not able to read them Psal 88. Job 33.10 It is an old saying that Melancholia est vehiculum Daemonum In the German proverb Luther sayes it goes for currant Caput Melancholicum diaboli Balneum The melancholy head is the Devils bathing place Or 7. When a Christian is extreamly opprest with melancholy Melancholy is a dark and dusky humor which disturbs both Soul and body and the cure of it belongs rather to the Physitian than to the Divine It is a most pestilent humor where it abounds one calls it Balneum Diaboli the Devils Bath t is a humor that unfits a man for all sorts of services but especially those that concern his soul his spiritual estate his everlasting condition The Melancholy person tyres the Physitian grieves the Minister wounds Relations and makes sport for the Devil There are 5 sorts of persons that the Devil makes his Ass to ride in triumph upon viz. the ignorant person the unbelieving person the proud person the hypocritical person and the Melancholy person Melancholy is a disease that works strange passions strange imaginations and strange conclusions It unmans a man it makes a man call good evil and evil good sweet bitter and bitter sweet light darkness and darkness light The distemper of the body oftentimes causeth distemper of soul for the Soul followeth the temper of the body A Melancholy spirit is a dumb spirit you can get nothing out of him Mat. 9.28 29. It is no more wonder to see a Melancholy man doubt and question his spiritual condition than it is to see a child cry when he is beaten or to hear a sick man groan or to hear a drowning man call out for a boat You may silence a Melancholy man when you are not able to comfort him Whilest Nebuchadnezzar was under the power of a deep Melancholy he could not tell whether he was a man or a Beast Melancholy is the mother of fears doubts disputes and discomforts and a deaf spirit you can get nothing into him Now of all the evil spirits we read of in the Gospel the dumb and the deaf were the worst darkness sadness solitariness heaviness mourning c. are the only sweet desirable and delightful companions of melancholy persons Melancholy makes every sweet bitter and every bitter seven times more bitter the melancholy person is marvellously prone to bid sleep farewel and joy farewel and meat farewel and friends farewel and Ordinances farewel and duties farewel and Promises farewel and Ministers farewel and his Calling farewel and t is well if he be not even ready to bid God farewel too Melancholy persons are like Idols that have eyes but see not and tongues but speak not and ears but hear not Melancholy turns truths into Fables and fables into truths it turns fancies into realities and realities into fancies Melancholy is a fire that burns inwards and is hard to quench Now if a Christian be under the power of natural or accidental Melancholy his work is not now to be a trying his estate or a casting up of his accounts to see what he is worth for another world but to use all such wayes and means as God hath prepared in a natural way for the cure of Melancholy for as the Soul is not cured by natural causes so the body is not cured by spiritual Remedies Now in the seven cases last mentioned a Christians work lyes rather in mourning self-judging self-loathing self-abhorring and in repenting and reforming and in fresh and frequent exercises of Faith on the Lord Jesus on his Blood on his Promises and on his free rich sovereign and glorious Grace â—hat is displayed and offered in the Gospel and in a patient waiting upon the Lord in the use of all holy and heavenly helps for deliverance out of his present straits tâ—yals and exercises then in falling upon that great work of casting up his spiritual accounts and of searching into the Records of glory to see whether his name be Registred in the Book of Life or no. O Sirs when poor Christians are bewildered their proper work is to cast themselves upon the
her and though she may often grieve provoke and displease her Husband yet as long as she remains faithful and truly loving and in the main obedient to him though he may alter his carriage towards her Jer. 3.12 14 22. Hos 14.4 Isa 43.22 to 26. ch 57.16 17 18 19. Every thing which is a ground of grief or sorrow to the people of God is not a sufficient ground of questioning their integrity or the goodness and happiness of their spiritual estates and conditions If upon every slip failing and infirmity a Christian should question all that ever was wrought in him and done by God upon him his life will certainly be made up of fears and doubts and he will never attain to any setled peace comfort or assurance or be able to live that life of joy praise and thankfulness that the Gospel calls for yet he will not withdraw his love from her or deny his relation to her No more will God towards his weak miscarrying ones as you may evidently see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margent together Doubtless there are many dear Christians whose troubles of Conscience about their spiritual and eternal estates arises from their looking upon God and dealing with God in a Covenant of Works Are there not many precious Christians who when they fall before temptations and are worsted by their corruptions that are ready to question all and throw up all as lost and peremptorily to conclude against their own Souls that all is naught very naught stark naught and that they are Hypocrites and that God will never own such as they are nor never accept of such as they are nor never delight in such as they are nor never have any thing to do with such as they are and all this because they do not a right understand the Covenant of Grace and think that they have to deal with God in a Covenant of Works Though many Christians do freely and readily acknowledg that there is a Covenant of Grace yet upon the least stirring of any corruption or the least conquest that is made upon them by the violence of any temptation they are so full of fears faintings reasonings diffidences and despondencies c. And they carry it so weakly and unworthily towards the Lord as if there were no Covenant of Grace at all or as if they had wholly and only to deal with God in a Covenant of works Now what a high dishonour is this to the free rich infinite sovereign and glorious Grace of God which so sparkles and shines in the Covenant of Grace and which tells us that our eternal estates shall never be judged by a Covenant of Works and that the want of an absolute perfection shall never damn a believing Soul and that the obedience that God requires at our hands is not a Legal but Evangelical O that all those dear Christians who are so apt to be dejected and overwhelmed upon the account of the prevalency of such and such corruptions and because they fail in keeping Covenant with God and in walking in a Covenant-relation with God I say O that all these would frequently and seriously consider of these three things First That so long as a Christian doth not renounce his Covenant with God so long as he doth not wilfully and wickedly break the bond of the Covenant the substance of the Covenant is not yet broken though some Articles of the Covenant may be violated Psal 89.30 to 35. 2 Sam. 23.5 while Christ lyes at the bottom of the Covenant it cannot be utterly broken As among men there be some trespasses against some particular clauses in Covenants which though they be violated yet the whole Covenant is not forfeited t is so here every jar every miscarriage doth not break the Marriage-Covenant no more doth every sin every miscarriage break the Covenant between God and the Soul Bâ—t Secondly Seriously consider that many weak Christians are much mistaken about the terms and condition of the Covenant of Grace they think that the condition of the Covenant is perfect and unsinning obedience whereas t is only sincere obedience Isa 54. Isa 7.8 9 10. Jer. 31.33 34 35 36 37. Mark that man sincerely obeyes and sincerely walks in Covenant with God who sincerely who heartily who ordinarily desires labours and endeavours to obey the Law of God the will of God and to walk in Covenant with God Mark particular actions do not denominate any estate it is the course of actions which doth denominate a mans walking in Covenant with God or his not walking in Covenant with God if his course of actions be sinful he walks not in Covenant with God but if his course of actions be holy and gracious he walks in Covenant with God Though the needle of the Seamans Compass may jog this way and that way yet the bent of the needle will still be Northward so though a Christian in Covenant with God may have his particular sinful joggings this way or that way yet the bent of his heart will still be to walk in Covenant with God But Thirdly Consider that infirmities aberrations of weakness do not nullify or evacuate our Covenant with God nor hinder our walking in Covenant with God for if they should then no man could possibly keep Covenant with God or walk in Covenant with God Infirmities God passes by and pardons in course and will never put them into the account and therefore they cannot hinder our walking in Covenant with God Breaches made in the first Covenant were irreparable but breaches made in the Covenant of Grace are not so because this Covenant is established in Christ who is still a making up all breaches Mark there are five things which shew that the deviations of Gods people are only infirmities and not enormities weaknesses and not wickednesses and the first is this viz. That they do frequently and principally arise from the subtilty and sudden power of Satans temptations 2. 1 Chron. 21.1 Rom. 7.15 16 19 23 24. That the frame of their spirits is against the evil that they do 3. Their daily cries tears and complaints speaks it out to be an infirmity they are in this particular like a lost sheep or a lost child or a lost friend 4. Though they do fall yet they rise again though they do step or wander out of the way yet they do return into the right way again 5. When they do fall there is a vast difference a mighty difference between their falls and the falls of wicked men that are not in Covenant with God and that first in respect of willingness 2. In respect of choice 3. In respect of affection 4. In respect of course 5. In respect of quietness 6. In respect of continuance Mark When wicked men fall when men out of Covenant with God fall then they fall willingly they fall out of choice they fall out of affection to fall they fall in a course they fall and they are quiet under
O what sweet communion what delightful communion what high communion what commodious communion what Soul-satisfying Soul-ravishing Soul-filling Soul-contenting communion with God does he then enjoy When the Child walks wisely and obedientially before his Father what sweet and delightful converses and communion is there between the Father and the Child but if the child walk foolishly stubbornly rebelliously disobediently the prudent Father will carry it severely strangely frowningly and at a distance though his heart be still full of love to his child and though he won't disinherit him yet he wont be familiar with him The application is easie c. Seventhly To keep down the body and to bring it into subjection to the soul 1 Cor. 9.27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection By spiritual exercises the Apostle d d subdue his flesh to the obedience and discipline of the spirit in former times they had several exercises as wrestling and running for the prize Now such as were slow pursie unweildy and lazy were cashiered they would not admit such to be of their society or company who wrestled and run for the prize Them that were admitted to those exercises kept their bodies at an under and did not pamper their bodies with dainties and delicates To these the Apostle alludes of idleness there comes no goodness when the spirit is not acting in that which is good that the flesh may be kept under the flesh will take an advantage to be very active in those things that are evil that the spirit may be kept under the flesh is like an unruly beast which through rest idleness and high feeding grows wild and masterless Now the only way to tame this beast is to work him hard so the way of wayes to keep the body under is to keep up the soul as much as may be in the full exercise of holiness and obedience such as have most pampered their bodies Deut. 32.13 14 15 16 17. Jer. 5.7 8 c. Rev. 3 16 17 18. have been the greatest enemies to their own souls and how many are there this day that pamper their bodies but starve their souls that adorn their bodies but defiles their soul that trick and trim up their bodies with gold and silver and silks whilst their souls are naked of all grace holiness and goodness like the Laodiceans of old The body it self if you set too high a price upon it will make a cheap soul a man may be as happy in Russet as in Tissue and he is certainly an unhappy man whose outside is his best side our bodies are but dirt handsomly tempered and artificially formed we derive our pedigree from the dust and are a kin to clay and therefore we need not scruple the keeping of it under by holy exercises and by all wayes of Gospel-obedience c. Eighthly To the profit and advantage both of sinners and Saints 1. To convince sinners to silence sinners and to stop the mouths of sinners let but one man that walks wisely humbly circumspectly convincingly exemplarily blamelesly come into a Town a Parish a Family made up of drunkards swearers Sabbath-breakers whore-masters c. and his holy walking will convince them and condemn them 1 Pet. 2.12 15. Chap. 3.13 16. 2. To the profit advantage and encouragement of the Saints The strict exact walking Christian provokes the slight loose Christian to mend his manners and to order his steps and conversation aright and the lively active Christian puts the dull heavy sluggish Christian to a blush and spurs and quickens him up to a more lively walking with God and the warm flaming zealous burning Christian puts heat and warmth into the cold formal frozen Christian and the free liberal bountiful Christian provokes others to be free noble and liberal for the supply of the necessities of the Saints 2 Cor. 9.1 2. Chap. 8.1 2 3 4 19 20 c. The ninth and last though not the least end is the honour and glory of the great God God's grace is the spring and God's glory is the end of all a Christians obedience God's glory is the ultimate end Rom. 14.7 8. Phil. 1.20 21. the primary end the universal end the Sea to which all a Christians actions like so many Rivers move and bend 'T is true many poor low mean base ends may creep into a Christians performances but here mark 1. They are disallowed 2. They are loathed and abhorred 3. They are resisted and striven against 4. They are lamented and mourned over 5. The gracious soul would willingly be rid of them if a Christian might have his choice he would never be troubled with any base end any more Beloved you must alwayes distinguish between a mans setled and his suggested ends a mans setled end may be one things and his suggested end another thing Now for ever remember this That the great God alwayes makes a judgement of men according to their setled ends according to the universal frame of their spirits and not according to those ends that may be suggested to them by the world the flesh or the devil It is in this case as it may be with a man that shoots at a mark he aims aright at the mark but his elbow may meet with a jog which may carry the arrow quite another way than what he intended or as it is with a man that is sailing to such a Haven or to such a Harbour he steers a right course by his Compass but the winds blowing contrary and the Sea running high he is forced into such a creek or such a Harbour which he never intended c. Is it requisite for the clearing of the sincerity of our hearts Qu. that we have a continual eye to the glory of God in every action we do First Ans You must distinguish between an actual aim and intention and an habitual aim and intention For the first an actual aim and intention of the Spirit in every particular action that a man doth to the glory of God is utterly impossible whilst we carry about us with a body of sin and death The Angels and spirits of just men made perfect do thus actually aim at the glory of God in all they do but 't is a work that will be too high and too hard for us whilst we are here in a polluted estate This was so high a mark that Adam mist it in his innocency no wonder then if we often miss it in our sinful state and condition But Secondly There is an habitual inclination in us in every action we do to aim at the honour and glory of God though there be not the actual intention of the spirit in every action we do it is with us as with a man travelling towards a Town or City he thinks in the morning to go to such a Town such a place where he purposes to lye the first night and therefore sets forth towards it and though he doth not think of this every step
Sabbaths of God he is a prophaner of the Sabbaths of God in the account of God c. Look as every wicked man is as bad in the account of God as his desires are bad so every godly man is as good in the account of God as his desires are good he that sincerely desires to believe he does believe in the account of God Mr. Perkins in his grain of mustard-seed The desire saith one to believe in the want of faith is faith though as yet there want firm and lively grace yet art thou not altogether void of grace if thou canst desire it thy desire is the seed conception or bud of what thou wantest Now is the Spring-time of the ingraffed Word or immortal seed cast into the furrows of thy heart wait but a while using the means and thou shalt see that leaves blossoms and fruits will shortly follow c. Another saith Ursin Faith in the most holy is not perfect nevertheless whosoever feels in his heart an earnest desire to believe and a striving against his doubts he both may and must assure himself that he is indued with true faith And he that sincerely desires to repent Mr. Fox he does repent in the account of God Holy Bradford writing to Mr. Jo. Careless saith Thy sins are undoubtedly pardoned c. for God hath given thee a penitent and believing heart that is a heart which desireth to repent and believe Let thy desires be before God and he which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly thy desire is thy prayer and if thy desire be continual thy prayer is continual c. for such a one is taken of him he accepting the will for the deed for a penitent and believing heart indeed And he that sincerely desires to mortifie sin he does mortifie sin in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to walk with God he does walk with God in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to honour God he does honour God in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to deny himself he does deny himself in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to be weaned from the world he is weaned from the world in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to be conformable to God he is comformabâ—e to God in the account of God and he that desires to grow in grace he does grow in grace in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to improve mercies he does improve mercies in the account of God and he that sincerely desires to glorifie God in the hour of his visitation he does glorifie God in the hour of his visitation in the account of God A gracious man may make a better judgment of his estate by his sincere desires than he can by his duties and so a wicked man may make a better judgment of his estate by his desires than he can by his words or works I have been the larger upon this evâ—dence because of its great usefulness to weak believers But Seventhly No man can sincerely desire grace for grace sake viz. faith for faiths sake and love for loves sake and humility for humilities sake and uprightness for uprightness sake and meekness for meekness sake and holy fear for holy fears sake and hope for hopes sake and holiness for holiness sake and self-denial for self-denials sake c. but he that has true grace Mark no man can sincerely and seriously desire grace for the inward beauty glory and excellency of grace Psal 45.13 2 Cor. 3.18 but he that has true grace The Kings daughter is all glorious within though within is not all her glory grace differs nothing from glory but in name grace is glory in the bud and glory is grace at the full grace is glory militant and glory is grace triumphant grace has an inward glory upon it which none can see and love but such as have grace in their own hearts Wicked men can see no beauty no glory no excellency in grace why they should desire it or be taken with it Isa 53.1 2 3 4. and no wonder for they could see no beauty nor excellency nor glory nor form nor comeliness in Christ the fountain of grace why they should desire him and be taken with him Though next to Christ grace is the most lovely and desirable thing in all the world yet none can desire it for its own loveliness and desirableness but such as have a seed of God in them though grace be a pearl of price though it be a jewel more worth than the gold of Ophir though it be a beam of God a spark of glory a branch of the divine nature yet carnal hearts can see no glory nor excellency in it that they should desire it If carnal eyes were but opened to see the excellency of grace Mirabiles sui excitaret amores it would ravish the soul in desires after it but graces beauty and glory is inward and so it is not discerned but with spiritual eyes Plato was wont to say if moral vertues could be seen with bodily eyes they would stir up in the heart extraordinary flames of admiration and love 1 Cor. 2.14 ult I might say much more of grace Grace 1. Puts an excellency it puts a lustre and beauty upon mens persons Prov. 12.26 1 Pet. 34 5 c. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour and pray what makes him so but grace Dan. 11 2â— Wisdom makes a mans face to shine riches and honours and dignities and royal ornaments and costly fare and noble attendants don't put an excellency and glory upon man witness Antiochus Saul Haman Herod Dives c. but saving grace does the graces of the Spirit are that chain of pearl that adorns Christ's Bride 2. Grace puts an excellency upon all a mans duties By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain faith put an excellency upon Abels sacrifice 3. Grace puts an excellency upon all a mans natural and acquired excellencies it puts an excellency upon beauty honour riches name arts parts gifts Now how excellent and glorious must that be that puts an excellency upon all our excellencies 4. Grace makes a man conformable to God and Christ 5. 1 John 4.17 1 John 1.1 2. 2 Cor. 13.14 Zech. 3.7 Mal. 2.2 Prov. 2.11 12. Grace fits a man for communion and fellowship with Father Son and Spirit 6. Grace fits a man for the choicest services 7. Grace turns all things into a blessing 8. Grace fills the soul with all spiritual excellencies 9. Grace preserves a Christian from the worst of evils viz. sin 10. Grace sweetens death it makes the King of terrors to be the King of desires 11. Grace renders a man acceptable to God and that 's the heighth of a Christians ambition in this world 2 Cor. 5.9 Wherefore we labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are ambitious that whether
do well to be angry even unto death And that is very considerable that Job speaks concerning his friends Job 19.3 These ten times have ye reproached me yet are ye not ashamed It is a sin to reproach any man it is a greater to reproach a godly man but yet greater to reproach a godly man under sad and sore afflictions but yet greatest of all to reproach a godly man under his sufferings often frequently yet saith Job These ten times have ye reproached me and yet Job's friends were not only godly but eminently godly By this sad instance 't is evident that gracious men yea that men eminently gracious may fall into the same sin again and again yea ten times that is often Though Christ told his disciples that his kingdom was not of this world John 18.36 Mat. 18.1 2 3 4. Mark 9 34. Luke 9.46 22.24 26. yet at three several times their pride and ambitious humour put them upon striving for preheminence and worldly greatness King Jehoshaphat though he was a godly man yet he joyns affinity with that non such wicked Ahab for which he was smartly reproved by the Prophet 2 Chron. 19.2 And Jehu went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord. Now though this gracious Prince was thus reproved and saved even by a miracle of mercy 2 Chron. 18.1 2 3 30 31. compared yet soon after he falls into the same sin again and joyns himself with Ahaziah King of Israel who did very wickedly 2 Chron. 20.35 36. and for which he is severely reproved in verse 37. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavan of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying because thou hast joyned thy self with Ahaziah the Lord hath broken thy works and the Ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish Let was twice overcome with wine c. and Abraham though the father of the faithful yet falls once and again into the same sin Gen. 12.11 12 Mat. 26. Gal. 2.11 12 13 13. compared with Chap. 20 1 2 3 4 13. Peter falls once and again into the same sin and John twice worshipped the Angel and Sampson who is by the Spirit of the Lord numbred amongst those Worthies of whom this world was not worthy Heb. 11.32 33 38. fell again and again into the same gross sin as is evident in the 14 15 16. Chapters of the book of Judges And the Church confesses that their backslidings are many Jer. 14.7 By all which 't is most evident that good men may fall again and again into the same sin and no wonder for though their repentance be never so sincere and sound yet their graces are but weak and their mortification but imperfect in this life and therefore 't is possible for a gracious soul to fall again and again into the same sin if the fire be not wholly put out who will think it impossible that it should catch and burn again and again I readily grant that the Lord hath graciously promised to heal the backslidings of his people Hosea 14.4 and so Jer. 3.22 See Jer. 3.1 4 5 6 7 8 12 14. Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God But I can no where find in all the Scriptures that God hath engaged himself by any particular promise or promises that Christians truly converted truly penitent shall never fall again and again into the same sins after their conversion I cannot find in all the book of God where God has engaged himself to give such strength or power against this sin or that as that a Christian shall be for ever in this life put out of all possibility of falling again and again into the same sins No person on earth can shew such a promise that when a Christian has been thus or thus troubled grieved humbled or melted for his sins that then God will assuredly preserve him from ever falling into the same sins again The sight of such a promise under God's own hand would be as life from the dead to all real Christians who fear nothing more than the sin of backsliding Certainly there is no such power or infinite vertue in the greatest horrors or terrors troubles or sorrows that the soul can be under for sin nor in the fullest sweetest or choicest discoveries of God's rich grace and free love to the soul as for ever to fence and secure the soul from relapsing into the same sin again and again Though grace be a glorious creature yet 't is but a creature grace is but a created habit that may be prevailed against by Satans temptations and by the strong secret and subtile workings of sin in our hearts But this must be carefully minded and remembred that though the Saints may and do sometimes relapse yet they do not relapse in such a manner as wicked men do relapse For First They do not relapse voluntarily but involuntarily Involuntary relapses are when the resolution and full bent of the heart is against sin when the soul strives with all its might against sin by sighs and groans by prayers and tears and yet by some invincible weakness is forced to fall back into sin again because there is not spiritual strength enough to overcome Secondly They do not relapse out of choice as wicked men do Isa 66.3 Thirdly They don't relapse out of any delight that they take in relapsing witness their sad complaints their great lamentations and their bitter mournings over their relapses Relapses into diseases and relapses into sins are more troublesom and dangerous than they are any wayes delightful to all that are in their wits Fourthly They don't relapse out of any setled purpose or resolution of heart to relapse as wicked men do Jer. 2.25 All the relapses of a Saint are against the setled bent byass and resolution of his soul Fifthly They don't relapse out of any love or longing to relapse as wicked men do who long and love to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt Sixthly They don't relapse into enormities as wicked men do for 't is not usual with God to leave his people frequently to relapse into enormities for by his spirit and grace by his smiles and frowns by his word and rod he doth commonly preserve his people from a common a frequent relapsing into enormities into gross wickednesses The common and ordinary relapses of the people of God are relapses into infirmities as idle words passion hastiness rashness vain thoughts c. and these God pardons in course but the common and ordinary relapses of wicked men are relapses into enormities into gross impieties Seventhly They don't relapse habitually constantly as wicked men do their relapses are transient not permanent they are not of course A Sheep may fall into the mire but a swine wallows in the mire c. But secondly
by any fears or dangers on the other Sincere Christians have not taken up Religion on such slight grounds as to be either flattered or frighted out of it sincere Christians reckon upon afflictions Joh. 16. ult Acts 14.22 2 Tim. 4.8 temptations crosses losses reproaches on the one hand and they reckon upon a crown of life a crown of righteousness a crown of glory on the other hand Jer. 6.16 and hereupon they set up their staff fully resolving never to depart from the good old way wherein they have found rest to their souls Sincere Christians take Christ and his wayes for better for worse for richer for poorer in prosperity and adversity they resolve to stand or fall to suffer and reign to live and die with him When all outward incouragements from God shall fail yet a sincere Christian will keep closs to his God and closs to his duty Heb. 3.17 18. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herds in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvaâ—ion When all necessary and delightful mercies fail yet he will not fail in his duty though God with-hold his blessings yet he will not with-hold his service in the want of a livelihood he will be lively in his duty when he hath nothing to subsist by yet then he will live upon his God and joy in his God and keep closs to this God Though war and want come yet he will not be wanting in his duty Mark there are three things in a sincere Christian that will strongly encline him to keep closs to the Lord and closs to his wayes in the want of all outward incouragements 2 Cor. 5.14 Phil. 4.12 13. Rom. 14.7 8. and in the face of all outward discouragements And the first is a forcible principle Divine Love the second is a mighty aid the Spirit of God and the third is a high aim the Glory of God Look as Ruth kept closs to her mother in the want of all outward incouragements and in the face of all outward discouragements And Ruth Ruth 1.16 17. said whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge and nothing but death shall part thee and 〈◊〉 So saith a sincere Christian I will take my lot with Christ were ever it falls I will keep closs to the Lord and closs to my duty in the want of all outward incouragements and in the face of all outward discouragements Though outward incouragements be sometimes as a side wind or as oyl or as chariot wheels means to move a Christian to go on more sweetly easily and comfortably in the wayes of God yet when this wind shall fail and these chariot wheels shall be knockt off a sincere Christian will keep closs to the Lord and his wayes All this is come upon us Psal 44.17 18 yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy wayes But what do they mean by saying All this is come upon us Why that you may see in the foregoing part of the Psalm Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame Vers 9 10 11 12 13 14. The Jews sold Christ for thirty peace and the Romans sold thirty of them for a penny as Josephus relates and goest not forth with our armies thou makest us turn back from the enemy and they which hate us spoyl for themselves thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat and hast scattered us among the heathen thou sellest thy people for nought and dost not increase thy wealth by their price thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us thou makest us a by-word among the heathen a shaking of the head among the people Antiochus Epiphanes lookt upon the Jews Religion as superstition his wrath and rage was exceeding great both against the Jews and against their Religion he practised all manner of cruelty upon the miserable Jews but yet there was a remnant among them who were faithful to the Lord and to his Covenant and to his Laws and to his wayes even to the death though in the time of the Maccabees many revolted to Paganism yet some maintained their constancy and integrity to the last That is a great word of the Prophet Micah Mich. 4.5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever This absolute and peremptory resolution to be really the Lord's and for ever the Lord's is of the essence of true conversion 'T is not the world's flatteries that can bribe off a sincere Christian from the wayes of God nor 't is not the worlds frowns that can beat off a sincere Christian from the wayes of God But an hypocrite will never an hypocrite can never hold it out to the end his ground-tackle will never hold when the storm beats strong upon him An hypocrite is hot at hand but soon tires and gives in But Tenthly No hypocrite ever makes it his business his work to bring his heart into religious duties and services he never makes conscience of bringing his heart into his work Mat. 15 8. â— Mark 7.6 An hypocrite is heartless in all he does Psal 78.34 When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God The Fox when caught in a gin looks pitifully but it is only to get out They worshipped the Lord as the Indians do the devil that he may do them no hurt Ver. 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongues Ver. 37. For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfâ—st in his Covenant All lip-labour is but lost labour When mens hearts are not in their devotion their devotion is meer dissimulation These hypocrites sought God and enquired early after God but it was still with old hearts which are no hearts in the account of God They made lip work of it and head-work of it but their hearts not being in their work all was lost their seeking lost their enquiring lost their God lost their souls lost and eternity lost Hos 7.14 And they have not cried unto mâ— with their hearts when they howled upon their beds When mens hearts are not in their prayers all their praying is but as an hideous howling in the account of God As dogs bruit beasts and Indians do when they are hunger-bit The cry of the heart is the only cry that God likes loves and looks for he accepts of no cry he delights in no cry he rewards no cry but the cry
of the heart Hypocrites are heartless in their cryes and therefore they cry and howl and howl and cry and all to no purpose they cry and murmur and they howl and repine they cry and blaspheme and they howl and rebel and therefore they meet with nothing from heaven but frowns and blows and disappointments Isa 29.13 Wherefore the Lord said for as much as this people draw neer me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me Ezek. 33.31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh 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 Though this people flocked to the Prophet in troops as men and women do to places of pleasure and though they carried it before the Prophet as if they were Saints as if they were the people of God as if they were affected with what they heard as if they were resolved to live out what the Prophet should make out to them yet their hearts run after their covetousness Though these hypocrites profest much love and kindness to the Prophet and paid him home with smooth words seemed to be much affected delighted ravished and taken with his person voice and doctrine yet they made no conscience of bringing their hearts into their duties An hypocrite may look at some outward easie ordinary duties of Religion but he never makes conscience of bringing his heart into any duties of Religion When did you ever see an hypocrite a searching of his heart or sitting in judgment upon the corruptions of his soul or lamenting and mourning over the vileness and wickedness of his spirit 'T is only the sincere Christian that is affected afflicted and wounded with the corruptions of his heart When one told blessed Bradford that he did all out of hypocrisie because he would have the people applaud him He answered It is true the seeds of hypocrisie and vain glory are in thee and me too and will be in us as long as we live in this world but I thank God it is that I mourn under and strive against How seriously and deeply did good Hezekiah humble himself for the pride of his heart 2 Chron. 32.25 out of the eater came meat out of his pride he gat humility O Sirs A sincere Christian makes it his great business to get his heart into all his Religious duties and services to get his heart into every way and work of God 2 Chron. 17.6 Psal 86.12 Jehoshaphats heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord. So David I 'le praise thee 2 Chron. 22.9 Cant. 3.1 2 3 4 5 6. It is reported that when the Tyrant Trajane commanded Ignatius to be ript unbowelled they found Jesus Christ written upon his heart in characters of gold here was a heart worth gold That 's the golden Christian indeed whose heart is writ upon all his duties and services O Lord with all my heart And so Psal 119.7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart Ver. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee So Jehoshaphat he sought the Lord with all his heart Isa 26.8 The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Vers 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Lamen 3.41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens Rom. 1.9 For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son Pauls very spirit his very soul was in his service Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Rom. 7.22 I delight in the Law of God after the inward man Ver. 25. With the mind I my self serve the Law of God A sincere Christian is alwayes best when his heart is in his work and when he can't get his heart into his duties Oh how does he sigh and groan and complain and mourn at the foot of God Lord my tongue has been at work and my head has been at work and my parts have been at work and my eyes and hands have been at work but where has my heart been this day Oh it is and must be for a sore and sad lamentation that I have had so little of my heart in that service that I have tendered to thee This is the daily language of an upright heart But now all the work of an hypocrite is to get his golden parts into his duties and his silver tongue into his duties and his nimble head into his duties but he never makes conscience of getting his heart into his duties If any beasts sacrificed by Heathens who ever lookt narrowly into the intrails was found without heart this was held ominous and construed as very prodigious to the person for whom it was offered as it fell out in the case of Julian Hypocrites are alwayes heartless in all the sacrifices they offer to God and this will one day prove ominous and prodigious to them But Eleventhly An hypocrite never performes religious duties from spiritual principles nor in a spiritual manner An hypocrite is never inclined moved and carried to God to Christ to holy duties by the power of a new and inward principle of grace working a sutableness between his heart and the things of God An hypocrite rests himself satisfied in the meer external acts of Religion though he never feels any thing of the power of Religion in his own soul An hypocrite looks to his words in prayer and to his voice in prayer and to his gestures in prayer but he never looks to the frame of his heart in prayer An hypocrites heart is never toucht with the words his tongue utters an hypocrites soul is never divinely affected delighted or graciously warmed with any duty he performs An hypocrites spiritual performances never flow from spiritual principles nor from a heart universally sanctified though his works may be new yet his heart remains old his new practises alwayes spring from old principles and this will prove the hypocrites bane Vide Isa 1.10 to 16. as you may see in that Isa 1.15 When you spread forth your hands to heaven I will hide my eyes and when you make many prayers when you abound in duty adding prayer to prayer as the Hebrew runs I will not hear your hands are full of blood These were unsanctified ones their practises were new Mat. 6. chap. 23 Luke 18. but their hearts were old still The same you may see in the Scribes and Pharisees who fasted prayed and gave alms but their hearts were not changed renewed sanctified nor principled from above and this proved their eternal bane Nicodemus was a man of great note name John 3.4 No man can understand
spiritual mysteries by carnal reason and fame among the Pharisees and he fasted and prayed and gave alms and paid tythes c. and yet a meer stranger to the new birth Regeneration was a paradox to him How can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mothers womb and be born This great Doctor was so great a Dunce that he understood no more of the doctrine of Regeneration than a meer child does the darkest precepts of Astronomy 1 Cor. 2.14 Look as water can rise no higher than the spring from whence it came so the natural man can rise no higher than nature An hypocrite may know much and pray much and hear much and fast much and give much and obey much and all to no purpose because he never manages any thing he does in a right manner he never carries on his work from inward principles of faith fervency life love delight c. Will the hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty Ans No he cannot delight himself in the Almighty Job 27.10 Job speaks of the hypocrite as is evident ver 8. 1. To delight in God is one of the highest acts of grace and how can an hypocrite put forth one of the highest acts of grace who hath no grace An hypocrite may know much of God and talk much of God and make a great profession of God and be verbally thankful to God but he can never love God nor trust in God nor delight in God nor take up his rest in God c. 2. An hypocrite knows not God and how then can he delight in that God whom he does not know An hypocrite has no inward saving transforming experimental affectionate practical knowledge of God and therefore he can never take any pleasure or delight in God 3. There is no sutableness between an hypocrite and God and how then can an hypocrite delight himself in God There is the greatest contrariety imaginable 'twixt God and an hypocrite God is light and the hypocrite is darkness 2 Cor. 6.15 16 God is holiness and he filthiness God is righteousness and he unrighteousness God is fulness and he emptiness Now what complacency can there be where there is such an utter contrariety 4. Every hypocrites heart is full of enmity against God and how then can he delight himself in God The carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 To delight in God is Christianorum propria virtus saith Hierom. for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be The best part of an hypocrite is not only averse but utterly adverse to God and all goodness The Eagle saith the Philosopher hath a continual enmity with the Dragon and the Serpent And so an hypocrites heart is still full of enmity against the Lord and therefore he can never delight himself in the Lord. 5. The stream cream and strength of an hypocrites delight runs out to himself and to this lust or that to this relation or that to this creature-comfort or that to this worldly enjoyment or that or else to arts parts gifts priviledges c. and therefore how can he delight himself in the Almighty An Hypocrite alwayes terminates his delight in something on this side God Christ and Heaven Look as the Apricock-tree though it leans against the wall yet it is fast rooted in the earth so though an hypocrite may lean towards God and towards Christ and towards heaven yet his delight is still rooted fast in one creature-comfort or another c. Mark 6. God nor Christ is never the adequate object of an hypocrites delight An hypocrite is never principled to delight himself in a holy God neither can he cordially divinely habitually delight himself in holy duties An hypocrite may reform many evil things and he may do many good duties and yet all this while it is only his practises but not his heart or principles that are changed and altered Mark though an hypocrite hath nothing in him which is essential to a Christian as a Christian yet he may be the compleat resemblance of a Christian in all those things which are not essential to him An hypocrite in all the externals of Religion may be the compleat picture of a sincere Christian but then if you look to his principles and the manner of his managing of holy duties there you will find him lame and defective and as much unlike a sincere Christian 1 Sam. 19.13 16. as ever Michal's Image was unlike to David and this will prove the great crack the great break-neck of hypocrites at last O Sirs It is considerable that outward motives and natural principles have carried many Heathens to do many great and glorious things in the world Did not Sisera do as great things as Gideon the difference did only lye here that the great things which Gideon did he did from more spiritual principles and raised considerations than any Sisera was acted by Heb. 11. And did not Diogenes trample under his feet the great and glorious things of this world as well as Moses The difference did only ly in this that Moses trampled under his feet the gay and gallant things of this world from inward gracious principles viz. faith love c. and from high and glorious considerations viz. heaven the glory of God c. whereas Diogenes did only trample upon them from poor low prineiples and from meer outward carnal external considerations The favour of men the eye of men the commendations of men the applause of men and a great name among men were golden apples great things among the Philosophers The application is easie Mark A sincere Christian he looks to the manner as well as to the matter of his duties he acts and performs duties not only from strength of parts and acquired qualifications but from strength of grace and infused habits Rom. 11.24 Ezek. 36.25 Jer. 31.33 Rom. 3.5 2 Cor. 5.19 2 Pet. 1.4 Eph. 3.17 2 Cor. 13.5 he acts from God and for God he acts from a new heart he acts from the Law written in his heart he acts from the love of God shed abroad in his heart he acts from the divine nature communicated to him he acts from the spirits in-dwelling in his heart he acts from the fear of God establishing his heart These be the springs and principles of a sincere Christians spiritual life and actions and where they act and bear rule it is no wonder if such motions and performances as the world may admire but not imitate Sauls life after his conversion was a kind of constant miracle 2. Cor. 11. so much he did and so much he suffered and so much he denyed himself that if he lived in these dayes his life would be a miracle but yet if we consider the principles that he was acted by the great wonder will be not that he did so much but that he did no more Gal. 2.20 For saith he
Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Fox Acts and Monum It was a great saying of blessed Bradford That he could not leave a duty till he had found communion with Christ in the duty till he had brought his heart into a duty-frame he could not leave confession till he had found his heart touched broken and humbled for sin nor petition till he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired and carried out after them nor could he leave thanksgiving till he had found his spirit enlarged and his soul quickned in the return of praises And it was a great saying of another that he could never be quiet till he found God in every duty Nunquam abs te absque te â—ecedo Bern. Meditat and enjoyed communion with God in every prayer O Lord said he I never come to thee but by thee I never go from thee without thee A sincere Christian that is taken with Christ above all can't be satisfied nor contented with duties or ordinances without he enjoyes Christ in them who is the life soul and substance of them But now hypocrites they do duties but all they do is from common principles from natural principles and from an unsanctified heart and that marrs all Remigius a Judge of Lorraigne tells this story That the Devil in those parts did use to give money to Witches Preston's four Treatises which did appear to be good coyn it seemed to be currant at first but being laid up a while it then appeared to be nothing but leaves Hypocrites they make a great profession and are much in the outward actions of Religion they make a very fair shew they hear they read they pray they fast they sing Psalms and they give alms But these duties being not managed from a principle of divine love nor from a principle of spiritual life nor from a sanctified frame of heart turn all into leaves they are all lost and the Authors of them cast and undone for ever and ever But Twelfthly No hypocrite in the world loves the Word or delights in the Word or prizes the Word as 't is a holy Word a spiritual Word a beautiful Word a pure Word Luther said he would not live in Paradise if he might without the Word but with the Word he could live in hell it self a clean Word Psal 119.140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it There are no hearts but men after God's own heart that can love the Word and delight in the Word and embrace the Word for its holiness purity and spirituality witness Paul Rom. 7.12 Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandement holy and just and good Well and what then why saith he Ver. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man But is this all No saith he Ver. 25. With the mind I my self serve the Law of God Holy Paul delights in the Law as holy and serves the Law as holy just and good A sincere heart is the only heart that is taken with the Word for its spirituality purity and heavenly beauty None can joy in the Word as it is a holy Word nor none can taste any sweetness in the Word as 't is a pure Word but sincere Christians Psal 19.8 9 10. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart These several Titles Law Statutes Testimony Commandements Judgments are used promiscuously for the whole Word of God commonly distinguished into Law and Gospel The commandements of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean that is the doctrine of the Word that teacheth the true fear of God enduring for ever The judgments of the Lâ—rd are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honey comb or as the Hebrew hath it Sweeter than the droppings of honey combs The Word of God as it is a pure Word a spiritual Word a clean Word a holy Word so it rejoyces a sincere heart and so it is sweeter than the very droppings of honey combs The Word as it is a pure Word a holy Word is more sweet to a sincere Christian than those drops which drop immediately and naturally without any force or art which is counted the purest and sweetest honey There is no profit nor pleasure nor joy to that which the purity of the World yields to a sincere heart Psal 119.48 My hands will I lift up to thy commandements which I have loved Sometimes the lifting up of hands betokens admiration when men are astonished and ravished they lift up their hands I will lift up my hands to thy commandements that is I will admire the goodness spiritualness holiness righteousness purity and excellency of thy commandements Luther would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible he took such sweet pleasure and excellent delight in it Rabbi Chiia in the Jerusalem Talmud sayes That in his account all the world is not of equal value with one word out of the Law Mr. Fox The Martyrs would have given a load of Hay for a few Chapters of the Bible in English Some of them gave five marks for a Bible they were so delighted and taken with the Word as it was a holy Word a pure Word a spiritual Word Dolphins they say love musick and so do sincere Christians love the musick of the Word It 's upon record that Mary spent the third part of her time in reading the Word she was so affected and delighted with the holiness and purity of it King Edward the sixth being about to lay hold on something that was above the reach of his short arm one that stood by espying a boss'd Bible lying on the Table offered to lay that under his feet to heighten him Sir John Hayward in vita but the good young King disliked the motion and instead of treading it under his feet he laid it to his heart to express the joy and delight that he took in the holy Word But now neâ—er did any hypocrite since there was one in the world ever love God as a holy God or love his people as a holy people or love his wayes as holy wayes or love his word as a holy word There is no hypocrite in the world that can truly say with David Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Saul could never say so nor Ahab could never say so nor Herod could never say so nor Judas could never say so nor Demas could never say so nor Simon Magus could never say so nor the Scribes and Pharisees could never say so nor the Stony ground could never say so nor Isaiah's hypocrites could never say so 'T is true Isa 58. some of these did rejoyce in the Word and
happiness of a Christians condition There were some in James his time who cryed up faith James 2.18 and union and communion with Christ but were destitute of good works Well what saith the Apostle Shew me thy faith without thy works Ver. 26. and I will shew thee my faith by my works for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead Look as the body without the spirit or without breath as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primarily signifies is dead so that faith that is without works which are as it were the breathings of a lively faith is a dead faith Though it be faith that justifieth the man yet it is works that justifies a mans faith to be right and real saving and justifying So there were some in Johns time viz. the Gnosticks who talkt high of fellowship and communion with Christ and yet walkt in darkness they lived in all impurity and yet would make the world believe that they were the only people who knew God and had fellowship with God but John tells us they were lyars 2 Cor. 6.14 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth What fellowship hath light with darkness Such walk in darkness who promise to themselves the future vision of God's face whilst they go on in the wilful breach of God's royal Laws Such who say they know him and are swallowed up in the enjoyments of him and yet in the course of their liveâ— walk contrary to him such are lyars He that saith I know him 1 John 2.4 and keeps not his commandements is a lyar Sanctification and justification are both of them benefits of the Covenant of grace and therefore to evidence the one by the other Jer. 33.8 9. Heb. 8.10 12. can be no turning aside to the covenant of works You may run and read in the Covenant of grace that he that is justified is also sanctified and that he that is sanctified is also justified and therefore why may not he that knows himself to be really sanctified upon that very ground safely and boldly conclude that he is certainly justified O Sirs the same spiriâ— that witâ—esses to a Christian his justification can shine upon his graces 1 Cor. 2.12 1 Joh. 4.13 14. and witness to him his sanctification as well as his justification and without all controversie 't is as much the office of the Spirit to witness to a man his sanctification as 't is to witness to him his justification But you will say Sir pray what should be the reasons why many men have and why some do still cry down marks and signs and deny sanctification to be an evidence of mens justification c. and speak disgracefully of this practice that is now under consideration I conjecture the Reasons may be such as follow First Many Professors take up in a great name and in a great profession and in great parts and gifts though they have never found a through change 1 Thes 5.23 John 3.3 5. 2 Cor. 5.17 Acts 26.28 though they have never past the pangs of the new birth though they have never experienced what it is to be a new creature a throughout Christian And hence it comes to pass that they make head against this way of evidencing the goodness and happiness of a mans condition by inward gracious qualifications Of all men these are most apt to out-run the truth and to run from one extream to another and to be only constant in inconstancy But Secondly Many professors are given up to spiritual judgments which are the sorest of all judgments viz. luke-warmness dead-heartedness formality indifferency Apostacy blindness hardness and to strong delusions that they should believe a lye 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved Now is it any wonder to see such men quarrel and wrangle and rail against the way and method of evidencing the goodness and happiness of a mans spiritual condition by inherent gracious qualifications But Thirdly In some this ariseth from their lusts which they indulge and connive at and which they have a mind to live quietly in they are desirous to keep their peace and yet unwilling to forsake their lusts and hence they exclude this witness of water or sanctification to testifie in the Court of Conscience whether they are beloved of God or whether they are sincere hearted or no or whether they have the root of the matter in them or no for the want of this witness water or sanctification is a clear and full witness against them that they are yet in their sins under wrath and in the way to eternal ruin and that they have nothing to do with peace Isa 57. ult Psal 50.16 or comfort or the promises or Christ or heaven to take God's name into their lips seeing they secretly hate to be reformed There are many fair Professors that are foul sinners and that have much of God and Christ and heaven and holiness in their lips when they have nothing but sin and hell in their hearts and lives These mens conversions shame their profession and therefore they cry out against sanctification as a sure and blessed evidence of a mans justification Such sinners as live in a course of sin that make a Trade of sin 1 Thes 2.12 that indulge their sins that take up arms in defence of sin that make provision for sin that make a sport of sin that take pleasure in sin and that have set their hearts upon their sins such sinners can't but look upon the witness of sanctification as the hand-writing upon the wall Dan. 5.5 6. But Fourthly There are many who are great strangers to their own hearts and the blessed Scriptures and are ignorant of what may be said from the blessed Word 'T is sad to be a stranger at home and to be least acquainted with a mans own heart Aristotle to evidence the lawfulness of this practice that is under our present consideration And hence it comes to pass that they cry down marks and signs and deny sanctification to be a sure and blessed evidence of mens justification Ignorat sane improbâ—â— omnis ignorance is the source of all sin the very well-spring from which all wickedness doth issue 'T is said of knowledge non habet inimicum praeter ignorantem Ignorance inslaves a soul to Satan it lets in sin by Troops locks them up in the heart shuts out the means of recovery and so plaisters up a mans eyes that he can't see the things that belongs to his own or to others internal or eternal peace The Scripture sets ignorant persons below the Ox and the Ass Did men either see the deformity of sin Isa 1.3 or the beauty and excellency of holiness they would never delight in the one nor cry down the other Peter 2 Pet. 2.12
consolation doth as it were put his hand and seal to our receits Eph. 4.30 whence he is said to seal us up unto the day of redemption The graces of the Spirit are a real earnest of the Spirit yet they are not alwayes an evidential earnest therefore an earnest is often superadded to our graces For ever remember these few hints 1. That it is the work of the Spirit to plant grace in the soul 2. That it is the work of the Spirit to act and exercise the graces that he has planted there 3. That it is the work of the Spirit to shine upon those graces that he has planted in the soul and to cause the soul to see and feel what he has wrote 4. That it is the work of the Spirit to raise springs of comfort and joy in the soul upon the discovery of that grace which he has wrote in the soul O Christians till the Spirit of the Lord shine upon your graces Job 33. you will still be in the dark 'T is only God's own Interpreter that must shew a man his righteousness When the holy Ghost shines upon a Christians graces then a Christian finds the springs of comfort to rise in his soul and then he finds the greatest serenity and calmness in his spirit O Sirs no man can by any natural light or evidence in him come to be assured of the grace wrought in his soul Look as no man can see the Sun but in the light of the Sun so no man can see the graces of the Spirit but in the light of the Spirit 1 Joh. 5.13 A man may have grace and not see it he may be in a state of grace and not know it as the child lives in the womb but don't perceive it is heir to a crown but don't know it Isa 50.10 Rom. 8.13 O! till the Spirit shines upon his own work a child of light may walk in darkness and see no light Look as no man can subdue his sins but by the power of the Spirit so no man can see his graces but in the light of the Spirit The confidence that a believer hath of the truth of grace wrought in him springs more from the Spirits removing his slavish fears and answering his doubts and shining upon his graces and supporting his soul than it does from that excellency and beauty of grace which shines in him A man may read the promises over and over a thousand times and yet never be affected delighted or taken with them till the Spirit of the Lord set them home upon his soul And a man may read the threatnings over and over a thousand times and yet never startle nor tremble though he knows himself guilty of those very sins against which the threatnings are denounced till the Spirit of the Lord sets home the threatnings in power upon his conscience and then every threatning will be like the hand-writing upon the wall which will cause his countenance to be changed and his thoughts to be troubled Dan. 5.6 7. and his joynts to be loosed and his knees to be dashed one against another It is just so in the matter of our graces and gracious evidences till the holy Spirit shine upon them till in the light of the Spirit we come to see them they won't be witnessing comforting and refreshing to us and therefore let not the pious Reader think that by the strength of his natural light he shall ever attain to know the certainty of that grace which is in his soul but let him rather beg hard of God for his holy Spirit and that his Spirit may shine upon that good work which he hath begun in him that so he may be perswaded assured and comforted Without the light of the Spirit the work of the Spirit can't be seen no more than a book written in the fairest hand or print can be seen without light to see it or read it by But The ninth Proposition is this Sincere Christians may safely and groundedly rejoyce Most Christians by experience find that their assurance and joy rises and falls as grace and holiness and as the evidences of grace and holiness rise and fall in their souls delight and take comfort in those graces or in those divine qualities which in the light of the Spirit they see and know are wrote in their souls I don't say that a Christian should build the comfort of his justification upon his graces or that he should rest on his graces or trust to his graces or make a Saviour of his graces for this would be such a piece of Pharisaical Popery as is justly to be detested and abhorred by all that love Christ or are looking towards heaven But this I say a Christian may make several uses of his graces he may safly look upon his graces as so many evidences of Christ's dwelling in him and he may look upon his graces as so many heavenly bracelets or as so many love tokens from God in which he may safely rejoyce The gracious evidences that I have laid down in this Treatise are blessed symptoms of salvation and therefore to rejoyce in them can be no transgression of any royal Law of heaven He that can experimentally subscribe to any of the gracious evidences that are laid down in this Book has such a fair certificate to shew for heaven that no wicked man or hypocrite under heaven has the like to shew and why such a man should not rejoyce in such a certificate I can't at present see I may and ought to rejoyce in the works of Creation O! how much more then ought I to rejoyce in the work of Renovation in the work of sanctification which does so infinitely transcend the work of Creation I may and ought to rejoyce in my natural life health strength beauty and why then should I not rejoyce in grace and holiness which is the life health strength and beauty of my soul Cant. 4.9 Christ delights in the graces of his people Thou hast ravished my heart or thou hast behearted me as the Hebrew runs my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes or with one glance of thine eyes as some read it with one chain of thy neck The eye of faith say some the eye of love say others The chain of obedience say some the chain of spiritual graces say others ravished Christ's heart the one eye of faith the one chain of obedience unhearted Christ wounded Christ this one eye this one chain robbed Christ of his heart and laid the Spouse in the room of it Now shall Christ's heart be ravished with his childrens graces and shall not their hearts be ravished and delighted with those very graces that ravish Christ's own heart I may yea I ought to rejoyce in the graces of others 1 Thes 1 â— 3 4 5. 2 Thes 1.3 4. and why then not in my own I may yea I ought to rejoyce in others outward
is the great Charter the Magna Charta of all your spiritual priviledges and immunities Now in this great Charter the Lord declares That sincerity shall go for perfection Luke 1.5 6. Acts 13.22 2 Chron 3â— â—8 19 20. In this great Charter the Lord hath declared That he judges his people by the standing bent and frame of their hearts and not by what they are under some pangs of passion or in an hour of temptation In this great Charter the Lord declares That his eye is more upon his peoples inward disposition than 't is upon their outward actions and that his eye is more upon their will 2 Cor. 8.12 Phil. 2.13 than 't is upon their work In this great Charter the Covenant of grace the Lord hath declared That he will not forsake his people nor cast off his people Ponder much upon Jer. 31.31 to 38. because of those failings and weaknesses that may and do attend them 1 Sam. 12.22 For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people He chose you for his love and he still loveth you for his choice God will rather pity his people under their weakness than he will reject them for their weakness The Covenant of grace that God hath made with his people is as the Covenant that a man makes with his Wife I will betroth thee unto me for ever saith the Lord. Hos 2.19 20. Jer. 3.13 Turn O back-sâ—iding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you Now a man will never reject his Wife he will never cast off his Wife for those common weaknesses and infirmities that daily attends her no more will the Lord cast off his people because of the infirmities that daily hang upon them In this great Charter the Covenant of grace the Lord declares that he will require no more than he gives and that he will give what he requires and that he will accept what he gives and what can a God say more and what can a gracious soul desire more O Sirs when all is cloudy over head and all dark within doors when a Christians graces are not transparent when his evidences for heaven are soiled and blotted and when neither heart nor house are as they should be 't is good then to turn to the Covenant grace and to dwell upon the Covenant of grace Thus David did 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow Let me give a little light into the words Although my house be not so with God Though David in the main had a good heart yet he had but a wicked house Absalom had slain his Brother rebelled against his Father and lay with his Fathers Concubines And Amnon had defloured his Sister c. Now David under a deep sense of all this wickedness and of his own personal unworthiness sadly sighs it out Although my house be not so with God c. though I have not walked so exactly and perfectly as I shold have done though neither I nor my house have walked answerable to those great mercies and singular kindnesses of God that have been extended to us Yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant The word everlasting hath two acceptations it doth denote 1. Sometimes a long duration Vide Isa 55.3 Gen. 17.7 Psal 105.9 10 Isa 61.8 Heb. 13.20 in which respect the old Covenant clâ—athed with figures and ceremonies is called everlasting because it was to endure and did endure a long time â— Sometimes it denotes a perpetual duration a duration which shall last for ever In this respect the Covenant of grace is everlasting it shall never cease never be broken nor never be alteâ—ed Now the Covenant of grace is an everlasting Covenant in a twofold respect First Ex parte soederantis in respect of God who will never break Covenant with his people but is their God and will be their God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death I and after death too for this is not to be taken exclusive he will never leave his people nor forsake his people Heb. 13.5 6. Secondly Ex parte confoederatorum in respect of the people of God who are brought into Covenant and shall continue in Covenant for ever and ever You have both these expressed in that excellent Scripture Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Seriously dwell upon the place it shews that the Covenant is everlasting on God's part and also on our part On God's part I will never turn away from them to do them good and on our part They shall never depart from me How so I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me even that fear spoken of in ver 39. That they may fear me for ever Ordered in all things O! what head can conceive or what tongue can express that infinite counsel wisdom love care and tenderness that the blessed God has exprest in ordering the Covenant of grace so as it may most and best suit to all the wants and straits and necessities and miseries and desires and longings of poor sinners souls The Covenant of grace is so well ordered by the unsearchable wisdom of God that you may find in it remedies to cure all your diseases and cordials to comfort you against all your faintings Isa 40.28 Psal 147.5 and a spiritual armoury to arm you against all your enemies viz. the world the flesh and the devil Dost thou O distressed sinner want a loving God a compassionate God a reconciled God a sin pardoning God here thou mayest find him in the Covenant of grace Dost thou want a Christ to counsel thee by his wisdom and to cloath thee with his righteousness and to adorn thee with his grace here thou mayest find him in a Covenant of grace Dost thou want the Spirit to enlighten thee to teach thee to convince thee to awaken thee to lead thee to cleanse thee to cheer thee and to seal thee up to the day of redemption Eph. 1.13 here thou mayest find him in a Covenant of grace Dost thou want grace or peace or rest or quiet or content or comfort or satisfaction here thou mayest find it in a Covenant of grace God has laid into the Covenant of grace as into a common store all those things that sinners or Saints can either beg or need Look as that is a well ordered Commonwealth where there are no wholsom Laws wanting to govern a people and where there are no wholsom remedies
that are in the soul faith is as the spring in the watch that moves the wheels not a grace stirs till faith sets it at work What is said of Solomons vertuous woman viz. Prov. 31.15 27 Heb. 11. Rom. 4.3 8.24 Zech. 12.10 That she sets all her Maidens to work is most true of faith faith sets all the graces in the soul at work We love as we believe and we obey as we believe and we hope as we believe and we joy as we believe and we mourn as we believe and we repent as we believe all graces keep time and pace with faith c. Now when your graces are most shining and your evidences for heaven are most sparkling O then give faith elbow-room give faith full scope to exercise it self upon the Lord Jesus Adams obedience to innocency was not more pleasing and delightful to God than the exercise of your faith on the Lord Jesus will be at such a time pleasing and delightful to him you are to look upon all your graces and gracious evidences as your highest encouragement to a lively cheerful 1 Joh. 5.13 Rom. 1.17 and resolute acting of faith upon the person of Christ the righteousness of Christ c. All a Christians graces and all his gracious evidences should be but as a golden bridge Gen. 45.19 21 27. or as Josephs wagons a means to pass his soul over to Christ afresh by a renewed exercise of faith When your graces and gracious evidences are most splendent then be sure that Christ be found lying as a bundle of myrrhe between your breasts and all is well and will be well Dear Christians Cant. 1.12 when your eyes are fixt upon inherent righteousness Plutarch in the life of Phocion tells us of a certain gentle-woman of Ionia who shewed the wife of Phocion all the rich jewels and precious stones she had She answered her again all my riches and jewels is my Husbands This is more applicable to Christ c. The precious stone Opalum is said to have the vertue of all stones the brightness of the Carbuncle the purple colour of the Amethist the amiable greenness of the Emerald but what are all these to Christ and upon your gracious evidences then let your hearts be firmly fixt upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness Pauls eye was fixt upon his grace upon his better part Rom. 7.22 I delight in the Law of God after the inward man Ver. 25. And with my mind I serve the Law of God And yet at the very same time his heart was set upon Christ and taken up with Christ Ver. 25. I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ Though Paul had an eye to his noble part his better part his regenerate part yet at the same time his heart was taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ as freeing of him from the curse of the Law the dominion of sin the damnatory power of sin and as translating of him into the glorious liberty of the sons of God I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ So in Col. 2.2 3. You have their eyes fixt upon grace and at the same time their hearts fixt upon Christ That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Their eyes were upon grace but their hearts were taken up with Christ So in Phil. 3.8 The Apostle had his eye upon the excellent knowledge of Christ But Ver. 9. his heart is taken up with the righteousness of Christ That I might be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Though Paul had his eye upon grace upon inherent righteousness yet in the very presence of his grace his heart was taken up with Christ and with his imputed righteousness as is evident in the Text. This is your glory Christians in the presence and sight of all your graces and gracious evidences to see the free grace of Christ and his infinite spotless matchless and glorious righteousness to be your surest sweetest highest and choicest comfort and refuge Look as Rebkekah was more taken with the person of Isaac than she was with his ear-rings Gen. 24.30 53 64 65 66 67. bracelets jewels of silver and jewels of gold So it becomes a Christian in the presence of his graces and gracious evidences which are Christs ear-rings bracelets and jewels to be more taken up with Christ than with them He that holds not wholly with Christ doth very shamefully neglect Christ Aut totum mecum tene aut totum omitte Grego Nazien Christ and his Mediatory righteousness should be more in a Christians eye and always lye nearer to a Christians heart than inherent righteousness Grace is a ring of gold and Christ is the sparkling diamond in that ring Now what 's the ring to the sparkling diamond 'T is not safe to pore more upon inherent righteousness than upon imputed righteousness 'T is not wisdom to have our thoughts and hearts more taken up with our gracious dispositions and gracious actings than with the person of Christ the righteousness of Christ the life of Christ the death of Christ the satisfaction of Christ c. Dear Christians was it Christ or was it your graces or your gracious evidences or your gracious dispositions or your gracious actings that trod the wine-press of your Fathers wrath that satisfied divine justice that pacified divine anger that did bear the curse that fulfill'd the Law that brought in an everlasting righteousness that discharged your debts that procured you pardon that made your peace and that brought you into a state of favour and friendship with God If you answer as you must none but Christ none but Christ O then let your thoughts and hearts be firstly mostly chiefly and lastly taken up with the Lord Jesus Though inherent grace be a glorious creature yet 't is but a creature Now when your thoughts and hearts are more taken up with inherent grace than they are with Christ the spring and fountain of all grace you make an idol of inherent grace John 1.16 Col. 2.2 3. and reflect dishonour upon the Lord Jesus A Christian may lawfully look upon his graces and his gracious evidences and a Christian ought to be much in blessing and praising of God for his graces and gracious evidences and a Christian may safely take comfort in his graces and gracious evidences as they are the fruits of God's eternal and unchangable love Isa 38.3 2 Cor. 1.12 but still his work should be to live upon Christ and to lift up Christ above all 'T is Christ 't is his Mediatory righteousness 't is free-grace that a Christian ought to make the