by and we shall stand or fall according as they are sound or corrupt The Apostle hints this to us Rom. 2.16 in telling us that at the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Now principles are the great secrets of men hid from all but God and a mans own heart Nothing is more latent they are as the spring to a Clock you see the hand move but that which causes the motion is not seen Actions are manifest and may be seen by all but principles are secret and discerned by none but God takes strict notice of them and will judge us according to them Nothing therefore concerns a man more than to see that the principles of his obedience be right Now the great principles that a man is acted by and that carry him on in gospel obedience are these three Faith Love Self denial 1. Faith This is the great principle of all acceptable obedience without which no obedience can please God the Apostle is peremptory in it Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And therefore all gospel obedience is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 There is a twofold obedience to the gospel 1. Obedience to the call of the gospel whereby fallen sinners are invited and by various methods of grace perswaded to return to God and live Now there can be no obeying the gospel in this sense without faith For how can a man turn from his sins and take Christ upon the terms of the gospel resigning himself to the guidance of his word and spirit without faith 2. There is obedience to the rule of the gospel which directs and guides us how to live and walk so as to approve our wayes to God For the gospel is not only the power of God to salvation Rom. 1 16. but it is the will of God also for our guidance and direction and all obedience to it as such is the fruit of faith Therefore we are said to live by faith Gal. 2.20 and to walk by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 And living and walking take in the whole course of a Christians obedience in the language and sense of the Scripture As the gospel hath not only its credenda but its agenda not only truths to be imbraced but duties to be practised so faith hath both a receptive and a dispensing property it receives the truths of the gospel and imbraces them 1 Thes 2.13 Ye received the word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God And it hath a dispensing property too whereby it payes homage to Christ in all capacities it doth not only receive the Law at his mouth as a Prophet and rest upon his merits as a Priest but subjects to his yoke as a King Faith is an active principle it doth as freely submit to the government of Christ as it readily accepts of pardon and salvation by him By faith Abraham obeyed Heb 11.8 This is one principle of obedience 2. Another principle is love And this is of as great importance as the other nay faith it self is deficient without this for faith works by love Gal. 5.6 This love as it is the Christians badge and character Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 So it is the great principle of obedience The Law being a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 Eccles 12.13 the great principle of obedience there was fear Fear God and keep his commandments but the gospel is a ministration of life and glory and the great principle there is Love if a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 Love is vertually all obedience and therefore our Lord Christ reduces all the precepts to this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matt. 22.37 39. and thy neighbour as thy self So that the substance of Religion is contained in this It is not Circumcision as the Jew would nor uncircumcision as the converted Gentile would but faith that works by love Gal. 5.6 There is no such principle of obedience as Love This will be evident if you consider but eight properties of it 1. It is an appretiative principle that prefers and values Jesus Christ above all It sees such a beauty and excellency in him that it counts all loss and dung in comparison of him Phil. 3.8 And he that thus loves Christ can't but obey him 2. Love is an opening principle Open to me my sister Cant. 5.2 and ver 6. I opened to my beloved Christ can have no entrance into the heart if love do not let him in This is the opening grace It is so in God the Father What makes him open his eternal counsels and purposes of grace and mercy to poor creatures but love It is so in God the Son What made him open heaven and come into the world open the virgins womb and be born open his side and let out his blood and so open a new and living way for us to the Father Heb. 10.20 What makes him open his arms to receive returning sinners and open the gates of glory for them but love It is so in God the Holy Ghost What makes him open blind eyes and deaf ears and hard hearts but love And look how love works in God to us so it works in us to God it opens the ear to hearken to him it opens the mouth to speak for him it opens the hand to work for him it opens the heart to entertain and imbrace him 3. Love is a liberal principle it is all for giving it is the most bountiful affection Love is all for laying out upon its object It is so with God Divine love expresses it self in acts of bounty Joh. 3.16 Luk. 11.13 Psal 84.11 Heb. 8.10 Ephes 2.5 God so loved the world that he gave his son He gives Christ He gives his Spirit He gives grace and glory He gives himself I will be their God So it is said of Christ He loved us and gave himself for us And look how love acts in God and Christ so it acts in all that are born of God he that loves God gives all to God he gives not only his time and strength and talents but he gives himself I am my beloveds Cant. 6.3 4. Love is a laborious principle It is alwayes doing Amor nescit ferias it hath no days of leisure it sets all the wheels of the soul in motion And therefore the holy Ghost joyns love and labour together God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 Your work of faith and labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 As the word of God is objectum practicum a thing not only to be known but obeyed so love is principium operativum not a meer notion swimming in the brain but a devout affection quickning the heart to obedience I have lifted up my hands to thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.48 If any thing keep a
man close to God in duty it is love 2 Cor. 12.10 for this will spend and be spent as it is right in regard of its object so it is laborious in its motion and doth so inlarge the dispositions and resolutions of the heart for God that as it knows it cannot do enough so it is apt to overlook all it doth as nothing And this is many times the reason of those complaints that are found among Christians that it is not with them as in time past they cannot pray nor act nor walk nor work for God as once they could and did the complaint arises meerly out of an improv'd affection not because duty is lessened but because love is increased He that loves but little will think he doth enough when he doth least but as love is increased so duty will be diminished in our esteem though it be inlarged in our endeavour 5. Love is a regulated principle it acts by rule and direction The motions of love are voluntary and free but its offices and acts are bounded by the commandment As the Promise is the rule of faith so is the Precept the rule of love Love to God is not a love of equals but of inferiours and therefore comes under a law it is our duty to act it but it is Gods prerogative to govern and guide it The expressions of our love are to be wholly regulated by what God requires and commands of us what ever is done otherwise though in the service of God yet it hath not love for its principle Many supererogate in the service of God and think this love to God as the Papists and among our selves how zealous are many for ceremonies and superstitious observances and think this is their love to God whereas it is in the language of God himself a hating of him as you see in the second commandment Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me Exod. 20.5 6. Who they are that hate him the former part of the command tells you they are such as corrupt the worship of God by any manner of will worship or humane institutions Though every sin hath a degree of hatred of God in it yet false worship is in a peculiar manner said to be a hating of him because it is a down right invading the rights of his Soveraignty to whom alone it belongs to prescribe how he will be worshipped and hence one says it is a less sin in the worship of God not to do what God commands than to practise what he hath not commanded because in the former we shew our weakness to do the will of God but in the latter we shew our impudence in making our selves wiser than God 1 Joh. 5 3. Herein is love that we keep his commandments 6. Love is a commanding principle it swayes the heart Every man is acted by the power of love That which gives sin its dominion in the soul is the love of it So much as a man loves sin so much power it hath over the heart and so much as we love Christ so much he rules in us for Christ and lust rule by love As love to sin abates the power of sin decays and as love to Christ increases so his interest and government advances in the soul Therefore it is that God bespeaks us to give him our hearts Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart and to love him with all our hearts Matt. 22.37 Because he knows that if he hath our hearts he hath all 7. Love is an induring principle It beareth all things indureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 Jacob served twice seven years for Rachel and indured hard things and yet the time was short Gen. 29.20 and his burden light all was nothing because of the love he had to her Nescit amor molimina love knows no difficulties how can it when it makes hard things easie Is it not a hard thing to keep the respects of the soul fixed upon God when he hides from it or frowns upon it Amare Deum cum se praebet inimicum This Luther counted a very hard work but love makes it easie Is it not a hard thing to indure reproaches and persecutions for Christ yet love makes it easie I take pleasure in reproaches and persecutions and distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 There is no man can take pleasure in these things for themselves no but for Christs sake It is love to Christ that sweetens all Is it not a hard thing to lay down our lives for Christ and yet love makes it easie I count not my life dear sayes Paul so that I may finish my course with joy Acts 20.24 They loved not their lives to the death Rev. 12.11 there is no part of Christs Yoke grievous to love no duty burthensom Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119.165 8. Love is a lasting principle The holy Ghost sayes it never faileth 1 Cor. 13.8 it is sure to hold out and persevere to the last Nay it shall not only be a principle of obedience in Saints while they are in this world but in heaven for ever A believer is acted by some principles in the present state that shall cease in heaven but love shall never cease it shall be a principle of obedience in heaven to Eternity O what an excellent principle of obedience is love and therefore see that your love to Christ be sincere and that all your services to Christ flow from this principle for without it all ye do is nothing If I give my body to be burned and have not love it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 3. The third principle of obedience to Christ is self denial There is a self denial before closing with Christ which is necessary in order to the taking up his Yoke As Christ finds every sinner in himself so he first calls him out of himself to close with him If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matt. 16.24 A man must come out of himself to Christ And there is a self denyal which is the effect of closing with Christ that follows upon our believing and is an essential part of sanctification None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself Rom. 14.7 Self-opinion self-will self-love self-confidence all must be denyed every imagination and every high thing must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Nay righteous self too is as much to be denyed in point of dependance as carnal self is in point of indulgence for trusting to self-righteousness hath undone many Not only our unrighteousness will undo us if we abide init but our very righteousness will undo us also if we trust to it and why because hereby we thrust Christ out of office Rom. 10.3 and make void his righteousness Let
therefore she is not proud but only loves to be neat and gent. To be a drunkard is a beastly thing therefore it must not be looked on as drunkenness but good fellowship and a free use of the creature Sin dares not be known by irs own name nor appear in its own complexion this argues it to be a base and dishonourable thing And needs it must for what honour can there be in sin that dishonours God Can that bring honour to a creature that brings the greatest dishonour to his Maker He that expects honour from sin may as well expect to make himself sweet by lying in a Jakes Can that bring honour to a man that blinds his mind besots his reason degrades him below himself and renders him a beast Eccles 3.18 That they might see that they themselves are beasts Can that be honour to a man that defiles his Conscience separates him from God and at last damns his Soul Ah what a base shameful dishonourable thing is sin Now all this sets off the honour of Religion for that is contrary to sin Young men would you get a good name in the world at your first setting out Would you have credit and repute abroad Would you be honoured of men of good men nay of God himself Why the only way is to be sober temperate to your selves just righteous merciful good among men devout humble holy and obedient to God There needs no other excellency in the world to give honour and reputation to a man than Religion in the power and practice of it What Diogenes said of Vertue is most true of Religion it makes poor men wealthy old men happy and young men honourable And this is a third branch of the reason why every man should take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth it is good as being honourable It shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace it Prov. 4.8 Fourthly Subjection to the Yoke of Christ is a pleasant good Every man is drawn by pleasure and delight especially young ones And therefore as Satan makes pleasure the bait of sin so the Holy Ghost makes it the motive to godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Her ways are ways of pleasantness Prov. 3.17 The great objection against Religion is the severity of its precepts and thereby the unpleasantness of its paths the life of Christianity is looked on as a sour and uncomfortable life whereas there is nothing in it but what is pleasant and sweet easie and light And under these properties Christ commends it to us Mat. 11.29 Take my yoke upon you I but it is a heavy Yoke and his Commands an intolerable burden Now Christ seems to obviate such an objection as this in the next verse for my yoke is easie and my burden is light v. 30. And the Apostle tells us His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.3 Not grievous in themselves nor grievous to them that love him if they are grievous to any it is to them to whom sin was never grievous whose hearts are so possessed by lust that the Precept hath no place it is a hard heart that makes duty hard and the love of sin that makes obedience a burden That I may make this a forcible Argument to draw young ones to take up Christs Yoke I shall make this out That subjection to God is matter of pleasure The whole of that task and duty which the Gospel requires of us is easie and delightful This I shall endeavour to make out three ways 1. Positively 2. Comparatively 3. By a Collation of Instances 1. Positively And there are three things to be considered which will make out the Yoke of Christ to be truly pleasant and delightful First The matter of his service What doth the Lord require of us but to fear the Lord and trust in him as David sums it up Psal 115.11 In Solomons phrase it is Fear the Lord and depart from evil Prov. 3.7 Our Lord Christ sums up all in one word Love Matt. 22.36 37 38 39. Luk. 1.75 Love to God and our Neighbour this is the fulfilling of the whole Law Zachary comprises all in two heads Holiness and Righteousness Micah ranks all under three heads To do justly Mic. 6.8 to love mercy to walk humbly with God The Apostles three Adverbs state the matter more distinctly living soberly righteously and godly Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God viz. the Gospel that brings salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Sobriety doth right to a mans self Righteousness doth right to his Neighbour Godliness doth right to his Maker So that these three make up Christs Yoke They comprise the whole of a Christians duty and what unpleasantness is there in any of these duties Consider them distinctly What truer pleasure than in Sobriety which way soever it acts If it acts to moderate the judgment in Opinions concerning Religion to keep it from being carried away with abounding and prevailing Errors this must needs be sweet and pleasant if the mischievous nature and consequences of Error be but a little considered As it defiles the Judgment obstructs Communion with God gratifies Satan fills with pride self-conceit contempt of others strife and variance racks and tortures the Brain to maintain and defend it For if one Errour be espoused many will follow and he that maintains one is bound to maintain all that depend upon it If it acts to bound the appetite in meats and drinks it affords a great pleasure therein For no man injoys the creature with that delight and sweetness as he that injoys it without excess But who can express the mischiefs and maladies of gluttony and drunkenness the pains and diseases they breed in the body and the pangs and wounds they cause in the Soul If it acts to moderate the affections in the seeking and injoying the things of this life this must needs be a great pleasure and ease as it frees the Soul from many anxious thoughts many vexing cares many snares and temptations 1 Tim. 6.9 10. many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition and pierce them through with many sorrows So that sobriety is a great pleasure as it is the cure of spiritual giddiness the bar of intemperance the bridle of appetite the check of inordinate affections and the fence and guard of wisdom * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Next consider the duty of Righteousness as it respects our Neighbour and how pleasant and delightful is the practice of it to be just in our dealings faithful in our trust merciful to the poor true in our testimony loving to all always exemplifying in our practice that golden Rule of Christ Mat. 7.12 Doing to others as we would that they should do to us Oh how sweet and pleasant must this be But is there that
sound belief the want of a serious consideration is the great cause why men dally with God For as Faith makes invisible things evident Heb. 11.1 and future things present so consideration makes them great and gives them their due weight Consideration is an intimate view of things it ponders matters fully their natures events and tendencies It compares one thing with another kind with kind cause with cause circumstance with circumstance issue with issue how they begin and how they end Sin and lust are indeliberate and sudden they must have a present compliance they allow of no consideration they consider not that they do evil Eccles 5.1 He considers not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell says Solomon of the simple sinner Prov. 9.18 Consideration would break the force of lust and spoil Satans design Would men but seriously ponder what sin is and what the Soul is how deceitful how vain how unsatisfying how brutish the one and how noble how precious how immortal the other they would not stake and pawn them to every base lust as they do Would they but consider of the nearness of death and eternity that within a few days or hours they must be in Heaven or Hell that there is nothing between but a little breath which the next morsel he eats may stop all hangs upon a small thred of life which the next disease may fret in sunder they could not dally with duty and slight conversion and a life of holiness as they do What is the reason that men are better upon a sick bed than at another time that Jesus Christ is then prized and repentance sought and holiness desired which in health were slighted and put off the reason is the sense of their condition their case makes them considerate and consideration gives death and eternity a near approach and than they do make other kind of impressions than when we look on them at a distance Had we but the same thoughts of these things in health as we shall have in sickness we should labour for Grace and Holiness as much now as we shall then wish we had I tell you you don't consider enough of the nearness of death and eternity and he that puts the evil day far off will put the Yoke of Christ off too and so he is undone by his own security 4. It is from the unsuitableness that is betwixt the things of Christ and the temper of a sinner Christs Yoke doth no way fit a carnal heart and where there is unsutableness there will be dislike Matt. 16.23 They savour not the things that be of God A carnal heart is satisfyed with carnal contentments and delights a rattle will please a child and a toy be more welcome to a fool than a Crown Every nature delights in things sutable to it self and therefore it is that the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 that it neither is nor can be subject to the law of God for how can spiritual things be sutable and relishing to a carnal heart If Christ should come to the ambitious man and say follow me and I will give thee all the honour and grandeur of this world or to the voluptuous man and say follow me and I will give thee all the pleasures of sense and flesh or to the covetous man and say follow me and I will fill thy Bags and thy Barns I will bless the Ship and the Shop I will give thee the treasures of the Earth and the Sea this would do more than all the motives of the Gospel The young man had never left Christ as he did had he but urged such an argument as this for his heart to close with It is the base love of this present world that makes the call of the Gospel so unsuccessful and ineffectual you may see it in that parable Matt. 22.5 They make light of the tenders of Christ and what is the reason why the Farm and the Oxen and the Merchandise were in the case these must not be left for Christ where lust hath the casting voice O how sad is this if Christ should offer you riches and honours you would come and yet for Heaven and Glory you will not 5. It is because they are deceived and beguiled partly by the cunning of Satan who puts a false varnish upon things Partly by the deceitfulness of their own hearts which turns them aside that they cannot see and say it is a lye which they have in their right hand Isai 44.20 Partly from the delusive appearances of things which by reason of both the former seem other than they are Bernard distinguishes of four sorts of things 1. Some things are good and pleasant so is communion with God for there is the chiefest goodness and the highest sweetness 2. Some things are good but not pleasant as repentance and mortification and self-denial 3. Some things are neither good nor pleasant as utter despair in the present State it is a thing full of sin and sorrow 4. Some things are pleasant but not good and such are the delights of sin they are sweet but not safe they please but they deceive It is the sweetness of sin that gives it countenance it would never be committed if there were no pleasure in it And herein the deceitfulness of sin consists Heb. 3.13 it allures by fair baits and kills by a sharp hook it tempts by its sweets and destroys by its snares Sin is like poyson very luscious but very dangerous the pleasant taste invites and the sinner can't refrain though that which is sweet in the mouth be in the belly bitter as wormwood Many are so bewitched to their lust that though they know it will cost them their Souls yet they can't renounce its pleasures Now these five things put together namely Ignorance Unbelief Security Unsutableness of spiritual things and the deceitfulness of Sin are the causes why so many slight the Yoke of Christ Secondly Let me in the next place having shewed you the causes of it lay before you the aggravations of it for it is a sin of a very hainous nature to put off and slight coming under Christs Yoke First it is base disingenuity for we don't deal with God as we would have him deal with us When we want any mercy we must be heard at first call but God calls for duty again and again and we hear him not We are impatient if God delays us and yet we make no scruple to delay him When we have any thing for God to do that must be done speedily In the day when I call answer me speedily Psal 102.2 But when God hath any thing for us to do there we take leisure If we would have mercy that must be to day but if God calls for duty we put him off till the morrow Now this is basely disingenuous that when we can't bear Gods delays yet we make him bear ours although
But he charges this practice with folly says he they are not wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They never come to understand their case alas how should they the obliquity of the person is hid in the crookedness of the rule For a man to be his own rule and standard is great folly and yet nothing more common than to judge a mans self by the presumed goodness of his own heart though it is the greatest cheat and impostor in the World The Holy Ghost tells us so the heart is deceitful above all things Jerem. 17.9 You read of deceitful riches Matt. 13.22 deceitful weights Mic. 6.11 deceitful witnesses Prov. 14.25 deceitful Prophets Jerem. 23.26 deceitful tongues Psal 52.4 a deceitful Devil Revel 20.3 but the heart is deceitful above them all Satan himself could never deceive a man if his own heart did not deceive him It hath a thousand deceits It paints sin with the colour of vertue It hides from a man the evil that is real and flatters him with a good that is seeming It perswades a man he hath the good he hath not and if there be any good that the good he hath is greater than it is It presents him with common Grace for saving It makes him take education for conversion and moral virtues for Gospel Holiness It is endless to trace the heart in its several deceits and therefore for a man to measure himself by himself when the heart is so deceitful must needs be a false rule of judgment Secondly Some measure themselves by such as come short of their attainments thus did the Pharisee in Luk. 18.11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers nor as this Publican and this was the false rule that deceived him Alas what is all this nature may be refined and yet be but nature and when all is done it giveth one man no more advantage of another than tame Beasts have of wild A tame Beast is as much a Beast as they that are wild We may not be so bad as the worst and yet may be worse than we think and we may be better than some and yet not be so good as we ought Thirdly Some make a judgment of their condition by the judgment of others If such as are Godly wise and discerning do approve and commend them this puts all out of doubt and makes them confident of their good condition Nothing blinds a man more to himself than the applause of others for this holds him in a pleasant dream of an imaginary excellency and puffs him up with an opinion of those virtues in himself which he is an utter stranger to Alas what is the judgment of others about the truth of my Godliness that I should value and judge my self by that How often have good men been mistaken in their opinion and judgment of others The Disciples judged Judas to have been as sincere and true to Christ as themselves and could suspect themselves as soon as him nay rather than him And therefore when Christ tells them one of you shall betray me Matt. 26.21.22 they every one cry out Lord is it I they little thought that Iscariot had been such a Judas How was Peter deceived in Simon Magus and the Apostle John in the false Disciples and never knew what they were till their Apostasy detected their Hypocrisie 1 John 2.19 Men judge by what they see and that is only what appears Now a man may be one thing in appearance and another thing in reality Our Lord Christ speaks of some that are in sheeps clothing and yet are inwardly ravening wolves The Opticks say solae superficies videntur we only see the surface of things and it is true who can see another mans inside who can tell what principle I am acted by in the worship of God or say what my aims and ends are they may be right or wrong true or false for ought any other man knows Many shall in that Day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ be condemned for Hypocrites that have passed through this World with an applause for Eminent Saints for secret sins may be retained under an open profession of holiness and men judge by the profession that is made because they see not the secret lusts that are indulged This is therefore a false rule to judge by Fourthly Some make outward reformation the 〈◊〉 to judge of their subjection to Christ by If they leave their open wickednesses their scandalous practices and live soberly in the World this is a rule by which they judge their case good Now this is a false rule to judge by For 1. Open sins may be reformed and yet heart lusts may be reserved and so the Soul is in as dangerous a condition as ever An impostume in the Bowels may as surely kill a man as the plague in the flesh Where sin is outwardly forsaken and yet secretly beloved there the Disease is not cured but struck in and so is as mortal as before It is not the refraining sin that weakens it but the withdrawing the heart from it It is a less evil to do sin and not love it than it is to love sin and not do it for the doing sin may possibly be from weakness of Grace but the love of sin is always from the strength of lust 2. A man may as to outward acts let all sin go and yet be a secret enemy to Christ for the Enmity as the Law says of treason against the King lies not in overt acts but in the depravedness and corruption of the heart and what is it for all lusts to be restrained unless the heart also be subdued to Christ A Dog tyed up from doing harm is a Dog still There may be a cessation of arms between Enemies and yet the quarrel may remain though the War cease A sinner may lay the weapon of sin out of his hand and yet the enmity against God still remain in his heart And therefore for a man to measure his Religion from an outward reformation only is to judge by a false rule Not but that an outward reformation is necessary for though a man may have a bad heart under a strict life yet to be sure he cannot have a good heart with a bad life Matt. 23.25 But this is not enough for the outside of the cup and platter may be cleansed and yet the inside remain unclean and filthy Fifthly Some make a profession of Religion the measure of their subjection to Christ they reckon a cleaving to his worship and ordinances to be a taking up of his Yoke Indeed it is required that all that believe in Christ should make a profession of him it is a part of the homage we owe to Christ to stick to his worship and ordinances to hold fast the faith and not deny his name But yet for any man to judge of the truth of his subjection to Christ by making an
many times the sinner out-lives all his joys and delights they tarry not till he dies from them but they die from him sometimes pining diseases sometimes continued crosses sometimes a worm in the conscience extinguish these joys and they are never kindled more But if none of these do to be sure death doth for when that once comes then farewel the pleasures of sin for ever Hell is too hot a Climate for wanton delights to live in sin shall be so far from affording delight there that the remembrance of it shall greaten their torment And therefore if the pleasures of sin do not die from us yet we are sure to die from them as Pope Adrian said to his Soul when expiring Quae nunc abibis in loca Nec ut soles dabis jocos Thou art now going where there is no pleasure to be found But now the pleasure of godliness is durable pleasure it is not transient and fading It is not water from a fading brook but from a river whose springs fail not Therefore the Holy Ghost had no sooner said Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 but he presently adds in the next verse For with thee is the fountain of life A fountain is always running and yet is never exhausted The river of pleasures which godliness affords is fed from a fountain that is overflowing and ever flowing Fourteenthly The pleasures of sin have a sad end There is a sting in the tail of them they are like the wine Solomon speaks of that though it looketh pleasantly in the cup yet at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder Prov. 23.31 32. The stollen waters of sin how sweet soever they seem to be in the mouth will be gall and wormwood in the belly even bitterness in the latter end So says Zophar Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue Though he forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of asps within him O that sinners would consider the end of sin As Abner said to Joab Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end 2 Sam. 2.26 Sensual pleasure goes out like a candle and leaves a stink behind it great damps and sore griefs in the conscience Wo to you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Luke 6.25 In Isai 5.14 it is said Hell hath inlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it That is he that lives in the pleasures of sin his present pleasure shall end in Hell where there is punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour mischief without measure and torments without end This is all you shall ever get by sin a little pleasure and eternal torment But the pleasure of godliness as it is sweet in the way so it is sweeter in the end Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Christ keeps the best wine till the last The pleasures of godliness that good men injoy in the way are not to be compared to the pleasures that they shall injoy in the end When the pleasures of sin shall end in the wrath of God and eternal misery the pleasures of godliness shall be so far from being extinguished that they shall be perfected * Si quid male feceriâ— voluptas transit dolor manet si quid benefeceris labor transit voluptas manet For holiness brings us into the full fruition of God at last In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 So that we may say of the pleasures of holiness and the pleasures of sin as Solomon says of wisdom and folly Eccles 2.13 Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness So do the pleasures of holiness excel the pleasures of sin And thus you have the pleasure of Christs Yoke made out comparatively viz. by comparing it 1 with the Yoke of the Law 2 with the Yoke of Sin 3 I shall make it out by a collation of instances And I will instance in the most difficult duties of Religion If the most difficult and severe duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them then it must needs be good to come under the Yoke of Christ but the most difficult duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them I will instance in three which I take to be the most difficult Repentance Mortification of Sin Bearing the Cross 1. Repentance This seems to be one of the most difficult and unpleasant duties which the Yoke of Christ lays us under It is an afflicting the Soul Ezra 8.21 And what pleasure can there be in affliction It is a being ashamed and confounded for sin Jer. 22.22 And what pleasure is there in shame and confusion It is a renting and breaking the heart Joel 2.13 Psal 51.17 And what pleasure can a man take to have his heart rent and broken It is an exercising indignation and revenge upon our selves 2 Cor. 7.11 And what pleasure is it for a man to be angry with and take revenge upon himself It seems therefore upon all these accounts to be a very difficult duty and yet notwithstanding it is a duty full of pleasure and sweetness And this will be manifest First If you consider it in its spring and rise The work of repentance if it be right hath for the spring of it the efficacy of the grace of the Gospel upon the Soul melting it down at the foot of God The sweet sense of the goodness and mercy of God in Christ thaws the heart and causes it to melt into tears of godly sorrow for all sin done against such infinite love and tender bowels That thou mayst remember and be confounded because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord Ezek. 16.63 The reconciled face of God shining upon a sinner makes him more ashamed of sin than any argument in the world can do And there cannot but be pleasure in the exercise of this grace when it flows from so sweet a spring Secondly If you consider how great a hand it hath in removing the burden of sin Sin is such a burden as will sink the Soul down to Hell if it be not removed And if any man feel it not to be a burden it is because he is dead in sin but where there is any life the burden is very great Mine iniquities are gone over my head as a burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 Now repentance helps to remove the burden of sin for when the Soul repents God forgives and so the burden is took away The pardon of sin is that which takes away the burden of sin this Job intimates in that his expostulation with God
If the Conscience hath been effectually convinced of sin of righteousness and of judgment And if the will by a powerful touch of God hath been throughly subdued to the Divine Will then are you brought under the Yoke of Christ And this is a judgment a priori by such things as always precede an actual subjection to Christ and are causal of it CHAP. XIV Shews our subjection to Christ by such signs as are the Genuine Effects of it 2. WE may make a judgment a posteriori By such marks and signs as are the natural effects and proper fruits of subjection to Christ Effects bear witness to their causes the reflection of the Sun-beams upon the Earth proves its shining without looking upward And this to weak and less discerning Christians may be the most proper measures to try their State by VVho desires a better proof of Life then Sense and Motion or better Knowledge of a Tree then by its Fruits if the Tree be good Mat. 7.20 the Fruit will be good By their Fruits ye shall know them Now there are two things which are the constant effects and natural fruits of this Yoke of Christ and they are dying to sin and living to God Putting off the old man and putting on the new Crucifying the Flesh and Sowing to the Spirit And where ever a man is brought into subjection to Jesus Christ these are the inseparable effects of it by which it may be known First then take the temper and disposition of the heart towards sin for a rule of tryal He that bears Christs Yoke will no longer bear sins Yoke VVhere the one is once put on the other is dayly putting off There is an irreconcileable odds in every man that is under the power of grace to sin and lust and it appeares 1. In searching out of sin let us search and try our ways Though a good man knows much evil by himself yet he desires to know more Though he sees many lusts and corruptions in his heart yet he is sensible that there are many he sees not for who can understand his errours as we know but in part of the things of God 1 Cor. 13.9 so we know but in part of the things of our own hearts First convictions discover much but not all they leave much sin undiscover'd and of the sin that is discovered there is much evil in it that is not Hence that of Job chap. 13.23 How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgression and my sin It is a great mistake to think the convincing work of the spirit is over when once it hath discovered to a man his sinful estate and brought him to close with Jesus Christ there is need of conviction in order to Sanctification as well as in order to Conversion There are sinful frames of heart as well as a sinful estate and though a Believer need the convictions of the Spirit but once as to his sinful estate yet he needs them always as to the carnal frames of the heart Therefore he cryes out that which I see not teach thou me Job 34.32 As there is a height and depth in the love of Christ Eph. 3.18 19. which passes knowledge so there is also in the lusts of the heart And as it is the light of the Spirit which shews us the unsearchable riches of the former So he also discovers to us the unseen filthiness of the latter And this is a great reason why many good men complain of sin more after Conversion than they did before and still the more they grow into acquaintance with their own hearts the more they complain of indwelling lusts It is not because their lusts increase but because their light increases Not because they sin more but because they see more of sin As other Graces of the Spirit so that of Light is a growing thing and the more the light of the Spirit is increased the more of the evil of sin is discovered But notwithstanding their complaints of what they see yet still they desire to see more Though a Believer finds delight only in the fight of his graces yet he finds a profit in the knowledge of his sins There are two things which testifie aloud to the goodness of our state One is when we desire to feel more of the Grace of Christ the other is when we desire to know more of the hidden lusts of our own hearts The one makes us more humble and thankful the other makes us more vigilant and watchful This is one thing the hypocrite fails in he never searches to know his secret sins he prides himself in his seeming graces but he never searches to know his hidden corruptions He may boast with the Pharisee Luke 18. of his Fasting and Praying but he can't truly pray with David Search me O God and know my heart try me and see if there be any wicked way in me Psal 132.23 24. 2. This enmity in Believers against sin appears in the confession of sin whereby the Believer accuses and charges himself before God For this is a great blow to sin Confession is an act of mortification By our Law no man is bound to accuse himself but by the Law of God he is He shall confess that he hath sinned and shall bring his Trespass Offering Lev. 5.5 6. The Offering for sin is not enough without the confession of sin only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord. Jer. 3.13 The Antinomians are against the Confessing of sin in the Children of God and we have others leaven'd with the same Spiritual Pride they look upon it as a servile work below the dignity of a Christian State But till a Believer get above the committing of sin how can he be above the confession of sin it is a duty as needful as the labour of the pump is to the leaking vessel what the Ship leaks in the pump must cast out And therefore this hath been the practise of good men in all times not only of David 2 Sam. 24.10 Psal 32.5 Neh. 1.6 Ezra 9.6 Dan. 9. and Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel c. in the Old Testament but of Believers in the New Testament VVe find not only young converts at this work Mat. 3.6 Act. 19.18 but the most eminent Saints Rom. 7.14 18 21. it is an indispensable part of true Repentance In some cases it is a duty to confess our sins to man Jam. 5.16 as in case of publick scandal to the Church Or of private injury to our Neighbour Or in case of Spiritual Troubles that so we may have the advantage of good mens Prayers and Counsels But it is in all cases necessary to confess sin to God Josh 7.19 It is a great Glory done to him It puts honour upon all his attributes My son said Joshua to Achan give glory to the Lord and make confession to him It is the way to stop the progress of sin While it is
pray against his sin as it is said Austin did in his Natural State who was afraid that God should grant his request He prayed one thing and desired another But he prays as David did wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Psal 51.2 Oh the sighs and groans that a gracious heart sends up to God under the load and burden of sin We groan being burdened 2 Cor. 5.4 Hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death never did poor Prisoner more long and wish to be freed from his chains then the Believer doth to be rid of his sins None can know what the wrestlings of a gracious heart are with God against Corruption but they that have been wearied with the burden of it 2. He mourns and sorrows under it as the daily burden of his Soul Grace softens the heart and then sin makes it mourn They shall be on the mountains like Doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity Ezek. 7.16 And this is sorrow of the right kind There is a great deal of sorrow caused by sin that is not right therefore the Apostle speaks of being made sorry after a Godly manner I rejoyced not that ye were made sorry but that ye sorrowed to Repentance for ye were made sorry after a Godly manner 2. Cor. 7.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye sorrowed according to God And it is known from all other sorrow By its object and that is sin Sin more than any thing and special sin more than any sin 1. Sin more than any thing more than suffering more than affliction more than Hell Nothing in the world causes that sorrow in a gracious heart as sin doth Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight sayes the poor prodigal Luk. 15.21 he doth not say I am full of wants ready to famish for bread but here is his wound father I have sinned So as it was with David 2 Sam. 24.10 I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant He doth not say take away this judgment this pestilence nay he is willing to bear it ver 17. Lo I have sinned and done wickedly but those Sheep what have they done Let thine hand be against me He is willing to indure the smart so as God would remove the guilt He would quietly bear his hand in chastisement for sin so that his heart were but towards him in the pardon of sin It is not smart but guilt that is the chief cause of sorrow in a gracious heart Now the hypocrite cryes out more because of smart then guilt Punishment causes sorrow when sin doth not Pharaoh is under a plague of Frogs and he presently calls for Moses and Aaron and what must they do Intreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me Exod. 8.8 he doth not say that he may take away my sin from me he was very sensible of the plague of frogs but had no sense of the plague of his heart So that here you see the difference between David and Pharaoh David is for the taking away of sin rather then of judgment Pharaoh is for the taking away of judgment but not a word of the taking away of sin 2. True sorrow for sin is more for special sins then for any other sin Though all sin is matter of sorrow yet special sins above all And it must needs be so for by these God hath been most dishonoured By these he hath so often broke with Jesus Christ By these he hath given the deepest wounds to his own Conscience By these Satan hath so long maintained his power and rule in the Soul And so easily insnared and overcome him The hypocrite never sorrows for his special sins His sorrow as it is feigned so it is either for some petty sins or such as are common to him with others But he feels no remorse for his bosom lusts nor comes near to that which is the chief cause of controversie between God and his Soul His beloved lust lies secure in his heart without the least disturbance or notice taken of it 3. He maintains a constant conflict against sin And this is a natural effect of hatred for hatred stirreth up strife Prov. 10.12 hence ye read of striving against sin Heb. 12.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a military word and implies an opposing and fighting as against an enemy to whom a man is resolved not to yield And the enemy is here said to be sin which is the greatest enemy in the world and makes the fiercest war for it wars against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 against the grace of the Soul against the peace and comfort of the soul against the life and salvation of the Soul Hence it is that the life of a Christian is a continual warfare The Age that men observe in Civil Wars is from sixteen years old to sixty but this war commences from the first moment of taking up the Yoke of Christ to the last moment that a man lives in the world Every man that is born again is born a man of strife as Jeremy speaks in another sense he keeps up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 15.10 a truceless war with sin Cant. 6.13 what is the company of two armies in the Shulamite but the lusts of the Flesh and the Graces of the Spirit in continual conflict and opposition of each other So the Apostle explains it Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh And mark the Tense it is not said it did lust viz. at the first working of grace or it will lust viz. when grace is come to more strength and maturity but it lusteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present Tense and so it notes two things 1. That so soon as ever Grace is wrought in the heart it shews it self in strifes and contests with lust and corruption it lusteth against the Flesh or else it is not Grace 2. That this contest once begun will never end so long as any one lust remains in the heart Nor can it for this hatred of sin wrought by grace in the heart is so radicated in the new nature and so essential to it that as grace is increased so this hatred is heightened and needs it must for all hatred springs from love amor odii causa it is love to God and Christ which works to hatred of sin and therefore as love grows stronger so our hatred of sin still grows greater so that this contest can never end but in the death and destruction of every lust Other enemies a Christian can love and pity and forgive and pray for but he hath no pity for sin It is a hatred wrought by the Spirit of God which is full of indignation and revenge What indignation it wrought in you yea
it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6.6 It is a less evil to refuse the first tenders of grace then to reject Christ after he hath been professed and own'd the former may be from ignorance and prejudice but to cast him off upon tryal argues his yoke to be uneasy and his Commandments grievous he sayes in the language of his action there is not that good to be found in God as he expected nor that comfort in his ways as was promised And what greater contempt can be put upon Christ then this 2. It hath mischievous effects with respect to our selves 1. It proves the unsoundness and hypocrisie of our hearts and shews they were never right with God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 Joh. 2.19 He that at any time shall cast off the yoke of Christ shews that his heart was never right in taking of it up In a Marriage relation love increases and firms the bond but adulterous love is only hot while new 2. Another mischievous effect is in those unspeakable losses we sustain by casting off Christs yoke 1. A loss of all we have done or suffered for Christ when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned Ezekiel 18.24 thy Faith thy Prayers thy Alms-deeds thy Fastings thy striving against sin thy zeal and fervour for Christ will all come to nothing it shall never be mentioned all thy labour and obedience and duties are lost though they have been never so many and great When a Nazarite under the Law had separated himself to the Lord if any defilement came upon him all was lost and counted for nothing Numb 6.12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation that is he shall begin all again but the days that were before shall be lost because his separation was defiled So it is with professors of Religion if they draw back all is lost In Christianis non initia quaeruntur sed finis It is not only how we begin but how we finish And therefore it is excellent counsel the Apostle gives 2 Epist Joh. ver 8. 2 Epist Joh. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which yee have wrought 2. A loss of that honour and reputation which doth ever attend sincerity and perseverance as an Apostate loses the profit and comfort of all his duties so he loses the honour of his profession Ye did run well who hindered you Gal. 5.7 Demas hath forsaken us 2 Tim. 4.10 and imbraced this present world it is recorded as an act of perpetual infamy and dishonour So Christ saith of him that begins to build and is not able to finish that all that behold it shall mock at him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Luk. 14.29 30. The Crown of profession is only secured by perseverance Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Ne honorem perseverantiae amittas Gro. Revel 3.11 3. A loss of gifts and parts and of that expediteness for service which we once had When men withdraw from and forsake Christ he causes his Spirit in his wonted operations and influences to withdraw from and forsake them So that they are not the men they once were How hath the experience of the present Age verified this Do we not see many that once had great gifts of the Spirit for praying teaching and edifying of others who by turning their backs upon Christ to a dead way of formal Worship have sinned away the gifts of the Spirit and are now become utterly dead and lifeless and thus is that of our Lord made good Mark 4.25 He that hath not not improved from him shall be taken away that which he hath Thus Christ took away the Talent from the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.28 4. A loss of that tenderness of Conscience which is necessary to a true repentance for when a man doth reject and cast off Christs yoke usually Conscience is laid wast it is sinned out of office and so lets a man sin on without check or controul And how shall that man repent who hath sinned away all tenderness of Conscience therefore the Apostle sayes It is impossible if such fall away to renew them again to Repentance Heb. 6.4 6. 5. A loss of Heaven and the salvation of their souls There are two sorts of persons that are for ever shut out of Heaven Such as never believed and such as make Shipwrack of Faith Such as never would take up the yoke of Christ and such as having taken it up do finally cast it off again If you forsake God he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 This is willful sinning and how dreadfully hath God expressed himself against this Heb. 10.26 If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries you therefore that have taken up the yoke of Christ let that severe threatening of Christ fasten it for ever upon you Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father with his Holy Angels These are the Arguments the Directions follow Direct 1. Would you not cast off Christs Yoke Then do not be weary of his service Do not count it burdensome No man loves to bear what is burdensome it makes him weary and wearyness causeth fainting Hence that of the Apostle Heb. 12.3 Consider him that indured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds There is a weariness from contrariety of Spirit to the work Mal. 1.13 Ye have said what a weariness is it And there is a weariness from despondency of Spirit under discouragements in the ways of God by reason of contradictions and sufferings but nothing should make us weary of Christs work Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well-doing 2 Thes 3.13 Christ speaks it to the commendation of that Church of Ephesus Rev. 2 3. For my name sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted Scaliger sayes lassitudo est deficientia virtutis moventis Weariness is from a failure in the moving Principle and that is the love of God in the heart So that weariness in the work of God shews that the heart is not right with God Direct 2. Look to your first undertaking in giving your selves up to Christ that it be in sincerity and uprightness of heart How can that man hold out in the service of Christ to the end
Christ You must be divorced from all sin or you cannot be Marryed to Christ therefore remove all hinderances to the duty Direct 3 Labour to be convinced of the absolute necessity of conversion A true sight of the dreadful condition you are in by nature will discover this And what is that you are by nature children of wrath under the curse from the very womb the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed lies upon you you are the devils bondslaves dead in sin Eph. 2.1 Eph. 4.18 under the power of lust alienated from the life of God Hasting to destruction there is but one step between you and Hell you stand upon the brink of the bottomless pit for whoever dies in an unconverted state shall assuredly perish the holy God hath said it and will make it good And is this a state to be rested in where is the sinner that dares dye and appear before the Righteous God in this condition therefore let this shew you the necessity of conversion Direct 4 Heartily accept of Jesus Christ as the Gospel tenders him Here is the turning point of thy Salvation Christ in bowels of pity to thy undone case tenders himself to thee as a universal remedy to pardon to purge to renew to sanctifie to save Young ones have any of you a heart thus to accept of Christ if so you are happy for ever and all your sins and lusts nay all the devils in hell can't hinder it Let an intire resignation follow this acceptation Direct 5 Having thus received Christ give thy self wholly up to Christ resolving that Body Soul and Spirit shall be the Lords so it is said of them 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves up to the Lord. A hearty subjection must follow this resignation Direct 6 No man can be fully resigned that is not intirely subject Be sure therefore let Christ bear rule let the government be upon his shoulders let him give law to thy heart and life thy affections and actions do not part with some sins and retain others this is to hold fast deceit Jer. 8.5 and to refuse to return Do not obey Christ in this or that command but in all you must take all or none An imperfect obedience may be right and sincere but a partial obedience cannot I pray remember this the yoke of Christ is made up of every Commandment not this or that but every Commandment goes to the making up his yoke and when you become willingly subject to all the commands of Christ then have you taken up the yoke of Christ Lastly this must be done without delay Direct 7 The Text prompts to this It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth What sayes David I made hast and delay'd not to keep thy Commandments Psal 119.60 As Christ said to Judas in another case What thou doest do quickly Consider 1. It is a business of life and death and what a foolish thing it is for a man to deliberate whether he shall be saved or damned go to Heaven or Hell 2. By continuance in the ways of disobedience the heart is made more obstinate as a path becomes the harder by frequent treading Sin is of a hardening nature Heb. 3.13 So that if conversion to Christ be hard to day it will be harder to morrow and so every day adds to its difficulty because the heart grows harder and harder 3. You suffer great loss by delays What grace might you have gotten e're this had you begun betimes what victories over sin what experiences what communion with God what evidences for heaven 4. There are special seasons of grace which are but for a limited time and in complying with or slighting these the happiness or misery of man is fixed Because to every purpose there is time and judgment therefore the misery of man is great upon him Eccles 8.6 If your seasons of grace are lost they are never to be redeem'd Now I pray consider in what part of life is it most probable that in the wisdom of God these are placed in youth or in old age Can you think that God would chose the infirmities and dotages of life for his service rather then the strength and vigour of your days and affections 5. The slighting of your special seasons is the way to lose them Luk. 19.42 Gen. 6.3 These three years I come looking for fruit and find none And what follows cut it down why cumbers it the ground Luk. 13.7 Three years they had injoy'd Christs ministry and yet brought forth no fruit and therefore Christ casts them off O sirs how many years hath Christ been calling of you and waiting for fruit why stand ye all the day idle Remember the foolish Virgins and tremble and get Oyl while the Market is open 6. Thou dost not know how near thy day of account may be It is many times nearest when we think it is farthest off We are many times most secure when we are least safe 1 Thes 3.5 When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction c. My Lord delays his coming said the wicked servant Mat. 24.48 And what follows The Lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of Little did the old world think of a flood so nigh when they gave themselves to sensuality Or Sodom of fire from Heaven when they burn'd in their lusts So shall it be when the son of man comes Luk. 17.30 Lastly Consider this If any of you that have heard these Sermons of taking up Christs yoke betimes shall dare yet to live in the neglect of this duty This word that I have spoken to you in the name of the Lord and this call that God hath made to you by me will be a dreadful witness against such refusers in the last day and that which I have intended for your conversion will turn to your destruction and damnation But God forbid what shall I run in vain and labour in vain nay shall the Lord Christ call in vain and his Blessed Spirit strive with you in vain Therefore I beseech you lay things to heart and let me know what you intend Will you at last be prevail'd with to submit to Christ and take up his yoke forthwith without any more delay if not let me tell you God will look upon you from this day as wilful refusers of his grace and love and it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah then for you But if you have a heart now to accept of Christ to be resigned to him and to take up his yoke without any more delay you have done your work you have saved your souls Now God is yours Christ is yours Peace Life Salvation all the good of the Covenant all the glory of Heaven is yours and therefore you are blessed and happy for ever For as your present choice is such shall your Eternal Condition be The Lord perswade sinners to know the things of their peace before they are hid from their eyes FINIS