for it as the Apostle sayes But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready alwayes to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meeknesse and fear Now examine your selves what grounds can you give for your hopes of heaven have you a promise for it or one Scripture ground for it or the witnesse of the Spirit for it if not then doe not nourish any hopes of heaven in your hearts Thus I have laid down these four conclusions I come now to handle the query it self which is this Quest Quest What are the characters whereby it may be knowne whether you are such a one that hath no hopes for heaven or a meer deluding an ungrounded and presumptuous hope as good as no hope Answ The hearts of all the sons of men are desperately wicked and deceitfull above all things man is a proud creature and apt to have proud and high conceits of himself and therefore I shall give you five distinguishing characters whereby you may know whether your hopes for heaven be true and well grounded hopes or no. 1. That man that nourisheth in his heart great hopes for heaven and yet at the same time fosters and favours great lusts and sins in himself that man hath no true hopes for heaven I shall give you a clear place to prove this Deut. 29. 15. And it come to passe when hee heareth the words of this curse if he shall blesse himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk after the imaginations of my heart to add drunkennesse to thirst c. The Lord will not spare such a man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and so in Esay 57. 20. sayes the Prophet there Thou art wearied in the greatnesse of thy wicked wayes yet saidst thou not There is no hope it is a very strange place as if the Prophet should say to them you walk in a great course of sin and wickednesse and yet you flatter you selves you will not say there is no hope for you you that doe nourish great sins and wickednesse in your bosomes and allow your selves in the practise of great sins you should say there is no hope for you to goe to heaven for God does here charge it upon you that notwithstanding you walk on in wayes of sin yet you say not there is no hope but are rather very confident you shall go to heaven for all that and so in Psal 36. 1 2. The transgression of the wicked saith in his heart there is no fear of God before his eyes and yet sayes the Psalmist he flatters himselfe with vain hopes of heaven wicked men have heaven and the hopes thereof in their eyes when they have sinne in their hearts and this shews that their hope is onely a deluding and a vain hope 2. That man hath no true hope but onely a presumptuous and vain hope for heaven that is strong in his expectations of heaven as his aim and end but slow in his actions and endeavours after holinesse as his way he that can with Baalam desire to dye the death of the righteous but never care nor desire to live the life of the righteous that mans hope is but a vain hope as the Psalmist hath it in Psalm 119. 155. Salvation is farre from the wicked for they seek not thy statutes and if salvation be far the hope of salvation is as far but why is salvation far from the wicked because they seeke not Gods statutes those men that hope that salvation is neer them when they are far from seeking after Gods statutes and endeavouring after holinesse as the way to happinesse these men are far from salvation and the hope of salvation too 3. That man hath only deluding hopes for heaven that is unwilling to have his hope tryed examined and come to the touchstone those that will not as the Apostle bids us be ready to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meeknesse and fear now let me ask you what ground you can give for your hopes in heaven have you the testimony of Gods Spirit for it or the testimony of a good conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity you have had your conversation here in this world have you a promise or any ground in scripture for your hopes if you have no ground for your hopes and cannot indure to come to the triall or touchstone it is an argument that you are counterfeit metall that you have no reall hopes for salvation and happinesse in another World 4. That man that builds his hopes for heaven more upon his own performances then upon Gods promises his hope is only a deluding hope this is that sandy ground Christ speaks of in Matth. 7. ult To build your hopes of heaven upon any services you doe or any duties you perform it is all one as if you should goe about to build a house upon the sand ask a wicked man whereon he grounds his hopes for heaven he will tell you that he does the works of charity he gives every man his due and he lives honestly and civilly amongst his neighbours hee hears and reads the Word he prayes and receives the Sacrament he does such and such good duties and this is that which they build hopes for heaven upon they think that Christ is espoused for them because they are bidden to the Wedding Supper for the Ordinances of Christ are his marriage supper they are ready to say with those in Luk. 13. 26. We have eaten and drunken in they presence Lord Lord open to us I doe not deny but a man may have evidence from his graces from the work of God upon his heart but the great pillar of Marble that must bear up thy hope must be the promise of God in Christ he that builds his hopes for heaven only upon his own performances and good duties his hope is a vain and deluding hope I doe not deny but the graces of Gods spirit are reall evidences of Gods love to the Soul as the Apostle sayes By this we know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren and again By this we know that we are of God because of his spirit which he hath given us but I say this is not the main pillar and ground of our hope we should be so fervent in prayer and diligent in the performance of holy duties as if we did expect to be saved by our duties but when we have done all that we can we must lay down all at the feet of Christ and conclude that our best righteousnesse is but as filthy rags and when wee have done all that we can do we are unprofitable servants and we must wholly and only depend upon the merits and mercies of Christ for salvation and comfort 5. That
they are well enough Such men as indulge themselves in the practise of secret sins are practicall Atheists A godly man will fear to commit a secret sin as well as a known grosse and open sinne as Joseph How shall I doe this great wickednesse and so sin against God if the apprehensions of a God do lie near your hear you will have a care to avoid secret as well as open ans 2. Another discovery is this that man is a practicall Atheist that does not make conscience of the performance of secret duties he that never prayes in secret harbours this Atheisticall thought in him that God doth not hear him it is very observable of the Scribes and Pharisees in Scripture you shall never read of a secret fast they kept nor of a private prayer they made but they had publique fasts a great many they did fast twice a week and pray in the corners of the streets and give Almes c. but you never read of any private and secret duties they did perform which did proceed meerly from roots of Atheisme in their hearts and so this is an evidence of the Atheisticall heart if thou dost never make conscience of going to God in secret and beg for grace and mercy from him he is a very Atheist that lives in the neglect of secret duties for those men that retain in their hearts an apprehension of a Deity they know that there is no time so well spent as that which is imployed in secret prayer to God Cant. 2. 14. Oh my dove sayes Christ that art in the clifts of the rocks in the secret places of the stairs let mee see thy countenance let me hear thy voyce for sweet is they voice and thy countenance is comely Oh thou poor soul saies Christ that dost pray in secret and weep in secret corners let me see thy face and hear thy voice A man that hath the apprehensions of a God before him he knowes that the Lord sees and takes notice of the breathings of his heart before him in secret and therefore they are as much in the closet to pray in secret and to powre out their souls before God in private as they are in publique It is very observable that there were very few actions of Christ that were recorded by all the four Evangelists and yet this of Christs praying alone when no body was with him is recorded by them all whereas other things if they be recorded by one they are left out by another but this is spoken of by all of them Now the reason of it is this because Christ would be an example to us to teach us to be frequent in the performance of this duty and therefore it is a sign of an Atheisticall heart in any one that does not make conscience of powring out his heart in secret prayer to God 3. Another Character is this that man that doth make impunity to be a provocation to impiety my meaning is this he that makes the patience and for bearance and long-suffering of God towards him to be a provocation to sinne that because God doth not presently punish him for his sin therefore he will go on in sin still such a man is a very Atheist as in Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done saies God and I held my tongue therefore thou thoughtst that I was such a one as thy self Beloved if any of you harbour such thoughts as those in your hearts that because God doth not presently punish you for your sins therefore you will go on still in sin let me tell you that this is the practise of a very Atheist Because the drunkard is not taken away by God while the wine is in his head and because the swearer is not destroyed by God while the oath is in his mouth and because the lyer is not cut off by God while the lie is upon his tongue therefore they will run on with greedinesse and willingnesse in the same sins all this flowes from the very root of Atheisme that is in thy heart 4. That man is an Atheist that carries in his heart a forgetfulnesse and a carelesnesse of the day of judgement as in 2 Pet. 3 4. And there shall come in the last dayes scoffers walking after their own lusts saying Where is the promise of his coming Thou that doest not harbour in thy heart a mindfulnesse of the day of Judgement art a very Atheist for thou that doest not beleeve God to be a Judge doest not beleeve him to be a God When Paul spake to Felix of temperance and of the judgement to come his heart trembled at the hearing of it Eccles 11. 9. Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement Thou that livest in the world and never so much as thinkest of a day of judgement thou art a very Atheist and oh beloved how many Atheists are there now in the world in this regard that do put far from them the evill day 5. That man is a very Atheist that in the time of trouble and distresse does mistrust the providence of God and run unto base means for help and remedy thus did Saul discover himself to be an Atheist 1 Sam. 28. 7 8. when he was in distresse he went to the Witch of Endor for help and succour And what does God say of such as run to Witches and Wizards Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you run to other Gods to inquire of them It is meer Atheisme for any to distrust God and run unto others for help or any other way to run into sinfull courses in times of danger to finde relief you do hereby declare that you think there is no God in the world 6. That man is an Atheist that does place his affections upon any thing in the world more then upon God such a man lives without God in the world A covetous man that placeth his love upon his money more then upon any thing in the world that man makes gold his God and therefore these two are joyned together Ephes 15. 5. The covetous person who also is an Idolater he makes an idoll of his money and this Job frees himself from in Job 31. 24. saies he I have not made gold my hope nor 〈◊〉 gold my confidence for if I had done so then I had denyed the God above saies he in the 28. verse why now beloved there are many among us that love money better then their own souls that will sell their souls to gain a little wealth many among us love money better then we love heaven it self that do not care what sins they commit for it and had rather part with their souls then with their riches And so when you set your love upon
and thy mother an Hittite and as for thy Nativity in the day that thou wast born thy Navill was not cut neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee no eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee but thou wert cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born that thou maist remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord They must remember their guilt and their shame when God is pacified towards them and when God is reconciled to them and so you have another place for the same purpose in Ezek. 20. 43. And there shall you remember your wayes and your doings wherein you have been defiled and you shal loath your selves in your sight for al the evil that you have committed I remember what Plutarch relates of one Agathocles who was advanced from a potters son a low mean and contemptible condition to be King of Sicilie this man when he might have been served every day in golden dishes yet he would stil have his provisions brought in earthen dishes because sayes he I may remember what I was and what I am a potters son that so I may not be too much lifted up and exalted why so do you remember what you were your Father a potter and you a poor miserable sinfull creature and this will abate the pride of your hearts Reas 5 5. And lastly God wil have us cal to minde our former sinfulnesse because this wil make us more watchful and circumspect that we do not run again into those sins that we were guilty of before conversion God would not have us do it to drive us into despair or to question our evidences for heaven but to make us humble and watchful that we run not again into the same sins Thou maist thus think with thy self Before conversion I spent my dayes in sin and wickednesse and consumed my years in vanity and pleasures in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind and the consideration of this will lay an engagement upon thy soul to walk more carefully and prudently and holily in time to come this the Apostle makes use of in Ephes 5. 8. You were sometimes darknesse saith he but now are you light in the Lord walk therefore as children of the light we should now hate and abhorre those sins that formerly we have delighted in Use These are the reasons of the point I shal only make one short use of it which shal be of reprehension to those that notwithstanding it is the will of God that men after conversion should cal to minde the sin they were guilty of before conversion do yet crosse this doctrine either in their judgement or practice 1. This reproves those that do contradict this Doctrine in their judgement and think that when once they are converted they must never look back upon their former wretchednesse but only now live in Divine raptures and revelations and spirituall joyes and comforts for 1. If Pauls precept be warrantable then this opinion is unwarrantable for he tels us that we must remember what we were in our unconverted estate that we were at that time without Christ and without hope and without God in the World 2. Paul tels the Ephesians that were an elected people who were elected before the beginning of the world that they must remember that they were dead in trespasses and sinnes heretofore though now they were quickened and if Paul bids them call to minde their former sinfulnesse then why should not we do it 2. This reproves those that though they do not deny this Doctrine in judgement yet do not make it their practise to call to minde their former sins that they were guilty of before conversion I dare warrant that many of you can remember what you have done and what debts have been owing you twenty years agoe but yet cannot cal to minde what sins you have committed 20. yeares agoe it may be some of you have been cheaters and swearers adulterers and prophaners and yet now you never think of it but imagine all is well I doe not know how to expresse what sad dismall and deplorable condition thy poor soul is in thou that dost never call to mind thy former sins But thus much shall suffice for this first Doctrine SERMON II. EPHES. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ WE come now to the body and bulk of the words That at that time ye were without Christ from whence note Doctr. That every man during the time of his unregeneracy is in a condition without Jesus Christ My Beloved if I should tell you now that when you come home you should have never a bit of bread to put in your mouths that all your subsistence and livelihood should be taken away that you should be heirs of never a foot of Land and that you should have nothing at all to live upon you would count this a hard case but I tel you my Brethren that to be without Jesus Christ is a far worse case it is the saddest and miserablest thing in the world to be without Jesus Christ when I tell you that you are without Christ I tell you the saddest News in the World but before I can bring home this Doctrine to you there is one Objection and one Question that I must spend a little time in answering the Objection is this Object Object How can it be said of these Ephesians here that were elected that before their conversion they were without Jesus Christ for they were chosen of God in Christ before the world was made and therefore how can the Apostle say that when they were born they were without Jesus Christ seeing they were chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world Answ I answer That the same man in a different sense may be said both to be in Christ and out of Christ it is true the Apostle sayes in the first that they were chosen in Christ before the world was 1 If you respect the eternall decree and determination of God so they were in Christ for God did purpose to make Jesus Christ a Mediatour between God and man by whose bloud they should be saved 2 Though they were in Christ in regard of Gods decree yet they were without Christ in regard of the application of the bloud of Christ to their souls for till a man hath Faith he can make no application of the love of God to him for he that hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of his though they were in Christ in regard of the eternall decree of God yet they were without Christ in regard of the actuall application of the love of God to them for they could not apply to their own souls that Christ did love them and own them as his children till they were brought into a
whom beleevers do build all their hopes for heaven so likewise they build their hope on the mercies of God in Psal 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in those that fear him in those that hope in his mercy and again in Psal 33. 18. The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that trust in his mercy and so in Psal 52. 8. saies David there I trust in the mercies of God for ever and ever A godly man he is cast out of himself and out of an opinion of his own righteousnesse and his hopes are only built upon the mercy of God and on the merits of Christ But now the false and presumptuous hopes that wicked men have are not built so much upon Gods mercy as their own duties and not so much upon the merits of Christ what he hath done for them as upon their own duties what they have done for themselves 3. True hope doth comfort and bear up the heart under all the discomforts that it meets with in the world as David saies I had fainted under my afflictions but that thy word is my hope and hence it is that you have those two admirable expressions put together Rom. 5. 2 3. Rejoycing in hope and glorying in tribulation these are put together to shew that when a man can rejoyce in hope he can glory in all the tribulations he meets with in the world But now presumptuous hopes are like lead and ponderous weights that will make you sink under every affliction It is only a true and saving hope that will enable you to hold up your heads under all afflictions and troubles 4. True hope does as well act for heaven as hope for heaven but a presumptuous hope that hopes for heaven as its end but yet never acts holinesse as its way to heaven true hope as it hopes for heaven so it labours to work out its salvation with fear and trembling You have an admirable passage for this in Psal 119. 166. saies David there Lord I have trusted in thy salvation and I have done thy commandements here is both hoping and acting for heaven put both together wicked men they hope for heaven but they do not do Gods commands and so in Psal 37. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good saies the Psalmist here is trusting and doing put together true hope doth act for heaven as well as hope for heaven but false hope doth hope much and act little wicked men will hope for salvation but not work out their salvation hope for heaven but not labour for heaven this is the fourth difference 5. That man that hath true hope he makes conscience to keep his heart pure and free both from the love of sin and from the dominion of sin while he lives here in this world you have a plain text for this in 1 Joh. 3. 3. He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure he doth labour and endeavour to keep his heart upright and pure and free from sin But now a false hope will hope for heaven though they walk on after the imaginations of their own hearts as in Esai 51. 10. Thou hast walked in the greatnesse of thy wicked wayes yet saidst thou not there is no hope though they had great sins yet they had great hopes for heaven if thou art such a one as is mentioned in Deut. 59. 18. that saiest Thou shalt have peace though thou walkest after the imaginations of thy own heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst if thou art such a one thy hope is only a presumptuous hope 6. True hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience this is the reason of that expression in Rom. 5. 4. Patience worketh experience and experience hope True hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience in the waies of God and from an experience of the grace and bounty and love of God to his soul and from experiences of the goodnesse and mercy and promises of God and likewise from an experience of his own heart in withstanding temptations subduing corruption and performing holy duties Such experiences as these are inlets to a well grounded hope for heaven but now the hopes of wicked men are only the results of ignorance they that never had any experience of themselves nor of the waies of God they have most hopes but their hopes are only deluding and presumptuous hopes wicked men that do so quickly get into a state of hope without any former experiences of the wayes of God it is a sign that their hopes are only vain and empty hopes they are but pithy hopes just like your pithy trees as Elders and Withies and such like trees they shoot up fastest and grow up soonest whereas the more firm and stronger wood as Oaks and Elme and the like are a great while longer in growing before they come to maturity why so it is a great while before a Godly man can get a well grounded assurance of his hopes for heaven Use And thus I have done with the Doctrinall part of this fourth branch of mans misery without hope we come now to the application and the Use that I shall make of it shall be threefold 1. For consolation 2. For terror and 3. For instruction 1. For consolation to the people of God though the Scripture saies a wicked man hath no hope yet it sayes otherwise of you that are a people of God the Scripture tels you that your hope is laid up in heaven for you and the Lord is your hope though wicked men have no hopes for heaven yet you have grounded and assured and certain hopes for heaven your hope is laid up for you in another world the wicked have only their hopes in this life and when they die their hopes shall perish as in Prov. 11. 7. When a wicked man dyeth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth but it is not so with you for the godly hope in their death And this hope of a godly man is not as the Papists hold for though they grant a beleever hath hope yet they deny that any have assurance they say that all a beleevers evidence for heaven is only a hope a pâ—â—l adventure a most uncomfortable tenent whereas the Scripture sayes there is as full an assurance of hope as of faith in Heb. 16. 11. saies the Apostle use all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end and so in Rom. 15. 5. Your hope is such as will not make you ashamed your hopes are not like the hopes of men that hope for dead 〈◊〉 shoes as the proverb is for they may go on barefoot before they die but Christ who is our hope he hath dyed already and risen again he hath made his will and testament and hath left us legacies and be queathed riches to us our hopes are well grounded hopes not as other
born from the dead not that hee was the first that was raised from the dead howbeit he was the first that arose others were raised by the power of another but Christ arose by his own so he is called 1 Cor. 15 20. The first fruits from the dead as the offering of the first-fruits was a blessing to all the store so Christ dying and rising is a ground of conquest to all the elect Christ before his death had beene combating with the powers of darknesse and all the subordinate instruments Death was Satans beast of prey that was set upon him but our Lord foiled it in its own dungeon the battail between Christ and Death was begun upon the Crosse he grappled with it there and they went tugging and wrestling to the Grave Christ like a prudent warriour carryed the war into his enemies countrey and there got loose of the grasp of Death foiled it in its own territory he arose and left Death gasping behinde him so that the quality of the grave is quite altered before 't was a prison Satans dungeon now 't is a chamber of repose a bed of ease ever since Christ slept there when the Prophet speaketh of Christs resurrection he saith Isa 53. 8. He shall be taken from prison and from judgement by prison meaning the grave but speaking of the death of the faithfull he saith Esai 57. 2. They shall rest in their beds 't was for a while to Christ a prison that to us it might be a bed of ease 2. The next question is how far he hath delivered us from death we see the godly are obnoxious to the changes and decayes of nature yea to the strokes of violence as well as others and how are we delivered I answer 't is enough that the second death hath no power over us Rev. 20. 6. Nothing to do with us Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one condemnation c. We may dye but we shall not be damned and though we go to the grave yet we are freed from hell But this is not all in the first death beleevers have a priviledge they doe not dye as others doe 1. The habitude and nature of it is changed that which is poenall in death is now gone 't is not a destruction but a delivery beleevers have wrong thoughts of Death we are delivered from it as 't is a punishment and a curse now 't is a blessing one of Christs Legacies of the Church all things are yours Death is yours 1 Cor. 3. 18. while Death was in the Devils hands it was an enemy but 't is made a friend and a blessing in Christ a passage from the vale of tears to the kingdome of glory the end of a mortall life and the beginning of that which is immortall as Haman to Mordecai it intended a mischief but it proved a priviledge to a wicked man it is properly an execution but to the godly a dismission of their souls into the bosome of Christ Luk. 2. 28. Now lettest thou thy servant to depart in peace they quietly send away their souls but a wicked mans soul is taken away t is twice so expressed Luk. 12. 20. This night shall they take away thy soul from thee and Job 27. 8. When God taketh away his soul c. they would fain keep it longer but God taketh it away whether they will or no a godly man resigneth and sendeth away his soul in peace his life cannot be taken away t is only yeelded up upon the call of providence and he dyeth not because he must dye but because he would dye he may dye sooner then he thought but not sooner then he would for when God willeth it he submitteth But to return the blessing of death lieth in 3 things 1. The Funerals of the godly are but the Funerals of their sins and frailties and weaknesses peccatum moritur miseria moritur homo non moritur 't is not the man dyeth but the sin the misery dyeth all other means and dispensations doe but weaken sin but Death destroyeth it when God justifieth the damning power is gone when God sanctifieth the reigning power is gone but when by death we come to be glorified then the very beeing of it is gone when the house was infected with leprosie so as scraping would not serve the turn it was to be digged down we are so infected with sin that all other remedies are too weak nothing but death will serve the turn when Ivy is gotten into a wall it cannot be wholly destroyed till the wall it self be demolished cut off the stump the body the boughes the branches still there are some strings that are ready to sprowt again so t is here originall sin cannot be destroyed the constant groans of the faithfull are Who shall deliver us from this body and masse of sin But now Death is a sudden cure sinne brought in death and as it were in revenge death destroyeth sin 2. There is a way made for a present and compleat Vmon of the soul with Christ Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ we are loosed from the body and joined to Christ t is better a soul be separated from the body then absent from Christ we have an Union here but not a presence now judge you which is better to be present with the body or to be present with the Lord to have the company of the body or the company of Christ Here the soul is inclosed and imprisoned as it were but there thou hast the free enjoyment of Christ without the clog of an earthly estate the soul as soon as it departs the body goeth immediately to Christ as when Potiphars wife laid hold on Josephs coat he escaped so you leave your upper garment in Deaths hand but the soul flyeth to God the body came from Adam and runneth in a fleshly channell and what we had from Adam must for a while be mouldred to dust to purge it from the impurity of the conveyance but the soul by a naturall right returneth to God that gave it and by a speciall interest to Christ that redeemed and sanctified it by his own spirit 3. The body which seemeth most to suffer hath much advantage a shed is taken down to raise up a better structure 't is sown a naturall body 't is raised a spirituall body c. 1 Cor. 15. 44. here 't is not capable of high injoyments 't is humbled with diseases unfit for duties again it 's sown'd corruptible body 't is raised an incorruptible body here 't is liable to changes there it may live forever without change and decay if we love long life there is eternall life 't is carnall self-self-love that maketh us willing to abide in the flesh if we did but love our selves but love our own flesh we would not be afraid to dye for to dye is to be perfected to have body and soul free from sin and incorruption 2. The hurt of it is prevented
hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant of grace you can lay no claim to the Covenant till you have cast off the old man and subdued and overcome your sins and corruptions 2. Another concomitant of the covenant of grace that will accompany you is this you will be a people wholly devoted and given up to the service of God Jer. 31. I will be your God and you shall be my people the covenant of grace is called an holy covenant Luk. 1. 72. not so much because it was made by a holy God as because it was made for the holy creature it will make them holy that do enter into it and therefore those that are in Covenant with God are called a holy people and they must be a holy people as in 1 Cor. 6. 20. sayes the Apostle You are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are Gods and in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Seeing therefore we have these promises dearly beloved Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God those that are in covenant with God they are a holy and crucified people 3. Another concomitant is this that man that hath a share in the blessings of the Covenant he doth make conscience to walk in the wayes of the Covenant hee will not only close with the promise of the Covenant but also make conscience of keeping the commands of the Covenant for the covenant of grace does not onely bestow blessings upon you but require something of you too as in Esai 55. sayes God Incline your ears and come unto me and hear hearken and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David the covenant of grace is a sure and everlasting covenant but sayes God you shall come unto me first and then I will make with you an everlasting covenant God will have you to obey him if ever you think to have any share in the covenant of grace those that let God command what he will will doe what they please this argues that they doe not belong to the covenant of grace but if the blessings of the covenant of grace are given by God to you and the concomitants of it found with you and lastly the conditions of it found in you which is faith the only condition of the covenant of grace beleeve and be saved if God hath brought thee into a believing estate that there is not one promise in the Gospell but you do beartily assent unto and close with if it be thus then you may conclude that you do belong to the covenant of grace And thus I have done with these charactars by way of tryall Use I have only now a word or two more by way of use and so have done with this third part of mans misery and the Use that I shall make of this shall be for consolation to all those whose hearts can bear them witnesse that they doe enjoy the saving blessings of the Covenant of grace God to be their God and they to be his people and that God hath sanctified and renewed your natures and pardoned and passed by all your sins and iniquities and hath written his Law in your hearts that you doe not depart from him if you have the concomitants of the Covenant that you are disingaged from the league and covenant you have made with sin and death and hell if you are wholly devoted and given up to the service of God and doe make conscience to walk in the ways of the Covenant and if the conditions of the Covenant of Faith in Christ be found in you if you are brought into a beleeving condition if all these things be wrought in you then hearken to the great happinesse and benefit you enjoy by being under the Covenant of Grace 1. Thou hast that which is more worth then a kings ransome nay then all the world thou hast God to be thy God which is all in all it is more then that which was promised to Esther by King Ahasuerus to the half of his Kingdome you have more then the Devill promised to Christ when he carryed him to the top of the mountain and shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them thou hast more then the whole world for thou hast God to be thy God and thou hast an interest in the Covenant of Grace which is a bundle of promises and includes in it all the promises of the Gospell which are all yours and you may goe and apply them to your own soules in whatsoever condition you are in 2. You that are in Covenant with God labour to admire the great condescension of God that he would be pleased to proceed with you by way of a Covenant I have read of some Authors that have more wondred and stood amazed at this then at any thing else in the World that God that is the Soveraign Lord of all the workes of his hands that he should not rule us and command us by a Law but deal with us by way of a Covenant for God is not bound to give us a reward though we should serve him all the dayes of our lives God might command us as we are his creatures to serve and obey him to pray read hear and walk holily and humbly before him and when we have done all this yet he might say to us I will never give you heaven nor happinesse nor any reward at all he might have said thus to us but he hath condescended so far as to make a bargain with us that if we will beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ and live holily and walk uprightly before him then he will be our God and we shall be his people he will write his Law in our hearts and sanctifie and renew our natures and pardon and forgive all our sins and give us heaven and hapninesse when we dye Oh what an infinite condescension is this in God and what unspeakable bounty and free grace that when he might say to us you are bound to serve me and obey me and to love and fear me but I am not bound to make a Covenant with you and promise you my Son and life and Salvation through him but though I am not bound to it yet I will give you my Son and heaven and happinesse and I will be your God and you shall be my people and I will regenerate and sanctifie your natures and create in you new hearts and write my Law in your inward parts I will freely do all this for you sayes God Oh what infinite condescension and free grace and mercy is this 3. Another great happinesse you doe enjoy under the Covenant of Grace is this the Lord will pardon all the great sinnes you commit against him and accept of all the weak duties and services you perform to him though you commit great and mighty sins
in his darknesse you should bee wrapt in the winding sheet of Christs righteousnesse there is no shrowd like to that come thus to the grave and the grave shall have no power over you But to leave the Metaphor this must be your great work and care Christians to reflect upon these things in the serious applications and discourses of faith the infinite mercy of God the abundant merit of Christ and the sufficiency of his righteousnesse for your acceptance with God 2 Doe not onely act faith but strive after assurance of Gods love to your souls Old Simeon said Luk. 2. 29 30. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation now let me depart in peace he held the Messiah not onely in his Arms but in his heart and then he could comfortably dismisse his soul now let me dye said Jacob when he had seen Joseph he can never dye too soon as for himself his owne comfort and profit that hath seen Jesus his death is not untimely and immature by what stroke soever he be cut off whereas otherwise if you live an hundred yeares you dye too soon if you dye before you have gotten an interest in Christ the sinner of an hundred years shall be accursed old sinners that are left to be eaten out by their own rust are chimneys long foul and come at last to be fired 3 Mortifie corruptions sin must dye ere wee dye he dyeth well whose sinnes are dead before him either sin must dye or the sinner as the Prophet said in another case I say in this thy life must goe for its life you will find those sins mortall that are not mortified what should an unmortified man doe with heaven there are no sports nor carnall pleasures there those blessed mansions seem to him but dark shades and melancholy retirements the Apostle hath an expression Col 1. 12. He hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light we are first made meet for heaven before we enter into it we are weaned from the world before we leave it when men hang upon the world as long as they can and when they can hang no longer think then to make use of God the Lord will refuse them with disdain Go to the Gods which you have chosen let the world now help you and save you in short a mortified man is prepared and ready he doth but wait for winde and tide and falleth like a shock of corn in season 4 An holy life and conversation men live as if they never thought to dye and then dye as if they never thought to live the best way to dye well is to live well they that are not ashamed to live are not afraid to die Balaam desired to dye the death of the righteous but would not take pains to live a godly life every man cannot say Thanks be to God that giveth us victory through Jesus Christ you can not dye in Christ unlesse you live in him and in the power of his life advance towards heaven oh labour to exercise your selves in these things that you may be in a constant preparation you never enter into the combate of death but once 't is impossible to mend oversights either we are slain or saved eternally Now if you doe what I have here exhorted you to you may wait till your change come and when it cometh your last hour will prove your best Use 3 3. It serveth to presse Gods children to improve the comforts of Christs victory doe not let it goe out of your hands 1 Improve it for your friends that are departed in the Lord our weeping puts some disparagement upon Christs conquest why should wee weep in the day of their preferment in the day of their solemn espousals to Jesus Christ In the primitive times at Funerals they were wont to sing Psalmes of thanksgiving we should bring them as champions to the grave as those that have passed the pikes and finished their course and kept the faith and have conquered the world and sin and death and danger Chrysostome in one of his homilies on the Hebrews speaketh of the ancient rites at funerals of their Hymnes and Psalmes and Praises haec omnia sunt laetantium saith he All these signifie joy and wilt thou weep and sing a Psalme of praise and triumph at the same time I confesse 't is said Act. 8. 2. That devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him 't is our losse when the Church is bereaved of such excellent persons there is cause of sorrow but there should be a mixture we should not mourn as those without hope 1 Thes 4. 13. as Christians must not rejoice without sorrow so they must not be sorry without some mixture of joy let us declare that we hope for a resurrection that we expect to meet our friends again in heaven and when wee weep let it be like rain when the Sun shineth there should be somewhat of joy in our countenances as well as tears in our eyes 2. Improve it for your selves and that 1 In life time that in your resolutions you may bee willing to dye many times we are like Lot in Sodome or like the Israelites in Egypt we could wish for Canaan but are loath to goe out of Egypt this argueth little faith Can we beleeve there is a heaven so excellent and glorious and yet shun it can we hope for such an incorruptible inheritance and yet be afraid of it that we shall enter upon it too soon what Prince would live uncrowned what heir would whine when hee is called to come and take the inheritance what thoughts have we of eternall life do we count it a priviledge or a misery and a burden And again it argueth little love can we pretend to love Christ and be shie of his company he should be unwilling to dye that is unwilling to goe to Christ And again it argueth little judgement and consideration Wherein is this life valuable the world is nothing else but a place of banishment here is nothing but groaning all the creatures join in consort with the heirs of promise Rom. 8. 23. What do you see in the world or in the present life to make you in love with it are you not weary of misery and sin the longer thou livest thou sinnest the more certainly thou hast provoked God long enough already 't is high time to breath after a better estate and thou hast had taste enough of the worlds misery and deceit and of the frailties and weaknesses of the body a longer life would be but a longer sicknesse what 's the matter that we are so loath to let goe our hold of present things if it be not want of faith or want of love to Christ or too much love of the world certainly it must be fear of death what a baseness lowness of spirit is this to fear an enemy so often vanquished by Christ and his Saints
If you be at this pass I have preached al this while in vain the victory of Christ which I have discoursed of is to little purpose Oh consider generous Heathens may shame you you make all the provision of Christ in the Gospell to be of lesse effect then meer morall principles 2. Especially improve this in the very season and hour of death the great Goliah is now faln and you may come forth and look upon the carkasse death its self that startleth the creature and seemeth to be the great check and prejudice of Christian hopes is vanquished by Christ therefore in the very season when it seemeth to prevail over you apply the victory and say Thanks be to God c. When the pangs come upon you remember this is deaths last pull and assault you may bear with it it shall molest you no more as Moses said The Egyptians which yee have seen to day yee shall see them no more again for ever so you shall feel these things no more in heaven there are no groans nor tears nor sorrows have but a little patience and assoon as the last gasp is over the soul shall be carryed by Angels to Christ and by Christ to God beleevers have the same entertainment that Christ had he was carryed into heaven by Angels Dan. 7. 13. They brought him to the ancient of dayes and so we are carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosome Luk. 16. 22. they have a train to accompany them into heaven as their friends accompany their bodies to the grave and as Christ was welcomed into heaven with acclamations and God saith Sit down at my right hand and aske of me and I will give thee c. so are beleevers welcomed Well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy masters joy What remaineth then but that we dye by faith as well as live by faith but that we welcome death with confidence and breath out our souls in triumph Moses when he took up the Serpent in his hand 't was but a rod death thus welcomed and entertained by faith will prove at most but a correction yea rather a blessing of the Covenant a means of passage into glory One thing I had almost forgotten to presse you to thankfulnesse to Christ Oh blesse your Redeemer that hath delivered you from the fear of death admire his love and condescension that he should come down from heaven and substitute himself into our room and place and take the horrours of death into his own soul 't is said Mat. 20 28. The Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many Christ was a Prince by birth heir of all things yet he came not in the pomp and equipage of a Prince if he had come in state to visit us and to deliver comfort to us by word of mouth it had been much but Christ came not in this way not in the pomp of a Prince but the form of a servant to minister to our necessities and that in the highest way of self-deniall he gave his life as a ransome for many other Princes are lavish of their subjects bloud and care not how many lay down their lives for them many give their lives as a ransome for the Prince but here 't is quite otherwise this Prince layeth down his life to redeem the subjects and he suffered death that it might not bee terrible and destructive to us Oh blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ for this love for evermore Some may expect that I should speak something concerning the servant of God our dear brother now departed but I need not say any more then what I have spoken already all along the discourse I have indeed spoken of him and that in the judgement of your consciences the duties which I pressed upon you he performed the comforts which I have propounded to you he enjoyed I shall not make any particular rehearsall of the passages of his exemplary life I judge it not convenient only to you of this place I may take liberty to commend his doctrine and intreat you to be carefull of those precious truths which he sowed among you whilest the Lord used him here as a skilfull seeds man God looketh for some increase and taketh speciall notice of the time that you have enjoyed his labours there is an exact account kept in heaven in that parable These three years came I seeking fruit Luk. 13. 7. probably the three years of Christs ministery are intended for then he was entring upon his last half year God reckoneth how many yeares how many moneths your Minister hath been with you and accordingly doth expect fruit your pastour a little before his suffering professed high and worthy thoughts of you let him not be deceived 't will be sad for you in that great day of separation that when he expecteth to finde you among the sheep and to be his Crown and rejoicing he should see you among the goats he will know you there memory in heaven is not abolished but parfected I say he will know you though without any lessening of his own happinesse or repining at Gods rightous judgements FINIS An Alphabeticall Table A. AFflictions sweetned by Christ 75 76 Atheist in practise and judgement 238 Grounds of Atheisme 239 Discoveries of a practicall Atheist 243. 246 B. BAcksliders have no interest in Christ 43 Baseness of a man without Christ 23 61 Beggerlinesse of a man without Christ 26 A Beleever hath all things equivalently conditionally finally and in heritively 65 Blessings turn curses without an interest in Christ 55 Blindnesse of a man without Christ 28 C. CArist How a man may be said to be in Christ and out of Christ 18 What it is to be without Christ 19 The properties of a man without Christ 22 Characters of a man without Christ 34 The misery of a man without Christ 50. 101 Christ is to the soul as the sun to the earth 60 The benefits derived from Christ 67 All that Christ hath is a beleevers 71 and all that a Beleever hath is Christ's 73 Characters of a mans interest in Christ 85 Christ precious to a beleever 97 Church compared to a Commonwealth 103 Wherein they differ 107 Necessity of church government 109 Necessity of Church union 110 A great misery to be a stranger to the Church of God 113 A wicked man in the Church like a Wen in the body or a woodden leg 115 Comfort Vid. Joy No comfort without Christ 61. 75 Common-prayer-book an abstract of the Popish Masse 207 Three sentences of Scripture misinterpreted therein 206. 208. 210 Contentation only in Christ 98 Covenant and promise how they differ 118 Divers administrations thereof 119 Covenant of Grace what 121 How you may know whether you be within this Covenant 123 The difference in being under a Covenant of Works and a Covenant of Grace 126 The misery of strangers to the Covenant of grace 135