of love And therefore the Lord doth with us as we doe with men when men have false hearts we see they love us not we say they doe but complement So the Lord Iesus doth This should helpe us to discover our selves there is no way to discover hypocrisie none so sure a signe of it as where love is not And therefore learne by this to know your selves and to judge of your condition It may be when we confesse our sinnes wee have not thought of this that we love not Christ or at the least we have not considered what a sinne it is but you may know what a sinne it is by the punishment of it 1 Cor. 16.22 Let him be accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus You may know the greatnesse of the sinne by the greatnesse of the punishment for the punishment is the measure of the sinne and marke it he doth not say if you beleeve not in the Lord Iesus or if you doe nor obey him but if you love not the Lord Iesus That is if there be an omission but of this one thing that you love not let such a man be accursed yea let him be had in execration to the death Therefore consider this how great a sinne it is not to love the Lord. And when you consider your sinnes and make a catalogue of them looke on this as that which discovers to us the vilenesse of our natures as Paul saith of lust I knew not that it was sinne but by the law but when sinne began to live he died So I may say of this it may be men take not this into consideration this sinne that they have not loved the Lord and therefore learne to know it When we consider this that he is accursed who loves not Christ it may open a crevise of light unto us to see what condition wee are in how cursed our nature is how hainous this sinne is when a man sees that there is a cursed man a man whom the Lord sets himselfe against a man whom the Lord is an enemie to whom he puts all the strength and power he hath to confound when hee sees there is a man whom the Gospell curseth which is more terrible than the Law because the curse of the Law may be repealed there is a remedie for that in the Gospell But the Gospell if that curse a man there is no remedie This should humble us for the Gospell should humble us as well as the Law And there are sinnes against the Gospell as well as against the Law and whatsoever is sinne should humble us yea the sinnes against the Gospell are greater than the sinnes against the Law And therefore in this sense the Gospell is fitter to humble us Now when a man comes to consider his sinne it may be possibly he lookes to sinnes especially against the morall Law but you must learne to doe more than that Begin to thinke Have I received the Lord Iesus Have I beleeved in Christ These are great sins against the Gospell and these sinnes should chiefly humble us If you thinke I presse this too hard consider the words of the Apostle I named Let him be accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus Let these words be sounding in your eares compare your hearts to them sometimes cast your eye on the one and sometimes on the other and see if it be not absolutely required to love the Lord. And againe reflect on your hearts and see if you be in the number of those that doe love him And take heede herein that you deceive not your selves for it is the manner when we presse the love of Christ upon them they are ready to say I hope I love the Lord I hope I am not such a miscreant as not to love him yea but consider whether thou doe or no it is true thou maist deceive me or another man when thou professest love to God but in this thou canst not deceive thy selfe for a man knowes what he loves love is a very sensible and quick affection When a man loves any thing when hee loves his wife loves his friend loves his sonne loves his sport his recreation he knowes he loves it he hath the sense of that love in himselfe Therefore consider with thy selfe whether thou hast any such stirring affection towards the Lord Iesus or no doest thou feele thy heart so possessed with him art thou sicke of love as the Spouse saith in the Canticles I am sicke of love That is are you grieved when he is absent are you glad when you have him when you can get into his presence for there is a kinde of painfulnesse in love and all painfulnesse is of a quicke sense When it is said the Church was sicke of love sicknesse is painfull And therefore when you want the Lord when there is a distance betweene him and you when he doth not looke on you as he was wont there will be painfulnesse in it and griefe Againe there will be much joy and gladnesse when you have him Therefore let it be one way to examine your selves if you feele such a love towards him or no. Besides that let mee aske thee if thou walke with the Lord if thou converse with him if thou be perfect in his presence if thou doe as Enoch did walke with the Lord from day to day as it is an argument of an evill man that he walkes not with the Lord that he restraines prayer from the Almighty that is that he doth not converse with him So is it a great argument of love to desire Gods company to desire to be with him to walke with God to use that phrase You will say What is that to walke with him To walke with him is to observe the Lords dealing with you and to observe your carriage and dealing to him againe that there may be continuall commerce and intercourse every day that continually every houre every moment you would consider and thinke what the Lord doth to you what his carriage is to you what passages of his providence concerne you Againe consider what you doe to him what carriage there is betweene you I say this conversing is an argument of love Shâ—ll a wife professe love to her husband and ne-never come where he is never be within dores and never be in his companie So will you say you love Christ and not be frequent in prayer or neglect and slight that duty seldome converse with him and seldome speake of him When you love your friend you are with him as much as you can you love to speake with him and to speake of him So it is with the Lord if you love him certainly you will love his company you will love his presence Besides if you love the Lord you know love is a diligent thing and therefore it is called dâ—ligent love 1 Thess. 1.4 Effectuall faith and diligent love that is when a man loves a thing he is diligent
of the world those that are in place because they shall countenance iniquitie because the streame of the times shall goe that way for this cause the love of many shall waxe colde that is because they mind the world wheras if they did not love the world and the things of it though iniquitie did abound yet their love would waxe hotter When things are so that iniquitie abounds some will not take the paines they love their ease and contentment others want courage to doe it they are faint-hearted and dare not adventure Now whence doth this come but from the love of the world for no man is fearefull but because there is something that he is in love with and is loath to part with If a man did not love the things of the world he would have courage for the truth This is therefore an argument that men doe love the world and consequently the love of the Father is not in them Let us come yet to another expostulation In the first place therefore if you love the Lord you will finde in your selves a readinesse to please him in all things you will doe it naturallie As the Apostle speakes of Timothy I know no man like minded who will naturally care for your matters So if you love the Lord aright you will doe it with a naturall affection you will love him naturally For what is this love to the Lord if it be right but that which himselfe hath planted in us wee are taught of him to love him It is like the naturall affection which parents have to their children such a kinde of affection will it be if you love the Lord you will doe that which is good in his sight with a kinde of naturalnesse and readinesse you will be carried to the duties of his service as the fire is carried upwards and not as stones are carried upwards with the force of another but you will doe them readilie and chearfullie you will not doe good duties as being haled to them and put on to doe them but you will be zealous of good workes that is you will have a burning desire in your hearts longing after them you shall not neede to have them forced upon you but you will be forward to doe them you will be affected to good workes as you are out of selfe-love to your owne businesse You know when a man naturallie loveth himselfe when he is to doe something that concernes his owne good how solicitous is he about it and how provident forecasting how to bring it to passe and if any rubbe be in the way it troubleth him if there be any faire passage and likelihood of atchieving it he rejoyceth Now if you love the Lord naturallie and trulie you will goe about his businesse as you goe about your owne if there be any businesse to be done Magistrates in their place Ministers in their place and everie man indeede shall finde some businesse to doe wherein he may bring glorie to Gods name and advantage to his cause Consider now how you are stirred about it doe you goe about this businesse are you so industrious and laborious doe you project it doe you minde it as your owne you will not stand expostulating the matter to say must I doe it and is it of necessitie But if it be a thing that tends to the advancing of the glorie of God you will doe it with all readinesse you will not so much stand upon this what wages shall I have and what profit shall I gaine But as a loving womā to her husband she is glad to doe any thing for her husbands good she is satisfied with this that she hath an opportunitie to doe something so it will be with you if your hearts be rightly affected you will then doe things after this manner You will say How shall wee know this love this is a nice and curious point to love the Lord thus naturallie You shall know it by these two things First by the evennesse of your carriage towards the Lord for what a man doth naturallie he doth with a kinde of equalitie with a kinde of evennesse so that as we say an uneven pulse is a signe of a deadlie and dangerous distemper within so I say when you finde an unevennesse in your carriages to the Lord that you are off and on with him that sometimes you doe a thing for him and anon you will doe for your lusts this is a signe that you love not naturally feigned things are for the most part unequall because when a man doth not doe a thing naturallie he cannot holde out a man cannot dissemble so well but at one time or other hee will discover himselfe what a man doth naturally and heartily he is like himselfe in it still Therefore when there is such an unevennesse in your waies some will be verie forward in a good cause now in a good moode and then out of it againe it is a signe you love not the Lord thus naturallie for then you would be eaven in your carriage towards him Adde to this the continuance of it for if you love the Lord with a naturall affection you will holde out and be constant in it The second and third ground went farre in their profession but their inconstancie shewed that they loved not the Lord with a naturall love this discontinuing is a signe that your love is not true I beseech you examine your selves by these things whether you love the Lord remember what I said the last day doe you desire that your sinnes should be utterlie destroyed doe you not dallie with sinne would you not have some remainders within you nay I will goe a step further with you doe you not hate the Lord You will say God forbid that we should doe so I hope we are not in that condition My brethren first you must know that there are manie that doe hate the Lord in Rom. 1. amongst others those are reckoned up Haters of God Therefore it is certaine that there are manie and many of those that come to Church manie that thinke well of themselves and that others thinke well of too that yet are haters of the Lord. You will say how shall we know that I will aske you but this to bring this likewise into examination and so to conclude I say examine your selves by this Doe you not desire that there were no God examine your hearts whether if this newes were brought that you might live at libertie that you might doe what you would that you might satisfie your lusts in all things that there were no God to call you to account to reward you according to your doings whether it would not be acceptable newes to many of you Now it is certaine if you would not have the Lord to be you hate him for whomsoever you would have taken out of the way such a man you hate And besides this consider whether you doe not
make your selves new creatures expresse your diligence therefore in labouring to adorne your hearts with graces that the Lord may take a delight to dwell in you be diligent also in cleansing your selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit that when the Lord commeth hee may finde no sluttish corner within you for the Lord hateth these As the Israelites were to goe with a paddle and cover every filthy thing because saith the text The Lord walketh among you so must we doe keepe our hearts cleane if wee will have the Lord delight to dwell with us we must be diligent to remove out of his sight whatsoever he hateth Lastly wee must be diligent in keeping his commands wilt thou say thou lovest God and yet doest disobey him and rebellest against him from day to day The Lord careth for no such love for indeede love cannot be otherwise judged of than in obeying to say thou lovest him and keepest not his commands it is but a dead love and a picture of love it is not love indeede it is but as the Apostle saith to doe it in word and not in truth for when you love him in deede you doe the things he would have you to doe Therefore so much diligence in keeping his commands so much love he that doeth most loveth most And so you see the conditions that are required in this love what a kinde of love it is that God will have at your hands or else he will not take it of you Now my brethren there remaines but one thing more wherewith wee will conclude this point that is now I have beene so large in shewing you what this love is wherein you cannot blame us if we presse you to it because it is one of the greatest and most radicall vertues faith and love therefore we have beene the larger in describing it to you I say now you have heard what it is what remains but this to shew you the great danger in not loving and that we wil make to be the last consectary that we will draw from this doctrine I say consider how dangerous a thing it is to neglect it the Lord you see requires it upon paine of damnation whatsoever you have yet notwithstanding if you have not this love you are not in Christ and so you shall be excluded Let no man thinke that this is exaction that it is a hard thing that the Lord requires it with this exaction for what is it that he requires If hee had required of you to offer sacrifice as he did in the olde law then the poore man might have objected he had not where withall if he had required us to fight battells the weake man might have said he could not doe it he was not able but now young and olde rich and poore all can love Besides if we consider who it is that requires this love is it not the great God of heaven and earth is it not the Sonne If hee had commanded thee the hardest thing in the world if he had said thou shalt cast thy selfe into the fire thou shalt sacrifice children to me you are his creatures and you must obey him But when he requires this onely at thy hands to love him is it not equall Besides when he requires this it is for your benefit for when you have given the Lord your hearts the Lord gives you them againe even as the earth the water it receives from the sea it returnes it better back againe in springs and fountaines and pure streames so doth the Lord give you your hearts backe againe when you have bestowed them upon him and withall he gives you leave to bâ—stow them upon other things to love all things that you may and ought to love and which is good for you to love therefore the Lord may require it upon this penalty for he askes but his owne and what hee hath deserved at thy hands therefore it is a most reasonable and equall request For what doth the Lord thy God require of thee saith Moses but onely that you love the Lord your God So I say to you what else doth the Lord your God require of you But againe know this that as it is a command full of equity and reasonablenes so the danger is the greater if you doe it it not and what that is I will shew you but by one place that is 1 Cor. 16.22 Cursed is hee that loves not the Lord Iesus yea let him be had in execration to the death That is the place I would have you consider that now when you have beene acquainted with this whole doctrine of love you might know the danger of not performing and doing it whosoever loues not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha he curseth him in two languages to shew that it is a peremptory curse But what is that to be cursed My brethren to be cursed is to be separated to be set apart or appointed unto evill so that all that love not the Lord Iesus they are men separated and set apart to evill so that no man may meddle with them no man may touch them to doe them good as the Saints and those that love the Lord they are set apart that no man may touch them for hurt so it is here when a man is cursed the meaning is this he is set apart secluded from all good things that none are to meddle with him hee is set apart for evill all things shall concurre together to doe him hurt this is when the Lord curseth any man and this is the case of every man that loves not the Lord Iesus Our businesse when we preach the Gospell is but to offer the Lord Iesus to you that is all that we have to doe and all that you have to doe that heare us is to take Iesus Christ to beleeve in him to love him Now saith the Lord if you will not doe this if you will not love him every such one let him be accursed Now when the Lord shall curse a man as Isaac said I have blessed him and he shall be blessed So whom the Lord curseth he shall be cursed and it is a fearefull thing if you consider it and therefore wee will a little open it and shew you wherein this curse consists Which I urge the more because it is an usuall thing among men when they come to consider their sinnes in particular wherewith they have provoked God to anger they looke upon this or that grosse sinne but this defect and omission of love they scarce put into the number of their sinnes But that you may know now what it is not to love him you may consider by the greatnesse of the punishment and that you see here is a curse Now that you may know what this curse is know that it consists in these foure things First it consists in this hee shall be separated from grace and goodnesse from holinesse
and this is the curse upon his soule in this respect in regard of exclusion from grace which is to the soule as an obstruction in the liver is to the body as a theefe in the candle is to the candle which causeth it to waste and consume and weare away so it is in this curse when God shall lay it upon the soule of any man he shall not thrive in grace his inward man shall not prosper at all he shall be still in the wearing hand the Lord shall take away from him that which hee seemes to have when the Lord shall say to thee as to the figtree Never fruit grow more on thee that is a fearefull curse when the Lord shall curse and say to a man though thou hast some leaves upon thee there are some things that seeme to be good in thee yet because thou hast not love never fruite shall grow upon thee more What a curse is it thinke you that shall make the soule of a man to wither as the figtree withered after the speech of Christ that is when every thing shall drive a man off from that which is good and carry him on to destruction whatsoever befalleth him in poverty in prosperity riches and friends or enemies every thing shall breed his hurt hee shall have riches when he is most ready to abuse them he shall have adversity then when it is worst for him to be in adversity that shall be to him as the lopping of trees out of season hee shall be as an unthrifty sonne set him to a trade in the Citty there he goes downe the winde put him to husbandry in the Country that thrives not with him such is the case of every one that loves not Christ. So my brethren when Christ is preached to you when you will not receive the doctrine but refuse it you see the doome here saith the Apostle let him be accursed this causeth men to goe away from the Lord Because they receive not the love of the truth therefore he gives them up to beleeve lies because that men receive not Christ in the love of the Gospell hee gives them up to a reprobate sense from one degree to another till there be no remedy We see by experience are there not many that are given up to the sinne of drinking and idlenesse and company-keeping and others to other sinnes you see many plod on in an olde tracke of sinne some lying a long time in a dead sottish course so as the most powerfull ministery in the world will not stirre them which is an evidence that the Lord hath cursed such therefore the ministry can doe them no good And this is the first curse upon men that love not the Lord Iesus But perhaps thou regardest not this curse because thou regardest not grace and holinesse from which it sequestreth thee but yet there is another branch of it thou shalt be separated from the presence of the Lord that is from the joy from the influence from the protection of God and this is a very fearfull curse You know what it was to Cain in the fourth of Genesis when the Lord had cursed him saith he I am hid from thy face that was the great curse that was laid upon him of which he was most sensible that he was separated from the presence of the Lord. And my brethren this is no small thing because God is the God of all comfort and to be separated from his presence is the worst thing that can befall us in this life It was Sauls case when the Lord had once cast him off he was separate from the presence of God so that when he came to aske counsell the Lord would answer him no more hee would have no more to doe with him you know how fearefull and how bitter this was to Saul On the other side see how much Moses magnifies this presence of God Lord saith he if thou goe not with us carry us not hence as if the presence of God were the greatest comfort in the world as indeede it is This is another thing wherein ye shall be cursed Againe there is yet another branch of it yee shall not onely be separated from grace and from the presence of the Lord but there shall be a curse upon your outward estate It is said of Cain in the same chapter Thou shalt be cursed from the earth it may be many that heare of being cursed from grace and of separation from the presence of the Lord are of that minde that they care not for it that they regard it not it may be you care not to be cursed from heaven but to be cursed from the earth is that which goes neere to you and that is a thing which the most earthly-minded man in the world is sensible of Now you must know that whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus shall be cursed from the earth that is there shall be a curse upon you in all earthly things in all things that belong to this present life whatsoever they are But you will say wee see it quite otherwise we see such men as they described to be men that abound in outward wealth in outward blessings It may be so in outward shew but yet there is a curse upon them notwithstanding Abimelech had the kingdome yet there was a curse that never ceased till hee was rooted out of the kingdome The Israelites had the quailes but yet there was a curse with them Ahab had the vineyard but it was a curse to him So all these things that are of themselves blessings and mercies in their owne nature yet if the Lord will mingle them with a curse yee shall finde no ease from them at all and this is a thing that is well knowne by experience if the hearts of men will speake what they know This is the case of those that love not the Lord The earth shall not give her increase you shall not have that sound comfort that sweetnesse that influence of comfort from earthly blessings though you have the creatures about you which naturally have blessings in them yet they shall not give downe that milke for your comfort you shall not be satisfied with them you shall see a constant emptinesse in them they shall be to you as the shell without the kernell and so much more shall ye be miserable because ye shall finde the least comfort in them when you most expect it the Lord meetes thus with those that love him not in earthly blessings But last of all there is one branch of this curse which exceedes all the rest that is the eternall curse that shall be upon men for ever while yee live here in this life there is a certaine shew a certaine twilight of comfort that the Lord sometimes affords even to evill men but then there shall be a perfect midnight then the Sunne of comfort shall set upon you altogether and rise no more in that
thus prepared now let the Gospell come and welcome Now a mans heart is fit to be wrought on Why what doeth the Gospell The Gospell comes and tells you that the Lord Iesus is willing to be your Redeemer is willing to be your Lord he is content to be yours If you will take him you shall have him and all his Now when a mans heart is broken you cannot bring him better newes Indeede till then you may goe and preach the Gospell long enough you may propound Christ to men they will not take him But when we propound him thus to a heart prepared thus to him that is poore in spirit to him that hath his heart wounded in the sense of his sinnes and of Gods wrath now I I say hee is willing to come in hee is willing to take Christ as a Lord as a husband when that is done that Christ hath discovered his will to take them and they resolve to take him then there ariseth a holy a constant conjugall loue wherein they are rooted and grounded This is the love we are now to speake of So that to prepare us to love Christ wee must come to looke on him as upon that which is sutable and agreeable to us And againe as one that is willing to receiue us And that you must marke diligently Therefore wee will give you this definition of loue out of that which hath been said It is an holy disposition of the heart rising from faith whereby wee cleave to the Lord with a purpose of heart to serve him and to please him in all things When these two things are joyned that a man is humbled and lookes on Christ as one that is now fit for him And secondly hee is perswaded that Christ is willing to take him when this is done a man receiues Christ by faith And from this faith this loue issues Whence this is specially to be marked and it is a matter of much moment That to loue the Lord it is not onely required that you be perswaded that he is well affected to you that he is willing to receive you for that men may haue which say that Christ is mercifull and ready to forgiue and so they think but yet they loue him not Therefore I say it is not onely required that you looke on Christ as upon one that is well affected and propitious to you but also that you looke on him as one that is sutable and agreeable to you for both these must concurre to incline your hearts to loue him you must I say both looke on him as one that is fit for you as a good that is agreeable to you And also you must be perswaded that he is willing to receiue you Now the first indeed is the maine This second that Christ is willing to forgiue you and to receiue you though it be weake it may be such as is a true faith and may beget loue when a man lookes on any other men that he loues if he see so much excellency in them as that he longs after them and desires them though he thinks there be a backwardnes in them to love him yet if there be some probability that they are likely to loue him he may come so farre as to embrace them in his affections and haue a desire to them though it be true as that perswasion is stronger so their loue is more neere for faith and love grow together Indeede if there were an utter aversnesse if there were enmity as it were impossible to remoue it then we could not loue but hate even as Cain and Iudas did But I say that is a thing you must especially marke that faith doth not consist in being perswaded that Christ or God through Christ is willing to forgiue you your sinnes or to receiue you to mercy but in this your judgement must be rectified that is to know that you are to looke on Christ as one that is sutable and agreeable to you as one to whom you haue an inward inclination as one that is fit for you This is the maine thing the other easily followes to be perswaded that he is willing to forgiue us and that he is willing to loue us therefore whereas it may be you haue thought that to beleeue that God is willing to forgiue you your sinnes is faith I dare be bold to say it is not full faith you may haue it and yet not savingly beleeue you may haue it and yet not be true beleevers This I make cleare by this argument That which begets no loue is not faith But you may be perswaded that Christ is willing to forgiue you your sinnes and yet not love him as a prisoner may be perswaded that the Iudge is willing to pardon him and yet for all this hee may not love the Iudge for loue as I tolde you comes from some sutablenesse some agreablenesse betweene the party that loues and the party that is loved Againe you shall finde this by experience A man may be perswaded that he is in a good estate that he shall be saved and that his sinnes are forgiven him and yet for all this he may be an unregenerate man he may be a man that hath no life of grace in him I say we see oft in experience many men applaud themselves in their good persuasion and they die peaceably and quietly and all is well they thinke God hath forgiven them and yet we finde there is no loue in them nor no fruite of loue Againe on the other side a man that hath his heart broken with the sense of his sinnes may hunger after righteousnesse and after Christ he may long after the Lord himselfe that he desires him more than any thing in the world and yet there is but a weake perswasion that the Lord will receiue him and forgiue him his sins I say this man may be a true beleever though he be not yet so fully perswaded that Christ will forgiue him when the other is no true beleever as I said to you before As when one loues another man or woman if hee looke on him as one that is sutable to him if hee thinke it be but by good probability and likelihood I shall obtaine their loue though I haue not yet a full assurance of it I say there may be an affection of loue And thence I confirme that which I said to you that faith that hath beene joyned with it is true and that faith that is disjoyned from loue is not true So I say such a disposition of heart as lookes on Christ as one whom he longs after he lookes on him as on a husband as one whom he is willing to match with that he can say truely This is the best husband for me in all the world though yet I have not wooed him though yet I have not a full assurance of his affection to mee as I would have I say this will certifie your judgement and withall it will comfort you
that though your faith be weake yet he belongs to you it is a true faith Againe it shuttes out those that have false hearts although thou thinkest thy perswasion be full that Christ belongs to thee yet if thy heart be not thus prepared to seeke him and to esteeme him thy faith is not true I can stay no longer in the opening of this so much shall serve to shew you what this love is You see what love is in generall and this love to the Lord this love to Christ. Now I come to prosecute the point having gone thus farre in the explication of it I say this love is so necessary to salvation as that hee that hath it not is in a cursed and damnable condition he is not in Christ if he doe not love that as the Apostle saith hee that beleeves not shall be damned we may say as well of love for there is a tye betweene all these faith repentance and love And therefore wee finde these words put promiscuously sometimes he that beleeves not shall not be saved sometimes he that repents not shall not be saved sometimes he that obeyes not sometimes hee that loves not shall not be saved and therefore the Scripture is cleere in it and there is good reason for it First because if a man love not there is a curse there is a woe due to him for wheresoever there is not love a man is an hypocrite as our Saviour saith to the Scribes and Pharises Wo be to you Scribes and Pharises hypocrites that is because you are hypocrites Now wheresoever love is not there is nothing but hypocrisie in such a mans heart For what is hypocrisie Hypocrisie is nothing but to doe the outward action without the inward sinceritie as we say it is counterfeit golde when it hath the forme and colour of golde but in the inside is base as we say he is a false Hector when he acts the part of Hector but is not so indeede So hypocrisie is to doe the outward act without the inward sincerity Now to doe them without inward sincerity is to doe them without love for to doe a thing in love is to doe it in sincerity And indeed there is no other definition of sincerity that is the best way to know it by A man that doeth much to God and not out of love all that he doth is out of hypocrisie he is an hypocrite and there is a woe belongs to him So that as we deale with counterfeit wares wee breake them in peeces or we set markes upon them as we doe with counterfeit peeces of golde and silver we bore holes in them as condemned peeces so the Lord proposeth a woe to such as love him not for in that hypocrisie consists when a man doth much and doth it not out of love Againe hee that breakes the law you know there is a curse belongs to him Now there is a double keeping of the law a strict and exact keeping of it and there is an Evangelicall keeping of it that is when you desire and endeavour to fulfill the law in all things and accordingly there is a double curse there is a curse that followes the breach of the morall law that belongs to all mankinde till they be in Christ there is besides an Evangelicall curse that followes upon the Evangelicall breach of the law Now when a man loves not he breakes the whole law for as love is the keeping of the whole law so the want of love is the breach of the whole law because though hee may doe many things of the law though he may keepe the sabboth though he may deale justly though he may heare the word and doe many things yet because it is not out of love he breakes the whole law When he breakes the law thus there is a curse belongs to him and it is the curse of the Gospell that cannot be repealed it is more terrible than the curse of the law And therefore he that loves not is in a cursed and damnable condition Againe you know in the law of God an Adulterer ought to die as in the law of triall when the woman was to drinke the cursed water if shee were an Adulteresse it was a curse to her the Lord appointed it to be death to her Now hee that loves not the Lord is an Adulterer that is hee is false to the Lord that should be his husband And when he loves not the Lord he doth love somewhat else And doth it not deserve a curse to preferre their pelfe before the Lord that he should love pleasures more than God that he should love the praise of men more thā the praise of God And this is the case of every man that loves not the Lord hee loves the world and hee that loves the world is an Adulterer and an Adulteresse saith St. Iames. Lastly when the Lord shall be a suiter to us when God shall offer his owne Sonne to us in marriage and we refuse him when Christ shall come from heaven to shew us the way to salvation and to guide our feete into the way of peace and we shall either be carelesse or resist it doe you not thinke the Lord will be filled with indignation against such a man will hee not be angry with such a man Is not the Sonne angry when he is not received Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry Will he not lay the axe to the roote of the tree and cut off such a man as men doe briers and thornes whose end is damnation This is the case of all those that love not when they reject the Lord and the Lord shall come to be a suiter to them and they will have none of him This is enough to cleare this to you That whosoever loves not is in an evill condition in a state of damnation he is not in Christ he is a man without the Covenant We come to make some use of this If it be of such moment to love the Lord then let every man looke to himselfe and consider whether hee have in his heart this love to the Lord Iesus for as it is with men although you may doe them many kindnesses yet if it proceed not from love they regard it not so it is with the Lord whatsoever you doe though you may doe much though you pray never so constantly though you sanctifie the Sabboth never so diligently doe what you will yet if you love him not he regards it not Neither circumscision is any thing nor uncircumcision is any thing but love Indeede when a man doth love him the Lord beares with much as you see hee did with David because he was one that loved him But when you love him not performe never so much he rejects all he heedes it not As you see it was with Amaziah you know how much he did yet it was not accepted hee did it not with a perfect heart that is he did it not out
that loves not let him bee accursed let him bee had in execration to the death I should prosecute it further and shew the reasons why wee should loue the Lord as there is great reason But that I must deferre till the afternoone FINIS THE SECOND SERMON GALLAT 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love THE last tryall of our love to Christ was its constraining vertue love will constraine you to serve him you cannot choose but doe it it so constraines a man as the weight of a stone compelleth it to goe to the center as the lightnesse of the fire compells it to ascend up for such a thing is love a strong inclination of the heart when the soule puts it selfe on any thing from an inward principle from a bottome of its owne when it is carried on with no other motive but the amiablenes of the object Now to conclude this wee must beseech you to consider your owne condition and examine your selves by these rules that you may be able to say as Peter said Lord thou knowest I love thee that is to have such an assurance that your hearts may be well affected towards Christ Iesus that you may love him that you may be able to say to God who knowes our hearts searcheth our reines that knowes all the windings and turnings of your soules Lord thou knowest that I love thee Since it is a matter of such moment wee should be carefull to examine if we finde that we have not yet this love for we must know that all that we have all that we doe it will nothing availe us but faith which worketh by love And if you object why doe ye preach damnation to us doe you tell us we are in an evill condition for want of this love I answere it is profitable for you while you are in such a condition to have it preached it is good for you to speake this damnation to your selves that while yet there is hope you may seek to be healed that you may be translated into another condition that you may not perish in the evill day when there shal be neither hope nor helpe for you For you must know that when wee deliver you these signes of examining your selves our end is not to grieue you this doctrine tends not to destruction but to discover to you your owne hearts that you may know your owne condition that if you want it you may seek after it If therefore you finde a want of this love that we will doe next shall be to shew you what reason you have to love the Lord Iesus for there is no better way to get it in you than to describe him to you to shew you what cause there is of loving him if wee were able to present him to you as he is we should effect this thing but that must be the worke of the holy Ghost notwithstanding we will briefly open to you such reasons as we finde used in the Scriptures And first let this moue you to loue him that he is worthy to be beloved as David speakes Psal. 18.3 The Lord is worthy to be praised so wee may say the Lord is worthy to be loved for what is it that makes any thing worthy of loue it is the excellency that we finde there Now in the Lord there is all kinde of excellency whatsoever there is that is amiable under the Sunne all that you shall finde in him more abundantly If ever you see any thing in any creature any thing amiable in man if ever you saw any beauty any vertue any excellency all these must be more abundant in him that made these creatures And therefore if you haue a loue as there is no man without some loue or other some creature seemes beautifull to you thinke with your selues this is more in the Lord. If ever you see excellency in any man if ever you see any noblenesse any holinesse any excellency of disposition know that it is more abundant in the Lord Iesus Let these rivers leade you to that Ocean to that abundance of excellency that is in the Lord. And if you loue any creature let it be with a little loue let your affection be proportionable to the object as it exceedes in the Lord so let your loue exceede towards him to loue him with all your soule and all your strength And know this that hee hath not onely that in an omnipotent manner that is but sprinkled among the creatures they haue but a sparke but a drop of it but also there is this in the Lord that there is nothing in him but that which is amiable every creature hath some imperfection in it there is somewhat in it may cause aversation in you there is no man but hath some weaknesse but hath some infirmity there is no creature but it hath some want some defect in it but in the Lord there is no want there is nothing to put you off but as the Church saith Cant. 5. He is wholly delectable that is there is nothing in him but that which is amiable That would be a very profitable thing for us in this case often to thinke on the Lord Iesus to present him to our selues in our thoughts as the Spouse doth Cant. 5. shee considers her wellbeloved is the fairest of ten thousand so wee should beholde the person of our husband You know it is but a harlottry loue to consider what wee haue by our husband to consider what riches he brings what honour and not often to contemplate upon his person and upon his vertue and excellency wee should learne to doe this with the Lord that wee may loue him Therefore that wee may helpe you a little in this contemplation wee will shew you how the Lord hath described himselfe Exod. 34.4 when the Lord describes himselfe to Moses thus he declares his owne name The Lord Iehovah strong mercifull gracious long-suffering abundant in kindnesse and in truth reserving mercies for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne c. Wee will a little open to you this description that the Lord giues us of himselfe that so you may learne to know what hee is for the way to loue the Lord is to know him and indeed therefore we loue him not because we know him not there is no other reason why in heaven when we shall come to be present with him wee shall loue him so abundantly but because wee shall know him face to face that is the reason the Angels and the Saints loue most And of every man amongst the Saints hee that knowes most loues most Therefore it should be your labour to know the Lord. But to open as I say this description unto you First he is Iehovah that is hee is a constant friend to whomsoever he is a friend he is alway the same for that is another name by which the Lord describes himselfe to Moses when he sends him
to Aegypt I am that I am saith hee say I am hath sent me I take this word that it comes from the same roote Iehovah is described by that I am and by that it is best understood when the Lord calls himselfe I am whereas every man may say I was and I shall be this every creature may say but the Lord saith I am that is whatsoever the Lord was from eternity the same he is to eternity there is no change in him And that is a great excellency in him that may moue us exceedingly to loue him You know when we meete with a friend that is constant that hath no alteration in him that is a sure friend haue him once and haue him for ever it sets a higher price on him When we can consider what the Lord is that he hath dealt thus and thus with us that he hath loved us and when we consider he is constant in it that he embraceth them with the sure mercies of David as they are called that is his compassions faile not but when hee hath once begun to loue hee loues for ever it is not so with men if they loue us at one time they forget us againe as the Butler forgot Iosâ—ph when they are in prosperity they forget us but the Lord knowes us in all our conditions thou hast knowne my soule in adversitie When we are in a strait friends oft times are backward to helpe us but the Lord in such an exigent he is the same he appeares in the Mount when there is no helpe in man I say this constancy that God is alway the same to us that his mercies are sure for they are called the sure mercies of David He shewed mercies to Saul too but they were another kinde of mercies Saul was not one that he had chosen to himselfe and therefore his mercies continued not for indeed hee never loved Saul with that unchangeable loue But when he loues any man as he loved David his mercies are sure as they were to David David was ready to step aside often as well as Saul hee let Saul goe but he carried David along they were sure mercies and such hee shewes to all those that he hath begun to loue That is the first I am or Iehovah Secondly he is strong Iehovah strong mercifull and gracious c. that is Almighty What is the meaning of that that he is almighty The meaning of it is this that the Lord hath all the excellencies those which we call graces and vertues and qualities in men all these abound in the Lord for what serues any vertue for or any quality that you haue but to enable you to doe something if a man haue any science or art that is but to enable him to doe that which without it he cannot doe if a man hath the art of Arithmetique he is able to number or if he haue the art of Logicke he is able to dispute come to all morall vertues What is temperance but that which enableth us to doe such and such things uppon such and such occasions What is patience but that which enableth us to endure afflictions So all that is excellent in man all those amiable those beautifull qualities wherewith the soule is adorned are but so farre good as they enable a man to doe this or that Now when the Lord is said to be almighty the meaning is hee hath all excellency in him and hee hath it in the highest degree for in this sense God is able to doe more than any man in regard of excellency whatsoever a man is able to doe you know how infinitely the Lord hath it beyond him he is able to doe so much more as he is beyond any man For that power that attribute that quality that is in man it is not a quality in him he hath it beyond any man Againe when a man is able to doe one thing yet he is not able to doe another one creature is able to doe this another that But the Lord is Almightie therefore he is able to doe all things And therefore this is a kind of excellencie that is the second description he is Iehovah and he is Almightie But now when you heare that the Lord is thus constant and thus exceeding in excellencie a man will be ready to say what is this to me I am a sinfull man there is nothing in me but that which may turne away the Lord from me and cause him to abhorre me Well saith he to comfort you know that I am mercifull exceeding pittifull exceeding ready to forgiue though your sinnes bee exceeding many though they bee exceeding great yet the Lord he is mercifull he is ready to passe by all those infirmities And that is another of his excellencies You know we reckon it a very amiable thing in a man when we see him pittifull This doth more abound in the Lord than in any creature there is no man in the world so ready to forgive as God If he were not God if he were as man my brethren could hee beare with us as he doth Let us doe to a man injuries and injuries againe and againe and never give over what man can beare it doth he not in the end withdrawe himselfe and will no more be reconciled But it is not so with the Lord when wee have done all Yet returne to me saith the Lord Ier. 3.2 Well but if we haue such sinnes in us suppose the Lord is mercifull and ready to forgive but yet there is no goodnes in us wee haue nothing in us why he should regard us and why he should looke after us To that it is answered the Lord is gracious that is though there bee no worth found in you yet he is ready to doe you good as grace you know is proper to a Prince or a great man that is sayd to be gracious to his subject or to one that is very inferiour because hee can doe nothing to deserue it it is called grace for grace you knowe is nothing but freenes and to be gracious is to doe things freely when there is no motiue no wages when there is nothing to winne him but of free grace he doth it So the Lord doth what he doth of his free grace he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy that is when all men did stand before him alike though there were nothing when there was no cause why the Lord should regard them more than an other yet He will haue mercy on whome he will haue mercy that is he is gracious though there be nothing in us to winne that love at his hands Well but yet wee may be readie to object it is true the Lord hath been thus to me he hath ben very merciful to forgiue me my sinnes he hath beene very gracious to me to shew me favour when I never deserved it but after I was put into such a condition I provoked him to anger by relapsing into sinne againe and againe after
I have been in a good estate I have broken the covenant with him I continued not in that good estate that out of his mercy he hath put me into To this he answers He is long suffering that is though you provoke him out of measure though you have done it againe and againe he continues patient you cannot wearie him out but his mercy indures for ever you know that if there were an end of his mercy that on your sinning hee should give over to be mercifull his mercy did not indure for ever therefore it is said He is long suffering because though your sinnes be often repeated yet the Lord as often repeates his mercy therefore there is a multitude of mercyes in him as there is a multitude of sinnes in you there is a spring of mercy in him that is renued every day he opens a spring for Iudah Ierusalem to wash in it is not a Cesterne but a Spring that is renewed as much as your sinnes that as you are defiled daily so the Lords mercy is renewed to wash away those sinnes he is long suffering But besides all this he goes yet one step further he is abundant in kindnes and in truth that is if you would know the Lord yet further whereas you may thinke He is a terrible God because of his great Majestie and power and therefore that those disharten you as wheresoever you find terriblenesse that you know puts off it is contrary to love and therefore the Lord to winne us the more tells us that though he be so great a God as he is yet he is abundant in kindnesse that is He is exceeding ready to beare with us that looke what you finde in a kinde Husband in a kinde Father or in a kinde friend that you shall find in the Lord he is exceeding kinde to you he is not harsh he is not stiffe he is not ready to obserue all that you doe amisse if you will aske any thing at his hands if you want it as therein kindnes doth consist he is ready to doe it whatsoever it is he is a God hearing prayer he saith whatsoever you aske at his hands he will doe it can you have a greater kindnesse than this if kindnesse be an attractive to winne love hee is kinde and hee is abundant in it If you will not beleeve this assertion this affirmation this description of himselfe hee tells you he hath promised and he will be as good as his word he is abundant in truth that is as if hee should say I am not onely of such a nature and disposition as I have described my selfe to be but besides this I am engaged to you you have many promises I have made you I have sworne I will doe thus and thus Therefore I will adde this to this disposition I am abundant in truth that is you shall finde me as good as my word and not so onely but I will be better than my word I am abundant in truth that is his performances exceede they runne over whatsoever hee hath said he will surely doe it Consider this consider how many precious promises you have consider what the Lord hath said hee will doe for you how full is the Scripture of promises every where remember this the Lord is abundant in truth he will doe them and overdoe them hee will fulfill every word that hee hath said And that he may give you a proofe of it he addes that he reserves mercy for thousands that shewes hee is abundant in kindnesse and in truth as if hee should say when any of you doe mee service when you are faithfull as Abraham my servant was I am bound no more but to reward your selves but I am abundant in mercy and forgivenesse reserving mercy for thousands The Lord cannot content himselfe to doe good to a mans owne person but to his children to his generation As David when he loved Barzillay and Ionathan it extended to their posterity when his love was abundant so the Lord reserves mercie for thousands Lastly because the objection still comes in when you have such a description of the Lord I but my sinnes are still repeated hee addes in the conclusion he is a God still forgiving iniquitie transgression and sinne Why are those three words put in That you may know that hee forgives sinnes of all sorts for every man is ready to finde some peculiarity in his sinnes hee thinkes such and such sinnes cannot be forgiven sinnes that I have committed thus and thus Nay saith the Lord what sinnes soever they are of what nature soever he forgives iniquity he forgives naturall corruption he forgives lesse infirmities he forgives greater rebellions and he is still doing it for so the word signifieth hee is still and still forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne So we have shewed you what the Lord is that you may learn to know him therfore we wil conclude this first and say to you as the Spouse saith Cant. 5. Such a one is the Lord and such a one is our wellbeloved oh you daughters of Ierusalem that is he is wholly delectable if we were able to shew him to you it must be your labour to consider him that you may learne to know him and to love him Secondly when you know this and consider what the Lord is and what excellency is in him consider in the next place the greatnesse of the Lord and know that this great God is suiter to you for your love that is he that makes towards you If a great King or if your potent neighbour should sue to you for love would not that move you You know the weaker should seeke to the stronger men of meaner condition should seeke to him of higher place when the great God beseecheth us to be reconciled to him when hee desires to be at peace with us and to be friends with us I say the greatnesse of God is a great argument to move us to love him as you have that Deut. 10.17 when the Lord reasons there with the people to perswade them to love him saith hee I am the God of Gods the Lord of Lords mighty and terrible as if he should say this great God hath done all this for you and this he requires at thy hands that thou shouldest love him when he shall desire but this refuse it not If one that we contemne one that is beneath us should seeke our love we are not so ready to returne love againe for we say he is below But when we consider God in his majesty and greatnesse that he should seeke to be reconciled to us that should move us that should win our hearts to him Besides consider what the Lord might have required of you you know you are his creatures you know what a distance there is betweene the Lord and you if he had put you on a harder task you ought to have done it if he had said to us you shall offer your children to me
in sacrifice you shall give your owne bodies to be burned you shall be my slaves who could have said any thing to that for he is the Lord the great God our soveraigne Creatour But now when the Lord comes and askes no more at our hands but this you shall love mee will you deny it him This is effectually urged in the same Chapter Deut. 10.14 where Moses marke the manner of urging it had described to them what the Lord had done for them that hee had brought them into that good land c. And now saith he what doth the Lord require of thee for all this but onely this that thou love the Lord thy God As if hee should say the Lord might aske much more at thy hands if he had thou hadst no reason to deny it but all that hee requires is that thou love him and wilt thou denie this unto him Besides consider who it is that hath planted this loue in the heart is it not the Lord that giues thee this very affection And when he calls for this love againe at thy hands doth hee call for more than his owne Shall hee not gather the grapes of his owne Vineyard and shall he not eate the fruite of his owne Orchard Hath not hee planted in us these affections and ought they not to be returned to him to serve him and to pitch on him Besides consider you are engaged to love the Lord and that should be a great motive to us in Iosh. 24.12 You are witnesses that you have chosen the Lord this day to serve him And they said we are witnesses that is Iosuahs speach to the people As if hee should say to them you are not now to choose you are now engaged you cannot goe backe you have professed you have chosen the Lord to serve him therefore you are witnesses against your selves So I may say to every man that heares mee you are engaged to love the Lord Why Because you have chosen him for your husband you are baptized in his name you have taken him for your Master and for your Father therefore he may challenge it at your hands as right for he is your Father and where is his honour then He is your Master and where is his feare then That is you are engaged he may challenge it justly you are his hee hath bought you yea he hath overbought you hee hath paid a price more worth than we hee hath bought us with his blood And what hath hee bought us for but to be his that is to love him Therefore when we love him not wee robbe God of our selves we doe an unnaturall thing it is treachery and injustice in us As you know it is one thing in a woman that is free from an husband to neglect a man that is a friend but when she hath engaged her selfe and the match is made now it is adultery So every one of us that loves not the Lord sinnes the more because he is engaged to him Deut. 32.13 Thou forsookest the strong God of thy salvation thou forsakest him to whom thou art engaged he is the strong God of thy salvation he hath done thus and thus for thee Therefore consider this for seeing you have such an affection as love is you must bestow it somewhere somewhat you must love and you must know againe it is the best thing you have to bestow for that commands all in you and where will you bestow it Can you finde any creature upon whom to bestow it rather than the Lord Will you bestow it upon any man The Lord exceedes them as David saith Who among the gods is like thee That is take the most excellent among them that therefore are reckoned as gods yet who among them is like unto thee or whom will you bestow your love upon your wealth or your pleasures or your phantasies You must thinke the Lord will take this exceeding evill at your hands that you should bestow this affection elsewhere than on him whom you are engaged unto to whom you are bound so much who hath done so much for you But that which moves us most is particulars if a man consider what the Lord hath done for him in particular remember what passage hath beene betweene the Lord and you from the beginning of your youth Ier. 2. Neither said they where is the Lord that brought you out of the land of Egypt through the wildernesse I remember thee from the land of Egypt c. That is let a man consider Gods particular dealing with him for when the Lord would stirre up David and melt his heart and bring it to a kindly sorrow for his sinnes he takes that course 2 Sam. 12.7 it is Nathans speech to him saith he Did not the Lord doe thus and thus Did hee not make thee King of Iudah and Israel Did not he give thy Masters wives and thy Masters houses into thy bosome And if that had not been enough he would have done thus and thus So let every man recount the particular kindnesses and mercies he hath received from the Lord and when we consider that it is he that doth all that it is he that feedes us that it is he that clothes us we have not a nights sleepe but he gives it to us we have not a blessing but it is from his hand there is not a judgement that wee escape but it is through his providence I say the consideration of these particulars should be as so many sparkes to breede in us a flame of love towards the Lord to thinke with your selves when you have done all how unreasonable a thing it is how unequall a thing that you should forget this God that you should never thinke on him that you should not love him hee that hath done thus much for you And last of all consider that the Lord loves you for that is the greatest motive to winne us to love him for as fire begets fire so love begets love This was the cause that Paul loved the Lord Gal. 2.20 He that loved mee and gaue himselfe for me saith he I will not live any more to my selfe but to him he hath loved me and gave himselfe for me he hath loved me and there was that testimony of his love hee gave himselfe I say consider this love of the Lord and let this beget in you a reciprocall affection towards him Put all together and consider the Lord is worthy to be beloved that he that is so great sues to you for your love that he that is God that planted that love in your hearts and therefore hee doth but call for his owne that hee that hath done you so many kindnesses that you are so engaged to him that you are now bound unto you are not now to chuse at the least come to this to say hee is worthy to be beloved bring your hearts to this to desire to love him You will say we may
desire long enough but how shall we be able to doe it I will tell you in a word and so conclude First you must pray for it it is a lovely suite when we come to the Lord and tell him that we desire to love him that we would faine doe it if we could and beseech him not to deny us that request that we know is according to his will doe you thinke that the Lord will refuse you in that case especially if you begge it importunately at his hands For if you object and say we have prayed and have not obtained it know that to love the Lord is a precious thing and therefore the Apostle reckons it so You will say How doth this prayer doe it I say that it doth it partly by obtaining at Gods hands for when you crie earnestly hee cannot denie you But as he did with the lame and the blinde when they were importunate hee never neglected any but healed them When you crie to the Lord and say I would faine love thee but I cannot will hee not be as willing to heale thy soule to give thee legges to runne after him and eyes to see him as he was to heale the lame and the blinde certainly he will not denie thee But besides that prayer doth it because it brings us to converse and to have communion with him by prayer wee are familiar with God by that meanes love growes betweene us as you know when you converse with men it is a means to get love Againe prayer doth it because when wee are much in calling upon God the Lord delights to shew himselfe to such a man yea at such a time for the most part as hee shewed himselfe to Christ when he was praying as he did to Moses and to Cornelius and others And againe prayer it exerciseth this love it blowes up the sparke of this love and makes a flame of it therefore much prayer begets much love If you would be abundant in love be fervent and frequent in this dutie of prayer pray much and you shall finde this effect of it it will beget love in you You will say prayer is a generall meanes for other things Why doe you put it as a peculiar meanes to get love The reason is because love in an especiall manner is a gift of the Spirit a fruite of the holie Ghost and it is true it must be a peculiar worke of the Spirit to beget love It is true faith comes by hearing and hearing begets faith it is done likewise by the Spirit but love is more peculiarly than other graces the gift of the holie Ghost And therefore 2 Thess. 4. saith the Apostle You are taught of God to love one another That is it is such a thing as God teacheth or else our teaching will never doe it that which he saith of love to the brethren we may say of the love of God the Lord hath put love into man man loves many times and knowes not why many times he hath reason that he should love and yet he cannot because it is a peculiar gift of God That naturall affection for a man to love his children all the world cannot doe it all the arguments in the world cannot perswade a man for if arguments could doe it we might perswade others to doe so but none can love so as the father doth his childe and why but because the Lord workes that in men So the love of God is a peculiar worke of the holy Ghost none are able to love Iesus but hee in whom the Lord hath wrought it in whom the holy Ghost hath planted this affection Therefore the way to get it is earnestly to pray to acknowledge the power of the holy Ghost to goe to him and say Lord I am not able to doe it this acknowledgement of the power of the holy Ghost is the way to prevaile Besides you know the power of God is so transcendent beyond the pitch of our nature that except the holy Ghost worke more than nature we shall never be brought together in agreeablenesse and sutablenesse wee are no more able to love the Lord than colde water is able to heate it selfe there must be somewhat to breede heate in that water so the holy Ghost must breed that fire of love in us it must be kindled from heaven or else we shall never have it Secondly another speciall meanes to enable you to love the Lord is to consider your owne condition to consider your sinnes what you are what hearts you have and what lives you have lead You will say how doth this beget love Yes this is a great meanes Mary loved much because much was forgiven her that is Mary Magdalen had great sense of her sinnes the Lord had opened her eyes to see what a one shee had beene what sinnes she had committed And because she had that sense of her sinnes her eyes were open to see her owne vilenesse thence it is saith he she loved much For when we are humble and poore in spirit when we are little in our owne eyes then the Lord will come and shew mercy on us when a man shall see his sinne and shall thinke with himselfe I am worthy to be destroyed I can expect nothing but death then the Lord shall come sodainly as it were and shall tell us you shall live and shall reconcile himselfe to us this will command love We shall never receive the Gospell as to love Christ till we come to poverty of spirit till we be thus humbled as in the first of Luke it is the speech of Mary My soule doth magnifie the Lord and why because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaiden When she was little in her owne eyes and made no account of her selfe and thought not her selfe worthy to be looked after the Lord comes and takes her and vouchsafes her such an honour as to cause his owne Sonne to be borne of her now she could not holde but that was it that enflamed her heart with love to the Lord my soule doth magnifie the Lord because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaid So wee see in David you never finde a greater expression of love in David than at that time when hee was most humbled when the Prophet came to him and tolde him what the Lord would doe for him that he would build him and house David begins to consider what he was what is David saith he What am I or what is my fathers house That is I am but a poore miserable man I am but thus borne what have I done that the Lord should respect me so farre If David had not beene so little and so vile in his owne eyes those great mercies had never so wrought on his heart And therefore I say the way to make us abundant in love is to consider our sinnes to be humbled to consider what
wee are and to conceive from thence the kindnesse of the Lord you know how it affected Saul when hee came into the hands of David that he had power to kill him he considered what he had done to Dauid how he had used himselfe to him and he saw Dauids kindnesse againe to him but unexpected and undeserved it was it melted his heart it dissolved him into teares So the love of the Lord when we consider how we have behaved our selves to him and yet he hath offered us peace and yet he saith Returne and I will forgive you I say this would worke on the hardest heart And therefore consider your sinnes it is not enough to say I am a sinner perhaps you are ready to doe so But come to particular sinnes consider wherein you have offended the Lord say you have done thus and thus as Paul reasons with himselfe I was a blasphemer I was a persecuter an oppressour and yet the Lord had mercy on mee so be ready to say I have committed such and such sinnes it may be uncleannesse it may be Sabbath-breaking and swearing c. yet the Lord hath beene mercifull or willing to receive me to mercy as that place Ier. 3.1 If a mans wife play the harlot will hee returne to her No he will put her away and give her a Bill of Divorcement but you have done it and done it oft and with many lovers and yet returne againe to mee saith the Lord So I say when Christ shall come to you when you have committed such and such sinnes and the Lord shall say to you though you have done this though you have done it often yet returne again to me and I will receive you to mercie I say this should melt our hearts and cause us to love the Lord. I should come to the third that is to beseech the Lord to shew his owne selfe to you for indeede wee shall never come to love him till the Lord shew himselfe to us It is one thing when we preach him to you and it is another when the Lord shewes himselfe For as the Sunne is not seene but by his owne light there is no way in the world to see the Sunne all the candles all the torches cannot doe it except the Sunne shew it selfe So I say of the Lord all the Preachers in the world though they should speake with the tongues of Angels they were not able to shew the Lord Christ Iesus what hee is but if the Lord shew his owne selfe to you if he open the cloud and shew you his glory and the light of his countenance then you shall know the Lord after another manner than we can shew him to you with another knowledge more effectually And when you have seene him thus you shall love him without this you shall not love him And therefore pray the Lord to shew himselfe to you as it was Moses prayer Exod. 33 Shew me thy glory What is that That is Lord shew me thy excellency which is exceeding glorious You must thinke Moses asked not this in vaine it was for some purpose hee asked not meerely to satisfie his fancie for the Lord would not then have heard him But what did he aske it for Surely that he might love the Lord the more by knowing him better And when Moses came to aske it at the hands of the Lord he did assent he proclaimed that is hee revealed himselfe more than ever he did before So I say to every one of you if you be earnest with the Lord desire him to shew you his excellencie that you might love him more serve him more and feare him more he could deny you no more than he did Moses for you must thinke that this is no extraordinary thing for the Lord to shew himselfe That which hee did miraculously to Stephen when he opened the heavens and shewed himselfe to the outward view that hee doth ordinarily to the Saints hee shewes himselfe to their mindes and inward affections When wee preach at any time except the Lord shew himselfe to you at that time then our preaching is in vaine for the word that we speake is but a dead letter it will worke no more upon you than a dead thing that hath no efficacy But when the Spirit goes with the word and hee openeth to you the thing that we speake then it is effectuall Therefore Paul to the Ephesians when he had opened those great mysteries hee concludes with this The Lord give you the Spirit of wisedome and revelation to enlighten the eyes of your understanding that you may know what the hope of your calling is and what is the glorious inheritance of the Saints c. As if he should say when I have said all this it is nothing it will not doe it but he beseecheth the Lord to give them the Spirit of revelation and then it is done And so to conclude all when we have said all we can to move you to love the Lord it is all nothing except the Lord give you that Spirit of wisedome and revelation to open your eyes to see what is the exceeding greatnesse and excellency of his power FINIS THE THIRD SERMON GALLAT 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love OVT of these words we have formerly delivered this point to you that Whâ— soever loveth not is not in Christ. The last thing in the prosecution of this point was the meanes whereby this love is wrought in our hearts which we did not then finish notwithstanding we will not proceed in it at this time but rather alâ—â—r the matter and doe that which I did not then intend because there are many this day that are to receive the Sacrament and you know when we come to receive the Sacrament our chiefe businesse is to examine our selves Let every man examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. We have often pressed to you the necessitie of these two things First that you may not omit the Sacrament when it is administred in the Congregation whereof you are members for if they were to be cut off from the people that neglected the Passeover why should not this be accounted a greater sinne and to deserve a greater punishment to neglect the receiving of the Lords Supper which is come in the place of the Passeover and is farre beyond it First because it is more cleare and it is more cleare because the doctrine is more cleare for it doth more lively represent Christ now exhibited in the flesh than that which onely represented Christ which was then to come And secondly because the mercie that you are now to remember is your redemption from sinne and from hell a greater mercie than that which they were to remember in the Passeover which was their deliverance out of Egypt though that was not all therefore the neglecting of this must
in being zealous for his Names sake as indeed where there is abundance of love there is alwayes exceeding much zeale So it was with Paul so it was with Elias so it was with Moses so it hath beene with all the Saints And so much for this Another property of love is this that it doth not play the huckster with the Lord as wee say it doth not bring things to an exact account but when a man loveth hee is willling to doe what offices of love and friendship he can and he doth not stand to looke for an exact recompence for that is to play the huckster to make a bargaine with God but the nature of love and true friendship wheresoever it is found is this to be free in doing that it doth and not to stand to examine how much they shall doe and how much they shall receive for doing of it but to doe it with liberty and with freedome And so it will be if your love be right to the Lord you will not stand halfepeny-worthing you will not stand considering what you are bound to doe of necessitie whether you are bound to pray in your families or no whether you are bound to keepe the Sabboth so exactly and precisely as is commanded whether you are bound from giving so much liberty to your selves in vaine speeches c. but love will rather say what shall I doe to recompence the Lord It will be devising what to doe it will be glad of any occasion of doing any thing that may be acceptable to God When you set limits to your selves and are afraid of going too farre and doing too much it is a signe that what you doe commeth not from love to the Lord but from some naturall principle it comes from your selves and not from the spirit For if you love the Lord Iesus aright why doe you not labour to exceed in the duties of obedience why doe you blame those that goe further than your selves are willing to doe why doe you quarrell with that exactnesse and precisenesse and strictnesse which is required in walking in the wayes of God Love is abundant in the worke it doth and if you love the Lord you will not set limits to your selves you will not have such thoughts as these I will doe as much as may bring mee to heaven and no more I will take so much paines as that I may not be damned but to exceede and doe more than needes this I hope may be spared and I may goe to heaven notwithstanding well enough though I goe not so fast as other men No Beloved if there be love in you you will strive to doe the utmost of your power it is the nature of love so to doe Againe you will not be so exact nor indent with the Lord what hee will doe to you but though the Lord be slow and slacke in rewarding you though he stay long and suffer you to goe on without taking any notice of you as it were nay perhaps hee gives you many afflictions and persecutions poverty trouble sicknesse c. though the Lord doth not doe what you expect yet your love will be free it will goe on you will be ready to say as Paul did I know whom I have trusted that is he was resolved to serve the Lord to doe his utmost though the Lord did reserve himselfe and the recompence of reward to a further time yet he was content Such a disposition will be found in those that love the Lord Iesus Again you may judge of your love to the Lord Iesus by another property of love which is a hatred of sinne by your hatred of that which is contrary to him for love is not better knowne by any thing than by hatred for all hatred is properly rooted in love for you hate nothing but because you love the contrary therefore if you love the Lord Iesus you will hate sinne Examine your selves by this for it is a sure rule if you love the Lord you will hate that which is evill You will say I hope I doe that It is well if you doe but let us consider that it may be you may be angry with sinne but doe you hate sinne That was the commendations that the Lord gives the Church in Rev. 2. Thou hatest the works of the Nicholaitans which I also hate Therefore if you would know whether you love the Lord Iesus try it by this doe you hate sin You will say How shall wee know whether we hate it or no In these three things you shall finde wherein hatred differs from anger and thereby you may examine your selves First hatred is more of generalls a man hates all drunkards if he hate drunkennesse hee hates all toads and all serpents if hee hate poyson A man is angry with this or that particular but hatred is of all I would aske thee doest thou hate all sinne every thing that is called sinne all that belongs to sinne If it be this or that sinne that you make against you are but angry with sinne you doe not hate sin for hatred fals alwaies upon the generall Examine therefore if you finde this disposition in your hearts that you hate every sinne that your hearts rise against every thing that is sinfull whatsoever is contrary to the Lord whatsoever you apprehend under the notion of sin that you hate and resist and strive against this is a signe that you love the Lord. Secondly hatred desires the utter destruction of the thing it hates anger doth not so anger desires but a revenge proportionable to the injurie therefore we say there is a kinde of justice in anger it would not have the party that it is angry with to be destroyed but it would have him sensible of its displeasure it would have something done that might answer the injurie that is offered but hatred desires the destruction of a thing utterly Now doe you doe so with your sinnes doe you desire to have them wholly extirpate and rooted out of you to have your lusts thorowly and perfectly mortified are you willing to have sinne so cleane taken away that you may have any no libertie to have dalliance with it in any kind do you hate it so as that you cannot endure to come neere it nor to have it within your sight It is a signe you hate it indeed Lastly hatred differeth from anger in this that it is implacable hatred comes from judgement and it continues and therefore hatred is not a passion but we call it an affection it is a beautie and disposition and frame of the will anger is a passion that dies and flittes away after a time but hatred continues Is your disposition such to your sinnes examine your selves nothing is more frequent my brethren than to be humbled for some sinne which amazeth you for the present but doth your hatred continue If not you doe but fall out with your sinnes onely and grow friends with
learne to know the Lord for the more you know him the more you will love him What is the reason that the Angels in heaven so love him Because they know him What is the reason that we shall love him more in heaven than wee doe now but because we shall know him more Therefore when you reade the Scriptures and observe the works of Gods providence in every particular learne by this to know God as you know a man by his actions and carriage learne to have such an Idea of God as he hath described himselfe in his word that hee is true of his word that hee is full of goodnesse that he is abundant in long-suffering and patience that hee is exceeding mercifull beyond measure c. labour to see his wisdome his goodnesse and his mercie labour to know God for when you come to know him aright by that we come to love him Why doe wee love one man more than another but because wee conceive him under such a notion wee conceive his heart to be of such and such a frame wee thinke him to be a man of such and such a condition when we thus conceive the Lord it will teach us to love him more Therefore this you must know that for you onely to looke upon things that are beneficiall to you as forgivenesse of sins and adoption and an inheritance in heaven that is not love to the Lord. It is true you should doe all this but that which you are principally to doe is to looke to the essence of God to see such excellencies in him that thereby you may be led home to him and therefore that you may know him the better you must be taught of him Againe you must not onely know him but you must likewise have assurance of his love to you for when you know the excellencies of the Lord unlesse you have assurance of his love to you it is not sufficient Take a man of the highest place and of the most excellent quality if thou conceive that he hath a hollow heart towards thee thou canst not possibly love him thou must be perswaded of the love of the Lord to thee Therefore in the Text it is said to be faith which worketh by love The increase of the assurance of Gods love therefore is the meanes to increase thy love to him So much for this time FINIS THE FIFTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love THE last thing wee did was to give you the properties of love to the Lord Iesus Now that which remaines to doe at this time is to apply that which hath beene said that is to bring your hearts and the rule together and to exhort you that what you have heard in this it may not passe like airy notions and never be brought home to your particular practise For my beloved the word that we deliuer to you should be like nailes driven home to the head fastened by the masters of the assemblie as the Wiseman speakes that they may sticke and abide in the soule as forked arrowes doe in the bodie that they may not easily fall out againe Therefore the maine businesse that wee have to doe in preaching the word is to fasten these words thus upon your hearts That which we will doe therefore at this time shall be to exhort you to question your owne hearts and to examine them upon your beds whether these characters and properties of love which have beene delivered doe agree to you or no. For as the Apostle saith Vnlesse you be in Christ that is unlesse you be knit to Christ in love you are reprobates it concernes every man therefore that heares me at this time to examine this strictly with himselfe We will expostulate the matter a while with you at this time and you must expostulate the matter betweene God and your owne consciences whether this love be in you or no. And although indeede this needeth not any distinct dividing into branches yet that wee may helpe your memories wee will put it into a number And first we will make this expostulation you that professe you love the Lord as who will not be ready to doe that to say he loveth Christ but yet as the Apostle Iohn speaketh of love to the brethren that men love them in shew and not in truth so it is with most men they love the Lord in word and in profession but they love him not in deed and in truth therefore first let me aske you this You that professe you love the Lord doe you not grieve him and vexe him from day to day and provoke him by your words and by your workes If this be your case it is certaine you love him not indeede Some there are that professe much love to the Lord Iesus but yet spend their time idly are diligent in no calling but waste their precious opportunities in sports in idle visitations in gaming in doing nothing that is profitable either to themselves or others but eate and drinke and rise up to play It is the case of many of our young Gentlemen a shamefull thing before men and abominable in the sight of God that men should live like beasts make their soules like the soules of swine serving for nothing but to keepe their bodies from putrifaction doing so much the lesse worke because they have the more wages burying so many precious talents whereof their time is the chiefe because it helpeth to improove all the rest of which they shall give an exact account at that day When God shall judge the secrets of mens hearts according to our Gospell Doe you professe that you love the Lord Iesus and doe you neglect him thus Besides this mocking of the Lord and dissembling with him you deale most foolishly with your selves for all the comfort that you shall ever finde in this life it will be from working from being serviceable to God and profitable to men empty lives cause but empty joy Therefore if any man shall finde this to be his case examine it it is but a false profession of love And as I speake to those that are young that spend their time Nihil agendo so I may say the same to those that are of more yeares that waste their lives in doing something indeede but it is not that which they should doe or in doing it in another manner than they ought those that are so drowned in businesse so overwhelmed with imployment so occupied with outward things abroad that they have no vacancie to feede their soules within to cloathe them with graces For you must know my brethren that your soules have neede to be trimmed every morning as well as the body they have neede of breakfast and dinner and exercise as well as the body and as you faile in giving this due respect to the soule daily so you shall finde that proportionably in that degree the
inward man will languish and grow faint But to speake a word unto you likewise Doe you thinke that you love the Lord Iesus in good earnest and yet have scarse leisure to thinke of him from morning to night that you cannot take time to speake to him to seeke him nor to prepare your hearts for him Besides this generall come to particular sinnes sabbath-breaking neglecting of private prayer vaine speeches concupiscence and sinfull lusts secret courses of uncleannesse swearing if not by greater yet by lesser oathes which indeede in this exceede the greater because in the other you sweare by the Creatour in these by the creature You that doe these things will you say you love the Lord You must know that it is a contradiction it is impossible For if you love me keepe my commandements if you keep not the commandements of God certainly you love him not But it may be you will say that your meaning is good that you are well affected to Christ and therefore surely you doe not hate him My brethren you are deceived in this thy meaning is not good for while you cast the commandements of God behinde you you cast him away and let me say to you in this case as you have it in Ier. 3.4 You professe well in saying Thou art my Father and the guide of my youth but you doe evill more and more So I say when you professe you love the Lord and that you reckon him your Father and your Husband thus you say indeede but you doe evill more and more and that is a certaine argument you love not the Lord. Therefore examine your selves by this rule For if you love the Lord you will reverence him You know whom we love we reverence and whom we reverence we dare not doe any thing unmeete in their sight Take any one whom we love whose good opinion wee seeke for wee had rather that all the world should see us doe an unseemely thing than that he should and certainly if you love the Lord you would not dare to provoke him to anger Therefore this carelesnesse in serving of him is a certaine signe of want of love to the Lord Iesus this fearefulnesse and carelesnesse when you dare not shew your courage for him when you account it a small matter to commit a sinne against God this ariseth from the defect of your love In the second place as you may try your love by your taking care not to offend God so likewise you may try it by your sorrow and griefe after you have offended him For you must know this that love as it hath the greatest joy of any thing else when it obtaines that which it would have so it is attended with the most exquisite griefe when it is disappointed As when one loveth another earnestly if any breach fall out that shall make a separation betweene them if any strangenesse grow betweene them if they love they will never be at rest it will trouble and disquiet them but as the Scripture speakes they are sicke of love that is they cannot be quiet while there is such a condition while there is any alienation while there are breaches and offences betweene them for you know that nothing is so sweete as love as you have it in Cant. 1. Love is better than wine and as David expresseth it Psal. 63.3 Thy loving kindnesse is better than life So sweete I say is love as sweete as wine and better than life Now by the rule of contraries then to have a breach made to have a barre and an interruption in this loving kindnesse of the Lord towards us or in our love towards him it is bitter as wormewood and sharpe as death Therfore you may examine your selves by the offences you offer to God when they are past if you love him it is certaine they will trouble you exceedingly for so much sorrow for sinne so much love And you may take it for a sure rule in what measure any man desires to please the Lord in that measure hee will be grieved that he hath displeased him Therefore examine thy selfe Hast thou sinned against him many times and doest thou looke backe upon those sinnes in a carelesse manner be sure that thou lovest him not Examine this by that which passeth betweene man and man When a father or a husband hath any thing committed against them by a childe or a wife if they shall withdraw themselves and professe themselves displeased and yet the childe or the wife in the meane time be never troubled at this but be at rest well enough content it should be so and are not disquieted for it will not the parent or husband take this exceeding ill at their hands when hee seeth his displeasure slighted For this is much greater than the offence it selfe So I may say whatsoever the sinne be that you have committed this hardnesse of heart this negligence after the sinne is committed when you are not disquieted for it when your hearts are not troubled for it it is a greater signe of want of love to the Lord it is a greater signe of an evill and untoward disposition than the sinne it selfe Therefore this want of sorrow for sinne is a sure argument that you love not the Lord. You may take that for one signe of want of love that we commit sinnes against God from day to day For doe but goe to your neighbours and professe your love to them and yet you injure them againe and againe you care not what wrong you doe them will they thinke that such a profession as you make is true and will the Lord regard when you say that you love him if you provoke him to anger and renew your sinnes and relapse into them againe and againe and when you have sinned take it not to heart No my brethren if you doe love him you will doe as it is said Zach. 12. when you have sinned you will mourne as he that mourneth for his onely sonne your hearts will melt as Iosiahs did your hearts will smite you as Davids did him thus it is with all that love him in deede and in truth Therefore in Levit. 16.29 and likewise Levit. 23.27 they are both one and the same the Lord appoints a feast and a meeting together for cleansing of sinnes it was the feast of atonement saith hee In that day when you come together to offer sacrifice unto me and to make an attonement you shall humble your soules and whosoever doth not afflict his soule on that day he shall be cut off from his people As if he should say At that day you come to reconcile your selves to the Lord you make profession of your love to him and of the desire you have to bee friends with him Now if you come and make this profession and doe not humble your selves nor afflict your soules on that day for those breaches that have beene betweene God and you all your
whereby you may discerne your love to the world When Christ would make a triall of the young man whether hee loved the world or no he puts him to it by this Goe saith he and sell all that thou hast and come and follow me and thou shalt have treasure in heaven When it came in competition once whether hee were best to follow Christ and sell all that he had and that he must either forsake Christ or forsake his riches he went away sorrowfull and would not doe it So we shall finde it in Iohn 12.42 when the matter came there into competition that if they confessed Christ they should be cast out of the synagogue saith the text though they beleeved They confessed him not for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God Their carriage there towards Christ when their confessing of him came in competition with their applause and honour among men it was an argument that they loved the world and the things of the world You shall see in Abrahams case when the Lord would put him to the triall and bidds him come from his kindred and from his fathers house and from his Country this in Heb. 11 is taken as an argument of his love that when hee was put to doe either the one or the other hee made his choise to obey the Lord though it stood with the losse of Countrie and friends So I say consider with your selves and you shall finde many cases wherein your conscience will dictate to you this you must doe this you ought to performe this you ought not to doe Perhaps it shall be said unto you againe if you doe it you shall lose such a friend you shall lose such credit you shall suffer such losse in your estate you shall expose your selfe to such and such danger you shall incurre such and such inconveniences to your selfe consider what you doe in such a case Many businesses fall out everie day wherein the like case is offered to you many times you thinke it were best to doe so and if it were not for the losse of some thing or for the discredit you would doe it By this you may examine your hearts whether you love the world or no. Lastly you shall know whether you love the world and the things of this world by your actions for where your love is there your tongue and your hand will be and all your endeavours Now trie your selves by this Are you occupied so abour the world and the things of it that all your endeavours and all your actions are taken up about them some about matter of pleasure in hunting and hawking in gaming and sporting your thoughts are there and your speeches there others againe in seeking wealth and worldlie greatnesse Are you taken up about these I say the actions of a man are a sure signe for the Lord judgeth us by our actions therefore wee may judge our selves by them Consider in what element you live if you be so busied about worldly things that you are never well but when you are there and as for heavenly things you doe them but by the by and when you are doing them you are wearie this is an argument that you love the world when a man shall turne the streame of his endeavours all that way when he shall turne all his projects all his actions all his labours into that As when the bodie hath a wen or a wolfe in it all the nourishment is drawne to that and in the meane time the bodie is leane and poore so is it when a mans heart is taken up with the world it eates up and devoures all the thoughts all the intentions of the minde all his care and endeavour and striving runnes this way the hidden man of the heart in the meane time is left starved and pined within This is a signe that you love the world this so much intending the things of the world as Christ speaks The lusts of your Father will you doe Iohn 8. What is the meaning of that That is looke to your actions to your doings to your executions and performances and you shall finde that they are according to the lusts of your father the Divell those actions they did were a signe that they did affect those things that the Divell affected But you will object the holiest man hee that is most regenerate yet is inordinately affected to the world is too readie to grieve and to rejoice inordinately it too readie to faile when these things come in competition with God Therefore how should wee examine our hearts by this I answere in a word that it is true in the Saints there is something in their hearts that doth all this that I have spoken but it is not they that doe it as the Apostle speakes It is not I but sinne that dwells in me We cannot denie but that there is flesh and worldlie-mindednesse even in them but yet this they doe these worldly lusts and desires they are still checking them and restraining them and keeping them downe so that though they be there yet they doe not walke after the vanitie of their mindes they are not led by it but they are led by the Spirit and walke by the Spirit Indeede sometimes they fall when they are transported with temptations and through incogitancie and infirmitie yet their constant walking is not after the vanitie of their minde for that is proper to those that feare not God Therefore know thus much my brethren that though the Saints doe these things sometimes yet their purpose and their desire and care is to crosse and resist them as much as they can that though they have these inordinate worldly desires in them yet they are not midwives to themselves to bring forth fruite to the flesh they are not stewards to provide for these before-hand as it is in Rom. 13. Put ye on the Lord Iesus and take no care for the flesh to make provision for it I say they are not stewards for their lusts but they resist them and strive against them But to conclude this also examine your selves by this rule whether you love the world and the things of the world And if we take an examination of men by this how few are there that love the Lord We may trulie say as the Apostle saith The love of God is not in them for men seeke themselves and their owne things and not the things of Iesus Christ. One followes this particular another that everie man fitting and plotting a garment to himselfe composed of such vices as doe suite everie mans humour This is a signe that you love not the Lord when you minde the world and goe with the world and let your whole bodie and soule follow it with all the actions and all the strength and indeavour thereof The love of many shall waxe colde because iniquitie shall abound What is the meaning of that That is because the men
hinderance on Gods part And for thy owne part there is no more requyred of thee but sinceritie that thou take him sincerely resolving to thy selfe I will serve him for the future I will be contented to be divorced from all my former loves from all the sinnes that I have delighted in before I am willing now to take him and to serve him and to love him and to give my selfe wholly to him I say this sinceritie of resolution is enough there can be no hindrance if this be found in thee Therefore doe not thinke with thy selfe I want sorrow for my sinnes such a degree of sorrow my heart is not broken enough and therefore I am not fit for thou must know thus much that the promise is made to the comming and not to the preparations If thou canst come and take the Lord it is enough if a man have so much sorrow so much heart-breaking as brings him home to Christ as makes him willing to match with the Lord if hee have that wrought in him doubt he not of the other But now I come to the other those that are already within the Covenant to you I say you may much more easily and fully come to this assurance because ye have the fruits of the Spirit in you which are the seales of his love you have cause to trust perfectly through the grace that is revealed in Iesus Christ you know that exhortation Trust perfectly to the grace revealed c. that is in the free offer to every man by Christ trust not in that by halves remissively and unperfectly and weakly but trust perfectly be confident in that that the Lord will thus receive you trust perfectly in the grace revealed But you will say I commit many sinnes from day to day I am negligent in many duties I find much unevennesse in my life many distempers in my affections c What if you finde all this in your selves yet so long as your hearts are sincere you must know this that every breach every offence doth not breake the band of wedlocke betweene the Lord and you you must not thinke there is a breach of covenant betweene God and you upon every â—inne that is committed but know that the Covenant holds good till you come to choose another husband the Lord continues your husband still Therefore when thou art married to the Lord it is not for thee to thinke then of questioning the match but studie to please thy husband and to doe thy dutie You know there may be many offences and many slight breaches betweene a man and his wife but the bond holds good there is no bill of divorcement except it be in case of adultery that shee choose an other husband so thinke in such a case the bond is not broken upon every offence and every sinne that is committed Learne to know this for thy comfort for it is a great matter to have this assurance full And besides consider this thinke not with thy selfe because I have not attained such a degree of holinesse as another hath therefore I have none at all that is an evill reason that discourageth the Saints discourageth many times those that should be incouraged that are already within the Covenant he lookes on another and sees he cannot reach him he propounds to himselfe such a measure of grace and of holinesse and of mortification of his lusts and hee cannot come neere it and hee thinkes because I cannot doe this I have no sincerity in mee Not so there are degrees when a man is within the doore hee may goe further and further and though all may be within yet one may be further in than another Besides all this know that the Lord is faithfull he cannot denie himselfe though thou faile on thy part yet hee continues the same and renewes his mercy to thee as thou renewest thy repentance But to conclude this if you would love the Lord labour to doe these three things Labour to know him more Labour to know your selves more that so you may long after him as after one that you neede And thirdly labour to get this assurance for it is this assurance that breedes the love that seales it up when a man shall looke on God as one who may hate him for any thing he knowes who may be an enemie to him one day hee can never love him heartily When a man hath no ground to set his foote on he will doe it tenderly and nearely but when he lookes upon God as one whom he may trust whose love he is sure of that he builds on that as a rocke this is that which makes his heart perfect to him when hee can say as Paul I know whom I have trusted If a man have never so much excellency in him if you conceive him to be hollow-hearted to you your affections are not perfect towards him so is it if you looke on God as one that may be your enemie As wee say friendship with Princes it is like that familiarity that those men have with Lyons that keepe them A Lyon you know will suffer a man to play with him as long as he lists and when he lists he will rise and devoure him and rend him in peeces so I say the love of a Prince may be and the love of men may be But the love of the Lord is not such when he loves he loves perfectly It is true hee hath the strength of a Lyon he is able to doe it you are weake creatures subject to him but hee hath that constancie in him that when hee loves once it is alwayes perfect and unchangeable Let all these be well considered and wrought on your hearts and it will be a meanes to beget this love in you Even as fire begets fire so this will beget love in your hearts towards him againe So much for this The second point which I intend to handle at this time is this another consectary another use we are to draw from this doctrine Hee that loves not is not in Christ. The next use is to exhort you to come in if it be a thing of that moment now our businesse is to exhort to love the Lord Iesus And is there not much reason to move you to it if you had this love in your hearts would it not be a ground of much comfort to you for if you were able to beleeve in Iesus Christ and love him you should have your salvation sure if once you could finde this disposition in your selves as it must be in you if ever you be saved that your hearts long after him still you are growing towards him hanging that way as a stone to the center as the iron to the loadstone there is such a lingring after him the heart makes towards him and will have no deniall but as the woman of Canaan it breakes through all impediments no barre can keep it froÌ„ him as those that love they are not easily
put off but are importunate til they have obtained reciprocal affections of the party beloved I say if thou finde this disposition in thy heart it is the greatest consolation that thou canst have in this world for if this be thy case thou maist boldly looke that the gates of hell shall not prevaile against thee and if thou love the Lord in this manner heaven and earth shall passe rather than thy salvation shall be hindred it is impossible because then thou hast a good ground of hope and hope will make thee not ashamed but be assured that God is thine and all that hee can doe and all that is his is thine as Paul tells us his power and his wisdome and all is thine He is a Sunne and a shield to thee thou shalt want nothing that is good nothing that is evill shall hurt thee the Lord brings all with him this is your case if that you doe love him this is your consolation this is that which may inflame your hearts with a desire of this affection For know this that there is scarcely any thing else that we can instance in but an hypocrite may goe cheeke by jowle with a good Christian in that he may doe all outward duties he may abstaine from sinnes there may be a great change in him you know how farre the third ground went and those Heb. 6. but this they cannot counterfeit to love the Lord. Therefore if thou finde that thou love the Lord thou hast this consolation that thou art now sure and indeede thou art never till then sure And as reason differenceth a man from a beast so love makes the great difference betweene a Christian and an other Indeede we say it is faith but you know that faith is differenced by love that is such a faith that breedes love and so love is it that breedes that great consolation And therefore this is thy comfort if thou canst once bring thy heart to love the Lord hee will beare with any thing hee will beare with many infirmities as you know he did with Dauid when he saw that he loved him David had many great infirmities as wee see in the whole story the whole relation of his life yet because hee loved the Lord the Lord passed by all and in the end he gave him this testimonie that hee was a man after his owne heart So I say love the Lord once and he will beare with much in thee On the other side if thou doe not love him doe what thou wilt the Lord accepts it not As wee see in the case of Amaziah it is said that Amaziah walked in all the wayes of his father David and of the good Kings hee did as much as they hee was as great an enemie to idolatry hee did all the duties of religion onely this was wanting he did it not with an upright heart that is he did it not out of love and therefore the Lord regarded it not And therefore let this move you to get this affection there is much if I could stand to presse it that might inflame your hearts with a desire of it onely it is this love that sets a price on all that you doe that makes all that you doe currant as this stampe is set on your actions more or lesse so they are more or lesse acceptable This was that which set a price on the widdowes mite that set a price on a cup of colde water this set a price upon Abels offering and made it more acceptable than his brothers the meanest service when it hath this stampe on it is currant and good in Gods sight hee accepts it againe the greatest performance without it is nothing And if thou give thy body to be burned if thou suffer martyrdome if thou give all thy goods to the poore doe what thou wilt without love it is nothing thy labour is lost this love sets a price on all that thou doest Besides this consider this is that that must stirre you up aboue all other arguments that if thou love the Lord thou shalt be no looser by it in all other love a man seemes to be a looser for when you loue an other as you know it is no love except it bee fruitfull and actiue when you bestowe on an other your time and your paines and your money you know you have so much the lesse your selfe And therefore it is that men are so full of selfe love because that ingrosseth all a man in that keepes all to himselfe when hee comes to love an other and partes with something of his owne And thence it is that men are so backward to love in truth and in good earnest They love in shew and in complement that is easie but to love indeed is difficult because it takes somewhat from them But in loving the Lord it is not so there is a difference betweene that and other loves when you give the Lord your hearts and bestowe them on him he will giue you them every â—ot againe and reserue not any for himself You will aske me what is the meaning of this My meaning is this whatsoever you bestowe on the Lord all the loue that you give to him it reflectes and redoundes to your advantage you gaine by it all as we see Isai 48.17 I am the Lord that teacheth thee to Profite for if thou keepe my commandements thy reward thy prosperitie should be as a flood and thy reioycing as the waves of the Sea Marke it well as if he should say to them when I command you to serue me and to loue me with all your soule and with all your strength know that all this is for your owne profit it shall all redound to you For if you keep my commandements your prosperitie shall be as a floud that is it shall runne over the bankes it shall be so large and so great and your righteousnes that is the reward of your righteousnes as the waues of the sea that is one reward should follow upon the neck of an other as one billow followes upon the neck of an other This should be your case saith he if you loue me and keep my commandements and serue me And therefore saith hee when I require your love and your service herein there is a difference betweene that that which any man requires at your hands all this is for your owne profite it redounds to your selues your selves fare the better for it as it is said of the Saboth so I may say of this commandement and all the rest it was made for man and not man for this that is for the profit of man for the advancment of man thy louing the Lord is for thy advantage thou gainest by it as it is Deut 5.29 Oh saith he that there were a heart in this people to love me and to feare me as they have promised then it should goe wellwith them and their children after them Not that I might be a gainer
and you lose but that it might goe well with you and your children for ever So if you love the Lord when you thinke with your selves I shall be a loser by it I shall lose much libertie and much contentment and delight I shall lose the giving satisfaction to many of my desires and lusts No thou shalt lose none of this though a man seeme to lose this when he gives his heart to the Lord but thou gainest all this that is the Lord gives thee thy heart againe and gives thee leave to dispose of it he gives thee leave to love thy friends to love thy wife and thy children and even to love thy recreations he gives thee leave to dispense and to distribute thy heart to this or to that as long as thou doest it lawfully onely thou must doe it at his command Yea when we give our hearts to the Lord hee giues us not them againe onely but hee giues them much better than hee receiued them new painted new beautified and new furnished hee giues them in a farre better condition there is no man that loseth by giuing his heart to the Lord but he giues it him againe much better As we say of vapours that arise out of the earth the heavens returne them againe in pure water much better than they receiued them so will the Lord if thy heart ascend to him thy impure thy sinfull heart the Lord will give it thee better As we say of earth when the earth receives the sea water and puddle water it giues it better than it received it in the springs and fountaines for it straines the water and purifies it that whereas when it came into the bowells of the earth it was muddy salt and brinish it returnes pure and cleane and fresh as you know the waters of the springs and fountaines are so the Lord doth with us if thou wouldest give thy hearts desire thy affections to him thou shouldest have all againe onely with this difference thy affections should be more pure thy thoughts all the faculties of thy soule should be renewed and cleansed and beautified he would restore them better to thee but yet thou shouldest have them let it be thy comfort So that here is all the difference take a man now that loves himselfe and that thinkes with himselfe Well say what you will I will goe mine owne wayes I will provide for mine owne contentment in this life I know not what I shall have after I will looke to mine owne profit I say compare this man with another that resolves this with himselfe Well from hence I will deny my selfe and crosse my selfe and will seeke no more my owne contentment nor to satisfie my owne desires and lusts but I will give my heart wholly to the Lord. The question now is which of these are gainers I say the latter hath as much liberty and as much power of his owne heart he shall have as much use of all that is within him as the other hath that â—akes it to himseâ—fe all the difference is the one â—s an unjust owner the second the Lord hath made the steward of his owne heart so that the Lord hath thy heart and yet it is thy owne heart â—hou maist dispose of it as a steward under thy Master thou hast it as before onely now thou doest it by his appointment before it was at thine owne Let all this therefore stirre you up to love the Lord. You will say indeede this is enough to perswade us to come in to love the Lord and wee are contented to doe so that is the answer which wee shall have from most men But now what kinde of love is it that wee shall have at their hands My brethren we must add this for a conclusion that it is not every kind of love that the Lord accepts but your love must have these two conditions in it I will breefely name them and so conclude First you must love him with all your hearts and with all your soule you know that is every where requyred in the Scriptures That is the Lord will have the whole streame of your affections and desires and intentions and your endeavours to runne to him there must not any riveret runne out of it it must not be drained away but the whole streame must all be bestowed upon him there must be no division there you must not say here as he saith My Countrie and my father and my children and my friends have a part in my love but the Lord must have all and there is good reason for it because he bestowed all on you It is in this love as it is in marriage in that there is no corrivall admitted but there must be all in all for the husband must bestowe himselfe wholly on his wife and the wife on the husband so if you love the Lord if the match be made betweene you there is all in that equalitie if the Lord bestowe all on you and you should bestowe but halfe on him there would be no equalitie there would be an unennesse But when you bestowe all on him when you loue him with all your heart and with all your soule that makes the match betweene you You will say the Lord doth not bestowe himselfe wholly on me he bestowes himselfe on many others on many thousands besides me and why should not I bestow my selfe on an other I answer it is not so the Lord bestowes himselfe wholly on thee Hos. 3 3. it is a borrowed speech I will be to thee alone I will have thee to be so to me so the Lord saith to every man I will be alone to thee and thou shalt be alone to me I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine This is the match that must bee betweene you And when you say the Lord is not wholly yours I say he is though he bestowe himselfe on many thousands besides You will aske how can that be I say that may be by reason of his infinitenesse for that which is infinite hath not parts and therfore he bestowes not himselfe partly on one and partly on an other but he bestowes all upon every one for he is infinite and hath no parts To expresse my selfe by a similitude a point hath no parts it is one indivisible let a thousand lines come to one point every one hath the whole and yet there is but one that answers all because it is indivisible and every one hath all So it is with the Lord though there be many thousands that God loves yet every one hath the Lord wholly he is to them alone and he lookes for and expects this at thy hands that thou shouldest be to him alone that thou bestowe thy selfe wholly on him thereupon all those words are put in Thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy minde with all thy heart with all thy soule The meaning is this when all that is in a man is
sett a worke to serve the Lord when he looks to the Lord when he inclines towards the Lord that is when the minde is set on worke to thinke on him to remember his glorious workes to have a right knowledge and opinion of him againe when the memory is set on worke to remember him and not to forget his benefits his statutes and his ordinances and so the rest of his faculties And therefore if we love the Lord wee will not doe this with our selves to thinke I love him and yet I will suffer my minde in the meane time to be exercised in contemplating of fornication not to thinke I loue the Lord and yet will suffer my memorie in the meane time to be recollecting injuries and breeding of them and recalling my pleasant sinnes that are formerly past that I should abhorre thou canst not loue him and doe this Againe thou must not say I love him and yet let thy affections runne after this and that but thy whole heart must be bestowed on him Thou must not thinke to loue him and to reserue thy affections for this or that particular thing that thou lovest inordinately but thou must bestow all these on the Lord. The second thing required in this love wherewith I will end is this that you love the Lord with all your might You will say what is the meaning of that to love the Lord with all my might and with all my strength For the understanding of this you must know that God hath given different might and different strength to men as a rich man hath more might than another for he can rule more and sway more and command more than a poore man can Againe a Magistrate he can restraine by his power and encourage men by his authority and winne them yea compell them by his example Againe a learned man that is of great parts that is of a stronger wit than another hee hath more might than another he is able to doe more than a man of weaker parts Now to love the Lord with all our might is to improve all the meanes we have all the strength all the ability that wee have above others to improve it so that we may serve the Lord with it more than others that even as thou exceedest any in these abilities so thou maist goe beyond them in serving the Lord This is to love the Lord with all thy might that is to love him so much more than a poore man to bestow more on him to doe more for him as thy riches make thee more able and more strong than another For thee to love him now as another man doth that hath lesse might the Lord will not take this love at thy hands but will say to thee as Landlords say to their Tenants when they bring them lesse rent than they should lesse than is due they will receive none for they say so much is due The Lord will require this that you love him with all your might If thou be a rich man if thou be a Magistrate if thou be a man of such and such opportunities to serve the Lord and doe but a little hee will not accept it at all thou must love the Lord with all thy might for God requires this at thy hands hee leaves it not arbitrary He saith To whom much is given of him much shall be required Hee saith not I leave it to him to doe more or lesse but I require it that is I will exact it according to the measure he hath received Therefore consider with thy selfe what meanes thou hast what power God hath put into thy hands what ability thou hast more than others When you send a servant to market as you give him a greater price as you put more money into his hands so you expect hee should bring home more than another that hath a lesse price put into his hands So the Lord doth with men hee sends men into the world as men are sent to a market hee gives a larger price to some to some hee gives five talents to some three to some two the Lord expects that they should bring home according to the price they have in their hands that is according to the might according to the strength and opportunity he hath given them For you must know that the Lord observes an exact difference betweene man and man It may be thou livest under better meanes than another thou hast had better education than another thou hast more knowledge in the wayes of God than another the Lord hath helped thee more by the inward suggestions of his Spirit than another he lookes that thou shouldest bring forth more fruite than another And so againe for all other abilities and advantages the Lord expects at our hands that we love him with all our might otherwise saith he you might have given my money to the exchangers and they would have made use of it Marke that in the Parable of the Talents for a man will be ready to say if I bestow some love on the Lord why should he exact require the utmost why doth he require so much at my hands Yes saith he if another had this might if another had this strength and this opportunity that thou hast hee would have done as exchangers doe hee would have brought it in with profit so if that ability were given to another he would make use of it And therefore thinke not much if he require it at thy hands for there is losse if he should not Therefore know that the Lord requires this at thy hands it may be thou art more composed and more disposed than another it is nothing for thee to abstaine from drinking to abstaine from swearing because thou art framed this way by naturall ingenuity and naturall temper that God hath given thee it is not that the Lord requires no more but that thou live soberly free from grosse sinnes No God lookes for more he requires of every man according to his strength and ability As you know a childe may runne and another man may walke the childe takes more paines the man lesse it the reward were to be given according to the endeavour the child should have it though he that walkes come to the goale before him A man that is weake may not doe so much as another that is strong and able to doe ten times as much worke as another man that is weake though thou doe more worke than he this is not accepted because hee lookes that every man should doe his utmost he requires that you should love him and serve him and set your selves to improve all your ability according to the might according to the Talent according to the price hee hath distributed and measured to you So much for this time FINIS THE SEVENTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love THE last thing that wee entred upon was
God above all that is let a man be himselfe at any time let not his lusts get the upper ground of him as sometimes it doth when hee is in passion and transported indeede then feare may prevaile as it did with Peter and lusts may prevaile as it did with David But the meaning is let a man be himselfe in his ordinary course and still hee preferres the Lord before any thing in all his actions You will say this is a thing that no man can doe to love God above all Yes my beloved therefore you must understand it thus that comparatively you may reach it all those that are sanctified doe love him above all although there be many degrees of love you cannot reach unto yet you love him above all Even as it is in marriage a man may love his wife with such a degree of Iove as is meete for her yet there may be a greater degree of loue continuance of time may increase that love upon further knowledge c. So wee may love the Lord above all and yet come short of that degree that we may have after longer communion and greater familiarity So much for this third condition to love him above all But yet this is not enough we finde another condition required in this love in the Eph 3.17 That ye be rooted and grounded in love that is that as ye must not love the Lord by halues so ye must not love him by fits and by starts it must be a fixed love a permanent love you must bee rooted and grounded in it otherwise as it is said of him that is unstabe in the faith as Iam. 1.12 He is as a wave of the Sea tossed too and froe the same may be said of him that wavers in his love he is tossed too fro that is some times he commeth with great purposes with aboundance of promises and resolutions that seeme as bigg as mountaines but stay a while and they come to nothing they vanish away Suppose it were thy owne case that a man should come to thee with an expression of as much love as that there could be no more for a day or two but presently afterward he is as strange as if he had never seene thee wouldest thou regard such a loue as this No surely but as wee use to doe with franticke men though that they be sober for a while yet we reckon them franticke because they are more constantly franticke such account doth the Lord make of such as doe love him by fitts and by flashes But you will say who is there that is alwayes at the same stay It is true my brethren I deny not but that the best of the Saints have their loue some times in the full tide and some times in the lowest ebb but you must knowe that there is a great deale of difference betweene these degrees and that loue that is as the morning dew presently dryed up againe therefore you must alwayes remember that this must be added to that that formerly hath been spoken that ye must be rooted and grounded in loue You will say how shall we doe that Remember but these two things Labour to be rooted and grounded in Faith and then you shall be rooted and grounded in love as in that place I named before in Ephes. 3.17 he prayeth that Christ may dwell in their hearts by Faith that so being rooted and grounded in love they may comprehend c. Let a man consider well upon what ground he hath perswaded himselfe of the Lords favour and loue to him let him not build upon a hollowe sandie foundation but let him build the assurance of his salvation upon a rock that is let him examine his grounds to the bottome let him search it well let him consider all the objections that may be made against his assurance and not giue over till he be fully convinced that the Lord his heart is perfect with him and when he is thus rooted and grounded in faith he will likewise be rooted and grounded in loue Againe remember to pitch your loue upon the person not to loue him for by-respects for other matters but set your eye upon the very person of Christ to behold him in his glory in his purenesse in his attributes in all his excellencies and so to loue him for that will continue for if you loue the Lord because he deals wel with you because you haue hope he will saue you because you have escaped such and such judgements through his providence if any of these bee the ground of your love these are mutable but if you love him for himselfe because of that amiablenesse that is in him for my brethren hee is the same there is no shadow of change in him Therefore if you love him thus your love will be constant this was the case of Iob his love was right he loved the very person of God therefore hee was willing to take good and evill at the hand of God and yet his love remained sure take another man that hath not knowne God that is not acquainted with him it may be when the Lord hath brought him into prosperity he will forget the Lord as Demas embraced the present world the prosperity of such a man drawes him from God Another man when persecutions and trialls come he forsakes the Lord because indeede he pitched not his love upon his person therefore hee loves him not constantly But to goe on The next is that property ye shall finde in the 1 Thess 1.3 Diligent loue that is the last which I will name to you I say it must be a diligent love wherewith you love the Lord and not an idle and negligent love not a love that is in shew onely but a love that is operative for that God requires You will say wherein should our love be diligent I answer you must be diligent in preparing for the Lords comming that you may receive the King of glorie that he may enter into your hearts for there is a diligence of love in that to doe as Iohn Baptist came to doe to prepare the way of the Lord what was that To bring downe the mountaines and to raise up the valleyes that is those high thoughts those high lusts that stand in opposition against the Lord that barre the doore against him that will not let him enter into your hearts bring downe those mountaines againe the valleyes must be raised up that God may come and dwell in your hearts the diligence of love is shewed in opening to the Lord when hee knockes that when a thing shall be suggested to you it is for the Lords advantage to embrace it for it is the nature of true love it enlargeth and wideneth the heart Againe love is diligent in adorning it selfe and beautifying the soule for the approach of the lover such is this love that wee speake of it will make you
day saith the Apostle it shall be the day of the manifestation of the just wrath of God in that day when the Lord shall open the treasures of his wrath those which have beene so long time a gathering While wee live here the clouds of Gods indignation are but gathering then they shall grow thicke and blacke and fasten upon you to the uttermost then all the great deepes shall be broken up then the flood-gates of Gods judgements shall prevaile and overflow you that case shall be yours at that time and this is a time which is to be considered by you now in Eccles. 1.7 Remember the dayes of darknesse for they are many My brethren eternity is an other thing than wee consider it to be while wee live in this world In Psal. 78.38 The Lord called backe his wrath and stirred not up all his indignation but at that time the Lord shall stirre up all his wrath yee doe here but sippe of this cup but then yee shall drinke up the dreggs of it for ever This shall be the case of those that love not the Lord. But you will say this is afarre off and therefore the lesse terrible it is not neere at hand Well though this curse in which wee have shewed these foure branches be not presently executed yet remember this that when we preach the Gospell to you as we doe from day to day and are still offering you Christ beseeching you to come in and take him and love him but yet you will not know that there is a thunderbolt alwayes following this lightening when Iohn Baptist came and preached the Gospell hee tells them presently of the curse that ws to follow You doe not know the time when the Lord will execute this curse Cain was cursed many yeares before he died and so Saul when the Lord had rejected him and had made a separation between God and him for a curse is but a separation when a man is cast aside and set apart for such a purpose so Saul was set apart for evill yet hee reigned many yeares after notwithstanding hee was under the curse So those that the Lord sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest there was a curse upon them yet they lived many yeares in the wildernesse Therefore though the execution be not presently and though thou be in prosperity for the present yet it is but Cains prosperity though he had his life continued yet the curse lay upon him notwithstanding therefore I say take heede of refusing and deferring lest he sweare in his wrath that ye shall not enter into his rest it is a dangerous thing to refuse the Lord Iesus when hee is offered the first second third and fourth time and still you will not come in take heede and remember that speech of the Apostle that we named to you Whosoever loveth not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed When the Apostle looked upon the men to whom hee had preached and written you Corinthians to whom the Gospell hath beene plentifully preached and made knowne those among you that have heard me and have beene made acquainted with this doctrine of the freenesse of Gods offering grace to you if you will not take Christ in good earnest if you will not love him let such a man be accursed and brethren S. Paul was stirred up by the Spirit of God to pronounce this curse So I say let these words continue in your mindes that whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha and he that hath eares to heare let him heare what the Spirit saith for happy and blessed are those that love the Lord Iesus but miserable and cursed are those that doe not love him FINIS THE EIGHTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love HAVING spoken of faith and love it remaines that we adde to them good workes for which wee will goe no further than this Text wee cannot have a fitter for saith the Apostle when you come to have to doe with Christ Iesus to be ingrafted into him to make your selves first acceptable to God through him all the workes you can doe are nothing they are no more than the omission of them circumcision is the same with uncircumcision But what is of moment then Faith saith hee But what faith must that be Such a faith as begets love And what love must that be Such a love as sets you on worke so that you have a chaine here consisting of these three linkes faith which when it is right will beget love and love when it is right will set you on worke faith which workes by love So the point we will deliver to you out of these words shall be this That we are to be judged not onely by our faith and love but also by our workes that no man hath faith and love that none are new creatures that none have sincerity but workes will follow this is a point which I doe not meane to handle at large as we have done the other but will endeavour to finish it at this time and it is a very necessary point because men are ready to applaud themselves in their knowledge in their good meaning in their honest desires and in the meane time they faile in their lives and actions therefore as those are the radicall verâ—ues which indeede make up the new creature Faith and Love so you must know that good workes are never disjoyned from them wheresoever there is sinceritie and a new creature good workes will follow The Scripture you know is evident in this A good tree bringeth forth good fruite Matth. 7. that is it cannot be that a mâ—n shall have a new heart it cannot be that a man should be regenerate but that his workes will be also new looke how farre the heart of any man is holy looke how farre his heart is put into a new frame of grace in that measure his workes will be good and his life sanctified In Acts 14.22 speaking of David I have found a man after mâ—ne owne heart who will doe whatsoever I will and in Mat. 23.26 Make the inside cleane that the outside may be cleane also As if he should say if the inside be right if the heart be set right within if that be well moulded the outside will bee cleane they cannot bee disjoyned If a man have a treasure within there will be silver in his speeches and actions but if his heart be nothing worth his words and actions will be but meere drosse It is the scope of that Prov. 10.20 The words of the righteous are as fined silver but the heart of the wicked is nothing worth That is when his heart is nothing worth his speeches and actions are nothing worth too but the good man that hath his treasure in his heart there is silver and golde in his speeches and
faith is working 2 63 Workes without them none iustified Ibid. Doctrine of good workes iustified 2 67 Works why required 2 70 Good workes their different rise in Papists and us 2 72 Workes to iudge aright of them 2 79 Workes how accepted 2 80 Workes of our calling good workes 2 84 Faith must be set on worke 2 138 Motives to set faith on worke 2 139 Faith inableth us to worke 2 141 We shall be iudged by our workes 3 186 A good heart and good workes goe together 3 189 Motives to working 3 203 A beauty in good workes 3 205 World World overcome by faith 2 215 World the love of God and it cannot be together 3 121 World tryalls of love to it 3 122 World how minded by Saints 3 126 Word As great a sinne to neglect the Lords Supper as to neglect the Word 3 59 Wrastling Wrastling with God 1 89 Y. Yoake Yoake of Satan easie to many that weare it 2 31 Z. Zeale is where there is love 3 95 FINIS CHristian Reader the Booke being divided into three parts being upon three severall Texts and each part beginning with Fol. 1. know that alway the first figure in the Table sheweth the part the other the page as will easilie appeare by the beginning of the Table ERRATA Part. 1. Page 31 line 10 for If say reade I say page 55 line 4 for iustification reade testification p 59 l. 12 for the thing r. the next thing p. 75 l. 27 for yeranes r yearnes p. 76 l. 6 for the use r. that use p. 109 l. 25 for hearâ— of in r. heard in p. 113 l. 23 for to serve r to serve him p 113 l 26 for have no hope r they have no hope p 125 l 8 for beleeve this r beleeve for this p 130 l 25 for best bud r least bud p 136 l. 20 for eyther thy soule r either for thy soule Part 2. Page 23 line ult blot out his p. 25 l. 7 blot out for p. 49 l. 9 for worke r. worker p 72 l 28. for 3 use r. 4 use p. 76. in the margine blot out Vse 4. p. 85 l. 22 for was r. was by p â—6 l. 1 for selfe r. selves p. 88 l. 18. for within r. in p. 132 9 for faith r. ioy p. 144 l 8 for so r see p. 158 l 25 for thing r use p 160 l 30 blot out that p 165 l 20 for conclusions r turnings p 197 l 2 3 r God stayes thee for this end p 197 l 9 blot out not p. 198 l 10 for weakneâ— r. weaned p 198 l 31 for induldeâ—s r indulgentâ— p 199 l 14 for except r expect p â—02 l 10 for thy r their p 208 l 19 for certainly r. captivity p 212 l 11 for saith will r saith he will Part 3. Page 74 l 15 for they would r they would not p 99 l 4 blot out any p 99 l 12 for beauty r bent p 140 l 9 for feare r sense p 149 l 12 for nearely r warily A briefe Collection of the principall heads in the ensuing Treatises PART 1. DOCTRINE That righteousnesse by which alone wee are saved is revealed in the Gospell pag. 3 Sixe Questions about this righteousnesse 5 Vse To see the justice of God in condemning men who neglect this righteousnesse 26 Vse 2. Not to deferre the taking of Christ. 31 Doct. 2. Faith is that whereby the righteousnes of God is made ours to salvation 37 Reasons 1. That it might be of grace 43 2. That it might be sure Ibid. 3. That it might be to all the seede 44 4. That no flesh should rejoyce in it selfe 45 Definition of justifying faith 49 The object of faith 52 The subject of it 55 How faith justifieth 59 The acts of faith 62 Vse 1. Not to be discouraged from comming to God 67 Vse 2. To rejoyce in God 76 Vse 3. To labour for faith 81 Vse 4. To apply the promises with boldnesse 86 Foure things in the understanding touching the promises 95 Three meanes to draw the will 104 Seven arguments to perswade us of Christs willingnesse to receive us 110 Doct. 3. Faith admits degrees and wee ought to grow from degree to degree 117 Faith admits degrees in foure respects Ibid. Vse 1. To comfort those that have faith though in a lesse degree 130 Vse 2. An exhortation to grow in faith 134 Sixe motives to grow in faith 135 PART 2. DOCTRINE That faith that saveth us must be effectuall pag. 3 Five causes of ineffectuall faith 6 Three things wherin the efficacy of faith consisteth 20 How effectuall faith is wrought 47 Sixe reasons why God will accept no other faith 58 Vses First To try our faith whether it be sound 60 Secondly To judge our conditions by the efficacy of our faith 64 Thirdly To justifie the doctrine of good workes against the Papists 67 Fourthly To labour to grow in faith and assurance 72 Fifthly To learne to judge aright of our workes 79 Sixthly To try if we have faith 84 Five signes of effectuall faith 92 The concomitants of faith 124 Vse 7. To set faith on worke 138 Three wayes how to use faith 142 Sixe considerations to helpe faith to comfort us 149 Eight instances wherein faith should guide us 158 Concerning using meanes 176 Concerning evills feared 187 Concerning God hearing our prayers 193 Concerning the prosperity of the wicked and affliction of the Saints 201 PART 3. DOCTRINE HEE that loves not is not in Christ. page 5 Five kindes of love 8 How the love of God is wrought in us 12 Reasons First If a man love not there is a curse on him 18 Secondly He breakes the Evangelicall law 19 Thirdly it is adultery 20 Fourthly he slights Gods offer 21 Vses First To examine if we love Christ. 21 Sixe tryalls of our love to Christ. 24 Seven motives to love Christ. 34 Meanes to enable us to love God 49.106.138 Ten properties of love 60 Two impediments of our love to Christ. 106 Five tryalls whether we love God or no. 115 Foure signes of hatred of God 133 Meanes whereby wee may be assured of Gods love to us 146 Five things requisite in our love to God 159 The danger of not loving the Lord. 178 â—oure things in the curse of God 179 Doct. 2. We are to be judged not onely by our faith but by our workes 188 Reasons First Because every Christian hath the Spirit 189 Secondly Inward rectitude is never disjoyned from good workes 191 Thirdly Because every Christian hath a new nature 192 Vses First Not to content our selves with good meanings onely 193 Secondly Christians are better taught than learned men without grace 199 Thirdly An exhortation to doing 205 Three duties suting the season 211 1 Cor. 16.13 1 Thes. 5 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doct. Eph. 1 1â— 6. Questions about this righteousnes 1. Quest. How it saueth Ans. 1. Rom. 5.14 1 Cor. 15.45 Answ.
Obiect Answ. Psal. 31. Ier. 10. 1 Tim. 1.6 2 Obiect Ans. Obiect Ans. Obiect Ans. 2 Cor. 11. Simile Rom. 8. 3 Obiect Concerning Gods hearing our prayers Ans. Why God heares not sometimes Obiect Ans. When we aske amisse 2 Cor. 12. 2 When we are not fitted for mercies 1 Pet. 5.6 Prou. 22.4 3 To make vs pray feruently Iam. 5. 4 When it crosseth Gods prouidence otherwise 4 Obiect About the prosperity of wicked men and the Saints afflictions Psal. 37. Ier. 12.1 Eccles. 8.14 Eccles. 7.14 We must not iudge by Gods outward proceedings Obiect Answ. We haue need of long and strong afflictictions Dan. 11.7 Psal 37. Quest. Answ. Ier. 24. Difference betweene the Saints and others in the same afflictions Prou. 1.27 Afflictions easie to the godly Psal. 21.34 Simile Faith must be improued to increase sanctification Quest. Ans. How Faith sanctifies the heart Doct. Love what Five kindes of love Three sorts of Love Love of God how wrought in the heart The loue of Christ what Reas. 1 Hypocrisie vvhat Reas. 2. Reas. 3 Reas. 4 1 Vse 1 Cor. 16.22 1 Tryall of love by the affections 1 By griese 2 By ioy 2 Tryall by walking with the Lord. To walke with God what 3 Tryall by the diligence of love 1 Thess. 1.4 4 Tryall desire of present enioyment of the thing beloved 5 Tryall of loye it is its owne wages 6 Tryal of love by its constraining us to please God 2 Cor 5. Object Answ. Motives to love Christ. 2 Mot. 3 Mot. 4 Mot. 5 Mot. Iosh. 24. Deut. 32.13 6 Mot. Ier 2. 2 Sam. 12.7 7 Mot. Gal. 2.10 Obiect Answ. Meanes to enable us to love God Prayer Object Answ. Obiect Answ. Prayer workes love 4 wayes Object Answ. 2 Thess. 4. 2 meanes to consider our sinnes Object Answ. Ier. 3.1 3 Meanes to beseech the Lord to shew himselfe to us Exod. 33. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is not to be omitted Reasons The Lords Supper beyond the Passeover in two respects 2 Men ought not to come negligently to it Two sorts receive the Sacramentunâ— worthily Properties of love 1 It is bountifull 1 Cor. 13. Acts 20.24 Revel 2. Object Answ. 2 It is content with nothing but love again Psal. 51. 2 Chron. 7.14 3 It desires the second comming of Christ 2 Tim. 4.8 Heb. 9. ult 2 Pet. 3.13 Object Answ. 1. Revel 14.13 Simile 4 It delighteth to speake of the party beloved Psal. 105. 2 Chron. 15. 5 It will doe much and suffer much for the party beloved 2 Sam. 6.21 Heb. 10. Object Answ. 1 Iohn 5 3. opened 6 Property of love it is like fire in 4 things Cant 8. Mat 24 5. 7 Property of love it commandeth the affections especially anger and feare 1 Sam. 4.3 Ier. 36.24 Act. 17. These sermons were preached in the time of the great pestilence 1625. Quest. Answ. Causes of the plague Numb 25. Numb 25. Quest. Answ. Isay 22. 8 Property of love it doth things freely 9 Property of love hatred of sinne Object Answ. Rev. 2. Answ. Three differences betweene hatred and anger 10 Property it loveth the Saints 1 Iohn 4.20 opened 4 Tryalls of our love to holy men Object Answ. 2 Cor. 6. Two impediments of the love of Christ. 1 Strangenes Quest. Answ. 2 Vncircumcision of heart Deut. 30.6 1 Iohn 2. Quest. Answ. Quest. Answ. When love to the creature is adulterous Note Knowledge of God especiall helpe to make us love him Vse Examination 1. Tryall Object Answ. Ier. 3.4 2. Tryall Cant 1. Psal. 63.3 Zach. 12. Levit 16.29 23.27 3. Tryall Acts 13.22 Quest. Answ. Object Answ. Obiect 2 Answ. 4. Tryall 1 Iohn 2.15 Quest. Answ. Three tryalls of our love to the world Ioh. 12.42 Heb. 11. Iohn 8. Object Answ. Rom. 13. 5 Tryall Quest. Answ. Naturalnesse of love to the Lord is known by two things Object Answ. Rom. 1. Quest. Answ. Foure signes of hatred of God 1 Iohn 4. Mat. 6. The last helpe of the love of God consisting of three branches The knowledg of God A looking upon God as one sutable to us 3 Assurance of the Lords love to us Object Answ. Meanes whereby men may be assured of Gods love to them 1 Such as are without Isay. 9.6 Obiect 1. Answ. Obiect 2. Answ. 2 Such as are within the Covenant Object Answ. 2 Answ. 3 Answ. 4 Mot. 2 Mot. Isa. 48.17 Deut. 5.19 Object Answ. Two Requisites in the love of God 1 It must be with all the heart Object Answ. Hosea 3.3 Simile 2 Requisite in love it must be with all your night Object Answ. 3 Requisite to love him above all Else wee love him not as God Else we should not love him constantly Simile Why wee must love the Lord above all Object Answ. Why we must love God above our selves Not to love pleasures more than God what Quest. Answ. Deut. 30.6 Object Answ. 4 Requisite to be rooted and grounded in love Eph. 3.17 Iam 1.12 Our love to God not alwayes in the same degree How to bee rooted in love 1 To be rooted in faith 2 Pitch your love on his person 5 Requisite it must be diligent 1 Thess. 1.3 Wherein our love should be diligent 1 In preparing for Christs comming 2 In adorning the soule 3 In keeping his commandements God dealeth not hardly with us in requiring love because 1 It is that which every one may give 2 Hee that requires this might have required harder things 3 It is for our owne benefit The danger of not loving the Lord. 1 Cor. 16.22 To be cursed what The curse of God in foure things 1 Separate from grace 2 Separation from the presence of God Gen. 4. 3 A curse on the outward estate Object Answ. A man may be cursed in outward things in the midst of plentie 4 The eternall curse at the day of iudgement Eccles. 1.7 Psal. 78.38 Men may be cursed though the curse be not executed Doct. Wee are to be iudged not only by our faith and love but by our workes Mat. 7. Acts 14.22 Mat. 23.26 Prov. 10.20 Reas. 1 Because every Christian hath the spirit and that is strong 2 Tim. 1.6 Gal. 5.25 2 Tim 2.1 Isay 31.3 Reas. 2. Inward rectitude and good workes alway goe together Mat 13.5 Reas. 3. Because there is a new nature Vse 1. Not to be content onely with good meanings Good purposes whenee they arise 1 Knowledge 2 Approbation of that which is good Though there may bee good workes where the heart is unsound yet wherever the heart is sound there is good workes Simile Isay 1. Object Answ Holy men have failings 1 When they are suddenly transported Simile 2 Holy men have flesh in them as well as spirit Object Answ. The good that evill men doe it cannot bee said that they doe it Rom. 7. A man may do good and not be good Vse 2. Christians better taught than great learned men without grace Wisedome in three things Religion an art of holymen not of learned men Sciences of two sorts Object Answ. The will taken for the deed 1 When the impediment cannot be removed 2 When a man is ignorant of somethings and yet his desires are right No man hath a great measure of grace without paines Vse 3. An exhortation to doing Motives to be workers 1 Thess. 5.6 7 8. The use of grace increaseth it A goodly sight when mens lives abound with good workes A true property of wisedome Simile Pleasure and contentment is in action The end of our life 1 To glorifie God 2 To doe good to men Phil. 4.17 Object Answ. In every calling men have occasion of dong good Good actions what Good workes In suffering In sicknesse In mastering our lusts Quest. Answ. Our workes must be sutable to the season Quest. Answ. Duties suting the present times 1 Contend for the faith Discretion Moderation The faith once delivered Common faith Errour in opinion worse then errours in practise These sermons were preached in the Parliament time in 1625. where diverse of the Parliament were present Opportunities not to be slipped Rom. 15.20 2 Duty Fast and pray 3 Duty Renew our Covenants 2 Chron. 16. The sinnes of Gods children helpe to bring iudgements
THE BREAST-PLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE A Treatise Wherein the ground and exercise of FAITH and LOVE as they are set upon Christ their Object and as they are expressed in Good Workes is explained Delivered In 18. Sermons upon three severall Texts By the late faithfull and worthy Minister of Iesus Christ IOHN PRESTON Dr. in Divinity Chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Lincolnes Inne But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of Faith and Love 1 Thes 5.8 What will it profit my Brethren if a man say he have faith and hath not workes Can faith save him Iames 2.14 LONDON Printed by W. I. for Nicolas Bourne and are to be solde at the South Entrance of the Royall Exchange 1630 ILLVSTRISSIMO NOBILISSIMOQVE VIRO ROBERTO COMITI WARVVICENCI IOHANNIS PRESTONI S. T. D. ET COLLEGII IMMANVELIS Q. MAGISTRI CVIVS TVTELAE DVM IN VIVIS ESSET PRIMOGENITVM SVVM IN DISCIPLINAM ET LITERIS EXPOLIENDVM TRADIDIT POSTHVMORVM TRACTATVVM PARTEM DE NATVRA FIDEI EIVSQVE EFFICACIA DEQVE AMORE ET OPERIBVS BONIS DEVOTISSIMI TAM AVTHORIS DVM VIVERET QVAM IPSORVM QVI SVPERSVNT OBSEQVII TESTIMONIVM M. D. D. D. RICHARDVS SIBS IOHANNES DAVENPORT To the Christian Reader Christian Reader INnumerable are the sleights of Satan to hinder a Christian in his course towards Heaven by exciting the corruption of his own heart to disturbe him when he is about to doe any good or by discouraging him with inward terrours when he would solace himselfe with heavenly comforts or by disheartening him under the feares of sufferings when hee should be resolute in a good cause A type whereof were the Israelites whose servitude was redoubled when they turned themselves to forsake Aegypt Wherefore we have much neede of Christian fortitude according to that direction Watch ye stand fast quit your selves like men especially since Satan like a Serpentine Crocodile pursued is by resistance put to flight But as in warres which the Philistines knew well in putting their hope in Goliah the chiefe strength of the Souldiers lyeth in their Captaine so in spirituall conflicts all a Christians strength is in Christ and from him For before our conversion we were of no strength since our conversion we are not sufficient of our selves to think a good thought And to worke out from the Saints all selfe-confidence God by their falls teacheth them To rejoyce in the Lord Iesus and to have no confidence in the flesh Whatsoever Christ hath for us is made ours by Faith which is the hand of the soule enriching it by receiving Christ who is the treasure hid in the field and with him those unsearchable riches of grace which are revealed and offered in the Gospell Yea it is part of our spirituall armour That which was fabulously spoken of the race of Gyants is truly said of a Christian hee is borne with his armour upon him as soone as hee is regenerate hee is armed It s called a Breast-plate because it preserves the heart a long large shield as the word signifieth which is usefull to defend the whole man from all sorts of assaults Which part of spirituall armor and how it is to be managed is declared in the former part of the ensuing Treatise in ten Sermons Now as all rivers returne into the sea whence they came so the beleeving soule having received all from Christ returneth all to Christ. For thus the beleever reasoneth Was Gods undeserved unexpected love such to me that he spared not his onely begotten Sonne but gave him to die for mee It s but aequall that I should live to him die for him bring in my strength time gifts liberty all that I have all that I am in his service to his glory That affection whence these resolutions arise is called Love which so inclineth the soule that it moveth in a direct line towards that obiect wherein it expecteth contentment The soule is miserably deluded in pursuing the winde and in taking ayme at a flying fowle whilest it seekes happinesse in any creature which appeares in the restlesnesse of those irregular agitations and endlesse motions of the mindes of ambitious voluptuous and covetous persons whose frame of spirit is like the lower part of the elementary region the seate of windes tempests and earthquakes full of unquietnesse whilest the beleevers soule like that part towards heaven which is alwayes peaceable and still enioyeth true rest and ioy And indeed the perfection of our spirits cannot be but in union with the chiefe of spirits which communicateth his goodnesse to the creature according to its capacity This affection of Love as it reflecteth upon Christ being a fruit and effect of his love to us apprehended by faith is the subiect of the second part of the following Treatise in 7. Sermons The iudicious Authour out of a piercing insight into the methods of the Tempter knowing upon what rockes the faith of many suffers shipwracke that neither the weak Christian might lose the comfort of his faith through want of evidences nor the presumptuous rest upon a fancy in stead of faith nor the adversaries be emboldened to cast upon us by reason of this doctrine of Iustification by faith onely their wonted nicknames of Soli-fidians and Nulli-fidians throughout the whole Treatise and more especially in the last Sermon he discourseth of good Workes as they arise from faith and love This is the summe of the faithfull and fruitfull labours of this Reverend learned and godly Minister of the Gospell who whilest he lived was an example of the life of faith and love and of good workes to so many as were acquainted with his aequall and even walking in the wayes of God in the severall turnings and occasions of his life But it will be too much iniury to the godly Reader to be detained longer in the porch Wee now dismisse thee to the reading of this profitable worke beseeching God to increase faith and to perfect love in thy heart that thou maist be fruitfull in good workes Thine in our Lord Iesus Christ RICHARD SIBS IOHN DAVENPORT OF FAITH The first Sermon ROM 1.17 For by it the righteousnesse of God is reuealed from Faith to Faith As it is written The iust shall liue by Faith IN the words I haue read vnto you Paul tels them that he is not ashamed of the Gospell of CHRIST For it was a shame to him partly because the very substance of the Gospell was then persecution and partly because he was plaine in speech hee came not with excellency of words or mans wisedome and therefore you may obserue what adoe he had to defend himselfe in his Epistles to the Corinthians a wise people who partly hated and partly despised his manner of deliuery but saith hee I am not ashamed of it for it is the power of God to saluation it is that which being receiued will bring men to heauen being rejected
when there is more things reuealed to them and I take it this place will carry that the righteousnesse of GOD is reuealed from faith to faith that is the righteousnesse of CHRIST was reuealed in the time of the Law and the Prophets it was reuealed obscurely and there was a little saith among them to beleeue it was enough to saue them but when the time drew neerer there were greater reuelations as we know in the time of the Prophets their faith was great as there were more reuelations so there was more faith So I say it admits degrees in regard of the extent of reuelation as the Apostles when CHRIST was vpon the earth they had a degree of faith but when Christ ascended then there was more reuelations then they grew from faith to faith because they grew from reuelation to reuelation then the Spirit of God was sent into their hearts to reueale all things and to leade them into all truth you know they had abundance of reuelations afterwards So in this regard in regard of the extent faith receiues degrees not because the habit is increased but because the reuelations and objects are more And therefore that is the comfort of poore Christians those that are yet ignorant they may haue a true habit and as true a grace in the heart and though a man bee more conuersant in Scripture and knowes more then they he hath more reuelations and in that sense though he haue a greater faith then the other yet the other hath a like precious faith with him in regard of that grace So wee see how faith receiues degrees in these three respects Now last of all that faith that giues assurance that pacifieth and comforteth the heart which is nothing but a reflect act by which we know and are perswaded that wee haue taken CHRIST and that our sinnes are forgiuen this admits of degrees of proofe And here as the euidences of sanctification are more so is the assurance as the Apostle saith the Spirit witnesseth to our spirit he discouers good things to vs wee had neede of the light of the Spirit to iudge aright of the sincerity of the graces that wee haue we shall goe amisse else we shall not be able except wee haue the Spirit to helpe and assist vs and so wee grow from assurance to assurance Now for the second part that wee must grow in all these First as faith admits of degrees so we must labour to grow in all these degrees First labour to grow to a more full and firme assent by that meanes we shall draw neerer to CHRIST and receiue him in a greater measure Marke this very act of taking CHRIST that immediately iustifies but it is fed with assurance in the vnderstanding it is that which doth increase and strengthen and supply this action of the will in taking CHRIST So that the more strong assent the minde and vnderstanding of a man giues to those truths which concerne iustification deliuered in the Scripture the stronger his will is in taking Christ As in the Act of marriage a Woman takes such a one to bee her husband but yet there are degrees in the will one may take him with greater greedinesse with a more full perswasion that it is best for her with more loue and with more resolution So the stronger the assent is that we giue to the promises of GOD wherein he assures vs of the pardon of our sinnes wherein CHRIST is offered freely vnto vs the more we take CHRIST and so the vnion is greater betweene vs wee are linkt and knit together and married as it were in a greater degree Secondly in regard of difficulty which is the second thing wherein faith admits degrees when we beleeue hard things or easie things propounded with slender arguments Labour to grow in this for this is very profitable for you I will giue you but these two instances You know what Moses lost and what Abraham got Moses lost Canaan he lost the honour of carrying in the people he lost the honour of concluding his worke when hee had taken so much paines and all because he did not beleeue when he strooke the Rocke for want of faith Abraham now that beleeued things that were of a high of a difficult nature you see what hee got by it for this cause saith the LORD I will doe thus and thus because thou hast not spared thine onely Sonne which is repeated Rom. 4. Abraham being strong in faith gaue glory to GOD. And therefore you see Abraham is set aboue all men he is the Father of all the faithfull he is the head the top of those to whom GOD shewed mercie he shewed mercie to all for Abrahams sake Abraham Isaac and Iacob Abraham is first this did Abraham get for euer because he beleeued in God in so great a matter this you shall gaine if you will beleeue it will bring a great reward yea it will not onely bring a reward such as Abraham had but it will bring increase of the same faith God will reueale more to you and giue you more of his Spirit as he did to Nathaniel Beleeuest thou for this saith Christ thou shalt see greater things then these If we beleeue in difficult cases GOD will make vs with facility to beleeue them another time Thirdly for the multitude of reuelations for the extent of faith that way we should labour to be filled full of faith as Barnabas is said to be full of faith And how is that By studying the Word much for therein will GOD reueale this this is it that Paul magnifies so much in 2 Cor. 12. that which he gloried in he doth not name it in his owne person but saith I knew a man in CHRIST had such a reuelation he glories not in this that he had wealth or honour but in the multitude of reuelations that of all other might haue exalted Paul but he was wise he knew what he did when he was so apt to be exalted in that it seemes there was some extraordinary excellency in it Lastly labour to get full assurance the more assurance you haue the more loue Againe you shall doe the more worke when once we are assured that our labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord as 1 Cor. 15. vlt. it will make vs abound in the workes of the Lord. Againe it stablisheth a man in well doing he shall neuer hold out and be constant till he come to haue assurance that he shall not lose his reward I cannot stand on this point I will name the Vses that so I may not leaue the point vnfinished The first is a Vse of much comfort if there be such degrees in faith then let vs not be discouraged though we come not to the highest if we haue but a little yet since there are degrees this is enough to make vs partakers of the righteousnesse of CHRIST and of saluation The end of this is to comfort those which are apt to be
seeth that hee doth much of the second Table and little of the first and the hypocrite againe doth much of the first and little of the second let them consider that faith enableth a man to haue respect to all Gods Commandements it workes a generall change And as this is true for the substance so it is also for degrees for if God accepts onely effectuall faith then so much efficacie and so much working as you finde in any man so much faith there is If there be no workes there is no faith if the workes be few the faith is a languishing faith if the workes be many the faith is great and strong That is the second Vse wee should make to learne to judge aright of our selues and others Thirdly if it be onely an effectuall faith which GOD accepteth then this justifieth our Doctrine against the Papists that say we teach that onely faith justifieth and require no good workes I say we teach that not a naked but an effectuall faith doth it So that all the difference betweene them and vs is this we agree both in this that workes are necessarily required to saluation that no man shall see GOD without them without purenesse of heart and integrity of life We say Except men mortifie the deedes of the body by the Spirit they shall dye and there is no condemnation to them that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit That is there is a necessity put vpon men to walke after the Spirit in this we agree but here is the difference They say that faith and workes both are required to justifie we say that nothing is required but faith and that workes follow faith wee say faith indeed is working and produceth â—uch effects so that whereas they say faith and workes we say faith only but it must be an effectuall faith a working faith If they object that place of Iames wee are not justified by faith but by workes I answer that there is a double justification there is a justification of the person so was Abraham justified by faith as Paul expresseth it Rom. 4. But then there is a second justification a justification of the faith that Abraham had he justified his faith by his works he shewed that hee had not a dead faith a liuelesse faith a faith without workes but that he had a liuely effectuall faith for he added workes to his faith his workes wrought together with his faith So that if the question be Whether Abraham was an hypocrite his workes justified him that hee was none If the question be Whether Abraham was a sinner his faith justifieth him and shewes that he was made righteous through faith So there is a justification of the person and a justification of the faith of the person as when a man is said to justifie such an action or such a cause the meaning is not that he will make that just which was vnjust before but he will make it appeare to be just so Abraham was declared to haue a justifying faith by that power and efficacie it wrought in him in offering vp his sonne Againe it is objected out of that place that by workes faith is made perfect therefore it seemes that faith is nothing alone if workes bee not joyned with it I answer that when it is said that faith is made perfect by workes the meaning is that faith is made good by workes the perfection of faith is declared by workes As one that professeth that he hath an Art and that he is able to doe this and that if he doe the worke wherein his Art is shewed if he make any artificiall worke by that he maketh good his Art Or as when we say these Trees are good because they haue sappe in them they are not dead Trees Now the Tree is made perfect by the fruit so faith by workes is made perfect Not that workes put life into faith the sap must first be in the Tree and then it bringeth forth fruit so there must first be a life in faith and then it bringeth forth workes So that when we say that faith is made perfect by workes the meaning is that workes declare faith to be right as the fruit doth declare the Tree to haue sap Againe if it be objected as it is by them that workes and loue c. are to faith as the soule is to the body for as the body without the soule is dead so faith without workes is dead Hence they gather that faith is as the body and that loue and workes are as the soule therefore faith justifieth not but workes To this I answer They take the comparison amisse For the scope of it is this as a soulelesse body is nothing worth it is dead and no man regardeth it so is a workelesse faith The meaning is not that workes are as the soule and faith as the body but as a man when he lookes vpon a carkasse and seeth no life in it no pulse no motion no sence such a body is nothing worth so when we see a faith without motion that hath no pulses that hath no expression of life in it such a faith is of no worth But you will say if we be not justified by workes to what end are good workes required I answer there is end enough there are motiues enow Is not loue a ground strong enough to bring forth good workes When this objection was made to Paul Rom. 6. If Grace abound why may wee not sinne the more for Grace aboundeth as sinne aboundeth he might easily haue answered Except you doe good workes you cannot be saued but he saith How can we that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein That is when a man is once in CHRIST there will be such a change wrought in him that hee shall finde CHRIST killing sinne in him and hee shall be raised againe to newnesse of life insomuch that he must of necessity doe it there will be loue in his heart that will set him aworke that will constraine him therefore saith he are you not baptized into Christs death That is when a man is in CHRIST he is dead to sinne as CHRIST dyed for him so that though there be no such motiue as for a man to get Heauen by his workes yet vpon the taking of Christ there is a loue planted in the heart there is a change wrought in the heart so that there is an aptnesse in it to doe good workes so that now a man delighteth in the Law of God concerning his inward man he desires nothing more then to be employed in it it is his meate and drinke to doe the will of GOD. Is not this enough to moue vs Againe though good workes be not required for justification yet this may be a motiue GOD rewards vs he chastens and afflicts vs according to our workes 1 Pet. 1.15
speake peace vnto thee he will not giue thee a good looke but yet he giues thee a secret strength that thou shalt waite thou shalt not giue ouer thou shalt stay till hee speake peâ—ce that is till 〈…〉 comfortable assurance till thou haue the full testimony of the Spirit as thou hast a secret testimony at the first working of faith And so for matter of sanctification It may be GOD will suffer some strong lust to wrestle with thee to contend with thee as hee suffered in Paul he will put thee to waite before he will giue thee victory ouer it If thy faith bee good now thou wilt consider that hee hath sworne hee hath made an absolute promise that he will giue the Holy Ghost to those that are in Christ that no sinne shall ouercome them or haue dominion ouer them If once thou come vnder grace if thou haue faith thou wilt neuer giue ouer but wilt be content to waite and to continue still striuing and wrestling with it thou wilt neuer lay downe the wasters as a man that is ouercome as a man that is discouraged as a man that is wearie of the fight And so for matter of deliuerance perhaps GOD will let a crosse lye longer vpon thee if thou haue faith thou wilt not make haste thou wilt be content to waite Habac. 2. The vision is for an appointed time it will not lye Therefore saith he waite it will come it will not stay That is there is a certaine time that GOD hath appointed for thy deliuerance before he will giue thee such a particular mercy consider whether thou be able to wait in such a case for if there be faith marke it a man will be sure to waite and not to giue ouer as in Iam. 1. it is giuen there as a signe that faith is vnsound they had so much faith as to come to Christ but that was a signe that their faith was faulty and vnsound faith that it was not able to waite to the end but gaue ouer If a man were sure now that such a man were in the house that he must speake withall hee will waite till he come out if hee be sure he be there If thou be sure of GOD if thy faith be sound though he doe not answer thee presently in many particulars yet thou wilt be content to waite vpon him Therefore this will shew that many a mans faith is vnsound slight and vneffectuall that they haue so soone done that they are ready to doe much in flashes in some good moodes on a Sacrament day it may be or in the time of sicknesse or when they are affected with some Sermon or vpon such an occasion but if thy faith were right it would hold out it would cleaue to CHRIST it would goe thorow with all tryals thou wouldest receiue no denyall it would continue waiting vpon him This is the fourth signe Last of all you shall know faith by the concomitants of it and they are foure Loue Hope Joy and Humility If there bee Faith if thy Faith be good it will alwaies haue Loue joyned with it as the Apostle Peter saith in 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom though you have not seene yet you loue him And you know the place in Galath 5. Faith which worketh by loue That is Faith which begets Loue and such a Loue as sets a man on worke But it is a thing that needeth no prouing you cannot deny it you know how they are joyned together in the first to the Corinthians chap. 13. Faith Hope and Loue. And it must needes be so that if thy faith be good it will haue Loue joyned with it For if thy faith bee right thou lookest on GOD as vpon a friend as vpon a Father now thou lookest vpon CHRIST as on one that is married to thee thou lookest on him as vpon one that loues thee and hath giuen himselfe for thee Now if thou see this and art perswaded of this indeede if thou thinke and art perswaded indeede that he loues thee loue will beget loue as fire begets fire Therefore if thou wouldst know whether thou hast taken Christ indeede consider whether thou loue him or no. But you will say you loue CHRIST I hope there is no great question of that Salomon saith Euery man will make shew for fashions sake of goodnesse but where can you finde a faithfull man So may I say of Loue Euery man saith hee loues but where shall one finde one that doth loue indeede Therefore consider doest thou loue in good earnest You will say How shall I know it It is not a place now to stand to giue notes of Loue we will only shew now that Loue is a sure companion of Faith and that Faith is not good if Loue be not there But yet I say if thou loue him thou shalt find that in thine owne heart thou needest not goe far for a tryall of that Loue is the most sensible the most quicke and most active affection of all others Consider if thou loue any creature or any thing any man or woman doest thou not feele thy affection stirring in thee doest thou not find thy heart thus longing after them whom thou affectest thou delightest to be in their company in their presence thou desireth to be with them So that if a strangenesse growe between you at any time thy heart is not at ease till all be right againe betweene you So doest thou loue the Lord Iesus Doest thou keepe his Commandements Doth a man professe to loue GOD and cares not to vexe him and anger him Againe Doest thou hate sinne Doest thou thinke to loue GOD and not to hate that which he hateth If a man loue GOD he is holy and pure and there is no man that loues the one contrary but he must needes hate the other There is no man that loues light but he must hate darknesse If thou loue GOD in his person in his purity in his holinesse thou must hate sinne and this hatred is generall thou wilt hate all sinne if thou hate any and hatred will breede the destruction of a thing Againe Doest thou loue GOD art thou willing to doe any thing for his sake Doest thou reckon matters of greatest difficulty easie to doe as Iacob did make it a matter of ease because of loue Againe Doest thou loue the Saints those that are like him those that are of such a disposition as God is of Shall a man say hee loues the purity and the holinesse of GOD which hee hath not seene which is hidden from his eyes when he doth not loue the holinesse and the purity that hee sees in his Saints For there it is taught in a visible manner in the creature where you may see it more proportionable to you It is a hundred times more easie to loue godlinesse in the Saints then in GOD himselfe because hee is remote farre from vs and they are amongst
as they are taken in an euill Net Satan takes them there to destroy them eternally Againe the afflictions of the godly are not so heauy to them as the afflictions of the wicked are GOD afflicts them in the branches not in the roote they drinke of the Cup but not of the dregs but as for the wicked hee smites them so as that hee smites them not the second time that they roare for his wrath Psal. 31.24 The godly though hee fall yet shall he rise againe he shall not be cast off the Lord puts vnder his hand That is though the godly fall into affliction yet he is not broken in the fall GOD puts vnder his hand hee fals soft he fals not so as to breake his necke to be vndone so there is that difference So that though GOD doe the same act to both yet he doth it to the one for loue to the other he doth the same act for destruction Like to a man that loppes Trees there is a certaine season in the yeere when if he loppe his Trees they will be the better for it if they be lopped in due season they are the better loppe them at another time and they will wither So God comes to the wicked man in the vnfittest time to him a time when they looke not for him a time that the wicked men feare least then hee comes iust as a Thiefe doth in the worst and most dangerous time of all for the owner of the house then comes the Thiefe he pickes out that time So GOD comes vpon the wicked and afflicts them when they are in peace and prosperity take heede that he loppe thee not at that time when thou shalt wither to destruction when thou art not prepared So the Scripture saith sudden destruction comes vpwicked men So that suddennesse is when men are not prepared And so when God saith will free the godly from sudden death his meaning is he will prepare him and fit him for death Put all these together That the wicked bring their enterprizes to passe that the godly are crossed and afflicted that GOD hath a speciall end in this that death affliction and sicknesse come suddenly vpon none but wicked men and it will giue satisfaction to any man I should come now to presse the point but the time is past I cannot doe it So much shall serue for the second Vse for the answering of the Objections The third thing to set faith on worke in is to sanctifie you to mortifie your lusts to reuiue and strengthen you in the inward man and to make it quicke in euery good worke This point I intended to handle at this time Faith is exceeding effectuall to doe this I will touch it but in one word I will not hold you long Set faith aworke to sanctifie thy heart You will aske me How shall I doe it Faith doth it diuers wayes I cannot goe thorow them Set faith a worke to beleeue the forgiuenesse of thy sinnes to beleeue the loue of GOD towards thee to beleeue the promises and thou shalt finde that these will sanctifie thy heart this act of faith wil purifie thy-heart But how can that be Because this shall turne thy heart from thy sinnes to GOD for there is no way to mortifie lusts and to quicken thy heart but by causing thee to delight in GOD. No man can haue his heart weaned from sinne diuorsed from sinne which he hath beene wedded to all his life except he find another Husband in whom hee may delight more Now the more thou beleeuest that God is thine the more thou beleeuest that thy sins are forgiuen the more thou canst set faith on worke to doe this the more victory thou shalt get ouer thy sinnes that is the nature of mans disposition that still it desires that object that is amiable and pleasant Now if thou looke on GOD as a Iudge that will turne thee away from him that makes thee continue stil in sin but when thou lookest vpon him as vpon one that loues thee as one that fauoureth thee as one that is thy frend that accepts thee this will winne thine heart this will cause a mans heart to turne from sinne to turne from darknes to light it will make him to leaue the wayes wherein he delighted before it will diuorse a mans heart from the sinne wherein it hath taken pleasure a long time so that it shall neuer get the victory ouer it Therefore the best way in such a case is to set faith aworke to beleeue the forgiuenesse of sinnes remember the promises of GOD those promises you haue heard often that God will forgiue thy sinnes that he will pardon thee take these promises and apply them see GOD ready to forgiue this will turne thy heart from sinne thou shalt finde sinne dye and wither in thee and thy heart to growe and bee quickned in grace you know that to get a louing heart is to beleeue that GOD loues vs to beleeue that our sinnes are forgiuen Now I say there is nothing that weakneth sinne indeede but to loue GOD whatsoeuer sinne is weakned by other meanes then by loue to GOD by turning the heart to him by repentance and mortification that sinne lyeth hid though it seeme no way to increase this increaseth loue when we beleeue the promise of GOD that he is ready to forgiue that is effectuall for this purpose When CHRIST came to Peter and said vnto him Louest thou me then saith he feede my Sheepe So after this manner when thou once beleeuest that GOD loues thee and canst bring thy heart to loue him againe if now CHRIST should come to thee and say Louest thou me who loued thee and gaue my selfe for thee If thou doest loue me disdaine such a thing which I hate doe not such things as will grieue me keepe my Commandements keepe my Sabbaths if thou louest me let not thy conuersation be in wantonnesse in strife and enuying it thou loue me labour to bring some glory to my Name and to doe some good to mankinde if thou loue me be diligent in thy Calling if thou loue mee honour mee doe good to others doe good to thy selfe with it Let a man goe thorow all the particulars of sinne and he would abstaine from it if hee would set faith on worke this way to sanctifie his heart Againe faith doth it by ouercomming the World that when a man is drawne one of these two things drawes him Either some offer of some great benefit or some great euill which he is put in feare of now when hee lookes and seeth that GOD is able to keepe him when men doe their worst and that hee can giue him a heauenly Kingdome when he lookes to the promise he is aboue the World Againe he not onely ouercomes riches but he makes aduantage of them hee not onely loues them as a slaue but he gets the victory ouer them and hee gets seruice from
banishment where hee lived well enough and enjoyed all things hee wanted nothing but had as much as hee could desire yet saith he what doth all this availe me so long as I may not see the Kings face It was but his craftinesse Yet thus much we may observe out of it that this is the property of love that till a man see the face of God that is till he enjoy a neare and close communion with God untill he can have the love of God witnessed to his soule hee cares for nothing in the world besides As you have it in 2 Chron. 7.14 you have that condition put in If my people saith he when they are in distresse shall humble themselves and seeke my face then I will doe thus and thus As if he should say it may be they may seeke libertie when they are in captivitie it may be they may seeke health when they are in sicknesse it may be they may seeke deliverance from enemies under whom they are enthralled but that is not the condition that I put them upon but if they humble themselves and seeke my face then I will heare in heaven c. So I say now if you will trie whether you love the Lord Iesus or no consider whether you seeke his face that is whether you seeke grace or no whether nothing in the world can content you but his favour For it is the property of one that is truly sanctified mercie alone will not content him but hee will have grace as well as mercy Another man that loveth not the Lord it is true it may be hee is pinched with the sense of his sinnes but let him have mercy it is enough hee thinkes but now take a man that hath his heart right towards God except he have grace it contents him not for that is the property and nature of true love that it careth for no wages all that it desires is the love of the party that what it doth may be acknowledged and accepted and there is a great difference in that You know a nurse doth much unto the childe as well as the mother and it may be more but notwithstanding the nurse never doth it but when she is hired but the mother doth it for nothing and she doth it more abundantly because she doth it out of love and it is wages enough to her that she hath done it because shee loves her childe So I say if you love the Lord Iesus it is not wages that you seeke but if you may have the light of his countenance to shine on you if you may have his favour if you may have opportunitie to doe him service in your place it is enough for you you care not for the present wages nor for future Therefore herein you may know the nature of your love the rightnesse and ingenuity of it if it be so that all that you doe is out of love to the Lord and if you can content your selves with love againe from God it is a signe that you love the Lord Iesus Againe to proceed if you love the Lord Iesus you will also love his appearance as you have it in 2 Tim. 4.8 A crowne of righteousnesse is laid up for me and as many as love the appearance of Iesus Christ and in Heb. 9. ult Hee was offered for the sinnes of many and shall appeare the second time to such as looke for him c. For whom was he offered and to whom shall he appeare To as many as looke for his comming againe So in 2 Pet. 3.13 What manner of men saith the Apostle ought we to be in all godlinesse holy conversation looking for and hasting to the appearance of Christ c. So that it is certaine every man that loveth the Lord Iesus hee loves his appearance hee hasteneth to the comming of the Lord he lookes for his comming againe and it must needes be so in reason For if you love any you know you must needes love their presence will you professe that you are louing to any that when you heare of their comming towards you there is no newes more unacceptable to you If a woman had a husband in the East Indies and report of his comming home should be the worst newes that shee could heare shall wee thinke that such a woman loues her husband So if you did loue the Lord Iesus you would be glad to haue his appearance And Beloved seeing the Apostle hath chosen out this note why should not we presse it in our examination of our selues whereby wee may know whether wee loue the Lord Iesus or no whether wee desire to be with the Lord whether we can say as the Apostle Paul Wee desire to be at home and to be with the Lord If we examine the loue of men by this rule wee shall finde that there is exceeding little loue to the Lord Iesus men are so exceeding backward in desiring to be at home and to be with him and we may know that by our backwardnesse to be in the Lords presence upon earth Shall wee thinke that men are desirous to be in his presence in heauen and yet are so unwilling to draw neare to him upon earth But you will object Many of those that loue the Lord that are men truly sanctified yet are afraid of death and the newes of death is terrible to them and therefore surely this is a rare signe euen in those that haue faith and loue to desire the appearance of Iesus Christ I answer it is true there may be a backwardnesse even in the Saints but you must know upon what ground it is A spouse that is to marrie a husband no question but shee would be glad to be handsome and to be prepared for his comming and though shee may desire his companie exceedingly yet because things are not so readie as she would have them or for feare that he may finde that which may divert and turne away his eyes from delighting in her perhaps shee desires not his comming at that time There is a certaine negligence and unpreparednesse in mens hearts which breedes an unwillingnesse in them sometimes and makes them afraid of seeing the Lord and yet there may be a true and inward love after him Besides you know there is flesh as well as spirit and the spirituall part desires as Paul did to be at home and to be with the Lord and to enjoy his presence but that flesh that is in us is alwayes backward to it Therefore in Revel 14.13 Blessed are those that die in the Lord so saith the Spirit but so saith not the flesh the voice of the flesh is contrary to it but it is the voice of the spirit and the regenerate part that is in us So that this I may boldly say to you that every man that hath this faith and love wrought in him by the Spirit of God hee hath that in him which doth earnestly desire communion with
shall be discerned doe not say thou lovest mee and yet art negligent in doing for mee Feede my Lambes We shall not need to presse this much in this Congregation because it belongs to the Ministery Although you haue somewhat to doe in it for the Magistracie also whereby they may expresse their love to the Lord Iesus to helpe the feeding of Christ Lambes It is true wee are as the vines that bring forth the grapes but you are as the elmes that holde up those vines the Magistrates feede the people as well as the Ministers therefore that phrase is applied to David hee was a Shepheard Therefore in your severall occasions when you meete with that which may tend to the feeding of the people of God when you shall labour so farre as may lie within your compasse that the Gospell may have a free passage that there may be more faithfull and laborious Ministers set up in the severall places of the kingdome the more you doe this the more you feede Christs lambes And if you will shew that love you have to the Lord shew it by feeding his people that is by doing that which lyes in your power tending to that end by doing of it zealously with all your might And as that was the worke that Christ put Peter upon for the tryall of his love so I may say to every one of you If you will shew that you love the Lord Iesus doe the worke that belongs to your particular place for every calling hath a particular worke in it if you love the Lord be diligent in that way in that calling which Christ hath given you to doe him service in and herein you shall shew your love as it was Christs owne speech I have glorified thy Name that is in that particular worke in that charge which thou gavest me to performe so you must shew your love to God in doing the actions of your particular callings diligently You know when that womans heart abounded in love to Christ how it found out a way wherein it would shew it selfe presently in breaking the boxe of oyntment c. As it is said of faith It is dead without workes so love is dead without workes the Lord regards it not it is a dead carkasse without motion Wee know it is the nature of love to be diligent if you doe love Christ it will make you diligent And as you will be ready to doe much so you will be ready to suffer much also these two I put together because suffering is a kinde of doing onely it is a doing of things when there is difficultie and hardnesse Now if you love the Lord Iesus see what you will suffer for his sake those that we love wee are exceeding readie to suffer for A husband that loves his spouse is exceeding readie to suffer any thing to enjoy her love he is willing to suffer any displeasure of parents of friends to suffer the losse of his estate he cares not for discredit in the world hee is ready to breake through thicke and thinne and to doe any thing so he may obtaine her love at the last So if you love the Lord Iesus you will suffer any thing for his sake It was an excellent testimony of Davids love in 2 Sam. 6.21 when David there dancing before the Arke was scoffed at by Michal his wife see what an answere hee gives her It is saith he before the Lord as if hee should say I am willing to beare this at thy hands for it is to the Lord who hath chosen me rather than thy father and all his house As if he should say seeing it is the Lord for whose sake I endure this rebuke at thy hands I care not for it I am willing to doe it yea I will doe it more and be more vile in mine owne eyes and expose my selfe yet to more scorne and derision since it is to the Lord who hath chosen mee rather than thy fathers house so I say when any thing comes to be suffered for any good action for any good cause as indeede commonly such actions have sufferings joyned with them if you love the Lord you will be ready to goe through it and that with cheerfulnesse because it is to the Lord who hath chosen you and passed by so many thousands And therefore it was the commendation of those in Heb. 10. it was an argument of their sincerity that they suffered the spoylâ—ng of their goods with joy Whence came this but from their love to the Lord they were so farre from being backward to suffer as that they were glad to have the opportunitie to suffer somewhat for his sake But you will say I am readie to doe much for the Lord and I hope I am not backward to suffer for him It is well if it be so but let mee adde this to all that I have said In what manner doest thou doe that thou doest You know the caution that the Apostle puts in in 1 Iohn 5.3 Herein is love manifested that we keepe his commandements and his commandements are not grievous Indeed herein is the reality of love seene that we keepe the commandements of God It is true a man may doe much for Christ and yet not love him an hypocrite may goe farre in performances and yet though he doth much hee may not love much therefore you must examine your selves by that in what manner you doe that which you doe Therefore it is added if wee keepe his commandements and they be not grievous as if he should say the manner of your doing is all in all you must both doe much and suffer much but they must both be done willingly You know the wife and the servant they both serve the husband and doe much for him both are alike diligent yet notwithstandiâ—g there is this difference the wife doth it out of love shee doth it in another manner proceeding from another affection aiming at another end than the servant doth So two men may be diligent in keeping the same commandement of the Lord the one doth it as one that loves the Lord earnestly being desirous to please him as one that delights in the Lord nothing doth more content him that when he is in an opportunity wherein he may expresse his love to the Lord all his commandements are not grievous to him it is not respect to the reward it is not an eye to the punishment that mooves him A man indeed may doe much for the Lord when it is the respects that he hath to hell and to judgement to heaven and the reward that moves him Not but that these may be motives but yet you must remember this that if these be the principall and if these onely moove you you doe it not out of love you take but an aime from your selves When a man hath a businesse of his owne to doe you know how carefull he is in it and with what diligence hee doth it how often
looke upon the Lord as upon a judge whether you doe not all that you doe to him as one that lookes upon a judge If you feare the Lord in this manner it is certaine you hate him for those whom you thus feare you hate and that you shall finde in 1 Ioh. 4. If you feare saith hee you love not for perfect love casts out feare when you look upon God as upon a strict judge and that is it that puts you on to doe all that you doe that is it that makes you keepe a good conscience in secret for this you may doe and yet looke upon God as a judge to feare with this kinde of feare is a signe you hate the Lord for whom you feare you hate Besides this Doe you not looke upon God and upon his wayes as contrary to your hearts that your hearts and the wayes of God are in an opposition your hearts and sanctifying the Sabboth will not agree the Lord would have your speeches to be good and holy he would have you not onely abstaine from evill but to hate it to have your hearts rise up against it Are not these commandements contrary to you Consider but that holinesse that is expressed in the booke of God and that is expressed also in the lives of the Saints who carry his Image stamped on them and is there not a kinde of contrariety betweene your wayes and theirs betweene your hearts and them If there be it is a certaine signe of hatred for wheresoever there is contrariety there is hatred Examine your selves by this and see whether you doe not hate the Lord. And yet to come to one more if you love pleasures more than God and wealth more than God you hate God For so you have it Mat. 6. No man can serve two Masters but either hee must hate the one and love the other c. That is when you love other things though you thinke you doe not hate the Lord yet I say in that you love pleasures and love the world and the things of the world in that you love your lusts and the objects of them in doing this you hate the Lord. Now if this be your case if upon these expostulations that I have propounded if upon these rules of examining your selves you finde that you doe not love the Lord if this be your condition as it is your wisedome to deale strictly with your selves for hence it is brethren that the soules of men perish because they will not see and search into their estates they will not come to this examination of themselves it is a painfull thing to them men are backward to examine themselves in private what is the reason of that phrase in the Psalme Examine your selves upon your beds but because examination should be when a man is most retired I say if you finde it to be so as it is the case of many then it should open a window to you to see what you have deserved at the Lords hands how just it were that the Lord should cast you off For when you are enemies to the Lord can you thinke much at it My brethren what a condition is that man in that hath the great God of heaven and earth to be his enemie And besides this have you not reason to justifie God in his just judgements upon others when you shall see God sharply plaguing them It may seeme to you that it is a hard thing that men should be so punished but when wee consider that they are haters of God that they are enemies to him you may justifie God in that hee doth But to conclude you ought to humble your selves if upon these tryalls you finde your selves to be lovers of the world and not lovers of God And you that are young and put off repentance it should move you to come in betimes For if this be required of you to love the Lord and you shall not be exempted from death when it comes though you be never so able and never so strong and lustly what condition doe you thinke you will be in if you die enemies to God and haters of him as you needes must be if you love him not And if you thinke you have time enough hereafter to settle your affections Consider is it in your owne power though you have warning before death to have this affection of love You may doe many good duties you may be sorry and repent for your sinnes but though you doe this and a thousand times more yet if you have not this love-wrought in you by God if it come not from heaven if it be not the fruite of his owne Spirit all your repentance and all your forsaking of sinne all your doing of duties the change of your courses is nothing the Lord regards it not unlesse you have this naturalnesse of love I have stood therefore the longer upon it and upon this part concerning examination because it is a matter of great moment Wee should have come to the next part concerning exhortation which wee would not disjoyne because it is very usefull and profitable but we cannot doe it now but reserve it for the afternoone FINIS THE SIXTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love AND before we leave this poynt one thing I must add For what reason doe we put you vpon this disposition vpon this examination whether the love of God be in your hearts or no The reason is not that you should be discouraged that you should be put off from comming to God that you should be greived with the sight of the want of your love but the end of it is to stirre you up to gett it if you want it You know we have formerly delivered some meanes of getting it onely there is one which we will commend unto you which we gave a little touch on but could not handle it and it consists of these Three branches if you would love the Lord First you must know him for otherwise you cannot love him As it is in naturall loue that is bred between man and man you say love ariseth from sight they must see before they can love so you must know the Lord there must be a sight of God by faith before you can love him And every man that sees him and knowes him as he is will love him he cannot chuse for that is the Lords worke to all the Saints Ierem. 31 You shall he taught of me and you shall know mee from the greatest to the least It may be in some manner they knew God before but although a man have never so exact knowledge of him yet till he be a regenerate man he never knowes him indeede it is an other kind of knowledge that hee hath when a man is regenerate whē God teaches him to know him he lookes on God with an other eye every thing is presented to him
after an other manner he sees now an other beautie in God than ever he saw before hee sees an other excellencie in him for that knowledge he had of him before bredd not love But when a man is once within the Covenant the Lord will teach him such a knowledge of himselfe as withall will worke the love of him Such a knowledge you must have of the Lord and you may help your selves to love him by reasoning if ever you saw any excellencie in any man or in any creature it did help you to love that creature Thinke with your selves there is more in God that made that creature He that made the eye shall hee not see So he that wrought that excellency shall not he have it in himselfe in a greater measure Besides you may consider how the Lord hath described himselfe that hee is most wise most mercifull and full of kindness and gentlenes and abundant in truth as you know that description in Exod. 34. Go through all the vertues and excellencyes that are amiable if you looke in the Scripture you shall find them to be in the Lord. This serious consideration will help you to increase your knowledge of the Lord and by consequent your love of him So that if you would come to loue a man what is it that causeth you to love him but because by his speech and by his carriage and behaviour you come to have such an apprehension of his disposition he hath a minde thus framed thus qualified thus beautified When you conceiue such an Idea of him you love him So when you apprehend the Lord aright when you observe him as he is described in his word when you observe his doings when you consider his workes and learne from all these together a right apprehension of him I say when you have such an Idea of him such an opinion of him then the will followes the understanding and the affections then followes then you come to love him and to delight in him Therefore learne to know the Lord by his former carriage towardes your selves how kinde he hath beene how exceeding patient how exceeding readie to forgiue how much kindnesse he hath shewed how hath he in mercy remembred you though you have forgotten him how you haue recompenced him evill for good yet hee hath not broaken off the course of his mercie towards you Consider his dealing with you and learne by this to know the Lord and this will be a meanes to encrease in you the love of the Lord. This is not all there is another thing which is the second branch that I tolde you of that is to looke upon God as one sutable to you and to your disposition For if you should finde never so much excellencie in him if he be not agreeable to you you love him not A woman may see a man that she thinkes is very excellent in many respects yet he is not a fit husband for her It is the sutablenesse and agreeablenesse betweene God and our owne condition that causeth us to love him Therefore when you put these two together consider the Lords mercie and see that and looke on your selves as sinfull men needing that mercie when you see the Lord exceeding powerfull and looke on your selves as very weake needing that power when you looke on him as the Lord of life and see your selves subject to death and needing that life when you see your owne folly and his wisedome go through all in him and then againe looke upon the contrary weaknesse in your selves this is that which will make you apprehend God as one that is sutable as one that is agreeable to you and till you come to this you shall never love him and long after him till the heart namely is thus framed till a man is humbled till he comes to the sight of himselfe for as you must know God so you must know your selves before you can love him I say when a man comes to that hee begins to looke on God as upon one agreeable to him As take a man who is touched with the feare of his sinnes whose heart is broken who hath an apprehension of Gods wrath and of his owne unworthinesse such a man now will be satisfied with nothing in the world but the assurance of Gods love and his favour As you see in naturall things let a man be very weary the daintiest meate in the world whatsoever you give him will not heale him but he must have that which is fit for that particular defect nothing will helpe him but rest Againe let a man be hungry and faint for want of meate all the musicke the best ayre or whatsoever you can give him will doe him no good it must be meate that must helpe him If a man have a disease it is not sleepe it is not meate and drinke it must be a medicine that is fit for his disease So it is with the heart of man when his heart is so broken so humbled and touched with the sense of his sinnes that hee longs after nothing but remission nothing but the assurance of Gods favour the assurance of his love and kindnesse nothing will satisfie him but that it is so in naturall defects and so it is in the soule when the heart of a man is so fashioned that it lookes upon God as one agreeable to him and there is nothing else sutable but onely the Lord and his favour and his love that is required to breede this love in you towards him What is the reason else that it is said Hosea 5. ult When they are afflicted they will seeke mee diligently But because afflictions teach a man to know himselfe it teacheth him to know his owne weaknesse to see his owne sinne his owne impotency his owne unworthinesse and when he hath done this then he lookes upon God as one who onely is fit for him as one who is onely able to helpe him Affliction doth but discover what was there before For man is a weake and impotent creature made for the Lord he is nothing without the Lord it is the conjunction with God that makes him up onely he knowes not this he understands not this Therefore when God opens a mans eyes either by the immediate worke of his Spirit to teach him to know himselfe or by affliction then he comes to seeke after the Lord when they are afflicted they will seeke me diligently If thou shouldest have such an offer as was made to those Acts 2. Peter tells them there they should have remission of sinnes they should receive the gift of the holy Ghost if this had beene offered to them before they knew themselves before they had beene humbled and pricked at the heart as it is said they were would they have regarded such an offer as this No they would not although they had understood that offer never so well So I say though you know his name and his excellent attributes never so perfectly yet till
actions that is they are likewise precious Therefore let no man say he hath faith and love and as good a heart as the best though his actions be not so good though he be not so strict in his carriage for it cannot be my brethren For first of all if a mans heart be good hee hath the spirit of God dwelling there now saith the Apostle 2 Tim 1.6 The spirit is not a spirit of feare or a spirit of weaknesse a spirit that onely makes attempts and is not able to bring things to passe but it is a spirit of power a spirit of a sound minde That is doe not thou pretend thou meanest well and desirest well and thinke it is sufficient but stirre up the gift that is in thee set thy selfe on worke doe the actions that belong to thee in thy place and doe not say I am not able to doe it for wee have not received a spirit that is weake but a spirit of power the same I may say to every Christian If ye be in Christ yee have the spirit which is a spirit of power So you have it likewise Gal. 5.25 If you live in the spirit walke in the spirit that is if you have so much of the spirit as to make you living men shew it by walking in the spirit by following the spirit by doing that which the spirit guides you to therefore it is impossible that a man should have a right minde but that his workes also will be good because grace is strong in 2 Tim. 2.1 And thou my sonne be strong in the grace received c. As if hee should say grace is a strong thing it strengthens every man that hath received it if thou professe thou hast received the grace of Christ to regenerate thee to change thee and to make thee a new creature let that appeare by shewing thy selfe strong in thy actions able and ready to doe every thing that belongs to thee in thy place Indeede flesh is weake so much flesh so much weaknesse for that is weake and fading and withering and mutable it is grasse and all the purposes of it and the desires of it are no better but the spirit is strong and grace is strong quite contrary to the flesh as the Prophet speakes Isa. 31.3 Yee are men and not Gods flesh and not spirit when he would shew their weaknesse as if weaknesse were a concomitant of the flesh and strength a concomitant of the spirit Therefore if you have the spirit of Christ in you there will be strength to goe through good workes not onely to intend them and purpose them and resolve on them but you will put those resolutions and purposes in execution Secondly it must needes be so because there is a chaine betweene good workes and the inward rectitude of the heart a chaine that cannot be disjoyned for ye shall finde that these three things alwayes goe together First as that indeede is the beginning of every mans renewing there must be a knowledge a man must be enlightened hee must be renewed in the spirit of his minde as the Apostle saith Now if the knowledge bee right if it bee a convicting knowledge a sanctifying knowledge a knowledge to purpose it will draw on affections it cannot chuse they are never separated you are never truly enlightened by Gods spirit but affections follow necessarily and then if the affections be right if knowledge draw on holy affections love and feare and desires c. affections are the immediate principles of actions there is no man that hath right affections but good workes will follow so that these three are never disjoyned sanctified knowledge draweth on holy affections and holy affections draw on good actions as yee have it in Matth. 13.5 Their hearts are waxed fat and their eares are dull of hearing and why you shall see the chaine there lest seeing with their eyes they should understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heale them Marke it if they should see with their eyes the Lord hath given them up to judge amisse of things that seeing they doe not see that is they see not to purpose they are not convinced they doe not judge for if they did see with their eyes that is if they did see indeede they would have understood with their hearts their affections would follow in their hearts and if they were set aright then they would be converted that is their lives would be turned to God and if these three were done he must needes heale them but saith God I am resolved not to heale them therefore they shall see as if they did not see for these will draw on one the other So I say if the heart were right if there were faith and love good workes would follow therefore let no man say hee hath grace hee hath love and faith except his life also be holy and good Lastly wheresoever there is faith and love there is a change of nature for you know that wheresoever they come faith that is effectuall and love that followeth from faith it makes a man a new creature they are the very things wherein a new ereature consists Now when a mans nature is changed it must needes be active for that which is naturall to a man he doth without unevennesse there is no inequality in his doing it he doth it constantly where there are naturall principles of actions the actions flow like water from a spring indeede where the nature of a man is not changed that is where there is onely good purposes and good desires and no alteration of nature there actions doe not come as water from a spring but as water from a pompe that is forced and extorted but where there is a change of nature there is no difficultie a man doth it with facility and with desire it is his meate and drinke to doe the will of God Therefore I say good workes will follow there will be the same degree of holinesse of rectitude in your lives in your actions as there is of grace as there is of faith and love in your hearts And this is enough to make the point plaine to you the maine businesse will be to make use of it and to apply it to your selves And first let us make this use of it not to content our selves with good meanings onely as it is the fashion of men to say my heart is as good as yours and my meaning is as good as yours though I be subject to infirmities though I cannot make such a shew though I cannot doe so much as others doe this is the common objection and though men say it not constantly yet they thinke it otherwise they would not content themselves in such a condition as they doe But I say deceive not your selves in this for my brethren you must know that you may have good purposes and good meanings we will not deny you that you may have these
indeede many come short of that but that you should shew it in your fleece and milke shew it in your lives that all the world may see it there It is not enough for him that desires to write to see the coppy and to know it and the fashion of the letters but then hee hath learned it when he can write after it so you must know sciences are of two sorts indeede some there are the end of which is onely contemplation and knowledge but some there are the end wherof is action and they are no further good than we practise them What is musicke but the practise of it what is physicke the knowledge of all will not heale a man but the taking of it so it is with Divinity the knowledge that we teach is nothing worth if you know as much as could be knowne it were all nothing worth without practise practise is all in all so much as ye practise so much you know It is a great matter to have your judgement true in this case for when men shall applaud themselves meerely in this that they know and have right purposes and honest desires and shall esteeme their estates by this it causeth men to content themselves with a loose and a negligent life but wee must know that God judgeth us by our actions and that is our best rule to judge by too therefore we should learne thus to judge our selves If you object but it is a rule that wee have heard often that the will is often taken for the deed and if the will be present with us though the action doe not follow yet wee are accepted according the will To this I answer in briefe first it holdeth only then where there is some impediment which you cannot remove as for example a man hath a desire to doe good to such poore people hee hath a compassionate heart hee is willing to be bountifull but he wants meanes to doe it in this case the Lord accepts the will for the deed for upon that occasion is this delivered in this place by S. Paul so it is in every thing else when you have a desire and there commeth some impediment that it is not in your power to remove then the will is accepted for the deed As when a man hath a desire to move his hands his legges or armes but because of a palsie that hangs upon him he is not able to stirre them here the will is for the deed he is not able to doe it though the minde be right and the desire good so when you come to such duties that are not in your power to doe when there are some impediments that you are not able to remove here the will is accepted for the deed Sometimes a man is ignorant of some particulars and hee hath a desire to obey God in all things here the will is accepted for the deede though he be not come to that degree of perfection as others are but as men apply it commonly it is amisse for when a man thinkes I have a good purpose to doe this but I cannot pray I cannot be so strict in looking to my actions and speeches here the complaint is not right for if yee stirre up your selves and doe the utmost you can doe the deede will follow the will there is no such impediment here but that you may remove Therefore our answer is that the reason why you cannot doe is not because of such impediments that you cannot remove but because your will is not yet right which the Schoolemen call an imperfect will it is but such a will as the Wiseman speakes of concerning the sluggard hee willeth and lusteth and hath not and what 's the reason If it were a full a compleate and perfect will it would draw action with it hee would not be a sluggard any longer but hee would draw forth his hands to doe somewhat to bring his desires to passe but indeede he hath but light wishings and no more And so it is with men in christianity they are as Salomons sluggard they wish they had such sinnes mortified that they had such graces they wish they could attaine such a measure of faith love but they take no paines no man hath height of grace without paines doe you thinke to get the greatest excellency in the world without paines It is true the Lord must doe it but yet he doth it by your selves you are agents in the businesse Therefore doe not say I wish well and desire well for if you would doe your uttermost that you ought to doe if your will were full and compleate and desires right and strong you would doe more you would excell more in grace you would amend your lives more you would have your lusts more mortified therefore let not this deceive you I should presse this further but wee will come to the last thing because I would conclude this point with this time and that is To exhort you to be doers that your faith may be effectuall faith and that your love may be diligent love This is the great businesse which we have to doe and the thing which for the most part wee all faile in that there is no doing no acting no working of our faith be exhorted now therefore to adde to your faith diligent love especially you that professe your selves to be growne Christians looke you to it and know that as in nature every thing when it is ripe brings seede and fruite if not it is but a dead thing a dead plant that keepeth the roome idle if there be that ripenesse and maturity in you shew it by bringing forth seede and fruite shew it by doing something For my brethren we are called into the Lords vineyard for the same purpose it is not for you now to stand idle the time of your standing still is past it is for you now to worke for ye are now come into the day That exhortation is excellent 1 Thess. 5.6 7 8. Let not us sleepe saith he as doe others we are come out of the night those that are still in the night it better beseemes them to sleepe and to sit still and doe nothing but let not us sleepe as doe others for we are of the day let it not be so with you as with others to be much in speech onely but labour to be much in actions As it was said of Gideon Vp and be doing and the Lord shall be with thee so I say to every one up and be doing and the Lord shall be with you that is though perhaps you doe not finde that vigour that fervencie and liveliness of spirit yet be doing notwithstanding it is your wisest way for that doing will increase the grace within you exercise increaseth health as well as health enables to exercise so the use of grace will increase grace and other abilities motion causeth heate as well as all motion commeth from
what Ibid. Alone Faith worketh best alone 1.68 How God is to us alone 3.158 Amisse God heares not when wee aske amisse 2.194 Anger Tryall of our love by anger 3.87 Anger what 3.88 Many men are but angry with sinne 3.97 See hate Application see Offer Approbation There may be approbation of that which is good in an evillman 3.192 Argument see Spirit Ashamed Love is not ashamed 3.76 Assaults We meet with new assaults daily 1.135 True peace hath assaults 2.110 Assent Assent of three sorts 1.47 Assurance Wee should labour to grow in assurance 1.129.2.72 Two wayes to increase assurance 2.76 Assurance of Gods love begetteth love 3.110 143. Meaneâ— to get assurance 3.144 B. Baptise Baptising what meant by it in Marke 16. 1.54 Baptisme what 2.97 Beleeve It is not in mans power to beleeve 2.48 If â—e beleeve God is ready to helpe and why 2.173 See Spirit Benefit Benefit in taking Christ. 1.33 Benefits by Christ may be looked to 1.54 91 97.2.14 Benefits by Christ draw the will 1.106 Benefits by Christ must not onely be looked to 2.119 Benefit to crosse our selves in it a signe of love 3.64 Benefit to us that we love Christ. 3.175 Best Best thing in man is love 3.47 Blessing Blessing of God 2.180 Blood Blood of Christ not shed in vaine 1.111 Blood of Christ to be guilty of it 2.103 Boast Salvation is of gift that none might boast 1.8 45 Boldnesse We should apply the promises with boldnesse 1.86 Gods free promise should give us boldnes 1.88 Boldnesse in prayer from the spirit of adoption 2.104 Boldnesse the parent of love 3.105 Bondage The spirit of bondage requiâ—ite 2.49 Bounty Love is bountifull 2.127 3 60 Tryalls of the bounty of love 3.64 Busie Being over busie in worldly things a sign of too much love to them 3.124 Build Built When a man is said to be well built 2.34 How Ministers should build 2.74 C. Calling see Diligent Care Care required and forbidden what 2.115 Carnall Ioy of an hypocrite carnall 2.134 Certainty Certainty of obtaining Christ if we seeke him 1.33 109 See Promise Change Change the necessity of it 1.58 Chearfull Chearfull service an argument of loue 3.66 Chearfullnesse why God requires it Ibid. Christ. Christ the reiecting of him 1 28 Christ what we have with him 1 31 Christ 3 considerations to move men to take him 1 33 Christ his willingnesse to receive sinners 1 110 Christ his riches and excellency 2 50 Christ the end of his comming into the world 2 57 Christ good workes evidence our right in him 2 70 Christ hee that loves not is not in him 3 5 Christ two things to make us love him 3 15 Cleare The righteousnesse of Christ manifested more cleerely in the Gospell than formerly 1 4 Coldnesse Coldnesse in Christian profession a cause of the plague 3 93 Command Love an affection that commands the rest 3.8 87 Hee that neglects Gods commands loues him not 3 115 Keeping Gods commands a signe our loue is diligent 3 173 Comfort We should set faith on worke to comfort us 2 142 Considerations to helpe faith in comforting 2 149 Company To company with the Saints a signe of loue to Christ. 3 102 Complacency Loue of complacency 3 9 Loue of complacency onely to Saints 3 102 Compell To compell men to come in what 1 114 2 56 Communion Prayer bringeth to communion with God 3 50 Competition Tryall of loue in case of competition 3 123 Comming The end of Christs comming 2 59 Desire of Christs second comming a tryall of loue 3.71 Comming of Christ how to know wee desire it 3 72 Preparation for Christs comming 3 172 Complaint Complaint double 1 74 Compleate Compleate will in taking Christ. 1 22 Concupiscence Loue of concupiscence 3 9 Condition Conditionall Conditionall covenant 1 38 Condition required by God easie 3 44 Confesse Confessing of Christ. 2 158 Constant. Constant cleaving to Christ. 2 118 Constant good carriage a signe of love 3 130 Constant love to God must be love above all other things 3 165 Content The nature of holy men apt to take content in outward things 2 161 Love content with nothing but love 3 66 Constraine How love constraiâ—eth 3 29 Cost God observes what cost wee are at in his service 3 63 Covenant Covenant 〈◊〉 1 38 Covenant not broken by infirmities 1 131 2 152. 3 147 Covenant ought to be renewed 3 215 Crosse. Crosse may meete a man in Gods worke 2 201 Cruell Hatred more cruell than anger 3 98 Curse Curse upon him that loves not Christ. 3 18 To be cursed what 3 176 Curse of God in foure things 3 177 D. Damnation Damnation to be preached to men out of Christ. 3 33 Danger Danger in not taking Christ. 1 33 Danger how faith guides in it 2 161 Danger in not loving the Lord. 3 176 Deare We must part with that which is deare for Christ. 1.115 117 Deceive Men apt to deceive themselves 2 4 See Taking Deferre We must not deferre to take Christ. 1 31 Degree Faith admits degrees in â—oure respects 1 117 We must grow in the degrees of â—aith â— 127 Our love to God not alwayes in the same degree 3 170 Delight Delight in worldly things a signe of love to them 3 122 Deliverance Delivered Deliverance Gods children put to waite for it 2 123 Deliverance instances of Gods deferring it 2 172 Faith once delivered 3 210 Deliberate Deliberate will in taking Christ. 1 22 Denie Deniall By denying our selves wee enioy our selves 1 116 Faith will take no deniall 2 120 Dependance Love of dependance 3 9 Desire Desire after Christ. 1 30 Desire the strength of it how tryed Ibid. Desire tryall of love by it 3 27 Desire when it is right God takes the will for the deed 3 202 Death Dead Die Death of Christ the end of it 1 36 As great a worke to moue the heart to Christ as to raise the dead 2 55 Faith ineffectuall is dead 2 58 Faith without workes dead 2 64 69 Backwardnesse in the Saints to die 3 72 Difficulties Faith admits degrees in regard of difficulties 1 123 Difficulties wee must labour to beleeue notwithstanding them 1 128 Difficulties how faith guides in them 2 158 Difficulties God can helpe in them 2 174 Diligence Diligence a tryall of love 3 26 Diligence in our calling an argument of love 3 77 Diligence of love 3 172 Diligence of love wherein it is Ibid. Direct Direct and reflect act of faith the difference betweene them 1 63 Discourage Those that have weake faith should not be discouraged 1.130 The Divell labours to discourage 1 133 See God Disease A mans carnall selfe is his disease 1 116 Discretion Discretion 3 209 Divell What faith the divell hath 2. 59 63 Doe Done What is to bee done by those that have Christs righteousnesse 1 15 Readinesse to doe for Christ. 1 24 That the Lord hath done for us a motive to loue him 3 47 Love ready to doe for them
it loves 3 77 Evill men are not said to doe the good they doe 3 196 Exhortation to doing 3 203 Dominion see Lust. Double Double-minded man who 2 23 Doubting Doubting overcome by faith 1 120 Doubting may be mingled with true faith 2 22 25 Doubting Papists tenent touching it 2 24 Doubting how tryed Ibid. Draw Drawing vvhat it implieth 2 56 Hovv the holy Ghost draweth 2 57 Due-time God delivereth his in â—uâ—-time 2 198 E Easie. Afflictions easie to the Saints 2 211 Effectuall Efficacy Effectual faith onely saveth 2 3 Efficacy of faith vvherein 2 20 Things effectual in 4. respects 2 21 Faith effectual in 4 things 2 29 Effectual faith hovv vvrought 2 47 Why God vvill accept no faith but that vvhich is effectuall 2 58 To try our state by the efficaâ—y of faith 2 64 Effectuall faith 5 signes of it 2 92 Elect. Though Christ be offered to all hee is onely intended to the Elect. 1 11 Elias Spirit of Elias vvhat 2 16 Eloquent Love maketh eloquent 3 77 Emptie Faith empties a man of himselfe â— 70 Things effectuall opposed to empty â— 27 Essence see Faith Eternall Eternal separation from God 3 181 Even An even carriage a signe of love 3 130 Evill Christ delivereth from the least evil 1 46 Evil freedome from it to the Saints vvhence it is Ibid. Evil vve feare not so bad as vvee thinke 2 â—87 Good in the evil vvee suffer 2 189 See humilâ—ation Example Example of others should incourage us 1 112 Exclude No sinne can exclude from the offer of Christ. 1 13.3 146 Excell Excellency All excellency in God 3 34 The excellency of God set forth 3 36 If love be right it is to them that excell in grace 3 102 God must bee loved for his excellencies 3 109 Executed Though the curse be not executed it may be on a man 3 182 Exercise Prayer exerciseth our love 3 50 Extent Faith admits degrees in regard of extent 1 125 Extremity Why God doth not deliver till extremity 2 170 F. Faith Faith vvhat 1 16 48 Faith vvhy God vvill haue men saved by it onely 1 42 Faith in generall vvhat 1 47 Faith iustifying vuhat 1 48 Faith iustifying how it differeth from generall faith Ibid. Faith iustifying a definition of it 1 49 Faith how it taketh Christ. Ibid. Faith the essence of it 1 52 Faith the obiect of it Ibid. Faith the subiect of it 1 55 Faith a twofold consideration of it 1 59 Faith the acts of it three 1 62 Faith a double qâ—ality in it 1 69 Faith to be laboured for above all 1 81 Faith the least degree what 1 121 Faith an exhortation to grow in it 1 134 Faith 6 motiues to grow in it 1 135 Faith of many false 2 4 Faith the proper worke of it what 2 21 Faith we should try it 2 60 84 Faith many say they haue it and haue not 2 65 Faith to doe a thing by it what 2 82 Faith how God workes it 2 86 90 Faith how to know if it bee wrought 2 91 Faith a false definition of it 2 100 Faith makes a man neglect other things 2 144 Faith that puts a man into Christ what 3 2 Faith to be rooted in it 3 171 Faith to contend for it 3 209 Faithfull The Lord is faithfull 3 148 Failing Failings of holy men 3 195 Fancie Fancy the ground of unsound peace 2 110 Father see Offer Favour Favour of God how to grow in it 1 136 Favour of God onely desired by a man sensible of sinne 3 140 Feare Feare the ground why many men take Christ 2 10 Faith that comes from feare holdes not out 2 119 Feares how faith guides in them 2 164 Feare a tryall of our love 3 92 Feeling Feeling may be wanting where faith is 2 61 Fit When we are not fit for mercies God denieth us 2 196 Vnwillingnesse to die in the Saints is that they may be more fit 3 73 We should not be discouraged from comming to God because wee are not fit 3 145 Fire Love compared to fire in foure things 3 84 Flesh. Flesh in the Saints makes them loath to die 3 73 Flesh transports holy men to sinne 3 195 Follow What Christ lookes for of those that follow him Forgive A man may bee perswaded of forgivenes without faith 3 16 None so ready to forgive as God 3 39 Forme Forme must be observed in taking Christ 1 19 Fornication Fornication a cause of the pestilence 3 92 Foundation Foundation of Prophets and Apostles 2 36 Fortitude Fortitude false the cause of it 2 8 Free The will must be free in taking Christ 1 22 One property of love to be free â— 95 Friend Friendship Love of friendship 3 9 God a constant friend 3 37 Friendship with great men what 3 149 G. Garment Wedding garment what 2 5 Gift Righteousnesse by gift for three reasons 1 8 Gift accepted for the giveâ— 2 82 Glasse see Name Glory Glorifie Growing in faith brings glory to God 1 137 Glory of God why Moses desired to see it 3 55 Glorifying of God is the end why wee live 3 207 God God boweth the will 1 57 102 God wee must not be discouraged from comming to him 1 67 God by what way wee come againe to him 3 3 God why we love him 3 10â— God must be loved above all else wee love him not as God 3 165 Godlinesse Godlinesse what 2 83 Good Without humiliation Christ is not accounted the chiefe good 2 16 Afflictions good for us 2 192 A man may doe good and not be good 3 196 To doe good to men is one end why wee live 3 207 In every calling we have occasion to doe good 3 208 Gospell Sinnes against the Gospell aggravated 1 27 Love of GOD wrought by the Gospell 3 13 Curse of the Gospell 3 20 Grace Gracious Righteousnesse of Christ is of grace 1 8 43 Grace GOD tryeth it 2 46 Grace when it is weake what to doe 2 73 GOD is gracious 3 40 Grace sought by Christians as well as mercy 3 68 Grace to be seperate from it a curse 3 177 Great True ioy is great 2 132 Greatnesse of GOD. 3 44 Grieve If we grieve GOD we love him not 3 113 Grounded Faith not well grounded proves false 2 17 Faith ill grounded holds not out 2 119 Our love must be rooted and grounded 3 169 H. Habits Habits 1 41 God rewards not according to our habits 2 140 See act Happy Riches make not happy 2 181 Hardly God deales not hardly with us why 3 175 Harlot see Love Hate Hating Hating of sinne a signe of love 2 126 Naturally we hate God 3 11 Hatred of sinne a property of love 3 97 Three differences betweene hatred and anger 3 98 To returne againe to sinne a signe wee hate it not 3 99 Hating that which God hates is a signe of love 3 120 Foure signes of hating GOD. 3 131 Heare GOD heares some sooner some later 1 90
Why God heareth not sometimes 2 194 Hearers Hearing Hearers of two sorts 1 28 What hearing of the word God requireth 3 81 Heart Doubting a signe of a good heart 2 26 Christ dwells in the heart how 2 95 How to know whether Christ dwell in the heart 2 96 To take Christ with the whole heart 2 97 Vncircumcision of heart 3 106 A heart after Gods heart is a signe of love 3 119 When wee give our hearts to God hee gives us them againe 3 155 Heaven Heaven how desired by wicked men 3 74 Helpe God can helpe in desperate cases 2 189 Hypocrites Hypocrisie Hypocrisy what 3 19 The Saints hated under the name of hypocrites 3 103 Christ persecuted under the person of an hypocrite 3 121 Holy Ghost How the holy Ghost worketh faith 2 49 Love a peculiar gift of the holy Ghost 3 50 Holinesse Holines wrought by God 1 40 Holines easier loved in the Saints than in God 2 127 Holines required in comming to God 2 199 Hope Hope ill grounded faileth 2 19 Hope distinguisheth the faith of Christians from others 2 127 Hope mingled with feare 2 128 Hope the property of it 2 129 Hold out To hold out what it implyeth 2 118 Howling The prayers of wicked men are howlings 2 107 Humbled Humiliation Humility Humiliation how it is required before we come to Christ. 1 14 None can take Christ till they be humbled 1 24 Want of humiliation causeth faith to bee vaine 2 15 Without sound humiliation sinne is not accounted the greatest evill 2 16 Sound humiliation fits men for Christ. 2 30 Without sound humiliation men holde not out 2 32 Humility a concomitant of faith 2 136 Humility required in comming to God 2 199 I. Idolatrie Idolatry a cause of the pestilence 3 91 Iehovah Iehovah 3 36 Ignorance Ignorance what breedeth it 3 105 Imployment How faith guides a man in his imployment 2 166 Imperfection Imperfection in every creature 3 35 Impediment Two impediments of love to Christ. 3 104 When the impediment cannot be removed God accepteth the will for the deed 3 201 Implacable Hatred is implacable 3 101 Infinite Gods mercy is infinite 2 150 Infirmitie Love to God makes him beare with many infirmities 3 152 See Covenant Ingage We are ingaged to love the Lord. 3 45 Interest Faith gives us interest in all Gods riches 2 141 Intention A man may pray amisse though his intention be right 2 â—95 Ioy. Ioy increase of faith increaseth it 1 135 Ioy may be in hypocrites 2 93 Ioy a concomitant of â—aith 2 130 Ioy tryalls of it 2 132 Iudge Iudgements What God looks for when he sends Iudgements 3 94 To looke on God as a Iudge a signe of hatred 3 132 The sinnes of Gods children helpe forward Iudgements 3 216 Iustifie Iustification Faith how it iustifieth 1 59 Pharise not iustifyed why 1 72 Iustification difference betweene Papists and us in the doctrine of it 2 67 Iustification double 2 68 Good workes iustify not 2 71 Waiting in iustification 2 122 Workes and faith exclude each other in iustification 3 3 K Kindnesse God abundant in kindnesse 3 41 Kindnesse wherein it consists Ibid. Killing The great sinne of killing Christ. 2 103 Know Knowledge Particular knowledge 2 36 Knowledge of God a meanes to love him 2 108 Afflictions teach a man to know himselfe 3 141 Knowledge of God and our selves must goe together 3 142 Knowledge in wicked meâ— 3 192 L. Law Law how it drives men to Christ. 1 105 Law an efficacy put into it to work faith 2 49 Law breaketh the heart 3 12 Law of the Gospell who breake it 3 19 Liberty Liberty in giving our hearts to God 3 156 Life How to use faith in guiding our life 2 154 Life the end of it 3 207 Limit Love doth not limit it selfe in duty 3 95 Limiting in Gods service shewes want of love 3 96 Longing Longing after Christ whence it is 2 90 Long-suffering Long-suffering in God 3 40 Lose We lose not by ourlove to God 3 1â—3 God loseth when wee employ not our talents 3 162 Lord. Christ must be taken as a Lord. 1 50 Love Love to Christ when wee have taken him 1 23 Men in extremity would have Christ but not out of love 2 11 Love of harlots 2 14 Love of virgins Ibid. Love must make us come to Christ. 2 44 Vneffectuall faith workes no love 2 59 Love cannot be counterfeited by hypocrites 2 72 151 Love a concomitant of faith 2 124 Love tryalls of it 2 125 Love to Saints 2 126 Love to God weakeneth sinne 2 214 Love what 3 6 Definition of love in generall Ibid. Love two effects of it 3 7 Love five kindes of it 3 8 Love to God threefold 3 10 Love of three sorts Ibid. Love to God wrought by two things 3 12 Love to Christ what 3 14 Motives to love Christ. 3 34 Why we love the Lord no more 3 36 Love why it is planted in us 3 45 Love of God to us a motive to love him 3 48. Love to God meanes to beget it 3 49 Love the properties of it 3 60 157 Love the tryalls of it 3 113 Love an exhortation to it 3 150 Love motives to it 3 152 Lust. Thraldome to lusts shewes a desire not to part with them 1 93 Faith conflicts with lust 2 75 Satisfying of lusts cannot stand with faith 2 99 Lusts the best way to mortifie them 2 213 Lusts the mortifying of them a good worke 3 207 See Liberty M. Manna Manna hidden 2 85 Meanes Meanes of the use of them 2 176 Meanes that we use must be Gods 2 178 Meanes particular not to bee pitched on much Ibid. Meanes caution in using them 2 186 Meanes how to know we trust God in using them Ibid. Meaning We must not content our selves only with good meanings 3 191 Melancthon 2 163 Measure Punishment the measure of sinne 3 22 Mercy Mercy of God infinite and therefore should incourage us 1 114 Mercy sought of many and not grace 2 13 Mercy God delights in it 2 150 Mercy of God 3 39 Mercy remembred in the Lords Supper great 3 58 Might Wee must love God with all our might 3 160 Misinformation Misinformation the ground why many take Christ. 2 6 Faitâ— that comes from misinformation lasts not 2 119 Moderation 3 210 Mortifie Vneffectuall faith doth not mortifie sinne 2 59 Motions The affections are the severall motions of the will 3 6 Misery We must see our misery before wee apply the promises 1 59 The consideration of our misery draweth the will 1 104 Misery at the last befalls evill men 2 208 N. Name Good name like a glasse 2 190 Nature Naturall Righteousnesse of the Gospell not in men by nature 1 4 Naâ—urall love why it is planted in us 3 11 Naturalnesse of our love to God 3 130 Good workes come from a new nature 3 190 Neglect Men ought not to neglect the Sacrament 3 59 Not. If wee
desire God were not wee hate him 3 131 O. Oathes Wherein lesser oathes exceed greater 3 114 Obedience 2 94 Object Iustifying faith differeth from generall faith in the obiect 1 48 Obiect of faith 1 52 Faith and opinion differ in the obiect 1 120 Offer Errours touching the generall offer of Christ. 1 11 Who sleight Gods offer 3 21 God offers his love to us 3 144 Office Things are effectuall when they doe their proper office 2 21 Onely Christ must be taken only 1 19 Opinion Opinion 1 47 Opinion variable 1 98 Opinion wherein it differeth from faith 1 120 Errours in opinion the worst errours 3 210 Opportunities Opportunities neglected shew want of love 3 62 Opportunities not to be slipped 3 211 Outward Outward things whence it is that wee overvalue them 2 161 In outward things God dealeth promiscuously 2 204 Not to iudge by Gods outward dealing 2 205 Gods curse in outward estate 3 180 P. Pacifie To pacify the heart an act of faith 1 62 Pardon Wee should labour for assurance of pardon 2 73 Pardon propounded generally 2 150 Passeover The Lords Supper beyond the Passeover in two respects 2 58 Paines Measure of grace not gotten without paines 3 203 Peace Peace a signe of faith 2 108 Peace wicked men may live and die in it and why 2 209 Peace twofold 2 112 Peace unsound a great iudgement 2 114 Person We must take heede of errour concerning Christs Person 1 18 True love lookes to the Person 1 53 Many take Christ but love not his Person 2.12 Love must be pitched on Christs Person 3 171 Perfect Faith made perfect by workes what 2 69 Perswasion Perswasion of forgivenesse on what ground to build it 1 99 Perswasion degrees in it 1 118 Perswasion to grow in it 1 127 Perswasion false what 2 17 Perswasion secret of the Spirit 2 84 Perswasion may be in men that beleeve not 3 16 Perswasion may be weake in a true beleever 3 17 Persecute They that persecute Christians persecute Christ. 3 121 Pitty A love of pitty 3 8 Plague Plague causes of it 3 91 Plague how to remove it 3 94 Pleasures Pleasures how faith guides in them 2 164 Pleasures of sinne forsâ—ken of good men why 2 165 Pleasures to love them more than God is to hate him 3.133 Pleasures not to love them more than God what 3 107 Plenty Plenty a man may be cursed in it 3.181 Poore We cannot love Christ till we be spiritually poore 3 52 Posterity How faith guides a mans care for posterity 2 165 Power Power to receive Christ is of God 1 11 Power given by God when wee resolve to take Christ. 1 26 Power against sinne where Christ dwelleth 2 102 Powers of the world to come what meant by tasting them 2 134 Love powerfull as fire 3 87 Prayse Praysing God the ground of it 1 80 Prayse with men 2 159 Practise Practise of Christ when hee was on earth 1 111 Prayer Prayer how to prevaile in it 1 13â— Spirit of prayer a signe of faith 2 103 Prayer what maketh earnest and bolde in it 2 104 Prayer what 2 105 Prayer double Ibid Prayer a meanes to love God 3 â—9 Prayer workes love 4 wayes Ibid. What kinde of prayer comes from love 3 81 Prayer needfull in times of iudgement 3 212 Preaching Preaching of Christ and his Apostles the summe of it 1 84 Presence Presence of Christ desired according to the measure of faith 3 74 Presence of God separation from it a curse 3 179 Preparation Good preparation makes faith effectuall 2 29 Pride Pride a cause of the pestilence 3 92 Priviledges Priviledges spirituall why they affect us not 1 108 Prize That we may prize blessings GOD defers the giving them 2 199 Love sets a price on all we doe 3 151 Private Private duties performed without love 3 8â— Profit How faith guides in case of profit 2 160 Promise Promises the certainty of them 1 34 Promises two things in laying holde of them 1 94 Promises made in sicknessâ— seldome performed 2 11 Promises the beleeving of them in particular 2 34 Promises made promiscuously 2 4â— Promises the application of them wrought by the Spirit 2 53 Promises cleared 2 88 Promises not seen without the Spirit 2 89 Promises how to know they are cleared 2 91 Promises how to try our faith in them 2 114 Prosperitie Prosperity of wicked men 2 200 Prosperity hurts wicked men 2 205 Prosperity in sinne a miserable condition 2 206 Providence Providence of God crossed by our prayers 2 200 Purposes Purposes of good why they come to nothing in many 2 74 Purposes good whence they arise 3 192 Purifie To purify the heart an act of faith 1 165 True faith purifieth the heart 2 93 Q. Qualification Vpon what qualification Christs righteousnesse is given 1 12 See Exclude Qualitie see Faith Quicke Love of a quick nature 2 125 Love quick like fire 3 85 R. Reason Faith a new addition to the light of reason â— 55 Received Receiving Righteouâ—nesse of Christ must be received as well as offered 1 15 In receiving of Christ 3 things must concurre 1 28 Wee must not onely beleeâ—e in but receive Christ. 1 51 None have benefit by Christ but thâ—se that receive him Ibid. Reconcile To reconcile us to God an act of faith 1 62 Reciprocall Reciprocall match betweene Christ and us 2 92 Reflect Reflect act of faith admits degrees 1 126 A beast cannot reflect on his actions 2 91 Rejoyce Reioyce we should in GOD. 1 76 Reioyce in our selves wee are prone to it 1 77 Religion Religion hated under other notions 3 104 Religion what 3 199 Remedie The curse of the Gospell without remedy 3 23 Repentance Repentance required when wee have taken Christ. 1 23 Repentance ioyned with faith 2 94 Repentance not to be deferred 2 106 Repentance removes a plague 3 94 Revealed Why Christs righteousnesse is said to be revealed 1 4 Wee should labour to have more truthes revealed 1 129 Respect GODS respect to Christians in affliction 2 209 Reward Reward according to our workes 2 71 182 Reward we may use motives from it 3 80 Reward love bargaines not for it 3 96 Riches see Happie Righteousnesse Righteousnesse why revealed in the Gospell 1 2 Righteousnesse in the Gospell commended 1 3 Righteousnesse 6 questions about it 1 5 Righteousnesse of Christ how wee come by it 1 7 Righteousnesse to whom it is given 1 9 Righteousnesse what required of us when we have it 1 23 Christ our righteousnesse 2 150 Rob. If we love not GOD we rob him 3 46 Rooted How to be rooted in love 3 171 S. Sacrament Sacraments preach faith 1 87 Sacrament rules of examination touching it 2 202 Sacrament not to be omitted why 3 58 Sacrament unworthily received a cause of the plague 3 92 Saints Saints love to them a signe we love God 3 100 120 Saints foure tryalls of our love to them 3 101 Sanctification Sanctification God puts
his children to waite in it 2 122 Sanctification we must set faith on worke to increase it 2 212 How faith sanctifyeth the heart 2 213 Saved If Christ should not receive sinners none should be saved 1 113 Scriptures Scriptures beleeved in generall 2 34 Science Science 1 47 Sciences of two sorts 3 200 Seale Seale double 2 153 Security Security a cause of the pestilence 3 92 Security double Ibid. Seed How salvation is sure to all the seed 1 44 Season Season our workes must sute with it 3 209 Season what duties befit us in it Ibid. Selfe Self-crossing a signe of love to God 3 64 Why we must love God above our selves 3 166 Service Service to God and men different 3 154 Shew Difference betweene faith and a shew of holinesse 1 85 In prayer God sheweth himselfe to us 3 50 Gods shewing himselfe begets love 3 54 Shepheard Magistrates shepheards 3 78 Signe Signe in what cases God will give it 1 124 Sin Sinfull Sin the greatnesse of it 1 26 Sin the nature of it not altered by faith 1 59 Sin the efficacy of it taken away by faith 1 60 Sins most hainous Christ came to pardon 2 151 Sinfull love 3 10 Sin the consideration of it makes us love God 3 52 Sin delight in it and love of GOD cannot stand together 3 159 See Exelude Slippery Slippery places wicked men stand in 2 210 Sonne Sonne of GOD offereth his love to us 3 144 Soule Soule turned to GOD by faith 2 44 Soule needeth refreshing 3 114. Soule the adorning of it 3 173 Sound Sound heart hath good workes 3 193 Sorrow Sorrow for offending God a signe of love 3 116 Sorrow the want of it worse than the sin it selfe 3 117 Speake Love delights to speake of the party loved 3 75 Spirit Spirituall Spirit given more largely now than before 1 4 Spirit makes us love Christ. 2 50 Spirits testimony wrought two wayes 2 53 Spirit all arguments without it prevaile not 2 54 Spirits of men not alike troubled in conversion 2 86 Spirits immediate testimonie 2 89 Spirits testimony how to know it 2 90 Spirituall ioy 2 133 Spirit sound will beare affliction 2 191 Spirit the more we beleeve the more wee have of it 2 215 Spirituall love 3 11 Spirit is strong 3 187 Stranger Strangenesse Wicked men come to God as a stranger 2 106 Strangenes dissolveth love 3 105 Strength Faith takes away opinion of our owne strength 1 72 We daily want new strength 1 135 Strengthening of faith usefull 2 73. Study Study of a Christian. 3 142 Stone White stone what it signifieth 2 85 Successe Successe promised to good causes 2 163 Sudden Miseries come suddenly on the wicked 2 210 How things are said to be suddaine Ibid. Holy men may be suddainely transported to sinne 3 195 Sure How righteousnesse becomes sure 1 8 43 Sutable Looking on GOD as sutable to us breedes love 3 139 Suffering Suffering for Christ. 1 24 Suffering a fruite of love 3 77 Suffering a kinde of doing 3 77 Suffering a good worke 3 209 T. Taking Taking of Christ what 1 16 When we come to take Christ. 1 96 The efficacy of faith in taking Christ 2 41 What taking of Christ is effectuall 2 43 Taking Christ deceitfully 2 97 Taking Christ the way to salvation 3 5 Taught A Christian better taught than learned men wanting grace 3 197 Teaching Teaching of GOD what 2 12 Temptation Some cleave to Christ â—or want of temptations 2 25 Every man hath some particular temptation 2 65 Testimonie see Spirit Time Our time in GODS hands 2 182 GOD meetes with evill men in the worst time 2 211 Time a precious talent 3 113 Triall GOD puts men to tryall that they may holde out 1 9â— GOD gives no grace but hee hath tryalls for it 2 121 Trouble True ioy holds out in trouble 2 132 Trust. Trusting GOD. 2 116 Trusting GOD instances of it 2 117 Trusting in GOD what 2 168 When we are said to trust in GOD 2 171 Trusting GOD ingageth him to helpe us 2 17â— See Meanes Truth GOD abundant in truth 3 42 Turne Turning To turne to GOD what 2 99 How to use faith in the turnings of our life 2 156 V. Vaine Faith without workes is vaine 2 63 Vehement Love vehement as fire 3 89 Vertues Morall vertues GOD regards not without faith 1 82 Difference betweene faith and morall vertues 1 83 Virgins see Love Vnderstanding Faith wrought in the understanding 1 16 Vnderstanding what required in it touching faith 1 55 Vnderstanding 4 things in it touching the promise 1 95 Vnderstanding cleare makes faith effectuall 2 â—3 Vnderstanding what in it hinders love 3 108 Vneffectuall 5. Causes why faith is uneffectuall 2 6. Vngodly God iustifieth the ungodâ—y 2 149 Vnworthily To receive the Sacrament unworthily what 1 87 Two sorts receive the Sacrament unworthily 3 59 Voice Voice immediate 2 53 Voice soft what 2 88 Voice of the Spirit in us 2 105 Voice of Gods Spirit how to know it 2 106 Vprightnes Gods blessing according to our uprightnes 2 181 Vse Those that have faith are able to use it 2 139 How to use faith 2 142 Vse of grace increaseth it 3 204 Vile When a man is vile in his owne eyes 2 136 W. Wages Love desireth no wages 3 27 Walke To walke with GOD what 3 25 Warre True peace comes after warre 2 109 Way When wee looke on Gods wayes as contrary to us we hate him 3 132 See Good workes see Taking Waite True faith is content to waite 2 121 Instances of waiting 2 122 Weake Faith is weake for want of using 2 140 Love to God weakeneth sinne 2 214 Weake grace is grace 3 148 Will Willing Will faith wrought in it 1 16 Will must take Christ. 1 21 Will three things in it in taking Christ. 1 22 Those that are willing to take Christ how they are affected 1 32 Iustifying faith differeth from generall faith in the act of the will 1 49 Will what required in it touching faith 1 56 We must be willing to kill our lusts 1 92 Will the drawing of it to take the promises 1 101 Will how drawne 1 103 Will drawne by three meanes 1 104 Will what in it hinders love 3 108 Will taken for the deed when 3 201 Wee must be willing to suffer for Christ. 3 99 Wisedome Wisedome in three things 2 199 Property of wisedome 3 206 Wonders Wonders wrought now though no miracles 2 177 Worth Worthy To be worthy of Christ what 1.29 75 Faith take from a man all opinion of worth 1 71 Christ worthy of our love 3 34 Worship If Christ were not ready to pardon hee should not be worshipped 1 113 Worke Working Faith and opinion differ in their working 1 120 Working shewes a thing to bee effectuall 2 27 Working in doing and suffering 2 45 Good works the way to salvation 2 60 Worke-lesse faith five arguments against it 2 62 True
excellency and the riches of Christ. Eph. 1.18.19 opened Obiect Ans. No man can so see the riches of Christ as to be affected with them withâ—ut the helpe of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 opened Ioh. 14.21 opened Ier. 31 33. opened 3 By assuring vs that these things are ours This also must be wrought by the Spirit The testimony of the Spirit wrought two waies 1 By clearing the promises 2 By an immediate voice Ioh. 16.29 Isa. 57.19 opened All arguments without the Spirit preuaile not Eph. 1.19 opened Act. 2.39 Luk. 14.23 opened That men are compelled to come in what it implies What is implyed by drawing Ioh. 6.44 opened How the Holy Ghost draweth Cant. 1.4 Eph. 1.18 4 Why God will accept no faith but that which is effectuall 1 Because else it is not faith because it is dead Similes 2 Because such faith hath no loue Rom. 8.28 3 Because the Deuils haue such a faith 4 Because it workes no mortification 5 Because else Christ should lose the end of his comming into the world 6 Good workes are the way to saluation Eph. 2.10 Rom. 2.6 Mat. 26.35 39. Vse 1. To try our faith whether it be sound Simile Iam. 2.14 Simile Exod. 34.6.7 Obiect Ans. Fiue arguments of Saint Iames against worklesse faith Note Vse 2. To judge our conditions by the efficacy of our faith Not to beleeue all that say they haue faith nor all that say they haue none Act of faith double Simile A man may haue faith though he want feeling Of those that say they haue faith but haue not Simile Psal. 119.7 Vse 3. To iustifie the Doctrine of good workes against the Papists slanders Difference betweene vs and Papists in the Doctrine of iustification Obiect Ans. Iustification double Rom. 4. Note Simile Answ. Faith made perfect by works what Simile 3 Obiect Ans. What meant by these words Faith without workes is dead 4 Obiect Ans. Why good works are required seeing they iustifie not Rom. 6.1 2. 1 They euidence our right in Christ. 2 God rewards according to our works 1 Pet. 1.15 3 Good workes necessary though not to iustification Different rise of good works in Papists and vs. An hypocrite cannot doe things out of loue to God 2 Cor. 13.2 Vse 3. To labour to grow in faith and assurance What course to take in weaknesse of grace Simile Labouring to strengthen faith of much vse 1 In getting assurance of pardon after sin is committed 2 In conflict with strong lusts 3 In want of graces How Ministers should build Simile Simile Vse 4. To looke to faith in our search Two wayes to increase assurance Simile Vse 5. To learne to iudge aright of our workes Iames 2.22 God accepts our workes no further then he findes faith in them Mat. 15.26 27. Heb. 11. God accepts the gift for the giuer To doe a thing by faith what Godlinesse what Heb. 11.6 Rom. 13. We must reckon common actions in our callings to be good workes Vse 6. To try if we haue faith 1 Triall A secret perswasion of the Spirit Reu. 2 17. Hidden Mannah White stone what it signifieth Gods manner of working faith Alike trouble of Spirit in conuersion not necessary to all and why Simile Soft voice what 1 Part of the soft voice a clearing of the promise Though the promises are neere vnlesse God cleere them we see them not Luk. 24. 2 Part of the soft voice the immediate testimony of Gods Spirit Rom. 8. Obiect Ans. How to know the testimony of the Spirit from a delusion How faith is wrought Whence longing after Christ comes Ioh. 19. How to know whether faith be wrought in vs. A beast cannot reflect vpon his actions as a man can How to know that the promise is cleared to vs. Rom. 8. The match betweene Christ and the soule reciprocall Fiue signes of effectuall faith 1. Signe True faith purifieth the heart Acts 15.9 Acts 26.18 Faith and repentance put together in the Scripture why True faith hath repentance Faith what it is Obedience Heb. 8.8 A Couenant what Generall reformation Christ dwels in the heart as the soule in the body Gal. 2.20 Isay 57.13.18 opened Simile How to know if Christ dwell in the heart Acts 8.37 opened Baptisme what Taking Christ deceitfully To take Christ with the whole heart what Act. 2â— 17 18. To turne to God what Faith and the desire of satisfying lusts cannot stand together Ier. 3. Men deceiued in the definition of faith Try faith as we doe other things Similes Digression for application to the Sacrament Rules of examination before and after the Sacrament Where Christ dwels indeed he giues power against sinne Phil. 4.12 To be guilty of the body blood of Christ what Quest. Answ. 2 Signe A Spirit of Prayer Spirit of adoption what Gal. 4.6 The Spirit of adoption maketh vs 1 Earnest in Prayer 2 Bold and confident Obiect Ans. True Prayer what Rom. 8. Prayer double The voice of Gods Spirit in vs what Quest. Ans. How to know the voyce of Gods Spirit in our prayers Wicked men come to God as a stranger the Saints as to a friend Hosea 7.14 opened Eph 3.7 3. Signe of faith Peace Rom. 5.1 Obiect Ans. Exod. 14. Psal. 3. 2 A twofold peace The third marke of faith it brings peace Phil. 4.6 opened Mat. 6. Ioh. 3.12 Gen. 24.7 4. Signe of effectual faith To hold out in cleauing to Christ. To hold out implyeth 3. things 1 To cleaue constantly to Christ. which noâ—e can doe that take Christ 1 Out of mis-information 2 Out of feare 3 Out of loue to his and not to him 4 Out of slender and slight grounds 2 To take no denyall 3 To be content to waite Hab. 2. Iam. 1. 5. Signe of effectuall faith the concomitants of it which are 4. 1 Loue. 2 Pet. 1.8 Gal. 5. 1 Cor. 13. Obiect Ans. Quest. Ans. Tryals of loue 2 Hope 3 Ioy. Rom. 15.13 1 Pet. 1.8 Obiect Heb. 6. Ans. Tryals of ioy Rom. 5.3 1 Pet. 1.8 Simile Heb. 6. opened 4 Humility Isay. 6. Vse To act and exercise Faith or to set it on Worke. Obiect Ans. Simile Simile Rom. 2. Heb. 11. Quest. Ans. How to vse Faith 1 In comforting our selues Gal. 3. opened Ioh. 16. Simile Considerations to helpe Faith in comforting the Soule Micha 7.8 Psal. 41.7 Quest. Ans. Eph. 4. 2 Tim. 2.19 2 Pet. 1.13 2 Vse of faith to guide and order our liues Simile Instances of faith guiding a man in difficult cases 1 Instance Ioh. 12.12 2 Instance 3 Instance 4 Instance Ier. 42. Ier. 42. 43. Obiect Ans. Ier. 26. 5 Instance Acts 6. 6 Instance Quest. Ans. 7 Instance 8 Instance Quest. Ans. 1 Tim. 4.10 Quest. Ans. To trust in GOD what Quest. 2 Cor. 1.10 opened Answ. Zeph. 3.12 Quest. Answ. 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Chro. 14.11 Quest. Ans. Obiect Answ. 2 Kings 5. Hester 6. Obiect Answ. 1. Isay 7. Isay 9. Answ. 2. Consisting of 3. parts Obiect Ans.