more and more for we are setling like the Jews in an outward formal Reformation without heart Now it would be terrible if the Lord should chuse our own administration and give us according to our own heart I hope he will not But this lay heavy upon my spirit to tell you of therefore the Lord direct you to make the best use you can that if it be his blessed will this place that is the honor and glory of the Kingdom and the refuge of the Saints that the Lord would not come against it FINIS THE TABLE  Page A  Abiding  ABiding with God in evil times 72 Actions  Saints not under the Law in their actions 157 Afflictions  Afflictions of godly and wicked how different 31 Afflictions turn to the good of Saints 119 The life of Faith in afflictions 130 Saints not under the Law in regard of afflictions 150 Afflictions not to be fainted in 194 Amend  All should amend when the wicked are punished 104 Angels  Angels pry into Gospel mysterie 201 Angels good and bad do it ibid. Apostacy  Apostacy a provoking sin 11 Assurance  Life of Faith in Assurance 130 Awake  Christians duty to awake God 86 B.  Betray  Not to betray Gods cause 88 Blasphemy  Blasphemy a provoking sin 9 Blessing see latter  Bristol  Gods mercy in recovering Bristol 107 C  Christ See cleaving  Christ makes all things amiable 192 Cleaving  Blessedness of cleaving to the Lord 70 Honor of cleaving to Christ in ill times 73 Special times of cleaving to God 77 Comfort  What should help Christians comfort 175 Conceits  Vain conceits of wicked men 33 Confidence  Ground of a Christians confidence 27 Consolation  Consolation a duty 40 Four things that hinder consolation ibid. Covenant  Spiritual understanding of the New Covenant effects of it 66 Covetousness  Covetousness a provoking sin 237 Creature  The vanity of the Creature why discovered 61 Conjunction  Conjunction of those that cleave to God 70 D.  Difference  Difference of Gods dealing with Saints 36 Difference between Saints and sinners 208 Discouraged  Weak Saints not to be discouraged 143 Distrust  Distrust in times of danger to be avoided 87 Division  Division among Saints a provoking sin 9 Duty See Consolation  Four grounds of Duty 149 E.  Enemies  Assurance of victory over enemies the effects of it 64 How God destroyes his enemies 85 Equality  Equality that should be between Saints 144 Evil see good  Example  Example of Saints a ground of prayer 150 F.  Faith  Faith the want of it what it doth 40 Faith the life of it 44 Faith how God tries it 83 Faith how the just live by it 128 See Affliction Assurance Sanctification  False  False dealing 237 Fondness  Holy fondness between God and the Saints 54 Holy fondness in five things 55 Fondness wrought four ways 61 Formality  Formality in duties a provoking sin 4 See Reformation  G.  Garison see Minde  God see Hypocrisie Persecutors  Good  To call evil good a provoking sin 11 See Afflictions Work  Gospel  Gospel precepts highest 162 Gospel Mysteries to be attended 202 Gospel riches to be admired 204 Gospels simplicity 225 Government  Government how to be affected 204 Greater  How to argue from less mercies to greater 120 Grace  Grace weak how to comfort it 45 Grace what meant by it 160 Of those that are under Grace 162 Power in Grace more then the Law 164 H.  Heart  Heart hardened 8 Hidden  Saints Gods hidden ones 90 Holiness  Holiness desired on wrong grounds 41 Right laboring for holiness 198 See Comfort  Hypocrisie  Hypocrisie hateful to God 48 Hipocrites honor creatures above God 50 Hypocrisie dishonors God ibid. I.  Judg.  Saints not to judg one another 143 Judgments  Maner of Gods proceeding to judgment 2 Cause of judgments what 3 Judgments why sent 103 Ingenuity  Ingenuity of right Saints 163 Justification  How to live by Faith in Justification 128 133 K.  Kiss  Holy Kiss what 145 L.  Latter Last  Blessing of the latter times 122 First shall be last how 138 Law  Saints under the Law how 156 See Persons Actions Afflictions Gospel  Learning  Learning humane wherein useful 211 Life see Faith Sanctification  Lord see cleaving  Love  Love of God what it works 62 To love though we be not loved 181 Mutual love how attained 184 M.  Minde  Garison of the minde what 16 Mingled  The life of a Christian mingled 133 Ministers  Ministers sins provoke God 149 N.  Nature  Duties grounded in nature 6 O.  Officers  Officers sins provoke God 8 Oppression  Sin of oppression 236 Ordinance  Prayer an Ordinance of God 149 Ordinances not to be neglected 152 Ordinances needful 153 P.  Patience see waiting  Peace  Peace to be studied by Saints 196 Perpetual see Prayer Persecutors Persecution  To cleave to God in persecution 78 Persecutors design 91 God persecuted in the Saints 93 Children of the godly may prove fierce persecutors 99 Persons  Persons of Saints how under the Law 156 Power  Power that Saints have 166 The Spirit called power how 173 See Grace  Prayer  Prayer a perpetual duty 151 Prayer whence it proceeds 169 Wants of prayer how supplied 170 See Ordinance Nature Precept Example Promise  Precept  Precepts ground of prayer 150 See Gospel  Promises  Promises ground of prayer 151 Protection  Protection of God who have right to it 21 Pride  Pride how discovered 185 R.  Reflect  Reflect acts hard to man 177 Saints to reflect on their estate 178 Reformation  Formal Reformation a provoking sin 5 Refuge  God a refuge 14 To repair to God as a refuge 17 Religion  Religion wherein it consists 211 Riches see Gospel  Revolting  Revolting a provoking sin 239 S.  Saints see Weak Sanctification  Life of Faith in Sanctification 129 131 Saintship to be prized 194 Satan  Grounds of Caution against Satan 202 Security  Security why to avoyd it 140 self-Self-love  self-Self-love a provoking sin 10 Shame  Iudgments sent to shame men 103 Simplicity  Simplicity of Religion 212 Simplicity of the Gospel 223 Sin  What sins provoke judgments 3 Carriage of Saints faln into sin 43 Saints carriage in a deluge of sin 77 Aggravations of sin 240 Silent  God silent in danger why 83 Soul  The soul of God departs from incorrigible sinners 244 Spirit  Spirit powerful in Saints 166 Spirit undervalued how 167 Spirit wherein powerful 169 Spirit differs Saints and Sinners 208 Spirit how known 210 Spirit to be labored for 213 Spirits excellency 215 Spirits grieving dangerous 220 Spirit to be prized 221 See Word Teaching Work Power  T.  Teaching  Teaching of the Spirit 170 Testament  Testaments compared 188 Trouble  Trouble in Saints whence 190 V.  Vengeance  Vengeance of God against the wicked 27 Union  Union between Christ and Christians 229 Upright  Uprightness ground of it 22 Uprightness how tried 84 W.  Waiting  Ground of waiting on God 112 Weak  Weak Saints not to be contemned 141 Weak Saints their carriage to stronger 142 Weak Saints to be encouraged 196 Word  Spirit to be advanced as speaking in the Word 168 Work  Who works in and for us 172 To be ready to every good work 206 FINIS
can get himself in those three things Saints under the Law in three respects out from it then he is wholy clear The Saints are under it partly either In respect of their Persons Actions Afflictions For their persons that is we do conceive that we do 1. As to their persons deal with God in some measure according to his law we think that God doth deal with us according to his law and that we deal with God in some measure according to his law Whereas we should conceive that God doth not look on me or speak to me or deal with me at all according to the law Christ having fulfilled it and I being dead to it but only in reference to grace so I deal with God as he is my Father as he is revealed to me in grace in the Doctrine of the Gospel so that if we could conceive that our persons are fully justified that all my weaknesses thoughout the day or week or year do not make me according to his Law one jot more unjust nor all my good doth not make me more just for Christ Jesus his Death and Resurrection doth that wholly therefore my person for ever is freed from the power of the Law and if I sin grace may call me to account for it and whip and scourge me with his Ferula but for the Law what have I to do with that what have I to do with a husband that is dead and buried what have I to do with the Covenant of works that Jesus Christ hath fulfilled and cancelled Therefore get your persons clear of the Law for that is it that evidenceth many times that you are not because when you sin against God then there ariseth storms within you that were once without you on Mount Sinai that blackness and darkness then you fear you are hypocrites then you finde wrath in your consciences as oft as you finde wrath that is the work of the Law for the Law worketh wrath it shews clearly that your persons are not quite freed from the Law for though there should be sorrow and more kindly and abundant sorrow then ever you felt before and care and other things yet even that wrath and horror and hardness of heart and risings of spirit against God will testifie that in some measure your persons are under the Law Ye are not under the Law Secondly Your actions I say should not be under 2 In respect of their actions the Law for as one saith as our persons are justified fully by Christ so are our actions that is whatsoever action I do or commit however that action may not be pleasing to God according to Grace or the Gospel it may not be an acceptable sacrifice as all our actions should be yet notwithstanding we should not conceive that our actions are to be squared and measured according to the rule and life of the Law which is the Covenant of works As for Instance when a man is under the Law whose actions are under the Law he labors all the day long to please God to serve and obey him but if he fail but once or twice that day in his duty there is some confusion whispered in his soul that all is lost there is more trouble for that one failing then he hath comfort for all that he hath done that day that is just the Law for the Law saith if he fail in one he is guilty of all Now if a man be under grace he rejoyceth in his sincere indeavor to honor God and he rejoyceth in the passages of that day that he hath had communion with God and where there is weakness there would be a sweet clear mourning for it in reference to God as a Father and not to have the heart estranged from God and straitned Our actions in a great measure are under the Law Our actions are freed from the Law in this life but we know not our freedom They are freed thus all arise either from flesh or spirit for those are the two beginnings the two first beeings of all Now those of the flesh for a Christian may do an action that is purely flesh that hath no good in it then that is a sin Christ Jesus hath done it away Now if it be an action that ariseth from his holy Spirit that flows from the principle of Iesus Christ that is in him the Lord accepts of it that is done already if he were able to do it yet it comes too late but onely he doth it as the honest upright indeavor of a loving childe to a dear father So could we measure our actions according to that rule our lives would be more holy and more sweet and comfortable Thirdly our afflictions or sufferings it were well 3 Relating to their afflictions if we could get out from under the lash of the Law in all these there we are deeply under it as soon as ever we are whipped then we say God hath found me out and it is true God may whip me for it because I will not take notice of it though God will not hide his countenance and his smiles from his childe one jot further then he must needs do it for fear of cockering him therefore I know if God frown and hide his face that God loves me and he would shew it but I have a base heart that at such times as that would like some sin and be wanton otherwise God hath no delight to hide his face a moment Now all my afflictions and sufferings I am not to look on them under the Law that is as though God in reference to these had a purpose to satisfie himself and his vengeance and to let his wrath fall upon me that is clearly to frustrate the death of Christ but I am to look on that as fully satisfied and done by Christ and God is more faithful then to be paid twice but I am to look upon all my afflictions as proceeding from the love of a dear father and I can take notice of many sins that displease him and he hath many Gospel-ends to do me good therefore in afflictions I admit not one hard thought of God but love him more for his favor in the Gospel If we see afflictions under grace aright then afflictions do exceedingly kindle love to God and increase our communion with him and whereas they make us run from God they would make us run to him and delight in him but we are under the Law and that makes our persons and actions and afflictions to be a burthen O that the Lord would help us to get clear of it that every one would labour to get his spirit his person his actions and his corrections and all clear of that and dead to that But ye are under grace Grace in this place as I conceive hath a very large extent and is not taken onely for that favor of God as it is usually in Scripture but there is something meant by it that shall
you that profess your selves to be Saints that you would make To repair to this refuge towards this refuge or this garison here in all your troubles I am ashamed and troubled and have been truly many yeers to see Saints and godly people when troubles come on them to spend their wits and beat their brains in finding refuge in outward things O if I were here or there in such a Town in such an Iland in such a Country in such a place I should have it Beloved our song should be Salvation God will appoint us for walls and bulwarks Our way is when all the Kingdoms of the world are shaken to seek to get into that Kingdom that shakes not That is let England and all the world shake I care not so I have the Spirit of Christ the comforter to bring peace to my soul that may set up a garison there that nothing may assault and trouble me Then let all the world let heaven and earth shake I am sure I am safe this is the way It is a common saying of many particular persons Let a man not seek himself any where without in the opinion of men So let not Saints seek refuge and shelter and salvation in outward helps but if they should see the Kingdom of England which God forbid involved in more miseries and troubles and desolations c. Lay this down alway by thee there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken England and Scotland and Ireland are shaken but there is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Such a garison is besieged such a Town is in danger such a place is stormed but there is a garison that the Lord hath put into the hearts of his Saints that cannot be stormed or assaulted Therefore ply the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of the New Testament by his holy comforter that he would garison thy soul and put peace there And then what shall be the issue I will tell thee that thou with a holy joy and complacency and delight of Spirit when thou seest the very pillars of heaven shaken as it were shalt sollace thy self in thy own garison and walk in the streets of it and be safe thou shalt triumph over all storms and troubles and all that is here Not because that a Saint is able to encounter those things that are here For a Saint is not able to answer if you ask what he conceives will be the end of these things he cannot answer these things but onely he retreats to the middle Region as a bird he flies above sublunary things he can say I cannot tell what shall become of England or Scotland or Ireland but I am sure I know a back door that leads into a Kingdom that cannot be shaken to go into the middle Region where no storms of the Air shall trouble me and there I can rest my spirit I alway for my part with submission to the wise apprehend it as a thing too carnal and too low for Saints to think to finde a resting place in this world any place is heaven in such an Iland in such a Plantation and such a place let it be what it will But a Saint that hath this garison in his heart and minde he is at peace This garison David had when his enemies compassed him and he had no walls when there were 10000 about him he lay and slept For thou Lord sustainedst me saith he The salvation of God was walls and bulwarks about him If this peace of God be above understanding how can it be otherwise then be above expression We can therefore give but a hint of it but such a thing there is The Saints walk in a green meadow by the rivers of waters Psal 23. in the spring all the day and all the night long in beholding the love of God and the Covenant of God made in Iesus Christ the full forgivenesse of all their sins the everlasting union between them and Christ and through Christ between them and God and beholding the Spirit in its working within them and beholding the glory that shall be revealed at the last day the Crown that Christ shall bring with him they walk safely and sweetly and securely though all the Kingdoms of the world and the pillars of heaven be shaken As the heathen said If the world break about his ears he would undergo it without trouble Not because he can answer these things but withdrawing himself to his place from them I cannot tell whether the Kingdom shall stand but I can go to the middle Region to Iesus Christ where there is no storme Learn that and lay aside your great projects like the men of the world of building Castles in the air for Garisons but labour to get into this Garison Salvation will God appoint for walls and Bulwarks Open ye the gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth may enter in This is a speech just alluding to a Garison they use there to open the gates and to shut them and when any body comes they bid them stand and ask them who they are for What are they One saith he is a friend and then they bid open the gates and let him come in if not to shut the gates against him Open ye the gates saith the Lord But none must come in but a friend but who is this friend It is The righteous Nation which keep the truth they shall enter in The word in the Originall it is Truth not Truth not one or two or three or four truths but the righteous Who have a right to Gods protection Nation that keepeth the truths let them enter in That is the word if you will passe this Court of Guard he that shall come into this Garison is he that keepeth truth with a good conscience notwithstanding all the troubles that befall him in this world he shall enter into this Garison Therefore I beseech you look to your selves Truly it is unconceiveable and unutterable what the joy the comfort the worth of that Garison is where it is set up in the soul yet there are no hypocrites no partiall obeyers of Iesus Christ and his laws that shall enter into it Therefore if I speak Hebrew or Greek as it were to you that you understand not what I mean by this Garison look to your selves it may be you have not the word and therefore you cannot get in It may be you walk not uprightly you are not of the upright Nation and people you keep not the truths It may be you pick one truth here and another there that pleaseth you that suits with your reason or your lusts and corruptions or with the stream of the world you honor and respect that and for the rest of the truth let you neighbours take it if they will you will none of it if it bring shame and persecution and reproch That is the reason when troubles come you are at your wits end you know not where to go because
Saint that is fond of God bring him meat he sees the love of God in Christ in it bring him cloathes or any thing his eye is fastened more upon the love of God in Christ then upon the thing As the spouse in the Canticles for the Canticles is a book of fondnesse between Christ and his people she hears one talk I warrant you saith she this is the voice of my beloved she is so fond of him that she could not hear one talk but she saith It is my beloved when she looks on the gallery and the lattice I warrant you saith she my beloved looks thorow that grate and when she sleeps her heart waketh It is a blessed thing when we do not eye things in themselves but so as we are able to see God in them And you shall know it by the various tempers of your souls for sometimes you are more spirituall and sometimes more carnall when you are carnall you use more of the creature and never see God at all but when you are spirituall you see God and his love in Christ in every thing I shall now shew you how God brings his children This fondness wrought four wayes to this holy fondnesse and I would leave you longing for it and I trust in God to leave some souls sick till God work and bring up their souls to that I will name but onely four The first thing is that God utterly convinceth a Saint 1. By disabling all the Creation to this end of the vanity of every creature and of every condition he will never be fond till then God lets him suck one creature after another and then he sees the vanity of them God puts him into one condition after another O saith a Saint when he is sick if I were well I should rejoyce and glorifie God God gives him health and then he is in a worse temper When he is poor saith he If I had to pay my debts and to set up handsomly then I should serve God God sets him up and lets his heart go after covetousnesse and saith to him Dost thou not see that thou art worse then thou wert before So God chaseth him from one creature to another and from one condition to another If he would be in the Country God convinceth him that he will be worse then in the Town At last he saith Lord I have tried and hunted all and I see they are a company of vanities And sometime when he is sick in body and shaken in soul God appears gloriously and makes the worst condition better then the best so God follows and traseth and chaseth him from one to another till he bring him to see every creature vanity and every condition and saith a Saint I do not much care what condition whether he put me in prison or at liberty whether I be rich or poor well or sick so he reveal himself to my soul You will never be fond till you come to that till God convince you of all conditions and of the use of all creatures and tire thee that thy soul may say God is all in all I am indifferent what creatures I have or want or what condition I am in for I have seen God to be all in all I have seen nothing in riches and in liberty but as God comes into a condition or is absent so it is sweet or bitter good or bad People that are professors in these sad times they would not be so reaching and griping and undermining for offices and places and preferments and I know not what if they did see this Another way it this that the Lord sheds his love into their hearts Rom 5. he poures it out as you would 2 By Gods pouring forth his love in their heart pour out a Paile or a Bucket of water God so over-powers the heart with his love that there is no guilt no hardness no fear no spirit of bondage at all left in the soul Beloved why are not we more fond of God why is not he more deare to us The reason is because we have many hard thoughts of him that he may be an enemy as well as a friend and I know not what he means I look upon him at a catch as with a staffe in his hand to strike me There are abundance of those thoughts in the soul especially in affliction some professors are ready to say God hath found me out as an hypocrite and plagueth me In afflictions ordinary professors loose more though they talk of getting But the Lord comes to some of his children and so over-powers their hearts with his love that there is not one thought nor imagination in their hearts but onely of love to him and then they will be fond for when they see pure love in God and nothing but a principle of pure love in them to God what should hinder but they should be fond one of another There is a homely comparison a woman that hath butter in a dish she melts some of the butter but if she take it too soon from the fire there will be a core a knob in the dish left and being taken from the fire it grows bigger till all be hard So a weak Saint by studying the promises of God and the love of God it dissolves much of the knobbinesse yet there are some hard thoughts and Iealousies and suspitions but God comes at last and melts all the butter together all the knobbiness that is in the heart every thought and imagination of terrour and guilt and fear that there is a clear and pure principle of love to God and then the soul is fond of him The Lord takes a great deal of delight to train and bring up his childe to be more in love with him God will so traine and bring him up that if he throw him into the worst condition that can be for body or soul and shall say what thinkest thou of me now hast thou any hard thoughts of me saith God No saith the soul all is Love As for instance I will tell you a thing the worst on this side hell I speake not of imprisonment or shame but God may take him and leave him to sin and then the soul awakes and thinks good Lord where am I O what a hell have I in me for there is a hell in the heart if God take off the vail of grace if he draw the Curtain there is nothing but hell in the soul There are many sins that thou hast committed that there is not a soul in the world that hath committed worse This is true saith a Saint and dost thou not think saith God that thou art an hypocrite and that I shall damn thee for this No saith the soul I know I have nothing in me but of thy Grace and if thou draw the Curtain all is hell but there is nothing but love even then after sin there is not one hard thought it makes the soul more fond
he saith it is true I am so and there is no devil that hath worse thoughts but the more need I have to go to my Father for I am thy son I am sure of that and seeing that I am weaker then I was I have the more need to betake me to thy lap and into thy arms and so he grows more fond of God by sin it self Nay I will tell you a greater then that What can that be There is one greater and yet all this cannot quench the love and fondness that is between the soul and God that is when God corrects his childe with one sin for another It may be for his fault he lets him run to covet Places and Offices c. and the next day after the Lord suffers another lust to carry him as in a Chariot to hell that this may make him take heed how he looks after such things This is the worst between this and hell saith God Should I not now come and break thee in pieces as a villain No saith the soul this is a wise design of thy love and there is nothing but love in thee to me and there shall be nothing but pure love in me to thee Learn these things beloved There are many that come to hear and all that I can see from them is that if there be controversal they dispute of that when they come home but lay these things to heart as it is said of Mary and beg of the Lord to screw up your souls to that heavenly blessed Life that you may attain in this world 3. Assurance of conquest over all kinde of enemies The third thing before which a Saint will never be fond is God will convince him of an absolute perfect conquest over all his enemies A childe of God will never be fond till he be secure and he will never be so till God shew him by his Spirit that he is more then conqueror over most of his enemies and that he is a certaine conquerour over all And this is by faith for by sense sin prevails over us and if we say we have sin we do not say true But by faith when Satan is most severe he is conquered and sin when it is most violent he looks on it as a vassall at his foot intreating pardon It is said in Daniel that Christ came to bring in everlasting righteousness and make an end of sin A Saint by faith sees sin ended as hell and damnation and wrath and the curse is so sin shall be out of doors There is no damnation to them that are in Christ He hath redeemed us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear as Zechary saith from all our enemies and he shall as Malachy saith tread his enemies as ashes under his feet This is that that keeps a Saint under he cannot come to the height of love to God because there is some enemy that over-tops him This day when he hears that our souls are over sin he is cheary but when he comes home there comes a sin or a temptation and breaks all and he is at a loss Now when faith is scrued so high as to tread on all enemies on sin which is the strongest say it be a strong temptation of covetousnesse thou studiest to purchase and to enlarge thine inheritance suppose there be such a thing in thy soul and it is violent and thou hast offered to resist it and thou canst not thou mayst say Sin though thou be strong and I cannot put thee cut thou hast bolted the door but thou art my slave and in the blood of Christ I am thy conquerour thou thinkest to conquer me but thou art my vassall and my slave And much more may he say so of Satan Thou molestest me but thou art condemned I am made Lord over thee in the blood of Christ Grace and sin will mount as the bird and the Hawk and the one seek to out-mount the other the bird for safety the Hawk for prey so grace and sin get one above another O saith grace I would be holy saith sin thou shalt be covetous I will pray saith grace but I will make thee my possession saith sin When the soul out-mounts sin to the place where dwelleth righteousnesse that Kingdom that cannot be shaken that I see all my enemies beneath and when they are most strong and imperious over me I look on them with a peaceable quiet spirit Last of all and so I have done with this notwithstanding all this the soul could not be fond of God but 4. By a spirituall ad hesion to the new Covenant as God gives him a spirituall understanding of the new Covenant the enemies will over-mount the soul else As for instance to give you but one illustration there are such pangs and such a temper in the soul of a Saint as that sometimes nothing in the world can give him satisfaction there is sin and temptation and it may be paine in body and where is God and the spirit and any thing to help God can help but who knows whether he will or no now I am in the hands of mine enemies In comes the Covenant O saith the soul it is true I am in the hands of mine enemies and God may chuse whether he will rescue me He might have done but now he is bound in an everlasting Covenant that with reverence God must help time was when God might have cast me to hell and he was not bound to save me but the case is altered God is bound to save me Therefore saith David Though my house be not so with God yet there is a Covenant this is my desire and joy Many times the soul is so that nothing can relieve it but the Covenant that God is bound that God cannot though he would desert him If you examine what this Covenant is and whereto it is The Lord knows we are apt to measure him by our selves and so we do in every thing we think our thoughts as Gods thoughts and his thoughts as ours therefore God is willing to condescend unto us in our own way for that God that contrived a way of salvation before the world was we may not fear but that that love will carry us thorow but God would come in our way and take that way that one man doth with another because we are apt to measure God by our selves therefore he comes and saith and if that serve not he swears and if that will not serve he brings a seal and a Covenant and then with men a man is safe enough So Gods word had been enough but because we should have strong consolation that must be conveyed according to our apprehensions and thoughts there God saith and swears and makes a Covenant and binds himself that we may see him bound Therefore saith the Apostle in the Galatians If it be but a mans Covenant none can dissanull it As if he should say I made this
come to know this Here is the word and then the Spirit of faith this is the language this is the way of the Gospell the way of faith But you will say What is that word of Faith that this is grounded on The Apostle chooseth one Scripture verse 11. in stead of all other as there are abundance of Scriptures setting forth the Gospell way but he takes this as one of the chief among the rest whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed He takes it out of Isaiah 28. whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed He takes I say that as one of the chief Scriptures of Gospell that is to be the foundation of the way of faith and though you may apply it for the soul and principally so yet you may for every thing else that this is a generall and sure rule he that believeth on God shall not be ashamed So the Lord hath removed our reproach We heard with our ears jeering of God and Preachers and Preaching but now blessed le God we need not blush we may own our prayers and stand to our preaching and glory in the promises of God he that believeth shall not be ashamed Therefore hereafter though God doth delay a long while as this was about two years and a monety yet notwithstanding learn to believe in God still wait upon God patiently and either the whole Gospell will not hold or else this will for this is the pillar of it he that believeth shall not be ashamed The patient abiding of the meeke shall not be ashamed If God see a man meekly and patiently wait for him his waiting shall not be in vain and though it be long in our eyes yet a thousand yeers with God are as one day and one day as a thousand yeers And the delay of a thousand yeers is as it were but a day yet he brings about all his promises of mercies sweetly for his glory and the good of his people Therefore whatsoever we would have for his glory and the good of his people let us follow God and rest on his word Remember that Gospell pillar I say not promise but pillar he that believeth shall not be ashamed That is one thing Another is this that we should but God knows when we will learn it for people are further and further from learning it every day me thinks learn hence a little in due order and manner to honour the Saints and people of God A man would think so but blinde men cannot see We know that there is an Army the generality I hope I may say so of them being godly people an Army I think truly I may say without disparagement to any other fearing God and seeking his honour as much as any Army under the cope of heaven these five hundred yeers Blessed be God that put it in your hearts to reform them if there be any evill among them it is one of the most glorious works that ever you did Now it is no disparagement to God that under God and in God we honour his people Therefore wo to them that call light darknesse of which to this day the streets are full all the week long notwithstanding the humility the love and unity the self-deniall and all the graces that are to be seen as cleare as the sun in the firmament in this Army yet you shall have people and many that would be called professors to reproach them and raile and say A scandalous aspersion upon the Army that when they had got the power they intended to rule both King and Parliament The admirable graces observed in the Army by the Author long since they fight for their own ends they seek themselves they are no friends to the Parliament they meane to get a little power and then to rule King and Parliament too O blasphemous speeches Beloved for my part I have not been there oft but I saw more grace in that small Army poor wretches then in all the Kingdom besides First I see more love there their love is true love and it is love to one another as they are Saints as they are honest men and not as such a one holds a faction this way or that way If one man be wounded they will all venture their lives to fetch him off and if one be sick every one contributes to his wants there is abundance of sweet love There is unity here is biting such a one is a Presbyterian another is an Independent another is an Anabaptist there is no such biting there They look not in mens mouthes as men do in horses mouthes and say is he a Presbyterian or an Independent but is he an honest man a godly man if he be he is a companion for any godly man We are the most miserable men in the world this poor City if a man had as much grace as Paul had if some Independent see him and say he is inclining to Presbytery or if a Presbyterian see him and say he is inclining to Independencie then let him go and cut his throat The Lord pity you that so Christ Iesus in the souls of people may be the object of your love Is there grace and Christ there be there what there will if there be not that I have nothing to do Now if one that is carnall joyn with me or another or a third man in faction we take him The Lord pity us it is not so in the Army It would do you good to go among them twenty four hours to see the unity that is among them I say learn to honour the Saints Then there is a spirituality there there is a thing that may be called spirituality in the Army There is not onely a profession and duties c. as we have here but a kind of flower of godlinesse some sparklings of their graces there is not onely grace but grace flying As when I was in the Army I saw some glory shine in their graces that would dazle a mans eyes almost as the Sun an excellencie of grace the spirituality of grace We strive about low carnall things about this and that but they about the mysteries of the Kingdom of God you may see it gloriously And then what self-deniall is there Who lives there by plundering and stealing as many have done and do And then when honour is got how doth every one study to cast honour on his brother and not on himself and studies silence not to have his name mentioned but that God may have glory O it is a glorious thing And then what fidelity If there were nothing in them of all those things in that flaming manner yet me thinks their fidelity as subjects should make them honourable How I will tell you how because that having no encouragment almost but railing and scoffing and contemning of them and raising reproaches on them c. and the liberty of their conscience threatned day by day and impaired very much every day by those that stay
glorifies himself many times and a man knows not how in the world he comes to do it or why he did it or how he came about it so God doth many glorioous things by us and we are not aware This is the Lord this is the greatness of his power God in some actions he either carries a man and doth his work by a man without a man as it were or else he doth it above him There is no good almost that thou doest but thou shalt clearly see that it is above thee that it is God thou wert never able to speak or to do or to go through any such thing but the Lord went through with it It may be some of you understand not what it is to do a thing without you it is too spiritual but there are Christians that may and can say God did it without me I was as a block I know not how I was scarce active with God God did all O great and glorious is that power look which way you will what that power is in changing thy nature in destroying old Adam what that power is in resisting temptations what that power is in wrestling and prevailing with God what that power is to uphold thee in the wicked world and to preserve thee to the last day Consider it every way it is great wondrous glorious and mighty and exceeding mighty is that power that works in them that believe even the power of the Spirit of God The Spirit is called power Power it self as it were not that I deny the person of the Spirit thereby as if the Spirit were nothing but the energy or working of God that is not the meaning but he is called power because as it were he is nothing but power whatsoever he doth he doth powerfully and gloriously and effectually Angels work in little common outward things marke the difference between the assistance of the Spirit and of Angels The Angels are ministring spirits sent out to wait upon the Saints How do Angels work for us Angels make not prayers in us Angels never subdue one sin in me they can never bring peace to my conscience and soul Angels converse not in spiritual things but in outward things Angels keep thee that thou dash not thy foot against a stone they keep thee from breaking thy neck they keep fire from thine house but spiritual things are done by the Spirit of God the exceeding greatness of power is by the Spirit Therefore consider of this word be not such poor low-hearted creatures to be afraid of every ill and to be discouraged from going about any good thing I say consider the power that dwels in you and indeavor to give glory to God to magnify the blessed Spirit that works in you to admire it for the more you admire the Spirit the more vile you will be in your selves and the viler you are in your selves that you attribute all to the Spirit the more glory God shall have and then things will be as they should be in the best order for God and man Expositions and Observations on EPHESIANS 5. 1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love c. THe Apostle in this Chapter and especially in that going before exhorts the Saints to walk worthy of their calling that is to walk humbly and meekly c. towards God and men and there he shews sometimes the good they should follow and the evil they should leave promiscuously which is meant by walking worthy of their calling And here in this first verse saith he I beseech you be followers of God as dear children He puts in this motive to all the holiness he speaks of before and after that as dear children of a blessed father they would hearken to him that they would hate all the evil and cleave to all the good he had proposed to them so that the Lesson is this That The Do ∣ ctrine Our spiritual priviledges should as much ingage us to holiness as they should help on our comfort My meaning is this you know in this wicked world wherein we are this is one Gospel way that we use and practise and have been taught that whensoever we came near the Lord especially then we should indeavor to raise up our souls by the consideration of our Gospel-priviledges and the relations between us and God When you and I come to pray we study as much as we can to look on him as a father and we do well and to look on our selves as sons and daughters as those that are in Christ as those that have their sins pardoned and covered in him to look on our selves as the Spouse and Wife of Christ And all the relations we can make out and all the priviledges that are laid down in Scripture we seek to own them whereby to get up our souls to some joy and comfort before the Lord and this is a good and blessed thing when we do so for the Lord would have his children as to live holily so he delights to see them live comfortably The Lord takes delight in the prosperity of his people But here now you and I miss we do this out of a kinde of self-Self-love because we would have comfort we make use of our priviledges and plead our relations but we should also make use of them to move us to holiness and to resist sin and evil as well as to raise us to comfort and consolation And thence it is that we are so oft foyled with sin because we walk as men as the children of men as the Scripture saith we forget in what a station God hath put us in what grace and glory we stand through Jesus Christ Therefore when we are walking and conversing in the world we look on our selves as men we think of our neighbours what they would have done in such a case and it may be we thinke of natural reason it may be of corrupt reason but we do not state our selves all the day as sons and daughters of God Man naturally doth not love to reflect upon himself which saith Dr. Preston is the difference between a man and a beast take two or three children it may be one is a Lords son and another the son of a Begger they reflect upon themselves you shall see by their carriage the poor childe carries himself respectively to the other the other carries himself disdainfully to him So all people every one hath a kinde of conclusion upon himself from natural considerations Such a one carries himself high he reflects so upon himself Why he thinks he is a man of such parts of such fortunes and breeding and feature and the like and he carries himself accordingly It is so with all mankinde Now if we would have the Spirit of God shine upon our souls and draw such conclusions alway that lie in our breasts that I am a son a daughter of God one in Christ married to Christ bone of his bone and
works and no otherwise for I know this no trouble nothing can befall a Saint that is rightly principled according to the Gospel but it is exceeding amiable If there be sorrow for sin or any thing that you account bitter in it self if it fall on such a soul that is indued with such a principle that is as sweet as any thing else I may say though it be Nonsence to carnal ears his sorrow is as sweet as his joy his sorrow for sin is as sweet as his joy for mercies if he be one that is rightly transplanted from Mount Sinai to Mount Sion Therefore see how the Apostle lays it down look on it and you shall see nothing but what is truly amiable But ye are come to Mount Sion Now Mount Sion was a beautiful place saith the holy Ghost the beautifullest place in all Ierusalem where the Kings house was Davids house covered with gold Therefore beautiful things in Scripture are laid down by the name of Sion and usually it is called the Virgin Sion for fairness and beauty Ye are come to Mount Sion And to the City of the living God What is that The heavenly Ierusalem Not to the old Ierusalem that was subject to be taken and to be burned and subject to pestilence and famine and sword but to the heavenly Ierusalem the Ierusalem that comes down from heaven And to an innumerable company of Angels You are come now to the place where there are Myriads of Angels In the state of the Saints in the new Testament there are innumerable companies of Angels that God hath ordered to waite on them to protect and preserve and to save them In the old Testament we read of one Angel here and another there one Angel was sent to Sennacheribs Camp to destroy it but here is an innumerable company of Angels this is the state of the Church in the new Testament To the general assembly and Church of the first born I cannot go over all the particulars but if you read All things amiable to a man rightly built upon Christ them over you shall see that there is no object but what is throughly amiable and that is the onely thing I would commend to you Let him be a man that is rightly laid upon Jesus Christ and hath the right knowledg of him according to the Gospel by his holy Spirit I do not say that there is a little but there is nothing that he can conceive or imagine but it is sweet and amiable and pleasant to him as For instance look which way you will if he behold God there he seeth infinite sweetness how he is his Father reconciled to him and ful of eternal bowels of affection towards him before the world was one that loves him infinitely and takes care of him perpetually If he look on Jesus Christ he sees that he is his husband he is one with him as Christ is one with the Father If he look upon the Ordinances he sees them as blessed pipes that have many sweet promises to convey more of the love of God and of his Spirit to his soul If he look upon the creatures he sees the glory of God upon them in creating them and the goodness of God in providing them for him and he tasts the love of God in them If he look on afflictions he sees them as sweet wise and seasonable corrections from his heavenly Father to bring him nearer to him If he look on sin as sin is the transgression of the Moral Law he sees all forgiven by the righteousness that is in Christ and all nailed to his Cross and he knows that sin in him shall work for the best that it may make him prize the grace of God more and come nearer to God If he look on persecution and the plotting of wicked people against the Church a Saint that is rightly set in the new Testament he sees nothing but what is beautiful and amiable Not but that there are objects that in themselves are not amiable as sin is not amiable in it self properly considered neither is affliction but he hath such a glass the Lord casts such a light in him through which he sees every thing the light of the Gospel through the holy Spirit that there is nothing but joy and comfort That is the reason that the Apostle commands which is a strange command Rejoyce saith he in the midst of afflictions rejoyce when ye fall into divers temptations And rejoyce and again rejoyce Phil. 4. And presently after Let your patience and moderation be known unto all men As if he had said Ye are in great afflictions yet rejoyce evermore If these Philippians had been as we are and had had those principles of Mount Sinai in them they would never have rejoyced in those great afflictions but having clearly the love of God in them and justification rightly placed on Christ and the principles of the Gospel rightly planted in them there was no affliction or temptation whatsoever but they could rejoyce in it Rejoyce evermore I do not know whether you yet fully understand it the Lord teach you that you may know what is the hope of you calling what a glorious condition God hath called you to I will conclude with three or four words of Exhortation to you from this Lesson that every object that a Saint that is in the new Ierusalem can behold is altogether amiable The uses are here mentioned in the Chapter before Then in the first place learn not to faint under afflictions 1. Use Not to faint in afflictions for that is the reason the Apostle brings this in do not so much strive or struggle how to get out of afflictions as to get more Gospel light to see afflictions for that is all one nay better then the other Therefore if the Lord do but give you a little Eye-salve that is his Spirit to look on them you shall see no gall nor taste nor see any misery or evil in them at all That is the Use that is here spoken of Therefore what ever thy afflictions be labor to understand rightly their nature and thy station in the new Testament and no doubt but thou shalt bear them through Another Use that the Apostle teacheth us is this 2. Not to undervalue the glorious condition of Saintship and me thinks in my apprehension it is a very considerable word Beware least there be any fornicator or prophane person among you as Esau that for one morsel of meat sold his Birthright for saith he we are not come to the Mount that might be touched I apprehend the meaning to be this that this being so the estate of a Saint being so glorious then beware you that are Professors least any of you be so prophane as to sell your birth-right that is all your glorious priviledges and unconceiveable happiness in your condition for a mess of pottage that is that you do not relinquish basely these mercies to forsake your
towards it the heart lyes gaping and is dead Let any lust or sin come any temptation though it be never so poor and feeble there is no resistance there is an inrode into the soul without any opposition let pride or frowardness or filthiness or covetousness and worldliness come there is nothing to resist it because the life of the soul is away which is the spirit of God And is not this an excellent thing then for a man to have the spirit of God dwelling in him that when good is proposed to him the spirit may as it were switch him It is a homely expression but I have found it by experience As a jade with a good switch is set on to the journey or to his businesse so when the soul of a man hath somewhat within to switch him to cause him to close with good things to lay hold on them to attempt them at least Whereas when the spirit is away there is no stirring the soul is as flat and as dead as water in a stinking ditch This is the excellency of the spirit Therefore you that have it prize it There are some that if they had it again as once they had they would prize it and praise God for it and would now give a world for it Therefore you that have these stirrings of the spirit in you to make you close with good and to resist evil in some measure bless God and praise his name for it That is the thing I drive at that you may see the use and worth and excellency of the Spirit of God in your souls When the Spirit of God is away from the soul all the seals of Gods Love and the signs of his Favor they are cut off at one dash as it were I mean thus when the Spirit of God dwels in the soul you could read the love of God in every Ordinance you could see it in every Grace and in every Promise in the Word of God in every thing and you could see one while your election with joy and another while Gods everlasting love with joy and another while the death of Christ and another while your union with him another while your Redemption and Reconciliation and Gods Love sealed in all these Nay in every creature you could taste the Love of God in your cloathes and your meat and every thing But let the Spirit of God be gone and all these are gone Take all Promises and Mercies and Sacraments they seal not one spark of the Love of God but they are all dead speechless things that signifie and speak no comfort at the best and it may be horror that a man may read I had almost said his Reprobation in that which a few hours before he could have read his election in and those Scriptures all along that he could sweetly have seen the Will of God in and could say that which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor hath entred into the hart of man that I have seen he can shut his Bible and say and almost swear that he understands not one tittle in it That soul that when he had the Spirit could spring with joy unspeakable and full of glory when he came before the Lord to call upon him either in publick or in private and could pour his soul into his fathers bosom that could have prayed a whole year if he had had time and strength to continue he is not able now to speak one word to the Lord. And more then so he is not now deprived only of all light of all Knowledg of all assurance of all comfort of all strength either to do good or to resist evil but there is positive horror in the heart positive fear and terror and darkness a bondage to unbelief seizing upon him That as our Lord saith The Spirit is like winde that no man knows whence it comes or whither it goes So he feels a misery in his soul that he knows not whence it comes or where it will end As it was said of the Powder plot the Powder Treason that there should be a blow given that none should know whence it was so he sees a blow given to his soul and the life of it and all that is good and excellent in it and he knows not whence it is he can say that his soul is no other then a plain hell for there is no positive evil in hell but it is there and there is no privative evil no evil of deprivation of any thing that is good but he feels it there so that in all our Religion our Graces and Duties and Assurances and Evidences the Spirit of Iesus Christ is the life of all Therefore no wonder that David who was a Type of a Gospel Christian should say Create in me O Lord a new heart andrenew and restore thy holy Spirit as if he had said since thy holy Spirit went away there is an annihilation all that is in me is annihilated He doth not say mend and repair but create I see not so much as a stump of Grace a root or a habit or any thing but all is pulled up and thou must create in me a right spirit Therefore learn that the life of all your Comfort and Assurance and Profession and Graces and Duties and all is the Spirit of God It is but the turning of Gods hand to say Come back my holy Spirit from such a soul leave him but one three hours and then he will be according as I have told you therefore saith the Apostle we are not debtors to the flesh but to the Spirit If ever you finde comfort in an Ordinance you owe thanks to the Spirit if ever you have a little assurance of Gods love whom will ye thank for it Ye are no debtors to the flesh he doth not mean you are not debtors to sin there is no man but he knows that he owes nothing to sin but saith he not to the flesh that is principally to any thing that is not the Spirit to fleshly wisdom to natural parts to our best abilities and endeavours If ever you have gotten any thing by Sabbaths or Sermons or the company of the Saints it was not from your own wisdom or pains but you are debtors to the Spirit of God it is the Spirit that wrought it therefore prize the Spirit of God you that have it O if you could but borrow the eyes of poor souls that had it once and have it not O how happy creatures would you think you are notwithstanding all outward miseries because Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit dwels in your hearts but we know not the worth of it till we want it and then we can prize it and would give a world for it And then labor to please the blessed Spirit take heed of provoking and grieving of him the Spirit is a more dainty Spirit then you are aware of you may easily vex and grieve and fret it do not dally with sin Christians
of the Lord hath spoken it Then they shall be quiet there shall not be such persecuting in the world For all people will walk every 〈◊〉 in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for evermore That is the reason why I think it is meant of wars about Religion because it is said all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of our God also That is people shall not be forced to worship this or that God or this way or that way with sword and spear but they shall all sit under their own vines that shall be the fruit of that abundance of teaching that there will be every Nation will walk in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever Not beloved but that the Lord Iesus hath left and doth still continue to the end of the world a way of spirituall censure and punishments for people that sin against him It is not meant that people in the last times shall go where they will and do what they list no we have ordinances in the Church given by Christ for the correction of those that walk inordinately we are to deliver our selves from them and to deliver them up to Satan But in respect of the main course that the world hath been in and is to this day they shall not then be under censures for those nifles and trifles as hitherto the way hath been by fire and fagot and sword but saith the Holy Ghost it shall not be so then every one shall walk in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for evermore Then here is another mercie In that day saith the Lord will I assemble her that halteth and I will gather her that is driven out and her that I have afflicted and I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast afar off a strong Nation and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever That is we may know the worth of mercies by the presence of miseries we see now some halting some runing into errours and blasphemies and we know not what to do but then the Lord will make them that halt a remnant the Lord will gather the people that halt and go aside and he will settle and confirm them in the truth These are the thoughts of the Lord and the counsells of God concerning the last dayes Therefore we are the while to wait patiently for the Lord and to pray earnestly that God would make good his promise to us and not to loose our selves as we are apt to see the disorders and confusions of Churches and Common-wealths in these days But as people that are in a storm we should look when the cloud will be over that the Lord will give fairer weather and remove all these things when the last and blessed and best dayes shall come And this is the chief thing that the prophet here aimes at Expositions and Observations on HABAKKUK 2. 4. But the just shall live by his faith I Will not stand now to shew you what a just man is Only in a word take notice that the just man here meant is not a man that is just in his own sight or in his own personall righteousnesse or just in the esteeme of the world though men be so called and not improperly he is a just man that deales justly but the just man in the Gospell language is a man that though he be not greatly esteemed in the world and though he hath many things that make him seem less just then many morall men that seem just yet according to the law of God he is just we are to declare him so the Gospell declares him just because God hath received a righteousness whereby he calls him just he calls him just because Iesus Christ is The just man lives by faith four wayes 1. In respect of justification made righteousness to him Now the just man lives by his faith four wayes He lives by faith first in respect of justification there is a light that the Saints have that whereas as sinners they were dead before in trespasses and sins they now see themselves acquitted of all their debts they see Gods justice satisfied and his law fulfilled and they see themselves just men whereas they were dead in law before now in law or in Gospell as it were they are alive again For so it is that every man and woman among us though he be never so honest or civill or faithfull in holy duties c. yet if he be not justified by the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ he is a dead man in the language of God and according to the law of God Just as a man at the barr that is condemned to die he is a dead man in law though the sentence as Solomon saith be sometimes delayed and put off and not executed he may be reprived a little from one yeer to another but he is a dead man that is he is an unjustified man so if God hath not given thee the righteousnesse of Christ and a heart to lay hold of that be what thou wilt in thy self and do what thou canst of thy self yet thou art a dead man and those that lay hold of that righteousnesse are living men This life is much spoken of Rom. 5. how we are dead by the first Adam and alive by the second Adam that life is our justification vers 17. By one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ There is secondly a life of sanctification Ephes 4. they were strangers from the life of God that is the life 2. In respect of sanctification of holinesse and their hearts were heardned and carried away with lasciviousnesse c. Thus a man comes to live by faith for all that thou dost though thou account it holinesse and the world may account thee a holy man yet if every graine of thy grace and holinesse do not come from Christ by the power of faith thou art but a dead man and all thy works are but dead works Then thirdly the Saints live by faith that is the life 3. Faith is their assurance of assurance as I may so call it the Saints they hold their assurance of the former by the power of faith not by sense for a while at least they know they are Saints how do they know it by faith they know they are justified how do they know it By Faith True it is when God gives them the knowledge of sense they must not shut their eyes one day that they have it but our eyes are so dim that we are ready to mistake so that the maine course of a mans life is by faith from
Gods love in Christ in the free Covenant which Covenant consists in such promises which promises speak to me by such ordinances as this and the Lords Supper c. This is a third way Fourthly and lastly the Saints live by faith that is in all afflictions they do bear up their spirits and are supported 4. It is their support in afflictions by the power of faith upon the word though there be nothing seen and appear A naturall man cannot hold up but sink further then there is some sensible visible thing to hold him up but the just those that are Saints they have an art a mysticall art whereby when they see nothing but have a word wherein God hath promised to do this or that for them they can bear up themselves and so go on as chearfully as if they did enjoy or as if they did see their deliverance Thus Habakkuk we read this proverb verse 1 2 3. The vision is for an appointed time in the end it will speak and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tary Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith There was a vision that did promise good to this people but this vision must tarry a little it must not be performed presently but they might say how shall we do in the mean while The just shall live by his faith Though there be nothing seen yet notwithstanding they shall bear themselves and carry themselves chearfully and comfortably and contentedly by beholding the truth of the busines and the sweet expectation they have of it as if it were come already You have the proverb repeated by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews in this sense yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry You have need of patience saith the Apostle They were in great afflictions there was a promise that God would help them but what shall we do in the meane while while the grasse grows In the meane while the just shall live by his faith he shall drive on and carry on the work and bear up himself and his spirit and his comfort and all on the word of the Lord and he shall do all this by his faith So that this being the lesson shortly though I be not able yet to clear this fully to you for truly this is a lesson wherein we still shall want light we are not able to see it perfectly it is from faith to faith saith the Apostle That is we come from one degree of faith to another to live by faith there are many kinds many degrees of living by faith Now this is it that I would commend to you and exhort you to that you would seek the Lord and study the Scriptures that you might come to this that you may live by faith First of all in the grosser part of it concerning sanctification that is an easie thing to be understood that you would not regard or weigh any thing in all your profession but what doth come from Iesus Christ by faith Truly much of our Religion is a naturall kinde of Religion and much of that which is like good in us doth not spring from Iesus Christ and whatsoever is not from him will never be accepted by him We have many morall vertues from old Adam that we gild over and account them graces but God loaths them We have many duties that we have taken up in the imitation of others by good education or the power of the letter Preached to us and yet this is not the life of faith it is not holinesse by faith And therefore let us not like many professors study the muchnesse of Religion or the plausiblenesse of it without as that I am able to preach as other preachers do and you are able to pray in a day of humiliation as other professors do this is nothing but let us labour that that little holinesse that is in us may clearly proceed from the Lord Iesus Christ One had better have a Garden of a few true and pleasant Flowers though there be but a few then to have a Garden with some Flowers and a world of trash like Flowers there is no pleasure in it Now I fear that much of thy best duties spring from old Adam much of thy best prayers and much it may be of that Religion whereby thou art accounted a professor much of it I fear is nothing but old Adam and his ruines screwed up and varnished or gilded and not from the Lord Iesus Christ And therefore remember this that as drunkennesse and whoredom and those grosse and scandalous works of darknesse are called dead works so every graine every stamp of good in thee if it be not from the new Adam it is but a dead work I could shew you how you shall know the one from the other but that the time is short and I must not hinder other occasions Therefore I leave that upon your thoughts that you may pray to the Lord Lord I do not care how men conceive of me I care not though I be among the least of all Saints as Paul saith if I be reckoned the least of all Saints so that that little Saint-ship and holinesse that is in me flow from Christ that it be a grace from his grace and light from his light But the other truth is wondrous hard to expresse that we should in respect of justification and assurance learn the Art of living by faith that when the Lord shall take away all comfortable objects of sight and sense that we can see nothing we cannot pray at all we see corruption upon corruption and waves of temptations one upon another and no working within to relieve us that I am able then to live by faith that is to see a righteousnesse in Iesus Christ and to build upon his word and Covenant to hold my self and my assurance still I am a son still everlasting life belongs to me still though I feele and see nothing but hell and something worse if it may be yet notwithstanding I am a Saint and I am righteous and just and the Lord is my father and hath reserved everlasting life for me Beloved the life that Christians ordinarily do live it is a life mingled with faith and sense for if God give me free grace why should not I rejoyce in it If I clearly see the first fruits of the Kingdom of heaven why should I exclude my reason not to conclude that there is more grace behind But there are other Saints that have a mixture of faith and sense that take away sense and their faith is gone their faith is grounded upon sense And I have oft times looked in to my soul and thought why the Lord suffered me to be carryed away with corruptions and to be overwhelmed with temptations whereas he hates these things and I hate them and I weary