you There is a general and a particular day of Grace The general day of Grace is when the Gospel is brought to a people and the Ministry of it set up by God whereby life and salvation is tendred to all in the blood of Jesus Christ The particular and special day of Grace is when the Gospel is not only preached and Salvation tendred but when the Spirit of the Lord doth accompany it and carry it home to the hearts of sinners sometimes inlightning their minds sometimes convincing their consciences sometimes working inward fears and terrors from a sense of their undone condition sometimes stirring up good affections and desires sometimes working them to strong purposes and resolutions to repent and turn and obey Now where the Spirit doth thus inwardly strive with any sinner that is his particular day of grace his special season of finding and obtaining mercy Seek the Lord while he may be found Isai 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 If ever a sinner be converted and brought into obedience to Jesus Christ this is the time And it is very dangerous to neglect or defer our closing with Christ for it is very uncertain how long or how little while the opportunity may be afforded Who knows when his day of grace begins or when it will end Job 14.5 As no man knows the number of his months so much less doth he know the length of his day of grace Acts 1.7 It is not for you as Christ says in another case to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power And the reason why God hides it from us may be because he would have us lose no opportunity of saving our Souls but imbrace the first tenders of mercy lest God should take our refusal and never tender it more If you repulse the Spirit of God when he knocks you have no promise that ever he will knock again and if he leaves off you are undone for ever The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved Jer. 8.20 God will not wait long upon a lingring sinner he takes delays for denials and so departs and the day of grace ends Most certain it is that the day of grace may be sinned away and that whether you consider it in the general or particular notion of it First Take it in the general notion of it for the injoyment of the means of grace and the Ministry of the Word and Ordinances and this may cease God may deprive a people of a converting Ministry and converting Ordinances and may give them Statutes not good as he did to Israel Ezek. 20.24 25. Because they despised my statutes polluted my Sabbaths and their eyes were after their fathers idols therefore I gave them or gave them up to statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live It is a judicial process of an offended God because of abused mercies they had the Statutes and Judgments and Ordinances of God which were just and good and tended to life as vers 21. But because they slighted these therefore he gave them up to the Statutes and superstitious Inventions of men which were not good but tended to death and destruction It is a dreadful judgment when for slighting and rebelling against the Statutes and Judgments of God he gives a person or a people up to Statutes and judgments that are not good And this seems to be the very judgment that God is giving this Nation up to at this day we have slighted the Yoke of Christ and therefore he is giving us up to the Yoke of Antichrist we have been weary of pure Worship and Ordinances and have been lusting after the Romish inventions and therefore the righteous God seems to be giving us up to them and saying to us as to that people v. 39. As for you O house of Israel thus saith the Lord God go ye serve ye every one his Idols When men will not stoop to nor owne those ways of Christ which are for their good it is just with God to give them up to those ways that are not for their good When men receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved for this cause God sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lye and be damned 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. And these are the Statutes that are not good and the judgments whereby they shall not live Sometimes he gives them up to a blind Ministry the sword of the Lord is upon the arm and the right eye of the Idol-shepherd insomuch that his arm is dried up and his right eye utterly darkned Zach. 11.17 He closeth the eyes of the Prophets and Rulers and Seers together with a spirit of deep sleep so that the vision of all is become as the words of a book sealed which neither unlearned nor learned can read Isai 29.10 11 12. Sometimes he gives them up to a profane and debauched Ministry The Priest and the Prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine through strong drink they erre in vision and stumble in judgment Isai 28.7 From the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land Jer. 23.15 They cause my people to erre by their lies and by their lightness v. 32. Sometimes he doth utterly take away his Ordinances and means of Grace Behold saith the Lord the days come that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread which yet is a sore judgment and makes the mother eat the child of a span long Lam. 2.20 nor a thirst for water for a draught whereof Lysimachus to save his life sold his Kingdom but of hearing the word of the Lord. Amos 8.11 And this was the judgment of God upon Israel We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any among us that knoweth how long Psal 74.9 Amaziah and his Courtiers shall not need to pack away the Prophets and forbid them preaching nigh the Court as Amos 7.12 for God will as a woful Plague to an unworthy people remove them And Israel shall be without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law 2 Chron. 15.3 And this is what our Lord Christ so severely threatned Mat. 21.43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And how sadly hath this word been accomplished upon them for sixteen hundred years together The seven Churches of Asia as also those of Africa that vast Continent thrice as big as Europe are sad instances of this It is plain then that the day of grace in regard of the injoyment of the Ordinances may be sinned away But Secondly The Sinners particular day of grace may be lost and sinned away he may not only sin away the Ordinances but the strivings of the Spirit too he may resist it till it is
which the Gospel brings upon impenitent sinners Their Judge will be severer Their Hell will be hotter Their Season of Grace and time of the Spirits striving will be shorter For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth Rom. 9.28 Secondly The more profligate and desperate in sinning men grow under the Gospel the sooner will the Spirit cease striving For a man may and many a man doth by his own sin shorten his day of grace and provoke God to strive by his Spirit no more Eliphaz speaking of the sinners of the old World says They were cut down out of time and their foundation overflowed with a flood Job 22.16 And therefore what shall we think of England's Priviledges Will they last long I am afraid they will not considering the desperate wickedness of the Nation that reigns in all sorts this may justly cause God to cut them down out of time and cause a flood of judgments to overflow their foundations The abominable pride gluttony drunkenness uncleanness swearing lying Covenant breaking oppression injustice perjuries together with the Errours Heresies Schisms Blasphemies Idolatries and Atheism of the day and I will add the unrighteous persecution of the Ministers and Members of Christ for nothing but their adhering to the word and Kingly Office of Christ these things I fear have brought the Nations day and mercies to a near period And though I speak it with trembling yet I must say it That without a speedy repentance the Lord will shortly do one of these two things either he will remove this generation from the Gospel or else he will remove the Gospel from this generation Thus you see where the force of this reason lies delay of so great a Duty is greatly dangerous whether you look to the indisposition it works or to the uncertainty of life or to the uncertain duration of the day of grace which may be sinned away and then if you would come to Christ you cannot Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer Prov. 1.28 29 30. they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof Salvation is not a thing to be had at your time but at Gods time and Gods time is now in your youth Most agree that it is a reasonable thing that sin should be forsaken that the Yoke of Christ should be taken up but not so soon it is too early and this is it upon which most men perish they slight Gods time When I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered Hos 7.1 A man never discovers more iniquity and more love to sin than in setting light by Gods time of healing The foolish Virgins would fain have entred in with the Bridegroom but when they should have entred their oyl was to get and when they would have entred the door was shut Mat. 25.10 Ye read in Revel 10.1 2 6. of an Angel that hath in his hand a little book open and he swears by him that lives for ever and ever that time should be no longer This Angel is interpreted of Christ and the little book in his hand is the Gospel and it is said to be open because he makes known the whole counsel of God for our Salvation it is Christ that gives out the Gospel and means of grace and it is he that limits the time of mans injoying it beyond which he cannot injoy it for he sweareth that time shall be no longer CHAP. VII Containing the last Reason viz. from the good of Obedience It is a necessary good a profitable good an honourable good a comfortable good Reas 8 THE last but not the least reason is what is hinted here in the Text viz. the goodness of the undertaking there can be no greater reason of obedience than the goodness of it All true obedience springs from love and the object of love is good and when a man loves and obeys God because of the goodness of his Precepts this is excellent Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loves it Psal 119.140 There is nothing proves our regeneration and being made partakers of the divine nature like this 1 Pet. 1.4 for then we have the same object of love as God hath Purity and goodness is the object of Gods love and it cannot but be so because of its suitableness to his nature and therefore to have the same object of love with God argues the Soul changed into the likeness of God Carnal minds have no relish of heavenly things They that are after the flesh savour the things of the flesh Rom. 5.8 That man is undoubtedly born of God that loves the word because it is good and obeys it because it is pure The great argument by which Duty and Obedience is inforced upon the Creature is the good of obedience Deut. 5.29 The Lord commanded us to do all these Statutes to fear the Lord our God Deut. 6.24 Hear it and know it for thy good Job 5.27 And Deut. 10.12 13. What doth the Lord require of thee but to fear him and to walk in his ways and to love him and serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soul To keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good And here in the Text It is good for a man that he bear the Yoke in his youth And the great motive upon which good men labour to confirm themselves in heart and life to the precepts of God is the goodness of them The commandment is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The mandatory part of the word hath an inviting loveliness Manton on Psal 119. p. 456. As the promises of pardon and eternal life suit with the hunger and thirst of the Soul and the natural desires of happiness so the holiness and righteousness of the precept suit with the notions of good and evil that are in mans heart and this draws forth compliance and consent I consent to the Law that it is good Rom. 7.16 It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73.28 There is no likelier means to prevail upon considering minds to come under the Yoke of Christ betimes than to let them see how much duty is their real interest and that obedience is not burden so much as blessedness for that there is an universal good in Religion It is a necessary good a profitable good an honourable good a pleasant good First It is a necessary good Nothing in the world is of equal necessity with this there are many things useful but this is that one thing needful So our Lord Christ says One thing is needful Luke 10.42 and that is subjection to Christ Martha was careful about his entertainment but Mary sate at his feet one
It is true that a hearty resignation to God and a serious imbracing Religion by an unfeigned subjection to Christ always finds acceptance with the Lord Joh. 6.37 Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out There is a double Negative in the Greek which serves to make the promise strong and to incourage faith against all doubts and fears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not not cast him out The promise doth not only import the safety of the estate of such as are in Christ but the welcome reception of all that come to Christ As he will not cast them out that are once united to him so nor will he keep them out who desire truly to close with him whenever it be sooner or later when ever the heart is willing God is ready A sincere obedience shall find acceptance at any time but the earlier we come the kinder shall be our reception and the greater our welcome and it must needs be so First Because we resist the fewer calls and invitations of God which are the expressions of his love and good will to sinners and as nothing provokes God more than when his love is slighted so there is nothing he is more pleased with than when the Soul is won by it to a readiness of obedience and that which pleases God heightens our acceptation Secondly We save God the labour to speak after the manner of men of using other means in which he less delights there are methods which God doth not love to be found in the use of which yet he is constrained to use for our benefit he hath his thorn hedges to stop our course reduce our wandrings and bring us to himself hence we read of his strange works and his strange acts Hos 2.6 7. Isa 28.21 Things which God delights not in but is forced to by the stubbornness of the Creature that he that will not hear the word and who hath ordained it may be made to hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 Now by early imbracing the ways of Christ we happily prevent God in that work which is so contrary to his disposition as being more inclined to mercy than wrath Thirdly We gratifie him in the thing he loves and that is an early obedience Under the Law all Sacrifices were required to be young Deut. 15.19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctifie unto the Lord thy God And Exod. 22.29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors Mark It must be the firstling of the herd and the firstling of the flock and the first ripe fruits and the first liquors And why but to teach us by these Types how pleasing to God a timely conversion is and that if we would present our selves an acceptable Sacrifice to him it must be by an early subjection to the Yoke of Christ He loves a young Abijah a young Josiah a young Timothy a young Saint for a Sacrifice Joh. 20.2 Chap. 21.20 John is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 13.23 And why did Jesus love none other of the Disciples but him Yes he loved them all and that both living and dying Joh. 13.1 Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end But yet he loved John above all the rest and the reason that is given of it by some is because John was brought to Christ betimes of all the Disciples he was youngest when he took up the Yoke of Christ he loved Christ first and therefore Christ loved him best and as he had the highest affection for him so he made the greatest revelations to him All which shews the gracious acceptance of his early obedience It addeth greatly to the value of a gift when it is given readily and at first asking So when we give up our selves to the Call of God without shifting and hucking without demurrs and delays it puts a great value upon our obedience and makes it the more accepted with God Long standing off greatly provokes God and grieves the Spirit though we yield at last Many do by their lusts as Pharaoh did by the Israelites Exod. 5.2 he refuses to let them go Though God commands him till Judgment terrifies him into some kind of compliance and then he will let them go Exod. 8.28 but not far away that he may fetch them back again and when another Plague comes then he will let some go but not all Exod. 10.11 some must stay behind to be Hostages for the rest He never consents they shall all go till he is forced to it so that it was not thank-worthy when he did consent Many love their lusts more than Christ and will not part with them though at the Call of God till by judgment upon judgment he makes them weary of their communion and plagues them out of them the smart of Gods rod the coming of the evil day the wastes of nature the decay of strength the growth of diseases the prospect of another world the sense of a polluted nature a corrupt heart and a mispent life the fore-tastes of the wrath of God these set home by the Spirit may create such terrors in the conscience as may weary a sinner out of his lusts and bring him to Christ at last but he shall not have that welcome as the early Convert hath He shall be received and entertained but not made so much of as if he had come sooner He shall not have those comforts that an earlier Convert feels who took up the Yoke of Christ betimes and so hath walked in the fear of the Lord all his days His own conscience shall upbraid him and fill him with shame for the sollies of a mispent life if his bones are full of the sins of his youth Job 20.11 though they are pardoned in Heaven yet he may carry the pain of them to the grave with him and then he must needs lye down in sorrow Or if he meets with comfort in this life it may be long first and cost him many prayers and many tears much wooing and much waiting Though Christ when he stands at the door and knocks promises that if any man opens he shall sup with him Revel 3.20 Yet if Christ wait long for entrance the Soul may be made to wait long for its entertainment If his own Spouse deny him entrance he 'l deny her his presence if she suffers him to knock and call without admittance he will suffer her to seek and sue for a time without success Cant. 5.2 3 6. Delay God and God will delay you the longer you make him wait in the tenders of his Grace the longer he will make you wait in the expectation of peace and comfort Reas 5. It is the greatest business we have to attend to in the world and therefore is to be most minded and first entred upon It is the
sound belief the want of a serious consideration is the great cause why men dally with God For as Faith makes invisible things evident Heb. 11.1 and future things present so consideration makes them great and gives them their due weight Consideration is an intimate view of things it ponders matters fully their natures events and tendencies It compares one thing with another kind with kind cause with cause circumstance with circumstance issue with issue how they begin and how they end Sin and lust are indeliberate and sudden they must have a present compliance they allow of no consideration they consider not that they do evil Eccles 5.1 He considers not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell says Solomon of the simple sinner Prov. 9.18 Consideration would break the force of lust and spoil Satans design Would men but seriously ponder what sin is and what the Soul is how deceitful how vain how unsatisfying how brutish the one and how noble how precious how immortal the other they would not stake and pawn them to every base lust as they do Would they but consider of the nearness of death and eternity that within a few days or hours they must be in Heaven or Hell that there is nothing between but a little breath which the next morsel he eats may stop all hangs upon a small thred of life which the next disease may fret in sunder they could not dally with duty and slight conversion and a life of holiness as they do What is the reason that men are better upon a sick bed than at another time that Jesus Christ is then prized and repentance sought and holiness desired which in health were slighted and put off the reason is the sense of their condition their case makes them considerate and consideration gives death and eternity a near approach and than they do make other kind of impressions than when we look on them at a distance Had we but the same thoughts of these things in health as we shall have in sickness we should labour for Grace and Holiness as much now as we shall then wish we had I tell you you don't consider enough of the nearness of death and eternity and he that puts the evil day far off will put the Yoke of Christ off too and so he is undone by his own security 4. It is from the unsuitableness that is betwixt the things of Christ and the temper of a sinner Christs Yoke doth no way fit a carnal heart and where there is unsutableness there will be dislike Matt. 16.23 They savour not the things that be of God A carnal heart is satisfyed with carnal contentments and delights a rattle will please a child and a toy be more welcome to a fool than a Crown Every nature delights in things sutable to it self and therefore it is that the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 that it neither is nor can be subject to the law of God for how can spiritual things be sutable and relishing to a carnal heart If Christ should come to the ambitious man and say follow me and I will give thee all the honour and grandeur of this world or to the voluptuous man and say follow me and I will give thee all the pleasures of sense and flesh or to the covetous man and say follow me and I will fill thy Bags and thy Barns I will bless the Ship and the Shop I will give thee the treasures of the Earth and the Sea this would do more than all the motives of the Gospel The young man had never left Christ as he did had he but urged such an argument as this for his heart to close with It is the base love of this present world that makes the call of the Gospel so unsuccessful and ineffectual you may see it in that parable Matt. 22.5 They make light of the tenders of Christ and what is the reason why the Farm and the Oxen and the Merchandise were in the case these must not be left for Christ where lust hath the casting voice O how sad is this if Christ should offer you riches and honours you would come and yet for Heaven and Glory you will not 5. It is because they are deceived and beguiled partly by the cunning of Satan who puts a false varnish upon things Partly by the deceitfulness of their own hearts which turns them aside that they cannot see and say it is a lye which they have in their right hand Isai 44.20 Partly from the delusive appearances of things which by reason of both the former seem other than they are Bernard distinguishes of four sorts of things 1. Some things are good and pleasant so is communion with God for there is the chiefest goodness and the highest sweetness 2. Some things are good but not pleasant as repentance and mortification and self-denial 3. Some things are neither good nor pleasant as utter despair in the present State it is a thing full of sin and sorrow 4. Some things are pleasant but not good and such are the delights of sin they are sweet but not safe they please but they deceive It is the sweetness of sin that gives it countenance it would never be committed if there were no pleasure in it And herein the deceitfulness of sin consists Heb. 3.13 it allures by fair baits and kills by a sharp hook it tempts by its sweets and destroys by its snares Sin is like poyson very luscious but very dangerous the pleasant taste invites and the sinner can't refrain though that which is sweet in the mouth be in the belly bitter as wormwood Many are so bewitched to their lust that though they know it will cost them their Souls yet they can't renounce its pleasures Now these five things put together namely Ignorance Unbelief Security Unsutableness of spiritual things and the deceitfulness of Sin are the causes why so many slight the Yoke of Christ Secondly Let me in the next place having shewed you the causes of it lay before you the aggravations of it for it is a sin of a very hainous nature to put off and slight coming under Christs Yoke First it is base disingenuity for we don't deal with God as we would have him deal with us When we want any mercy we must be heard at first call but God calls for duty again and again and we hear him not We are impatient if God delays us and yet we make no scruple to delay him When we have any thing for God to do that must be done speedily In the day when I call answer me speedily Psal 102.2 But when God hath any thing for us to do there we take leisure If we would have mercy that must be to day but if God calls for duty we put him off till the morrow Now this is basely disingenuous that when we can't bear Gods delays yet we make him bear ours although
to the Divine Will Holiness is the being of the Spiritual Life in us Obedience is the operation of that Life according to the degrees of it in the Soul For there is a great difference in the degrees of Spiritual Life in Believers it is variously Communicated to one more to another less All Believers have it but some have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 and according to the measure of the life of holiness in us such is our strength to obey and according to the strength of our obedience such will the evidence of our subjection to Christ and his Yoke be 2. What greater evidence can there be of our subjection to Christ then that which is the proper and essential act of the new creature and that obedience is It is not more essential to the eye to see nor to the ear to hear then it is for a renewed heart to obey God A Believer doth but act his nature in obeying and that appears from that pleasure and delight which so far as renewed he takes in it Acts of nature are acts of delight hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.22 I delight in the law of God after the inner man And that of David I delight to do thy will O my God And whence this delight arises the next words tell you Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The principle of grace within makes obedience to the law of God a delight and delight in obedience to the law of God proves the truth of that Principle within All delight in doing arises from a suitableness between the Principle and the Precept the heart and the work If there are precepts injoyned us and a defect of Principles in us much may be done but there can be no delight in doing the commands will be grievous But it is not every kind of Obedience that can prove the truth of our subjection to Christ A hypocrite may go far in the outward part of obedience he may have a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 and what is that but a resemblance of a Christian in all the outward lineaments of Godliness He may be able to do all external acts of obedience in common with Believers But there are some things essential to Believers as such the goodness whereof doth adhere intrinsecally to this work done as to love God to fear God to trust in God to delight in God These mingled with our outward duties make them to be obedience of the right kind and these no hypocrite can attain to and therefore cannot perform any one act of true obedience For obedience consists in a full conformity to the will of God as revealed in his word from a Principle of holiness within Many profess subjection to Christ in word but deny it in works calling him Lord Lord but not doing the things which he sayes Luk. 6.46 And many have flexible knees but stiff necks bowing the former to the name Jesus but will not bow the latter to the Yoke of Jesus being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 There is no such Testimony of your being under the Yoke of Christ as conformity to the will of Christ By this then you may make a judgment in this matter When the spies returned from searching the Land of Canaan they brought with them a cluster of Grapes and Pomegranates and Figs Numbers 13.23 and when they came to give an account of their search they shewed them the fruit of the Land and said surely it flowes with milk and hony and this is the fruit of it ver 27. q. d. the Land that yields such good fruit must needs be a good Land The fruit of being under Christs yoke is dying to sin and living to God in a Holy Obedience And by these two Characters your State may certainly be known The heart that yields such fruit is surely a good heart Pray observe that of the Apostle Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness It is not being Baptized into the name of Christ nor taking up the outward profession of Christ and Religion that can distinguish between the servants of Christ and Satan Here is a surer rule He that obeys sin is the servant of sin and he that obeys Christ is the servant of Christ CHAP. XV. Exhorts to thankfulness to God who inclined the heart to this Yoke The wisdom of taking up this Yoke manifested THE last use shall be of Exhortation and I shall direct it to two sorts of persons 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth 2. To such as have never yet taken up the yoke of Christ to this day Exhortat 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth that have made it their work to mind Religion betimes to remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth There are three duties I would commend to such by way of direction Duty 1. The first is thankfulness Though this contributes nothing to God yet it is that which he is delighted with It shews the honesty and integrity of the heart in ascribing effects to their proper causes Thankfulness diminishes the creature to himself and magnifies God It shews a man looks upon himself as nothing and God as all Therefore bless God and be thankful for this great mercy Is there not a cause For 1. How came you to take up Christs yoke Rom. 6.17 Isa 26.13 Time was when ye were the servants of sin other Lords had dominion over you Time was when you were slaves to lust How came you to take up the yoke of Christ It was not natural for by nature we are enemies to grace and holiness It was the fruit of the wisdom of God impressed upon the Soul it was he that gave thee counsel to make this choice and therefore bless him So David sayes in the like case I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Psa 16.7 Counsel for what to take the Lord for his Lord and that implies taking up his yoke O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord ver â— thou art my Lord that implies subjection Thou hast said thou art my Lord that implyes a Covenant resignation So that here he chooses God for his portion and chief good and for his highest Lord and how he came to make this choice he tells you ver 7. It was the Lord that counselled him to this and therefore he resolves the praise and glory shall be to him I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Go you and do likewise bless the Lord who hath perswaded and over power'd your hearts to close with Christ For no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 2. It is the wisest choice that ever you made to choose Christ for your Lord and
promises God promises that he will be our God and we promise to be his people He Covenants to teach and guide and rule us by his Laws and we Covenant to take him for our Lord to hearken to him and obey his voice in all he commands us He ingageth that he will never turn away from us to do us good Jer. 32.40 And we ingage that we will never depart from him but will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Mic. 4.5 So that there is an Everlasting obligation lyes upon you to duty and obedience You have sworn and cannot go back As David sayes I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments Psal 119.106 Now one part of the Covenant is to answer another you look that God should always bless you and provide for your good and God looks that you should always serve him and promote his Glory You expect that God should perform all his promises of Mercy and Blessings and God expects you should be true to all your promises of Obedience and subjection For he said surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour Isa 63.8 Now therefore renew your resolutions of service and subjection Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart Act. 11.23 Resolve in the strength of Christ never to cast off his Yoke nor count his Commandments grievous You cannot rationally expect the Blessings of the Covenant unless you perform the conditions of the Covenant The stipulation on our part must answer that of Gods And therefore as ever you would have God to be your God and Guide unto death Ps 48.14 Rom. 14.18 resolve living and dying to be the Lords Direct 9. Maintain a holy filial fear of God in the world this is an excellent preservative against Apostacy By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Solomon sayes Prov. 16.6 and he tells you Chap. 14.27 The fear of the Lord is the fountain of life whereby men depart from the snares of death And backsliding from Christ is one of the great snares of death Direct 10. Think much of the day of recompences and of the glorious reward of perseverance in that day Be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a Crown of life Rev. 2.10 non incipientibus sed perseverantibus corona tribuitur It is not mercenary service to quicken our selves to obedience by the hope of a recompence Omnis amor mercedis non est mercenarius It is said of Moses he had respect to the recompence of reward Heb. 11.26 And David sayes I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy Commandments Psal 119.166 He incouraged himself to duty by the hope of Glory And it is said of Christ himself that for the joy that was set before him he indured the Cross Heb. 12.2 Hope of that glorious recompence is of great force to quicken us to perseverance And to the same end doth the Apostle urge it 1 Cor. 15.58 Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. CHAP. XVIII Contains matter of Counsel to Christless sinners with motives and directions to further it 2 Exhortat TO such as have never yet taken up Christs yoke and I am afraid I now speak to many Though many are called to Christ yet few close with Christ and submit to him There are threescore Queens fourscore Concubines Virgins without number Cant. 6.8 How many are sons of Belial without yoke They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under no law but that of the Flesh and under no yoke but that of lust I am now to deal with you whether you will hear me or no I know not you have hitherto turned a deaf ear to all the calls of God and Christ I am now from the authority of this Text to give you one call more and I do in the name of the great God call and invite every sinner of you this day to come to Christ and take up his Yoke And this is no other then the very call that Christ makes in the Gospel Mat. 11.28 29 30. Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Come to me that implies believing Take my yoke upon you that implyes obeying Faith and Obedience can't be separated every one that believes in Christ must obey the commands of Christ If you come to him you must take up his yoke Pray consider it is the counsel of the Lord Christ who knows what is for our good He knows there is no life no salvation no happiness no Heaven without it this is implyed in that rest he promises they shall find rest in so doing which supposes that without taking up his yoke this rest can never be had Again it is his counsel who can and will reward all that practise it and therefore makes this promise ye shall find rest to your Souls Mat. 11.29 And pray mind here is a twofold rest promised one in ver 28. Come to me and I will give you rest that is a rest by believing another is ver 29. Take my yoke upon you and I will give you rest that is a rest in obeying So that the former is a peace which flows from justification and pardon of sin and therefore promised to the weary and heavy laden And this is the fruit of Faith in Christ and therefore promised to all upon coming to him The latter is a peace which flows from Sanctification and this is a fruit of Obedience to Christ and therefore promised to them that take up his yoke And mark what kind of rest it is that Christ promises ye shall find rest to your souls So that it is not an outward rest but an inward spiritual rest the outward man may have less rest and peace under Christs yoke then ever your obedience to Christ may make the world hate you reproach you persecute you therefore Christ sayes In the world ye shall have trouble Joh. 16.33 but in me ye shall have peace This finding rest to your souls under the yoke of Christ implyes 4 things which greatly commend Christs service 1. Liberty It holds but Christs yoke to be a yoke of Spiritual Liberty His service is perfect freedom and therefore the Gospel by which this yoke is put upon us is called a law of liberty Jam. 1.25 There is nothing more consistent then obedience to Christ and freedom of Spirit Deo servire summa libertas Pray which are most free the good Angels in Heaven or the evil Angels in Prison and chains of darkness are not the good Angels and yet they are in a state of
to this duty whatever may be a stumbling block or obstruct you in your attempt I have named many in the former part of this discourse let me name 6 more now 1. One is a thinking this yoke of Christ too strict and burdensome this hinders many But never any that took it up found it so and they that never tryed can't judge of it This is a meer subtilty of Satan to mis-represent the ways of Christ that we may perish in our prejudices He deters young ones with this conceit that Christ is a hard Master farewel all pleasure and comfort if once you take up this yoke whereas the design of Christ is the pleasure and comfort of the soul His ways are ways of Pleasantness and all his paths peace Prov. 3.17 Are not the fruits of the Spirit more sweet and comfortable then the works of the Flesh It is Satan that is the hard Master that commands such unreasonable things and then after all instead of a reward of your service deprives you of your peace your comfort your innocence the favour of God the benefit of Christs blood and the hope of Heaven O did we but seriously believe a life to come a glory to be revealed we would think nothing much that might render us capable of that blessedness What will not men do and suffer for a Crown though but fading and transitory It is storyed of Alexander that he provided a Crown and promised it to him that should at such a Feast drink most and four the Story sayes drunk themselves dead to get the Crown Shall men hazard Soul and Body for a poor fading Crown and shall we think any thing hard for a Crown that fades not 1 Cor. 9.25 They for a corruptible crown we for an incorruptible Don't think this yoke of Christ too strict therefore .2 Another hinderance is a worldly Spirit I tell you of all persons the covetous are hardly perswaded to come to Christ Many such do love to take up a Profession to cover and colour their sin but not to take up Christs yoke for then they must lay aside their sin And if you look into Scripture you shall find that this one sin kept more from Christ then any other What made the Gadarens weary of Christ among them but the worldly interest Mat. 8.34 What made the Pharisees deride him and his Doctrine Luk. 16.14 but their covetousness And what made those guests that were bidden to the wedding feast to make light of it Luk. 14.17 18 19 20. but the farm and the Merchandise and the new marryed wife And what made that hopeful young man to forsake Christ and part after such fair hopes given it was this one thing One thing thou lackest Mark 10.21.22 sell that thou hast and give to the poor and come and follow me O you that are young I pray think of this young man and don 't do as he did 3. The scandalous miscarriages of professors and their unsuitable walking this hinders many and hardens them against the ways of Christ But this is unreasonable to judge of the Laws of Christ by the lives of men To condemn the rule because some swerve from it The question is doth the law of Christ countenance this doth it give the least indulgence to any one sin no it is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The way of Christ is holy though all that profess it are not so Gold is excellent though all is not Gold that glisters You will not refuse to take Gold because it is sometimes counterfeited Because some Professors are proud and vain others covetous and base c. therefore you will never go for Professors Because you observe one Church-Member drunk another deceitful in his dealing c. therefore you will never joyn to the Church O take heed of this for you are to look to the rule and to walk by that Gal. 6.16 4. Another hinderance is a presumption of finding mercy at any time Indeed this hath undone many And therefore let me tell you mercy is in bringing you under Christs yoke it is not to keep you from taking it up If hope of mercy hereafter make you neglect the taking up Christs yoke for the present you are undone by the hope of mercy 5. Another hinderance is wicked companions Oh how many have been undone by bad company many that have in youth had great convictions made fair and hopeful beginnings used to pray in secret and read the Scriptures and make conscience of the Lords day by falling into wicked company have lost all Their convictions are stifled duties laid aside God forgotten his day profaned and so their hopeful beginning like to come to a sad end Whoever got good by bad company Oh remember Peter he would venture into the high Priests Hall and company with them and what came of it it ended in a denyal of Christ Evil communication corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 And yet many young ones dare frolick it in all companies drink dance revel run to play houses and worse houses too and yet dread no danger O young ones of all things take heed of bad company Never such a generation of young sinners as in this day that dare not only be drunk and unclean and swear but dare scoff at Religion make a mock at Godliness laugh at Heaven and Hell and in contempt of God dare him to damn them at every word And dare you be found a companion to such as these O let me say to you as Moses did concerning Corah and his wicked company depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in their sins Numb 16.26 For Solomon sayes the companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13.20 Let me tell you I never look to see you own Christ nor the ways of Christ till you resolvedly shake off your wicked companions and say as David did Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God What sayes Solomon to his son Prov. 1.10 My son if sinners intice thee consent thou not One will entice thee from a Sermon to go to an Alehouse another to a Brothel house c. consent not touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 a man that had a running issue under the Law was unclean and he that touched him was unclean Lev. 15.7 Can a man touch pitch and not be defiled wicked men are as infectious as the plague and therefore shun them as you would do one that hath a running soar Resolve to forsake all that have forsaken God Prov. 9.6 Forsake the foolish and live 6. Another hinderance and the greatst of all is the yoke of sin and lust While your neck is under this yoke you can never put on Christs Christ and Lust are two such Masters that no man can ever serve both If any one sin be indulged and spared you can never be true to