deed there must be something else or the sinner will be at a stand and cannot come on cheerfully and receive the grace offered him therefore besides the meanes wee have the speciall cause expressed which is the Lord. For when a man hath heard that is one thing but that is not all for the principall cause is the Lord. God the Father alone can buckle the heart to receive the grace appointed and the mercy offered to the soule and without the principall cause all other meanes I meane the Ministers of the Gospell although it be a savour of life unto life yet it may be a savour of death unto death unlesse the Spirit of the Lord goes with it For when the Gospell is onely revealed to the understanding and that onely conceives of the letter thereof and it soakes not and sinkes not into the heart this we call an outward calling that is the phrase of Divines when some light flash is imparted and communicated unto the soule and is not set on sufficiently that is an outward calling But when God the Father doth accompany the dispensation of the Gospell with the powerfull operation of the Spirit and it puts its hand to the key of the Gospell and unlockes a blinde minde and a hard heart there the soule learnes throughly and effectually the way of salvation The Text saith there must not onely be hearing but learning of the Father else the soule will not nor cannot come Now before I can collect the severall passages out of the words there is some difficulty and obscurity in the phrase therefore give me leave as I am able to discover the meaning and sense of the words and then the collection will be cleere First for the explication of the phrase and I will discourse four questions unto you which will be usefull for the cleere explication of the Text. 4. Questions First what the lesson is that a man must learne before he come Secondly why the Father is said to teach and not the Sonne nor the holy Ghost Thirdly what is the manner how the Father doth teach the soule when he will call it home to himselfe Fourthly what is the frame and disposition of the soule how doth the heart behave it selfe when it hath in truth learned the lesson When the Lord will propound unto and learne the soules of his that belong to him you must not thinke the truth tedious because they will give us light into all the truth that shall bee hereafter discussed out of the word Quest 1 He that hath heard and learned of the Father what is the lesson that he must learne before hee can come that after he hath learned this lesson he may be able to see the path of salvation as propounded to him so also neere at hand that hee might walk therein and receive comfort thereby Answ For answer hereunto the lesson that the soule must learne is this namely the fulnesse of the mercy and grace and salvation that God the Father hath provided and also offered to the poore humbled sinner in and through the Lord Jesus Christ which in deed is able to doe that for a poore sinner which all the meanes and things in the world could not doe and yet notwithstanding he needs I have heretofore discussed the poore miserable plight which a sinner hath brought himselfe into by his manifold rebellions There is no helpe no hope of himselfe in what hee hath or doth to releeve and succour himselfe and therefore he fals flat at the footstoole of the Almighty and is content to be at his disposing Now the lesson that the soule must learne is the fulnesse greatnesse and freenesse of the perfect salvation which is brought unto us through the Lord Jesus Christ And that we may not learne this lesson by halfes but fully and perfectly and that your minds may conceive of the same give me leave to lay it out fully because it will be profitable for our ensuing discourse and this lesson discovers it selfe in three things as in three lines as I may so terme it The first is this that the soule may learne there is enough sufficiency in the mercy of God to fill up all the empty chinkes of the soule and supply all the wants that a sinner hath and releeve him in all those necessities that either doe or can befall him this is the condition of every sonne of man since the fall of Adam that there is not onely a great deale of weaknesse in the soule but there is a great deale of wants and emptinesse in the soule Now this is the fulnesse of the mercy of God that whatsoever our weaknesses wants or necessities bee there is full sufficiency enough in that masse to fill up all and to give the soule full content in every particular Hence the phrase of Scripture runnes thus when God propounds the fulnesse of mercy in Jesus Christ he calls it a treasury and all the treasures of wisedome and holinesse are in Christ not one treasure but all treasures not some treasures but all treasures Esay 61. When the Gospell was professed there was a fulnesse of mercy and there wee shall see a kinde of meeting and concurrency of all blessings together So that where the Gospell comes there is joy for the sorrowfull peace for the troubled strength for the weake be your miseries what they can be here is releefe seasonable and sutable to all your wants miseries and necessities Nay this is not onely for the present necessity Mercy is not only able to releeve your present necessity but your future also It is not with mercy as with the widow of Sarepta who thought when the meale in the barrell and the oyle in the cruse was spent she should then surely perish No it is not so in the fulnesse and sufficiency of this mercy it hath not onely enough to doe you good for the present and to succour you in all present wants but what miseries soever shall befall thee or what troubles shall betide thee for future times the fulnesse of Gods mercy laies in provision against such necessities and times of miseries and vexations For a poore sinner may be driven to a stand after this manner It is true saith the sinner I have heretofore committed many sinnes God hath sealed up the pardon of them unto me and those sins which have heretofore pleased me God hath given me a sight of them in some power and measure against them But what if more sins if more temptations if more corruptions if more guilt if more horror seize upon my heart how then shall I succour my selfe But now this is the fulnesse and sufficiency of mercy it doth not onely case a man in regard of present necessity but layes provision for all future wants and calamities that can befall the soule Psal 130.7 The text saith Let Israel hope in the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption The word in the originall is there is multiplying
redemption or redemption encreasing if misery sorrow and anguish be multiplyed there is multiplyed redemption also Then know it if you know your owne soules you see it if you see your owne lives that it is new sinnes new corruptions prevailing with you But here is the comfort of the soule as sinne increaseth so mercy increaseth as corruption multiplyes so redemption multiplyes therefore he is called the Father of mercy as who should say he begets mercy even a generation of mercies from day to day and it is a large generation of new mercies framed and made to incourage poore soules therefore it is said with the Lord there is a fountaine of life Looke as it is with a fountaine there is not onely water in it for the present but it feeds severall cocks and conduits and though it runnes out daily it enlargeth it selfe daily So with the Lord there is a fountaine of life If there be a fountaine of death in thy soule in regard of thy sinnes to kill thee so a fountaine in God to quicken thee Hence it comes to passe that the Lord speaking of his mercy calls it the exceeding riches of his mercy Ephes 2.7 I say the Lord hath not onely fulnesse of mercy but he is rich in all his fulnesse nay he exceeds in all the riches of the fulnesse of his mercy So that be we never so poore and beggerly these sins increase and those miseries increase why yet though thou bee a bankrupt in grace yet the Lord is full of goodnesse full of mercy yea he exceeds in his fulnesse to succour thy heart in all necessities nay our miseries and wants bee great yet haply thy feare is greater than all the rest thy soule is troubled many times more with the feare of what will be than with the feeling of what is already befalne thee But now how ever thy miseries be great and thy feare exceeds all misery that can betide yet mercy will remove and prevent those feares and Christ will doe more for thee than thou canst feare will fall upon thee Nay a man doth not feare what misery can befall upon him but his heart may imagine more than he doth feare But here is the fulnesse of mercy mercy full to the brim and running over mercy is able to doe more for thee than thou canst feare or conceive shall come upon thee Ephes 3.20 then saith the Lord exceeding excesse abundantly above that we can aske or thinke So then the words runne thus then winde up the point Thou seest thou findest thou feelest many sorrowes now assailing thee thou expectest more trouble to befall thee and thou dost conceive more than thou dost feare thy sorrowes out-bid thy heart thy feares out-bid thy sorrowes and thy thoughts goe beyond thy feares and yet here is the comfort of a poore soule in all his misery and wretchednesse the mercy of the Lord out-bids all these whatsoever may can or shall befall thee Gather then up briefly and shut up this first passage Many are the sorrowes of the righteous guilt of sinne perplexing the sinner and filthinesse of sinnes tyrannizing and domineering over the soule nay many feares and cares for future times for a sinner saith Sometimes my condition is marvellous poore my estate marvellous miserable what if small temptations what if small corruptions what if such a fall should betide me what then shall become of my soule Nay a mans imagination exceeds all feares The soule that thinks with it self Should the Lord deale in justice and should my sinnes get the victory over me which I hope will never be for what shall I then do for succour yet this is the comfort of a poore soule let it read this lesson The Lord is able and mercy can doe excessive exceeding abundantly above all thy sorrowes are abundant thy feares are very abundant thy imaginations are excessive exceeding abundant exceeding above all present sorrowes above all future feare and above the course of all imaginations This discourse shall serve for the first passage We will now adde the second The soule is not yet fully satisfied but replyes It is true there is bread enough in my Fathers house that I yeeld and that I confesse there is abundance of mercy in God a world of mercy that pardoned Manasses and saved Saul but what is that to me if there be bread enough in my Fathers house and I starve for hunger and get no benefit by this mercy of God But how shall a man starve in this mercy if a way can be conceived and a meanes can be propounded for another supply to the soule to fill up the necessity of it this will be seene in the next particular I say herein appeares more fulnesse of mercy It is not onely sufficient to releeve a man in all the miseries that can befall him but this is another thing considered mercy is able to make thee partake in the same mercy God doth not leave thee to thy selfe that thou shouldest buy it and purchase it and buy it and procure it but mercy is able to suffice thy soule that thou maist be refreshed thereby This is the tenor of mercy God requires of a man that he should beleeve now mercy doth helpe to performe the duty commanded The Lord as he requires the condition of thee so he worketh the condition in thee hee makes thee beleeve that thou shalt be saved as there is fulnesse of grace in himselfe to doe thee good if thou dost receive the same this is the difference betweene the two Covenants the Covenant of workes and the Covenant of grace The first covenant runnes Adam shall doe and live now it stood upon the use and abuse of his free will either to doe the will of God and be blessed or to breake the law and be cursed it was in his power to receive the life and thus either by breach or not doing the condition required Adam must performe But it is not so here the Lord in deed requires a condition no man can be saved but he must beleeve but here is the privilege that the Lord as he makes this condition with the soule so also he keepeth us in performing the condition for the Lord he requires that the soule should rest upon him and he make him also to doe it he requires the soule to cleave unto him Ezek. 36.26 27. There is the tenor of this covenant A new heart will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Or if they will walke in my wayes out of thine owne power then I will vouchsafe this mercy and favour Now the Lord requires this condition and workes it also in his children he requires this of them and he workes this in them for their everlasting good as Heb. 8.9 the Lord saith This is the covenant I
into the heart and by the over-piercing worke doth leave some dint of supernaturall and spirituall vertue on the heart The Spirit doth not onely with truth bring home the evidence to the heart but it iâ— stâ—ll whispering and calling and making knowne the same and forcibly soketh in the rellish of the freenesse of Gods grace and leaveth a dint of supernaturall vertue upon the soule We will expresse the points because it is somewhat difficult and is the scope of that place 2 Tim. 1.7 The Lord hath not given you the spirit of feare but of a sound minde The spirit of feare is the spirit of bondage in humiliation contrition When the Spirit sheweth a man his sinnes and sheweth him that he is in bondage and in fetters le ts him get out how he can this is the spirit of feare and of bondage In the second place there is the spirit of power But what is this spirit of power You must imagine this spirit of power doth not intimate any particular grace but as it were the sinewes and strength of the worke of the Spirit conveying it selfe through the frame of the heart and this I terme to bee the effectuall worke of the Spirit of God When the soule is humbled the Lord sweetly communicates into the soule a supernaturall and spirituall vertue Lastly as it is in nature take a knife if it be rubbed on a Loadstone it will draw iron unto it now it cannot doe that because it is a knife but because it is rubbed on a stone and receives vertue there from So it is with a heart humbled it is a fit subject for the grace of God to worke upon the love of God is like the loadstone and if the heart he rubbed thereupon and affected with the sweetnesse thereof it will bee able to close with that mercy and come to that mercy and goe to God from whence that mercy comes Quest 4 What is the behaviour of the soule when it hath learned this lesson from the Lord Answ I answer When these two things meet together in the soule then it hath learned this lesson The first is this when the soule having heard of that plentifull redemption that is in Christ as also having apprehended the revelation thereof it commeth to close with the worke of the Spirit revealing presenting and offering grace to the heart nay it comes to give entertainment to he riches of that mercy revealed to the soule There is in the mercy of God and in the blessed truth of the promises a great excellency Now when this is so plentifully brought home to the heart that it breakes through all oppositions which may hinder the worke of the Spirit upon the soule when it is brought home by the spirit of God and the heart gives way and closes with it so that there is nothing betweene that and the soule this I take to be the first frame of the soule that beginnes to learne this lesson it beginnes to close to the truth to give way to the sweetnesse that is in it and bids adieu to all delight and sinnes and whatsoever may be a hindrance unto it from receiving of this grace into the soule This is the first passage The second with which I will conclude is this that as the soule closeth with that mercy and welcommeth it and the heart is content to take up mercy upon those termes so in the second place there is an impression and disposition left upon the soule that it is framed and disposed there is a kinde of print which the soule hath with it so that as the mercy of God is revealed to the soule and communicated to the soule so there is a kind of impression frame and print which the heart retaineth and hath wrought upon it by this grace and free favour of God made knowne therefore that phrase Rom. 6.17 is a marvellous patterne to our purpose the Text saith they were delivered to this forme of doctrine Looke as it is with a seale if the seale be set to the wax and leave an impression just so many letters upon the wax as in the seale then it is wholly sealed So the Spirit of God through Christ in the promises doth reveale al the freenesse and grace of mercy in Christ Now when the Spirit doth leave an impression on the soule that man is delivered into the truth I conclude all in Acts 26.18 when Saul was sent to preach to the Gentiles the Text saith he was but to bring them out of darknesse into light mark when the Lord doth come to worke effectually upon the soule he brings men from under the power of darknesse whereas the understanding was darke and blinded when the Spirit comes it turnes it from the darknesse and power of sinne unto the power of light and grace Lastly the power of the heart doth these two things for not onely some of the heart must bee brought to God but the whole heart therefore in the precious promises of grace and savation there is fulnesse of all good to draw all the faculties of the soule unto the Lord and therefore the faithfulnesse and the truth of God is mainly revealed in the promises now that fits the understanding and makes it looke to God for pardon for power and mercy As the promise is a true word so it is a good word this answers all the will and affections there is a possibility in mercy to save a man hope expects it but then the soule must looke onely to Christ for mercy desire long for it for that there is a certainty that a man shall have mercy if he can desire it love doth welcome and delight in it nay the soule doth say The Lord hath said thou must be saved nay thou must looke to Christ for mercy it is no where else to be had nay if thou dost desire it thou shalt have it and then the Lord determines the point it is done mercy is thine and then the will addes full consent and sayes Amen Lord let it be as thou hast said Gather them up briefly When the Spirit of God doth so cleerly present mercy to the soule and doth leave by the over-powring worke thereof a supernaturall worke upon the soule that the spirit closeth therewith and receives the print and impression thereof now the lesson is fully learned this may suffice for the opening of the severall things now therefore we will addresse our selves to gather the doctrines out of the Text. And first for the generall in that the Father is said to teach Doct. That the teaching of the heart effectually is the proper taske and worke of God It is not you that can teach your selves neither can all the meanes and friends under heaven doe it no it is the work onely of the Father All these meanes and ministers are usefull but God is the chiefe master and all these are but underling ushers to convey the minde of God unto us but the master is God himselfe
towards good Now the affections of the soule that doe respect evill are especially three if any evill be comming first feare is a watchman and the heart trembles and shakes and gives in Hence comes palenesse in the face because feare goes downe into the very castle of a man which is the heart and then sorrow greeves and mournes and laments under the weight of that evill wee feare evill to come but we sorrow for evill that is come Thirdly hatred that carries it selfe with a kinde of indignation and takes up armes against that evill feare is preventing sorrow feeling hatred opposing any evil that comes Now these three affections that goe from evill have been wrought upon in contrition and humiliation namely when the Lord the eye of a poore sinner discovers unto him that hell is gaping for him and the God of justice preparing vengeance for him the soule staggers and shrinks in the apprehension of it then the Lord lets in the fire of indignation into the soule and makes the soule feele that before he threatned and then the soule grieves and because his sinnes have beene so tedious unto him his heart is brought to a hatred and indignation against those evils So that if any evill or provocation or temptation come to a soule broken if the old loose companions old corruptions old swearing old blaspheming old dalliances come to call upon the soule let us have our fill of love untill the morning let us take up our old delights when these call the soule and would plucke the soule home againe unto them then these foure fence the soule against all those inchantments in so much that when the drunkard seeth his company comming towards him hee thinkes that is my plague that is the man and his perswasions and counsels hee remembers his old corruptions and his old horrors and his old burthens and heavie loads that lay upon his heart and the soule hates the drunkard and will not yeeld to his perswasions they so fence the way that the voice of sinne cannot be heard it may call and call but the doore is shut they stop the currant that no streame of distempers may prevaile any more this now is done before so that now wee come to the second worke So there are other affections that carry the soule unto good if there be any good propounded or offered then there are foure other affections that the will sends out to entertaine that good hope and desire looke for the good that is absent hope saith I marvell it comes not desire saith I long after it when the goodnesse is neere then love welcomes it and delights in it and joy rejoyceth and all these hope desire love and joy all bring carry and convey all the good to the will which is the great commander of the soule Love and joy tell the will We have found much goodnesse and taken great delight and much content in the goodnesse and mercy of the Lord. The truth is wee have taken delight in sinne and base courses but oh the comfort but oh the consolation and goodnesse of mercy you cannot have a better good than mercy Then saith the will We will have grace mercy wee will rest here Thus wee see how the head and the foot of the affections doe come on to embrace that good now the understanding doth stand sentinell all the while and discovers all the good and musters up hope and desire and love and joy and these foure are the maine wee must meddle with all the other went from evill and they have their proper worke before we doe not hate and sorrow for mercy wee doe not feare to receive mercy but wee feare and withdraw our selves from sinne and corruptions that we may entertaine the call of mercy Thing 2 There is the promise of grace and mercy in Christ a fulnesse of mercy which doth so powerfully and effectually draw the soule by this good that it brings all these affections after it Therefore in this fulnesse of mercy and goodnesse of God there are these particulars that like so many claspes draw all these faculties to God to follow and close with God for their good The promise is a true one and truth is that which marvellously pleaseth the understanding as a mans palate tastes meat so the understanding tastes words There is nothing so pleasing to the understanding as the truth of God Now of all truth there is none like the truth of a promise therefore the evidence of it doth cleere the judgement and the certainty of it doth establish the judgement of a poore sinner Eph. 1.13 The promise of God is a good word Heb. 6.5 therefore as the truth of the Gospell fils the understanding so there is a goodnesse in the promise of grace and mercy which will answer all and satisfie all the faculties of the soule as in the good word of the Lord mercy is a proper object of hope that it may be sustained a proper object of desire that it may be supported there is a proper object for a mans love and delight that they may be cheered nay there is a full satisfactory sufficiency of all good in the Gospell that so the will of a man may take full repose and rest therein Therefore the Lord saith Come unto me all that are weary and heavy laden come hope and desire and love and will and heart they answer We come all the mind saith Let me know this mercy above all and desire to know nothing but Christ and him crucified let mee expect this mercy saith hope that belongs to me and will befall me desire saith Let me long after it nay saith love let me embrace and welcome it let me delight in it saith joy nay saith the heart let me lay hold on the handle of salvation here we will live and here we will dye at the footstoole of Gods mercy thus all goe minde hope desire love joy the will and all lay hold upon the promise and say Let us make the promise a prey let us prey upon mercy as the wilde beasts doe upon their provision Thus the faculties of the soule hunt and pursue this mercy and lay hold thereupon and satisfie themselves herein Hence wee will raise these two points Doct. 1 That the word of the Gospell and the word of the Spirit goe both together this is grounded in the Text they must first heare then learne heare the Gospell and learne by the Spirit Doct. 2 That Gods Spirit gives speciall notice of Gods acceptance to an enlightned soule and that is the first voice of the Spirit to the understanding Now to the first doctrine Doct. 1 The word of the Gospell and the worke of the Spirit alwayes goe together the point is grounded in the Text after this manner they must first heare then learne heare by the word and learne by the Spirit The hearing of the Gospell without the Spirit is nothing else but a beating of the ayre and a
it hath beene prepared for them from the beginning of the world to this very day Now this gives a light into the businesse the evidence is sure that this man hath title to all the riches and compassion of the Lord Jesus Acts. 2.39 Every poore creature thinkes that God thinkes so of him as hee thinkes of himselfe and hee thinkes God intends marvellous grievous things against him and if there be any judgement denounced or any plague revealed the soule sits and sincks and thinkes with himselfe thus I wretch the Lord spake to mee and intended mee the Lord threatned mee and denounced judgement against mee and one day he will bring all these plagues upon mee all shall be made good upon this wretched heart of mine one day whereas the Spirit of the Lord judgeth otherwise and God meanes well towards him and intends good to all you that have beene broken for your sins and there is witnesse of it in heaven and it shall be made good to your owne consciences Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners broken abased vile wretched carnall sinners doe not thinke hee will keepe any old reckonings in minde Christ came into the world only to succour sinfull humbled wretches hee only came to call sinners not your proud haughty justiciaries that trust in their owne performances no but miserable vile broken abased sinners therefore now here is some ground and light come in that wee have to doe with mercy Psalm 80.3 Cause thy face to shine upon mee If a man be in a deepe darke dungeon he cannot tell when it is light hee may aske is it light but else hee cannot tell But an humbled sinner is like a man standing full upon the Sunne rising this face of Gods mercy shines full upon him the Lord lets in the inclination of his kindnesse and makes knowne the surenesse of his favour in the Lord Jesus Christ now the soule hath some apprehension that he hath to doe with mercy Partic. 2 The Spirit doth ratifie that interest as the soule now hath as intended towards him and prepared for him hee makes it good to the heart and establisheth it and makes it sure to the soule This is the nature of a witnesse if it be sufficient as the Lord provides That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall bee established so it is with the testimony or testification of Gods Spirit for the Spirit doth not beare witnesse alone but the Father from heaven and the Sonne in heaven doth joyne witnesse with the Spirit and the court is in heaven where this controversie must be scanned and now the Spirit doth by witnesse promise that all this mercy shall be made good and given the humbled heart shall be made possessor thereof hence it is that the soule comes to be deeply setled herein for God cannot deny himselfe nor his promise this is the maine ground and tenour whereupon wee hold everlasting happinesse you know in men of great estate if their lease had beene naught and their tenour false this staggers them deeply therfore every man labours to make his tenour as good as hee can thinke on it the maintainer of all this good that a Saint of God hath all his hope of life and salvation hangs upon the maine hold the free promise of the Lord the certaine faithfull promise of the Lord in through Jesus Christ by the testimony of the Spirit you that are sanctified by Christ know nothing unlesse you know how to live by a promise in some measure Now this promise is not only a bare word of God and a bare intimation of some will and intendment of good but it is a kind of ingagement when the Lord doth lay his truth to pawne here is good surety for a poore humbled soule it shall undoubtedly be bestowed upon him he doth not only intend well unto him hee doth not only prepare mercy for him but now he ties binds himselfe so that he cannot goe back you see now this is the bottome to beare up the truth when the Lord doth please to ingage himselfe to a broken hearted sinner that hee shall be made to beleeve and made to live by his beleeving I beseech you take notice of it this is the tenour and covenant of God with a broken sinner hee calls him graciously and then promises to bestow mercy upon him 2. Cor. 6.18 Come out from among them what then what shall I forsake all my old companions shall I renounce all commodities that I have coveted all the honour in the world which I have affected Yes saith the Lord come out from them all abandon them lose all riches and be impoverished lose all honour and be abased ah but what shall wee get by it why then I will be your God that is I will ingage my selfe and passe over the title of all my mercy and goodnesse and compassion and all that I have you shall have all is yours and what then You shall bee my people marke that hee is obliged to a poore humbled heart as if he had said I will be your God and supply your wants and work graciously for you as it was with Abraham the Father of the faithfull so it must be with the faithfull servants of God Gen. 12.3 Now what there is promised to Abraham he promiseth to all his children to all the faithfull it is thus with thee that is thou must bid adue to thy country and friends and though thou livest with thy Father yet thou hatest his base courses and though thou livest with thy friends yet thou hatest their wicked practices and thou hast forsaken thy god pride and thy god covetousnesse and thy god drunkennesse and the like thou knowest God will blesse thee he hath bound himselfe and cannot goe backe this is the ground of the speech 1 Iohn 2.25 Eternall life is the thing there promised but how can wee intitle ourselves in this the text saith this is the promise he hath promised that is he did freely and frankly and of himselfe and out of his owne good will ingage himselfe to give and bestow this promise upon us here is the root and ground of all his promise This is the difference betweene the first and second covenant God did covenant with Adam that he should live upon the ground that he should doe Now because the covenant of eternall life depended upon doing it was not certaine to him and his posterity but lost it but our eternall life dependeth upon the promise of God and therefore it is sure because God cannot faile cannot change his promise cannot be altred if we observe the conditions eternall life is sure unto a broken hearted sinner hence come all those phrases in this kind Wee are called children of the promise what is that why the very promise of God makes us children wee are begotten and made the Sonnes of God he is called in Esay The everlasting Father hee hath begotten us by
the ambitious man his honour now Gods letting into the soule the sweetnesse of his grace doth turne the whole streame of the soule thitherward It is a reproofe and meeteth with two things in wicked carnall persons First those that will cast off all hope in point of desperation Secondly against those that will doe nothing but hope without ground and that is presumption both are here to be reproved and condemned If the Lord stirreth up the heart of his to hope groundedly for his mercy Oh then take heed of that fearefull and unconceiveable sinne of despaire despaire wee must in our selves and that is good but this despaire which wee now speake of is marvellous hainous in the eyes of God and marvellous hurtfull to thy owne soule therefore take heed of it for ever I say this sin of despaire when a man casteth away all hope casteth away all carnall confidence This thou must doe and yet thou must hope let Israel hope in the Lord for in the Lord c. O the Lord taketh this very ill at our hands thou goest to the deepe dungeon of thy corruption and there thou saist these sins can never be pardoned I am still proud and more stubborne this distresse God seeth not God succoureth not his hand cannot reach his mercy cannot save now marke what the Prophet Esay saith to such a perplexed soule Esay 40.27 Why saist thou thy way is hid from the Lord The Lord saith why saist thou so the young man shall faint and bee weary but they that wait upon the Lord shall renue their strength is any thing too hard for the Lord nay I say you wrong God exceedingly you thinke it is a matter of humility you count so vilely of your selves can God pardon sinne to such unworthy creatures marke that place of the Psalmist they spake against the Lord Can the Lord prepare a table in the wildernesse They spake not against themselves but against God so wee speake against God and charge God himselfe it is true saith the soule Manasses was pardoned it is true Paul was converted it is true Gods saints have beene received to mercy but can my sinne be pardoned can my soule be quickned No no my sinnes are greater than can be forgiven saith the despairing soule then mee thinketh Satan is stronger to overthrow thee than God to save thee then it seemeth sinne is stronger to condemne thee than God to doe good unto thee and thus you make God to be no God upon point nay you make him to be weaker than sinne than hell than the devill And this is most injurious to God to make the power of sinne greater to condemne thee than the power of God to save thee to make the power of Satan stronger to ruinate thee than the mercy of God to releeve and succour thee and what can you say more and what can you doe more against the Lord Is not this to make God an underling to Satan and to sinne this is to say the Almightinesse of God is weaker than the weaknesse of sinne the Sufficiency of God is weaker than the malice of Satan It is true a poore humble sinner many times will make bitter complaints this way and they thinke they speake against themselves No no they speake against the Lord they spake against God when they said Can the Lord prepare a table in the wildernesse So you that speake in this desperate manner why truth Lord this proud heart will never bee humbled if any thing would have wrought it would have beene done before this day How many sermons how many mercies how many judgements how many prayers and yet this proud heart this stubborne heart will not be reformed you thinke you speake against your selves now no no you speake against the Lord and brethren thinke much of this thou that thinkst so that saist so that concludest so this is one of the greatest sinnes thou committest to say thy sinnes cannot be forgiven thee Secondly This sinne of desperation as it is most injurious to God so in the second place it is extraordinary dangerous to thy owne soule It is that which taketh up the bridge and cutteth off all passages and there can no spirituall comfort and consolation come into the poore soule of a poore sinner Luk. 3.15 Luk. 3.15 Every ditch must be filled and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord what are these ditches why nothing else but those deepe gulfs and ditches of despaire and unlesse these bee filled no man can see the Lord Jesus Christ In a word my brethren suffer me to open my selfe the truth is this despaire of the soule is that which cutteth the sinewes of all mans comfort and taketh off the power and edge of all the meanes of grace it daunteth all a mans endevours nay it plucketh up a mans endevours as it were quite by the rootes for that which a man despaireth off hee will never labour after It is here as with a man in pangs of death unto such a man all means are unavailable for his good his bed will not ease him meat will not refresh him chasing will not revive at the last we say he is gone he is a dead man friends leave him Physitians leave him they may goe and pray for him and mourne for him but they cannot recover him So this despaire of soule maketh a man cast off all hope and lie downe in a forlorne condition expecting no good to come alas saith a man what skilleth for a man to pray what profiteth a man to read what benefit in all the means of grace the truth of it is the stone is rolled upon me and my condemnation sealed for ever it is sure in heaven and therefore I will never looke after Christ grace and salvation any more and presse the means to him let him come to heare the Word marke how he casteth off all the benefit it was marvellous seasonable and profitable it was the good Word of the Lord very comfortable unto such as have any share therein Why may not you expect good why may not you receive benefit there from why no saith the soule the time of grace is past the day is gone and thus the soule sinketh in it selfe if Christians would pray for him and Ministers would labour to doe him good why hee biddeth them spare their labour for hell is his portion and his condemnation is sealed in heaven see now and consider what desperate danger of despaire bringeth to a poore heart and maketh him to be beyond the reach of mercie that no meanes can come at him It is a pretty passage of David Psal 77.7 Will the Lord cast me off ever and will he shew no favor I said this is my infirmitie saith the text the word in the original this is my sicknes as who should say this would be my death what is mercie gone for ever then my life is gone then is all my comfort and all my hope gone
me all my care is to leane upon my Saviour and this is my comfort he will looke to me though I cannot doe it for my selfe Act 4 The fourth act of reposing the Spirit which makes it up is this and this indeed is the nature of faith it drawes vertue and derives power from the Lord Jesus Christ for succour and supply here is the especiall life of faith and it is the very words of Scripture or else I durst not speake so much of it but that the Scripture sayes it open in this manner faith findes all in the promise and fetcheth all from the promise that it needs as when a man hath provision of meat and money in his house if any man say to him where shall we have such and such things Oh saith he I will goe fetch them so it is with the nature of faith it goes for mercy and grace and comfort in Christ it knowes t is to bee had from him and therefore fetcheth all from him it drawes and suckes the sweetnesse of the promise as it was with the woman that had the bloudy issue Mat. 9.21 22. Oh saith she could I but touch the hem of his garment I should be whole and so she did and vertue came from him and shee was healed of all her grievances that lay upon her so it is with a faithfull soule that toucheth the Lord Jesus Christ it layes hold but a little on the promise and there is sap and vertue communicated to the beleeving heart whereby it comes to be helped and comforted in the way of God Esay 12.3 it is said With joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation the fountaine of salvation and all the waters of life and grace and mercy are in Christ now it is not enough to let downe the bucket into the well but it must bee drawen out also the waters of life are in Christ now it is not enough to come to and to looke to Christ but wee must draw the water of grace from Christ to our soule as Esay 66.11 They shall sucke and be satisfied with the brests of the consolation that they may milke out and be delighted with the abundance of her glorie the Church is compared to a childe and the brests are the promises of the Gospell now the elect must suck out and be satisfied with it and milke it out the word in the originall is exact upon the promise and oppresse the promise as the oppressoâ—â— grinds the face of a poore man and will have his goods what ever become of his wife and children so a man must wrest the promise for grace and power from the Lord Jesus Christ Ah beloved this is our misery we suffer abundance of milke to be in the promise and we are like wainly children that lye at the brest and will neither sucke nor be quiet so we suffer this to be in the promise and yet imploy not our selves to get it out and to sucke it out therefore brethren suffer not your faith to come to the promise and to lye at it but hale mercy from thence and with aâ— holy kinde of oppression exact upon it and get what good you may from it the Lord allowes it Quest But here it may bee asked how this is done how doth faith draw vertue from Christ Answ I answer It is an heavenly skill and yet marvellous hard and difficult Threefold Act. faith drawes vertue by a threefold act or faith improves the promise three wayes First faith doth appropriate the promise to it selfe and applies all that good and grace that is revealed offered in the Lord Jesus Christ home to it selfe the voices of faith in the Scripture are these my Lord and my God so Paul saith Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe he would be sure to have a share in the mercy as if a man should say I will cut something before the dish goe away Psal 48.14 when the Lord had so much care of his Church and how terrible he was to the enemies and how mercifull to his people c. in the end the Church saith This God is our God and he will be our God even till death she doth appropriate God to her selfe and engrosseth God and saith our God is not as the Heathens god and there David would have God all his owne and saith whatsoever God hath done for any of his people how terrible for them and how mercifull to them the same God hee is to my soule and he will bee my God for ever and hence the Scripture saith Esay 55.1 Come buy and eat c. all these places are nothing else but the act of faith to come is to repaire to the promise and to buy is to take possession of it and to eat is nothing else but to embrace it for our good and comfort it is not enough for mee to goe to the market and stand looking on the commodity there but I must lay downe my money buy it and take possession of it and beare it home so the Lord saith Come to the waters buy wine and milke c. the Lord sets open the shop of grace and salvation every day where the Gospell is preached and therefore not only cheapen but come to the agreement and buy offer like chapmen and stand not hagling but say I will lay downe all my lusts and part with all for Christ and when yee have done thus take mercy and comfort it is yours you have bought it so that now the faithfull soule enters upon the promise as his owne as a man that comes to take possession of house and land as his owne so the faithfull soule reads of all that mercie in pardoning of sinne and all that God effects to save and all that mercy offered to the poore man out of whom the Lord cast seven Devils then the soule saith all that mercie is mine Manasses was an idolater and a monster yet the Lord humbled saved him and all that mercy is mine Paul a persecutour and an oppressour and yet the Lord opened his eyes pardoned his sinne and hee is now a glorified Saint in heaven c. all that mercie is mine hence I take that phrase to be Iohn 3.33 where faith is said to set its seale to the promise He that beleeveth hath set to his seale that God is true now observe that as it is amongst men in their agreements it is not enough that the articles are drawne and made but they must be sealed if they are only made wee use to say they want nothing but sealing now when they are sealed every than takes his owne and the bargaine is thorow Just so it is betweene the Lord and the soule the Articles of agreement whereby God passeth over his promise to a poore sinner are these If wee will part from our selves and our sinnes the Lord Jesus saith all this grace and mercy is yours you that are thus
whatsoever is amisse outwardly thou seest the evill and labourest to reforme it and whatsoever service is required to God or man thou dost it as thou art able and walkest unblamably all this is to no profit if thou remainest in unbeleefe The God of Heaven never receives the prayers of an unbeleever bee his prayers never so glorious and his attendance on the means never so diligent yet the God of heaven regards not the performances and therefore say of thy unbeleeving soule as Haman did of Mordecay Ester 5.13 when the King had granted him all that his heart could desire and his requests were ever made good and his malice ever satisfied and the posts dispatched it to root out the Jewes and was invited to the Queenes feast yet one thing tooke away all the contentment of the other when he saw Mordecay sit in the Kings gate and reverenced him not this overthrew all as he did sinfully and foolishly so doe thou wisely and with great judgement and reason thus and say good Lord what availes it me to heare and pray and live unblamably so long as I see this unbeleefe perking it selfe in this corrupt heart of mine So long as this remaines all my praiers will doe me no good these will bring the wrath of God upon mee nay the wrath of God is upon mee and I am condemned already in my fasting prayer and all my holy duties Secondly confider that all the good things thou hast will prove uncomfortable to thee whiles this unbeleefe continues in thy soule it is very observable you know the heart of a man is sometimes cheared and the soule is contented partly with the good things of the world which it receives partly with other things not onely temporall but also spirituall which God gives now I would have an unbeleeving heart take off the contentment of these with the feare of this danger and this will dash all thy delights and spoile all thy pleasures and mar all thy mirth let that alwayes come for a back reckoning wee should thinke of this it might bee as gall to our corrupt hearts Thou liftest up thy parts and saist my parts are greats my abilities many I am able to conferre to performe duties bee it so that thou hast all these and another saith thou seest thy barnes full and store-house full thou hast honours to advance thee and riches and all delights to give thee content and I grant this and yet thou hast an unbeleeving heart to depart from the living God and when thou hast these Oh woe to that miserable soule of thine Good brethren thinke of these things it is good to heare of this now and better it is to know them now than to know them when it is too late now you have your houses and beds and pleasures to comfort you but you have an unfaithfull heart goe thy wayes poore wretch thou hast enough thou hast that about thee that will sink thy heart for ever Oh let this be written upon the palmes of your hands and graven upon the testures of thy bed and say this is a goodly house and I have goodly riches but I have an unfaithfull heart too labour to be affected with this for the Lords sake you know what Esau said prophanely when hee was like to die What 's my birth-right to me if I die for hunger Gen. 25.32 I tell you it will be as gall and wormewood to you when the drunkard is in his cups and the adulterer in his dalliances you may say I have this and that but what availes these when I have an unbeleeving wretched heart about me I carry my bane and that which will be my breake-necke Lastly when you begin to see some sinne base and vile and odious in the account of the world and sometimes in your owne account then thinke thus with your selves and say doe I see a basenesse in this and that sinne what then shall I thinke of my unbeleefe which is the breeder of all these could I see mine owne base heart it is the mother and breeder of all these sinnes thou art loth to be seene drunke in the street because the boyes would hoot at thee and thou art afeard of murder or theft because thou wouldst not be taken for a jayle-bird thou art ashamed of these wert thou but a witch or a traitour or a man condemned wouldst thou not be ashamed hadst thou but reason in thee thy soule would shake at it and say Oh wretch that I am that I should live to bring such discredit upon my selfe and all good men Oh goe thy way and looke into thy heart and say I may thanke an unbeleeving heart for all these if I had not had an unbeleeving heart I had not beene overtaken with any of all these sinnes nor dishonoured God by this sinne as I have done unbeleefe is the authour of all and therefore to be hated more than all I would faine have people looke inward thou hast stollen such a thing from such a man and thou art ashamed of it now infidelity can rob God of his honour and by this sinne thou hast refused the Lord Jesus Christ and thus dog thy owne heart ever and anon and when thou hast done so be earnest with the Lord to take these cursed corruptions from thee sigh especially under this sinne and labour above all to be freed from this sinne and then all the rest will dye and decay in thee I would have a poore unbeleever doe as the prisoners doe in New-gate what lamentable cries will they utter saying good your worship remember the miseries of poore prisoners good Gentleman spare a farthing to the wants of poore prisoners so thou art shut up in unbeleefe therefore looke out from the gates of hell and from under the barres of infidelity and crie that God would looke on thee in mercy and spare Lord a poore unbeleeving wretch lockt up under the barres of unbeleefe good Lord succour and deliver in thy good time and as the Prophet David saith Psal 79.11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come up before thee though that was meant of the bodily imprisonment yet the argument prevailes much more in regard of the spirituall thraldome good Lord let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee so goe thou thy way home and humble thy selfe in thy secret closet and cry out of the prison of unbeleefe and say Let the sighing of poore distrustfull soules come up before thy Majesty send helpe from heaven and deliver the soule of thy servant from these wretched distempers of heart deale in this case as men that are ingaged for prisoners so doe thou with the Lord Jesus Esa 49.8 9. it is the office of Christ and for this end hee came into the world and the Lord saith In an acceptable time I have heard thee and in the day of salvation have I helped thee that thou mayst say to the prisoners goe forth and to them that are in darknesse shew
is it thus with me Ans I answer the fault is not in faith that it doth not or cannot lend supply and succour to thee but the fault is in thy selfe either in thy carelesnesse and ignorance that knowest not when thou hast faith or else in thy unskilfulnesse that thou dost not imply that faith which thou hast faithfully for thine owne good I speake only of the beleever I goe not about to prove that he which hath not faith can be contented no hee hath a worme in his bosome a conscience which will plague him and torment him for ever Quest But to speake of one that hath faith if it be so that it bringeth such contentment how may a man that hath faith improve it to have this contentment from it Ans For answer hereunto the rules are foure which a man must use to have this contentment whereby he may be carried on in his course and goe on singing to Heaven remember still that I speake of a man that hath faith Rule 1 First labour to gaine some evidence to thy owne soule that thou hast a title to the promise make thy title good It is not enough for a malefactour in prison to have a pardon granted him but he must know that the pardon is granted before he can bee contented therewith haply the King hath granted it and the Prince hath begd it but the malefactour is not contented untill hee know it It is not enough that a poore begger hath a friend or a rich unkle that will doe much for him or that he hath setled a great estate upon him and his heires after him but hee must know it before he can be contented with it it may be he is not neere by a hundred miles and he is troubled with misery and poverty because hee knowes not of it just so it is with a faithfull soule there is never a poore beleever but hee is rich in faith though hee live in a smoaky cottage and lives meanly and goes barely yet all these revenues of faith are his Heaven and Earth and all is thine thou poore beleever But what is all this to the matter if thou hast no evidence that all this iâ— thine this is the fault why poore Christians goe drooping and are overburthened with their sins and their miseries because they see not their title to mercie nor their evidence of Gods love in 2 King 6.16 17. when Elisha was beset with an armie of his enemies the servant of the Prophet said good Master what shall we doe they are many and wee are few they are armed and wee are naked then said the Prophet Lord open his eyes that he may see and God did it and then hee saw those hils full of fierie charets and then hee saw that there were more with them than were against them and then hee was quiet now the armies and the chariots were there before but hee saw them not and therefore he could not be quieted so it is with every faithfull soule the Lord hath caused his Angels to pitch their tents about the elect wee have God on our side and Christ and the Angels but wee see not our privileges and the interest that wee have in the mercie and goodnesse of the Lord we crie out as he did good Master what shall we doe so many sinnes and so many corruptions how shall we be succoured the Lord open our eyes that we may see the free riches of his grace and the fulnesse of his mercie this is all ours that we may see his love to us and his Angels waiting upon us and his blessing going with us this would quiet our hearts I will not now adde how you may doe this and how you may make your evidence cleere that you have a title to mercie this were to multiply a division upon a division only judge your estate by the word and take one evidence from the word as good as ten thousand this is the fault of people it may bee some evidence fits them marvellous well but because they have not all they will have none at all in truth but throw away all and therefore I say judge your estates by the word and not by carnall reason and if you have but one promise for you you have all in truth though all be not so fully and cleerly perceived this is the first rule Rule 2 Secondly labour to set a high prize and a wonderfull great account of the precious promises of the Lord thus estated upon thee for thy good and make account of the least promise of grace above a thousand worlds looke what account you make of the sufficiencie of a thing so much content you have in that thing whose sufficiencie you see and doe esteeme of now because the promises of God and the riches of Gods love in Christ are most worthy of our love and most sufficient for us let us therefore be contented with them above all and then wee shall bee contented though wee want all Luke 12.32 when the Disciples were in great trouble and expected more and further miserie after the death of Christ the Lord Christ saith to them Feare not little flocke it is your fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome if you finde hand measures and feare troubles and expect persecutions on every side yet feare ye not you shall have a kingdome and that will carry you through all occasions are you imprisoned and persecuted and disquieted feare not you shall have a kingdome and then you shall bee comforted and quieted for ever you little ones that are poore and meane in the world and you lye as stepping stones for every base wretch to tread on you are persecuted and despised and scorned but feare not you shall have a kingdome the want of this is the cause of all that discontentment that is in the hearts of Gods owne people which are beloved of him and respected by him Take a poore man in misery his children crie for meat and the mother saith goe to bed poore babes you shall have meat when the Lord sends it brethren this is hard I confesse but now if a friend should come and give him two hundred pounds a yeare for ever this would make him goe away contented because this would provide for him and his now I propound a promise to this man the Lord hath said he will never faile thee nor forsake thee what is this worth of your money one man offers him two hundred pounds a yeare and I offer him a promise now couldst thou thou poore miserable creature bee content to take this two hundred pounds a yeare and leave the promise and bee content that the Lord should not pardon nor comfort nor save thee I presume thou wouldst not doe thus now will a thousand pounds content thee and will not the promise the reason is thou prisest the money because it is temporall and thou seest it and thou prisest not the promise because it is spirituall and thou seest
against reason sense and religion and all Now thy faith begins to wrastle with him and his dealings and conscience checks and thou wilt teare thine owne heart out of thine owne bosome brethren this will not doe it When a ship of a hundred tuns is upon ground the mariners may pull and tug their hearts out before they can get it goe O goe then and say it is not I that can be patient and put up a wrong be quiet and expect it not from hence let the heart lie still till the winde and tide and promise come and that will carry thee Rule 2 Bring the promise home to thy heart that the promise may bring thy heart to it I meane thus I told you before that the heart renounceth all abilities of it selfe as the first principle and saith it is in an impatient heart it is not here Lord downe be quiet and still goe thou to the promise and bring that first to thy soule and when the promise comes it will bring thy heart home to it I will tell you how you must goe to the promise and say thus It is not in mine owne power to quicken my selfe yet Lord this I know that there is sufficiencie in the promise to supply all my wants and there is authoritie in the promise to rule and order mee in all my courses therefore take the promise and reason thus I conclude that the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit is in the promise undeniably and undoubtedly and unspeakably accompanying in his manner as hee shall see fit This I say that the almighty Spirit of Christ doth really and continually accompany the promise for the good of his hence it is called the spirit of promise for there is an Almighty creating worke goes along with the promise and I reason thus that word that discernes the thoughts of the hearts of men that word must needs have the Almighty worke of Gods Spirit accompanying of it so far as God hath promised it not haply when thou seest fit but when God sees fit Hee doth it as a voluntary workman therefore thou considerest that there is an Almighty power and a fulnesse in the promise then lay that promise upon thine heart and know it and conclude it and looke for vertue from thence to draw thy soule to it again I have severall passages to expresse my selfe by it you may understand it Iacob would not beleeve that Ioseph was alive or if he were alive he had but little means was poore Gen. 45.26 27 28 29. but when he saw the Chariots that Ioseph had sent him then he beleeved and said I have enough Ioseph my son liveth the Chariots sent from Ioseph to Iacob brought Iacob to Ioseph so every beleeving soule is poore and feeble and dis-nabled to goe to God and to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ therefore looke thou unto the Chariots of Israel first and that will convey thee to the promise As it is with the miller first he pares the mill fitly and orders all the occasions thereof and when the stones are fit and laid to goe yet it will not goe till the sluce be pulled up and the water runs that drives the mill so the soule is humbled and lies levell with the Lord and his truth and is content to yeeld to his conditions but the soule of it selfe in it selfe cannot goe It hath not the principle of going but let downe the sluce of the promise and let that come to thy heart and it will bring thy soule home to the Lord. The promise must come to thee and make thee come to it It is not here Lord but in the promise bring that promise and set open the sluce and let the wind blow and it will convey thee comfortably as Luke 19.9 This day salvation is come to thy house not to the wals of thy house but to the men that are in the house they did not come to salvation but salvation came to them the Lord sent salvation to salute the house of Zacheus and that brought him to salvation this is the foiling of many poore beleevers O say they if I could beleeve then the promise did belong unto me but I dare not venture upon it but I say unto thee whomsoever thou art thou shalt never live by faith upon these termes thou must first let the promise come to thee and then it will carry thee unto it Rule 3 When the promise is thus come home and thou seest the sufficiency and authority of it then all thou hast to doe is this in the streame of that promise be carried and in the vertue thereof be conveyed home to the Father Luke 15.4 The Prodigall is said to be like a lost sheepe marke this for it concerneth you poore creatures The poore sheepe is wildered up and downe now in the mouth of the Lion and then in the briars and sometimes in the pit The text saith He leaveth the ninety nine to seeke that that is in comparison of what care he expresseth to the lost sheepe hee leaveth a man regenerate not carelesly but hee will not expresse so great love as to a poore lost man and though thou canst not find the way to Heaven yet hee will finde thee lie thou upon the shoulders of Christ as in the 5. verse of this Chapter when thou findest thy heart feeble and weake and thy selfe unable to beleeve then the Lord Jesus Christ brings the spirit of grace and that comes to seeke and Jesus Christ will lay that soule of thine upon his shoulders that is upon the riches of the freenesse of his grace therefore let thy heart bee transported by the power of that grace and by the vertue of that mercie that God hath made knowne unto thee for thy everlasting good when the chariots are come get thee up into them the Lord Jesus Christ is gone up to heaven and hee hath sent his chariots for thee therefore get thee up and say Lord take mee up with thee let the Lord convey thee by the power of his grace when the mariner hath sea roome enough hee cares for no more if hee can but observe the channell hee lookes not so much at his oare or any thing so he can observe the channell this channell is the full tide of the promise therefore lay thy selfe upon the promise and say Lord in the vertue of that grace and in the power of that Spirit carry mee and in the riches of that mercie of thine Lord convey the heart of this poore sinner and make mee happy with thy selfe for ever Passage 2 It is presumed that thy faith now is come to the promise now the skill is how hee may take and improve the good of the promise and receive all the incomes thereof There are two things especially observable First labour to husband the promises and to mannage them wisely when wee have them for our best advantage Secondly labour to live by the sweetnesse of the promises
therefore take heed of this it taketh off the edge of our endevours Gods ordinances that might do us good Secondly it reproveth and marvellously condemneth that great sinne of presumption a sinne more frequent and if possible may be more dangerous the presumption of carnall hypocrites that boulster up themselves with marvellous boldnesse in their course I beseech you observe it it is true here as they said Saul hath slaine his thousands but David his ten thousands despaire hath slaine his thousands but presumption his ten thousands that men may sweare and lye and cousen and breake all commands and yet hope to be saved yet they hope grace will save them they resist grace yet hope Jesus Christ will shew mercie unto them they oppose Christ this is that which I say hath slaine many thousand soules amongst us and they are few that have not split at this rocke therefore I say this serveth to reprove the basenesse the vilenesse of such Hypocrites that boast themselves and compare their hopes with the hopes of the Saints it is true say they I cannot walke so freely I cannot repeat a Sermon I want those parts that they have I walke not so curiously yet I hope to be saved as well as they this is that which hath slaine many thousands of soules that now are roaring in hell and they may thanke presumption for it Now this hope is not the hope of the Saints the hope of the Saints is a grounded hope but these hopes meerely hang upon some idle pleas and foolish pretences and some carnall reasons but I tell you they will fall and their hopes will sinke and they into the bottomelesse pit before they bee aware it is the command and counsell of Peter That every man should be ready to give a reason of his faith and hope that is in him therefore let us see the reasons that carry you the arguments that perswade you to these groundlesse and foolish hopes you hope to be saved and you hope to go to heaven and you hope to see the face of God with comfort let us see the ground for these hopes of yours good hope hath good reasons grounded hope grounded reasons you say you hope to be saved and have no reason for it it is a foolish hope an unreasonable hope the grounds therefore of Hypocrites are mainly five The ignorant poore silly man he pleadeth he can thinke it hee cannot conceive it that God hath created any man for to damne him sure the Lord is more mercifull than so and therefore though we be sinfull and base and untoward yet the Lord will not damne us I answer therefore it is true indeed God did never preserve men for this same end that he might damne them though it is as true hee that made men hee will damne most of men in hell for their sinnes committed against him Narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth unto life few there be that finde it is this the argument of thy hope marke the folly and observe the weaknesse of it if creation bee a good argument then all the damned should come out of hell and be delivered nay by this reason the Devill himselfe should be saved they are now in hell they were created as well as you ignorant silly creatures thinke of these things how your hope will shatter and breake under you and you with them will fall together into the bottomlesse pit Esa 57.11 See how the Lord bringeth this argument and confuteth it it is a people that hath no understanding therefore he that made them will not save them he that created them will shew them no mercy the text saith the Lord saith from heaven though hee made thee he will not shew thee mercie if thou continue to be wicked and rebellious Another groweth in hope that God will shew mercie unto him in regard of Gods favourable dealing with him in things of this life and hee saith and pretendeth great thankfulnesse for Gods goodnesse and hee praiseth the Lord hee never wanted any thing his lot is fallen into a good ground and therefore he doubteth not but that God who hath beene his God from his youth will save him and shew mercie unto his soule this is the second ground and it is a poore feeble ground to support the soule in such a case as this I answer therefore thou art deceived thou takest that for an argument of Gods love and mercy which rather may bee an argument of Gods hatred and indignation Psal 92.12 The wicked flourish saith the text then a man may say they will all to heaven they will all be saved if they so prosper here no saith the text they flourish that they may be destroyed and perish for ever the oxe is fatted for the slaughter so it is here thou art fatted here thou hast more than heart can desire thy cups are full and thy table well spread thy breasts full of milke and thy bones full of marrow it is that thou mightest bee destroyed Psal 1.5 Prosperitie destroyeth the soule it is like poison like ratsbane now would any man say thus such a man is most like to live because he eareth most poison nay rather the contrarie so prosperitie meeting with a sinfull with a naughtie heart it is poison to him the text telleth you when Haman was invited it was that hee might be accused the truth is these men of the greatest hope in this life I meane for honour and pompe and respect and preferment many of them are men of the least hope for heaven Others because they have felt the heavie hand of God many sorrowes many weaknesses many troubles in their course many losses in their estate these stayeth up their comforts and upon these grounds they build their hopes I have had my hell in this life and I hope to have heaven in the world to come I hope the worst is over now I have beene troubled in this world I hope I shall be comforted in another world and here is the ground of your hopes I beseech you consider what I answer I say this all the grievances trouble sorrow sicknesses be they what they will be unlesse thy heart be humbled by them unlesse thou bee brought unto the Lord Jesus Christ by them they are so farre from being an argument of grace and salvation unto thee that they are harbingers of those everlasting torments you shall endure in hell Sodome and Gomorrah they burnt in brimstone and they shall burne in hell a man would have said they had their hell here and therefore they should not have it hereafter why the text saith they suffered vengeance of eternall fire why brethren I beseech you observe it will any man reason thus such a man hath had the earnest of the bargaine and therefore he shall not have the bargaine will any man say thus hee that is attached arraigned condemned shall not be hanged nay rather he that hath the earnest shall have the bargaine
signifies as much and the same word is used in the Corinthians 1 Cor. 7.1 opened It is good for a man not to touch a woman that is to cleave and to cling unto her and it is taken from those peeces of buildings which are let one into another her affection was such that she would not part with her Saviour when she had met him This is a lively picture of that love which many a poore soule possesseth when the Lord lets in the glimpse of his love into the heart when the soule hath waited long for mercie and comfort and the Lord is pleased at last to refresh it and cheare it therewith and to let in some sweet incklings and intimations thereof many of Gods Saints begin to bee light headed because they are so ravished therewith they are alwayes cleaving thereunto insomuch that many times they are almost besides themselves Looke as it is with parties that live in the same family Simile and their affections are drawing on one towards another in marriage they will cast their occasions so that if it be possible they will be together and have one anothers company and they will talke together and worke together and the time goeth on marvellous suddenly all the while their affections are drawing on so it is with the soule that loves Jesus Christ and hath this holy affection kindled it thinkes every place happy where it hath heard of Christ and thinkes that houre sweet wherein it put up its prayers to the Lord and enjoyed love-chat with him hee thinkes the Sabbath marvellous sweet wherein God is revealed in the power of his ordinances any glimpse of Gods goodnesse and notice of his mercie in Christ is marvellous comfortable to the soule And it is the desire of the soule to fit by it as the drunkard doth in another kinde so the loving soule would fit by this mercie and love of God that he may be more acquainted with it and more quickned and cheared by it the soule is ravished therewith and overcome as it were with the apprehension thereof Psal 84. David envyed the porter that kept the doore of Gods temple where Gods presence was and the very birds that built their nests there as if hee had said You have liberty to see the sacrifices offered and you may heare the voices of Gods people and you may build your nests in the temple of my God and my Lord and Lord am not I as good as birds therefore his heart was inflamed with the want of these ordinances of God Nay old Simeon when hee had seene our Saviour incarnate his heart was so inlarged therewith that he would have beene content to have left his body that he might have had his full of his Saviour Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seene thy salvation as if he had said stand by body let me come to my Saviour let mee bee for ever with him I have beene long enough in this sinfull world already A spouse that is contracted thinkes every day a yeare and every yeare twenty till that day comes shee blesseth the very place where the bridegroome is and she thinkes the parties happy that talke with him and she takes every token that comes from him marvellous kindly but yet shee thinkes if that day would once come wherein she might possesse him and be possessed of him that she and she alone might enjoy her husband Oh this would bee a happy day her heart would bee cheared and exceedingly refreshed therewith so a loving soule that hath beene truly humbled and inlightened in the apprehension of Gods love and mercie and is contracted as I may so say unto Christ hath many thoughts when will it once be that I may be married to Christ and possesse him and bee possessed of him to bee with Christ is best for me such a one thinkes every token marvellous welcome and every promise and every word that reveals any intimation of Gods kindnesse but yet oh when will the day come that I shall be forever with the Lord Jesus this is the highest pitch that Saint Paul speakes of 1 Thess 4. We that are alive and remaine saith he shall bee caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the aire and so shall wee bee ever with the Lord thus the soule thinkes when will that day come that I may never be with sinne more never with the world more never with corruptions more never with base company more but with that mercie and that Spirit and that grace and with that Christ for ever and ever this is the guise of the soule and the frame of the heart that is kindled in sound love to the Lord Jesus nay such is the strong and gluing nature of true love that it will make a man bee with the thing beloved though hee bee in never so great misery When Iacobs sonnes came and told him that Ioseph was slaine Iacob was grievously distressed because he loved him deerely now marke what the text saith All his sonnes and daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and said I will goe downe into the grave to my sonne Ioseph he would rather be in the grave than not to be with Ioseph and hee will goe downe into the grave that he may be with him so the wife that loves her husband when hee is in prison shee will bee there with him shee is sorry that it should bee so with her husband but shee will rather bee in the prison with him than want his company so an humble soule that hath his heart kindled in earnest and sound affection to Christ is content even to goe into the grave with the Lord Jesus yea into prison with the Lord Jesus let mee bee with Christ saith he though I be in persecution let me be with the Lord Jesus though I be in dishonour it is a griefe to the soule if Christ bee so but a greater griefe if he may not be with him where hee is Cant. 2.6 when the spouse had wanted her bridegroome a great while and at last the Lord was pleased to reveale himselfe unto her she fastens upon him and rests contented with him and desires no more my beloved is mine and I am his as who should say thou art mine and I am thine let the world thinke what it will I am thy wife and thou art my husband so saith the soule Christ is mine and I am his and if I may have more of that grace and holinesse which is in Christ I have enough I desire no more but without that I cannot be contented I cannot be satisfied Secondly there is a holy restlesnesse and impatience in the soule till it can attaine this it will take no nay at the hand of the Lord but sues for the match though Christ seeme to forbid the banes and it were worth the while to observe how restlesse the soule is and how
will overcome all corruptions that mercy that will pardon all our sinnes then saith the will content it shall be so and this makes up the match for now the match commeth to bee made when the will saith Amen to the businesse and this is that great worke of the will the spawn and the seeds of faith went before now faith is come to some perfection now the soule reposeth it selfe upon the Lord and Divines say that here commeth in faith what the minde hath knowne and hope expected and desire longed for and love embraced then commeth in the great wheel the great commander the will which saith I will have it Goe no further it is the best match wee can make you saw the seeds of faith before in the affections but now you shall see the root of faith and the full growth of faith in the will So from hence the point of Doctrine is this Doctrine The will of a poore sinner humbled and enlightned comes to bee effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest upon the free grace of God in Christ that it may bee interested therein and have supply of all Spirituall wants from thence For the better clearing of this Doctrine consider these foure particulars First the worke must be in an heart humbled and enlightned Secondly the will must be effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father Thirdly by the power of this perswasion it casts it selfe upon the rich grace and free mercy of God in Christ Fourthly the end of it that it may bee interested into all the good that is in the promise For by faith wee come to have a title to all that ever Christ purchased and God hath prepared for his people and as by infidelity wee went from God so now by faith we come again to God Particul in the doctr 1 For the first passage this grace of faith the root whereof is seated in the will it is in an heart humbled and enlightened if either of these two bee wanting it is not possible that ever sound saving faith should be in the soule I doe not now dispute of the measure of these how farre a man must bee humbled and how much enlightened these I have handled before I abate a man of the measure and leave that to the good pleasure of God but the heart must bee truly humbled and soundly enlightened First The heart must be humbled that is loosed from sinne and from selfe if the soule be not thus truly humbled there is no roome for faith for the worke of humiliation cleeres the coast â—nd clenseth the roome for if the soule of a poore sinner be not loosened from sinne and made weaâ—y of it but takes fast hold of it as Ieremie saith Ierem. 8.5 They hold fast to deceit and would not returne so when a man will hold his pride and his corruptions that man is carelesse of Christ and not onely so but also opposit from going to Christ he will not goe to Christ that he may receive power for â—he subduing of his corruptions because he is resolved to keepe his sinne still and therefore know â—hat it is not possible to receive Christ and to â—leave to sinne too Secondly suppose the soule be truly burdened â—nd the heart be surcharged with sinne and the â—eart seeth an absolute necessity of a change and â—e saith if this be certaine then I am a miserable â—an and either I must reforme my way or else perish in my way now when the soule is come to this if the heart will yet shift for it selfe and thinke to recover it selfe seeing it must needâ— change it will change it selfe it will hinder faith for whatsoever it is that keepes a man in himselfe that alwayes hinders the worke of faith for faith ever goes out to another for grace and power to ease him of corruption and for strength to subdue his sinnes if the soule say either I need not change or if I must change I will change my selfe and save my selfe what need have I of a Saviour these hinder faith therefore if ever faith be there the heart must have thiâ— wrought he must see himselfe in a lost condition that is that by all the meanes under heaven heâ— cannot succour himselfe this is the meaning of that phrase Luke 19.10 The Lord Iesus came 〈◊〉 seeke and to save that which was lost a lost man indeed every man is lost under the power of sinne and dominion of Satan but he must see himselfe lost how the guilt of sinne is condemning him and therefore lost in regard of pardon to save him and also how he is polluted and therefore lost in regard of power to subdue corruptions and when he seeth this indeed that nothing can helpe him but a Christ then the soule makes out for a Christ this is the meaning of that place Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him he gave c. so that we must receive a Christ when we are gone oâ—â— of our selves by humiliation then are we fit to goe to God by vocation Quest But may not a man beleeve and is it not lâ—â—full to beleeve unlesse a man be thus humbled Answ It is lawfull at any time if thou canst but I say it is impossible for thee to beleeve untill thou be thus humbled as Iohn 4.44 the Lord Christ comes to the Pharisees and saith I know you will not come to mee that you may beleeve nay in the next place he saith How can ye beleeve that receive honour one of another how canst thou beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ to subdue thy lusts and yet wouldst bee uncleane still and live in thy lusts still how canst thou beleeve in Christ to master thy rebellious heart and yet wouldest be rebellious still it is impossible heaven and earth cannot meet together no more can these two stand together therefore set your hearts at rest a man must be truly humbled and broken hearted â—f ever he beleeve Secondly the soule must be enlightened I â—oyne these two together in this clause for though faith be above reason yet it is with reason it is not that colliers faith of the Papists â—hat put out his owne eyes to see by another mans this is a delusion and an implicite faith â—herefore I say a man must be inlightened to see â—he grace and mercie and freenesse of Gods love â—n Christ as Psal 119.10 They that know thy name â—hall put their trust in thee it is against common sense that the soule of a man that is reasonable â—hould fall upon any thing and rest it selfe there â—nd yet never seeth whether it bee a sufficient helpe or no this is by the way of preparation Particul in the doctr 2 It is effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest it selfe c. this I adde in the second place upon the same ground because a man hath no legs of himselfe to bee carried to the Lord Jesus Christ to beleeve in him further
looke at Hâ—â—â—â— and Mordecai Haman had the Kings favour and all his desires granted him and the postes were dispatched and yet he was more troubled in plotâ—ing this evill against the Jewes than Mordecai was in bearing it because faith made the life of Mordecai easie and comfortable and therefore â—e saith Salvation will come I see not the way â—or I know not the meanes how it should be but â—alvation will come therefore David in the 119. â—salme 75. verse saith I know that all thy judgeâ—ents are just and that thou of very faithfulnesse hast â—fflicted mee hee drunke nothing but mercy in â—hat bitter cup which God had tempered for â—im when the patient takes bitter pills if they â—ee well sugered they goe downe the easier and â—he bitternesse never troubles him so it is with â—aith it takes away the harshnesse of all inconveâ—iences which are bitter pills in themselves but â—hey are sweetned and sugered over by the â—aithfulnesse of God for the good of the soule â—nd therefore it goes on cheerfully so the issue of the point is this if the burthen of the worke â—e laid upon another and if all cares be put over â—o another and if all the harshnesse of all troubles â—e taken away by faith then faith must needs make the life of a Christian easie and comforâ—able The second thing wherein the excellencie and â—enefit of faith appeares is this it fils the soule of a beleever with full contentment and in truth â—ontentment commeth through beleeving for â—ee that doth partake of the mercie of God in Christ he cannot but partake of all the good that 〈◊〉 therein and so hee cannot but bee contented therewith Oh saith one I would faine have contentment in the world then the life of faith brings full content to the heart of a believer so that he shall say I can desire no more 1 Corin. 3.22 23. when the Apostle would still the divisions that were risen amongst the Corinths for every man was not content with what he had but would have even what hee list hee saith All is yours whether Paul or Apollos or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and will not all content you would you have the world it is yours would you have things present take them would you have things to come expect them they are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Christ hath what God hath and the beleever hath what Christ hath nay sinne and hell and death they are but your servants and hee that hath Christ and all good in a Christ hee hath all working for his good therefore hee that hath a Saviour and all good in him he cannot be discontented Now faith workes a mans full content three wayes First faith supplies all wants Secondly it cures all feares Thirdly it inables a man to all duties and more than these cannot be added nor desired For the first faith supplies all wants faith plucks the soule and hales the heart of a poore Christian away from all those secret bosome distempers as pride and such like which breed any discontentment within a man as all curiositie and all pride and unquietnesse for these rack the soule with a restlesse discontent all the inordinate desires and the like these lusts and corruptions ought not to bee quieted nay it cannot bee for spirituall things will not satisfie a corrupt heart and worldly things cannot quiet it Now faith divorceth the soule and withdrawes the heart from under the power of those boysterous distempers and makes the soule resigne up it selfe to the good will of God and when faith hath done these then in the second place faith makes the soule say the good will of the Lord is better than any thing that hee shall deny or than all the good things that an inordinate sinfull heart can crave faith makes the soule apprehend that whatsoever God doth and whatsoever Gods pleasure is is better to him than whatsoever hee can desire though God deny what he desires if God will have a man poore faith sayes it is better than if he had given him riches and if it bee the will of God to lay shame and disgrace upon a man faith sayes it is better that God lay shame upon me than honours because it is his good will and pleasure so to have it and so the heart is quieted and fully contented and the want is supplied because the will of God is better than to have what wee desire The Patient that trusts to the skill and faithfulnesse of the Physitian is better content to take pills from him than all the best Cordials that can be desired Thirdly faith either obtaines what wee need and desire or else procures a farre better thing than what we desire art thou in trouble and misery faith will either fetch from God what thou needest or else bring that which is better from the hands of God by this means the Lord Christ cures all the discontentment that might creep in upon the hearts of his Disciples Matth. 19.29 There is no man which shall lose father or mother or wife or children or friends for my Names sake but he shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit eternall life whatsoever wee lose for a Christ we shall have a hundred fold recompence for it as if a man for the cause of Christ suffer persecution or imprisonment and loseth peace here thou thou shalt have peace with God and thy soule shall prosper in grace and if friends haply forsake thee and the father is against the sonne and the husband is set against the wife thou shalt have the favour of the Lord God of heaven which is better than the love of all earthly husbands or friends for all these things here below are but as it were the shell but this is the pith and kernell the love of God in Christ and if a man lose liberty for Christ he shall have a thousand times more libertie in the peace of a good conscience and a free heart to serve God and in the 63. Psalme in the beginning of the Psalme David was in the wildernesse of Iudah when Saul had banished him from his house and deprived him of friends and meanes and all yet see how David supplies all in the 3. verse because thy loving kindnesse is better than life my lips shall praise thee and in the 5. verse he saith My soule shall bee filled as with â—â—â—row and fatnesse now marrow and fatnesse is the chiefe of all you know as if he had said Saul hath taken away my meanes but thy loving kindnesse is better than all the world it is that which fully satisfieth me Saul hath taken away my liberty but thy loving kindnesse is better than life it selfe and therefore my soule shall bee fully quieted therein Thus faith brings a supply of all good to the soule In the 73. Psalme 25. and the last verse compare them both together and see
how David makes the conclusion David was almost disquieted and his heart disquieted with the prosperitie of the wicked therefore hee said if this bee so then have I cleansed my hands in innocencie and washed my hands in vaine yet marke how hee recovers himselfe againe saying Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee therefore it is good for me to draw neere to God Let the wicked take the world and their profits and their pleasures yet there is nothing in the world that I desire in comparison of the Lord Jesus Christ and his grace and goodnesse Consider it sadly the wicked have much wealth and friends and means Oh thou beloved faithfull soule thou hast the rich treasury of grace and mercy to inrich thee all this whole world is nothing to that rich treasury of mercy which faith brings in as Salomon saith in Ecclesiastes Money answers all if a man have money he may buy meat to feed him and cloth to apparell him and cover him If money will doe so much what will mercy doe then thou hast not wealth nor friends nor meanes but thou hast mercy from God in Christ and this will answer all it is better than friends and meanes and all therefore if thou hast this let thy heart be contented and know that thou hast a childs part and thy lot is fallen into a marvellous faire ground Secondly as faith takes off all miseries and supplies the want of them so in the second place faith takes away all feares for the time to come alas saith the soule friends and means and wealth are good but they continue not ever What if sicknesse come and if povertie come what shall I doe then and so the heart shakes at the feare of evill Now pray marke how faith cures all feares and takes off the edge of all those inconveniences that may bee brought upon a man as in the 112. Psalme 7. He shall not bee afraid of any evill tidings why for his heart is fixed and he beleeveth in the Lord for although heaven and earth may shake yet God and Christ and the promise will never faile and hee casting his heart there by faith he must needs hold What is it that a man may feare we feare the power and policy and malice of the devill and his wicked instruments now faith outbids these and faith rests upon the precious promises of God in Jesus Christ and faith perswades the heart that they have no power but from God and they cannot use that power further than God gives leave and they cannot have successe further than God goes with them they can goe no further than God gives a Commission Now sayes faith that God which orders the power of all these he is my God hee is the God of Hosts and none of all the armies can either command peace neither can they hinder peace therefore I adde a little more faith levies new forces from heaven against all the sorces of earth are the wicked politique then sayes faith the Lord is much more wise and is able to dash all their enterprises and are the wicked fierce and violent then faith lookes to God where there is more power to defend him than they can have to hurt him doe wee see the wicked maliciously bent and full of spleene to wrong the people of God faith sees mercy and goodnesse in the Lord that is more able to releeve us than all the wicked can bee to hurt us faith sayes if hell gates were open and all the devills were about thy eares they can doe nothing further than God gives them power and gives a Commission to them therefore I may bee quieted because God is more able to keepe me than they are to hurt me Thirdly faith it is that inables a man to all duties for imagine a man had all the power in his owne hands and had no wants present nor feared no wants nor troubles to come if yet hee were not able to doe what God required this would disquiet his heart therefore by faith the Lord inables a man to doe every duty that the Lord commends to him or expects from him It is the ground that Paul contents his heart withall Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things through the power of Christ which strengtheneth me I can bee poore and beare it and I can be rich and yet not surfet of the world I can doe all but how through the power of Christ inabling me therefore famous is that of Abraham Rom. 4.18 God had promised Abraham a childe and yet his body was dead and his wife barren and it was even against nature for him to beget a childe or for her to beare any Now how doth God provide for this Abraham under hope beleeved above hope and in the 21. verse because he was fully perswaded that he that had promised it was able to make it good there was no hope in nature that Abraham should beget a child his body being dead and no hope that she should beare any therefore faith goes to God that was able to quicken them hast thou a barren a dead heart as theirs was and therefore thy soule complaines and thou saist I shall never be able to goe through the worke required I know it is the complaint of many poore soules Oh send faith up to Heaven and beleeve in him that is able to succour you and to quicken you to whatsoever he requires content thy heart in this manner and say when thou findest thy heart dead I am ignorant but the Lord is able to inlighten my blinde minde and I have a dead barren heart but the Lord who is the God of power hee is able to quicken me and to releeve a poore dead blockish sinner Hee beleeved in him saith the Text which calleth things that are not as if they were Abraham is not lively and Sarah is not fruitfull but the Lord can make them so and therefore faith goes to God so thou shalt be wise and have thy heart quickned to whatsoever duty concernes Gods prayse and thy owne comfort so then hee that hath what hee will or can desire or stand in need of and he that hath all his feares removed and is inabled to doe all duties commanded nothing more can bee added to this man therefore why should not hee be contented what would you have you poore beleevers Quest Then the question here growes namely if it be so that faith makes a mans life easie and gives him full contentment in every condition then why is it thus as Gedeon said so if faith thus contents the soule then how comes it to passe that those poore silly creatures are so troubled with discouragements and discontentments and none so cast downe with their owne basenesse and vilenesse as they they hang downe their heads and goe drooping all the day long either saith one I have not faith or else if I have faith then why
they have the victory and although there never was nor never can bee any such engine for temporall deliverances as this is yet certaine it is this saving faith is a spirituall engine and instrument aâ— I may so say that gives victory and conquest over all spirituall enemies 1 Iohn 5.4 They that are borne of God overcome the world and sinne and this is the victorie that overcommeth the world even your faith marke the phrase and it is not for the conquest of some one corruption but for the overthrowing of a world of wickednesse it quencheth all the fiery darts of the Devill be the corruptions never so strong yet faith gives the conquest to a poore sinner it is not hope alone nor love nor zeale they are all good souldiers and they may strive much and lend much helpes to a poore sinner but they will grow weake and feeble and dead except saving faith come in to rescue anâ— bring a supply how often doe we finde that whâ—â— our hope failes and our love growes cold and ouâ— zeale dead then at last faith goes to heaven 〈◊〉 fetches new grace even grace for grace and thâ—â— hope is stirred and desire quickned and zeale enflamed Psal 27.13 I had fainted unlesse I had beloved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the â—â—ving it was saith that did save him at a dead lift it is with the soule as it is with the body take a man that is swounding there is one friend that weeps over him another that comforts him but he that will cure him must goe to the Apothecaries shop and bring some Aqua vitae and that will fetch him againe so it is with a poore sinner being under the pressure of horrour of heart you wicked ones are not acquainted with this but you may be in time I have knowne the stouâ—â—st heart to stoop the poore sinner in his extremity faints and profits and pleasures and friends weepe over him saying Oh that we could have quieted and refreshed you but the poore man is goâ—e till at last faith goes to heaven and brings a pardon to save him and mercy to comfort him and hath supply there and faith brings the water of life even the freenesse of this grace and that cheares comforts and revives the heart thus sinking so that the poore sinner by this time begins to looke up and to come to himselfe againe as David saith Psal 73.1 Yet God is good to Israel hee wâ—â— even sinking but faith over came the temptation Oh saith he the world is naught and men are marvellous wicked and malicious to oppose and â—â—y owne heart is malicious and bad but God is good and he will be good to me and cure this vile hâ—â—rt of mine 1 Pet. 1.5 Wee are kept by the power 〈◊〉 God through faith unto salvation that which gets the victory is faith and next under God in Christ we owe our everlasting salvation unto faith even 〈◊〉 that blessed grace you that are acquainted with troubles and anguish of conscience and with many corruptions would it not doe you good at the heart to see all your deadly enemies laid downe at your feet would it not do you good to have all your strong lusts and masterly corruptions of pride and malice those mighty and Goliah sinnes that you have a deadly envie against and that you have stood so long against would you not see them all mastered and overcome I doubt not but you that feele these and undergoe the burden of these you would account it the best day that ever you did see if the conquest be worth the striving then get faith and then the day is yours and you shall see your lusts bleed your lusts breake and though your pride and other lusts now get ground against you yet then they shall be led captive as the text saith then Christ shall lead captivitie captive faith brings Christ into the field and so the victory is gotten Motive 3 As faith makes us glorious in all graces and gives the conquest over all enemies so in the last place it is faith that brings a blessing to all our blessings and it graces all our abilities and it blesseth us in all our occasions that concerne us the profit of all meanes and the successe of all our labours it is in faith nay there is a good which faith workes upon some and therefore it is wortâ— the striving it is that which blesseth all our blessings and all that doth concerne us meanes mâ—â— bend the worke and operation but all the profâ—â— is in faith as Heb. 4.2 The Gospell was preached unto them as unto us but it did not profit them because it was not mixt with faith in those that heard it hadst thou the greatest parts and abilities under heaven if thou hadst not faith with them they would not profit thee men thinke to goe beyond all with their power wit and policie but I say All will not profit them without faith if thou canst receive the Sacraments with faith it will strengthen thee if thou canst heare the Word with faith the terrours of the law will humble thee and the commands thereof will direct thee and awe thee but otherwise all is nothing though an Angell should come from heaven and preach to you as it is with the meanes of the body if a man eat never so much meat and cannot digest it if the stomack bee clogged with it there is nothing but sicknesse and diseases come from it but if a man take but a little meat and digest it well it will nourish him and doe him much good so it is here that which is the stomack and liver of the soule is faith and that turnes the Word and Sacraments and ordinances into good bloud it is a lowly beleeving heart that gets good by this Secondly all our performances finde acceptance through faith the Scripture saith Without faith it is impossible to please God and I say That without faith it is impossible that thou shouldst please God though thy judgement is weake and thy parts humble and thy ability poore and feeble but yet if thou canst but sigh up to heaven by faith that sigh is accepted in heaven with faith all thy weaknesses are pardoned and all services are accepted whereas without the grace of faith hadst thou the greatest abilities under Heaven and though thou canst please thy great Patron thine owne proud heart yet thou wilt never please the great God he that heareth holy faith and walketh by faith though hee can please none else yet hee shall be sure to please his God This is that which turneth all our sinnes and curses into good to us Oh marke that not that it makes them good in themselves but it brings good out of them The cunning Apothecary and wise Physitian can make the most deadly poyson the most soveraigne cordiall because he corrects the one that is so many degrees could and puts a stronger spirit of heat