Jesus Christ required and so much spoken of in Scripture I will content my self but with two Reasons at this time 1. Faith in Christ is most fitted for the acceptance of God's free Gift Faith and Grace do always go together and are put as opposite to Law and Works Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it may be of Grace Eph. 2. 8. For by Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of your selves it is the Gift of God not of Works left any Man should boast Faith establishes and keeps up the Interest and Honour of Grace for it is the free Grace and Favour of God to condescend to the Rebel World so far as he hath done in the new Covenant We present our selves before him as those that stand wholly to his Mercy have nothing to plead for our selves but the Righteousness and Merit of our Redeemer by virtue of which we humbly beg Pardon and Life to be begun in us by his Spirit and perfected in Glory 2. Why Faith in Christ Because the way of our Recovery is so strange and wonderful It can only be received by Faith Sense cannot convey it to us Reason will not and nothing is reserved for the entertainment of this glorious Mystery Pardon and Salvation by our Redeemer but Faith alone If I should deduce this Argument at large I would shew you nothing but Faith or the Belief of God's Testimony concerning his Son can support us in these Transactions with God The Comfort of the Promise is so rich and glorious Sense and Reason cannot inform us of it Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive 1 Cor. 2. 9. the things God hath prepared for them that love him It is not meant only of Heaven but of the whole Preparations and rich Provisions God hath made for us in the Gospel It is not a thing can come to us by Eye or Ear or the conceiving of Man's heart we only believe and entertain it by Faith And then the Persons upon whom it is bestowed are so unworthy that certainly it cannot enter into the Heart of Man that God will be so good and do so much good to such Adam when he had sinned grew shy of God and ran away from him Besides the way God hath taken for our deliverance is so supernatural God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life That God should become Man that he should submit to such an accursed Death for our Sakes is so high and glorious it can only be entertain'd by Faith Besides our chief Blessedness lies in another World He that lacketh Faith is blind and cannot see afar off Here in this lower World where our God is unseen and our great Hopes are to come where the Flesh is so importunate to be pleased where our Temptations and Trials are so many and Difficulties so great we are apt to question all and we can never keep waiting upon God were it not for Faith and a steady Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. For these Reasons if you look into the Scriptures it is why Faith is so much insisted upon that we may keep up the honour of God's Grace and because this Grace of the Redeemer is so mysterious and wonderful 4. The Use of these two Graces discover their Nature What is Faith and Repeatance Repentance towards God is a Turning from Sin to God The Terminus à quo of Repentance is our begun Recovery from Sin and therefore called Repentance from dead Works Heb. 6. 1. The Terminus ad quem to which we return is God and our being devoted to God in Obedience and Love God never hath our Hearts till he hath our Love and Delight till we return to a Love of his blessed Majesty and delight in his Ways This is called in Scripture sometimes a turning to God in many other places a seeking after God a giving up our selves to God 2 Cor. 8. 5. They gave up themselves to the Lord. This is the Repentance by which we enter into the Gospel-State Now what is Faith Besides an Assent to the Gospel which is at the bottom of it It is a serious thankful broken-hearted Acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ that he may be to every one of us what God hath appointed him to be and do forevery one of us what God hath appointed him to do for poor Sinners It is serious and broken-hearted done by a Creature in misery and thankful for such a wonderful Benefit a trusting to this Redeemer that he may do the Work of a Redeemer in our Hearts to save us from the evil of and after Sin And thus I have briefly opened this necessary Doctrine as clearly laid down in the Scripture And this is your Entrance in the Evangelick State II. For our Continuance therein For we must not only mind our Entrance but our Continuance Our Lord Jesus tells us of a Gate and a Way the Gate signifies the Entrance and the Way our Continuance And we read of making and keeping Covenant with God we read of Union with Christ that is our first Entrance for this Faith is the closing Act and exprest sometimes by a being married to Christ. But there is not only an Union with Christ but an Abiding in him Abide in me and I will abide in you Now as for our Continuance I would shew you that the first Works are gone over and over again Faith and Repentance are still necessary For the Righteousness of God is revealed frm Faith to Faith And Repentance is still necessary But I shall only press two things First New Obedience Secondly Daily Prayer 1. New Obedience is required 1 Ioh. 1. 7. If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the Blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Holy Walking is necessary to the continuance of our being cleansed from Sin and therefore Mercy is promised to the forsaking of our Sins Prov. 18. 13. He that confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Our Hearts were not sound with God in the first Covenanting if we undo what was done If we build again the things we have destroyed then we are found Transgressours Gal. 1. 18. Well then a Man that seeks after Pardon seeks after it with the ruine and destruction of Sin Sin was the greatest Burden that lay upon his Conscience the Greivance from whence he sought ease the Wound pain'd him at Heart the Disease his Soul was sick of And was all this Anguish real and shall a Man come to delight in his Sores again and take up the Burden he groaned under and tear open
saved 4. Necessitate Signi as Evidences of our Right to Salvation both to others and our selves Works or external Acts are more sensible and visible and also liable to the notice of our own Consciences and it is more hard to judg of the internal Grace than the external Fruits 1. As to others God seeth what is in our Hearts but Men see it not till the Effects manifest it When Iohn suspected the Pharisees he said to them Mat. 3. 8. Bring ye forth therefore Fruits meet for Repentance The Fear of God is more known by the external Act than by the internal Habit therefore that Description is given Prov. 8. 13. The Fear of the Lord is to hate Evil Pride and Arrogancy and the evil Way and the froward Mouth do I hate And Iob 28. 28. The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Understanding The Current of a Mans Life and Actions doth best expound and interpret his Heart Thus the Psalmist discovered the wicked Psal. 36. 1. The Transgression of the Wicked saith within my Heart that there is no Fear of God before his Eyes 2. To our selves holy Conversation and Godliness is the surest note of our Regeneration We judg others by external Works alone For the Tree is known by its Fruit Mat. 7. 16. Charity forbids us to pry any further but we judg our selves by internal and external Works together If within we have Faith in Christ a love to God and hatred of Evil a delight in Holiness a deep sense of the World to come all which Graces make up the new Nature then these things issue out into an holy Conversation this breedeth Joy and Peace of Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 1 John 3. 18 19. Let us not love in Word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth and hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our Hearts before him 3. That good Works must not be opposed to God's Mercy and free Grace or Christ's Satisfaction Merit and Righteousness either in the matter of Justification or Salvation but kept in a due subordination to God's Grace and Christ's Merits This is the business of this Context to reconcile the Grace of God with the necessity of good Works è contrà and very well it may be for they are part of the Grace obtained He is most beholden to God and indebted to Grace who is enabled to do most good for all is from him Phil. 2. 13. He worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure So that our very doing is receiving But because there are a sort of Men that may be called Justiciaries who trust and teach others to trust to their own Vertues and Works without a Saviour or ascribe the part of a Saviour to them and on the other side the Libertines who teach Men not to look at any thing in themselves at all not as an Evidence Condition or Means but to trust to Christ's Blood to be instead of Faith Repentance and Obedience which is their Duty to be performed by them therefore it will be necessary to be well acquainted with what is truly the Part and Office of Christ what is truly the Office of Faith and Repentance what of Works that you may be sure to give every thing its due and may wholly trust Christ for his part and not joyn Faith or any of your Works and Duties in the least degree of that Trust and Honour which belongeth to our Saviour but regard them according to that use for which they are commanded in the Gospel 1. Our Works whatever they are either Duties to God or Man are not the first moving cause or inducement to incline God to shew us Favour or to bring about our Salvation No this Honour must be reserved for the Grace of God which moveth and stirreth all in the business of our Salvation It was his Grace to provide us a Saviour John 3. 16. God so loveth the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And the giving of Faith or converting Grace to some before others is the meer Effect of his Mercy and good Pleasure Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved Then the Benefits consequent upon Conversion are from God's Love and Mercy As Justification Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace Not only by his Grace but freely that is not excited by our Works but acting freely of its own accord Then for Eternal Life we have it from the Grace of God and the Mercy of our Redeemer Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto Eternal Life So that Grace is the first Mover and Principle in the whole Business of our Salvation it is originally from Grace and all along by Grace 2. Our Works before or after Conversion are not that Righteousness not any part of that meritorious Righteousness by virtue of which Sins are expiated the Wrath of God appeased all Blessings of Heaven purchased and we reconciled to God For this is only to be ascribed to the Merit and Satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we were Enemies we were reconciled by his Death and are saved by his Life Rom. 5. 10. He is our Propitiation we live by him 1 John 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins It is Christ's Office and Honour to be a Sacrifice for Sin and a Propitiation for us and a perfect Saviour and Intercessor to obtain the Spirit to fit us for our present Duty and future Happiness We are his Workmanship in Christ. 3. Our Works or Duties which we perform in Obedience to God are not the first means to apply the Grace of the Redeemer or the Condition of our first entrance into the Evangelical Estate No that is proper to Repentance and Faith Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God is by Faith unto all and upon all them that believe And Repentance is frequently required also to receive Pardon and the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be Converted that your Sins may be blotted out It is the penitent believing Sinner that is
the Conscience and the Conscience against all But where the Heart is framed to the obedience of God's Will there is Peace Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all things keep their place as in an accurate orderly Life they do Gal. 6. As many as walk according to this Rule Peace and Mercy be upon them and the whole Israel of God There is Peace for there is an harmonious Accord between God and them and between them and themselves Psal. 119. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law not only Peace but great Peace a Peace that passeth all understanding Whilst we are in our Sins there is ever a fear of the War which is between God and us and there is a War in our selves Conscience disallowing our practices and our practices disliking the conduct of Conscience so that there is no peace to the Wicked But when the Lord Jesus hath taken us in hand and begun to cure us and frame us aright and shew us his wonderful Grace in turning us from our Sins here is matter provided for Serenity and Peace 2. It is the pledg of our eternal Felicity hereafter For Heaven is the perfection of Holiness or the full fruition of God in glory Now when the Mediator begins to take away Sin he blesses you for the Life is then begun which shall be perfected in Heaven Unless it be begun here it will never be perfected there For without Holiness no Man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But if it be begun it will surely be perfected there for blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The vision and fruition of God is begun here the Spirit of Holiness is the earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1. 13 14. O what Blessedness is it then to have the new heart planted into us by Christ and to live the new Life It is the Beast about you that delights in the momentany base dreggy Pleasures of Sin But when Christ hath turned you from your Sins you are blessed indeed you are in the way to Blessedness and you shall be blessed for ever he gives Peace as a Pledge of Happiness and Eternal Glory III. I shall prove that this is the Mediator's Blessing 1. Let me lay down this that those Blessings that are most proper to the Mediator are spiritual Blessings We forfeited all by Sin but especially the Grace of the Spirit whereby we might be made serviceable to God Other Mercies run in the Channel of common Providence but spiritual Blessings are the discriminating Graces and Favours that are given us by the Mediator Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places Christ came not to distribute Honours and Greatness and worldly Riches to his Followers but to turn away every one of us from our Sins to reduce us to God that we may love him and be beloved of him He came as a spiritual Saviour to give us Grace rather than temporal Happiness Most Men have a Carnal Iewish Notion of Christ they would have a temporal Safety and Happiness they would have Deliverance from Affliction rather than Deliverance from Sin To be delivered from every evil Work is more than to be delivered from the Mouth of the Lion This is most proper to the Mediator 2 Tim. 4. 18. A sanctified Use of Troubles is more than an Exemption from them a carnal Man may have Exemption from them but not a sanctified Use of them Poverty Lameness Blindness are not as bad as Ignorance unruly Lusts and Want of Grace Moral Evils are worse than Natural Daniel was cast into a Lion's Den you would think that was a Misery but it was a greater Misery when Nebuchadnezzar was thrust out among the Beasts being given up to a brutish Heart Exemption from Trouble may be hurtful to us but Deliverance from Sin is never hurtful to us Among the spiritual Blessings we have by the Mediator Conversion from Sin to God is the chiefest we have on this side Heaven That it was the main Part of Christ's Undertaking I shall prove by Scripture and Reason For Scripture the Text is clear for it for thus the Apostle interprets the Covenant-Blessing In thy Seed shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed viz. God hath sent him to bless you wherein in turning every one of you from your Sins He shall be called Iesus Mat. 1. 21. for he shall save his People from their sins not only from the Guilt but the Power of Sin not only from the Evil after Sin but the Evil of Sin it self Denominatio est à majori the Name is taken from what is chiefest And so when he is promised to the Iews The Redcemer shall come out of Sion and he shall turn away Ungodliness from Iacob There is his principal Work 1 John 3. 5. Christ came to take away Sin and in him is no Sin He means not only the condemning Power but the Power of it in the Heart for he is pleading Arguments for Holiness why Believers should not run into Sin which is a Transgression of the Law One is from the Undertaking of Christ he came to take away Sin and from the Example of Christ In him is no Sin he plainly means the Power of Sin 2. Now to give you some Reasons why this is the chief Benefit most eyed by Christ and should be most regarded by us 1. Christ's Undertaking was principally for the Glory of God All the Promises are in him Yea and Amen to the Glory of God And it should not be a Question which should have the precedence the Glory of God or our Good Christ came to promote God's Glory and that must have the precedence of our Benefit Now then the abolishing the Guilt of Sin doth more directly respect our Interest and Good but the abolishing the Power of Sin or the turning and cleansing the Heart from it doth more immediately respect the Glory of God and our Subjection to God Therefore Christ would not only pacify the Wrath of God but his chief Work that doth mostly concern the Glory of God was to heal our evil Natures and prevent Sin for the time to come 2. To be turned from Sin is to be freed from the greatest Evil. For Pardon gives us an Exemption from Punishment which is a natural Evil but Conversion gives us freedom from our naughty Hearts which is a moral Evil and certainly Vice is worse than Pain and Sin than Misery Besides Sin is the Cause of all Evil and the taking away the Cause is more than ceasing the Effect 3. This hath nearer Connection with the Life of Glory Pardon only removes the Impediment but the sanctifying and healing of our Natures is the beginning of the Life of Glory and Introduction into it Pardon removes our Guilt which hinders our Happiness therefore Divines say Justification is Gratia removens prohibens that that removes the Impediment but the sanctifying
Love is our Breast-plate that guards the vitals of Christianity and Hope is our Helmet that covers our Head that we may hold up our Head in the midst of all the troubles and sorrows of the present Life 1 Thess. 5. 8. Both Graces are necessary therefore it will not be unprofitable to insist upon them I begin now with the former The Lord direct your Hearts to the love of God Where note 1. The Grace prayed for the Love of God 2. The Efficiency which is necessary to produce it the Lord direct your Hearts The word direct notes sometimes conduct and guidance and sometimes bending or setting streight the thing that is crooked Conduct and Guidance as we guide Men that they may not go wrong Psal. 119. 5. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Ships that are best rigged need a Pilot and they that love God most need to have their love ordered and directed to the best advantage of his Glory and Service This for the first signification guidance and direction But at other times it signifies the bending inclining or making streight what is crooked and what bends and tends another way in this Sence I take it here Our Hearts are distorted and writhed and averse from God and all good naturally yea and after Grace received are apt to wander and return to their old bent and byas again therefore the Apostle prays that God would form and set their Hearts streight that they may be more indeclinably fixt towards God And this Prayer he makes for the Thessalonions whose work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope he had so much commended before and of whose sincerity he had such great confidence for those he prays that their Love might be directed and their Hearts more fixedly set towards God The Note then will be plain and easy Doct. That we cannot have or keep up any true Love to God unless the Lord set our Hearts streight and keep them bent towards himself I shall inquire here 1. What is Love to God Love is the complacency of the Soul in what is good Love to God is the complacency and well-pleasedness of the Soul in God as our all-sufficient Portion To open it to you I shall describe it I. By its Radical and Internal Acts. II. By its External Effects III. A little touch upon the Properties of it and then you will see what the Love of God is 1. The Radical and Internal Acts are two Desire and Delight Desire after him and Delight in him 1. Desire after him Love affects union with the thing Beloved and so love to God implies an earnest seeking after him in the highest way of enjoyment that we are capable of in this World This appears partly by the kind of Mercies that we affect and partly by the fervency of our endeavours after him 1. By the kind of Mercies that we affect There are some Mercies vouchsafed to the Creature that lie nearer to God than others do and do least detain us from him as his Image and Favour or his renewing and reconciling Grace When we love God these are sought in the first place As you shall see how the temper of the Saints is described and distinguished from the temper of the brutish Multitude Psal. 4. 6 7. The Many say Who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and this will put gladness into our Hearts The Many the brutish Multitude seek an uncertain good and they seek it from an uncertain Author Who will shew us They do not acknowledg God in these common Mercies but the Children of God must have his Favour Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us As the Beams of the Sun do chear and refresh the Earth this is that that doth revive their Souls So Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Well then they that desire to be like God in Purity and Holiness and to recover his Favour lost by Sin do certainly more love him than those that only seek temporal Mercies from him God's sanctifying Spirit witnessing his love to us is the greatest gift can be bestowed in this Life and will more witness his love than any thing else can be given us This the Saints seek after that they may be like God that they may be accepted and well-pleasing unto God this is all their Ambition 2 Cor. 5. 9. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord. Other things may please the Flesh but that is not their design those things that bring them nearer to God take up their Mind and Heart Now as it appears by the Mercies we affect so it appears 2. By the fervency of our endeavours after these things For if the Image of God and Favour of God be sought superficially or as things that we may be well without and the Wealth Honours and Pleasures of the World be most earnestly sought after surely we do not love God Psal. 63. 8. My Soul followeth hard after thee The whole Spiritual Life is but a pursuit of the Soul towards God and the more constantly and earnestly we seek him to enjoy more of his saving Graces and Benefits the more we have of the love of God in us Therefore David expresseth this desire as exceeding all other desires Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple He sought not the glory of the Kingdom Success in battel Victory over his Enemies in the first place or not so much as Converse with God and Attendance on his Worship in the Tabernacle all was nothing to this that he might have Communion with God Therefore this is the radical Act of Love this fervent burning desire that carries the Soul thorow all Duties Ordinances Services they are still making their way to a nearer access to God and larger participation of his Grace till they come eternally to enjoy him in Glory 2. There is another Internal Radical Act of Love that is a Delight in him Our full joy is reserved for the other World but delighting our selves in God is a great Duty now for Love being the complacence of the Soul in God as a apprehended to be good or a delightful adhesion to God as our all-sufficient Portion and Happiness it cannot be imagined Love can be without any delight in God even now Now in this Valley of Tears the hope of enjoying him hereafter is our Comfort and Solace in the midst of our Weaknesses and Afflictions that there is a time coming when we shall more perfectly see kim as he is and be like him 1 Ioh. 3. 2. the Apostle tells us We rejoyce now in the hope of the Glory of God that we have this in
The Scripture declares both the first This is love to keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous The second Psal. 97 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil When we are fearful of committing or omitting any thing may be a violation of his Law a grief to his Spirit or a dishonour to his Name then we are said to love God What ever lofty and luscious strains of devotion we may otherwise please our selves with here will our Trial rest He doth not love God that can most accurately discourse of his Attributes or soar aloft in the nice speculations of contemplative Divinity or pretences of Secrecy with God but he that is most awful serious and consciencious in his Duty 2. It is a Transcendental Love we owe to God we must love him above all other things For he must be loved as our Felicity and End He must have the chiefest place in our Hearts and our principal design must be to please serve and glorify him If we seek God in order to other things we do not love him but our own Lusts nay if all other things be not sought after in order to God we do not set him up as our chief good or last end He that loves Father and Mother more than me is not worthy of me Luke 14. 26. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Many have a partial half-love to God but a greater love to other things then God's interest will be least minded For there is something nearer and dearer to us than God which will be soon preferred before the Conscience of our Duty to him No all must be subordinated to our supream Happiness and last end or else God is not loved as God But now the second thing propounded is the nature of that influence upon Love which is exprest here by the Apostle in the word direct The Lord direct your Hearts in the Love of God What doth this Imply 1. It implies that God works upon us as Rational Creatures He changeth the Heart indeed but he doth it by Direction he draws us to himself but it is with the Cords of a Man he teacheth while he draws Joh. 6. 44 45. None can come unto me but those whom the Father draws and he proves it by this because they shall be all taught of God God's drawing is teaching it is both by the attractive force of the Object and the internal Efficacy of his Grace the Spirits conduct is sweet yet powerfull accomplisheth the Effect but without offering violence to the liberty of Man We are not forced but directed There is not a violent compulsion but an inclination sweetly raised in us by victorious Grace or the overpouring sweetness of his Love For we love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 19. And this love is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost who by giving us an esteem and serious remembrance of his Benefits blows up this holy flame in our Hearts We do not love God we know not why or wherefore An account can be given of all the Spirits operations Look as in an impression there must be a Seal and Wax to the Seal and the hand that stamps it so all concurr here The Word doth its part that is the Seal and the Heart of Man receives the Impression but to make it effectual and durable the hand of God concurs or the power of his Spirit The Object is the Gospel wherein God commends his Love to us by the Incarnation Death and Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ as also by the new Covenant because he will work upon Man after the nature of Man by Love he will work upon Love Beside all this there is an internal powerful Agent the holy Spirit The external objective means cannot do it without the inward cause Though God's Love doth so gloriously and resplendently shine forth in the Gospel yet the Heart of Man is not affected with it till it be shed abroad by the illuminating sanctifying Spirit The Heart of Man is dark and dead to these things till changed by Grace and when that is once done that Impression is according to the Stamp 2. The Inclination to God as our Felicity and End which is the Fruit of this Grace is the inclination of a reasonable Creature so the Inclination is necessary but the Acts are voluntary therefore you must keep them up still There is an Inclination put by God into inanimate things as in light and airy Bodies to move upwards and in heavy Bodies to move downwards as a Stone falls to the Earth but Fire and Smoak ascend they cannot do otherwise because they have no choice But now in Man there is an Inclination to God and Heaven which is the Fruit of Grace The Inclination is necessary why because all those whom the Spirit sanctifies he sanctifies them not in vain he certainly begets this Tendency in them towards God therefore so often they are said in Scripture to be converted or turned to God Their Hearts were averse before but then they tend and bend towards him but the Acts are voluntary There is a Duty lying upon us to stir up the Gift of Grace that is in us the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 6. When this holy Fire is kindled in our Bosoms we must blow it up and keep it burning We must not be negligent and secure for we cannot reasonably imagine the idle and diligent should fare alike that the Holy Ghost will direct our Hearts into the Love of God whether we will or not therefore not only as we are rational Agents but as we are new Creatures we are obliged to use the Means and then expect his Help and Blessing What is a Prayer in the Text the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God to the patient waiting for Christ is an Exhortation Iud. 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto everlasting life There is both again you must look to your Love that your Hearts be kept streight and bent towards God and not distracted with worldly Vanities The Blessing is from God but you must use the Means this Direction is not to encourage Slothfulness but Industry We must charge it upon our selves as our main Work and Duty the Spirit stirs and quickens we must rouse up our selves 3. It implies there are many things would writhe and crook and turn our Hearts another way the Devil the World and the Flesh. The Devil seeks to draw us off from God to abate the Fervor of our Love towards him therefore we are bidden to flee youthful Lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. that we may not be taken captive by him at his will and pleasure Some tamely yeeld to his Temptations and he doth unto them as he listeth but there is more tugging
like him that is like him in Holiness and like him in Happiness Our Vision will make a Transformation The desire of Union which is so intrinsick to Love is never satisfied till then Here we have a little of God in the midst of Sin and Misery Sin straitens our capacity from receiving more and God sees fit to exercise us with Misery only affording us an intermixture of heavenly Comfort But our full Joy is reserved to the Day of Christ's appearing 2. They that love God desire also that God may be glorified that his Truth may be vindicated his Love and Justice demonstrated His Truth is vindicated because his Threatnings and Promises are all accomplished Sin will no more be had in Honour nor Pride and Sensuality bear sway Love to the Saints will be seen in their full reward and his Justice demonstrated on the wicked in their full Punishment All matters of Faith shall then become matters of Sence and what is now propounded to be believed shall be felt and God shall be glorified in all 2. The Saints love Christ as Mediator we love him now though we see him not 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen we love and believing in him rejoyce with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory But desire to see him as our surest and best Friend We have heard much of him felt much of him and tasted much of him but we desire to see him especially when he shall appear in all his Glory Mat. 25. 31. The Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all his Angels with him All Clouds about his Person shall vanish he shall appear to be what he is the Saviour and Judg of the World 3. They have a love for the Church for the Church in general shall at that day be adorned as a Bride for her Husband and fully freed from all Sin and trouble 'T is no more eclipsed by its lamentable Imperfections corruption of Worship division of Sects or the persecutions of the World nor polluted by the Distempers of its diseased Members all is then Holy and Glorious Christ will present it as a Glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 2. 7. 4. They love themselves in God and their own Happiness is then fully to be perfected All the desires and hopes of Believers are then satisfied They that are now scorned and persecuted shall have the reward of their love to God be perfectly loved by him A gladsom day it will be with God's people 2 Thess. 1. 10. It is said Christ shall be admired in the Saints and glorified in all them that believe Glorified not actively but objectively Poor Creatures that are newly crept out of the Dust and Rottenness shall have so much Glory put upon them that the Angels themselves shall stand wondring what Christ means to do for them And then for all their labour they shall have rest they shall rest from their labours that is all their troublesom work shall be over for their pain and sorrow they shall have delight 1 Pet. 4. 12. For their shame they shall have Glory put upon them both in Body and Soul Our Lord Christ despised the Shame for the Glory set before him Heb. 12. 2. III. It hath a great Influence upon the Spiritual Life and keeps Religion alive in our Souls That will appear if you take either word in the Text Waiting or Patience 1. If you take the first Notion Waiting or Looking as it draws off the Mind from things present to things to come 1. Looking to the end of things giveth Wisdom Deut. 32. 29. Oh that they were wise that they would consider their latter end It is not so much to be stood upon who is happy now but who shall be happy at last If Men would frequently consider this it would much rectify all the mistakes in the World If we would inure our Minds not to look to things as they seem at present or relish to the Flesh or appear now to such short-sighted Creatures as we are but as they will be judged of at the last day at Christ's appearing How soon would this vain shew be over and the Face of things changed and what is Rich and Pleasant and Honourable now appear base and contemptible at the latter end Then shall we see that there is an excellency in oppressed Godliness that exalted Wickedness and Folly is but shame and ruine Do but translate the Scene from the World's Judgment to Christ's Tribunal and you will soon alter your opinions concerning Wisdom and Folly Misery and Happiness Liberty and Bondage Shame and Glory the mistaking of which Notions pervert all mankind and there is no rectifying the mistake but by carrying of our Mind seriously to the last review of all things For then we shall judge things not by what they seem now but by what they will be hereafter Solomon tells us Prov. 19. 20. Hear Counsel and receive Instruction that thou mayst be wise in thy latter end That is true Wisdom to be found wise at last Time will come when we shall wish and say in vain Oh that we had laid up treasure in Heaven that we had laboured for the Meat that perisheth not that we had esteemed despised Holiness that we had set less by all the vanities of the World that we had imitated the strictest and most mortified Believer for those are only esteemed and have honour in that Day More particularly 1. It would much quicken us to Repentance Acts 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the day of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. All things shall be reviewed at Christ's coming and some Mens Sins remain and others are blotted out None but those that are converted and turned to God can expect that Benefit Unless we be recovered from the Devil the World and the Flesh and brought back again in Heart and Life to God there will be no escape Now those that wait for this day should prepare for it that they may stand in the Judgment with comfort The wicked shall have Judgment without Mercy but the Believer shall be accepted upon terms of Grace Days of torment shall come to the one from the presence of the Lord and days of refreshing shall come to the other The state in the World of believing Penitents is a time of Conflict Labour and Sorrow but this trouble and toil is then over and they shall enjoy their rest Consider these things Where would you have your refreshment and in what Many seek their refreshing now either in brutish pleasures and sit down under the shadow of some earthly Gourd which soon withers but those that seek their refreshment in the enjoyment of God shall then be satisfied Nothing certainly makes us so sollicitous about a serious Reconciliation with God as the Consideration of this Day 2. It engageth us to Holiness and puts Life into our Obedience We that look for such things what manner of Persons ought
For Continuance in the new Covenant and delightful Obedience unto God The Remedy is not only suted to the Disease but the Duty to the Reward Our Duty is to know God and to love Him and our Reward is to see Him and be like Him 1 Ioh. 3. 2. There is a marvellous Sutableness between the End and Means Holiness and Happiness Conformity to God and our Communion with Him the Holiness required of us now and the Happiness we expect hereafter perfect Conformity and uninterrupted Communion And they differ only but as the Bud and the Flower the River and the Ocean Here it is begun hereafter perfected III. In the Application of his Grace to particular Believers he hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence 1. In the Way God taketh to convert Souls to Himself there is a sweet Contemperation and Mixture of Wisdom and Power There is a Proposal of Truth and Good to the Understanding and the Will and by the secret Power of his Grace it is made effectual We are taught and drawn Ioh. 6. 44 45. No Man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him In the 45th vers And they shall be all taught of God Every Man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me There is opening of blind Eyes and the turning of an hard Heart Acts 26. 18. To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light c. Eph. 1. 18. The Eyes of the Understanding being opened c. Col. 3. 10. Renewed in Knowledg Turning the Heart Acts 16. 29. God opened the Heart of Lydia Acts 11. 21. The Hand of the Lord was with him and a great Number believed and turned to the Lord. His Hand implieth his Power Thus God worketh strongly like Himself sweetly with respect to us that he may not oppress the Liberty of our Faculties Christ comes into the Heart not by Force but by Consent We are transformed but so as we prove what the Will of God is Rom. 12. 2. He draweth we run Cant. 1. 4. The Power of God and Liberty of Man do sweetly consist together As God is said to create in us a new Heart he is also said to give us a free Spirit Psal. 51. 10 12. Eph. 2. 10. We are said to be his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them So he puts a new Heart and we are said to walk in his Ways Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new Heart will I also give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them Thus God sheweth forth the powerful Efficacy of his Grace and doth also win the Consent and good Liking of the Sinner he obtaineth his Effect and yet doth preserve the Liberty of Man's Nature and the Principles thereof It is not only Voluntas mota but mutata the Nature is changed and renewed 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. In the perswasive and moral Way the Wisdom of God is seen as taking the most likely Course to gain the Heart of Man discovering Himself to us as a God of Love Kindness and Mercy Guilty Creatures stand aloof from a condemning God our Fear of his Justice maketh us run from him Gen. 3. 7 10. Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord. So all his Posterity forsake God and hate him But God though the Superior though the wronged Party maketh Offers of Peace and sheweth how willing he is to be reconciled to us Having first laid the Foundation in the highest Demonstration of Goodness that ever could come to the Ears of Man to hear of or enter into the Heart of Man to conceive namely in giving his Son to die for a sinful World 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. What more apt to make Man relent And then because Man had fallen from the Love of God to the Creature Ier. 2. 3. What Wisdom doth God shew not only in the Offers of Pardon but Eternal Life and Blessedness infinitely beyond the false Happiness which carnal Self-Love inclineth us to that it is a Shame and Disgrace to our Reason to think these things are worthy to be compared together What are all the Pleasures Profits and Honours we dote upon to the Pleasures at God's right-Hand the Riches of the Inheritance of the Saints and the Glory which cometh from God And therefore what more powerful Motive can be produced than this Blessed Immortality Indeed God is invisible and the Glory is to come and sensual Pleasures are at hand ready to be enjoyed But Faith checketh Sense Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the Evidence of Things not seen O the Wisdom of God in the Frame of the Gospel 2. In the Effect it self the new Creature which is the wisest Creature on this side Heaven To evidence this to you I shall shew you that all Wisdom and Prudence consisteth in three things 1. In fixing a right End 2. In the choice of apt and proper Means 3. In a dextrous effectual Prosecution of the End by those Means 1. In fixing and propounding to ourselves a right End A wise Man doth not mind Trifles but is conversant about Things of the greatest Reality Necessity and Excellency such are God and Heaven All other Wisdom will prove but Folly in the end Others disquiet themselves about a vain Show Psal. 59. 6. Poor silly Creatures cark and labour and turmoil to get together a few poor transitory Enjoyments where there is neither durable possession nor solid Satisfaction The Honours Pleasures and Riches of the World are but Pictures and Shadows of the true Honours the true Riches and Fulness of Joy at God's right Hand Surely he is a wise Man that chooseth God for his Portion and Heaven for his Home Prov. 15. 24. The Way of Life is above to the Wise to avoid Hell beneath He is wise and hath chosen the true Sort of living which mindeth the Salvation of his Soul and looketh after Eternal Life Surely this is above and beyond any Wisdom Man can pretend unto to be happy not for a while but for ever 2. In the Choice of apt and proper Means A Man is wise enough if he knows his Duty and the Way to Happiness God hath appointed us the Way wherein to walk to fear him and love him and keep his Commandments Deut. 4. 6. Keep these Statutes for this is your Wisdom Job 28. 28. The Fear of God that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil that is Understanding There is an Excellency in this sort of Life Prov. 12.
his Justice in reference to Men and to appear to them still as a Righteous God Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right And Rom. 3. 5 6. Is God unrighteous to take Vengeance how then shall he judge the World These Scriptures imply that if there were the least Blemish if you could suppose he should fail in point of Righteousness this were to be denyed that God should be the Judge of the World Therefore God's Righteousness and Justice which gives to every one their due must shine in its proper place he will give Vengeance to whom Vengeance is due and Blessing to whom Blessing belongs In our Case Punishment belongs to us and what can we expect from this God but Wrath and eternal Destruction Therefore if all this be so if a Conscience suppose a Law a Law a Sanction a Sanction a Judge a Judge some time when his Justice must have a Solemn Tryal and this will necessarily infer Condemnation to a fallen Creature What then shall we do 7. From this Condemnation there is no Escape unless God set up another Court and Chancery of the Gospel where condemned Sinners may be taken to Mercy and their Sins forgiven and they justified and accepted unto Grace and Life upon Terms that may salve God's Honour and Government over Mankind There is a great deal of Difference between the forgiving private Wrongs and Injuries and the pardoning of publick Offences between the Pardon of a Magistrate and the Pardon of a private Person When Equals fall out among themselves they may end their Differences in Charity and in such ways as best please themselves by a meer forgiving by acquitting the sense of the Wrong done or a bare Submission of the Party offending But the Case is different here God is not reconciled to us meerly as the Party offended but as the Governour of the World the Case lies between the Judge of the World and sinning Mankind therefore it must not be ended by meer Comprimise and Agreement but by Satisfaction that his Law may be satisfied and the Honour of his Justice secured Therefore to make the Pardon of Man a thing convenient to the Righteous and Holy Judge to bestow without any Impeachment to the Honour of his Justice and Authority of his Law the Lord finds out this great Mystery God manifested in our Flesh Iesus Christ is made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4. 5. And is become a Propitiation to satisfy God's Iustice Rom. 3. 25 26. And so God shews Mercy to his Creatures and yet the Awe of his Government is kept up and a full Demonstration of his Righteousness is given to the World 8. This being done conveniently to God's Honour we must sue out our Pardon with respect to both the Covenants both that which we have broken the Law of Nature and that which is made in Christ and is to be accepted by us as our Sanctuary and sure Refuge 1. We must have a broken-hearted Sense of Sin and of the Curse due to the first Covenant for it is the Disease brings us to the Physician the Curse drives us to the Promise and the Tribunal of Justice to the Throne of Grace and the Avenger of Blood at our Heels that causeth us to fly to our proper City of Refuge and to take Sanctuary at the Lord's Grace Heb. 6. 18. So that if you mince and extenuate Sin you seem to hold to the first Covenant and had rather plead innocent than guilty no if you would have this favour you must confess your Sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and vo cleanse us from all Unrighteousness You must confess your Sins and with that remorse that will become Offences done to so great a God And there must not only be a Sense of Sin but of the Curse and Merit of Sin also for we must not only accuse but judge our selves that God may not judge and condemn us 1 Cor. 11. 31. Self-accusing respects Sin and is acted in Confession Self-judging respects the Curse or Punishment that is due to us for Sin and it is a Persons pronouncing upon himself according to the tenor of the Law what is his due acknowledging his Guilt and this with much brokenness of Heart before God when he hath involved himself in God's eternal Wrath and Displeasure I observe that the Law-Covenant is in the Scripture compared to a Prison wherein God hath shut up guilty Souls Rom. 11. 32. He hath concluded or shut them up that he may have Mercy upon them Gal. 3. 22. He hath shut them up under Sin The Law is God's Prison and no Offenders can get out of it till they have God's leave and from him they have none till they are sensible of the Justice and Righteousness of that first Dispensation confess their Sins with brokenness of heart and that it may be just with God to condemn them for ever 2. We must thankfully accept the Lord's Grace that offers Pardon to us For since God is pleased to try us a second time and set us up with a new stock of Grace and that brought about in such a wonderful way that he may recover the lost Creation to himself surely if we shall despise our Remedy after we have rendred our selves uncapable of our Duty no Condemnation is bad enough for us Ioh. 3. 18 19. Therefore we should admire the Mercy of God in Christ and have such a deep sence of it that it may check our sinful self-love which hath been our bane and ruine And since God shewed himself willing to be reconciled we must enter into his Peace not look upon our selves in a hopeless and desperate condition but depend upon the Merit Sacrifice and Intercession of Christ and be encouraged by his gracious Promise and Covenant to come with boldness that we may find Grace and Mercy to help in a time of need Heb. 4. 16. Thus you see the Need we have to look after this Pardon of Sin 2dly I must shew our Misery without this And this will be best done by considering the Notions here in the Text. Here is Filth to be covered a Burden of which we must be eased and here is a Debt that must be cancelled and unless this be what a miserable Condition are we in 1. What a heavy Burden is Sin where it is not pardoned Carnal Men feel it not for the present Elements are not burdensom in their own place but how soon may they feel it Two sorts of Consciences feel the burden of Sin a tender Conscience and a wounded Conscience It is greivous to a tender Heart that values the Love of God to lie under the Guilt of Sin and to be obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure Psal. 38. 4. Mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as a Burden too heavy for me Broken Bones are sensible of the least Weight certainly a
broken Heart cannot make light of Sin What kind of Hearts are those that sin securely and without Remorse and are never troubled Go to wounded Consciences and ask of them what Sin is Gen. 4. 13. Mine Iniquity is greater than I can bear Prov. 18. 14. A wounded Spirit who can bear As long as the Evil lies without us it is tolerable the natural Courage of a Man may bear up under it but when the Spirit it self is wounded with the sense of Sin who can bear it If a Spark of God's Wrath light upon the Conscience how soon do Men become a Burden to themselves and some have chosen Strangling rather than Life Ask Cain ask Iudas what it is to feel the burden of Sin Sinners are all their life time subject to this Bondage it is not always felt but soon awakened it may be done by a pressing Exhortation at a Sermon it may be done by some notable Misery that befalls us in the World it may be done by a scandalous Sin it may be done by a grievous Sickness or worldly Disappointment All these things and many more may easily revive it in us There needs not much ado to put a Sinner in the Stocks of Conscience Therefore do but consider to be eased of this Burden O the Blessedness of it 2. It is Filth to be covered which renders us odious in the sight of God It is said Prov. 13. 5. That a Sinner is loathsom To whom to God certainly he is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity To good Men the wicked is an Abomination to the Righteous the new Nature hath an aversation to it Lot's righteous Soul was vexed from day to day with the Conversation of the Wicked A wicked Man hates a godly Man with an hatred of Enmity and Abomination but a godly Man doth not hate a wicked Man with a Hatred of Enmity that is opposite to good Will but with that of Abomination which is opposite to Complacence It is loathsom to an indifferent Man for Holiness darts an Awe and Reverence into the Conscience The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour and a wicked Person is a vile Person in the common esteem of the World horrible Profaneness will not easily down nay it is loathsom to other wicked Men. I do not know whether I expound that Scripture rightly but it looks somewhat so hateful and hating one another We hate Sin in another though we will not take notice of it in our selves The Sensuality and Pride and Vanity of one wicked Man is hated by another Nay he is loathsom to himself why because he cannot endure to look into himself We cannot endure our selves when we are serious They will not come to the Light lest their Deeds should be reproved And we are shy of God's Presence we are sensible we have something makes us offensive to him and we hang off from him when we have sinned against him As it was David's experience Psal. 32. 3. That was the Cause of his Silence he kept off from God having sinned against him and had not a Heart to go home and sue out his Pardon O what a Mercy is it then to have this Filth covered that we may be freed from this bashful Inconfidence and not be ashamed to look God in the Face and may come with a holy Boldness into the Presence of the blessed God O the Blessedness of the Man whose Sin is covered 3. It is a Debt that binds the Soul to everlasting Punishment and if it be not pardoned the Judge will give us over to the Jaylor and the Jaylor cast us into Prison till we have paid the uttermost farthing Luk. 12. 59. To have so vast a Debt lying upon us what a Misery is that Augustus bought that Mans Bed who could sleep soundly when he was in debt so many hundred of Sesterties Certainly it is a strange Security that possesseth the Hearts of Men when we are obliged to suffer the Vengeance of the Wrath of the Eternal God by our many Sins and yet can sleep quietly Body and Soul will be taken away in Execution the Day of Payment is set and may come much sooner than you think for you must get a Discharge or else you are undone for ever Our Debt comes to Millions of Millions Well if the Lord will forgive so great a Debt O the Blessedness of that Man c. Put altogether now certainly if you have ever been in Bondage if you have felt the Sting of Death and Curse of the Law or been scorched by the Wrath of God or knew the horrour of those upon whom God hath exacted this Debt in Hell certainly you would be more and more affected with this wonderful Grace O the Blessedness of the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not his Transgressions 3dly The Consequent Benefits I will name three 1. It restores the Creature to God and puts us in Joint again in a capacity to serve and please and glorify God Psal. 130. 4. There is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feaared Forgiveness invites us to return to God obliges us to return to God and take it as God dispenseth it it inclines us to return to God and encourages us to live in a state of Amity and holy Friendship with God pleasing and serving him in Righteousness and Holiness all our days Certainly it invites us to return to God Man stands aloof from a condemning God but may be induced to submit to a pardoning God And it obligeth us to return to God to serve and love and please him who will forgive so great a Debt and discharge us from all our Sins for she loved much to whom much was forgiven It inclines us to serve and please God for where God pardons he renews he puts a new Life into us that inclines us to God Col. 2. 13. He hath quickned you together with Christ having forgiven all your Trespasses And it encourages us to serve and please God Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the Blood of Christ cleanse your Consciences from dead Works that ye may serve the Living God and that in a sutable manner that you may serve God in a lively chearful manner A poor Creature bound to his Law and conscious of his own Disobedience and obnoxious to Wrath and Punishment is mightily clogg'd and drives on heavily but when the Conscience is purged from dead Works we serve the living God in a lively manner and this begets a holy Chearfulness in the Soul and we are freed from that Bondage that otherwise would clogg us in our Duty to God 2. It lays the Foundation for solid Comfort and Peace in our own Souls For till Sin be pardoned you have no true Comfort because the Justice of the Supreme Governour of the World will still be dreadful to us whose Laws we have broken whose Wrath we have justly deserved and whom we still apprehend as offended with us and provoked by us We may lull the Soul asleep
these things cannot be Graces but in a Concomitancy Repentance without Faith what would it be When we see our Sins and bewail them Despair would make us sit down and dy If there were not a Saviour to heal our Natures and convert our Souls Neither can Faith be without Repentance for unless there be a Confession of past Sins with a resolution of future Obedience we continue in our Obstinacy and Stubbornness and so we are uncapable of Mercy our Case is not compassionable In short Repentance without Faith would degenerate into the horrour of the Damned and our Sorrow for Sin would be tormenting rather than curing to us And then Faith would be a licentious and presumptuous Confidence without Repentance unless it be accompanied with this hearty Consent of living in the Love Obedience and Service of God with a detestation of our Former ways it would be a turning the Grace of God into wantonness Therefore these two always go together Which is the first I will not enter upon but the one cannot be without the other 2. Let me shew you wherein they differ The one respects God the other Christ. 1. Repentance towards God While we live in Sin we are not only out of our Way but out of our Wits We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Tit. 3. 3. We live in Rebellion against him against whom we cannot make our party good and withal contenting our selves with a false transitory Happiness instead of a solid and eternal one we never come to our Wits again till we think of returning to God As the Prodigal when he came to himself he thought of returning to his Father And Psal. 22. 28. They shall remember and turn to the Lord. So long as we lie in our Sins we are like Men in a dream we consider not from whence we are nor whither we are going nor what shall become of us to all Eternity but go on against all Reason and Conscience provoking God and destroying our own Souls Man is never in his true posture again till he returns to God as his Sovereign Lord and chief Happiness as our Sovereign Lord that we may perform our duty to him and our Felicity and chief Good that we may seek all our Happiness in him And none do repent but those that give up themselves to obey God and to do his Will as he is the Sovereign Lord 1 Pet. 4. 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men but to the Will of God and look upon him as their chief Happiness and prefer his Favour above all the sensual Pleasures of the World that they may be able in truth to say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee Psal. 73. 25. This is Repentance towards God 2. There is Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. This Grace is necessary that we may own our Redeemer and be thankful to him as the Author of our Deliverance Rom. 7. 25. O wretched Man that I am But thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. And also Faith is necessary that we may trust our selves in his hands We are to take Christ as our Prophet Priest and King to hear him as our Prophet Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son hear him We are to receive him as our Lord and King Col. 2. 6. As ye have received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him We are to consider him as the great High-Priest of our Confession Heb. 3. 1. Let us consider the Lord Iesus the great Apostle and High-Priest of our Confession Hear him we must as a Prophet that we may form our Hopes by his Covenant and frame our Lives by his holy and pure Doctrine Receive him we must as a King that we may obey him in all things Consider him as a Priest that we may depend upon the Merit and Value of his Sacrifice and Intercession and may the more confidently plead his Covenant and Promises to God Now without this there can be no Commerce between us and Christ. Who will learn of him as a Prophet whom he takes to be a Deceiver obey him as a King who doth not believe his Power or depend upon him with any confidence or hopes of Mercy if he doth not believe the value of his Merit and Sacrifice Herein these things differ Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the one respects the End God the other the Means Christ. Repentance more especially respects our Duty Faith our Comfort Repentance newness of Life for the future and returning to the Primitive Duty the Love of God and obeying his Will Faith Pardon of what is past and Hope of Mercy to come In short to God we give up our selves as our Supreme Lord to Christ as Mediatour who alone can bring us to God To God as taking his Will for the Rule of our Lives and Actions and preferring his Love above all that is dear in the World To Christ as our Lord and Saviour who makes our Peace with God and gives the Holy Spirit to change our Hearts that we may for ever live upon him as our Life Hope and Strength Thus I have briefly shewed you how Repentance respects God and Faith our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. That these Graces having their peculiar Reference are required in order to Pardon for distinct Reasons and Ends. First Repentance is required for these Reasons 1. Because otherwise God cannot have his End in Pardon which is to recover the lost Creation that we may again live in his Love and Obedience Surely Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Now to be lost in the first and primitive Sence was to be lost to God Take the lost Sheep or Groat it was lost to the Owner the Son to the Father and so if Christ came to save that which was lost he came to recover us to God therefore said to redeem us to God 2. Neither can the Redeemer do his Work for which God hath appointed him 1 Pet. 3. 18. He dyed the Iust for the Unjust that he might bring us to God We accept him in all his Offices for this end I am the Way Truth and Life no Man comes to the Father but by me Therefore whole Christianity from the beginning to the end a short Description of it is this A Coming to God by Christ. Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost whom all those that come to God by him 3. Without it we should not have our Happiness It is our Happiness to please and enjoy God we are not in a capacity to please and enjoy God till we are returned to him They that are in the Flesh cannot please the Lord. Nor to enjoy him here for here we see his Face in Righteousness Nor hereafter for without Holiness no Man shall see God Secondly But why is Faith in our Lord
the Propitiation for Sin and the Obedience of the Sacrificer as devoted to God Now the first Signification took place and had its effect upon them if they neglected the other two Meanings of the Sacrifices and therefore they were to be looked on as salted with Fire whereas the other who were accepted were salted with Salt The 3d Observation for the opening of this is the two References of these Saltings or the distinct and proper Application of them 1. To the wicked For every one shall be salted with Fire that is every one of them spoken of before who indulged their corrupt Affections who did not entirely and heartily keep the Covenant of God and renounce their beloved Lusts. 2. Here is the Application to the Godly Every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt that is Every one that is not a Sacrifice by constraint but voluntarily surrenders and gives up himself to God to be ordered and disposed of according to his Will he is salted not with Fire but with Salt which every one that is devoted to God is bound to have within himself So while some are destinated to the Wrath of God and salted with Fire to be consumed and destroyed others are salted with Salt preserved and kept savoury in the Profession and Practice of Godliness The Doctrine is this Doct. The Grace of Mortification is very necessary for all those who are devoted to God I shall prove three things I. That the true Notion of a Christian is that he is a Sacrifice or a Thank-offering to God II. That the Grace of Mortification is the true Salt whereby this Offering and Sacrifice should be seasoned III. I shall shew you the Necessity of this Salt that we may keep right with God in the Duties of the Covenant I. The true Notion of a Christian is that he is a Sacrifice to God This is evident by Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service that is the reasonable part which was figured by the Sacrifices and Oblations of the Law And so Isa. 66. 20. They shall bring your Brethren for an offering unto the Lord. Under the Law Beasts were offered to God but in the Gospel Men are offered to him not as Beasts were to be destroyed slain and burnt in the Fire but to be preserved for God's use and service In offering any thing to God two things were of consideration there was a Separation from a common and a Dedication to an holy use and they both take place in the present matter 1. There is a separation of our selves from a common use The Beast was separated from the Flock or Herd for this special purpose to be given to God Thus we are separated and set apart from the rest of the World that we may be a People to God We are no more our own 1 Cor. 6. 19. And we are no more to live to our selves but to him that dyed for us 2 Cor. 5. 15. We are not to live to the World to the Flesh or to such things as the natural Heart craves we have no right in our selves to dispose of our selves of our time of our interest of our strength but must wholly give up our selves to God to be disposed ordered governed by him at his own will and pleasure 2. There is a dedication of our selves to God to serve please honour and glorify him 1. The manner of dedicating our selves to God is to be considered 'T is usually done with grief shame and indignation at our selves that God hath been so long kept out of his right with a full purpose to restore it to him with advantage 1 Pet. 4. 3. The time past may suffice to have wrought the will of the flesh and of Man it is high time to give up our selves to the Will of God we have been long enough too long dishonouring God destroying our Souls pleasing the Flesh living according to the Flesh and the course of the World therefore they desire to make restitution Rom. 6. 19. For as ye have yeelded your Members Servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeeld your Members Servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Their forepast neglects of God and duty to him fill their Hearts with shame therefore they resolve to double their diligence and to be as eminent in Holiness as before they were in Vanity and Sin 2. It is with a deep sence of the Lord's love in Christ for we give up our selves to God not as a Sin-offering but as a Thank-offering Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of the Lord. And 2 Cor. 5. 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again they are ravished with an admiration of God's goodness in Christ and so give up themselves to him 3. They do intirely give up themselves to God not to be his in a few things but in all to serve him with all their faculties You are not your own but are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20. Therefore glorify God both with your Bodies and Souls which are Gods And to serve him in all conditions Rom. 14. 8. Whether we live we live unto God or whether we die we die unto God for living or dying we are the Lord 's They are willing to be used for his Glory not only as active Instruments but as passive Objects they give up themselves to obey his governing will and to submit to his disposing will to be what he would have them to be as well as to do what he would have them to do Phil. 1. 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death Thus with all their faculties in every condition of Life are they to be devoted to God in all actions It is said Zach. 14. 20 21. That Holiness to the Lord shall be written not only upon the Bowls of the Altar and the Pots of the Lord's House butalso upon all the Pots of Jerusalem not only upon the Vessels of the Temple but upon common utensils that is translate it into a Gospel Phrase that not only in our sacred but even in our common and civil actions c. we should live as a people that are offered up to God 4. The end why we give up our selves to God is to serve please and glorify him Act. 27. 23. His I am and him I serve to please him by the obedience of his will Rom. 12. 1 2. Ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service And
The Back-slider in Heart shall be filled with his own Ways and a good Man shall be satisfied from himself There are two different Persons commencing and setting forth in the pursuit of Happiness the Backslider in Heart and the good-Man The Backslider in Heart is one that continues in the Apostacy and Defection of Mankind that indulgeth his Lusts and vain Pleasures and for a seeming Good leaves God who is the chief Good But the good Men are those who make it their business to keep their Hearts chast and loyal to God They both desire to be filled and to be satisfied the one takes his own Way and the other God's Counsel and in the event both are filled The Backslider in Heart hath enough of his own Ways when they have brought him to Hell and the good Man hath enough when he comes to the Enjoyment of the Blessed God And there is one Truth more there they are both filled from themselves their own Ways The Backslider shall have the Fruit of his own Choice and a good Man is satisfied with that Course of Godliness that he hath chosen Prov. 1. 31. Those that turn away from God it is said They shall eat of their own Ways and be filled with the Fruit of their own Devices And Isa. 3. 10. Say unto the Righteous It shall be well with him for he shall eat of the Fruit of his own Doings 2. Consider the doleful Condition of those that indulge their carnal Affections and that either threatned by God or executed upon the wicked 1. Consider it as it is threatned by God If God threaten so great a Misery it is for our Profit that we may take heed and escape it There is Mercy in the severest Threatnings that we may avoid the Bait when we see the Hook that we may digest the Strictness of an holy Life rather than venture upon such dreadful Evils Why did our Lord repeat it three times Where the Worm never dies and the Fire is never quench'd but that we may have it often in our Thoughts that we may not buy the Pleasures of Sin at so dear a rate so hard a Price as the Loss of our precious Souls 2. Consider the Punishment as executed upon the Wicked How many are now burning in Hell for those Sins which you are ready to commit The serious Consideration of it will check the Fervour of your Lusts that you may not easily venture upon an everlasting Hell 3. Consider which Trouble is most intolerable to be salted with Salt or to be salted with Fire with unpleasing Mortification or the Pains of Hell the Trouble of Physick or the Danger of a mortal Disease Surely to preserve the Life of the Body Men will endure the bitterest Pill take the most loathsom Potion why their Lives ly on it And shall we be unwilling to such a necessary Strictness to these wholsom Severities which conduce to save you with an everlasting Salvation There is no Remedy Trouble must be undergone Surely a strict Diet is better than a speedy Death and the pricking of a Vein by a Chirurgion is not so bad as a Stab at the Heart by an Enemy Better be macerated by Repentance than broken in Hell by Torments Which is worse Discipline or Execution Here the Question is put you must be troubled first or last Would you have a Sorrow mixed with Love and Hope or else mixed with Desperation Would you have a Drop or an Ocean Would you have your Souls cured or tormented Would you have Trouble in the short Moment of this Life or have it Eternal in the World to come 4. Be sure you be a Sacrifice dedicated to God really entred into Covenant with God and set apart for his Use that this may be your End your Business your Scope to please glorify and enjoy him 2 Cor. 1. 9. We can the better speak to you when you are under a Covenant-Engagement Christ bound you to this when he died for you He sanctified himself that you might be sanctified through the Truth that is dedicated to God John 17. 19. And by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified that is them that are consecrated to God or entred into a holy Covenant with God Christ bound you to it and your own Gratitude will suggest it to you I beseech you by the Mercies of the Lord present your selves c. Nay the new Nature will incline you to it Rom. 6. 13. Yeeld your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God The new Life will presently discover it self by its Tendency and End if this be indeed your End and Work to be faithful to God's Covenant 5. You will see a need of denying worldly and fleshly Lusts you will see nothing can be done in the spiritual Life without Mortification that being dead to all things here below you may be alive to God That this must be your daily Work your Necessity will sufficiently shew Are there no rebellious Desires to be subdued No corrupt Inclinations to be broken Do not you feel the Bias of Corruption drawing you off from God David did therefore he saith Incline my Heart to thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness Do not you find the sensitive Lure prevail upon you enticing your Minds and drawing you from the purity of your Hopes and strictness of Conversation Every Man is drawn away when he is enticed by his own Lusts Jam. 1. 6. Consider the sad Condition of a Believer that is under the corrective Discipline of God though he do not vacate his Justified State A sinning Believer that hath made bold with forbidden Fruit how doth he smart for Sin What a Wound in the Conscience will wilful heinous Sins make Witness David Psal. 32. And Psal. 51. He gives an account how uneasy his Heart did sit within him he was afraid of God who before was his Joy and Delight and speaks as one ready to be cast out of his Presence SERMON VI. 2 THESS 3. 5. And the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. THere are two things keep Religion alive in the Soul a Love to God and a hearty intent upon the coming of Christ. These are the two necessary Graces which the Apostle prays for in the Text Here is the love of God that is the first Grace and the earnest or patient waiting for Christ. Love respects God because he is the chief Object of it primum amabile as being the first and chiefest good but hope or patient expectation respects Christ who at his glorious coming will give us our full reward Love is the Life and Soul of our present Duties and by patient expectation we wait for our future hope The Love of God urgeth us to the Duties of Religion and Hope strengthens us against Temptations whether they arise from the allurernents of Sence or the troubles of the World
our carnal Love 2. If Love be not acted and kept at work carnal Love will prevail The Soul of Man cannot lye idle especially our Affections cannot either they are carried out to God or they will leak out to Worldly things When our Love ceaseth yet concupiscence ceaseth not and the Love of the World will soon grow Superiour in the Soul for the neglected Principle languisheth whilst the other Principle gets strength and secures its Interest to God The 3d. Is The Benefit we have by keeping Love in Act. This makes us more sincere and to act purely for God 2 Cor. 5. 14. The love of Christ constrains us for we thus judg that they that live should no more live to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again The constraining Influence of Love is that that keeps us from living to our selves And this makes us more diligent Labour and Love are often coupled in the Scripture Knowing your labour of love the work of Faith and Patience of Hope And God is not unrightoeus to forget your labour of Love The Church of Ephesus lost her first Love she left her first work Rev. 2. 4 5. Use. Oh then let us seek this Benefit from God that our Hearts may be directed into his Love 1. The sanctifying Spirit is given us for this end to stir up love to God Joh. 41. 4. The Water I will give him shall be a Well of Water always springing up unto eternal Life 'T is not in the Heart a dead Pool but a living Spring And the same is intimated Joh. 7. 38. He that believes in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water this he spake of the Spirit 2. The Ordinances were appointed for this End The Word to represent God amiable to us both for the goodness in him and the goodness proceeding from him especially in our Redemption by Christ and also for those rich preparations of Grace he hath made for us in another World to blow up this holy Fire And this is the end of the Sacrament All the Dainties that are set before us in the Lord's Supper do all taste and savour of Love Our Meat is seasoned with Love and our Drink flows into our Cup out of the Wine-press of Love Why do we eat of the Crucified Body of Christ but that we may remember Iesus who loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2. 20. And also the Drink that is provided for us at this Feast is the Blood of Christ. Rev. 1. 5. Who loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood 3. All the Providences of God tend to this End that we may love God All God's Mercies are as new Fewel to keep in this Fire I will love the Lord because he has heard the Voice of my Supplication Psal. 116. 1. And thou shalt love the Lord who is the strength of thy Life and the length of thy Days Deut. 30. 20. All the Mercy we have from God is to refresh and revive our Love that it may not languish and die nay all the sharp corrections God sends are to recover our Love to God Isa. 26. 9. My Soul hath desired thee in the Night saith the Prophet and early have I sought thee and when was that when thy Iudgments were abroad in the World when great and sharp afflictions were upon them SERMON VII 2 THESS 3. 5. And into the patient waiting for Christ. THe Words are a Prayer and the Apostle prays here for those things which are most necessary to Christians Love to God and patient waiting for Christ. I come now to handle the second Branch The Point is this Doct. That when the Heart is bent by love to God we need also the direction of his Grace to keep it intent upon the coming of Christ. Four things I must speak to I. What this patient waiting for Christ is II. The Connection between it and the Love of God III. That it hath a great influence upon the spiritual Life or keeps Religion alive in the Soul IV. The Necessity of God's concurrence hereto the Lord direct your Hearts into the patient waiting for Christ. I. What is this patient waiting for Christ I answer it is the Grace of Hope fortifying our resolutions for God and the World to come that we may continue in our Duty till our work be finished and our warfare ended The Act of Hope is three ways exprest Sometimes by Looking which notes a certain expectation Tit. 2. 13. Looking for the blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Sometimes by Loving or Longing which notes a desirous and earnest expectation 2 Tim. 4. 8. Not to me only but to all that love his appearing Sometimes by Waiting which notes a patient Expectation 1 Thess. 10. He makes it there the Fruit of our Conversion He saith we are turned to God that we may wait for his Son from Heaven This last Notion is expresly mentioned in the Text the other are implied as looking there can be no waiting for that we do not look for and longing for delay is only troublesome to them that earnestly desire his coming and build their Hopes upon it Faith adds certainty and Love earnestness and both give strength to Patience Let us open all these things As 1. Looking for the coming of Christ. Phil. 3. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. It is not a matter of conjecture but of Faith Reason saith he may come but Faith saith he will come Nature will teach us it is very likely for a guilty Conscience fears the Judg and the course of things is so disordered in the World that there needs a review But Scripture tells us it is very certain that he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 37. Therefore in the Eye of Faith it is sure and near As Rebecca spied Isaac at a distance so Faith looks upon Christ as if he had begun his Journey and were now upon the way and makes the Believer stand ready to meet him and welcome him Though it come not to pass presently the thing is promised and the time certainly determined in God's external purpose which is enough for Faith 2. There is a Longing or a desirous Expectation 2 Pet. 3. 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God It is good to observe how differently this Coming of Christ is entertain'd in the World It is questioned by the Atheist it is dreaded by the Wicked and Impenitent but it is longingly expected by the Godly 1. For the first sort 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. There shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming They would eternally enjoy the Pleasures of the present World and therefore labour to dash all thoughts of this great Day out of their Hearts and take up all obvious
necessary Business for their welfare Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me my God hath forgotten me Isa. 49. 14 15. In the misgivings of our Hearts God seems to have cast off all Care and Thoughts of us God's affectionate Answer sheweth that all this was but a fond Surmise Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have Compassion on the Son of her Womb Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee So we think that we are cut off when God is about to help and deliver us Psal. 31. 22. Many times we think he has quite cast us off when we are never more in his Heart Surely when our Affections towards God are seen by mourning for his Absence he is not wholly gone his Room is kept warm for him till he come again We mistake God's Dispensations when we judge that a forsaking which is but an emptying us of all carnal Dependance Psal. 49. 18 19. When I said my Foot slipped thy Mercy O Lord held me up In the multitude of my Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul He is near many times when we think him afar off as Christ was to his Disciples when their Eyes were with-held that they knew him not but thought him yet lying in the Grave Luk. 24. 16. But this cannot be imagined of Christ who could not be mistaken If he complained of a Desertion surely he felt it It was a real Desertion he could not mis-interpret the Dispensation of God he was now under for such Misapprehensions are below the Perfection of his Nature 2. Though it were real the Desertion must be understood so as may stand with the dignity of his Person and Offices Therefore 1. There was no Separation of the Father from the Son this would make a Change in the Unity of the Divine Essence Ioh. 10. 30. I and my Father are one Joh. 12. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Eternal Union of the Person of the Father with the Person of the Son always remained for the Divine Nature though it may be distinguished into Father Son and Holy-Ghost yet it cannot be divided 2. There was no Dissolution of the Union of the two Natures in the Person of Christ for the Humane Nature which was once assumed was never after dismissed or laid aside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ ever remained Immanuel God with us or God in our Nature He was the Lord of Glory even then when he was crucified 1 Cor. 2. 8. It was the Son of God that was delivered up for us all Not a meer Man suffered for our Redemption but Acts 20. 28. God purchased the Church with his Blood Death that dissolved the Bond and Tie between Soul and Body did not dissolve the Union of the two Natures They resemble it by a Man drawing a Sword and holding the Sword in one Hand and the Scabbard in another the same Person holds both though separated the one from the other 3. The Love of God to him ceased not We read The Father loved the Son and put all things into his hand Joh. 3. 35. Now he was his dear Son or the Son of his Love Col. 1. 13. In whom his Soul delighted Isa. 42. 1. Eph. 1. 6. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved Primum amabile He was the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1. 3. Therefore he could not but love him in every State Yea he never more loved him as Mediator than when on the Cross that being the most eminent Act of his Self-denial and Obedience Phil. 2. 7. and so a new Ground of Love Ioh. 10. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my Life to take it up again The Father was well pleased with the Reconciliation of lost Sinners he loveth Christ for undertaking and performing it therefore it is unreasonable to imagine that now he was about the highest Act of Obedience there was any Decrease of his Love to him No his Dispensation might be changed but not his Love As the Sun shining through a clear Glass or through a red Glass casts a different Reflection a bloody or a bright but the Light is the same 4. His personal Holiness was not abated or lessened The Lord Jesus was full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. He had the Spirit not by measure Joh. 3. 34. He had in perfection all Divine Gifts and Graces to accomplish him for this Office Col. 1. 19. Ioh. 1. 16. He was anointed by the Holy-Ghost and the Oil that was poured on him never failed Therefore he was always most holy and pure one that never knew nor did Sin Neither his Nature nor his Office could permit an Abatement of Holiness Heb. 7. 26. Such an High-Priest became us as was holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners The Son of God might fall into Misery which is a natural Evil and so become the Object of Pity not of Blame but not into Sin which is a moral Evil a Blot and a Blemish When he died He died the Iust for the Unjust 1 Pet. 3. 18. The Death of Christ had profited us nothing if he had been a Sinner for a moment Therefore this Desertion was not a Diminishing of his Holiness but a Suspension of his Comfort 5. God's Assistance and sustaining Grace was not wholly withdrawn for the Lord saith of him Isa. 42. 1. This is my elect Servant whom I uphold And every where the Lord is said to be with him in this work Psal. 101. 5. The Lord is at thy right hand And Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Which Passage is by Peter applied to Christ Acts 2. 25. For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my Face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved The Power Presence and Providence of God was ever with him to sustain him in his difficult Enterprize When his Agonies began he told his Disciples Ioh 18. 32. Ye shall leave me alone yet I am not alone but the Father is with me The Father was with him when his Disciples forsook him and fled every one to his own to carry him through and that his Arm might work Salvation for him and that he might not sink under the Burden Secondly Positively 1. God's desertion of us or any Creature may be understood with a respect to his communicating Himself to us We have a twofold Apprehension of God as an Holy and Happy Being And when he doth communicate Himself to any reasonable Creature it is either in a way of Holiness or in a way of Happiness He doth now in the Kingdom of Grace communicate Himself more in a way of Holiness but in the Kingdom of Glory fully in a way of Happiness both as to the Body and the Soul These two have such a respect to one another that he never gives Felicity and Glory
the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. And yet Christ's Soul was troubled and heavy unto Death The Godhead suspending its Virtue and Operation both might well consist for though the Presence of the Divinity be necessary with the Humanity of Christ yet the Effects are voluntary God worketh not out of necessity no not in the Human Nature of Christ all kind of Communications are given out according to his own pleasure The Divinity remained united to the Flesh and yet the Flesh might die so it remained united to the Soul and yet the Soul might want Comfort The Bond by which the two Natures were united in one Person remained firm and indissoluble but the Influx of Sweetness and Comfort was suspended Some Effect there is of the Union but not that which affords Comfort and Felicity and this was suspended but for a time There is a Desertion indeed which agreeth not with the dignity of Christ. There is a total and Eternal Desertion by which God so deserteth a Man both as to Grace and Glory that he is wholly cast out of God's Presence and adjudged to Eternal Torments which is the Case of the Reprobate in the last Judgment this is not compatible to Christ nor agreeing with the dignity of his Person There is a partial temporal Desertion when God for a moment hideth his Face from his People Isa. 54. 7. This is so far from being contrary to the dignity of Christ's Nature that it is necessary to his Office for many Reasons 2. That it is very grievous This was an incomparable Loss to Christ. 1. Partly because it was more natural to him to enjoy that Comfort and Solace than it can be to any Creature To put out a Candle is no great matter but to have the Sun eclipsed which is the Fountain of Light that sets the World a wondering For poor Creatures to lose their Comforts is no great wonder who though they live in God are so many degrees distant from him but for Christ who was God-Man in one Person that is a difficulty to our Thoughts and a wonder indeed for by this means he was so far deprived of some part of Himself 2. Partly because he had more to lose than we have The greater the Enjoyment the greater is the Loss or Want It was more for David to be driven from his Palace than a poor Israelite to be driven from his Cottage We lose Drops he an Ocean A poor Christian that hath some Heaven upon Earth in the fore-enjoyment of God and the first-fruits and earnest of the Spirit hath more to lose than another that hath had only some vanishing Tast in the Offer of Eternal Life and receiving the Word with Ioy. Proportionably judge of Christ who was Comprehensor while he was Viator had the beatifical Vision whiles on Earth 3. Partly because he knew how to value the Comfort of the Union having a pure Understanding and heavenly Affections God's Children count one Day in his Presence better than a thousand Psal. 84. 10. One Glimpse of his Love more than all the World Psal. 4. 7. If they have any thing of the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts they would not part with it for all the sensual Enjoyments which others prize and value so much and if they lose it they are touched to the quick they lose that which is the Life of their Lives which they account their chief Happiness Now Christ was best able to apprehend the Worth and Value of Communion with God having such a clear Understanding and tender Affections and therefore it must needs be grievous to him to have his wonted Conversations suspended 4. Partly because he had so near an Interest and Relation to God Prov. 8. 30. One bred up with him and daily his Delight Col. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look among the Children of God if they have any Interest in him how mournfully do they brook his Absence Mary Magdalen Woman why weepest thou They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him Luk. 24. 14. She sought a Christ and found a Grave Christ's words my God do not only express his Confidence but Affection when his God and Father hideth his Face from him 5. Partly from the Nature of Christ's Desertion It was Penal All Desertions may be reduced to these three Sorts for Trial for Correction or Punishment For Trial so God left Hezekiah to prove what was in his Heart 2 Chron. 32. 31. For fatherly Correction so God leaveth his People for a while to teach them Repentance Humility Hatred of Sin more entire Dependance on Himself Isa. 54. 7. I have left thee for a small moment but with everlasting Mercies will I love thee For Punishment so he left Saul 1 Sam. 28. 6. When he answered him neither by Dreams nor by Urim nor by Prophets So he leaveth the wicked to a reprobate Mind Now Christ's Desertion was not for a Trial. Fallible Creatures may be put upon Trial but the Son of God needs it not It would not agree with the Goodness and Wisdom of God to put his beloved Son on such a Trial. He was neither unknown to his Father nor did he vainly presume of his own Strength as to need to be confuted by Trial. Nor can it properly be called Fatherly Correction for there was no Sin in Christ that needed to be corrected Indeed the Chastisement of our Peace was upon his Shoulders Isa. 53. 5. Therefore it remains that this Desertion was penal and satisfactory such as came from the vindictive and revenging hand of God Our Sins met in him and he was forsaken in our stead There was no Cause in Christ himself wherefore he deserved to be forsaken of God but we had done the wrong and he maketh the amends There was nothing in Christ's Person to occasion a Desertion but much in his Office so he was to give Body for Body and Soul for Soul And this was a part of the Satisfaction He was beloved as a Son forsaken as our Mediator and Surety II. Why was Christ forsaken Answ. With respect to the Office which he had taken upon him to expiate our Sins and to recover us from the deserved Wrath and Punishment into the Love and Favour of God This Desertion of Christ carrieth a suitableness and respect to our Sin our Punishment and our Blessedness 1. Our Sin Christ is forsaken to satisfy and make amends for our wilful desertion of God When Adam sinned we all turned the back upon God who made us Yea all actual Sins are nothing but a forsaking of God for very trifles an Aversion from God and a Conversion to the Creature Ier. 2. 13. They have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters and have hewen out unto themselves broken Cisterns that will hold no Water Now we that forsook God deserved to be forsaken by God therefore what we had merited by our Sin Christ endured as our Mediator He himself
Children cry for Bread and you have none to give them would you not complain of the hardness of their Hearts which have this Worlds Goods and shut up their Bowels against them and not dispense any thing to their Necessities Why if you know the Heart of an indigent Person it cannot but move you to observe this Rule And the rather because usually with what measure we meet to others it is recompensed into our Bosoms by God's Providence for what ever need others have of us we have infinitely more of God and there will a time come when we shall be as destitute before God as they are before you For Instance In a time of Sickness when all outward helps fail Psal. 41. 1. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will consider him in time of Trouble Why he that is affected with an others Condition as his own when it is a time of trouble and distress with him and it may be his Brother cannot help him then the Lord will help him either in Sickness or Trouble of Conscience when all outward Comforts are as the white of an Egg when the poor perplexed Sinner cries Mercy Mercy the Lord will shew him Mercy as he did to others Mat. 5. 7. Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Those that only seek to enrich themselves and solace themselves with Mirth and Pleasure in the good things they have must not expect the like Promises But those which have been Merciful Bountiful and ready to help others God delights to shew them Mercy and when they are most destitute they shall find that God takes notice of this that they were ready to relieve others Secondly In Forgiving the same Rule holds A necessary Duty For while we are here in the World there will be Weaknesses and Offences and we need mutually to forgive and to take Pardon It is said Col. 3. 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man have a quarrel against any Even as Christ forgave you so also do ye See the same Eph. 4. 32. Forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Mark he proceeds upon this Principle that Christ layeth down Whatsoever ye would c. We are in the World and in the Flesh and therefore should not rigidly exact upon the failings of others lest they or others deal so with us when our turn comes We need Pardon in this kind for we give Offence Eccl. 7. 21 22. Take no heed unto all Words that are spoken lest thou hear thy Servant curse thee for oftentimes also thine Heart knoweth that thou thy self likewise hast cursed others The meaning is we should not be over-affected with others speaking ill of us because we know we have spoken ill of others and should pass it by with meekness and neglect therefore the consideration of our Passions and of our Infirmities should move us to Pardon We have been or may be as bad as they We have been once Tit. 3. 3. Foolish and Disobedient led by our unruly Appetites and Desires therefore we should shew Meekness to them I and we may be surprised again James 3. 1. My Brethren be not many Masters for in many things we offend all Be not many Masters that is severe masterly or supercilious if another be fallen and hath offended us for we shall receive the greater Condemnation The Apostle argueth from another Argument Col. 3. 13. And Eph. 4. 32. Forgive others as God hath for Christ's sake forgiven us There is no Man can wrong us as much as we trespass against God and though we are but as the Drop of the Bucket and the small Dust of the Ballance yet our great and many Sins are freely forgiven to us therefore it should prevail with us freely and easily to Pardon one another The Scripture urgeth this O when we consider Christ's Example how Christ hath forgiven us when we consider the greatness of the Wrongs which he pardons Sins that are of a Scarlet and Crimson die Isa. 1. 18. when we consider our own baseness in comparison of him Isa. 40. 22. Who sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grass-hoppers and when we consider his Omnipotency to right himself of the wrongs done to him How he can cast Body and Soul into Hell Fire Surely this should move us to forgive others Yea and it is not only a Motive but a Rule Forgive others as God forgives us what 's that Sincerely not hypocritically freely not unwillingly fully not by halfs irrevocably not for a time only but as God forgives and casts all our Sins into the depth of the Sea so should we forgive and pass by the Sins of others Christians shall I urge another Argument in this Case what need there is of Forgiveness Hereby a Man overcometh himself hereby he shames the Party that did him wrong and hereby he takes God's course to get the Victory over the Person which hath done him the wrong Hereby he overcometh himself his own Nature which thirsteth after Revenge Prov. 16. 32. He that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City He is able to rule himself so 't is his Glory he doth overcome that revengeful and froward Disposition which is in his own Nature And hereby he overcomes and shames the Party that did him wrong there is no such way to do this as by Forgiveness Thus David did overcome Saul 1 Sam. 24. 17. When David had him at an advantage and spared him Saul said to David Thou art more Righteous than I. O what a Victory was this to overcome that fierce Man's Heart and reconcile him And you keep God's way in overcoming him it is God's prescribed course that you should thus overcome him by Kindness and Meekness Rom. 12. 21. Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with Good But wherein must we express this Forgiveness towards others as to the wrong to be forgiven we must consider it either as an offence against God or sometimes against publick Laws or as it is an offence against us So far as it is an offence against God or the publick Laws here we have not power to Forgive and Punishment is due to the common Good Poena debitur The Lord himself that forgives us and forgives for Christ's sake hath secured the Honour of his governing Justice by Satisfaction and if the Law requires it we cannot intermedle there only we must pray to God earnestly for them that 's our Duty Iam. 4. 15. and in some Cases we may interceed with the Magistrate to take off the Penalty and are so bound This Forgiveness implieth two things a removal of an inward Grudg and a readiness to do all Duties of Love and Kindness to them 1. A removal of an inward Grudg and endeavours after private Revenge Lev. 19. 17 18. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart thou shalt in any
care not how they trample upon their own Brethren hate and pursue them with all that is evil It is hard to avoid this Snare when we are in Power Men forget God and abuse their Power and many times by a strange Providence they are brought to suffer the like hardness themselves When we see the oppressions of the innocent and things carried so perversely we are apt to say Lord who shall call these Men into question Who shall accuse them Why the Sighs and Groans of the oppressed before God's Tribunal upon all Persons depend every moment these will be more Authentick Witnesses than any matters of Fact can be produced in a lower Court 2. It implieth this and it inlargeth the Rule that whatsoever usage we expect to meet with at God's Hands the same in some measure we should dispence and deal out to others He is willing to give all provided you are willing to do to others as you would be done unto All the Mercy and Goodness we expect from him that must sway our Practice and Conversation with Men. What ever need others have of us the same need have we of God Eph. 6. 8. Whatsoever good thing any Man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free So for other Relations In the Practice of this Rule Christians are to consider not only how they would be dealt withall by Men but with God himself for Christ's sake which carrieth the Precept far beyond the Heathen Latitude and mightily inlargeth the Rule Alas from God we have nothing but undeserved Mercy pardon of Sins c. So we are to practise this Rule not only to those that love us but to our Enemies we must shew Mercy to the worst for Christ's sake Strict Justice by the light of Nature requires the injurious should suffer according to the wrong is done to me I but what do I expect from God Therefore I am to consider how God will deal with me if I am rigid severe exact and stand upon all things to the uttermost 3. Another Consideration which mightily inforceth the Rule is that if you do such things to others as you would not have them do to you God will do that to you which you have done to others for Vengeance is his They are not to do the same to you again nor exact nor desire it but God will It is good to consider God's Judgment of Counter-Passion or Retaliation As thou hast done so shall it be done to thee thy reward shall return upon thine own Head Obad. ver 15. They that were Pitiless Merciless to their Brethren in the day of their flight from Ierusalem God will pay them home in their own Coin And with what Measure you meet it shall be measured to you again Mat. 7. 1 2. Gen. 6. 6. Whose sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed It is not only a Law what is to be done but a Rule of Providence what God will do What more usual than Malefactors to be dealt withal according to their own Wickedness There are many Instances of this Judgment of Counter-Passion God doing to them what they have done to others Adonibezeck when the People caught him and cut off his Thumbs and his great Toes said Threescore and ten Kings having their Thumbs and their great Toes cut off gathered their Meat under my Table as I have done so God hath requited me And they brought him to Jerusalem and there he died Usually this is the dealing of God The Israelites had their Children drowned in the Water by Pharaoh what then Pharaoh and all his Host within a little while all his Nobility and Men of War were all drowned in the Water Ahab's Blood was lapped up by Dogs in the place where they shed the Blood of Naboth and Iezebel being more guilty was devoured with Dogs Ahab only permitted this Contrivance but Iezebel acted it Ahab humbled himself therefore he was buried with Honour but Iezebel was intombed in the Belly of Dogs and her Flesh devoured by them A Gallows we read was made for Mordecai and Haman was hanged on it himself Henry the third of France in that very Chamber where the Massacre was contrived against the Protestants there he was slain and his Brother before him Charles the ninth was found flowing in Blood in his Bed who had shed so much of the Blood of God's Saints Iudg. 9. 18 19. compared with ver 23 24. When the Men of Shechem had done great injury to the House of Ierubbaal Ye are risen up against my Fathers House and have slain his Sons threescore and ten Persons upon one Stone what then ver 23. Then God sent an evil Spirit between Abimelech and the Men of Shechem and the Men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech that the cruelty done to the threescore and ten Sons of Jerubbaal might come and their Blood be laid upon Abimelech their Brother which slew them So also the Observation of Austin is not to be past by upon the Parable of the rich Man he that denied a Crumb could not find a Drop to cool his Tongue But you will say It is so with good Men also the Children of God if they should break his Law doth the Lord give them according as they have done to others Yes God observes the same Justice though he doth pardon the Eternal Punishment and take it off yet here in this World as to Temporals they shall have like for like Iacob supplanted his Brother he came to Isaac as the Elder the Younger instead of the Elder and Laban brings him the Elder instead of the Younger Leah instead of Rachel Asa which put the Prophet into the Stocks we read of him that he was diseased in his Feet Nay I shall give you greater Instances than that Ioseph's Brethren they were not flexible to their Brother and did not hear his cry at length they came to Egypt upon an honest Errand for Corn in time of Famine and the Man is inexorable Gen. 42. 21. We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us What was the matter How comes this to work In a Storm things at Bottom we see come up to the Top so ever Sins in trouble will bubble up and we shall see that we saw not before How come they to remember the Trouble of their Brother for they knew not Ioseph and twenty years were past since they sold him They found the Man as inexorable as they had been to their Brother God's Judgment of Counter-Passion sets their Conscience a-work A greater Instance we have of Paul that consented to the stoning of Stephen and was present too at his Execution and it is said They laid down their Garments at Paul 's Feet and he himself takes notice of it Acts 22. 20. with great remorse afterwards Well what then after his
which maketh us Creatures only That came from his general Goodness this from his peculiar Love there it is Goodness here it is Grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. He hath called us with an holy Calling according to his own Purpose and Grace Creatures are sustained by his common Providence but new Creatures by his special Care and Covenant He openeth his Hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal. 145. 16. But he especially preserveth and supplieth Believers 1 Tim. 4. 10. He giveth others bodily Comforts but these Soul-refreshings and spiritual Graces Eph. 1. 3. There is Vestigium a Tract or Foot-print of God in all the Creation these have his Image restored in them Eph. 4. 24. The new Man is created after God Well then this is that we should look after that we may be his Workmanship made again It is a woful thing to be God's Workmanship by Creation and not by Renovation it is better never to have been God's Creature in the first making if not his Creature in the second making Better thou hadst been a Beast yea a Toad or Serpent than a Man for when the Beasts die Death puts an end to their Pains and Pleasures at once but all thy Comforts end with Death and then thy Pains begin the Beasts have no remorse to sowre their Pleasures but Man hath Conscience and therefore can have no rest till he return to God Secondly God's way of Concurrence to establish this Relation It is a Creation the Phrase is often used Eph. 4. 24. The new Man is created after God No other Hand could finish this piece of Workmanship God often sets it forth by this Term Isa. 43. 7. I have created him for my Glory I have formed him yea I have made him So vers 21. This People have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my Praise So in other places Now Creation is a Work of Omnipotency and proper to God There is a twofold Creation in the beginning God made some things out of nothing and somethings ex inhabili materia out of foregoing Matter but such as was wholly unfit for such things as was made of it As when God made Adam out of the dust of the Ground and Eve out of the Rib of Man Take the Notion in the former or latter Sence and it will sute with the Matter in hand 1. We are formed anew of God as it were out of a State of Nothing and get a new Being and a new Life To this there are frequent Allusions in Scripture as Rom. 9. 7. He calleth the things that are not as though they were 2 Cor. 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who speaketh Light out of Darkness he bringeth Life out of Death something out of nothing Now there is such a Distance between these two Terms that the Work can only be accomplished by a Divine Power 2. Creation out of unfit Matter We were wholly indisposed averse from Good perverse Resisters of it Now to bring us to love God and Holiness to restore God's lost Image to us it is a new forming or making of us and must be looked upon not as a low natural or common thing but as the Work of him who gave us his Image at first Col. 3. 10. The new Man is renewed after the Image of him that created him To turn a Heart of Stone into an Heart of Flesh God challengeth it to Himself Ezek. 36. 26. This Creation sheweth two things 1. The Greatness of the Disease that is clearly seen in the difficulty of the Remedy Nothing doth make a Man so sensible of the Corruption of his Nature as when we hear by what Terms our Recovery or Restitution by Grace is set forth It is a second Creation a new Birth a Resurrection a raising up of Stones to be Children to Abraham yea in a sort Beasts are turned into Angels From these things we may a little conceive of the greatness of that Disease which all Mankind were sick of Every Faculty of our Souls was both weakned and corrupted and God only by his Divine Power can restore us for to be cured we must be wholly new made and who can make or create but God Surely we contributed nothing to it What Enemies were we to our own Mercies It is no small matter for Darkness to become Light in the Lord for a rugged stubborn Creature to be mollified and submissive to the Spirit 's Discipline for a Slave of the Devil to become the Subject of Christ that an Heap of Rubbish should be erected into a Temple to God and a Dung-hill turned into a Bed of Spices 2. It teaches us to magnify this renewing Work If you think the Cure is no great matter it will necessarily follow that it deserveth no great praise and so God will be robbed of the Honour of our Recovery But why then is this Work so magnified in the Scriptures and such high Expressions used about it Why is it called an opening of our blind Eyes a turning us from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God a quickning them that were dead and making us new Creatures Why must the Holy Ghost be shed so abundantly upon us for our Renovation Surely it is some great thing which all these Expressions do intend and should be more magnified in our thoughs that we may give God his due praise and honour And they sin greatly that have contemptuous thoughts or a low esteem of it or see not the absolute necessity of it and by extenuating this great Change give shrewd suspicion they were never acquainted with it Surely all that have felt what God hath done for their Souls they know how little they have contributed to it they dare not make light of it and ascribe it to their own Wit or Will or entertain undervaluing thoughts of this Grace Alas there is an Enmity in every carnal Heart against Holiness till God remove it and subdue it Rom. 8. 7. Col. 1. 21. And what shall conquer this Enmity but his invincible Power Surely this is the gracious and powerful Work of the ever-blessed GOD and to be ascribed to Him alone Can a stony Heart of it self become tender Or a dead Heart quicken it self Or a Creature wholly led by Sense and addicted to the Pleasures of Sin be brought of it self to seek its Happiness in an unseen World and of its own accord deny present things and lay up all its Hopes in Heaven No it is God must take away the Heart of Stone quicken those that are dead in Trespasses and Sins 3dly How far the Mediation of Christ is concerned in this Effect We are renewed by God's creating Power but through the intervening Mediation of Christ. 1. This creating Power is set forth with respect to his Merit The Life of Grace is purchased by his Death 1 Ioh. 4. 9. God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live by him Here spiritually hereafter eternally Life opposite to
want inclines us to a forgetfulness of God as on the other side perpetual want without any chearful taste of God's Goodness disposes Men to Atheism In the two extreams Religion is either Starved or Choaked We see it in Countries and Persons in Countries Sodom and Gomorrah which was as the Garden of God Gen. 13. 10. was the first instance of unnatural Sin and an example of supernatural Judgment Some in great Prosperity have no thoughts of God and the World to come others that live in sordid Poverty never consider the goodness of God and so live and die miserable Creatures The middle estate is freest from danger and Religion is most secured in it Prov. 30. 8 9. Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of God in vain Pride and Insolency are incident to the one and any base dealing to the other A great Estate like a rank Soil is more apt to breed Weeds and bitter Necessity betrays us to any base shift for our Sustenance therefore if God gives us any thing to live upon we should be content 9. That God best knows what will do us good or hurt and therefore we should refer it to him to dispose of us according to his own Pleasure Certainly we should not want if God saw it better for us to abound for he is no niggard of his Blessings but is good and doth good But it is not meet that Man should have the disposal of himself or his own Condition and Affairs or that God should accommodate his Providence to our carnal Interest and Will No God's Will must always precede and ours follow We have a corrupt Will guided by a dark Understanding and if the Blind lead the Lame what can be expected but disorder and ruine therefore our Wills must not lead and make the first choice but God's We must bring our Hearts throughly to yeeld to what God appointeth and that our present Estate is best for us How unmeet Judges are Flesh and Blood of what Condition is fit for us We would be fed only with the Delicacies of Prosperity and Pleasure but it is for our profit that we should be chastened that we should be partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12. 10 11. What a strange Creature would Man be if he were what he would wish himself to be Vainly Proud stupidly Careless and neglectful of God and Heavenly things therefore our best way is to be what God will have us to be Not my Will but thine be done Mat. 26. 36. 10. We must be contented with a competency but yet we ought to be fitted and prepared for Eternity If God please to give us conveniency it is his great Mercy but our resolutions must be to be contented with any Condition God will put us into we except not Life it self out of our Resignation The People of God are wont to suppose not only some Necessity but an Extremity Hab. 3. 18. Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation He saith not if I have only Food and Raiment and hard Fare it shall suffice me No But if the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yeild no Meat and the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls In many cases Poverty may come upon us like an armed Man and spoil us of all but when we seem to be starved in the Creature yet then we may feast in God God's Children do not capitulate with him how much they will suffer and no more but resolve to bear the heaviest Burden to submit to the sharpest Affliction So again Psal. 44. 19 20. Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the Shadow of Death yet we have not forgotten the Name of our God or proved unfaithful to him III. The Reasons why it is a high Point of Christianity to get Contentation with any Estate God shall put us into Are 1. In the general it is a Mystery only learned in Christ's School Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be therewith content and I know how to be abased and to abound I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me This Art is not soon learned What is there in Christianity above other Disciplines to teach us this Contentation The Doctrine of God's particular Providence Fatherly Care and Eternal Life these seconded by the sanctifying Operation of the Holy Ghost cause this resolution in us to encounter all the difficulties of this present Life in an humble and quiet Mind 2. More particularly let us consider 1. What is necessary to this Contentment 2. What Effect it produces 1. What is necessary to this Contentment 1. Faith or a sound belief of God's Being and gracious Promises and Eternal Recompenses That there is a God that he hath a particular care of Humane Affairs and that he will not leave his People to unsupportable Difficulties but will guide them to Eternal Life It is in vain to press People to contentedness till they be thus perswaded For the first Truth that there is a God He that cometh to God must believe that God is For the second Truth that he hath a particular care of Humane Affairs 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all your Care upon the Lord for he careth for you The third Truth that he will not leave his People to unsupportable Difficulties Heb. 13. 5 6. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what Man shall do unto me For the fourth Truth a Prospect of Eternal Life Luke 12. 32. Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom Now if God be and be thus engaged to his People why should we be discontented if he take his own Methods to bring us to Everlasting Glory We cannot suffer any thing that God is not aware of every Dram of our Affliction is weighed out to us by that All-Wise All-Merciful Providence and there is nothing which we suffer that he knoweth not how to turn to our good looking for nothing from us but our Trust and Thankfulness 2. It comes from Humility when we are content to be at God's finding knowing that we have deserved nothing from him Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and of all thy Truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant for with my Staff passed I over this Jordan and now I am become two Bands The Humble Man is content to be
dealt with as the Lord pleases Prescribing to God always comes from Ascribing to our selves We think we have deserved more than he gives us we that are worthy of the heaviest Judgment surely should be thankful for the smallest Mercy Eccl. 7. 8. The patient in Spirit is better than the proud in Spirit Patience is rooted in Humility but Discontent in Pride 3. It comes from weanedness from the World They that do not seek great things for themselves will stand to God's allowance It may be God may bestow great things upon them as he did upon Abraham and David but they do not seek them especially in times when it is a Mercy they have Life and Liberty That is forbidden Ier. 44. 5. In short Grace doth all both as to Poverty and Riches and makes Rich and Poor stand on the same Level Now this is a high point in Religion to grow dead to the World to behaâ—â— our selves in a manner as unconcerned in Poverty or Riches for the World is the great impediment to the Heavenly Life as being the bait of the Flesh the snare of Satan by which he detaineth Souls from God If once we grow indifferent to these things we would not feel any great power in Temptations to Pleasure Wealth and Honour and would soon be thorow Christians the Spiritual Life would be more easy and even easy for where Men seek no great things for themselves in the World and a little matter contenteth their Desires and checketh their Murmurings the resistance of the carnal Nature to the Empire of Grace is without much difficulty overcome they can enjoy plenty or want renounce their aspiring thoughts meddle sparingly with fleshly Delights they are seeking a better Estate More evenly there is no notable blemish on them who are Crucified to the World they do not stain their Profession wound their Consciences their choices are govern'd by Religion not by Carnal Interest They are kept unspotted from the World Jam. 1. 27. 2. The Fruits it produces I shall name but two of many 1. They are not distracted with great worldly Business they esteem that to be the best way that brings them nearest to their great End which is not to enjoy Happiness in this Life but in the World to come Those whose Hearts are all for the present they must have the World to the full or they are not contented they never think of laying up Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6. 19 20. that is not their End and Scope but to live commodiously here that they and their Posterity may flourish in the World Psal. 17. 14. They which have their Portion in this Life and whose Belly thou fillest with thy hid Treasures they are full of Children and leave the rest of their Substance to their Babes But a good Man that eyes another Happiness is not much troubled how it is with him here so he and his may be accepted with God hereafter Therefore their Business is not to lay up Treasure to themselves on Earth but to be rich towards God Luke 12. 21. 2. They that can be contented with a little are most likely to be true to God and Conscience They can better suffer Hunger Thirst Nakedness and other troubles for the Gospel Acts 20. 24. None of these things move me that is made no great opposition and perturbation in his Mind It is no strange thing to them when Trials come They can part with all things under the Sun rather than quit their Duty to Christ for Temptations have lost their force when worldly Desires and Lusts are mortified They withered in Persecution that received the good Seed for a time Mar. 4. 17. When Religion carries one way and the World another then farewel Religion for the Worlds sake When Christ had spoken so much of the Cross then Iudas turneth Apostate When Demas saw the World went on otherways he forsook Paul 2 Tim. 4. 10. When Christ told the young Man of parting with all he went away sad Mar. 10. 22. If Heaven cost so dear it is no Penny-worth for him So Men will come into no danger or trouble for Christ because they are not contented with a little Use. 1. If the Godly ought to be content with Food and Raiment it shews the vanity of Mens vast desires they have much above Food and Raiment yet they are not satisfied A true Christian is contented with Necessaries but Worldy Men inlarge their desires as Hell Hab. 2. 5. They are so far from acquieseing in their Portion assigned to them by God though it be competent and enough to satisfie their wants yea and far beyond so that many are glad of their leavings yet they are always hunting after more like Death and the Grave which are never satisfied They are restless still adding if they be Princes Kingdom to Kingdom if they be Church-men Preferment upon Preferment and if ordinary Men Estate upon Estate House to House Field to Field These desires are pettishly solicited eagerly followed and many times finally disappointed 2. It checks our impatiency under disappointment If we have not our will in worldly things we are troubled our desires are too ardent We must needs have them cannot be without them trouble our selves about them and so murmur and repine against God and this breedeth fearful Tempests in the Soul As Ionah bitterly contended with God about his Gourd Jonah 4. and Rachel Give me Children or else I die Gen. 30. 1. If we cannot have what we would all is nothing Ahab is sick for one poor Vineyard Haman counteth his Honour nothing as long as Mordecai sits at the King's Gate As in a Carriage if one Pin be wanting all is at a stop 3. It shews the evil of our distrust notwithstanding we have God's Fatherly Providence and Promises to rely upon and so large a Covenant-Interest 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. All things are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's All things are yours Ordinances Providences this World the next Life Death Would you have more All are instrumental for our good if we resolve to be faithful to Christ. SERMON XIV ECCL 9. 11. I returned and saw under the Sun that the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong neither yet Bread to the Wise nor yet Riches to Men of Understanding nor yet Favour to Men of Skill but Time and Chance happeneth to them all THe whole Book is a search after true Happiness The particular Paragraph whereof the Text is a Branch proveth that it cannot be obtained in this World because of the various Events of God's powerful and unsearchable Providence The Discourse beginneth Chap. 8. 16 17. When I applied my Heart to know Wisdom and to see the business which is done upon the Earth then I beheld all the works of God that a Man cannot find out the work which is done under the Sun because though a Man labour to seek it out yet he shall not find it yea further though