they be thus sinfully sleighted Thirdly It is a Duty to pray over what we hear and to beg success upon the Word for the ends whereto God sends it And is not this in the power of every natural man There is no man of reason but hath praying abilities many indeed have their excuses they cannot pray but this is but to shift off Duty and to excuse one sin by another You never saw a hungry Beggar but could pray nor a Child of five years old but when the Rod is at his Back can pray and cannot the Sinner cry to God When you go to hear can you not pray that God would open your eyes to see the wonders of his Law Psal 119.18 Cannot you beg of God that the Word may take hold of your heart and pull down all the strong Holds there Can you not plead with him that he would send his Spirit to accompany the Word to your heart that sin may be discovered and your hard heart broken and that you may be made to see the need of Christ and so brought to believe in him for pardon and salvation These are no other than what every natural man hath power to perform by the same assistance with which he lives and moves and who knows what God may do in a way of Grace and mercy when the Sinner is found thus doing I do not dare not say with the Papists and Arminians That if we use our natural power to do our utmost God is bound ex congruo to give Grace but yet this I may say That such is the goodness of God that he seldom if ever fails to give Grace to that man that doth to the utmost of his abilities in the use of means endeavour to obtain it nor had ever any cause to complain upon this account And therefore let young ones hearken to this counsel and as you love your souls do what in you lyes in the use of all Gods appointed means to come under the Spirits Yoke For consider First You can never be brought from under the Yoke of sin and lust but by coming under this Yoke Till you are weary of sin you will never forsake it and you will never be weary of sin till the Spirit of bondage hath made it a burthen to you Secondly You can never see the need you have of Jesus Christ till you are brought under the Yoke of the Spirit and till you do see your need of him you will never hunger nor thirst after him and so you will be excluded from all benefit by his righteousness and then you must perish For the Scripture discovers no way of escaping wrath to come but by being convinced by the Holy Ghost first of sin and then of righteousness Thirdly You can never take upon you Christ's Yoke which is the great command of the Gospel Matth. 11.29 unless you have been first under this There is as I said before the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ the Yoke of the Spirit is in conviction of sin the Yoke of Christ is in obedience and the one is preparatory to the other you can never submit to Christs Yoke until the Spirits Yoke have fitted the neck to it and so it becomes easie My Yoke is easie Matth. 11.30 It is not easie to the sinner that is at ease but to the weary soul it is Then any Yoke but the Yoke of lust any burthen to be delivered from the burthen of sin and guilt But who will walk in the narrow way that never entred in at the strait Gate Who will account subjection to Christ freedom until he hath first been wearied under the slavery of sins Dominion And this is a fruit of the convincing work of the Spirit And will you not come under his Yoke But when It must be done out of hand delay in this matter is very dangerous 1. In regard of the indisposition it works unto The longer sin hath possession the more it will strengthen it self and harden the heart against conviction and the harder the heart the greater the danger for growing hardness improves it self into a judgment Hardness persisted in provokes to hardening 2. In regard of the uncertainty of our duration Who knows how few hours there are between him and eternity You that refuse the Yoke of the Spirit as a work fit for riper years 'pray what security have you for the number of your years Hath God said you shall not dye next sickness or next Voyage to Sea or the next time you go to Bed or walk abroad An hundred dye young to one that lives long and is it not then an hundred to one but you may And how if you should dye in an unconvinced and unconverted state Consider what your eternal condition must then be O be willing therefore to come under this Yoke of the Spirit betimes 3. Here 's matter of instruction to such as are at present under the Spirits Yoke made sensible of sin and of their lost state and cry out of Hell and wrath c. First Take heed of discouragement To mourn under this condition that is a duty but to be discouraged and despond that is a sin For it obstructs the soul in that which is its duty it benumns and weakens the workking hand The Spirit of the Lord hath no hand in this he sets sin home upon the heart to humble us and break us and lay us low but not to bring us to discouragement and despair unless it be in our selves and therefore that is the print of the Devils foot It is one of his subtilties to rivet his temptations into our convictions When the Spirit of the Lord discovers sin in its guilt and filth to out us of our selves and shew us our need of mercy then he labours to sink us down under the despair of mercy therefore let not thy sense of sin cause thee to draw false Conclusions which in this Case is too common For though thy Case be dark it is not desperate though it is uncomfortable it is not incurable though it is sad yet it is not singular For First This is the way of God with all Sinners to whom he hath a purpose to shew mercy The Wilderness is the way to the Land of promise I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and there speak comfortably to her Hos 2.14 Secondly This lays thee under the Promise For that promises are not made to Sinners in their sins but to Sinners made sensible of their sins so that though thou art a Prisoner in a Pit where there is no water Ezek. 9.11 yet thou art a Prisoner of hope ver 12. God invites such as thou art the tenders of Christ and Grace have a peculiar respect to thy condition Thirdly This is that which prepares the way of the Lord into the heart He comes not till the mountains be laid low Luke 3.4 5. and the way prepared for him and nothing doth this
conversion resting in them and so perishing in the place of the breaking forth of children Hos 13.13 Now that others should eternally miscarry under those means that have been blessed to thy conversion that they should perish under the same convictions which have been to thee the pangs of the new birth O what mercy is this While some despair and others presume thou art brought by a sight of sin to close with Christ upon Gospel terms And hast thou not cause to be thankful 3. This Yoke of the Spirit being once taken off shall never be put on again thou shalt never come under it more Doth not the Scripture say as much Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear In whomsoever the spirit of bondage once becomes a spirit of adoption he is never a spirit of bondage more in that soul If after he hath once sealed our adoption to us he should again impress fears of eternal wrath upon us he would herein be contrary to himself Object But are not many of the Children of God after Grace wrought full of fears and apprehensions of Hell and wrath Answ We must distinguish between bondage by desertion and bondage by the Spirit in conviction A Believer under desertion may be in bondage by his own spirit but not by the spirit of God When God doth suspend the wonted influences of Grace and comfort a mans own conscience may fill him with fears of Hell and dread of wrath but this is not from the suggestions of Gods spirit but from the mistake of his own He can never be a spirit of bondage more And is not this cause of thankfulness 4. How great the advantage is that comes by complying with and yielding to the spirit in convincing work For where he is complyed with in the beginning he carries it on to perfection If he convinces of sin and the soul fall under it by humiliation and repentance he will convince of righteousness too and so raise it up again by faith and dependance Nay by an early compliance with the strivings of the spirit when he first comes to discover to thee thy lost estate thou hast secured his presence for ever and he shall carry on this work of conviction so long as there is any one lust remaining A Believer hath need of the convictions of the spirit so long as he lives It is a mistake to think the convincing work of the Spirit is over when it hath discovered to a man his lost estate and so brought him to a close with Christ there is a great deal of convincing work yet to be done as there is a sinful estate so there is a sinful frame of heart Now though the Believer can no more need the convictions of the Spirit as to the former for his estate is changed yet he always needs them as to the latter Though he was convinced of the filthy nature and damning consequences of sin to prepare him for Christ and conversion yet there are convictions of necessary use to the carrying on and compleating the work of sanctification There is a great deceitfulness in sin more than the Believer ever yet saw and therefore he wants conviction of that There is a great power in remaining lusts to draw the heart from Christ he wants further conviction of that There is a gradual secret hardening of heart which in-dwelling sin works to even in the regenerate he wants further conviction of that Nay how many secret spiritual lusts hidden and close corruptions are there in the heart which at first entrance into a state of Grace the Believer never saw they lye in the heart undiscerned till the Spirit comes in with further light So that a Believer always needs the convincing work of the Spirit it is essentially necessary to the perfecting of Grace and holiness Now he that yields to the convictions of the Spirit at first doth thereby secure them to the last He shall never cease enlightening striving counselling so long as there is any one lust remaining His influences shall abide till he hath got the mastery of every sin and judgment be sent forth to victory over every corruption He dwelleth with you Matth. 12.20 and shall be in you John 14.17 O what cause of thankfulness have such as have born the Spirits Yoke with success Secondly Your Duty is to be humble Remember your Bonds so doth the Church Lam. 3.19 20. Remembring mine affliction and my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me One excellent means to cure spiritual pride is to look often back to the days of your soul distresses therefore God when his people were settled in the promised Land often remembers them of their wilderness state that they might not pride themselves in their present possessions Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee in the Wilderness to humble thee And ver 3. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger And ver 14 15. Beware lest thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and drought where there was no water that he might humble thee No man will be lifted up under his present mercies that doth but seriously and frequently reflect upon his lost estate and the means and manner of his deliverance O think often of the sighs and sorrows the tears and terrours the griefs and groans of thy sinking Spirit in the Day when the Arrows of God stuck there How long thou hast formerly lain at God's foot begging for one Drop of the bloud of Christ to pardon sin one Dram of Grace to secure thy Estate one glympse of comfort to refresh thy wearied and heavy laden spirit and then be proud if thou canst Thirdly Labour to be fruitful This is the great end of the Spirit in all his convictions He convinceth of sin to break off the Sinner from it he convinceth of righteousness that the Sinner may seek after it and he convinces of the necessity of holiness that he may get it and grow up in it so that ye sin against and frustrate the whole design of the Holy Ghost in his work in the heart without this For ye are therefore made free from sin and become servants to God that ye might have your fruit unto holiness Rom. 6.22 And the same Apostle tells you cap. 7.4 Ye are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit to God Labour therefore to be fruitful for this is that which secures the Spirits influences to your great advantage Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit John 15.2 Secondly This Doctrine affords matter of counsel to such as never were under the
by and we shall stand or fall according as they are sound or corrupt The Apostle hints this to us Rom. 2.16 in telling us that at the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Now principles are the great secrets of men hid from all but God and a mans own heart Nothing is more latent they are as the spring to a Clock you see the hand move but that which causes the motion is not seen Actions are manifest and may be seen by all but principles are secret and discerned by none but God takes strict notice of them and will judge us according to them Nothing therefore concerns a man more than to see that the principles of his obedience be right Now the great principles that a man is acted by and that carry him on in gospel obedience are these three Faith Love Self denial 1. Faith This is the great principle of all acceptable obedience without which no obedience can please God the Apostle is peremptory in it Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And therefore all gospel obedience is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 There is a twofold obedience to the gospel 1. Obedience to the call of the gospel whereby fallen sinners are invited and by various methods of grace perswaded to return to God and live Now there can be no obeying the gospel in this sense without faith For how can a man turn from his sins and take Christ upon the terms of the gospel resigning himself to the guidance of his word and spirit without faith 2. There is obedience to the rule of the gospel which directs and guides us how to live and walk so as to approve our wayes to God For the gospel is not only the power of God to salvation Rom. 1 16. but it is the will of God also for our guidance and direction and all obedience to it as such is the fruit of faith Therefore we are said to live by faith Gal. 2.20 and to walk by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 And living and walking take in the whole course of a Christians obedience in the language and sense of the Scripture As the gospel hath not only its credenda but its agenda not only truths to be imbraced but duties to be practised so faith hath both a receptive and a dispensing property it receives the truths of the gospel and imbraces them 1 Thes 2.13 Ye received the word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God And it hath a dispensing property too whereby it payes homage to Christ in all capacities it doth not only receive the Law at his mouth as a Prophet and rest upon his merits as a Priest but subjects to his yoke as a King Faith is an active principle it doth as freely submit to the government of Christ as it readily accepts of pardon and salvation by him By faith Abraham obeyed Heb 11.8 This is one principle of obedience 2. Another principle is love And this is of as great importance as the other nay faith it self is deficient without this for faith works by love Gal. 5.6 This love as it is the Christians badge and character Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 So it is the great principle of obedience The Law being a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 Eccles 12.13 the great principle of obedience there was fear Fear God and keep his commandments but the gospel is a ministration of life and glory and the great principle there is Love if a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 Love is vertually all obedience and therefore our Lord Christ reduces all the precepts to this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matt. 22.37 39. and thy neighbour as thy self So that the substance of Religion is contained in this It is not Circumcision as the Jew would nor uncircumcision as the converted Gentile would but faith that works by love Gal. 5.6 There is no such principle of obedience as Love This will be evident if you consider but eight properties of it 1. It is an appretiative principle that prefers and values Jesus Christ above all It sees such a beauty and excellency in him that it counts all loss and dung in comparison of him Phil. 3.8 And he that thus loves Christ can't but obey him 2. Love is an opening principle Open to me my sister Cant. 5.2 and ver 6. I opened to my beloved Christ can have no entrance into the heart if love do not let him in This is the opening grace It is so in God the Father What makes him open his eternal counsels and purposes of grace and mercy to poor creatures but love It is so in God the Son What made him open heaven and come into the world open the virgins womb and be born open his side and let out his blood and so open a new and living way for us to the Father Heb. 10.20 What makes him open his arms to receive returning sinners and open the gates of glory for them but love It is so in God the Holy Ghost What makes him open blind eyes and deaf ears and hard hearts but love And look how love works in God to us so it works in us to God it opens the ear to hearken to him it opens the mouth to speak for him it opens the hand to work for him it opens the heart to entertain and imbrace him 3. Love is a liberal principle it is all for giving it is the most bountiful affection Love is all for laying out upon its object It is so with God Divine love expresses it self in acts of bounty Joh. 3.16 Luk. 11.13 Psal 84.11 Heb. 8.10 Ephes 2.5 God so loved the world that he gave his son He gives Christ He gives his Spirit He gives grace and glory He gives himself I will be their God So it is said of Christ He loved us and gave himself for us And look how love acts in God and Christ so it acts in all that are born of God he that loves God gives all to God he gives not only his time and strength and talents but he gives himself I am my beloveds Cant. 6.3 4. Love is a laborious principle It is alwayes doing Amor nescit ferias it hath no days of leisure it sets all the wheels of the soul in motion And therefore the holy Ghost joyns love and labour together God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 Your work of faith and labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 As the word of God is objectum practicum a thing not only to be known but obeyed so love is principium operativum not a meer notion swimming in the brain but a devout affection quickning the heart to obedience I have lifted up my hands to thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.48 If any thing keep a
like sense of sin and sight of a lost estate So that there is mercy even in being under the Spirits Yoke And therefore Secondly Do not be unsensible of the mercy of being under the bondage of the Spirit though it is not a Case that hath comfort in it yet it is a Case that hath mercy in it And no present misery of any condition should make us to overlook the mercy of that condition You see sin in its filthy nature and damning guilt and thereupon are filled with dread and fear and is not this a mercy Though to do sin is the most unprofitable work yet to see sin is the most profitable sight For so long as sin is unseen Christ will be unsought The remedy is never desired till our misery be discerned and felt Your conscience is full of trouble and you are weary and cry out under the burthen of your soul-troubles and is not this a mercy How shall the burthen of sin be removed if conscience be not troubled under it The more the Sinners conscience is at peace the more sin is in power The strong man armed keeps that house Luke 11.12 Besides it is the design of God that sin shall be the trouble of every Sinners conscience sooner or later here or in Hell Hell is full of troubled consciences there is not one soul there but lyes under terrour of conscience for sin for that is the worm that never dies Mark 9.44 And is it not a mercy to be troubled for sin here rather than in Hell Here the trouble is but for a season there it will be for ever Here the end of your trouble for sin is peace and comfort Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 But in Hell your trouble will end in desperation and everlasting horrour Whatever therefore your troubles are yet reckon it for a mercy that God hath brought you to a real sense of your sin and misery for that this is the only way to drive you out of your selves to Christ You had been undone but for this undoing Thirdly Do not be weary of the Spirits operation in his carrying on the work of conviction lest by growing weary of his work you make him weary of working There are two things Sinners express a great weariness under viz. the Word and the Rod. To sit long under the Word or to lye long under the Rod O what a weariness is it Now to be weary of these is to be weary of the Spirits work for by these he calls and knocks and strives to make his voice to be heard and therefore they often go together and hence you read of chastising and teaching Psal 94.12 The Rod prepares us for hearkening to the Word and the Word teaches us to understand the Rod and therefore the Spirit sometimes uses them together He binds them in Fetters and holds them in Cords of affliction and then shews their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded Job 36.8.9 10. and so opens their ear to discipline and commands that they return from iniquity Why then should any be weary of the Spirits work And yet that it is so is most evident For why do Sinners so many ways stifle the motions of the Spirit in the soul sometimes looking on spiritual troubles as mere melancholy sancies and as such shake them off Sometimes they are stifled by shame lest others should think them mad and distracted Sometimes they are stifled by declining that Ministry that deals most with the conscience and will not let them alone in sin Sometimes by running into idle debauched company that scoff away the troubles of a convinced conscience Sometimes by over business in worldly matters The cares of this World choke the Seed and it becomes unfruitful Matth. 13.22 And is not this a great sin it is murder to destroy a Child in the womb I charge you young ones with this sin this day before the Lord. And I will prove you guilty of it For what is the reason that the Word preached hath so little success that so few of you are converted from your sins and lusts to Christ I tell you this is the reason You have stifled the motions of the Spirit of God in your souls you have resisted and quenched him you have broken his Yoke from off your neck and do ye understand what ye do Do ye know the mischief of this sin It drives the Holy Spirit out of the heart You say to him depart Job 21.14 you are weary of his striving to make you weary of sinning It greatly gratifies Satan For his design is to harden the heart against the impressions of the Spirit and so lead Sinners to a Hell through a Fools Paradise It provokes the Lord to give you up to your own hearts lusts and vile affections Rom. 2.24 26. And I am perswaded that it is the Judgment that many of the young Generation of this day lye under It provokes him to take away the Gospel And I am afraid that this Judgment is at the door for why should God continue it to a Generation that slight and reject it And wo to such as shall be found to have had a hand in sinning away the Gospel It is this sin that makes Hell hot indeed It will be one of the saddest reflections in that state for a damned Sinner to recal the many sweet motions of the Spirit which in his day of Grace he had In such a Sermon how was my heart touched and my conscience awakened But all came to nothing In such a sickness how did the Spirit of God deal with me and set sin home and made it a burthen What promises and resolutions did I then make to shake off sins to leave my former wicked courses but it came to nothing Had I then yielded to the strivings of the Spirit and hearkened to his calls and counsels I had never felt these flames But my slighting God breaking the Spirits Yoke by resisting and quenching his motions this is that which hath brought this endless misery upon me O what a dreadful thing is it to be weary of the Spirits work when he comes to convince of sin Quest But when may a man be said to be weary of the Spirits work Answ First When he cannot endure an awakening convincing Ministry nor searching truths but declines those Doctrines that interrupt him in the way of his lusts and disturb the quiet of his conscience as Felix did Paul's Sermon of righteousness and judgment to come because it made him tremble the Doctrine came too close to his conscience and therefore he dismisses the Preacher to a fitter season Acts 24.25 Secondly When he is over-hasty for peace and comfort then he is weary of the Spirits Yoke This is the Case of most they are no sooner under the sense of sin but they must have comfort The Arrows of the Almighty are sharp and when they go deep do cause an unspeakable
many times the sinner out-lives all his joys and delights they tarry not till he dies from them but they die from him sometimes pining diseases sometimes continued crosses sometimes a worm in the conscience extinguish these joys and they are never kindled more But if none of these do to be sure death doth for when that once comes then farewel the pleasures of sin for ever Hell is too hot a Climate for wanton delights to live in sin shall be so far from affording delight there that the remembrance of it shall greaten their torment And therefore if the pleasures of sin do not die from us yet we are sure to die from them as Pope Adrian said to his Soul when expiring Quae nunc abibis in loca Nec ut soles dabis jocos Thou art now going where there is no pleasure to be found But now the pleasure of godliness is durable pleasure it is not transient and fading It is not water from a fading brook but from a river whose springs fail not Therefore the Holy Ghost had no sooner said Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 but he presently adds in the next verse For with thee is the fountain of life A fountain is always running and yet is never exhausted The river of pleasures which godliness affords is fed from a fountain that is overflowing and ever flowing Fourteenthly The pleasures of sin have a sad end There is a sting in the tail of them they are like the wine Solomon speaks of that though it looketh pleasantly in the cup yet at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder Prov. 23.31 32. The stollen waters of sin how sweet soever they seem to be in the mouth will be gall and wormwood in the belly even bitterness in the latter end So says Zophar Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue Though he forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of asps within him O that sinners would consider the end of sin As Abner said to Joab Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end 2 Sam. 2.26 Sensual pleasure goes out like a candle and leaves a stink behind it great damps and sore griefs in the conscience Wo to you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Luke 6.25 In Isai 5.14 it is said Hell hath inlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it That is he that lives in the pleasures of sin his present pleasure shall end in Hell where there is punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour mischief without measure and torments without end This is all you shall ever get by sin a little pleasure and eternal torment But the pleasure of godliness as it is sweet in the way so it is sweeter in the end Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Christ keeps the best wine till the last The pleasures of godliness that good men injoy in the way are not to be compared to the pleasures that they shall injoy in the end When the pleasures of sin shall end in the wrath of God and eternal misery the pleasures of godliness shall be so far from being extinguished that they shall be perfected * Si quid male feceriâ— voluptas transit dolor manet si quid benefeceris labor transit voluptas manet For holiness brings us into the full fruition of God at last In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 So that we may say of the pleasures of holiness and the pleasures of sin as Solomon says of wisdom and folly Eccles 2.13 Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness So do the pleasures of holiness excel the pleasures of sin And thus you have the pleasure of Christs Yoke made out comparatively viz. by comparing it 1 with the Yoke of the Law 2 with the Yoke of Sin 3 I shall make it out by a collation of instances And I will instance in the most difficult duties of Religion If the most difficult and severe duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them then it must needs be good to come under the Yoke of Christ but the most difficult duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them I will instance in three which I take to be the most difficult Repentance Mortification of Sin Bearing the Cross 1. Repentance This seems to be one of the most difficult and unpleasant duties which the Yoke of Christ lays us under It is an afflicting the Soul Ezra 8.21 And what pleasure can there be in affliction It is a being ashamed and confounded for sin Jer. 22.22 And what pleasure is there in shame and confusion It is a renting and breaking the heart Joel 2.13 Psal 51.17 And what pleasure can a man take to have his heart rent and broken It is an exercising indignation and revenge upon our selves 2 Cor. 7.11 And what pleasure is it for a man to be angry with and take revenge upon himself It seems therefore upon all these accounts to be a very difficult duty and yet notwithstanding it is a duty full of pleasure and sweetness And this will be manifest First If you consider it in its spring and rise The work of repentance if it be right hath for the spring of it the efficacy of the grace of the Gospel upon the Soul melting it down at the foot of God The sweet sense of the goodness and mercy of God in Christ thaws the heart and causes it to melt into tears of godly sorrow for all sin done against such infinite love and tender bowels That thou mayst remember and be confounded because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord Ezek. 16.63 The reconciled face of God shining upon a sinner makes him more ashamed of sin than any argument in the world can do And there cannot but be pleasure in the exercise of this grace when it flows from so sweet a spring Secondly If you consider how great a hand it hath in removing the burden of sin Sin is such a burden as will sink the Soul down to Hell if it be not removed And if any man feel it not to be a burden it is because he is dead in sin but where there is any life the burden is very great Mine iniquities are gone over my head as a burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 Now repentance helps to remove the burden of sin for when the Soul repents God forgives and so the burden is took away The pardon of sin is that which takes away the burden of sin this Job intimates in that his expostulation with God
be burned 1 Cor. 3.12 15. There are many that were of differing opinions when here on Earth who are all of one mind now in Heaven Therefore he that condemns Religion because of the differences of them that fear God shall be condemned to Hell as abiding in the estate of them that fear him not Fifthly If differences in Religion be the cause why you owne not Religion then why do you not owne it so far as all good men are agreed in it though there is difference in some things yet there are many and they the greatest things wherein they are all agreed All are agreed that he that believes not shall be damned Mark 16.16 and why then do you not close with Jesus Christ all are agreed that without sincere repentance and a sound conversion there can be no Salvation why then do ye not shake off your lusts and turn from sin to God all are agreed of the necessity of fearing God Eccles 12.13 Tit. 2.12 Heb. 12.14 and keeping his Commandments of living soberly righteously and godly in this present world and that without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord and therefore why are not these things practised which have an universal consent if some lesser matters are accounted doubtful and disputable yet these are things without all controversie Sin must be forsaken self must be denyed lust must be mortified the world must be renounced Christ must be your King and Lord he must have his throne in your hearts his commands must be obeyed or you can never be saved This is the plain way to Heaven and there is no other but what runs into this And to this you have the consent of all good men that ever heard of the Gospel Now if differing opinions about lesser matters have kept you off from medling with them why should not universal consent ingage you to mind these great and necessary things whereon your Peace your Life your Souls your Eternal Salvation and Happiness do depend especially considering this that if you neglect the great things of Salvation Heb. 2.3 you can never hope to escape nor find shelter from the wrath of God under so vain a plea as the differences about Religion Obj. 7. Another thing that hinders young ones from taking up the Yoke of Christ is the easiness of repenting and turning to God hereafter God is full of mercy and will not refuse or reject a penitent sinner at any time no though at the last hour witness the thief upon the cross how little time had he for repentance and yet he obtained mercy and why may not I Answ This Thief may in a sense be said to be a greater thief dead than living The example of his repentance and conversion in a dying hour hath stole away many a purpose many a season of grace many a resolution nay many a Soul which hath taken incouragement from his late conversion to put off the great business of Salvation to the last Now to prevent this undoing and Soul-destroying mischief I would say six things concerning this example 1. This is an example without a parallel and therefore not to be urged in this case God did this once as one says that none might despair and but once that none might presume You have not such another instance in all the Scripture which is a story of five thousand Years and yet in all that time we have but one instance of a man that repented when he came to dye and will any man dare to adventure his Soul upon such an instance as that you read Acts 27.44 that the Ship wherein Paul failed was ran aground and yet not one man lost some by swimming and some on boards and some on broken pieces of the Ship they all escaped safe to land Now would not that man be accounted a mad man that should run his Vessel a ground upon the incouragement of this success 2. It is a pattern without a precept Where is any command that incourages the dedicating our youth to sin and lust and our old age to repentance is there any precept of God that indulges to a youthful remisness in the great business of Religion no not one but the quite contrary I dare not deny but God may be found in the last hour but no man ought therefore to put off seeking him till then because the rule is Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the evil days come and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Ec. 12.1 3. It is a precedent without a promise shew me one promise that ever God made to accept such a repentance as this And therefore it is a very hopeless attempt nay a down-right presumption to expect mercy without a promise of mercy or in a way not promised is presumption 4. It was a miraculous work upon a peculiar reason to wit to shew forth his Godhead even when his humane nature was dying There was never such a concurrence of works of wonder in any age of the world as at that time the Sun losing his light the Air darkened the Earth quaking the Rocks rent the Graves opened many Dead raised and among the rest this was one a Thief while hanging upon the Cross converted this was to manifest his deity under his greatest suffering and to take away the ignominy of his cross so that we may as one says almost as well expect a second crucifying of Christ as a second conversion of this nature 5. Was there not another Thief at the same time upon the Cross and yet he repented not though he had much means to help him in the work his fellow recanting of his sin becoming a true convert reproving his sin calling him to repent owning the Lord Christ praying for mercy yet notwithstanding all this he repented not but as he lived so he dyed in his sins and lusts And therefore thou hast greater cause to fear being cast off with the impenitent Thief than to be received to mercy with this signal Convert especially considering that there is but this one instance in all the Bible and for this one that was received to mercy thousands and thousands have been cast off 6. This Thief upon the Cross is an example pleaded but not imitated and so we make that a dangerous temptation which would otherwise be an incouraging instance You that urge this for an example do but imitate it and then you 'l make a right use of it For we don't find that this Thief was ever called to believe till then and therefore so soon as he heard of Christ he believes in him and ventures his Soul upon his righteousness And God requires no more than that we would answer his call and accept the first tenders of Grace If God calls when it is late he will accept late conversion and therefore Christ takes that for an answer in Matt. 20. Matt. 20.6 when he asks them why stand ye
the case is not the same for we are bound to answer Gods precepts but he is not bound to answer our requests and yet we make him tarry our sinful leisure in the business of duty though we think much to tarry his holy leisure in the case of mercy Secondly It is down-right disobedience he that delays a duty transgresses the precept and slights the divine Authority The season is as much a part of the command as the thing commanded If God says return ye now every one from his evil way Jer. 18.11 the now is as much a duty as the returning If the Father says to his Son go work to day in my vineyard Matt. 21.28 it is flat disobedience to defer it till to morrow for the time of working is as much a duty as the work it self Thirdly It is the highest ingratitude for Christ did not adjourn his love to us one day his heart was to us from everlasting I was set up from everlasting rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth and my delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.23.31 He gave himself in the Covenant of Redemption to dye for sin and redeem sinners from the first day that sin entred And therefore he is said to be a lamh slain from the foundadation of the world Revel 13.8 Though he came not to dye actually till the fullness of time Galat. 4.4 yet in the decree of God the Father and in the consent of God the Son he was a Saviour from the beginning and his Blood was as efficacious to Salvation before ever it was shed as after he was a Saviour and Redeemer from the first entrance of sin Adam Noah Abraham and all the Saints that lived before his Incarnation were saved by his Blood as well as we His love bears date from everlasting and it breaks forth very early in the overt acts of it to particular persons Christ begins with sinners betimes who knows how soon puts upon many of them a federal holiness betimes seals them for his betimes puts his spirits into them betimes and calls them to an actual close with him betimes it is hard to say how soon but it appears to be very early in that many have been converted from their very childhood as Samuel and Timothy and others O the earliness of the love of Christ and shall we adjourn our obedience as if we were afraid of closing with him too soon he took up our burden betimes and shall we delay the taking up his Yoke for the last work of our lives This is great ingratitude Fourthly It is manifest injustice and a fraudulent detaining of Christs right For whose you are his your strength and service is and are ye not the Lords hath he not redeemed you and that both by price at the hands of God and by power out of the hands of Satan ye are the redeemed of the Lord and therefore you are his your time is his your gifts and parts are his your affections are his your estates are his your strength is his your youth is his your body and soul are his your all is his and therefore not to give up your selves body and soul to him not to love and fear and serve him is a crying injustice Nay to delay it one day one moment is to deny him his right Many boast of their honesty they are just to all and wrong none yes you wrong your redeemer you are unjust to Jesus Christ and that is the highest injustice in the world To delay any man in that which is his right is a great sin the wages of the hireling must be paid at the day and it must be done before the sun be set Deut. 24.14 15. It is a maxim in the Law minus solvit qui minus tempore solvit not to pay at the time is to pay the less because there is so much advantage for improvement lost Is it such a sin to detain a servants right what is it then to detain our Lords right must we not withhold wages for a servants work till the sun be set and yet dare we withhold doing our Lords work till the sun of our lives is setting O what base injustice is this Fifthly It is altogether unreasonable there is no man living can give a reason to excuse him from this duty You cannot say it is the wrong way to Heaven for it is the way the Lord Christ hath directed and chalked out You cannot say it is a needless Yoke for there is no Salvation without taking it upon you You cannot say it is a dangerous Yoke for it hath salvation certainly intailed upon it You cannot say it is a fruitless Yoke Matt. 11.28 for it yields perfect peace and lasting joy to all that come under it You cannot say it is an impossible Yoke for as you have the command of Christ to undertake it so you have the promise of Christ to help and inable you to bear it So that you cannot give one reason why you should neglect it and therefore he that refuses to take it up is without excuse Whoever remains graceless in a day of Grace will be found speechless in the Day of Judgement Matt. 22.12 Sixthly It is downright madness for you refuse Heaven because you will not be holy You will rather lose the eternal injoyment of God than be made like God You will rather chuse to perish under the wrath of Christ than you will consent to come under the Yoke of Christ You will be contented to be damned so you may go a pleasant way to Hell And is not this madness to the height to chuse rather to perish eternally than be tied to love and serve your maker and redeemer O what a base and low opinion have you of God and Heaven how can ye degrade and dishonour him more If a man should publish it as his opinion that darkness is better than light that Hell is rather to be chosen than Heaven that he had rather be in an everlasting society with Devils and damned Spirits than with God and Christ in the glory above what would you say of such a one but that he talked like a mad man why then reflect upon your selves a little for mutato nomine do teâ— Fabula narratur you that prefer the pleasures of sin to the service of Christ that will renounce your part in God and Christ and eternal happiness to satisfie a base lust that will stake your Souls for a few minutes of sinful delights can any man be guilty of greater madness do ye know what ye do or what ye speak when ye say in your hearts this lust shall reign but Christ shall not reign let us break his bonds Psal 2.3 and cast his cords far away from us this is treason against the Crown of Heaven your Blood Luk. 19.27 your Life your Soul must go for this Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them out and
concealed it is out of the reach of those means that should give check to it It is the most rational way to cure Soul troubles and settle our comfort Sin is like an impostume while it is gathering it is painful but when it is broke or lanced and runs then there is ease Or like a wind lockt up in the Earth which causes great Earthquakes till it finds a vent and then the Earth is quiet It commends the vertue of Christ's Blood when we open to him those mortal wounds which none but he can cure It puts an edge upon prayer he that hath no sin to acknowledge hath but little mercy to beg It is the next way to forgiveness If any say I have sinned and it profited me not he will deliver his Soul from going into the pit Job 33.27 28. In the first Covenant it was He that commits sin shall dye But in the second Covenant he that confesses sin shall be forgiven 1 Joh. 1.9 Confession speakes out such a sensibleness of sin as works the Soul to a ready compliance with any terms of deliverance And a heart brought over to submit to Gods remedies is in a fair way to a cure Though sin be a desperate Disease yet it is never deadly where the Patient is ready to use Gods Medicines This confession leaves such a dread of sin upon the heart that it dare not return to it as it was wont I do not say but that possibly a Believer may through the prevalency of lust and temptation fall into the same sin he hath confessed to God yet it shall not prevail as formerly But it is not every kind of Confession that speaks out an enmity to sin It is possible a man may often confess sin and yet ne-ver forsake it but persist in it all his days and perish in it at last Saul confessed and yet perished Judas confessed his sin and yet lost his Soul Therefore It must be free and voluntary not forced and extorted It must be in sincerity and uprightness of heart Psal 38.18 It must be with brokenness of heart I will declare mine iniquity I will be sorry for my sin It must be with a hearty resolution against sin This is another thing the Hypocrite comes short in he cannot thus confess sin he flatters himself in his own eyes till his iniquity be found to be hateful Psal 36.2 He covers his Transgression as Adam by hiding his iniquity in his bosom Job 31.33 3. This odds in Believers against sin appears in the hating of sin There is odium abominationis and odium inimicitiae One is a hatred that causes aversation the other is a hatred that causes opposition Both ways the Believer hates sin 1. He turns from it as being a thing offensive and loathsome to the Spiritual Appetite and Renewed Will. No natural man can thus hate sin because there is a sutableness between the Heart and Lust He may possibly hate that which is sin but he cannot hate it as it is sin for then he would hate all sin One of a tenacious gripple humour may hate pride and prodigality One that is prodigal and profuse may hate Covetousness And yet he may not hate sin formally considered though he hates that which materially considered is sin This kind of hatred of sin is usually for the sake of some other sin it is only a reserving the affections for some Lust that suits him better So that it may be said of Lust in this case as is said of the Sea what ground it loses in one place it gains in another Whilst he hates one sin he loves another whilst he turns from one he cleaves to another He cannot hate sin as sin this is peculiar to Believers There is no Hypocrite in the World that can unfeignedly hate every sin he cannot say with David Psalm 119.128 I hate every false way but the Believer can and doth I don't say that he ceaseth from all acts of sin that is impossible so long as Grace is imperfect and he carries a body of death about him but he hates all sin and darling sins above all as being the worst of sins for these are they whereby God hath been most dishonoured the Mind most blinded the Heart most bewitched Satan most gratified and the Soul most wounded To dislike some sins and not others is not hatred If the heart be right with God the same reasons that induce us to hate one sin will induce us to hate all God hates all and wherever the Divine Nature is wrought it shews it self in suitable dispositions It is a Universal Principle which as it inclines the heart to all good so it sets it against all sin And it must needs be so or else how can a man be said to be in subjection to Jesus Christ for one sin keeps possession for Satan as well as a thousand And this discovers many that would prove their subjection to Christ by their hating sin when as they do not hate all sin There is ever some lust in reserve of which they say as Jacob of his beloved Benjamin Gen. 42.38 He shall not go Or as Naaman of his bowing to Rimmon when I bow my self in the house of Rimmon 2 Kings 5.18 the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing Now suppose a Woman should love her Husband better than a thousand and a thousand men yet if there be any one that she loves and embraces and desires more than him would ye not say she was a harlot yes as really as she that prostitutes her self to all that pass by He that indulges to any one sin was never yet truly under the Yoke of Christ Though a Believer may possibly fall into many sins yet there is no Believer but hates every sin And let me tell you I know not a surer sign of a mans being under the power of Grace than this For what else is it that can make a man loath that sin that he loved as himself Many a man may be angry with sin but that is consistent with love Many a man may forbear sin for fear of shame or punishment But this is not to hate sin as sin When sin is loathed as being a violation of Gods Law a contempt of his Authority contrary to his Nature an Enemy to his Service and Honour a grief to the Spirit this is to hate sin as sin and he that thus hates sin must necessarily hate all sin for all sin violates his Law is contrary to his nature opposes his Service and grieves his Spirit Secondly as he hates it with a hatred of abomination so he hates it with a hatred of enmity and this appears in a vigorous activity against sin 1. He prays against it Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me Psal 119.133 Prayers and Tears are the Christians Weapons not only against the malice of enemies without but also against the mischief of sin within He don't
to the Divine Will Holiness is the being of the Spiritual Life in us Obedience is the operation of that Life according to the degrees of it in the Soul For there is a great difference in the degrees of Spiritual Life in Believers it is variously Communicated to one more to another less All Believers have it but some have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 and according to the measure of the life of holiness in us such is our strength to obey and according to the strength of our obedience such will the evidence of our subjection to Christ and his Yoke be 2. What greater evidence can there be of our subjection to Christ then that which is the proper and essential act of the new creature and that obedience is It is not more essential to the eye to see nor to the ear to hear then it is for a renewed heart to obey God A Believer doth but act his nature in obeying and that appears from that pleasure and delight which so far as renewed he takes in it Acts of nature are acts of delight hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.22 I delight in the law of God after the inner man And that of David I delight to do thy will O my God And whence this delight arises the next words tell you Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The principle of grace within makes obedience to the law of God a delight and delight in obedience to the law of God proves the truth of that Principle within All delight in doing arises from a suitableness between the Principle and the Precept the heart and the work If there are precepts injoyned us and a defect of Principles in us much may be done but there can be no delight in doing the commands will be grievous But it is not every kind of Obedience that can prove the truth of our subjection to Christ A hypocrite may go far in the outward part of obedience he may have a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 and what is that but a resemblance of a Christian in all the outward lineaments of Godliness He may be able to do all external acts of obedience in common with Believers But there are some things essential to Believers as such the goodness whereof doth adhere intrinsecally to this work done as to love God to fear God to trust in God to delight in God These mingled with our outward duties make them to be obedience of the right kind and these no hypocrite can attain to and therefore cannot perform any one act of true obedience For obedience consists in a full conformity to the will of God as revealed in his word from a Principle of holiness within Many profess subjection to Christ in word but deny it in works calling him Lord Lord but not doing the things which he sayes Luk. 6.46 And many have flexible knees but stiff necks bowing the former to the name Jesus but will not bow the latter to the Yoke of Jesus being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 There is no such Testimony of your being under the Yoke of Christ as conformity to the will of Christ By this then you may make a judgment in this matter When the spies returned from searching the Land of Canaan they brought with them a cluster of Grapes and Pomegranates and Figs Numbers 13.23 and when they came to give an account of their search they shewed them the fruit of the Land and said surely it flowes with milk and hony and this is the fruit of it ver 27. q. d. the Land that yields such good fruit must needs be a good Land The fruit of being under Christs yoke is dying to sin and living to God in a Holy Obedience And by these two Characters your State may certainly be known The heart that yields such fruit is surely a good heart Pray observe that of the Apostle Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness It is not being Baptized into the name of Christ nor taking up the outward profession of Christ and Religion that can distinguish between the servants of Christ and Satan Here is a surer rule He that obeys sin is the servant of sin and he that obeys Christ is the servant of Christ CHAP. XV. Exhorts to thankfulness to God who inclined the heart to this Yoke The wisdom of taking up this Yoke manifested THE last use shall be of Exhortation and I shall direct it to two sorts of persons 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth 2. To such as have never yet taken up the yoke of Christ to this day Exhortat 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth that have made it their work to mind Religion betimes to remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth There are three duties I would commend to such by way of direction Duty 1. The first is thankfulness Though this contributes nothing to God yet it is that which he is delighted with It shews the honesty and integrity of the heart in ascribing effects to their proper causes Thankfulness diminishes the creature to himself and magnifies God It shews a man looks upon himself as nothing and God as all Therefore bless God and be thankful for this great mercy Is there not a cause For 1. How came you to take up Christs yoke Rom. 6.17 Isa 26.13 Time was when ye were the servants of sin other Lords had dominion over you Time was when you were slaves to lust How came you to take up the yoke of Christ It was not natural for by nature we are enemies to grace and holiness It was the fruit of the wisdom of God impressed upon the Soul it was he that gave thee counsel to make this choice and therefore bless him So David sayes in the like case I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Psa 16.7 Counsel for what to take the Lord for his Lord and that implies taking up his yoke O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord ver â— thou art my Lord that implies subjection Thou hast said thou art my Lord that implyes a Covenant resignation So that here he chooses God for his portion and chief good and for his highest Lord and how he came to make this choice he tells you ver 7. It was the Lord that counselled him to this and therefore he resolves the praise and glory shall be to him I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Go you and do likewise bless the Lord who hath perswaded and over power'd your hearts to close with Christ For no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 2. It is the wisest choice that ever you made to choose Christ for your Lord and
to a right end CHAP. XVII Exhorts to perseverance under the yoke of Christ with arguments to press it and directions to guide in it HAving put on the Yoke of Christ Duty third never cast it off again Having begun in the spirit do not end in the flesh He that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God Luk. 9.62 Art thou bound as the Apostle saies in another case seek not to be loosed The Yoke of Christ is to be put on betimes but never to be put off again The gospel that puts this yoke upon us is the everlasting gospel not temporary or cessant Rev. 14.6 but a fixed rule for the whole life and therefore we are to serve God in righteousness and holiness all our dayes Luk 1.74 75. Let me propound some arguments to press this duty and then some directions to help in it and I shall dismiss this branch of the use 1. Consider the great advantage of a persevering obedience whether you look at the honour that attends it or the peace that comes by it or the safety that is in it or the reward that is intailed upon it the advantage is great on all these accounts 1. It is your honour to persevere in your obedience to Christ to the end This is clearly intimated in that counsel of Christ to the Church of Philadelphia Revel 2.11 Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown The Crown here some take for the crown of glory in heaven Others take it for that honour God had put upon her ver 9. I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee But I take her crown here to be her perseverance in faith and obedience to Christ for perseverance is a Christians crown it crowns all grace therefore saith our Lord Christ hold fast that which thou hast That profession thou hast made that grace thou hast received that obedience which thou hast wrought For I know thy works thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denyed my name Hold fast that which thou hast there is the counsel of Christ and the argument he urgeth it upon is least she should lose her Crown Perseverance in the wayes of Christ is the crown and honour of a Christian 2. If you respect the peace and comfort of your state nothing secures and promotes it more then your constancy in obedience As there is a peace which flows from justification Rom. 5.1 so there is a peace resulting from persevering obedience Great peace have they that love thy Law Psal 119.165 He don't say only that do it but that love it for he that loves it will do it and never depart from it Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace shall be upon them and mercy Constant obedience brings in constant peace and comfort 3. It is of great advantage in point of safety Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way but wickedness overthroweth the sinner Prov. 13.6 Ah what fools are sinners who run into sin to avoid suffering it is as if a man should venture his head to save his hat or sink the Ship to avoid the storm It is He that keepeth the commandment that keepeth his own soul Prov. 19.16 There is no safty but in the way of duty We are sure of Gods protection so long as we make conscience of Gods precepts So sayes the Prophet Isa 33.15 16. He that walketh uprightly he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of Rocks And Prov. 1.33 Whoso hearkneth to me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil 4. It is your advantage in point of reward The promises are made to perseverance To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life Rom 2.7 The date of your service is short but eternity is the date of your recompence So that great is the advantage of your keeping close to Christ in the way of obedience and therefore he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still Rev. 22.11 2. Consider on the other hand the danger and mischief of Apostacy from Christ As perseverance in his service is attended with great advantages so casting off his yoke hath in it very mischievous effects and that both with respect to Jesus Christ and to our selves 1. With respect to Christ It is the greatest reproach that can be laid upon Christ for any one that hath taken up his yoke to cast it off again For it is a leaving and rejecting him after choice profession and experience 1. Subjection to Christs yoke is an act of choice for Christ forceth none into his service Now choice is of the best things Of evils a man chooseth the least but of good things a man chooseth that which is best So that he that chooseth the service of Christ doth therein acknowledge the goodness and beauty of his ways And therefore for a man to cast off his yoke is to repent of his choice And this is a great reproach to Jesus Christ for a man to choose his precepts and afterwards to reject them 2. Casting off the yoke is a forsaking Christ after an open Profession for there can be no Apostacy but by such as have first owned Christ and made a profession of him the drunkard the unclean wretch c. that hath been vile all his days living in a course of sin from his youth up he can't be said properly to be an Apostate if he lives and dyes in his sins and lusts he may be said to live and dye a Reprobate but no Apostate But he is an Apostate that hath known and owned the wayes of Christ and afterward turned the back upon them that hath given his neck to the Yoke of Christ and then cast it off again that hath vomited up his filthiness and then turned to his own vomit again 2 Pet. 2.22 Such an Apostate was Judas Demas c. Now for a man to take up a professed subjection to Christ and then forsake him must needs be a great reproach for he seems to say that he is not a good Master it is no profit to serve him 3. It is a leaving Christ after experience for there is no man that hath taken up Christs Yoke but hath seen an equity and goodness in his Precepts he hath found some peace of Conscience in so doing he hath tasted somewhat of the Heavenly gift and been made partaker of some operations of the Spirit and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the World to come Heb. 6.4 5. Now for a man to have experience of Christ and then cast him off is the greatest reproach that can be cast upon him The Apostle calls
and word of Christ no Decree of God shall ever hurt him 2. Though the Decree of God be as determinate in other matters as in that of Salvation and Damnation yet no man rests upon that God hath fixed the period of every mans life His days are determined Job 14.5 the number of his months is with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Now will any man neglect his meals because God hath determined his days Will he say If I eat and drink I shall live never the longer if I never eat more I shall not dye a day the sooner There is no man so bereft of sense as to leave his life upon the decree of God without using means to preserve it for 3. The Decree is not only of the end but also of the means Faith and obedience are as much decreed by God as eternal life Hence ye read of being chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thess 2.13 And the Apostle to the Ephesians says God hath chosen us in him viz. Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy Ephes 1.4 Holiness is as much decreed as happiness There is no such thing in all the Scripture as Election to Salvation separate from faith and holiness The means and the end go together the Scripture is not made up only of promises for the incouragement of hope but of directions for the furtherance of holiness And therefore 4. Though the Kingdom of Heaven be prepared by the Decree Matt. 29.34 yet it must be sought by an early diligence in duty Though it is Gods good pleasure to give it Luk. 12.32 Matt. 6.33 yet it must be our work to seek it though it be designed for us yet it must suffer violence by us and we must take it by force Matt. 11.12 or we shall never injoy it notwithstanding Gods choice and Christs purchase The land of Canaan a type of Heaven was a land of Promise but yet they cannot possess upon the promise without fighting their way to the inheritance 5. In the day of Judgment God will not proceed with men upon Election and Reprobation but upon their obedience or disobedience to his Law He will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour Rom. 2.7 8.9 and immortality eternal life But to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath It is said God will judge the world in righteousness Acts 17.31 Now righteousness in judgment is to distribute to every one according to his works God will vindicate the justice of his proceedings in that day by making the Word the rule of his Judgment to all that are under it John 12.48 And every mans Conscience a witness in the case Rom. 2.15 Let no man therefore deceive himself by groundless conclusions about the secret Decrees of God and so indulge himself in a sinful neglect of duty to the eternal ruine of his Soul Object 2. Another stumbling-block that lies in the way of young ones to hinder their taking up the Yoke of Christ is this That early Religion seldom comes to any thing They that mind Religion young seldom hold out long A young Saint and an old Devil * Angelicus juvenis senibus satanizat in annis Answ The design of the Devil and wicked men in this Objection is to decry early holiness as if it were time enough to seek after God and grace when we are dropping into the grave Now to such I would say three things Answ 1. This Objection is founded upon a notorious falshood for it supposes that true grace is utterly loosable that a Child of God may perish for ever which the Scripture doth expresly consute Where the seed of God is once sowed in the heart it never dies it is never lost nor plucked up it remains in him 1 John 3.9 Solomon says Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 So that this Proverb of a young Saint and an old Devil is none of Solomon's 2. It is true that where a profession of Religion is taken up in Hypocrisie it commonly ends in Apostasie So that it may be said A young Hypocrite and an old Apostate But where do you find that any that truly feared God did ever depart from him Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth 1 Kings 18.12 2 Kings 22.2 and as he began with God so he ended Josiah was good betimes at eight years old and he held it to the last He turned not aside to the right hand or to the left David was a young Convert and he died an old Saint Psal 71.5 Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth there is his beginning My flesh and my heart faileth Psal 73.26 but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever there is his ending I might instance in Samuel Jeremy John Timothy c. these began with God in their youth took up the Yoke betimes and so they continued all their days He that chuses God for his chief good and highest Lord at first finds so much happiness in him that he will never leave him at last Besides the Covenant of God is sure and one branch of it is I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 3. Should not the great uncertainty of life silence this Objection We have no security for another day much less that we shall live till the keepers of the house tremble and the grinders cease and they that look out of the windows be darkened c. As Solomon elegantly describes old age Eccles 12.3 Our candle may blow out as well as burn out One dies in full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistned with marrow Job 21.23 24. And shall we be afraid of taking up the Yoke of Christ too soon Or suppose you should live to old age yet such as turn their backs upon Christ while they are young it is rare if ever they come to take up the Yoke of Christ when they are old as a young Saint will never leave Christ so an old Sinner will hardly ever embrace him Or if he would it may be too late his season of grace may be past It is storied of Hannibal Plutarch that when he could have taken Rome he would not and when he would have taken it he could not And is it not the case of many When they may find Christ they will not seek him and when they would seek Christ they cannot find him when they may have mercy they don't prize it and when they would have mercy they can't obtain it He that in his youth reckons it too early
to be converted shall in old age find it is too late to be saved Object 3. Another stumbling-block that lies in the way of young ones to hinder their taking up the Yoke of Christ is the austerities of Religion it is a work too severe for green years and better suits gray hairs Who doth not see what a melancholy thing Religion is * Spiritus Calvinianus spiritus Melancholicus it takes a man off from all his pleasures and delights and dulls and besots the Spirits and therefore when once a man takes up this course never let him expect to see good day more This is another stumbling stone which I shall endeavour to remove out of the way by these four Considerations Answ 1. Consider who they are that charge Religion with these severities Are they such as ever were under the power of it Have they ever lived over its precepts and embraced its promises and tasted its sweetnesses Are they such as can say they have ever made any serious tryal of godliness No I know they are not for if they had they would pass another judgment their own experiences would confute a thousand of these groundless pretences No man ever took up Religion in earnest and heartily submitted himself to the Yoke of Christ but hath found it quite another thing It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73.28 And if this be the charge of such as never made a tryal what Religion and a holy life is why should any man regard it For they speak evil of those things they know not Jud. v. 10. Prov. 24.7 This wisdom is too high for a fool and they condemn it because they do not understand it And how unreasonable is this Solomon says He that answers a matter before he hears i. e. understands it it is folly and shame to him Prov. 18.13 and yet in Religion nothing more common who were they that in the Apostles days accounted the doctrine of a crucified Christ foolishness but such as understood least of it And who are they that mock at the doctrine of imputed righteousness of the testimony of the Spirit in Believers and of assurance of Salvation but the blind Papists who never felt the power and comfort of these things And Tertul. Quid inquius quà m ut oderint homines quod ignorant Nothing more hateful than for a man to hate and condemn what he doth not understand Therefore 2. Consider what is the judgment of good men in the case who have inured themselves to a life of godliness these are the fittest persons to determine the matter having had their senses exercised to discern between good and evil Heb. 5.14 In other cases you do so if you want advice about matters of Law you will go to an experienced Lawyer or if you advise about your health you will consult the most experienced Physician If you would be satisfied of such or such a Country whom would you inquire of such as write at random of it but never set foot in it Or would you not rather take the judgment of such as have seen it lived in it and known the Laws and Manners of it these can speak by experience and so can every sincere professor John 3.11 We speak that we know and testifie that we have seen and 1 John 1.3 That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life declare we unto you And what is their judgment in the case why they have commended the life of Godliness as the most pleasant and delightful life in the world and the fullest of true joy and sweetness One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere Psal 84.10 Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 And how is Paul ravished with the joys of a life of Godliness hence he speaks his abounding consolations by Christ and crys out 2 Cor. 1.4 God forbid I should glory save only in the Cross of Christ Galat. 6.14 Gal. 6.14 And this is not the sense of David and Solomon and the Apostle Paul only but of all the Saints of God that ever lived and they have not only said it but have practically attested it and that undeniably in this that never any one of them when they once took up the Yoke of Christ ever cast it off again but have lived and died witnesses to this truth 3. The sorrows and dejections that Christians are at any time filled with are not from Godliness but from want of more Godliness not from Grace but from the imperfection of Grace their sins and failings are the only causes of their sorrows and troubles Could they sin less they should have less sorrow and it is a most righteous thing that where sin is committed it should be bewailed If no man can live without sin then how can it be that a man can love God and not mourn and sorrow for sinning against him God will have every man living bewail and repent of sin at one time or other if not here yet in hell And then the question is which is best here repentance ends in remission but in hell it ends in desperation Sorrow for sin now hath a blessing in it it ends in comfort Matt. 5.4 Psal 126.5.6 But sorrow for sin hereafter greatens torment This sorrow will have an end but that is without end What are those merry Greeks that sported away their time and their Souls in this world doing now in hell they are repenting without hope and sorrowing without end weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth at their own folly and madness And which is best the sinner being Judge to go mourning to Heaven where all tears shall be wiped away or laughing to hell where suffering and sorrowing shall be without end 4. Why should a life of Religion be a dull and besotting life what is there in it that should make it so Doth it prohibit us any pleasures or delights no none but what are incompetent to us as men and which make us rather beasts than men And for these it gives better pleasures in their room Peace that passes understanding Philip. 4.7 inward satisfaction resulting from a witnessing conscience Prov. 14.14 2 Corinth 1.12 comforts that flow from an upper spring from divine love manifested and communion with God injoyed These are spiritual pleasures and delights of the same nature and kind with those which in a fuller measure and greater degree of injoyment do make up the state of blessedness And hence it is called joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 So that your joys and delights are not extinguished but raised Religion doth not extirpate them but transplant them out of Egypt that they may grow in Canaan Religion spiritualizeth and sanctifieth your joys but doth not extinguish them So far then Religion is not chargeable with our droops